Lord of Mysteries 2: Circle of Inevitability

Port Santa, in the city.

Loki and the unconscious Ludwig had already sought refuge in an apartment that Loki had rented many days earlier. He began manipulating the sealed demigod’s Spirit Body Threads.

As for his two marionettes, they lurked within a radius of 100 to 200 meters, with Loki as the center, blending in with the various celebrating and passing crowds. They waited to be discovered by Lumian Lee’s teammates and the clergyman of the Church of Earth Mother.

This was unavoidable. A Marionettist couldn’t allow a marionette to wield their Faceless powers. As for the mystical item of the Seer pathway, it was in the possession of either Bard or Mad Lady.

In the partially destroyed suite of Solow Motel, Jenna and Anthony encountered Noelia, the combat nun, and her teammates, who had hurried over.

Before this, Lumian had covertly introduced the disguised Jenna and Anthony to Noelia. Hence, the nuns didn’t unnecessarily question or apprehend them; they only carefully confirmed each other’s identities.

“Rubió Paco is a fake. He’s disguised by a Marionettist. He has captured Louis Berry’s godson. He possesses two marionettes. One is Madame Martha, the Paco family’s matriarch. The other’s identity and abilities are unknown,” Jenna recounted the recent events.

She assumed that the Fertility Order was familiar with the term Marionettist and didn’t delve into unnecessary explanations. Their primary duty was to guard against the Intis Republic to the north, and many official Beyonders of Bureau 8 in the Intis Republic belonged to the Seer pathway. The two sides must have had considerable interactions.

Marionettist… Indeed, upon hearing the Sequence name, Noelia frowned slightly. Is Intis sending spies to disrupt the sea prayer ritual?

“That’s a traitor from Intis’s Bureau 8,” Jenna explained, her allegiance to Intis stronger than Lumian’s.

Noelia understood that time was of the essence and she couldn’t discuss unrelated matters. She asked the key question, “Why seize Louis Berry’s godson? Is he held as a hostage, or does he possess some extraordinary significance?”

Jenna thought for a moment and revealed the limited information she had just learned.

“It’s a sealed demigod, a creature.

“Loki will need substantial time to transform him into a marionette, not just a matter of minutes.”

A demigod? A sealed demigod? That child with the insatiable appetite is a sealed demigod? Noelia’s mouth hung open in surprise and astonishment. She almost questioned the reliability of her own ears.

The supposed godson of the adventurer Louis Berry is, in fact, a sealed demigod creature?

What’s his backstory? Why is he wandering around with a sealed demigod creature?

Moreover, there’s talk of a humanoid Sealed Artifact, rumored to be at Grade 1, that recently surfaced in Port Santa. It’s on par with a sealed demigod creature. Despite extensive searching, no one has been able to locate it.

If not for the disparities in appearance, gender, and age, Noelia might have suspected Ludwig to be the humanoid Sealed Artifact that the Eternal Blazing Sun Church had “misplaced.”

Now, an absurd idea echoed in her mind.

Is it the current trend to stroll around with sealed demigod creatures?

Regaining her composure, Noelia promptly addressed her team members, “Cemilie, quickly return to the Order and inform the dean. Ask her to deploy all available personnel to the city. Locate them as soon as possible. Yes, Madam Martha or Louis Berry’s godson, Ludwig.

“After finding them, unless the situation is exceptionally urgent, refrain from acting recklessly. Report first and await assistance.”

Considering that the Marionettist had likely altered his appearance and height, and the identity and appearance of his other marionette were unknown, Noelia concentrated her search on Madam Martha, who had become a marionette, and Ludwig, who had been abducted.

“Yes, Captain!” In a bid to save time, the brown-haired Cemilie darted through the shattered glass window. Utilizing the stone bricks and wood protruding from the outer wall, she leaped from the fifth floor to the street.

The dean Noelia referred to was the head of the local cloister, the clergyman overseeing the Fertility Order in Port Santa—the Fertility Order’s headquarters in Torres, the capital of Gaia Province.

Just as Cemilie took a few steps and was about to explore the nearby streets, Jenna, Anthony, Noelia, and the others witnessed a massive bird soaring through the air.

The bird’s body was grayish-black, its feathers were tough and lacked softness. Its eyes appeared to be adorned with two rubies.

The grayish-black bird flapped its wings and glided to the collapsed fifth-

floor outer wall of Solow Motel.

Only then did Jenna and Anthony realize that the grayish-black bird was sculpted from stone. It was weighty, substantial, and unyielding, yet it emanated a vibrant vitality.

Perched on the back of the lifelike grayish-black bird was a woman in a brown clergyman’s robe. She wore a nun’s wimple with wheat patterns and seemed to be in her thirties, but she exuded a maternal aura, as if she had nurtured many children.

The brown-haired, brown-eyed, mature, and stunning clergyman turned her gaze to Noelia and succinctly stated, “Details.”

Noelia swiftly echoed Jenna’s words. She positioned herself with a slight spread of her legs and raised her hands.

“Praise the Earth, praise the Mother of All Things!”

The clergyman was none other than the archbishop of the Church of Earth Mother’s Gaia diocese, Agrippina.

Agrippina nodded gently and uttered, “I know Martha from the Paco family. I didn’t expect her to meet such a fate. Sigh, may the Earth Mother embrace her soul, and may the flower symbolizing her bloom again next spring.”

The archbishop delicately shifted her right foot, conveying a signal to the massive bird sculpted from grayish-black stone.

The stone bird, pulsating with vitality, flapped its wings and ascended dozens of meters into the air.

Agrippina extended her right hand and scattered a handful of dark-black seeds the size of rice grains.

With a flutter, the port’s white-headed seabirds flocked in, covering the sky. Each one gripped a seed in its beak and circled around.

They formed a circle within a 300-meter radius.

Observing this spectacle, the jubilant citizens of Port Santa, assuming that the seabirds had joined in the celebration of the successful sea prayer ritual, erupted in cheers of delight.

After two to three minutes, a solitary combat nun spotted Madam Martha. The marionette was concealed on the other side of Aquina Street.

Upon receiving the information, Agrippina turned her head and fixed her gaze into the air.

Soon, the white-headed seabirds released the rice-sized seeds from their beaks.

Agrippina withdrew her gaze and folded her arms across her chest.

Each seed that touched the ground instantly sprouted and grew rapidly, morphing into thick dark-green vines.

Simultaneously, Jenna, Anthony, Noelia, and the others, who were scouring the street for Ludwig and Loki, witnessed the sky darken, as if night had prematurely descended or a colossal creature had eclipsed the sunlight.

Vaguely, they sensed the presence of a massive pitch-black wing covered in a membrane, casting an illusory aura.

In the next moment, a crimson full moon ascended from the night, hanging high in the sky. It seemed as though a tall, slender figure was slowly advancing.

Crimson moonlight bathed the area surrounded by the dark-green vines, captivating all the citizens like statues.

Nourished by the moonlight, the dark-green vines swiftly expanded, swiftly encasing the streets around Aquina Street in a “forest.”

Dark-red flowers blossomed in the “forest,” densely clustered and ubiquitous.

The flowers emitted a faint, sweet fragrance that intermingled, gradually intensifying the scent.

Upon inhaling this fragrance, the residents of Port Santa, as well as the rats and bedbugs in the corresponding area, entered a stupor, swaying and collapsing to the ground.

Dammit! Jenna understood that Archbishop Agrippina of the Church of Earth Mother was employing indiscriminate tactics to influence the area, aiming to locate and control Loki, but she still cursed internally.

This gaseous anesthetic jogged unpleasant memories.

In the past, she had nearly fallen victim to a similar gas used by that Bliss Society pervert.

Yet now, in the diffusing gas with a noticeable difference in smell but a similar effect, her head started to spin, and her body felt uneasy.

The same was true for Anthony and Noelia. One bore dragon-like scales on his skin, while the other held her breath.

At that moment, three white-headed seabirds descended from the sky, each clutching a metallic bottle, circling Jenna and the others.

Noelia glanced at Archbishop Agrippina, who was hovering in midair, and received a nod. Without hesitation, she took the bottle from a white-headed seabird’s claw and gulped it down.

She swiftly regained consciousness, no longer affected by the gaseous anesthetic.

Observing this, Jenna and Anthony accepted the metal bottles and consumed the sour agent.

They no longer felt dizzy and weak.

The three white-headed seabirds weakly ascended again, landing by the roadside one after another, and dozed off.

In the area surrounded by the dark-green vine “forest,” only a marionette remained standing at that moment, impervious to the gaseous anesthetic. Its presence was immediately exposed.

In the apartment he had pre-rented, Loki was taken aback to discover that controlling the sealed demigod’s Spirit Body Threads was much more challenging than he had anticipated.

This wasn’t a problem that could be resolved in ten minutes. According to his initial estimate, it would take at least an hour!

Given the time, the Church of Earth Mother could turn these streets upside down!

As the gaseous anesthetic created by the dark-green vines and dark-red flowers permeated the room, Loki’s initial impulse was to craft an air straw nearly 30 meters long and extend it high into the air to breathe fresh air. However, he quickly dismissed the idea.

Perhaps the demigod of the Church of Earth Mother was waiting to detect similar traces to pinpoint his location!

Moreover, Loki had realized that there was more than one demigod in the sky!

If there was only one, he could rely on Sealed Artifacts, bestowments, and other means to concentrate. He could conceal himself in the shadows and contend with them to see if he could endure until the marionette-making process was completed. However, there were at least two demigods observing.

More importantly, he could endure for about ten minutes, but an hour was out of the question!

After weighing the pros and cons, Loki abandoned his original plan to conduct the ritual today and advance to Sequence 4 Bizarro Sorcerer.

In any case, as long as he could restrain the sealed demigod, he could find another opportunity in the future. There was no need for him to perform today!

Why would it take an hour or more? Is this a demigod’s Spirit Body Threads? Amidst Loki’s confusion, he didn’t intend to recall the two marionettes. He planned on using the mystical item to “teleport” away.

From his pocket, he retrieved a bracelet made of different-colored gems.

Just as Loki was about to activate a diamond, he heard the sound of swallowing.

Loki instinctively lowered his head and looked into his arms, realizing that Ludwig had awakened at some point.

With a sincere expression, the boy spoke with a hint of eagerness, “I’m hungry…”