MTL - Mermaid Effect - Chapter 53

Book I: Lost ThingsTristan Abrascal is a thief, one of many making their living under the perpetual twilight of the greatest city in all of Vesper. Quick wit and a contract with a capricious goddess have always kept him one step ahead, until one night he crosses a line by accident that burns all the bridges he had left. But not all is lost, as his mentor offers a way out of peril that turns out to be more than a simple escape.It is also an opportunity to get even with the infanzones, the nobles he’s lived under all his life, and it so happens that Tristan has a full ledger’s worth of scores to settle with them.Lady Angharad Tredegar has fled halfway across the world, leaving behind a ruin of a life: her family butchered by a ruthless enemy, their estate torched and their nobility revoked. Yet no matter how far she flees the blades of assassins follow, and she finds herself growing desperate for any protection. She has one relative left to call on, her estranged uncle, but she finds that the safety he offers comes at a cost.Angharad has sworn revenge, however, and her honour will allow for no compromise. She will do what she must to survive so that one day bloody vengeance can be visited upon her enemies.The paths of the two take them to the doorstep of the Watch, but for desperate souls like them enrolment is a lost cause. They will have to do it the hard way instead, by surviving the trials on the isle known as the Dominion of Lost Things.Where every year many go, and few return.Book II: Good TreasonsThe trials of the Dominion are over.The four survivors have become students of Scholomance, enrolling together as a cabal, yet even on those infamous grounds they soon learn none are beyond the reach of their pasts.Angharad Tredegar is returned to a semblance of the world she left behind, but finds her honor sorely tested by bargains offered - every bit as tempting as in the stories and even deadlier.Tristan Abrascal needs answers. Mysterious enemies keep trying to abduct him, his classroom does not exist and he’s now had several conversations with dead people. Worst of all, his carrots keep dying.Maryam Khaimov is going mad, which would worry her less if it were happening on schedule. More frightening yet is the possibility that she is not, and there truly is someone else going around wearing her face.Song Ren must forge the others into a functional unit, all the while fending off enemies on all sides: rival cabals, vengeful countrymen and the deluge of implacable foes her companions simply cannot seem to stop attracting.Failure is not an option, for Song must bring back honor to her family’s name whatever the cost: it is the only way to keep their disgrace from literally eating them all alive.And as the four chase shadows in Scholomance, in the distance looms the greater test awaiting them in the Asphodel Rectorate. Asphodel is a faded power, the rotten carcass of what it once was, but under that rot looms darker things - of which monsters might just be the least dangerous.Besides, is treason really such an evil when you have the best of reasons for it?

What would you do if you could control and use your Karma?

“You will be my wife one day.” Declared Liu Jun - the handsome and wealthy young master to his beloved childhood friend. He vowed to marry her at all costs. But that vow made him a villain. The woman he desired didn't return his love. Crazy and heartbroken, he crashed into her wedding, who was going to marry the love of her life, Liu Jin, unfortunately his own younger brother. Circumstances took a drastic turn, leaving him with only one choice to pay for his sins - His death. But fate gave him another chance. Liu Jun was reborn. In this new life, he chose to let go of his love and start anew. He discarded his villain's identity and closed his heart forever. But a new encounter and new troubles come knocking on his door with the secrets of his past life that even he doesn't know. Will the villainous Mr. Liu find his happy ending this time? *Excerpt* Ai said, “I forgot to clarify something. It seems you have a misunderstanding that I am interested in you because I stared at you.” Jun blinked once. “Rest assured that's not the case. I won't look at you that way. You are not my type.”

This story unfolds during the later stages of World War II, where a man, scarred by the horrors of war, finally grasps the profound and harsh realities of the world. In this world, those at the top laugh and celebrate, while those at the bottom sacrifice their lives in futile conflicts driven by pride and meaningless ambition.A modern soul transmigrates and fuses with the original soul of a body, creating a unique and extraordinary existence. To some, he is a villain; to others, a madman.In a world steeped in cruelty, this man, determined to secure a place among the decision-makers, struggles to break free from the ranks of those powerless to control their fate. To achieve his goal, he resolves to shatter the chains of law, then the chains of morality, and finally the chains of mediocrity.