Sorcerer’s Handbook

Chapter 352: Deceived!

Let the Celestial Bull step back to a few days ago.

In Annan’s penthouse library, after Igor and ‘Lise’ completed the Pact, Igor made an unreasonable request.

“You want to study ‘us’?”

‘Lise’ shook her head and waved her hand, giving the Con Artist a double rejection: “Absolutely not.”

“Even if you say no, I will still keep observing you,” Igor threatened. “I’m not trying to do anything excessive, I just want you to answer some questions and fill out some surveys. Think about it, while you’re smart and cautious, Lise is an adorable child who wears her thoughts on her sleeve. Instead of tricking a child into giving me colorful candy, wouldn’t it be better if you personally made a psychological ice cream that satisfies a mental health professional?”

‘Lise’ continued to shake her head: “Lise isn’t as easy to read as you think. She only acts like a fool in front of fools, and becomes smart in front of smart people… But why are you so interested in us? Didn’t you just say you’ve seen many cases of multiple personality disorder?”

“I have seen many cases of multiple personality disorder,” Igor said, “but none as special as you… as you all.”

“Generally, multiple personality disorder manifests in two forms: The first is one soul with multiple personalities, where different personalities coexist within the same soul. These personalities can persist long-term but have difficulty communicating with each other. In severe cases, their memories can’t coexist either, with one personality having to ‘sleep’ for another to awaken. Such patients are like dice, always showing only one face.”

“The second form is multiple souls with multiple personalities, which means the soul itself splits, leading to multiple personalities. This is an extremely dangerous condition, as the personalities can communicate and even attack each other within the mind, making long-term coexistence nearly impossible. The souls tend to devour each other, resulting in mutual personality destruction. However, it is said that some mental Miracles can transfer souls out, leading to what is called ‘soul split’ or ‘soul division.’”

“And your case, not only have I never seen it, I’ve never even heard of it,” the talented yet unscrupulous mental doctor marveled. “Multiple souls in one body, able to communicate and coexist harmoniously, even having common goals and clear divisions of labor, it’s practically the ideal organizational form.”

“For others, multiple personality is an uncontrollable disorder, but for you, it’s a controllable Miracle.”

“So I’m very curious,” Igor scrutinized ‘Lise,’ “in what manner do your personalities coexist within the soul?”

On the 72nd floor of Senhaeser, after Leite completely lifted his restrictions, the battle instantly reached a fever pitch. Even though everyone tried to conserve their strength, much of the 72nd floor was destroyed, bullet holes were everywhere, and the ceiling and floor were nearly blasted through.

“Speaking of which, I have a question for the patriarchs,” Leite said while ducking into Cleos’ Sanctuary to reload his magazine, trying to disrupt the battle with conversation. “I understand that you patriarchs have ‘backup bodies,’ but the white mist affects all Vamora people. The ‘backup bodies’ would also experience withdrawal symptoms and be unable to move. How do you control the ‘backup bodies’?”

“It’s simple, we don’t directly connect to the ‘backup bodies,’” the trench coat man loudly replied. “It’s like playing a virtual game; even though we players can fully control the game characters, we aren’t possessing the characters. Instead, we control them through virtual equipment.”

“So even if the game characters are blinded, petrified, heavily injured, or weakened, it’s the characters that suffer, and the players can still continue to control them.”

“Enough,” the man with glasses said. “Don’t be so eager to reveal secrets to the enemy we’re fighting.”

“I still don’t understand,” Leite asked in confusion. “In games, there’s virtual equipment. What is the medium you use to connect to the ‘backup bodies’?”

The trench coat man seemed unable to resist the opportunity to show off his knowledge. “‘The ‘backup bodies’ own souls, of course.”

Leite was stunned. “Aren’t you controlling them using a soul split?”

“How is that possible? Each body can only house one soul. For us to keep a soul split in the ‘backup body’ as a last resort, we must—”

“That’s enough, Bosch!” the Man with glasses interrupted sharply.

However, Leite had already caught the underlying meaning of their words.

As a Sanctuary sorcerer, even without deep knowledge of the Mental Sect, his broad understanding allowed him to glimpse the secrets of the Six Heraldry family.

“The only entity that can hide within a sorcerer’s soul is one and only one kind.”

Leite looked around: “You all are spirits.”

In the hallway on the 56th floor, Lise, clutching her Substitute’s neck, was bewildered.

Am I a spirit?

How could I be a spirit?

I am the Little Witch, the most beloved sister of my siblings, Dad’s cutest daughter, I am…

“After Princess Lise Deya left, we made countless speculations about the princess’s psychological state, but they were all denied by Her Majesty the Empress. The princess has grown up healthily under Her Majesty’s watchful eye, with no thoughts of running away, nor would she enter the Virtual Realm on her own.”

“Therefore, the one who left the tower wasn’t the princess, or rather, the princess was coerced, deceived, or even harmed.”

“So who entered the Virtual Realm, who met the Bronze Dragon, who tried every means to escape Nabistin?”

The Black Knight wrote: “It could only be a spirit born from the princess’s memories.”

“You, or you all, usurped the princess’s soul, controlled her body, and like despicable thieves, stole the Yisuo Royal Family’s most precious treasure, hastily escaping the palace.”

“I can’t possibly be a spirit!” Lise pulled at her hair. “Don’t try to fool me just because I didn’t go to school. Spirits are born from knowledge—”

“Triggered by the Virtual Realm, born from knowledge,” the Black Knight wrote. “But the carriers of knowledge are many: memory, emotion, will, even the soul… Each self-summoned spirit contains much information about the sorcerer. Moreover, when a sorcerer summons a spirit, it is often with intense desire—wanting fists to be stronger, swords to be sharper, guns to shoot faster and more accurately.”

“The father of a spirit is knowledge, but its mother is desire. Although it’s difficult to achieve, if a sorcerer offers their soul willingly during the summoning of a spirit, combined with a strong desire, the spirit can indeed mutate into a life form that can communicate with the sorcerer.”

“You are a spirit, merely endowed with a personality, hiding within the princess’s soul to observe this world, even capable of manipulating the princess’s soul to disguise yourself as a human. But you have no past, no future, no life, no death.”

Lise opened her mouth to retort, but no sound came out.

Suddenly, she recalled a conversation with her sisters.

“White Queen, how did I come into this world?”

“You were summoned by Deya.”

“Summoned?”

“Yes, we needed a super cute Little Witch sister, so you appeared.”

“What? Hehe, I’m not that cute~”

Exactly!

That’s right!

Lise suddenly said with confidence, “So what if I am? I’m loved by my sisters, loved by Dad, I am the cutest-!”

“You admitted it.”

The Black Knight tapped the Gospel Book with his pen: “Finally found you, Princess Lise Deya. I thought I had really mistaken someone else.”

A curse word that no child should say popped into Lise’s mind.

Damn it!

It was lying to me the whole time! It wasn’t even sure if I was Lise Deya! Damn it, damn it, damn it, how can anyone be more shameless than Dad!

“Because there was no trace of the princess, Her Majesty the Empress believed the princess had used the Bronze Dragon’s blessing to erase all her past. But the princess is someone blessed by the Gospel, and those around you would also attract the attention of the Omniscient Weaver. So our primary investigation targets were the Echoers at the Weaving Festival.”

The Black Knight continued: “The secret guard was dispatched across the country to search, and my targets were those around Ashe Heath. In this form, it’s indeed hard to associate you with the original. But after the white mist cleared, you were one of the seven completely unaffected people. I know the reasons for the other six, but you were the special one.”

“Princess, stop letting the spirit use your body recklessly. It’s time for you to return. Nabistin needs you, the Yisuo Royal Family needs you, and the Gospel Kingdom needs you.”

As the Black Knight closed the Gospel Book, the ceiling of the hallway in front of Lise and her Substitute began to collapse. It didn’t just collapse one layer but multiple layers, until rubble and debris completely blocked the entire corridor.

The Substitute attempted to open the nearby room door, but with a mere gesture from the Black Knight, the automatic door accelerated its aging process to the point of complete lock failure. This time, the Black Knight didn’t use the Gospel Book, so Lise understood-the Black Knight’s attack method likely involved accelerating time in a specific area, probably only affecting inanimate objects.

The Black Knight wasn’t directly using the Gospel Book to create accidents, but rather asking it how much time to accelerate, the range of effect, and when to deploy it to create an ‘injured but not dead’ accident for Lise.

Lise finally understood everything.

Everything it had done was merely to force out my sisters. When it realized I wouldn’t admit anything, it deliberately said those things to deceive me, provoke me, and ambush me!