From Negary's reply Eyre received the Great Magus' secret order as well as a clearer understanding of the current situation.
At first, Eyre naturally believed that this was Negary's attempt at deceiving him, but due to the Great Magus' strange attitude after his return to the House of Mages as well as certain matters that occurred later on, his opinion slowly shifted to believing the matters written within the secret order.
[Life Bearer is in the process of taking over the Great Magus]
This terrifying statement was actually the truth, and even the Great Magus had to resort to minor tricks, causing subtle disturbances to direct other powerful entities to help him escape.
Then, how did Life Bearer take control of the Great Magus?
Several people couldn't help but turn their gazes towards the Mana Fetus. The Mana Fetus was the most Life-related entity by the Great Magus' side, wasn't it?
"The Great Magus had fallen into a dying state not too long ago, so in order to rejuvenate himself, he reached out to Life Bearer"
"The Mana Fetus was originally a dependent God of the elven Lord God Scion of Life, and the Scion of Life was killed at the hands of Life Bearer, who then obtained the Divine Artifact of the Scion of Life"
"The Great Magus cooperated with Life Bearer to use those artifacts to rectify the Mana Fetus, giving it the capability to rebirth even the Great Magus" Eyre loudly explained.
"But to cooperate with a God is also to look down an abyss while standing at its edge, a precarious operation where one would fall in at any moment"
"While the Great Magus was powerful, he was also afraid of falling into the abyss, so he had made his preparations. He handed me a unique invitation to be delivered to the town of Lohr for Sir Negary, thus drawing the attention of Negary and the Sun Shadow Church. If the Great Magus had failed, this would be his greatest contingency plan"
"As you might have already known, the Great Magus had failed, that was why he resorted to using this contingency plan with what little resistance he had left. During this process, he also guided me through certain events to eventually discover the secret order within the reply" Eyre continued to explain while breathing heavily.
"It was the secret order that told me all of this, as well as providing a method to confirm it. If the Great Magus had only been rejuvenated through the Mana Fetus, then the essence of his mana wouldn't have changed; but if he was under Life Bearer's control, then his mana would have been irreconcilably altered" Eyre raised the secret order in his hand, showing its entire content to everyone: "Please use the truth to prove my mistake, Great Magus Stim!"
"An interesting tale, however…" Stim's expression remained calm: "I have no need to prove who I am. Akasha's presence next to me represents the Grand Library is still under my control, and I declare that Eyre is a traitor, kill him"
Behind Stim, the House of Mages felt a bit between a rock and a hard place, not knowing who exactly to help. Eyre had produced evidence that no one could confirm to be real or fake, while Stim's refusal to display his mana essence also suggested that there were issues with him.
〖 His grace the Great Magus had also predicted this and left several hidden hands all over the Academic City, all of which would be exposed in case he failed 〗the bald 'Negary' suddenly spoke up: 〖 I've also sent members of the Impure Hermit Order to investigate and remain hidden within the city to continuously report any abnormalities 〗
〖 For example, Michael Mobis, a member of the House of Mages who acted as a hidden card for the Great Magus. Because he also needed to reincarnate, Michael performed a reincarnation ritual within the Mobis Institute, through which we were able to discover traces of Life Bearer 〗
〖 My people who were sent to investigate the Mobis Institute caused the explosive incident several days ago and ended the ritual prematurely. However, Michael still ended up rejuvenated with a new life, this second Michael was now able to use techniques unique to Life Bearer 〗
〖 This proves that the hidden preparations placed on Michael had been removed by Life Bearer, and he had also been converted to one of their minions 〗
The bald 'Negary' declared as he stood a bit away from the 'Negary' who was creating abominable lifeforms, their gazes met briefly before calmly breaking off again. All of 'Negary's' abnormalities had been perfectly explained.
In fact, 'Negary' suspected that the bald 'Negary' didn't even know that he was also one of Negary's clones, thus using this as a way to maintain secrecy of the original Negary's alliance with Life Bearer.
〖 During our investigation, the most crucial clue had also been unearthed 〗bald 'Negary' then gestured for Killer J to move forward.
In front of everyone, Killer J manifested a red glowing dagger in his hand and slashed open space itself, opening the way into a crimson sub-space with a 7-8 years old little girl inside.
As soon as the little girl stepped out, the Mana Fetus that had only been moving instinctively up to this point abruptly roared, its body madly struggled to get free, but invisible threads of mana had tightly restrained the Mana Fetus to ensure that she wouldn't lose control.
〖 The Great Magus Stim had captured an Evil God and removed her consciousness to modify her body into the Mana Fetus, but an Evil God's consciousness wasn't so easily destroyed, so it had only been infused into another medium and sealed away 〗
〖 Lisa was the original name of the Evil God, as well as her current name 〗the bald 'Negary' held onto the little girl and spoke with a serious tone.
〖 It was the Great Magus' hidden guidance that allowed me to find Lisa. If the Great Magus wasn't under someone else's control, he wouldn't have been so foolish as to hand such an important factor to us, would he? 〗
〖 Furthermore, we've also obtained an important piece of information from Lisa 〗
〖 When the Great Magus and Life Bearer cooperated to rectify the Mana Fetus, the Scion of Life's Divine Artifact had actually not fused with the Mana Fetus. Instead, it became the medium for Life Bearer's descent and hid within the Mana Fetus' body 〗
〖 Due to the Divine Artifact, the Great Magus' control over the Mana Fetus was reduced. Without realizing this, when the Great Magus entered the Mana Fetus to undergo rebirth, he was invaded and taken control of by the Divine Artifact 〗
〖 Additionally, Lisa had also informed me of another crucial matter, that is the Scion of Life's Divine Artifact continued to remain inside the Mana Fetus. While the Great Magus couldn't compete against a Righteous God, he was still a Demigod, so he couldn't be completely taken over in such a short time 〗
〖 This also put Life Bearer into an awkward position. By helping me send Lisa back to the Mana Fetus, Life Bearer would lose control over the Divine Artifact, and the Great Magus will be free; at the same time, the Divine Artifact will truly become the nutrients for his rebirth 〗
〖 Being reborn with the nutrients from a Divine Artifact, even I feel tempted 〗
The bald 'Negary's' words caused the mages to all be shocked, successfully rousing their greed. These mages understood the immense difference between a mage and a God, they didn't even have the courage to take on the power of an Evil God, let alone a Righteous God.
However, if they were to be rebirthed with the energy of an elven divine artifact, wouldn't that grant them the qualifications to become a God as well?
While they rationally understood they couldn't get involved with this, their greed was the stronger driving force. Earlier, they were able to hold back from pursuing the Mana Fetus because the Mana Banquet was a decadal event, and they would always have another chance. Their greed couldn't drive them forward before because the benefits didn't outweigh the risks, but once that scale tilted the other way around, their greed became impossible to suppress.
There were also problems like how 'Negary' would take control of the Mana Fetus once Lisa returned to it, or how they'd take the Mana Fetus and gain that chance of rebirth, as well as how they'd survive after the rebirth, etc., but all of them understood a single fact: Acting right now meant that they would have a chance, and not acting meant they had essentially crossed the peak of their life, it could only go downhill from here.
And so, the mages silently took distance from Great Magus Stim one after another.
