Lord of Mysteries 2: Circle of Inevitability

While changing clothes, Lumian examined the changes in himself after becoming a Demoness of Unaging.

Because of the reconciliation, his Mirror Person's consciousness had returned to his body. Whether it was his reflection in the mirror or himself outside it, they were now both him - different parts sharing a single consciousness.

In other words, he had the sensation of being both outside and within the mirror simultaneously. Even walking in sunlight, he would partially experience another self-moving hesitantly forward in darkness.

This also allowed him to see both the reality and the changes within mirrors simultaneously.

Furthermore, in the past, when a Mirror Person died, it would split off from the body again to revive. Now, the body had the same privilege-if it died, it would revive through the Mirror Person.

Simply put, the death of either the body or the Mirror Person alone was no longer true death for a Demoness of Unaging - it was more like a partial injury that could be healed.

Additionally, a Demoness of Unaging could have multiple Mirror Persons. Lumian could use environments with multiple mirrors to temporarily multiply his Mirror Persons-as long as one survived, he wouldn't truly die. He could also use blood, hair, skin, or other media to create a Mirror Person sleeping within a mirror, hiding that mirror in a secret place under anti-divination conditions, cutting off corresponding mystical connections to prevent curses and other harm from affecting the sleeping Mirror Person.

This way, even if his body and other Mirror Persons were killed, as long as this hidden mirror remained unfound, Lumian could revive through the sleeping Mirror Person.

This was the source of the Demoness of Unaging's bizarre resistance to death and skill at revival: the self in the mirror and the self outside are both me!

Without this special characteristic, revival through this method would be impossible, which was why Lumian couldn't help others create sleeping Mirror Persons.

Does reconciliation mean both inside and outside the mirror are me? While enslavement and infatuation mean the mirror self is either not me or just my appendage? Just as Lumian thought this, an illusory starfield suddenly appeared before his eyes, revealing countless brilliant stars.

Some of these stars were very bright and large, hidden in the depths of darkness, while others seemed nearby yet remained untouchable.

Wh-Lumian's pupils, clear and dreamy like a highland lake, suddenly dilated.

He felt his Unaging potion had been completely digested!

What's going on?

How had it been fully digested right after drinking it and completing the advancement?

He hadn't even begun acting the role of a Demoness of Unaging yet!

Amid confusion, bewilderment, and perplexity, various thoughts flashed through Lumian's mind until he arrived at an extraordinarily joyful speculation:

This was brought about by the further awakening of Aurore's soul fragment!

Has Aurore further awakened through this state of being both inside and outside the mirror, through me and my Mirror Person? She's now effectively part of me, and any part of me can eventually be revived through the Mirror Person, so has she gained this characteristic too?

Given the name, surely the act of a Demoness of Unaging doesn't require maintaining an unaging mentality and appearance over hundreds or thousands of years? The unaging appearance is easily solved-a Demoness of Unaging naturally maintains their appearance. But an unaging mentality is much more difficult and would take a very long time. Yet Aurore is from thousands or tens of thousands of years ago, or even longer, and has been sleeping the whole time. Upon returning to reality in the current era, her mentality is indeed still quite young, completely unaging…

Aurore is now part of me, one of my aspects. If her mental, spiritual, and soul state perfectly matches the requirements of the Unaging potion, it's as if I match them too, so the potion naturally digested quickly...

Lumian nodded thoughtfully.

What made him happiest wasn't that the Unaging potion had been completely digested in such a short time, but that he had truly seen and felt Aurore's awakening.

This was indeed the first step in reviving Aurore!

Lumian continued examining the changes in his state.

Hmm, I can separate out Mirror Persons for special hiding, and since the potion is fully digested, it's increased to two.

I've truly gained the Petrification ability, no longer requiring hair contact. However, Petrification still can't take effect on targets across thin air-either it must spread inch by inch from nearby until it reaches and covers the enemy, or it must use the Demoness's spider silk to transmit the corresponding power…

My eyes are now equivalent to mirrors. Whatever I see can become a target for curses, and I can use my eyes as a medium along with my Mirror Person transformation to directly enter the mirror world.

If I manifest an incomplete Mythical Creature form, my hair will become serpents, each with a clear black and white eye on its head. Whatever these eyes see can be petrified from thin air...

My utilization of the mirror world has clearly strengthened. I can forcibly pull people of lower standing into the mirror world without them noticing. For Saints and Angels of equal or higher standing, success and detection depend on their state. I can even pull an entire house or street into the mirror world-what exactly gets pulled in is up to me, it doesn't have to be done as a whole...

I can now directly transmit power through the mirror world. Combined with Mirror Projection, I can sit at home and 'manifest' power anywhere in Trier using positioned mirrors. The power attached to this Mirror Projection cannot exceed Sequence 4...

"The Hunter pathway is still only at Sequence 5, with no new fusion abilities, but Precision can help me 'manifest' power in three different places.

All Mirror Projections cannot leave their corresponding mirror's reflection range...

At the Demoness of Unaging level, I can control mirrors within a fifteen-kilometer range and those I've visited before-this can cover an entire small city…

The Plague range has reached ten kilometers and can spread outward on its own, though the types of plagues haven't increased...

Each spider silk is now like my arm...

I can perfectly display the charm of women at every age, with skin condition and facial features either matching or contrasting....

As long as there's a physical medium, Curses can not only affect the target but also their direct relatives. With large-scale, special black magic, crucial media, and arrangements, curses might even harm Angels. Other aspects haven't changed much…

Other Demoness abilities have also improved accordingly...

That bizarre state of the Demoness of Black earlier really had nothing to do with the Demoness of Unaging itself, or perhaps it depends on which ritual was chosen during advancement?

After this examination, Lumian looked around, then traversed back to his bedroom.

By this time, Madam Magician was gone.

Madam Magician said that the magic robe couldn't be worn too long. After confirming you were fine, she left to get some rest and will return later," Jenna explained upon seeing him.

Franca asked eagerly, "Did the ritual succeed? Are you now a Demoness of Unaging?"

Her spiritual intuition told her this was the case.

Lumian nodded and smiled, "Yes, we reconciled."

Before Franca could ask more, he casually said, "The Unaging potion has also been completely digested."

"Huh?" "What?" Jenna and Franca exclaimed in surprise.

Lumian smiled at Franca. "If you became a Demoness of Unaging, you'd be able to digest the potion quickly too."

"Ah, me?" Franca paused, pointing at herself, then asked with some speculation, "Does the acting of a Demoness of Unaging focus on time scale and the unaging state?"

She thought carefully-she really was an ancient relic. and she truly wasn't aging now, in any aspect.

With a nod, Lumian replied, "I believe the most important acting principle is maintaining an unaging mentality over the erosion of time, over hundreds or thousands of years."

"It's true then..." Franca nodded slowly, "Did the Celestial Worthy make us hang on that light gate for thousands or tens of thousands of years, causing us to perfectly match such acting? His intentions were bad, but the outcome was good?"

Understanding what they were talking about. Jenna looked at Lumian and asked, "You relied on Aurore?"

"I now truly feel that Aurore is one of my aspects, a part of me," Lumian didn't hide it.

Jenna smiled with complex emotions and empathy, "That's wonderful."

She thought of her mother and father-she also had people she wanted to revive, but there was no hope now.

Lumian then told Franca and Jenna in great detail about his dialogue with his Mirror Person and his feelings during advancement, finally saying. "Reconciliation brings unity between the self in and outside the mirror. The other two methods probably don't work-the Mirror Person would remain one's male self.

"I think the prerequisite for reconciliation is that both parties have a common goal for which one is willing to sacrifice themselves, and the Mirror Person has no better options. Then negotiations become possible."

Franca fell into deep thought.

Lumian looked at Jenna and after some consideration said, "If earlier my Mirror Person had deceived me, instigated me, replaced me, since his core is male, the advancement ritual would have failed. From this, you could have determined that the one who came out of the mirror was the Mirror Person and responded accordingly.

"But for purely female demonesses, there isn't this restriction. If your Mirror Person replaced you, they could still perform the ritual and become a Demoness of Unaging. This would make it impossible for anyone to notice that the real you had been silently replaced."

"You think this might be related to the potential horrifying experiences pure female demonesses might face when advancing to Demoness of Unaging?" Jenna understood what Lumian was really trying to warn about.

Lumian nodded. "This surely isn't everything, but it might be part of it."

After talking further, Lumian asked Franca, "Do you want to perform the ritual today, or prepare for a while longer?"

Franca ruminated for a few seconds before saying, "I want to try.

"If my Mirror Person has my memories from before transmigrating, rather than being dominated by the original body's residual consciousness, I think.. I think I might be able to persuade him."

***

Thanks to the user "Максим Довбняк" for the chapters provided!