Elara put on the earrings, grabbed the Salvia Emperor by the neck, and forced him to look into her eyes. She used the remaining twenty percent of energy from [Eyes of Enchantment] to activate the control skill [Chaos of Illusion].
The Salvia Emperor's expression instantly turned blank. He lay on the ground dumbly staring at her and followed her commands exactly.
But whenever Elara mentioned anything about the Divine Mirror, he became like a lifeless puppet, completely motionless.
Elara frowned. [Why can't I control him when it involves the Divine Mirror?]
Before the System could answer, she took out the [Divine Flute] and tried again.
But neither of these control artifacts worked when it came to anything related to the Divine Mirror.
[Master, these divine artifacts may also have a hierarchy. The Divine Mirror is a higher-level artifact than the Eyes of Enchantment and the Divine Flute. That's probably why their control abilities are ineffective on anything connected to the Divine Mirror.]
Elara frowned more deeply and stared at the Salvia Emperor for a few seconds like she was studying him.
If that's the case… then the only choice is to break through with force.
However, as someone who once followed the law in the modern world, she really found it difficult to carry out the kinds of bloody and cruel torture methods used in ancient times.
More importantly, she was afraid that if she wasn't careful, she might damage or even kill him.
The Divine Mirror was bound to the royal family of the Salvia Kingdom. If the emperor in her hands died, the Divine Mirror would automatically transfer to another member of the royal family, bringing more uncontrollable trouble.
Thinking this through, Elara took out the [Divine Chain] to tie up the Salvia Emperor. Unwilling to give up, she searched his body one last time but found nothing.
Her eyebrows lowered as she tightened her grip on his neck and forced him to look at her. Then she brought the severed head of the top-ranked official and held it right in front of his eyes.
The Salvia Emperor's expression instantly collapsed. He screamed in horror, his whole body going limp as if he had been scared out of his mind.
But even though his hands were trembling badly, he still just clutched the ground tightly, without making a single move toward the Divine Mirror.
His mental defenses were really strong.
Elara tossed him to the ground. While continuing to make him stay close to the severed head, she used the Holy Spirit's blood power to summon Uno.
As someone who grew up surrounded by all kinds of cruel punishments, Uno had much more experience than Elara when it came to "extracting confessions through torture." And with Uno's calm, steady personality and excellent control, there was no risk of accidentally breaking someone or killing them.
A few seconds later, Uno, still dressed like a palace attendant, appeared in front of Elara.
Elara took off the outermost layer of her invisible (Absolute Defense) battle suit and personally draped it over Uno.
Because she was unsure how deadly the Divine Mirror was, Elara had originally planned to wear the (Absolute Defense) battle suit and use the Universal National Luck Value to protect herself, using these two powerful life-saving methods to provoke the Salvia Emperor into using the Divine Mirror on her.
This was also why she had decided to deal with the Divine Mirror herself after discussing with Prince Yu and Prince Leland.
She had enough ways to stay alive.
Now that the task of breaking through the Salvia Emperor's mental defenses had shifted to Uno, Elara naturally had to give the life-saving (Absolute Defense) battle suit to him.
At the same time, she didn't go far. She waited just around the corner in case of an "accident," so she could use the National Luck Value at any moment to save the situation.
But since Uno was the one taking action, Elara indeed didn't get the chance to use the National Luck Value.
She waited behind the corner for only five minutes, listening to the Salvia Emperor's increasingly desperate and miserable screams from inside.
Five minutes later, the Salvia Emperor's voice completely collapsed. It sounded like someone being driven to the edge of a cliff, about to fall into madness.
"You die! You die! I don't want to die! I don't want to die! No one can make me die!! If anyone dies, it should be you!!!"
After screaming this twisted and cruel sentence like a madman, Elara heard a muffled groan from Uno inside. Then, the Salvia Emperor's frantic shouts suddenly stopped. His body, like a heavy sack of meat, hit the floor.
Elara immediately walked in and saw that somehow, the Salvia Emperor now held a long rectangular mirror the length of an adult's arm.
From the back, the mirror looked plain and unremarkable, just like a regular bronze mirror used by nobles in this era.
But from the front, the mirror surface was smooth like water, and the image it reflected was incredibly clear, even brighter and sharper than mirrors from the 21st century.
Right now, the mirror was clearly reflecting Uno's current appearance.
Strangely, even though Uno had turned to the side and wasn't directly in front of the mirror, the "Uno" in the mirror was still standing there expressionless, which was a little eerie.
Elara glanced at the strange mirror surface and then quickly looked away, walking toward Uno.
"How is it? Are you hurt?"
While speaking, Elara pulled out four or five pills from her medicine pouch and stuffed them into Uno's mouth.
Uno obediently opened his mouth and swallowed all the pills Elara gave him. Then he stood up straight and shook his head at her.
"I'm fine, Master. The Salvia Emperor never saw my real face, so the reflection in the mirror only showed the palace servant disguise. And with the divine armor you gave me, I wasn't seriously harmed."
The Divine Mirror's effect would first activate on the person the user imagined.
The Salvia Emperor wanted to kill Uno, but since he had never seen Uno's real face, he could only picture the palace servant disguise. That cut the mirror's effect by half.
On top of that, with the (Absolute Defense) battle suit from Elara, the damage Uno took was reduced to the minimum. In the end, he only suffered some light internal injuries.
After checking Uno's entire body and confirming that he was indeed unharmed, Elara finally let out a sigh of relief. Then she turned to look at the Salvia Emperor lying on the ground holding the Divine Mirror, completely unconscious.
"He's not dead, just passed out. But the life force in him is fading quickly. He might not live much longer."
Uno looked at Elara, who had just checked his whole body with her own hands. He pressed down the faint warm and slightly bitter emotion rising uncontrollably in his chest. His voice was calm and gentle.
Elara nodded. In her eyes, the Salvia Emperor was aging at a speed visible to the naked eye.
He was clearly just a seventeen or eighteen-year-old youth, but half of his hair had already turned white, and wrinkles had appeared on his face.
Elara walked over, picked up the mirror that still reflected the image of a palace attendant, and once again searched the Salvia Emperor's entire body.
This time, she indeed found something that hadn't been there before.
It was a stone token with a totem.
Elara stared at the stone token for a while. Complex and strange totem lines were glowing on the token.
She had already seen many divine vein blessings, but Elara realized that only a very small number of high-level divine vein blessings would come with a totem token.
For example, those she had seen in the "Core Palace," and the divine mirror in her hand at this moment, had appeared with a totem token.
Those of medium level or lower, such as the ones she and Prince Yu, Prince Leland, and Sylvan had snatched from the underground secrets of various factions, even if they were of medium-level divine vein blessings, still did not have a totem token.
Elara flipped the totem token back and forth, examining both the front and back. The glowing totem lines indicated that it was in an "activated" state.
Elara thought about the two totems imprinted on her consciousness tree.
She had already tested the first forward-facing totem before. It could unlock any advanced divine vein blessing totem token, a "□□."
But she had not yet tested the second reverse-facing totem.
If the forward one was an "unlock key," could the reverse one be a "lock key"?
Elara looked at the slowly disappearing palace attendant image in the divine mirror. Her slender fingers touched the glowing stone token and traced the lines of the second reverse totem.
A few seconds later, there was a faint "click" sound.
The stone token that had been glowing in her hand slowly dimmed, like a device being powered off, gradually becoming dark and unlit.
The divine mirror she was holding also dimmed at once. The figure inside vanished, turning into an ordinary mercury mirror.
At the same time, a system prompt sounded in Elara's mind:
[Ding~ Congratulations, you have obtained the "Mirror of Equivalence" (Ancient Form Version)]
[(Note: This item is rather special, currently in a deactivated state, and the bloodline binding has been removed. It must be rebound upon reactivation.)]
[Description]: This is an extremely rare and powerful trade artifact. If used properly, it can even easily change certain segments of history and fate. The user can secretly control others through it, and transfer all harm or even death they suffer to another person. But take caution! Everything comes with a price. When transferring their misfortunes to others, the user must also pay a significant cost. Therefore, never be greedy!
[Trait]: This item possesses the ability to control and transfer any personal harm or death. The power is very unique and strong, but the energy consumed and the usage rules are also slightly special.
[Mirror Projection]: The user only needs to imagine the person they wish to control within the mirror surface. That person's speech and actions can be controlled for a period of time. Each use consumes energy based on the length of control time.
[Fate Displacement]: When the user suffers any harm or death, they only need to picture the person they want to transfer it to, and the harm or death will be transferred to that person.
(Note: This ability is extremely powerful and special. Each use consumes 100% of the user's energy, and depending on the severity of the harm or death transferred, it will also reduce the user's lifespan by 5 to 15 years. It can only be used once every 15 days.)
[Energy]: Current energy remaining: 0
Elara looked at the information about the [Divine Mirror] that popped up in her mind, and there was a hint of surprise in her eyes.
The use of the [Divine Mirror] really does consume the user's lifespan, and it can take away as much as fifteen years in one go! No wonder the Salvia royal family had to keep replacing members so quickly!
The second reverse totem really was the "Universal Lock Key"!
And after she finished drawing it, not only did she truly shut down the [Divine Mirror]! She even directly cut off the bloodline binding with the Salvia royal family!
That means even if the Salvia Emperor dies now, this mirror won't transfer the binding to another member of the Salvia royal family! There won't be any more trouble coming from it!
It was quite the unexpected gain!
This [Divine Mirror] was now completely removed from the Salvia royal family!
The greatest threat was fully eliminated. With the Divine Mirror now in her possession, Elara slightly curved her lips in satisfaction. She ordered Uno to drag the unconscious, bound Salvia Emperor and quickly clean up the scene, trying to erase all traces, then she and Uno quickly left the Salvia Imperial Palace.
She immediately used the Puppet Soldiers to send word to Prince Yu and Prince Leland.