Before the guardian could regain his senses, his head was seized by Robert. He struggled to rise but found himself overwhelmed by a powerful aura that rendered him completely immobile.
"You see, this posture must be very familiar to you, right? Let me take a look at your memories since your acting skills are so poor..." Robert's mocking voice reached the guardian's ears, followed by a surge of formidable mental power into his brain.
"No! Dream on if you think you can pry into my memories!" Although startled by Robert's strength, the guardian stubbornly protected his consciousness, resisting Robert's mind-reading attempt.
Unlike the witch who chose to self-destruct with the demons to prevent Robert from obtaining any useful information, the guardian clearly didn't want to die. He could only guard his consciousness with his own mental power to prevent Robert from seeing his memories.
Unfortunately for the guardian, Robert's mental power far exceeded his expectations. The defenses he had built were shattered instantly under Robert's assault.
Although Robert's mind-reading technique wasn't that strong, his own mental power was formidable. The guardian's consciousness blurred immediately, and Robert saw a memory fragment.
"How many years have I been trapped in this magic academy? What's the difference between me and a prisoner? This place is my prison, a prison that has trapped me for a lifetime!" The guardian's appearance wasn't visible in the memory, but his murmuring could be heard. Soon, a man walked out of a portal, and it was Valentin!
"You've come." The guardian sighed upon seeing Valentin, hesitating as if he was already prepared.
"I'm here. Don't worry, as long as you hand over the Holy Grail to me, I can assure you that you'll leave this magic academy and regain your freedom. It's not impossible for you to gain even greater power!" Valentin confidently nodded, making a solemn promise.
"Just bring Jocelyn to me, and I can help you read her memories to find the Holy Grail's location!" After a pause, the guardian promised Valentin, "No matter how she hides it, she can't deceive me because she learned everything from me!"
"Then, we have a deal?" Valentin extended his hand, pleased.
"A deal!" The guardian decided without hesitation and shook hands with Valentin.
The memory ended there. It was because of his cooperation with Valentin that the guardian chose to act against Clare, attempting to read her memories.
Ironically, Valentin had captured Jocelyn, but after she ingested an unknown liquid, she fell into a deep sleep, and Valentin couldn't wake her up in time to bring her to the guardian.
Seeing Clare delivered to him, and thinking of his deal with Valentin, the guardian naturally wanted to act. He was confident in his acting skills, believing he could deceive Robert and Constantine.
The guardian was not only overly confident in his acting skills but also in his ability to read memories easily.
Jocelyn was indeed trained by the guardian, and Valentin knew her well enough to be confident in reading her memories. However, Clare wasn't Jocelyn!
Perhaps because Jocelyn knew of the guardian's abilities, or perhaps out of fear of similar powers, she had Clare's memories sealed by other magicians, even reinforcing the seals annually to prevent important memories from leaking...
Thus, the guardian not only failed to read Clare's memories but also had his acting seen through by Robert and Constantine, leading to an exceedingly awkward situation. Especially when his mental defenses were completely shattered, the guardian looked at Robert in despair, unsure of what to say.
"Lucky I came. There's an unexpected gain!" Robert looked at the despairing guardian with a smile. The enemy's despair was his hope. Conjuring a Qi wave in his hand, he said, "Tell me, how can you contact Valentin to come here?"
"Gulp!" Seeing the Qi wave in Robert's hand, the guardian felt a life-or-death crisis. His expression stiffened further as he dryly said, "It's difficult, unless I say the Holy Grail has been found..."
"Why can't you say the Holy Grail has been found?" Robert raised an eyebrow, glancing at the sleeping Clare, "Clare is in your hands, finding the Holy Grail would be normal, right? Plus, aren't you the best at acting? Or do you not want to?"
"Buzz!" As Robert's words fell, the Qi wave in his hand expanded, making the guardian's body tremble slightly. He quickly said, "Okay! No problem! I'll contact him right now! But you need to hide first. If he senses something amiss, he definitely won't come!"
Changing identities, or even turning into objects, was something Robert was good at. However, true invisibility wasn't his forte. He didn't want to turn into wallpaper in front of the guardian. Thus, Robert looked towards Constantine, who, like him, saw through the guardian's acting but showed no intention of acting, instead watching Robert threatening the guardian with interest.
"Now it's your turn!" Constantine spoke up, "No problem, leave it to me. My invisibility magic is second to none in the magical world. Want to see?"
"Sure!" Robert's eyes lit up. He was all too familiar with invisibility abilities, whether it was the Serpent's Charm or the invisibility power Susan Stoner derived from it. Neither could escape Robert's sensory abilities, not to mention Clark and Kara's x-ray vision.
"Buzz!" As Robert agreed, Constantine glanced at the guardian, formed a few magic seals, and then vanished from sight. The guardian, already fearing Robert, turned green because he suddenly remembered that Constantine had stolen their magic books using this method!
"Here!" After Constantine became invisible, Robert raised an eyebrow. Honestly, he hadn't initially noticed Constantine's presence, but Constantine moved slightly as if to show off his invisibility magic's prowess. Then, Robert caught him on the spot.
Constantine's arm was directly grabbed by Robert from his invisible state, just like Jess was caught earlier.
"What?! You found me?" Constantine exclaimed, widening his eyes at Robert. His invisibility was his trump card, allowing him to steal even Kamath's magic books. But now, facing Robert, Constantine's invisibility magic failed.
This made Constantine doubt whether he had truly gone unnoticed at Kamath's place. Despite the Supreme Magician's unreliable appearance, his strength was undeniable. Even though Robert could battle with the Demon Lord of Hell, Constantine didn't believe Robert's power surpassed the Supreme Magician, who protected Earth's dimension and was feared by many dimensional demons and hell lords.
Now that Robert had detected his invisibility magic, Constantine thought about returning the stolen books to Kamath after this ordeal to mend their relationship.
"Not bad. If you hadn't moved, I really wouldn't have found you so easily!" Robert looked at Constantine, shook his head with a smile, then turned serious, "Now, it's your turn!"
"Got it! I know!" Watching Robert and Constantine vanish before him, the guardian's eyes flickered with fear and reluctance. He glanced at the still-sleeping Clare, took a deep breath, and walked towards the portal. He dared not play any tricks, as he didn't know how Robert and Constantine would monitor him after they disappeared.
"
Her power is awakening!" At this moment, Robert glanced at Clare and followed the guardian, whispering, "Is this the power of a Shadow Hunter? Why do I feel like there's some difference between each Shadow Hunter's power?"
"She is indeed awakening. Though the guardian tricked her, with us here, he dares not do nothing..." Constantine nodded, explaining, "Shadow Hunters are said to be magicians, but they're more like mutants because their power ultimately comes from the angel Rachael. Angels possess more than one kind of power, so the Angel's Blood passed down results in descendants awakening abilities that differ somewhat!"
"I see! I wonder if an angel will descend this time. Seems difficult, but the Angel's Blood in your hand hasn't shown any further signs. Could it be meant for you to save Clare?" Robert frowned. Although they had quickly found the behind-the-scenes boss, the boss didn't seem that formidable. Why did the Angel's Blood guide them to Clare?
"I don't know. Honestly, if not for having a powerful ally like you, I wouldn't keep the Angel's Blood. After all, external powers that can't be fully controlled pose a risk of turning on their user!" Constantine shook his head, also unsure of the Angel's Blood's previous guidance. He could only continue investigating based on the information they had.
Meanwhile, Valentin, far away in his base, sensed something was amiss. Several of his subordinates had died, even the witch he collaborated with. This made Valentin instantly alert. He glanced at the comatose Jocelyn, pondering whether this was her contingency plan and whether he should leave...
At that moment, Valentin received a message from the guardian!
"I've found the Holy Grail! Not on Jocelyn, but in the hands of her daughter, Clare!" The guardian contacted Valentin with a sense of importance.
"Really?" Valentin instinctively stood up, a spark in his eyes, then furrowed his brows, his caution rising again.
"It's true. Jocelyn's daughter, Clare, is now in my magic academy. I've put her to sleep and read her memories, learning the Holy Grail's location!" The guardian's excited voice reached Valentin, who narrowed his eyes in silence.
"So, what are you suggesting?" Valentin asked after coming to his senses.
"Come here, take Clare away, and search for the Holy Grail!" The guardian paused, then spoke.
"Why don't you just tell me the location, and I'll go find it myself?" Valentin smirked dismissively, "You really can't act, can you? It seems the magic academy has made you dull. Being isolated for so long, you don't know how to lie, do you?"
"..." The guardian fell silent upon hearing Valentin's words, unsure whether his acting was really that bad or if his isolation had affected his social skills.
"Boom!" Thoughts raced through the guardian's mind, but before he could ponder further, Robert pushed him aside and charged into the portal. The guardian was conversing with Valentin through the portal, but it seemed he couldn't deceive Valentin into coming, so Robert decided to take matters into his own hands.
"I'll leave this old guy to you. I'm off to deal with that little boss and see if there's a bigger fish behind him!" Robert's voice echoed in Constantine's ears as his figure passed through the portal. The guardian's expression changed, but it was too late to do anything.
"What's going on?" Hearing the commotion, the Shadow Hunters of the magic academy, including Jess who had left earlier, finally came out. They saw the guardian lying on the ground and turned their unfriendly gazes towards Constantine, who had been revealed from his invisibility due to Robert's charge, damaging the magical power.
The next chapter will be in the morning.
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