As time went by, Lumian felt his body temperature slowly dissipating. Even the scorching sun outside the window of the public carriage could not stop this change.
His mind became less and less active, and the skin on the back of his hands became paler and paler.
Finally, Lumian made it to the market area.
When he jumped off the stagecoach, his hands and feet seemed to become a little stiff.
As he turned into White Jacket Street, a gentleman coming towards him was suddenly startled, uttered a low cry, and had fear in his eyes.
Lumian subconsciously looked to the side, sizing up his own reflection in the café's window.
His hair, blond with black, looked as if he had not been washed for several days. His face was so pale that it was almost bluish. There were purple spots and signs of decay on his neck. His eyes were cold and empty, like a corpse that had been dead for several days.
Lumian smiled at the gentleman and said:
"How is it, am I acting like a zombie very realistically?"
He heard his voice approaching the coldness of “Hela”.
The gentleman cursed silently and walked around the guy who looked like he was ready for a masquerade.
Lumian realized that the pollution on his body was becoming more and more serious, so he quickened his pace and ran into the safe house that had not yet been vacated in an uncoordinated posture.
He quickly set up the altar, spread out the paper, and wrote a short letter to the "magician":
"I completed the commission from Lady Justice and got the water from the Samaritan Woman's Spring, but it has also been polluted and is getting worse. How can I clean it?"
After folding the letter neatly, Lumian summoned the Magician's messenger.
The "doll" messenger appeared above the blue candlelight, looked at Lumian, and nodded approvingly:
"I like your current temperament very much, except that your hair is too greasy."
A dying temperament? Lumian even had less urge to grumble than before.
After watching the Doll Messenger leave, he set a waiting time of a quarter of an hour for himself. If Ms. Magician still hadn't replied after this time, he would have to find another way to get rid of the pollution on his body, such as holding a ceremony and praying directly to Mr. Fool.
Click, click, the hands of the pocket watch "borrowed" from the Breeze Ballroom were ticking at a regular rhythm, but Lumian had noticed that it was already nearly ten minutes behind the normal time, as if the closer it got to the "Samaritan Woman's Fountain", the slower it ticked.
Suddenly, pieces of starlight flew out from the void and instantly condensed into a mysterious and dreamy door.
The door opened and a "magician" lady in a brown dress walked out. Behind the door was deep darkness and starlight.
The holder of the Major Arcana card of the Tarot Club glanced at Lumian and nodded slightly:
"Pray to Mr. Fool for the angel's purification."
Do we still need to pray to Mr. Fool? Lumian didn't ask any more questions and started the ceremony on the altar that had been set up.
After lighting the candles, dripping the hydrosol, and burning the herbs in the correct order, he stepped back, looked at the candle flame, and recited in a deep voice:
"The fool who does not belong to this era, the mysterious ruler above the gray fog, the yellow and black king who controls good luck...
“I pray to you;”
"Please cleanse me of the pollution..."
When the ceremony was completed, Lumian once again saw the angel of light, covered by twelve pairs of wings of light.
With only light left in his eyes, he felt the coldness evaporating from his body and his body temperature quickly recovered.
Not long after, the angel returned, and Lumian cast his gaze towards the full-length mirror in the room, and found that his complexion, hair, and eyes had completely recovered, and the purple corpse spots had completely disappeared. Only a few traces of decay remained, but there were no signs of deterioration. It seemed that it would take time to heal.
Lumian sincerely thanked Mr. Fool and ended the ceremony.
He was about to turn to the "magician" lady when he suddenly remembered something and quickly raised his right hand and looked at his palm.
The wounds from the corrosion of the earth-blood ore are still there. Although they are not as bright red as when they were first integrated into the "rust", they are not dull either. It is as if a few scars were dotted there with blood.
Feeling the madness and violence faintly coming from his right palm, Lumian frowned in confusion and asked: "Can't this be purified?"
The "magician" lady stared at his right palm for a few seconds, and did not answer directly. Instead, she said, "Tell me the details."
She took the initiative to pull over a chair and sat down, with no intention of communicating while standing.
Lumian then sat on a chair in front of the wooden table, starting with the commission from Ms. Justice, and went on to talk about how he and Hela each took one-third of a bottle of water from the Samaritan Woman's Fountain.
Here, he focused on describing the crazy and terrifying huge figure and the strange force that pulled the other party back, while not forgetting the appearance of Timonite and his various actions, as well as the "return" of the Earth Blood Ore.
The “Magician” lady listened quietly and laughed:
“It is very difficult for a truly great person to die completely. Even if they no longer have extraordinary characteristics, a body, or a soul, they still have mental imprints, death marks, residual aura, and so on. Once the conditions are met, they may be able to return to the real world with the help of a suitable body.”
“Like the original creator?” Lumian probably understood what the “magician” lady wanted to say, and asked carefully, “Who is that figure?”
The Magician thought for a moment and said, "It should be the Blood Emperor of the Fourth Epoch, Alistair Tudor."
"Blood Emperor"? The "Blood Emperor" who is one of the Four Emperors? Lumian had heard of this title and name from Gardner Martin.
The empire established by Alistair Tudor included today's Intis, and the Trier that sank into the ground was its capital.
According to Gardner Martin, this "Blood Emperor" is a true god who masters the "Hunter" path. In other words, He is a Sequence 0 "Red Priest"!
"Yes." The Magician nodded. "The War of the Four Emperors was a true war between gods. Arista Tudor fell in Trier in the Fourth Epoch, causing the capital of the empire to sink into the ground. He had already gone mad and did many other things. It is said that he almost made all the gods who participated in the war be buried with him. To this day, there are still many remnants of that war underground in Trier. It can even be said that they have profoundly influenced part of the history of the Fifth Epoch."
The Fifth Age is the era in which Lumian and others live, known as the "Iron Age".
Almost let all the gods who participated in the war be buried with him? The "Blood Emperor" is really crazy... Lumian was curious:
"What exactly is the Four Emperors' War?"
"I'm not too sure." The Magician spread her hands. "I just heard a few words from the two beings who experienced the 'Four Emperors War'. They don't really know the whole story. After all, you can't look directly at a god. Remember, you can't look directly at a god, even if it's just an incomplete mythical creature that a Sequence 4 Saint turned into when he lost control."
Are there any beings who have personally experienced the "War of the Four Emperors" and are still alive today? They were able to participate in that war of gods, so they must be angels at least... Two of the angels beside Mr. Fool's throne? Well, the scriptures mentioned that Mr. Fool's "Angel of Time" was an angel from ancient times. Was he one of them? Lumian tried to make a guess based on the information he had.
He had heard Aurore mention the concept of mythical creatures and the corresponding problems, and had no doubts about the phrase "Don't look directly at God."
Lumian asked with great interest:
"After the Blood Emperor's fall, are there any spiritual imprints, death marks, or residual auras sealed in the spring of the Samaritan Woman's Spring?"
"That should be the mark of death, but I think it's also mixed with spiritual imprints, residual breath, and even some residual souls preserved for some reason. Otherwise, the 'Blood Emperor' Alistair Tudor couldn't have been fighting with others in that spring. Haha, fighting is also a characteristic of a 'hunter.'" Ms. "Magician" said her speculation.
As she spoke, she reached her hand into the void, and the tip disappeared from Lumian's sight.
After fumbling for a while, the lady produced a glass of attractive light red wine.
"You, didn't your sister teach you? When you have guests, remember to ask them if they want tea or wine, or if they want snacks." The "magician" lady took a sip of the light red wine and shook her head.
How could I remember at a time like this? Where did she get the wine from? Lumian then realized that he had forgotten to ask the most important thing.
He accepted the teaching sincerely and asked another question first: "Where did the strange power that dragged the Blood Emperor back to the spring come from?"
"I don't know." The "Magician" lady answered very straightforwardly, "Even the true God may not know. The only thing that is certain is that it has nothing to do with the 'Four Emperors' War'."
Lumian temporarily put the matter to the bottom of his heart, raised his right hand and said: "What exactly are these traces? Can't Mr. Fool purify them?"
"If this isn't pollution, how can it be purified?" The "Magician" lady took a sip of the light red wine and said, "This is like a magical item embedded in your hand. It will bring some negative effects, and negative effects cannot be purified unless you remove the item itself."
"Mysterious item... What is its function and what are its hidden dangers?" Lumian didn't expect to hear such an answer.
"It has no effect." The "Magician" lady laughed. "I said equivalent, not equal. Of course, it's not completely useless, but it can't make you stronger directly. Rumor has it that in the underground Fourth Epoch Trier, in other secret places, there are many treasures left by the 'Blood Emperor' Alistair Tudor. Only people with the Tudor family bloodline can open them. Now, you can open them too."
Is it equivalent to that my palm has some Tudor blood and breath that does not involve supernatural powers? Lumian tried to extend his spirit to the bright red scars on his right palm.
As soon as the two came into contact, he was suddenly enveloped by a crazy, violent, terrifying, and superior aura, and the entire room and even the entire apartment began to tremble uncontrollably.