Lumian had always thought that the lizard-like elf was something, or a projection of something in a dream, with more symbolic and metaphorical meaning than reality.
But now, he really saw the lizard-like creature in the transparent lake!
It really exists!
Moreover, it also appeared in the "other world", in the deep pit left by the "Shadow Tree", and in this abnormal incident involving high-end power!
The lizard that just crawled out of Auror's mouth, could it be that this really happened
What does it represent and what does it want to achieve
Lumian frowned, his expression slightly distorted, and he looked painful, shocked, confused, and detached.
Stimulated by this, he felt that he should be able to retrieve some memories to verify their authenticity and determine whether they were symbolic representations in a dream or things that really existed in reality. But this time, unlike when he was receiving psychotherapy and after listening to Mrs. Pualis's words, the corresponding images flashed through his mind. What he remembered was still that dream.
At this moment, he heard Thermiporos's majestic voice: "You don't really think that the abnormalities and misfortunes around you were all caused by me, do you? You don't think that I, who was sealed, and you, who only have the strength of Sequence 7, can rely on a weapon that barely reaches the level of Sequence 5 to successfully escape from Susanna Mathis, who is close to demigod status and has a backup plan? You don't think that Susanna Mathis's failure was simply because she was an evil spirit, radical, extreme, impatient, and held the ceremony without sufficient preparation, and there was no other reason, right?"
These words poured into Lumian's mind in an overlapping and resonating manner, allowing him to hear them clearly in a short period of time.
Lumian was stunned for a moment, as if he had walked from early summer into winter and was slowly sinking in an unfrozen lake.
He blurted out: What on earth is that
Thermipoulos did not respond, as if he had noticed something and understood something.
In an instant, Lumian was filled with ecstasy, and he felt that the heavy stone pressing on him had disappeared a lot. "Does this mean that Aurore was really controlled by that strange lizard-like creature? So, when she occasionally wakes up, she doesn't think there is anything wrong with her and seeks help from the outside world with me? No, she should have realized that something was wrong at the time. The correct reading order of the letter is: We are getting weirder and weirder, and the people around us need help as soon as possible!"
At this time, Franca pushed Lumian and said, "Why are you in a daze? Quick, let's get out of here. The official Beyonders and clergy are coming in!"
Lumian came to his senses, with the charred clothes stuck to his body, holding the trunk that came from the main body of the "Shadow Tree" instead of the one Susanna made later, and followed Franca to the end of the other side of the chaotic street.
During this process, he suddenly understood two things: "As the angel of destiny, Thermipoulos has just shown his insight into various issues. It is impossible for him not to have thought that Susanna Mathis would use me as the subject, not unsealing the seal, and giving her to the Mother Tree of Desire as a sacrifice. She is not a beginner in the world of mysticism like me! Therefore, she never thought from the beginning that she would wait for the seal to be opened by Susanna Mathis. The reason why she said that was purely to use the situation to bluff me, force me to ask her for help, agree to certain unequal conditions she proposed, and create opportunities for her to really get out of trouble. What she didn't expect was that I would choose to bluff Susanna Mathis, and then force her to provide help on my own based on the information provided by the other party. No, she must have thought of this possibility, but she would not lose anything by trying it. What if I didn't have the corresponding quick wit at that time? Fuck, too insidious! I would be deceived by her if I wasn't careful!" Similarly, Susanna Mathis was not an honest person.
Since she had sought enlightenment from the Mother Tree of Desire and had thought that there might be an angel sealed inside me, how could she not consider the possibility that the angel could pass through the seal and transmit some power? She did pray for it later, enough to counter the influence of Vulmipolos's leakage, or even stronger. I didn't even see it at the time, and I was still far away, and I was almost contaminated.
If he had not escaped from the "Shadow Tree" in time, contamination would have been the inevitable outcome.
Why didn't Suzanne Matisse seek help in the first place
Is it because that kind of pollution is dangerous to her as well
Well, during the ceremony in Cordu Village, although something unexpected happened, the parish priest, as the presiding officer of the sacrifice, was protected by the power of fate and did not turn into a monster or become part of the three-headed giant like the others, and he successfully escaped.
Suzanne Matisse also wanted to use the protection of sacrificial rituals to fight pollution
"So, she has been stalling for time, waiting for the preparations for the ritual to be completed! She didn't target me and control me from the beginning because she knew that if she pushed me too hard, Thermipolos would join the corresponding battle in advance, and there would be too many unknowns."
"So, she has been trying to give me the illusion that I could resist and have hope of escaping. When I took the initiative to bring up the matter of the angel, she used a bunch of words that seemed to have made all the arrangements to delay time and hide her real back-up plan, waiting for me to make the wrong choice with the help of Thermipolos and step into the trap she set.
Although she did not anticipate the attack of the Montsouris ghost, if there had not been any changes in the outside world and someone had not taken advantage of the gap created by the Montsouris ghost, I still would not have been able to escape from the Shadow Tree, and she was obviously about to officially start the ceremony and obtain protection.
grass!
Beautiful actors can really deceive people!"
After Lumian and Franca ran for a while, the scene in front of them suddenly became illusory. There appeared layers of various rich colors and various indescribable strange creatures.
His head suddenly became dizzy and his vision blurred.
When he regained his vision, the chaotic streets ahead were no longer there, nor were the dense blocks of color.
He was standing on a grassy hillside, and across from him was a "magician" lady in an orange dress.
She’s here too!
Lumian glanced around but didn't see Franca.
As if sensing Lumian's question, the "Magician" lady smiled and said, "The Two of Cups followed her Major Arcana and wants to communicate something."
"The Second of the Holy Grail?" Lumian looked confused.
"That's Franka. She's one of us too. Her code name is the Two of Cups, just like you are the Seven of Wands."
The magician explained casually, "You have officially joined us now. Go back and talk to the Two of Grails and ask her to introduce our organization. I won't say more."
Franka is not only a member of the "Curly-Haired Baboon Research Society", but also a member of the secret organization codenamed after Tarot cards
Lumian was surprised, but also a little happy.
This means that he and Franka are teammates in the true sense of the word.
The Magician looked at Lumian carefully. His face was still burnt black and his body was covered with pieces of debris. She took out a simple brown suit from somewhere and threw it to him. "Put it on later. Although it's not a big news that people from Trier are running naked on the street, you can't be completely assimilated by the environment. You have to know how to stick to yourself. Only in this way can you resist the erosion of the potion and stay away from the risk of losing control as much as possible."
After Lumian caught the clothes, the magician lady said thoughtfully, "Tell me in detail what happened recently. Although I knew that you would encounter the followers of the evil god and have conflicts with them, I did not foresee that you would be directly involved in things of this level." Lumian started from when he first arrived in Trier and used the "Dance of Recruiting" to attract Susanna Mathis. He picked out the key points and talked about the sacrifice just now, the performance of Thermipolos and the strange lizard-like creature.
The Magician’s expression became a little serious as she listened. After Lumian finished speaking, she nodded slightly and said, “This is very abnormal. Neither Thermipolos nor that elf is normal.”
She looked at Lumian and said in a straightforward tone: "Inside the Shadow Tree, it was not Thermiporos who helped to increase the power of Corrupted Mercury and caused the Monsuri ghost to arrive earlier."
“Not her?” Lumian had just guessed where the “Magician” lady would find the problem, but he never expected that she would be the first to bring up such a clear and straightforward thing.
Who else but Thermopylae could have been there in that situation
Moreover, it was only after the fateful angel compromised that subsequent changes took place.
"I don't know either."
"Magician," the lady shook her head slowly, "What I can be sure of is that the seal of that great being could not allow Thermipolos to penetrate with such a high power. If it were possible, she would have controlled you to help her remove the seal." Seeing Lumian was confused and bewildered.
The "magician" lady further said: "What Thermipolos can do is only influence your judgment and choice. After all, she is sealed in your body, and your fate is connected to some extent. In short, in the matter of Charlie, Thermipolos can't let Susanna Mathis recover in advance, and can't decide when and how she plans to find Charlie. She can only use this incident to make you use the art of fortune-telling to help Charlie change his fate and improve the corresponding tendency. From this perspective, do you think she has the ability to improve the ability of the fallen mercury and let the ghost of Montsouris arrive in time? Help you bear the past scene of the Shadow Tree. So, what I have always said is that on critical and dangerous matters, ask for my opinion in advance instead of making decisions on your own."
Lumian felt his heart was like the ocean, surging and surging.
He thought back to the time when Charlie was taken underground by Lentas, and found that it was just as the "Magic Lady" said: Charlie's bloody disaster and death fate came from two aspects. One was the danger given by the "Society of Bliss" through Lentas, and the other was Lumian's own choice at the node of fate. Therefore, after Lentas was killed by them, Charlie's fortune only improved a little. When Lumian made the right decision, it completely returned to normal, without any signs of Mythropolos exerting more influence.
If she could influence Charlie the same way she influenced the Montsouris ghost, Lumian would most likely have been fooled.
"And, Susanna. Mathis knew that Thermipolos could exert a certain influence. So after she left the Shadow Tree, in such a weak state, why did she still want to capture me alive with the indirect help of the angels? Unless, after the battle inside the Shadow Tree, Susanna herself has a bit of divinity with the help of the Shadow Tree. Mathis has discovered that Thermipolos can't exert any influence and is perfectly sealed. The problem has another source! And the source didn't come out! Fuck! What I thought at the time was that even if my judgment was wrong or the exchange of fate would take a long time, Thermipolos would not let Susanna go. Mathis captured me alive, and then she would become a sacrifice. Who knows, she has no ability at all!"
Lumian applied his speculation to what had just happened and came up with a more reasonable explanation.
"What is going on?" he asked with a little pain and anger.
The Magician thought for a few seconds and said, "Combined with those misfortunes, I suspect that Thermipolos has helpers in the outside world. In other words, there may be an extraordinary person who can influence your fate lurking around you. He has done some things in secret based on the ideas conveyed by Thermipolos, but not too much, so as not to be discovered."
A word suddenly flashed through Lumian's mind: "Sufferer!"
In his dream, he and Ryan's team broke into the underground altar and were infected with the aura of "sufferers"!
The owl in the wizard's tomb and the other "him" always gave him the feeling of being the source of the problem and the manipulator behind the scenes before being exposed.
Are these also symbols