Tricked!

Let the Ox of the Sky Carriage turn back slightly, to a dozen or so days ago. In the library of Annan's penthouse apartment, after concluding a contract transaction with 'Lisi', Igola made an unreasonable request. "You want to study 'us'?" Waving her hands while shaking her head, 'Lisi' delivered a twofold rejection to the Swindler: "Absolutely not." "Even if you say no, I'll still keep observing you," Igola threatened. "I don't intend to do anything excessive, just have you answer a few questions and fill out some surveys. Think about it carefully: you may be clever and cautious, but Lisi is an adorable child who wears every thought on her face. Rather than having me trick a colorful lollipop out of a child's hands, wouldn't it be better for you to personally whip up an ice cream that satisfies a psychotherapist?" 'Lisi' still shook her head. "Lisi isn't as easy to read as you think. She only acts like a fool in front of fools, and acts smart in front of smart people... But why do you care about us so much? Didn't you just say you've seen plenty of patients with multiple personalities?" "I've seen plenty of multiple personalities," Igola said, "but none like you... like you all, so unique. "Generally speaking, multiple personalities manifest in two forms. The first is one soul, multiple personalities—multiple personalities within a single soul. The personalities can coexist long-term, but it's very difficult for them to communicate with one another. In severe cases, they can't even share memories; one must fall asleep for another to awaken. Such patients are like dice, always with only one face facing up. "The second is multiple souls, multiple personalities—the soul within the body splits, dividing into multiple personalities. This is a very dangerous condition. The personalities can communicate internally or even attack each other, but they can rarely coexist long-term; the souls tend to devour one another, manifesting as mutual slaughter between personalities. However, it's said that certain mind miracles can transfer souls outward—what are known as 'avatars' or 'split souls.' "As for your situation, forget seeing it, I've never even heard of it." The gifted yet unscrupulous mind doctor sighed. "Multiple souls in a single body, and not only can the souls communicate with one another, but they also coexist harmoniously, even sharing a common goal and clear division of labor—it's practically an ideal organizational structure. "To others, multiple personalities are an uncontrollable illness, but to you all, multiple personalities are a controllable miracle. "So I'm very curious." Igola scrutinized 'Lisi'. "In what manner do all of your personalities coexist within the soul?" ... On the 72nd floor of Sennheiser, once Wright completely cast off his restraints, the battle reached a fever pitch in an instant. Even though everyone tried to hold back, more than half of the 72nd floor had collapsed; bullet holes pockmarked every surface, and the ceiling and floor were nearly blasted through completely. "Come to think of it, I have a question I'd like to ask the patriarchs." While taking cover in Cleios's Sanctuary to reload, Wright attempted to disrupt the combat with conversation: "I can understand that you patriarchs all have 'spare bodies,' but the dispersal of the white mist affects every citizen of Fanmula. Your 'spare bodies' should also succumb to withdrawal symptoms and become incapacitated. How are you controlling your 'spare bodies'?" "Simple. We aren't directly linked to the 'spare bodies,'" the man in the trench coat shouted back. "Just like playing a virtual game: although we players can completely control our game characters, we aren't possessing the character in the end; we control the character with the aid of virtual equipment. "So even if the game character suffers blindness, petrification, grievous wounds, weakness, or all sorts of debuffs, the one harmed is only the game character. The player can still continue to control it." "Enough," the man with glasses said. "Don't be so eager to spill secrets to enemies in the middle of battle." "I still don't understand," Wright asked quizzically. "Playing a game requires virtual equipment, so what is the medium you use to connect to your 'spare bodies'?" The man in the trench coat seemed unable to resist the chance to show off his knowledge: "The spare body's own soul." Wright froze. "Aren't you controlling them using split souls?" "How could that be? Each physical body can only contain one soul. If our split souls are to remain long-term in the 'spare bodies' as our ultimate trump card, they can only—" "Enough, Bosh!" the man with glasses barked. Yet Wright had already grasped the hidden meaning behind their words. He was a Sanctuary Sorcerer after all; even if he hadn't delved deeply into the mind faction, by analogical reasoning, he could still deduce the secret behind the Six Emblem families' trump card. "There is only one kind of existence that can hide inside a sorcerer's soul." Wright looked around at them. "You're actually sorcery spirits." ... In the hallway of the 56th floor, Lisi, clutching Substitute's neck, was stunned. *I'm a sorcery spirit?* *How could I possibly be a sorcery spirit?* *I'm the Little Witch, my big sisters' favorite little sister, Daddy's cutest daughter, I'm...* "After Princess Lisdia left, we offered countless conjectures regarding the princess's psychological state, but Her Majesty the Empress rejected every one of them. The princess grew up healthy under Her Majesty's watchful eye; it would be utterly impossible for her to harbor any thought of running away, nor would she enter the Void Realm without permission. "Therefore, the one who left the high tower was not the princess—or rather, the princess was coerced, deceived, or perhaps even murdered. "Then who on earth entered the Void Realm? Who encountered the Bronze Dragon? Who did everything possible to flee Nabistin?" The Black Knight wrote: "It could only be a sorcery spirit born of the princess's memories. "You—or you all—usurped the princess's soul, commandeered the princess's body, and like contemptible thieves, stole the Isu royal family's most precious treasure, fleeing the imperial palace in haste." "How could I possibly be a sorcery spirit!" Lisi clutched at her hair. "Don't bully me just because I haven't gone to school! Sorcery spirits are born from knowledge—" "Resonating with the Void Realm, born of knowledge," the Black Knight wrote. "Yet the carriers of knowledge are numerous: memories, emotions, will, even the soul... Every sorcery spirit summoned autonomously contains a wealth of the sorcerer's information. Not to mention that when sorcerers summon a sorcery spirit, they are almost always filled with intense desire—desiring fists to become stronger, swords to become sharper, guns to shoot faster and truer. "A sorcery spirit's father is knowledge, but its mother is desire. Although difficult to achieve, if a sorcerer actively offers up their soul during the summoning of a sorcery spirit, combined with an intense desire, it can indeed cause the sorcery spirit to mutate into a living being capable of communicating with the sorcerer. "You are a sorcery spirit that merely happened to be endowed with personality, hiding within the princess's soul to peer out at the world, even capable of manipulating the princess's soul to disguise yourself as human. But you have no past, no future, no life, and no death." Lisi opened her mouth to retort, but not a single sound came out of her throat. She suddenly remembered a conversation she had with her sisters. "Sister White, how did I come into this world?" "You were summoned by Diya." "Summoned?" "Mm. We needed a super cute Little Witch sister, so you appeared." "Huh? Ehehehe, I'm not that cute~" Right! That was it! Lisi suddenly declared with brimming confidence, "Even if that's true, so what? I'm loved by my sisters, loved by Daddy, and I'm the cutest—!" "So you admit it." The Black Knight tapped the tip of its pen against the Book of Gospel: "Found you at last, Princess Lisdia. I thought I really had the wrong person." A curse word that a child should absolutely never utter exploded in Lisi's mind. Damn it! It was tricking me the whole time! It wasn't even certain that I was Lisdia! Damn it, damn it, damn it—how can someone be even more shameless than Daddy! "Because no information on the princess could be found whatsoever, Her Majesty the Empress was certain the princess had utilized the Blessing of the Bronze Dragon to erase all of her past. But the princess is someone blessed by Gospel; those around you will also receive the attention of the Omniscient Weaver. Therefore, our primary investigation targets were the Echoers who appeared in the Weaving Ceremony." The Black Knight: "The Secret Guard was dispatched across the entire country to search, and my subject of investigation was those close to Yaxiu Heath. Princess, in this form it is indeed difficult to associate you with your true self, but after the white mist dispersed, you were one of the seven people completely unaffected. I know the reasons for the other six; you alone were the exception. "Princess, cease letting this sorcery spirit run amok with your body. You should return. Nabistin needs you, the Isu royal family needs you, and Gospel Country needs you." As the Black Knight shut the Book of Gospel, the ceiling above the path ahead of Substitute and Lisi completely collapsed—and not just one floor, but several floors consecutively, until rubble and stone entirely blocked the whole hallway. Substitute tried to open the door to an adjacent room, but with a casual point from the Black Knight, the automatic door aged rapidly until it was completely ruined and locked shut. This time it didn't use the Book of Gospel, so Lisi understood—the Black Knight's means of attack was likely accelerating time in a specific area, and it probably only worked on inanimate objects. The Black Knight wasn't using the Book of Gospel to directly manufacture accidents; it was asking how much time it should accelerate, what area of effect to cover, and when to cast it, all to engineer an accident that would leave Lisi 'injured but alive.' Lisi understood completely now. Everything it did earlier was solely to force my sisters out! Only after realizing I'd die before confessing did it intentionally say all that to trick me, provoke me, and catch me off guard!