Chapter 1780 - 1317: The Final Leg of the Journey

"There’s something I’ve wanted to ask you for a long time, Lord... Lord of Mirrors."

"You’ve discovered it, huh." The Mirror Demon showed a faint smile: "Death Mad always calls me the Mirror Demon. The only place you’ve heard the title ’Lord of Mirrors’ is in the Divine Fire Trial of the Kingdom of Senluo."

"Since I learned about the existence of the ’Observer’, I’ve thought of the brother who reminisced with me during the Divine Fire Trial." Ash’s tone was somewhat complex: "I was sad over his death for nothing... even hated Silver Lamp because of it... although she was indeed a heinous villain back then..."

"After those few days of interaction, the Observer’s opinion of you has become much higher." The Mirror Demon chuckled: "Before this, he considered you the ’worst Ash ever.’"

"Though your tone seems like you’re happy for me, I really don’t see anything impressive about self-recognition..." Ash’s mouth twitched: "If I traveled back to elementary school and praised my younger self for good grades, I guess my younger self would just expect me to give a tangible reward, like a game console or cash. He and I are the same person, him praising me is still self-praise—"

"You’re not the same person!" Death Mad and the Mirror Demon immediately retorted in a serious tone.

Ash blinked and laughed: "Alright, alright, I’m not him."

"So what do you want to ask?"

"I want to ask, do you still love the Observer to this day, Lord of Mirrors?"

Death Mad widened his eyes and looked over, even the Black Demon who was immersed in his own world raised his head.

The Mirror Demon stumbled slightly and nearly twisted his ankle, but relying on powerful body technique, he smoothly turned and nonchalantly asked, "With everything going on, this is all you want to know?"

Ash spoke softly: "I’m curious, after all, you’ve buried so many worlds and experienced so much adventure... speaking of which, how long have you known each other?"

"Not very long, almost 11 days short of 765 years," the Mirror Demon casually replied.

Death Mad suddenly asked, "Mirror Demon, do you remember what day we escaped the doomsday world?"

The Mirror Demon looked puzzled: "Huh? Who would remember what day it was?"

"You don’t even remember the day we left the world, yet you know how long you’ve known the Observer?" Death Mad was visibly shocked: "Moreover, when we travel across world lines, time is chaotic, without day or night, I long since abandoned calculating my age and the time I’ve experienced because it’s meaningless... Wait, so you’re not counting by day and night, you’re using perceived time!? You treat the day you met the Observer as an anchor point and have been recording to this moment?"

The Black Demon was also somewhat frightened: "Mirror Demon, aren’t you being a bit too extreme?"

The Mirror Demon’s lips trembled, as if self-sabotaging, he said: "It’s none of your business."

"I had guessed the answer long ago, but didn’t expect your answer to be so specific." Ash was also somewhat shocked: "Actually been in love for 765 years... to be honest, I find it hard to imagine, I’m only in my twenties now, seven hundred years is too grand a scale for me, can a feeling really last seven hundred years? And I heard you two got married and divorced—"

"We didn’t divorce." The Mirror Demon weakly rebutted: "At least he never formally proposed."

Ash asked, "Then has your feelings not deteriorated over the years? Falling for someone else, losing hope, loving turning into hatred... never happened?"

"They did happen, several times I hated him so much I bit my lip, even for atonement after all these years I should be released." The Mirror Demon said, gritting his teeth, yet her voice sounded as pitiful as a lovelorn girl: "But he always silently encouraged me and helped me during those times, I really..."

"Hahaha," the Black Demon ridiculed: "Always falling for it, you dumb woman, can’t you see he’s just using you?"

"It’s all use, why does he care about my mood but not yours?" The Mirror Demon retorted sarcastically: "Could it be you’re jealous, Black Demon?"

"Ah!!!!????"

Death Mad promptly restrained the rampaging Black Demon, the Mirror Demon turned to see the nearby audience Ash, whose face was written with ’are you going to fight, please start fighting’ and took a deep breath: "Why am I discussing this with you... boring."

"He probably finds it novel," Death Mad coldly laughed: "He’s always watched his own woman argue, first time seeing others’ women argue."

Ash struggled to maintain composure from Death Mad’s satire, the Mirror Demon coldly inquired: "Any other questions? If your final wish before dying is to know about our love life, you can only die with regret."

"This is enough, Lord of Mirrors, your answer gives me peace."

"Peace?"

"The Lord of Mirrors can like the Observer for seven hundred years, so surely Weiser can like me for just as long," Ash said softly. "After all, I can only guarantee my own mood, and now with you as a reference, I believe my feelings for Silver Lamp can remain eternally deep."

The Mirror Demon glanced at him and said ghostly, "You can’t compare to the Observer."

"I know." Ash gave her a sideways glance, chuckling lightly, "But you can’t compare to Weiser either."

"Is that your final parting word? The Mage’s Handbook will remember it." The Mirror Demon walked to a rock wall connecting to the fourth level of Hell and began climbing barehanded. Seemingly intent on causing trouble, her climbing speed was sometimes fast, sometimes slow, making the already dizzy Ash nearly brain-dead from the swaying.

Ash felt his brain almost scrambling: "I meant to ask earlier, why isn’t Youmo always carrying me, but instead she changed to you halfway?"

"Because we want to materialize, we must burn our essence in your heart," the Mirror Demon explained. "Colors that could originally support us in upending and destroying the world dozens of times, can only pay for your fare along a section of the road in this gray-white Hell."

"But we will surely take you out of Hell." The Mirror Demon glanced sideways at Ash, "Let you see the last sight of someone you cherish."

"We are just robbing you while you’re down, taking everything from you. No matter how much you despise us, accompanying you through this final stretch is the last thing we can do for you."

"I don’t actually hate you all," Ash said softly, "You’ve been helping me from beginning to end."

"Without you, I couldn’t have possibly slain the devouring World Snake; without you, I would have already become the gray-white Chaos down there, unable to hang on till now. If we look far back, without you, without Aurora’s Mage Manual, I might have already died in Shattered Lake Prison."

"Originally, I could only wait for the worst outcome, but you offered me another choice, a not-so-bad choice." Ash said calmly, "Of course, I don’t want you to take away my life, but I’m not selfish enough to think you should selflessly give your lives to me."

The Mirror Demon gave him a look, remained silent, and climbed vigorously to the fourth level of Hell. At this time, the Divine Domain of the fourth level was barely maintaining its dignity as the root of Magic, its white rather fierce, black more colorful, not yet turned into dead gray.

"Sometimes I really wonder if you and the Observer share the same soul," the Mirror Demon suddenly said. "He is the sage who can deceive Fate, and you are the playground’s cheeky fatty..."

"Being less than Weiser makes you bear a grudge for so long..?"

"But in this one aspect, you two are quite similar." The Mirror Demon gave him a glance, her cold, melancholic face showing a faint smile, "This kind of openness to Fate is really charming."

"Of course, in terms of Charm, you don’t compare to a single hair strand of the Observer." She tossed Ash out, "Black Demon, it’s your turn."

"It’s finally my turn!"

Ash was grabbed by the Black Demon, seeing the undisguised malice on the young girl’s face, his voice trembling: "Death Mad, can we change..."

"It’s all the same anyway." Death Mad said leisurely, "Sooner or later, you’ll walk some distance with the Black Demon."

"Ob~ser~ver~baby~" The Black Demon pinched Ash’s face hard, murky red light in her eyes, "Mommy will pamper you~"

"Enjoy the rare motherly love," the Mirror Demon waved her hand, "Then...farewell, Ash."

With that, the Mirror Demon also dissipated.

The Black Demon, though looking intent on making Ash suffer, didn’t actually do much, just carried Ash on her back to hurry along. Due to her being a lot smaller in build than Ash, carrying him made Ash feel like a general riding a dog.

After a moment, with still nothing happening, Ash exhaled in relief. He knew the extent of Black Demon’s malice toward him; to her, he was the best substitute for the Observer. Black Demon was subservient to the Observer, but dared to strike aggressively at him, longing to vent that massive, nearly heavy malice upon him. Thinking carefully, it’s quite a loss; among the Four Demon Lords of the End, those who liked the Observer wouldn’t necessarily like him, but those who hated the Observer would thus hate him. However...

Ash looked at the Black Demon’s long inky black hair, stained by merging countless colors, gradually relaxing his body.

"Once I have a body, I’ll let Lissdia endure suffering."

The Black Demon paused, not hearing any response from behind, then continued on her own, "I know Death Mad promised not to disturb them... but how could they always be protected? I’ll patiently wait for the opportunity; I lack nothing but patience. Nothing excites me more than tormenting Lissdia. She won’t die, and compared to eternal suffering, Death is but a moment’s pleasure. I’ll first slay all she cherishes, one by one, day by day, bit by bit taking her precious things, letting her realize living itself is an endless Despair."

"Even if you know what I’m going to do, you can’t stop me."

The Black Demon emphasized each word, the resentful voice mixed with an ominous symphony:

"You can do nothing, nor protect anything!"