Lumian saw that the man in black robe had a face exactly like his own, but there were some minor differences: the depths of the other person's light blue eyes had a faint silver-white and black feeling, and the skin on his face was a little darker, whether it was caused by the shadow of the hood or it was originally like that.
"Who are you!" Lumian blurted out in shock, but the cloth stuffed in his mouth blocked his voice, leaving only unclear sounds.
The man in black robe smiled, turned around and walked towards where the parish priest was standing without introducing himself.
Lumian tried to catch up, eager to find out who this man was and why he came, and how he appeared in the tomb of the dead wizard before.
This is very important to him.
Although he was surprised and stunned that the priest could preserve his memories in the loop, which he had never expected beforehand, this incident was tenable and explainable when put into his various speculations about the nature of the loop. There was no contradiction at all. After all, there was the example of Mrs. Pualis before.
The appearance of this man in black robe was extremely abrupt. It was not that his existence was abrupt. Lumian had always known that in the tomb of the dead wizard, in addition to the owl and the man lying in the coffin, there was another person who was suspected to be the mastermind behind all the abnormalities in Cordu Village.
What was strange was that this man in black robe looked exactly like Lumian, and was suspected to be another him.
This is something that Lumian's various speculations about the nature of the cycle cannot explain and is difficult to accommodate!
There must be something wrong here!
Lumian tried to lean forward, but was restrained by ropes and fell onto the altar with a thud.
The fall caused his nosebleed, which had already clotted, to flow again, and made the red and swollen purple wounds even more obvious.
Lumian did not give up. Even though he could not use his hands and feet, he still relied on the powerful flexibility brought by "Dancer" to crawl towards the man in black robe like a snake, crawling towards him with great difficulty.
His mind was filled with similar thoughts: He must find out who this man in black robe is and why he appears here!
This must be some manifestation of the nature of the cycle. Once this secret is solved, there will be hope of using the cycle to escape the current predicament and ultimately resolve the various anomalies in Cordu Village!
Tick, tick, the blood on Lumian's face dripped onto the ground, leaving a bright red color, and his subsequent struggling body spread the color everywhere, making the scene a mess and full of blood.
He tried hard to get closer to the man in black, but no sound came out of his mouth and his expression was horrifyingly twisted with pain and anxiety.
The black-robed man who looked exactly like Lumian lowered his head to the ground and said to the parish priest Guillaume Bene, "Let's begin the ceremony."
"Okay." Guillaume Bene said to the shepherd Pierre Berry at the edge of the altar, "Carry Lumian to the altar."
Pierre Berry came over, grabbed Lumian under the armpits, and lifted him up.
No! Lumian struggled with all his strength, like a fish just out of water.
This "slippery" thing almost made the shepherd Pierre Berry lose his grip.
The gentle emotion in Pierre's eyes quickly faded, and the brutal feeling in the murder room became prominent.
His strength suddenly became very strong, and he forcibly controlled Lumian's body and threw him onto the altar. Then, Pierre Berry looked at Lumian and laughed softly, "You'd better hope to die directly during the ceremony, rather than survive to the end.
"I promise, you'll regret it."
Is this a response to my previous "provocation"? Just as this thought flashed through Lumian's mind, he saw Aurore, wearing a simple white robe, walking up to him.
She leaned against the altar filled with lilacs and tulips, looking at her brother with empty eyes.
All the villagers in the church rushed over here and half-surrounded the altar area.
The parish priest then took out two gray-white candles and placed them in the corresponding positions of Aurore and Lumian.
Then, he placed a similar candle at his feet, forming a pattern of two high and one low with the one on the altar. After a few seconds, the parish priest lit the three candles from top to bottom and from left to right with his spirituality. The faint sweet smell penetrated into Lumien's nose little by little, making him suddenly feel a little dazed, and he felt that this scene was inexplicably familiar.
Ryan, Leah and Valentine sneaked to the side of the Eternal Sun Church with the brown suitcase. They hid in the dark and looked inside through the stained glass. They saw that the altar of the Eternal Sun had changed. They saw Lumian tied up on the left, Aurore standing on the right, and the parish priest facing the siblings, with a lit gray candle under his feet, and on both sides were a man in a black robe whose face could not be seen and Pierre Berry.
Seeing this scene, Valentine clenched his fists instantly, and there seemed to be a golden light flashing in his eyes. Leah glanced at him sideways, worried that this companion would be so angry that he would lose his mind.
Fortunately, Valentine was also a Purifier who had carried out many missions and knew what to do and what not to do. Ryan retracted his gaze and said in a low voice, "We will go around to a place closer to the altar, break the glass, launch a surprise attack, and try to get Lumian and Aurore out of the village within a minute.
"If you fail to achieve your goal within one minute, abandon this action, flee to the river, and actively trigger the cycle."
"Okay." Valentine and Leah nodded, one in a deep voice. Ryan then added, "Valentine, prepare the Sunshine. We can't hold back any more. We have to use 2-217 now." "No problem." Valentine responded, while Leah took out a box of matches.
She controlled the small silver bells on her veil and boots and circled the square of Cordu Village at a very fast speed, throwing a few matches in different places.
This is a preset channel for subsequent retreat.
"Magicians" don't perform without preparation.
After Leah finished these tasks, the three official investigators carefully walked around to the stained glass on the side of the altar.
Valentine looked up and said to Ryan, "The ceremony is about to begin. We must act immediately."
Lai En was also observing the situation inside the church. He frowned and asked, "Did you find anything wrong?"
Leah quickly reviewed the scene she had just seen and replied anxiously, "I can't hear any sound from inside!"
They had come to within three meters of the nearest villager, but they could not hear any sound coming from inside, and those villagers were obviously having a lively conversation!
Lai En's eyes tightened and he instantly had a guess.
He stood up, not caring about being discovered by the cultists inside the church, and slammed into the stained glass window in front of him. The clang sounded, but the fragile glass was intact, and the villagers inside the church seemed to be unaware of the movement outside.
As Lai En condensed the "Armor of Dawn" and the "Sword of Morning", Leah ran around in circles outside the window.
This time, none of the small silver bells that were not deliberately controlled rang.
Interpreted from Leah's perspective, this means there is no danger at all, but looking at the scene inside the church, how could there be no danger
So, she thinks the correct answer is: very dangerous!
It was so dangerous that the seal of the silver bell was completely disrupted or dared not react!
boom!
The "Sword of Dawn" condensed with light struck a stained glass window but failed to produce any effect. The entire church seemed to be wrapped in an invisible, terrifying force, and outsiders were unable to enter.
A pure beam of light surrounded by flames descended from the sky as Valentine opened his arms, but it did not appear in the church as he expected. Instead, it fell on the outside of the stained glass, causing ripples.
The inside and the outside seem to be completely isolated.
Ryan made a prompt decision and said to Valentine and Leah, "Try the seal. If it doesn't work, we will go outside the village to activate the cycle."
The reason why Ryan did not propose to evacuate immediately, but wanted to try to break in and rescue Lumian and Aurore, was because he suspected that once the ritual actually began, the cycle might be affected. At that time, he and others might not be able to leave Cordu Village, nor could they restart everything here.
Valentine wasted no time and directly summoned out those illusory golden flames.
With two snaps, Ryan opened the suitcase and took out the "Tanago Scarecrow" with half of its body covered with skin.
He taped the front of the scarecrow to the stained glass and untied the thick black cloth.
A pair of human eyes suddenly appeared on the face of "2-217". They were embedded in the brown-green straw and showed no emotion.
The two eyeballs turned and saw Pons Bene standing at the edge of the altar.
The villain froze for a moment, turned around and ran to the window.
As he ran, his body disappeared and his clothes fell to the ground, covering his leather shoes.
A piece of flesh covered with skin then appeared on the neck of the "Tanago Scarecrow", and it merged with the straw underneath.
"It works!" Feelings of joy rose in the hearts of Lai En and others.
This means that the church is not unbreakable, and the protection of the altar is not unbreakable!
…
"The constellations are changing!"
“It’s finally here!”
"… "
Amid the villagers' heated discussion, and the scent of gray amber, cloves, musk, and tulips that filled the air, Lumian, with a strange sense of déjà vu, relied on his "dancer's" flexibility to force his upper body to stay upright while being tied up.
The next second, he saw the parish priest open his mouth and shout in ancient Hermetic language: "The great "Ring of Fate"!" As soon as the name came out, the interior of the church suddenly became dim, and the villagers instantly quieted down.
The orange flames on the three candles were compressed to the size of peppercorns, and all dyed silvery white with black. Lumian's mind immediately buzzed, and the familiar burning sensation returned to his chest.
His line of sight began to shake strangely. The magnificent golden dome high up, Aurore with empty eyes beside him, the solemn-looking priest in front of him, and the hooded man in black robes appeared in his sight in layers at the same time.
He felt a sharp pain in his head, and he felt as if something was being pulled out from deep in his memory. It was extremely similar to the scene before his eyes.
The sense of familiarity and déjà vu once again arose in Lumian's mind, dozens or hundreds of times stronger than before.
Plop, plop!
He heard the sound of his own heart beating.