Magician in Type-Moon

Page 592

and so--

Chapter 626 Trump Card (This chapter was posted in the wrong place, please do not subscribe!)

That shared respect for Lord Norwich was like a brief beam of light across a deep pool, quickly replaced by more obscure and profound topics.

Matouchi's gaze refocused, sharp as ever.

He did not dwell on reminiscing about the wise men of the past; time was relentlessly passing, and he had to get to the heart of the matter.

"Legend has it that children taken away by the gods receive both blessings and curses," Matou Ike's voice was deep and clear as he quoted the ancient legend.

“But what he received was not a blessing, but a pure curse.” This assertion set the tone for the nature of Hartres’s supernatural ability—not a gift, but a calamity.

"The doctor said that no matter what machine they use to test you, they can't find your heart."

He recounted Dr. Gulot's chilling discovery. Modern medicine, and even magical detection methods, could not detect any trace of the beating heart within Hartrace's chest.

This is by no means a simple physiological abnormality, but rather a distortion that touches upon the very essence of existence.

"Where the lost heart is located, there probably exists some kind of rift-like alternate dimension that can be manipulated like imaginary magic, right?"

Matouike's speculation was bold yet accurate.

He deduced that the “empty” space in the heart was not nothingness, but rather maintained by a heterogeneous existence, like a spatial rift, related to the concept of “imaginary numbers.”

This crack is the source of his superpower, a core that can be manipulated as the highest-level "imaginary number magic"!

"Correct answer."

The red-haired magician nodded frankly, a bitter smile that was almost self-deprecating even appearing on his face.

This insight has clearly touched upon his deepest secrets.

"Haha, so I almost die every time I use it."

Hartres suddenly laughed, but there was no joy in his laughter, only a deep pain and a sense of absurdity.

"It's like cutting open your heart."

He used the most vivid metaphor to describe the price of using this power—each time it was used, it was like personally stabbing an invisible blade into the void rift that sustained life, bringing excruciating pain on the verge of death.

"Your name is Heartless, yet you have to experience the pain of a ruptured heart. Don't you think that makes no sense?"

He pointed to the irony of his own name—Heartless.

A person who has lost their heart must repeatedly endure the extreme pain of their "heart" rupturing. This cruel twist of fate is filled with suffocating dark humor.

Matou Ike took a breath and continued:

Faced with Hartles's candid and painful confession, Matou Ike remained calm, but his slightly adjusted breathing revealed that he was under tremendous cognitive load and mental pressure.

Time was of the essence; he had to push forward to the final answer to the mystery.

"There's only half an hour left. Let's get back to our original topic."

He mostly uses magic circuits to keep track of time.

A precise sense of time, down to the second, is a fundamental skill for magicians.

The intricate magic circuits within Matou Ike's body are his built-in countdown timer.

"Aozaki Touko also saw through it during the Grand Order decision. Kuro's ability to discover the crack in Albion is probably the result of the Mystic Eyes of the Adashino family being synchronized with the eyes of the deceased dragon."

He revived Kuro's (Kuro Adashino's) abilities.

Kuro's magical eyes, capable of detecting the cracks in the Spirit Tomb Albion, are essentially the magical eyes inherited from the Adashino family, and they resonate in a mysterious way with the eyes of the ancient dragon remains that fell deep within the Spirit Tomb.

It is this harmony that gives Kuro his unique perspective to see the gaps in space.

“That’s right. Your Mystic Eyes of Usurpation and these Synchro Mystic Eyes, although they have been altered due to the disappearance of the gods, are basically the same ability.”

Matou Ike made a startling statement!

He directly equated Hartres's terrifying Mystic Eye, which originated from the spirits and could usurp power, with Kuro's Mystic Eye, which was based on bloodline and dragon bones and was called "Ripple Discovery"!

Although the disappearance incident caused Hartres's magical eyes to "change," its fundamental essence—the ability to perceive and interfere with the "cracks" in the concept of space—is the same!

“It took me quite a while to become certain. In fact, I only came to this conclusion after infiltrating Albion.”

He frankly admitted the difficulty of the reasoning and the crucial turning point.

Only by personally stepping into the spirit tomb Albion, feeling the pervasive spatial anomaly, and tracing back the deep connection between Hartres and Kuro's abilities, could this astonishing consistency be finally confirmed.

"El-Melloi II said in the Grand Order that the current Hartres is his disciple Curo in disguise. This statement is not wrong, but it is not accurate."

Matou Ike made a seemingly contradictory statement.

El-Melloi II's speculation captured the superficial connections and touched upon part of the truth, but failed to grasp the more distorted and essential form beneath.

"........."

Hartres remained silent, with a smile on his face.

This time, Hartres did not respond immediately. He simply maintained that enigmatic smile, his eyes beneath his red hair as deep and unfathomable as if encouraging Matou Ike to utter that final, subversive answer.

This silence itself is a heavy form of acquiescence.

“Dr. Hartres was originally Kuro,” Matou Ike continued.

The most crucial bomb has been dropped!

Matou Ike wasn't saying "Kuro replaced Hartles," but rather asserting that the core of Dr. Hartles's existence, his essence, is Kuro himself!

The situation kept changing.

This conclusion completely overturns the cognitive framework established by the Grand Decision.

During the tumultuous Grand Order decision, El-Melloi II hinted at the possibility of Cúro impersonating Hatres, but this has likely been denied by Asila's own confession.

“I heard that about thirty years ago, Hartres, who was rescued by that doctor Gulot, was covered in wounds and had lost his memory.”

Matou Ike's voice was calm, yet it dropped a bombshell about time.

He brought up that long-forgotten starting point again: thirty years ago, a severely injured and amnesiac "Hartles" was hidden and rescued by Dr. Gulot.

"What if that was Kuro, the one who was betrayed and wounded by his former comrades ten years ago?"

A startling hypothesis was thrown out! He wasn't referring to two separate events, but rather to the "Hartles" who suffered severe injuries and amnesia thirty years ago.

This is directly equivalent to Kuro, who was betrayed by his companions Ashira and others in the depths of the Spirit Tomb Albion ten years ago and was seriously injured and on the verge of death!

The order is reversed.

Using an incident of betrayal ten years ago to explain events from thirty years ago.

This completely overturns the linear understanding of time! Matou Ike's reasoning uses events that happen in the "future" to explain a phenomenon that existed "earlier".

This is a chilling conjecture about reversed cause and effect!

“The problem is that Kuro has a way to travel between Albion and the surface world,” Matou Ike immediately pointed out the key point supporting this paradox.

"Moreover, according to Ashira's confession, the betrayal occurred in Albion—so, Kuro discovered another crack before he died?"

Ashira's confession confirms that the betrayal took place deep within the Albion Tomb.

Crow, critically injured and on the verge of death, discovers another path to survival in his desperate situation with his magical eyes that can see through spatial rifts—a spatial rift unknown to others.

"However, Kuro's attempt to escape to the ground failed. That's right, he went in the opposite direction."

Matou Pond points downwards.

Kuro's survival instinct drove him to find a way back to the surface, but the crack he discovered did not point upwards, but... downwards!

Matou Ike's fingers, like the pointer of fate, pointed firmly to the unfathomable darkness beneath her feet.

"He probably entered the Fairy Realm through the rift leading to the Hollow of Nothingness."

The conclusion was like a thunderclap: the dying Kuro fell into the rift leading to the Void Cave, and finally arrived at a realm even deeper and more forbidden than the ancient heart of the Spirit Tomb Albion's core—the Fairy Realm!

Fairyland.

The deepest part of Albion, the Tomb of the Dead. In the area deeper beneath this ancient heart.

The name itself exudes a captivating mystery and danger. It is the abyss of planetary memory, the final place where mysteries are deposited, an absolutely forbidden realm that even the most learned magicians have only heard of but never seen.

“I don’t know what actually happened there.” Matou Ike frankly admitted the boundaries of knowledge. “The mystery caused by fairies is still an unknown area for magicians.”

The essence of the Fairy Realm, the laws governing its operation, and the "residents" inhabiting it are all far beyond the comprehension of modern magicians; they are pure, unanalyzable "unknowns."

“However, there are some things I do know.” He changed the subject, revealing the foundation of his reasoning: “For example, sometimes disappearances transcend time and region.”

Sometimes, disappearance transcends time and region.

Matou Ike did indeed say that.

He reiterated this core concept—that the phenomenon of disappearance has the characteristic of spacetime distortion.

During a conversation with the doctor who had previously hidden Hartley, he told Yvette a story in the examination room.

"There seems to be a story in the Far East called Urashima Taro, which is a typical example of a disappearing spirit. The abducted humans were taken to a place in a different era and location."

He recounted an example he had told Yvette: Urashima Taro was taken to the Dragon Palace, and when he returned to the human world, a hundred years had passed. This is a classic case of "disappearance" causing a temporal and spatial distortion.

Then, he also said this during his exploration of Albion.

He emphasized the inherent characteristics of Albion, the Tomb of the Dead—that the continuity of time and space is inherently fragile and easily distorted here, as elusive as a mist.

“However, this place is different.” Matou Ike’s gaze was like a sharp blade, fixed on the silent Heartless across from him.

"Standing here are two magicians."

The tension in the air seemed to freeze at that moment.

Matou Ike spoke slowly, her voice calm yet tinged with coldness:

"By the way, I should add that it wasn't necessarily Kuro who discovered the rift leading to the Fairy Realm. Since you, 'Hartles,' were once Kuro, you should be able to find this rift on your own using the same ability. After all, you once crossed a rift, so finding it shouldn't be difficult for you."

He paused, his eyes flickering:

"Ten years ago, Kuro Adashino, who was devoured by that beast, was transported to thirty years ago through divine invisibility. All the strange changes you experienced during this divine invisibility are beyond my comprehension."

At what point did you remember everything? Was it when you called yourself Hartres? Or when you met with Kuro, who was your past self?

No, could it be when Kuro was betrayed by his comrades and nearly lost his life?

Hartres let out a soft sigh, seemingly unsurprised by Matou Ike's speculation.