The gate card developed by Professor Kazel—the greatest breakthrough that set it apart from the Sorting Card—was the addition of a message-relay function between gate cards.
That said, this relay function was, in essence, still a replica of the Sorting Card's, its messaging mechanism entirely identical to that of the Sorting Card.
The holder of a gate card need only inject magic power while designating a person's name, and the message could be delivered to them.
Or, by designating a range, one could send a message to multiple people at once.
The difference was that with the Sorting Card, only professors held messaging privileges, whereas with the gate card, every holder had messaging privileges.
...
After discovering that someone had sent a message through a gate card, Dark immediately began pondering the sender's identity.
The only people who currently carried a gate card should be its creator, Professor Kazel, and the other victor of the Dueling Festival—Joseph Bruno—plus, at most, Professor Silf.
But if Professor Silf wanted to pass along a message, she need only use the "[Wind Spirit]" as a medium.
"So it's Professor Kazel, or perhaps Joseph Bruno?"
With a trace of puzzled confusion, Dark tapped the envelope icon within the gate card.
Yet the name displayed in the message was not any of the people he had guessed, but rather—Ophelia Brad!
"The Blood Princess?"
Even as he marveled at why the Blood Princess would hold a gate card, Dark looked at the content of the message.
[191519]
"191519—what does that mean?"
Reading the numbers displayed in the message over again, Dark could not help but hesitate.
...
"You're awake?"
A ripple of magic power came from overhead; Professor Silf's voice was conveyed through the "Blessing of the Wind Spirit."
Dark gave a slight nod and said, "More or less awake, I suppose. Professor, is the ritual going smoothly? I just received a message from Ophelia Brad over here."
"The ritual's going quite smoothly; Medea has been—" Professor Silf said. "Wait, Ophelia sent you a message? Using a gate card?"
"It really was a gate card." Dark nodded. "How did she get hold of a gate card?"
Professor Silf fell silent for a moment, then said, "She must have swindled it out of Joseph Bruno's hands. What did she say?"
Dark was mildly struck by realization. "A line of numbers—191519. She seems pretty bored?"
Dark said it offhandedly, yet the atmosphere inside the Pumpkin Carriage suddenly shifted.
Professor Silf's head snapped toward Medea Bartholomew, who almost immediately opened her eyes to check, the silver moonlight flowing within them growing ever more intense.
But once the light drew inward, Medea only shook her head and said, "It's going smoothly. Everything is proceeding according to plan."
Professor Silf: "But this message?"
Professor Medea said, "191519—it isn't necessarily an SOS."
Dark asked curiously, "Why an SOS?"
Professor Medea said, "19, 15, 19 correspond to the 19th, 15th, and 19th letters of the alphabet—that is, S, O, S. It's a shorthand assigned the meaning of a distress call."
Dark was suddenly enlightened. "So that's it."
The writing system of this world was a very subtle thing.
The main function of the 26 English letters was phonetic notation—equivalent to pinyin in the present-day Chinese system—used only occasionally, mixed in among the true written characters.
Complex English words and the like simply didn't exist here.
Dark thought for a moment, then said, "Should I send a message and ask?"
"No need." Professor Silf said in a low voice. "Though it's a bit troublesome because of the secret passage, I can indeed make contact with Olivia from my end."
Then she immediately closed her eyes, her pale-gold hair stirring on its own without any wind.
Relying on the help of the [Wind Spirit], her voice pierced through the barrier of the secret passage and held a brief exchange with Ophelia Brad.
Then she opened her eyes and shook her head at Professor Medea.
Dark waited a moment, and seeing that no sound came from the other side, asked with concern, "How did it go?"
Professor Silf's tone had clearly grown somewhat heavier. "She said she never sent you any message at all."
"Aiya." Professor Medea immediately sighed. "Looks like we're in trouble."
...
It was half past two in the early morning of April 2nd.
Dark Demon's melon-munching had not yet reached its halfway point before he met his untimely end midway.
He flipped down from his seat and waved to Gatomon and Leomon. "We've got work to do."
"Are you really sure this is all right?" There was a trace of worry in Professor Silf's voice.
Dark reached up and traced a circle beside his ear, and that wisp of fresh breeze coiled around his fingertips.
"You always have to take a few risks." Dark lowered his head slightly and said in a low voice, "With the "Blessing of the Wind Spirit," nothing will go wrong."
Then he quickened his pace and walked out of the classroom.
...
Atop the Spiral Clock Tower, inside the Pumpkin Carriage.
Professor Silf pinched a wisp of fresh breeze in her hand, her expression more serious than ever before. "Medea, can you guarantee the accuracy of the prophecy?"
Professor Medea merely leaned her ample body against the soft back of the chair and said with a trace of languid indolence, "If you must ask it that way, then for the sake of upholding a prophet's dignity, I can only tell you: one hundred percent accurate."
Professor Silf's face darkened slightly. "I'm not sparring words with you."
Professor Medea gave a small yawn and said, "But as I recall, I told you long ago. The children will not be harmed; the Hero's sword will pierce the black mist."
Then she suddenly turned solemn. "Now the black mist has appeared, and fate has cast its dice. As spectators, we remain unchanged, as ever."
Professor Silf couldn't help drawing a deep breath. "I understand what you mean, but I can't help worrying."
Medea glanced at her and murmured to herself, "Cynthia's heart is far harder than yours."
Professor Silf sighed. "That's why she's the Principal."
...
The ritual was already halfway through.
The midway participation of an outsider would bring unpredictable changes to the entire ritual.
Let alone these two professors.
Whether Sarah Silf or Medea Bartholomew—the moment even one of them stepped out of that Pumpkin Carriage's cabin, it would instantly raise the ritual's "ceiling."
It would cause the entire ritual to leap in an instant from the "novice village" level to the "finale" level.
Under these circumstances, Dark Demon—who had barged into the ritual at its very outset—could instead act normally without exerting too heavy an influence upon it.
But he likewise needed to play his role well.
"The Hero's rival, huh?"
Gauging the significance of this role, Dark arrived at that most familiar secret passage entrance.
The role of the "Hero's rival," in that segment of history, belonged to the human who set out on the journey at the same time as the Hero, sharing the same goal, engaging in "healthy" competition with the Hero along the way, and often converging with the Hero in the end to subjugate the Demon King together.
Throughout history, in the drama of "the Hero and the Demon King," there was usually such a role.
To borrow a prophecy Medea Bartholomew once spoke: history is always alike, and the cycle never ceases.
It's just that some "rivals" could grow in step with the "Hero," while other "rivals" would be left far behind by the "Hero."
Likewise, some "rivals" would surpass the "Hero," even replace the "Hero."
Of course, if it truly came to that point, the "Hero" would become the "rival," and the "rival" would become the "Hero."
In this world where the "Hero" was undetermined and "Hero candidates" abounded, such situations were common.
In the previous era, the "rival" of the "Hero," Bright Gold, was none other than the "Valkyrie," likewise one of the Kingdom's Twin Swords!
...
"This is the place."
Dark reached out and injected magic power, and the entrance to the secret passage rippled like water.
"According to Professor Silf, of all the secret passage entrances, only this one's seal has been temporarily opened. DemiDevimon!"
"The vanguard is here!"
DemiDevimon abruptly beat its wings and charged into the secret passage.
Half a second later, it poked half its head back out and said, "Safe."
Only then did Dark stride inside.
What met his eyes was the long-unseen space of the secret passage; the nearest torch had already ignited, and the flickering firelight reflected off the smooth walls.
He raised his hand and touched it—that wisp of the "Blessing of the Wind Spirit" coiled around his fingertips, and the magic ripples within it grew calmer along a very obvious trend.
Just as Professor Silf had said, the secret passage's barrier would interfere with the conduction of magic power between inside and out, causing delays in the transmission of messages.
"Where do we go next?"
Leomon took a step forward, actively moving to the very front.
"Follow the guidance of fate."
Dark drew out the "Drifloon" Magic Guide Card from his sleeve and said with feigned solemnity.
The "Drifloon" Magic Guide Card produced a response, and the crimson pillar of light reappeared once more.
"Let's go."
"Onward on the journey."
"Meow."
...
Upon walking out of that initial stretch of secret passage, the atmosphere of the entire passage abruptly changed; the sense of familiarity vanished completely.
Dark watched as the originally flat walls turned into steep mountain cliffs. Though there was surprise in his heart, there was no excessive astonishment.
This ritual had two leaders.
Ophelia Brad, while being a "performer," was also the ritual's internal leader.
And the other leader was Medea Bartholomew, chiefly responsible for external leadership and fine-tuning.
Ophelia Brad was the core; the moment her part of the process went wrong, the entire ritual would come crashing down.
Dark had once participated in a ritual led by Professor Didi.
But that ritual and this one were entirely different in essence.
This was because their purposes and ritual subjects both differed.
Conceptually, the ritual led by Professor Didi was actually far more complex and difficult.
By comparison, this ritual led by Ophelia Brad and Medea Bartholomew was truly only at the "stage play" level.
But a "stage play" was small yet refined.
Though small in scale, it was all the more meticulous.
...
Several minutes later, Dark watched the swarm of monsters that came ambushing out of a fork in the path, and issued Leomon the command to attack.
"Beast King Fist!"
The lion-shaped energy wave that erupted amid the lion's roar instantly blasted all the monsters into powder!
"All show and no substance."
Dark shook his head and advanced quickly.
The monsters conjured within the secret passage for the sake of the ritual were far inferior to the dungeon monsters of St. Marian—like hastily made paper-mâché crafts.
By the time they strode past, the fragments of those monsters had already reverted to starlight of magic power, reclaimed by the secret passage.
Cutting straight across the whole way.
Half an hour later, Dark had already penetrated deep into the secret passage.
Professor Silf's messages would emerge from the "Blessing of the Wind Spirit" at intervals.
Though blurry, their meaning could just barely be understood.
The ritual was still proceeding smoothly.
Everything was proceeding according to plan.
It was as if the line of numbers the Blood Princess had sent through the gate card didn't exist at all.
But within this "smoothness" hid a trace of gradually accumulating "oppression."
Dark felt a sense of urgency.
Another half hour passed.
He finally caught up with the "Hero's" progress and arrived before a colossal gate.
Looking up at this bronze giant gate—quite similar to the gate of the Two-Headed Demon's palace in the dungeon—Dark drew a deep breath.
The giant gate had already been pushed open into a gap wide enough for three people to pass through shoulder to shoulder.
From this, one could tell the performers of the "Hero" group had already delved inside.
As the core performers of the entire ritual, Virt and Robert knew nothing about the ritual itself.
They were like marionettes; the one holding part of the script was the performer of the "Mage"—Tom Nixon.
But even Tom Nixon held only part of the script.
He too was unaware of the ritual's ultimate purpose, acting merely according to Ophelia Brad's instructions.
And the other performer, the "old grandfather"—Ryan Hacks—was acting entirely on his own will.
The "Hero of the Spear," who should have retired behind the scenes, returned to the stage in his old age; the truth of his identity had, in fact, not escaped the academy.
It was merely that Principal Cynthia judged he posed no threat and thus let him enter the academy.
Professor Silf, from initial ignorance to now knowing everything, seized the opportunity to draw him into the game, letting him play a role he had been playing all along.
"The highest realm of acting is not knowing that you are acting."
"They act by their own will, exercising their own abilities."
"To them, everything is real."
Dark passed through the gap in the giant gate behind Leomon and entered the core ground of the entire ritual—the Demon King's Castle!
His field of vision suddenly opened up.
Above there was no longer a ceiling, but a night sky blanketed with dark clouds.
A ropeway paved with iron chains spanned the cliff; crossing it led to a parched black-earth land.
The Demon King's castle appeared like a backdrop at the far end of his vision; a bolt of lightning suddenly struck down, as if to tear the entire world apart, roaring thunder erupting from time to time.
Dark drew two Magic Guide Cards from his card pack and rushed onto the ropeway.
"In the name of Dark Demon, Magic Guide Summon—"Hawlucha"!"
The Hawlucha, manifesting amid the light, pounced with a sharp gaze upon the flock of vultures flying up from below the cliff; countless Feather Arrows pierced through the vultures' bodies.
____
Gift for Everyone: Once we hit 50 Powerstones, I'll release +1 bonus chapter
________________________________________
If you want more chapters, please consider supporting my page on (P). with 50 advanced chapters available on (P)
👻 Join the crew by searching Leanzin on (P). You know the spot! 😉