Old Sage's True Body - Mystic Eyes of Enchantment!!!

At least 400 Contestants were attending the Night of Truce, belonging to both Chaos and Order.

Of these 400, six were of the 8th floor, excluding Old Sage, and twenty-three were of the 7th floor, the rest were, of course, bugs.

The moment the Lesser Bounded Field sprung up, cutting the happenings atop the mountain from the timeline, and anything that could remotely spy on the place ignoring the Mirror Dimension, all thirty higher floor Contestants' hearts thumped simultaneously.

At this stage, even if someone's Perception was just at the 1st Threshold, the combined effect of the Stats, along with the experiences, was enough to pick up on the subtle signs of mortal dangers.

Within the dome-like Mirror Dimension, tables of food, alcohol, and fruits were lined up on opposite sides.

In the middle, there were rows of chairs matching the Contestants' numbers, evenly divided by the path leading to the Supreme Protector in the middle.

Kai ignored the thirty Contestants, as they shared glances among each other, and beckoned Old Sage.

The hunched-back old man approached Kai as if willingly walking toward Death itself.

Brokenly, and probably with an empty mind, the Lead Protector took the seat next to Kai.

Even if he wanted to, he dared not look to his left lest he found the Supreme Protector looking back at him.

"Did you recognize it?" Kai asked, not unkindly.

She was but a child compared to the 1300-year-old Demon.

Even if she had gone through her Tournament, the years she must have spent couldn't have been remotely close to the time period of Kai's Survival on Island X.

Old Sage's throat went dry.

"Ma'am." The black-haired butler appeared to Old Sage's left like a phantom. "You forgot your drink."

"Oh! Haha!" Old Sage laughed ruefully, taking a glass of wine. "Thank you, uh… Ma'am…?!"

Old Sage's heart thumped out of his chest.

To the Lead Protector's sides, both Kai and Black chuckled.

"It doesn't matter…" the Butler said. "Ma'am… Mister… You can call me Black. I prefer Mister…"

Old Sage's mind was going numb.

How can this person… Old Sage, from the corner of his eyes, looked at the Supreme Protector. Does he know? Does he know about… How? That's… impossible…

The Supreme Protector's head shifted. "Nothing's impossible…"

Old Sage's body went taut.

"Drink." The Butler smiled at him.

"Thank you… Mr. Black." Old Sage hurriedly wetted his throat, not knowing if the cause behind the dryness was the monster to his left or the angel to his right.

"So?" Kai asked once Black left, making sure every Contestant got bugged by the Ad Infinitum before the final event.

They didn't want a Contestant with Blessing to bring unnecessary variations.

"Boun… Bounded Field…" Old Sage stuttered out, a drop of wine spilling off his red lips.

Kai didn't correct her. For her to recognize the Bounded Field, just based on runes, was already a magnificent feat.

"Your Mindscape is one of the best I have seen among all the Contestants I have met so far," Kai praised. "It's been so long, but there's still a part of it that I haven't decoded."

Old Sage would never know for a long time how vast a matter it was for him to be praised by Kai.

The entire Night of Truce stopped to exist in his thoughts. The food, tables, people, and the very earth and the false sky vanished from his vision.

Old Sage looked to his left like a mechanical doll. "My lord…"

Kai's smile shone like the vilest thing from under the hood.

This was what he truly admired about the girl.

Old Sage was a loner, just like him. Till now, only those who had Blessings, or those who were backed up by the Temples, had survived the full onslaught of the Ad Infinitum.

For Old Sage to have a part of her mind still defending against the AI's subtle attacks, she truly deserved to be the next Top-level 9th floor Contestant, Kai believed.

Old Sage took a deep breath, his survival instincts kicking in like never before.

Even during the Tournament of Worth, he hadn't felt so helpless and on the verge of losing his existence.

"It's the effect of my Mystic Eyes, my lord," Old Sage explained, bowing his head.

Kai's eyes narrowed. "From… Fate?"

Old Sage nodded.

"… Mystic Eyes… Magical Circuits… Hmm…" Kai brooded, remembering the details he had learned from Meg. But even the fallen 13th-floor Contestant didn't know much about it.

Among all the Random Worlds, the Fate timelines remained one of the deadliest Random Worlds for the Contestants, having a collective Main Mission passing percentage for all Contestants less than 1%.

It was not only because of the timeline's inherent relation to the Mana but also because there were storyline Characters in the Fate Random Worlds, who knew Contestants' existences and… experimented on them.

That's why, for the Contestants of the 1st to 3rd Set to get a Main Mission in the Fate timelines was nothing short of a death warrant.

That's also why Kai hadn't jumped to any Fate-based Random World as his greatest trump card, Limitless Blood Firmament, was a Reality Marble; a concept known, used, and decoded widely by many storyline Characters there.

Kai looked at the Compass before looking Old Sage, the Ad Infinitum coming up with hundreds of theories.

"Your Initiation Mission was in a Fate timeline?" he asked.

"...… Yes, my lord."

"You have a Multiverse ID?"

"… Yes, my lord."

"Do you want to live?"

"Yes, my lord."

"Alright."

As Old Sage's heart became the size of pea under the pressure of Kai's questions, the Contestants had all taken their seats, as requested by the butler, Mr. Black.

"… My lord…" Old Sage stuttered.

"Yes?"

"… my body…"

Kai smiled. "I don't care, Old Sage. What matters is that your true body is also here… I don't care what shell you use to hide yourself in."

"… How?"

The hair on the back of Old Sage's neck stood up, knowing that the Supreme Protector was looking at him.

"… Curiosity is a double-edged sword, child," Kai told her. "Do you really want to know?"

Old Sage gulped. It didn't matter what would happen tonight, if he didn't learn the answer, he would certainly die. "Yes."

Kai smiled, seeing a hint of himself in her.

Curiosity had always been a part of his life as well.

"You have hidden your true body inside this shell, wrapping it under a strange field. Perhaps these Mystic Eyes you spoke of… are related to Enchantment, if I am not wrong," he said, analyzing it right in front of her. "Any scan using Mana or Breath or even Life is useless as the field lets them pass right through it without letting them touch you."

Old Sage nodded, licking his lips.

"But… there is a group of people… to whom you stand out like a lighthouse."

No… Old Sage seemed petrified. He… He is a …

The Faceless Men!!!

With Kai's one thought, Telekinesis ran amok in Old Sage's body.

A boom resounded across the venue, taking the Contestants by surprise.

The 8th-floor Contestant, who had been sitting next to the Supreme Protector, had exploded in a mass of flesh and blood.

In his place, now covered in blood, was a child.

She looked barely 13-year-old. Short blue hair and blue eyes behind round glasses, she was wearing a white shirt and black mini skirt.

Then, an unseen wave swept by her, cleaning her of the filth.

She was the true Old Sage — Contestant Tina!!!

All Contestants looked at her with their mouths open.

Even after hearing about the Old Sage for so long, no one had ever imagined that he was also a… puppet.

**************

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