Academic gathering with a lich-Chapter 278 - 254 Dark Great Summoning Spell

The portal brimming with electricity appeared practically the next second after the reporter spoke, as if Mr. Delusion had already anticipated waiting on the other side. A fully metallic limb with blue and white currents emerged from the twisted space, and the cubic box blossomed like a flower, revealing the virtual image of those profound eyes within. Mr. Delusion’s magnetic voice carried an electrical charge, a true electronic sound.

"Just to clarify, my visit this time is purely as your dearest friend, carrying good intentions to stop the wrongdoings of your quarrel over love. It’s definitely not because I want to gather inspiration for my novel from your love triangle," the cubic box turned on itself, and with it, the eyes within shifted onto Veraliz and blinked. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"I suppose you must be the Angel being contended for; how embarrassing they must have made you feel. If it’s due to your charm, then that’s understandable, after all, I was almost captivated by your wild beauty, Queen of Shadows."

Veraliz looked at Mr. Delusion with disdain. Then, she turned to the gentleman, with an expression that read, "These are the kinds of friends you’ve made over the years; this is why you haven’t come back to see me; has your taste degraded this much?"

"I am Veraliz, I’m family to Avonreiter, but I’m not their Angel. The Angel is behind me."

Mr. Delusion’s metal box rotated one hundred and eighty degrees, turning to the radiance at the back.

"So there’s a fourth person involved, this dazzling brilliance. I need to adjust my filter to a dim setting so I can see clearly. Okay, I can finally see properly, Angel..." Mr. Delusion’s voice got softer and softer, ultimately leading to silence.

The response came from a transforming flying machine assembling behind Mr. Delusion. Its turbines, complete with flames and buzzing sounds, seemed desperate not to fall behind and enter the embrace of the Angel.

The reporter looked at the silent Mr. Delusion.

"How is it, tragic enough for you?"

"Unexpectedly unexpected. However, the fact that you guys stirred up more trouble than I anticipated is within my expectations. You’re the kind of people who defy probability theory and data analysis, always dragging me into your messes." Mr. Delusion spoke like a machine that had just warmed up, not holding the slightest thought of blaming his friend. "But, facing such a formidable opponent, you summoned me here because you wish to use ’that,’ don’t you?"

Lyle was puzzled by the "that" the three kept mentioning. "What’s ’that’?"

The reporter lowered his voice darkly, "’That’ is the most terrifying, most dreadful, most evil, most ominous spell that makes the holy light flee in terror and makes the world tremble at the thought of it—apocalypse-level magic!"

"Mr. Dark’s Grand Summoning!"

...So they were planning to summon Mr. Dark as reinforcements. It might be a good choice; Mr. Dark, who was constantly beaten up by Raymond, certainly had the strongest resistance to holy light. Besides, the three from the literary club seemed utterly convinced.

Should Mr. Dark be able to defeat Raphael?

"As everyone knows, summoning the Great Dark Demon King requires elaborate ritual preparations, but our time is limited now. If we act hastily, the summoning might fail due to insincerity. Thus, we must summon the true essence of darkness in the shortest time possible before the Angel kills us. This is a grave challenge."

Since the level of Mr. Dark’s chuunibyo tendencies was directly proportional to his combat power, complicated and bizarre rituals were usually needed to summon darkness. The number of people and chuunibyo lines could affect Mr. Dark’s mood, thus influencing his strength.

"Luckily, this time the Four Dark Heavenly Kings of the literary club are all here. Mr. Dark is bound to be at his peak."

"The Four Heavenly Kings of the literary club? Aren’t there only three of you?" Lyle voiced his confusion.

All three turned to look at him.

"What... What’s the matter?"

"What are you babbling about, the fourth king, the Light of Fallen."

"??? I have to participate in the summoning ritual too? I don’t want to, collaborating last time has already become my dark history!" Lyle made a final struggle.

"Plague Doctor! For the greater good! Our lives... our bones are all in Mr. Dark’s hands, and you, recognized by Mr. Dark, are the key to our survival! Do you think we enjoy doing this? We’ve also made great sacrifices!" Mr. Reporter scratched his head, "And... Once you have a dark history, a second time is bound to follow. You can’t stop it."

Lyle proposed a new suggestion, "We could summon other reinforcements, like Mr. Raymond?"

"Have Mr. Raymond fight us alongside the Angels?" The reporter’s tablecloth trembled, and he didn’t have the title of the Pure One. Instead, he was burdened with over a hundred and seventy charges of insulting the Holy Light, with each issue of the Fallen Angel Raymontos series chronicling his sins.

"There’s an eighty percent chance that if we summon Mr. Raymond, he’ll make peace with the Angels and inflict more pain upon us," Mr. Delusional’s virtual screen turned into a stream of jumping numbers, as if he really was analyzing the future.

"What about the remaining twenty percent?"

"Mr. Raymond dislikes us and wipes us out before the Angels can strike."

"...What have you been up to lately?"

"Miss Elian has recently become obsessed with the City of Wandering series of magazines. They’re not the novels we write for the Demon Race, but there’s still some of our bias regarding the Holy Light. Mr. Raymond has been visiting the Literature Club more frequently."

"...You’re really something." Lyle took a deep breath, "I promise you, I’ll participate in your performance. But," Lyle stared at Mr. Reporter, "no publication about this operation can appear in the future!"

Mr. Reporter raised his thumb without a second thought, "I swear on my non-existent conscience, I won’t report it!"

"If you report it, I’ll tell Mr. Raymond about Raymontos’s matter."

Mr. Reporter gasped, "Sheesh, that’s harsh. No wonder you’re the Plague Doctor. I got it."

Just as the four were hammering out the details, Veraliz, sent out on a mission, felt left out.

"Wait, what about my task?"

Mr. Reporter and Mr. Delusional turned their heads, "Who are you?"

Silence.

Veraliz clenched her teeth, "Damn dead men, just now you called me an Angel." She twisted her head, her eyes narrowing into thin lines as she glared at the gentleman shrinking his head, "Avonreiter, you have to give me a task!"

"How about, as a bonus of summoning the darkness?" The gentleman looked at his companions, too bad it was a skeleton, otherwise he would have winked at the two.

"What about a sacrifice, as a medium for summoning Mr. Dark?"

"Why! Why can the Plague Doctor become one of the Four Heavenly Kings and I can only be a sacrifice? He’s only Second Tier in strength! This is gender discrimination!"

"It’s gender discrimination, racial discrimination, plus nepotism. We boys don’t want girls in our game, and also your trendiness isn’t as high as the Plague Doctor’s, Cat Lady and all, indeed the Light of Fallen is cooler!"

Looking at Mr. Reporter’s serious nonsense and the others nodding as if it made sense, Veraliz covered her face. The flame of anger in her heart unintentionally dissipated; she didn’t need to get angry with a bunch of fools.

"You’re hopeless."