Mystery: The Ultimate Tarot

Chapter 29 Maric's Invitation

When Raphael saw Marich at the window, he put down his cigarette case, told his men to close the door, and said that no one should disturb him that morning.

After the door was closed, Raphael gestured for Maric to enter.

Maric seemed to leap out of the glass and appear before Raphael: "I didn't expect you to stay here."

His expression was somewhat cold as he asked, "How have you managed to survive until now?"

Last night, a battle between demigods took place in this vicinity, and Raphael was one of the participants.

Today, Raphael, however, seems completely unaware of the situation and continues to be the head of the Mafia.

Marich wasn't sure if this was arrogance or just plain stupidity.

Raphael picked up the cigarette box again: "As Emperor Roselle once said: 'The most dangerous place is the safest place.'"

He handed Marich a cigarette and continued, "I thought back, and there were no clues left at the scene of that battle that led to me."

"Moreover, since demigods are involved in the battle, they will definitely use corresponding anti-divination abilities."

"This level of counter-divination would surely give even the most powerful officials a headache."

"The 'Indulgence Faction' lost a demigod and dares not investigate the matter anytime soon, so I am relatively safe."

Maric paused for a moment before taking the cigarette and saying, "You are indeed different from those members of the 'liberal' faction, you just appear crazy on the surface."

He took a drag of his cigarette. Although his expression was still somewhat cold, his tone had become much more amiable: "I'm here today to ask you if you'd like to join us?"

"You? The temperance faction?"

Maric nodded.

Raphael didn't answer immediately, but took two puffs of his cigarette before saying, "I'm sorry, I don't want to join any organization."

This surprised Marich somewhat: "You also advocate indulging desires? Heh, no matter what fallacies you've heard from the 'indulgence faction,' I can tell you with certainty that as long as you indulge your desires, you'll always be teetering on the edge of losing control."

Raphael laughed arrogantly and said, "The members of the 'Indulgence Faction' are just a bunch of brainless pigs."

"Then why don't you join the 'Temperance' movement?"

"In my opinion, your school's guiding ideology is also problematic," Raphael said seriously. "Ascetic-like self-discipline is actually the same as unrestrained indulgence."

Marich stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray: "But moderation can reduce the risk of losing control."

"No, no, no, you don't understand what I mean," Raphael said. "I think that we should exercise restraint when we need to, and indulge ourselves appropriately when we need to, so as to ensure our physical and mental health."

"Otherwise, if the inner madness is constantly suppressed, it will also create new chaos and distortion."

Marich was well aware of this: "Believe me, once you drink the 'Prisoner' potion, you'll completely lose control of yourself if you indulge yourself even a little."

Raphael, however, said, "I've thought of a 'way' and I'd like to try it."

The "solution" he mentioned was actually the "True Scripture of the Demon Source" that he had just obtained in another world.

This made him admire the wisdom of those extraordinary beings in that realm once again, who had come up with many ways to cultivate one's mind and spirit.

Raphael noticed that in the world he was in, although everyone knew they had to constantly fight against the chaos and distortions caused by the extraordinary, no one was summarizing or exchanging ways to combat the chaos and distortions.

He hadn't even heard that the official Extraordinary Ones had a systematic plan to combat chaos and distortion; they were all fighting their own battles.

The "playing method" did indeed greatly alleviate the harm caused by extraordinary traits, but in Raphael's view, it was not enough.

Because as one progresses to higher levels, even if one knows the "playing method," one still needs a strong will to fight against one's inherent nature and divinity.

However, as far as Raphael knew, there was no system in the world like the "True Scripture of the Magic Source" that systematically trained people to strengthen their will and enhance their spiritual body.

Of course, Raphael wasn't sure how effective the "Magic Source Scripture" would be, so he planned to test its effects first.

If the results are good, he wouldn't mind selling the "True Scripture of the Demon Source" to the "Temperance Faction," or even to the "Indulgence Faction."

After hearing Raphael's words, Maric didn't say anything more, only saying, "If you change your mind, you can come to me anytime."

Then, he jumped onto the windowpane again, and with a flash of light, he disappeared.

Raphael stubbed out his half-smoked cigarette in the ashtray. He stared at the glass in the window for a moment before considering the extraordinary characteristics of the "fallen angel".

……

In a small alley not far from the Mafia headquarters, Ikonser Bernard, captain of the "Mechanical Heart" gang in Backlund Parish, is discussing the case with Senior Deacon Zed Thomas.

Around the two, there were five other members of the "Mechanical Heart" team, who were gathering clues.

This is the alley where Raphael fought with "the zombie" Ackerman. Ackerman's body has been disposed of by Klein, but there was no time to clean up the traces of the fight.

With a hardened face, Ikonser said, "This is definitely not the main battlefield. Judging from the traces at the scene, it should be the place where the 'zombies' and 'werewolfs' fought yesterday."

Zeder, whose eyes were rather small and who looked to be in his forties, nodded in agreement: "Have you found the place where the two demigods fought?"

"No." Ikonser smoothed his messy brown hair. "The main pathway in the 'Rose School' is the 'Prisoner,' and once the Extraordinary reaches Sequence 5, their combat traces become very difficult to find."

"Demigods who achieve this level of power can even control objects without spirit, effectively concealing traces of battle."

Zede hesitated for a moment, but still asked, "Have you tried using the sealed artifact for divination?"

The sealed object he was referring to was, of course, the "2-111" magic mirror "Arods" which was under the control of Ikonser.

Ikonser then took out an ancient silver mirror with strange patterns: "I originally wanted to see what clues I found before using the 'magic mirror' for divination."

He took a deep breath, then summoned another member of "Mechanical Heart" to observe, before wiping his silver mirror and asking, "Lord Arrodes, I would like to know who participated in the extraordinary battle that took place nearby last night?"

The surface of the silver mirror seemed to ripple with water, and then several images appeared in succession. First, a woman wearing a long dress appeared, but her face was not clearly visible. Then, a cloud of gray mist appeared in the mirror, and everyone thought that the divination had failed. But soon, a man wearing a black vest and tight pants appeared, and then the image of gray mist rolling appeared in the mirror again.

A second or two later, three more figures appeared on the silver mirror. These three figures were relatively clear, and two of them had physical features of the Southern Continent.

Ikonser stared intently at the mirror. After all the figures appeared on the screen, a line of blood-red text appeared: "Now it's my turn to ask: When you do that sport, do you prefer to be on top or on the bottom?"

Iconsel breathed a sigh of relief; the question wasn't too difficult to ask.