Grotesque images flashed through his mind, finally settling on a distorted, entwined, bizarre figure.
Derrick abruptly opened his eyes, and the sound of his rapid breathing echoing in his ears was the only thing that freed him from the heart-pounding sensation of being trapped in a nightmare he couldn't wake from.
"Your Spirit Body has suffered some damage. Evlora has already examined and treated you. There's nothing serious left."
Listening to the rich voice, Derrick turned his head. The dim yellow light stung his eyes, making it hard to open them. After his eyes adjusted, he found himself still in the room at the bottom of the Round Tower.
The chief was sitting opposite him, holding a cluster of silver-white light that resembled a heart or a miniature Sun, while in a corner of the room not far away, black ashes were piled up, vaguely forming a distorted human figure.
Derrick opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but finally held back. It wasn't until he heard the chief finish recounting the events of forty-two years ago that he asked in surprise:
"Amon?"
Colin Iliad was silent for a moment. His empty left hand took out a finger-sized and thick worm from his storage. It had some transparent sections on its body, forming rings.
Derrick glanced at it and counted twelve rings on the strange worm.
Meeting Derrick's confused gaze, Colin Iliad explained in a deep voice:
"This was taken from your body. It had already lost its vitality at that time. Consider it returned to its rightful owner now."
What is it? What is it for? What can it be used for?
Questions flashed through Derrick's mind, then quickly settled. He silently took the strange worm and looked at the chief, who was holding a cluster of silver-white light, and said in a deep voice:
"Chief, I want to change rooms."
Nodding silently, Colin Iliad raised his left hand slightly, and a suddenly intense twilight glow enveloped Derrick. The Demon Hunter sat down cross-legged, waiting quietly.
---
As soon as he arrived above the gray fog, before he could even divine the true culprit behind Talim's sudden death, Klein noticed the crimson star symbolizing Little Sun expanding and contracting, and a low, tender voice echoed.
After observing Derrick again through the prayer light, and confirming there were no abnormalities, Klein rubbed his temples with a headache. What was meant to come could not be avoided.
He threw the Sequence 3 Silver Knight Beyonder characteristic formula, which Aaron had sacrificed for exchange, into the prayer light. With a slight thought, a blazing, pure light subtly emanated from the pile of sundries in the corner of the palace.
Even relying on this gray fog space, Klein could only barely seal the Grade 1 Sealed Artifact from the Sun Pathway that Aaron had sacrificed, but he wasn't worried about Little Sun's safety. His inability to seal it didn't mean it couldn't be done at the bottom of the Round Tower.
After doing all this, Klein leaned back against the bronze high-backed chair, looking at the strange worm with twelve rings flying out from the double-leaf dark golden door, and softly repeated the name Derrick had mentioned in his prayer:
"Amon…"
That bizarre figure that had sensed this strange space, entwined itself around Derrick's Spirit Body, and tried to enter here, was actually just a clone…
Klein immediately felt an inexplicable sense of urgency, as if he was being watched by a venomous snake hidden in the Dark.
He sighed. Not knowing when the City of Silver would respond, Klein had no choice but to first put the strange worm, whose purpose he didn't know, into the pile of sundries. Then he materialized paper and pen and wrote down the divination statement he had already thought of:
"Talim Dumont's true cause of death."
After silently repeating it seven times with a calm and peaceful mind, he held the paper and handkerchief, leaned back against the chair, and fell into a deep sleep in the silent and empty ancient palace.
In the gray, fragmented, illusory world, Klein saw a scene completely different from before.
What appeared in his eyes was a palm-sized Puppet that looked as if it had been casually carved, complete with eyes, nose, and mouth.
There were a few drops of dark red blood on the Puppet, staining it with a touch of eerie color.
A hand reached out, its skin fair and delicate, smooth and well-proportioned, with long, slender, and shapely fingers.
Most notably, a uniquely designed ring with a sapphire embedded in it was worn on the little finger of this hand.
Pop!
The index finger of that hand, wreathed in illusory black flames, touched the Puppet's heart.
Silently, the image shattered, and Klein awoke from his dream.
His initial judgment was not wrong; Talim had indeed died from a curse!
What startled him even more was that uniquely designed sapphire ring. He had seen it at the "Witchcraft Bar" in Tingen's dock area, worn on the hand of Trissy the Instigator. That was also the last time Klein saw her.
This… Klein's face suddenly turned grim. He still remembered the feeling of death that emanated from the depths of his soul when he observed that ring with his spirituality back then.
After the initial shock, Klein quickly calmed down. This mysterious space above the gray fog could exclude interference, but his divination just now only showed an arm, and did not provide relatively more effective revelations as before.
A sudden sense of inexplicable familiarity emerged, and Klein's pupils contracted sharply. He remembered similar situations occurring when he divined the true reasons behind several coincidences in Tingen.
He clearly saw a house with a red chimney, but he couldn't reach Ince Zangwill and the Sealed Artifact "0-08" inside the house!
Klein's face twitched slightly, remembering his encounter with Mr. Azik in Green Cemetery a while ago, and realizing the problem he had previously overlooked.
"'0-08' has likely already detected me, but due to this Sealed Artifact's instinctive loyalty to its master, while it won't warn Ince Zangwill, it doesn't mean it won't write me into its story…"
---
At the bottom of the Round Tower, Colin Iliad, who was sitting cross-legged on the ground, suddenly opened his eyes. Dark green symbols appeared in his pupils, and his body abruptly vanished.
The room, which had only faint candlelight, immediately seemed to enter the legendary daylight. Derrick looked with fervent eyes at the bronze candelabrum that appeared on the altar. A desire originating from his spirituality made him want to move forward, but he was forced to retreat repeatedly by the scorching heat that was enough to burn his Spirit Body.
In an instant, a brilliant light, even more blazing and dazzling than the golden flames, appeared. Colin Iliad, whose body had grown considerably taller, appeared before the altar. Without any apparent movement from him, the bronze candelabrum that had been emitting golden flames suddenly quieted down.
"Chief…" Derrick felt the desire welling up from the depths of his spirituality disappear. He couldn't help but murmur a word, then, as if realizing something, he looked around, tore off his upper garment, and wrote the obtained Silver Knight Beyonder characteristic formula on it.
After suppressing the bronze candelabrum, Colin Iliad slowly turned around and looked at the cloth strip Derrick handed him, a hint of complexity in his eyes. This was what the City of Silver had sought for hundreds of years, yet failed to obtain.
"Altar, blessing of an Angel or above…" Scanning the formula, Colin Iliad's gaze lingered on the ritual section, subconsciously looking towards the deepest part of the Round Tower, his expression gradually growing solemn.
"Are those two divine Sealed Artifacts truly willing to provide a blessing?"
Subconsciously recalling the kin-slaying curse that had enveloped the City of Silver for thousands of years, Colin Iliad fell silent. After a moment, he looked up again and said to Derrick:
"You wait here for a moment. I need to verify the authenticity of the formula first."
The City of Silver possesses a Sealed Artifact that can assist in verifying the authenticity of formulas. In the dark years of the past, the exploration teams used that Sealed Artifact to identify other Pathway Beyonder characteristic formulas collected from the ruined cities they explored. The most successful example was the Shepherd Pathway, which Elder Lovia currently belongs to.
---
Upon realizing that Talim's bizarre death was still connected to Ince Zangwill, Klein's mood immediately became extremely complicated.
Having been in Backlund for so long, he had finally found traces of this culprit, but the chasm in strength and the terrifying feeling of being written into a story without knowing it, as he experienced in Tingen, constantly reminded him that the best option was to leave Backlund as soon as possible.
After all, even he himself wasn't sure if he would crawl out of his grave if he died again.
"I can't leave. Having been written into the story by 0-08, if I make too many abnormal moves, it's highly likely to bring disaster to Benson and Melissa…"
He sighed softly. Klein made up his mind, only then noticing that Little Sun's prayer light was contracting and expanding, and the Door of Sacrifice and Bestowal reappeared.
A cluster of silver-white light, resembling a heart or a miniature Sun, emerged from the open doorway. The light of dawn mingled with the surrounding gray-white mist, emitting sounds like clashing electric arcs.
His spiritual burden suddenly intensified. Klein looked with slight alarm at the Beyonder characteristic corresponding to the Silver Knight, and only breathed a sigh of relief after directly throwing it into the crimson star symbolizing Mr. Emperor, then couldn't help but lament his own weakness.
---
Eastern Sonia Sea, a certain sea area on the edge of the safe shipping lane, in the Captain's cabin of the Moon Shadow.
"Vice Admiral Moon" Louise Sears looked up at Duke Aaron standing in front of her grandfather, Count Mistral, then glanced at Sharron, who was like a Puppet beside her, and softly confirmed:
"Will Admiral Amyrius help us deal with the 'Blood Moon King' from the Rose School of Thought?"
Aaron glanced at Sharron, who barely exuded any living aura and was becoming increasingly restrained, and responded with a smile:
"That's natural, but it won't be too obvious. He's only responsible for luring out the 'Blood Moon King'; the actual fighting will be up to you."
Nodding knowingly, Louise gave an awkward smile, then looked at Count Mistral and whispered:
"Grandfather, that fellow is just a Shaman King. With Sharron and I cooperating, and with a pre-arranged ambush, we can definitely keep him here. You don't need to come, do you?"
Otherwise, how would the final spoils be divided… She naturally didn't say the latter half of the sentence, only muttering it to herself.
Count Mistral first looked at Aaron, and after receiving permission, slowly explained:
"Dealing with the 'Blood Moon King' is just a facade, Louise. You were also involved in that battle in Bayam, so you should know how troublesome the Rose School of Thought is."
"A demigod battle could very well escalate into an Angel's struggle at any time. The 'Door of Summoning' I cast can directly allow a Duke to descend from the ancestral land. Our true goal is actually to at least hold back an Angel from the Rose School of Thought."
"Therefore, all Sanguine below Sequence 5 on the Moon Shadow need to leave as soon as possible. If a real fight breaks out, they probably won't even be able to withstand the pressure."
"Don't worry about the Moon Shadow's operation. I will summon some special Spirit Bodies to temporarily take over the positions of those crew members."
An Angel's struggle… Louise was stunned for several seconds, her previous smile instantly freezing.
"Look on the bright side, after this battle, you should be able to get rid of the title 'Vice Admiral Moon'…"
Aaron joked with a smile, then looked at Sharron, who was silently floating beside Louise, and said with a smile:
"You can tell Reinette Tinekerr that at the latest in a week, we will make our move in the Spirit World. How much benefit she can gain depends on her own fortune."
Her azure eyes showed a hint of gratitude. Sharron slightly lifted her elaborate and exquisite black Gothic court dress. Her light-gold braided hair emerged from beneath her delicate black soft hat, and a ethereal, illusory voice sounded:
"I offer my teacher's sincerest thanks for your generosity."
Waving his hand casually, there was naturally no free lunch in the world. As Aaron was about to say something else, a dense gray-white mist suddenly appeared before his eyes, and corresponding information emerged in his mind.
A glint flashed in his eyes. Aaron stopped speaking, cupped his hands to Count Mistral behind him, and instructed:
"If the 'Blood Moon Queen' ultimately summons the Abomination Szeah, there's no need to force yourselves. You can directly drag the Church of the Lord of Storms's Sea King into it. That fellow has a Grade 0 Sealed Artifact in his possession."
Count Mistral nodded with a bitter smile, not refusing Aaron's suggestion. He had only recently been promoted to High Summoner, and currently, being able to allow a Sanguine Duke to personally pass through was his limit.
If the Abomination Szeah truly came, they could at most protect themselves and likely be powerless to stop him. In case of necessity, dragging the Church of the Lord of Storms into the fray was also a viable option.
Bidding farewell to the people on the Moon Shadow, Aaron immediately entered the Spirit World, arriving at a desolate, nameless small island in an instant. He quickly took out the corresponding ritual materials from his "Traveler's Bag."
Looking at the silver-white light, resembling a heart or a miniature Sun, that flew out from the dark golden double-leaf door, Aaron immediately unfolded his "Judgement Domain" and firmly sealed this Silver Knight Beyonder characteristic.
The City of Silver's efficiency is a bit slow. It's been over a day and there's only just news… Although he grumbled inwardly, Aaron still showed a satisfied expression on his face.
Bayer Bile had already thoroughly digested the Demon Hunter potion a week ago, fed by the "Demon Scroll," and the 6 powerful creature remains required for the ritual were also already prepared.
Now with this Silver Knight Beyonder characteristic, his future chief guard had met all the conditions for advancement to Sequence 3.
Shrinking the "Judgement Domain" to only cover himself, Aaron held the still wriggling silver-white light in one hand, and according to the Nation of Disorder's positioning of Bayer Bile, directly initiated Spirit World travel.