Mage Manual-Chapter 630 - 505 The Princess with Amnesia Has Already Returned Home

"Lissdia?"

Ash’s lips trembled slightly, wanting to praise how nice the name sounded, but the words wouldn’t come out. Instead, it was as if a sponge had soaked up all his strength and blocked his throat.

"It’s impossible, you’re clearly called Liss, stop joking around... and you’re not some naive girl either, you’re suspicious and mischievous, how could you possibly, how could you possibly..."

"How could you possibly be the First Gospel!"

The last outcry Ash almost roared, the first time he ever shouted at the little girl before him. When he took a deep breath, trying to calm his emotions, the cold morning air seemed to sting his nostrils, making him cough twice, coughing so hard that tears came out.

He wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes with his palm, but his face became dirtier and more smudged the more he wiped. Having rolled around in the rain last night, the bridge before the parking lot had nearly broken from the aftermath of his and the Holy Sanctuary Mages’ battle, covered with countless splatters of dirt and gravel, and then riding back to the Imperial Palace on a nearly scrapped crow-motorcycle, his face had already been coated in grime and now as he rubbed it in, of course, it turned into a mess.

"I’m sorry you had to see this," Ash tried to clean his face with his sleeve, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly, but the light in his eyes slowly dimmed: "All dirty and without having showered, I just sat here and fell asleep, I’m really sorry..."

"Sorry..."

His voice trailed off into a sobbing choke, he covered his face and bent over as if he was afraid to face the person in front of him.

"Passion is a comedy, though it cannot traverse mountains and seas, it can bring you joy; wit is a drama, though it can reveal the dark side of humanity, it also lets you hear the hymns of human nature; only when passion and wit coalesce it forms a tragedy."

Lissdia held Ash’s head in her arms: "Because you are wise enough to have already known the truth, yet too passionate to deceive yourself." fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓

Ash took deep breaths, mustered his spirits and looked up at her, but upon seeing Lissdia’s face, he broke down again, feeling as if his heart had split, unable to catch his breath.

He thought he would have escaped disaster—when he first lost Liss, he opened his spirit to let Yayin invade, not just for revenge, but to protect himself.

When it hurts, imagine you’re someone else, and the pain is gone.

But this time, without Yayin as a substitute, Ash had to consume the self-service meal that fate had served him, to witness firsthand how cruel reality was to him. It was then Ash realized how terribly he had treated Igula and Harvey—what right did he have to think of himself as more normal than the two of them?

The only difference between them was that Ash was only now experiencing the worst day of his life.

Yes, starting from the moment he saw the First Gospel altered, from the moment he saw her unscathed in front of him, from the moment he saw her familiar yet strange face, Ash had guessed everything.

—Liss had taken his place as a sacrifice to the Divine Being.

"Liss, where is she?" Ash’s voice was hoarse: "Is she gone?"

"She’s still here, just asleep," Lissdia said, "She wanted to see you too, but she couldn’t. Because the Gospel Society clears all the extraneous noise until the host is left with nothing but the perfectly fitting voice."

"But why do you still have self-consciousness?" Ash immediately regretted the question as soon as it slipped out: "No, I mean—"

"You don’t have to apologize, I know you care only for Liss, to you, I’m just a stranger with the same appearance as Liss." Lissdia smiled: "If I could, I too would wish for her to remain, not me. But only I perfectly fit the Gospel’s requirements, even if I let her take my place, her consciousness would be eroded by the new notes... You wouldn’t want that to happen."

Of course, Ash wouldn’t want that, because he had experienced it himself. His own spirit was savagely beaten by ’Gospel Ash’, his soul forcibly invaded by Yayin, losing control of his soul piece by piece, helplessly watching himself step towards annihilation... That powerless and resigned feeling, he did not want to taste it a second time.

"As for why I can still retain my consciousness, it’s because I’m very similar to the Gospel, and also due to some fortunate encounters, so when the Gospel was just a bit away from completely merging with me, I could stop it."

Lissdia explained: "If we were to be compared to clothes, the Gospel would immediately feel discomfort wearing you, so it had to turn you into ’Yayin size’ to fit; whereas it fits me very well. So, when I deliberately left one button undone, the Gospel doesn’t feel uneasy and naturally doesn’t rush to turn me into ’note size’."

"That’s why I can retain my self-consciousness while still controlling a part of the Gospel’s authority, and save Hanna and the others. However, this is just the Gospel’s mercy." Seeing Ash about to speak, she continued: "Twelve hours after the ’Gospel List’ updates, the rankings will be firmly established. Even if I match it perfectly, it will smooth out all the wrinkles of the garment and cleanse the last bits of noise from my mind, and from then on, there will be no Lissdia, only notes."

"How much time is left?"

"Ninety-three minutes," Lissdia said: "It’s enough time."

Ash no longer had time to consider her underlying words, wracking his brain for other ways out: "Don’t you have an older sister Nina? Could you let her come—"

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