Diary of a Dead Wizard-Chapter 192: I Fainted—Totally Faked

Victor mimicked Saul’s pose, resting his chin on his hand. “So, what we’ve been seeing was all an illusion. Life and death, meeting again and again on the wheel of fate—what a tragically beautiful encounter.”

He strolled up and down the stair steps, gently swaying his harp as if lost in a melody of his own imagination.

“When our mental fluctuations synchronize with the spiritual field and the spirits here, we see a sunny day. But once we fall out of sync, it returns to rain. Tsk—”

Victor stopped, leaned back against the stair railing, and suddenly bent backward, his upper body hanging nearly ninety degrees over the edge as he stared up at the spiraling staircase and the distant ceiling.

“I really do love stories like this. So romantic.”

He straightened up again with ease, turned his head to the right, and looked at Saul. “But didn’t you say you spoke to one of those knights who disappeared for half a month? If what you saw was just a vision of the past, how could you take part in it? Don’t tell me those knights happened to meet a wizard just like you, saying exactly the same things?”

“That’s why I was misled at first, thinking I had traveled through time,” Saul said, his mind flashing back to the hall of the castle filled with people kneeling. “I really was communicating with someone. So naturally, I thought those mercenaries were afraid of me. The more convinced I became that I’d entered the past, the deeper I got drawn into it, unable to escape.”

“Ah!” Victor clapped his hands. “If we can see the past, then we might be able to follow their footsteps and find out how they died. That has to be connected to the secret of this castle!”

He nodded toward the upper stairs. “We’ve done enough thinking. It’s time to seek the truth. Don’t you want to know what happened to those mercenaries after they went up there? Now that we understand the spiritual field, we’re prepared. We won’t be swayed so easily again, right?”

Saul dropped his gaze briefly, then lifted it again with a sharp exhale.

“There’s one last question we need to answer before we go up.”

“What?”

Saul pulled out a small porcelain vial from his coat. “Remember what that knight gave me? Why hasn’t it disappeared? If I can’t figure that out, I don’t dare go further. Who knows whether the next thing that attacks will be real or just another illusion?”

Seeing that Saul was still unwilling to move forward, Victor’s face flashed with a hint of impatience.

He glanced at the item in Saul’s hand. “You mean this holy oil? Maybe you picked it up off the ground after seeing the illusion. As long as we keep our mental bodies stable, we shouldn’t—”

Saul suddenly burst into a snicker. “Brother, didn’t I tell you... that it was called holy water?”

Victor narrowed his eyes.

Saul shook the little porcelain bottle; the liquid inside sloshed with a low, heavy sound.

“So this potion... You slipped it into my hand on purpose, didn’t you?”

Victor finally cracked. He lowered his head, shoulders shaking with laughter.

“Hehehe... hehehehehe…”

“Everyone facing a wizard always assumes the worst. I’m not surprised you guessed something. What I don’t understand is how you figured out the truth about the time-space illusion after just two synchronizations. And you even exposed me twice.”

Twice?

Saul blinked in confusion, but before he could react, Victor suddenly strummed the harp that had been silent for so long.

A haunting melody filled the air. Saul’s eyes began to glaze over.

He still seemed to struggle, his pupils flicking between Victor and the empty space in front of him.

Victor’s fingers danced across the strings, then gently pressed down, cutting the music off mid-note.

He looked up, face full of conflicted emotion. “Well now, it seems my dear little brother has reached the age where he plays tricks on his big brother. I’ll miss you, really.”

“But the real show—the one prepared by the lord of the manor—is about to begin. As uninvited guests, we can’t skip the grand finale. So—”

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Lightning split the sky, cutting through the darkness.

Without warning, the world shifted once again. The rain returned.

Victor still stood on the stairs. Saul remained several steps below.

Victor’s face lost all trace of emotion. He smiled gently, released the strings, and held out his right hand toward Saul.

“My dear brother, do you still remember why you came here?”

“For...” Saul muttered dazedly, “...finding something. Solving a problem.”

Victor clicked his tongue. “Still so tight-lipped.”

“Let’s go find your precious thing then. You remember that old wizard and the little boy from earlier?”

Saul slowly nodded.

“They’ve already gone ahead. Much more eager than you. If you don’t move soon, you’ll fall behind!”

Saul’s face grew confused. He raised his hands, clutching at his cheeks helplessly. “But I feel like I’ve forgotten something important...”

Clang! A loud crash rang out from above.

Both Victor and Saul looked up. The noise seemed to jolt Saul back to awareness.

Victor saw this and quickly plucked the strings again.

Saul’s clarity faded once more.

Victor played while speaking quickly, “Naughty little brother, look! Someone’s found your treasure! Hurry! If you don’t go now, what was once yours will be snatched away!”

Saul, just as Victor had hoped, showed an anxious expression and began to move, his pace quickening.

His gaze drifted past Victor toward the top of the spiral staircase.

That crash from before—it had come from there.

Victor’s brows furrowed with urgency, too. “We need to go faster. Faster.”

But just as Victor’s performance was reaching its peak, Saul, now dashing forward, suddenly threw something at him and simultaneously leapt from the staircase with a powerful push of his left leg.

Victor was stunned. He tried to dodge—only to see the object explode in mid-air.

Shards of metal burst outward, several embedding themselves in Victor’s body.

Unprepared and too late to cast a spell, he instinctively shielded his harp with his body!

Victor looked up at Saul, now on the ground floor, his eyes full of disbelief. “You broke free?”

Blood streaked Victor’s silver hair and dripped onto the floor. A cut ran across his face.

Saul said nothing, simply staring at the bleeding figure.

The iron-and-fire explosive hadn’t performed optimally in such an open space—but it was the best chance Saul had to strike Victor at close range.

Black tendrils erupted from the back of Saul’s neck, lashing toward the bloodied Victor like a storm.

Victor’s narrowed eyes lit up with astonishment. “So you were acting just now?”

Even as he spoke, his hands never stopped. He dodged while swiftly plucking his harp.

A sharp, fierce melody rang out. The air shimmered with sonic tremors. Most of the tendrils were sliced to pieces before they could reach him, writhing as they hit the ground.

But a few got through and closed in on Victor.

Victor suddenly opened his mouth and let out a deep shout.

From afar, Saul felt a violent ringing in his ears. His mental body trembled uncontrollably.

Little Algae’s tendrils lost their strength, going limp mid-air. They barely touched Victor’s body before losing all effectiveness.

A few remaining tendrils draped over Victor from momentum alone.

With a twist of his body, he shook them off effortlessly.

(End of Chapter)