Mage Manual-Chapter 1360 - 995: You Are My Sense of Touch

From the very beginning, everyone who knew the inside story wondered about one thing—

Why did the Gods of Four Pillars take part in the Angel Hunt?

The Divine Lords aimed to ascend to the supreme rank, but the Four Pillars did not covet the Supreme Holy Grail; they didn’t even send substitutes like demons to compete for it. Yet, the Four Pillars laid out their plans earlier than any Divine Lord, even the Dazzling Star Four Pillars God Sect served this purpose. Heath began infiltrating the Kingdom of Allstars eight years ago, and if not for Ash’s unexpected appearance, the Four Pillars would have held an almost infinite advantage in Allstars. It can be said that this Angel Hunt was a thousand-year conspiracy between the Four Pillars and the six Divine Lords against the Source Angel.

What exactly are they trying to do? What exactly are they trying to obtain?

Now, everyone finally sees the answer.

"Rose...?" Ash stared blankly at the girl beside him. Previously, Rose often wore professional attire, simple and efficient, with a strong beauty. But now she was extremely splendid, wearing pure white lace gloves and lace garter stockings, a dress with a short front and long back, luxurious and bright fireworks hair ornaments, and small sequins pasted beside her eyes, as pure as a songstress ready to perform, yet as wickedly charming as a lover under ambiguous lights.

The only things that still made Ash feel familiar were the butterfly ribbon hairband she wore and her expressionless gaze.

"I am the Songstress of Firefly Radiance, governing thoughts, memories, and will." Her slender fingers slipped onto Ash’s chest, her delicate face brushed gently against Ash’s face, a gesture seeming to relax her, slightly narrowing her eyes.

"But as for perception, you can call me whatever you like. You have the right to define my image. Since you say so, then I am the Songstress of Firefly Radiance, Rose."

"Perception?" Ash murmured, "Am I your perception too?"

"You are my first sense for perceiving the world; you are naturally my perception." Rose glanced at the Sea of Knowledge, Time Continent, Dream Stairs, Hell, and Heaven. Void Realm creatures swept by her gaze lowered their humble heads, golden fish surged, White Bull began walking again, Hell gods fell silent, Heaven Lords displayed complex expressions.

She again looked at the Dazzling Star atop Ruby Mountain, feeling a bit uneasy for some reason, tightly hugged Ash from behind, tilted her head to look at Ash, and asked softly, "Is this our world?"

This was the moment Ash fully understood that she was not the Source Angel Rose, she was the fifth Pillar God, Rose. The Source Angel was already dead, what was born was the fifth Pillar God, a newborn baby, an ignorant great being.

No wonder the Four Pillars wanted to kill the Source Angel, no wonder the Source Angel would be hostile towards the Four Pillars, so that’s how it is, so that’s how it is!

Ash recalled when the Four Pillars completely turned him into perception, he saw this message in the Illusion Realm:

"Once upon a time, there were eight."

"The first one died, its corpse lay in a pool of blood."

"Then the second one died, its corpse lay atop the first one, it did not bleed, but a tiny white soul emerged from the wound below, the white soul lifted the second corpse."

"The third one died, its soul was eaten by the fifth one, yet its corpse ran away."

"The fourth one died, its corpse turned into mountains, yet its soul ran away."

"The fifth one who ate the third soul sat on the mountain to sleep, the sixth one tried to sneak attack but was counter-killed by it, the corpse split into six parts, yet the soul ran away."

"The sixth corpse was held up by the fifth one."

"The seventh one also died, its corpse split into eight parts, but one part of the corpse ran away."

"The eighth one disappeared."

"Now, it’s time to kill the fifth one."

The Source Angel is the fifth one! Those runaway corpses and souls became the Four Pillars, and the remaining corpse turned into the Void Realm!

No wonder the Four Pillars claim to be the masters of the Void Realm. They actually understated it; they are the Void Realm itself!

Limited by information and vision, Ash had not previously connected the Source Angel and the seven layers of the Void Realm, but according to the Four Pillars’ information, since the Source Angel is dead, it implies that the seventh layer of the Void Realm will also be born! This also explains why all Divine Lords want to murder the Source Angel—not only because of the Void Wings and Realm but because without the seventh layer of the Void Realm, they cannot possibly ascend to the true Supreme Rank despite exhausting millions of years!

The Void Realm itself is a world piled with corpses!

Although it’s unknown what the eight entities truly are, it is precisely because they died that there are now seven layers of the Void Realm, the Five Pillar Gods, and mage civilization!

Ash noticed a secret that even the Divine Lord might not know: when the first and second ones died, there were no bodies or souls that escaped, so no Pillar Gods were formed. However, the golden fish in the Sea of Knowledge and the White Bull of the Time Continent are rarely found in other places, and it’s highly likely that the golden fish and White Bull were beings that almost became Pillar Gods.

If mages merely seek to seize power and the conflict with the Source Angel is merely a struggle of interests, then the Four Pillar Gods and the Source Angel are irreconcilable, unable to coexist. Because as long as the Source Angel lives, the Four Pillar Gods cannot welcome new companions!

No matter what realm mages ascend to, they are fundamentally different from them, even the Source Angel is merely their predecessor, like a butterfly does not consider a caterpillar to be its kind.

Only the Dazzling Songstress is the new member they’ve awaited for thousands of years!

As for why the Source Angel is hostile to the Four Pillar Gods, besides the malice of the Four Pillar Gods, it might also be because it considers the Four Pillar Gods to be a kind of ’blasphemy’. If it has the concept of comrades, the Four Pillar Gods born from the corpses of its comrades may appear to it as something akin to maggots.

Ash remembers when the Source Angel Rose said that she had four dolls to step on.

So the Source Angel is destined to die, because mages want the seven layers of the Void Realm to be born, the Four Pillar Gods want new members to emerge, and yet this Source Angel has guarded the Ruby Mountain summit for countless years, composing half a Mage’s Handbook for each mage who reaches the summit via the Path of Origin, without a name, without a past, without a future, never needed by anyone from the very beginning.

She has been trapped in the Allstars prison for so long, without even one person to rescue her, and she never expected anyone to save her. She doesn’t care about her own life and death at all, drifting along, leaving it to fate, she has lived longer than Vishi, yet hasn’t even learned to resent.

When she drove Ash and them to break her own Silver Illusion Wings, Golden Illusion Wings, and Rainbow Illusion Wings, what was she thinking? When the Supreme Holy Grail was forcibly extracted from the Canaan, what was she enduring? Did she ever hope for anything when she tried to grasp Ash’s fingers?

Such a beautiful encounter now, only because the regret was so deep.

"Could you call me Ash," Ash said hoarsely: "I don’t like the name ’Tactile’."

"No." Rose unexpectedly shook her head: "You are my ’Tactile’, not allowed to become someone else’s Ash."

"You need to protect me well, and I’ll also shelter you properly."

Ash stared at her blankly, then pursed his lips tightly, his expression a mix of smile and cry, as if the Fifth Pillar God also took away his girl. He brushed Rose’s face with the back of his hand, their foreheads touching as he softly said: "It would have been nice if you said things like this earlier."

Rose tilted her head, her black hair cascading like water, a slight confusion on her face, as if questioning whether her words weren’t early enough? She’s spoken fewer than ten sentences to him, what a strange ’Tactile’.

"Though I don’t mind you being intimate with other women," Weiser said, "but that’s contingent on me participating... If there isn’t another fallback, the Source Crystal you left for me will be exhausted!"

This move by Dazzling Star of the Star Sword Wonder is far from being a one-hit blow, even though Weiser successfully blocked it, the Star Sword immediately transformed into countless Star Traces, entwining the silver light barrier, changing the surrounding environment into a Starry Sky, cleverly attacking and creating a battlefield, as time passes the offensive becomes fiercer, Weiser’s Silver Lamp realm can withstand the initial Star River inversion, but under the current Thousand-Star Radiance it’s on the verge of collapse!

Ash nodded, and said to Rose: "Dazzling Star destroyed the world of Allstars, stole the Supreme Holy Grail, ruined our final memory, can you help us?"

"Memories cannot be destroyed, longing is the most dazzling firefly in this world, dyeing everything of ours with our color." Rose reached from behind to cover the back of Ash’s hand, her fingers locking into his, looking as if she was about to assist him, "What doesn’t belong to you, will slip away no matter how tightly you grasp it, what belongs to you, will be yours even if you let go."

Her song sounds so distant, yet it can pluck the heartstrings of fate:

"As I wished, dazzling firefly."

Rose pulled Ash’s hand, and the whole world was drawn out into threads!

The Heavenly Curtain, the earth, Igula and other mages, and even the void that was already empty, were drawn by Ash and the Fifth Pillar God into threads full of memory. No matter how far the distance, whether or not they no longer existed, they must reveal hidden traces at this moment, because longing can penetrate all time and space, even fate must give way.

Those slender threads, seemingly about to break at a touch, are displaying the cities they’ve visited, the people they’ve met, the good things they’ve eaten, the activities they’ve participated in. In the cable car, in the alley, in the gift shop, and many more memories stained with autumn’s blue sea and winter’s white city, marching like a vast army to their battlefield.

The Demon Maid turned her head, seeing even the place where Nia disappeared being drawn into threads. She gazed at the mountain peak gathering threads, fully aware that the opposite was a divinely powerful Divine Lord, and Ash merely a mage with potential, but she couldn’t help but hope for a Miracle.

"Is it more sorrowful to chase a Phantom than a person chasing a Phantom?" Vishi murmured: "I await your answer, Master."