"Change back."
The moment she heard these words, Fanna also heard a huge noise. It was a continuous roar that was difficult to describe in words, and a tearing scream mixed with burning flames. The sound did not come from a specific direction, but it seemed that the entire city-state, or even the entire world, was making this horrible sound.
Amidst the headache-inducing roar, she looked at the figure standing behind the Preacher of the End—it was the "Captain Duncan" whom she had seen in her dream, but unlike what she had seen last time, the one standing there now was a "ghost" completely enveloped in flames, with his entire body taking on the form of an illusory spirit.
It only took Vanna a moment to determine that this was not the real body, but another projection - except that this projection now used her as a "medium" to come to the tower. She could feel the flow of that power, feel something burning in her soul, and feel a voice in her head that did not belong to her.
She subconsciously raised her hands and saw a green flame quietly attached to her body. Seeing the burning fire spreading under her feet, she understood and realized that long ago, the ghost captain had turned her into a "node" that could project power. The degree of erosion and pollution had long exceeded her and Bishop Valentine's imagination, and all of this... was for today.
The next second, the whole world in her eyes changed drastically.
The dark green flame spread out - in every sea of fire in Plande, in every pile of ashes, in every rising cloud of dust, the dark green flame had been lurking for who knows how long, and now it broke out in full force in an instant, engulfing the entire city-state in an instant!
It was so fast that there was no way to react. Or rather, all of this had been completed long before this "reality invasion" began - Vanna recalled what she had seen on the other side of the curtain before, and suddenly realized that the fire created by those End Preachers and Sun Heretics had unknowingly become the carrier of the ghost flame... Their act of burning the entire city-state with flames was the last step required for the ghost captain to complete the "usurpation of fire"!
A shrill cry suddenly sounded, waking Vanna up. She looked towards the source of the sound and saw that the skinny preacher of the end was also burning with blazing ghost flames. He was twisting and howling on the edge of the platform like a torch, and the scene of the flames in the city being instantly usurped was reflected in his gradually melting eyeballs, causing the madman to shout curses:
"Foolishness, folly! Destroyed! You have rejected the gift of the warp, and you will be tortured in this world of suffering forever... Folly!!"
However, in contrast to the madman's shouting and cursing, there was another scene -
Plande, who was completely burned by the ghost flame, is recovering at an incredible speed!
Buildings destroyed by the flames were rapidly recovering, roads torn apart by the melting were healing, the rain of fire from the sky had ceased, and the clouds that seemed to be the end of the world were rapidly melting away as if time was turning back. A corner of normal sky even appeared on the edge of the city-state, and in a place even further away...
The long-silent bell rang.
As Captain Duncan said, change back.
Fanna stared at this incomprehensible scene with her eyes wide open. She had never thought that a completely destroyed city-state could actually be repaired. Soon, she realized the essence of this "repair" -
The historical pollution brought by the End Preachers and the Sun Heretics is being stripped away, and the "pseudo-history" that has completely covered the Pland City-State and replaced reality is being "repelled" by some powerful force. Go!
She looked at the tall figure standing not far away in astonishment. The latter was just calmly watching the End Preacher who was about to be burned to charcoal. After a long time, he spoke softly as if talking to himself: "Everything can be contaminated, except the subspace..."
The End Preacher was not dead yet. Although he had been completely twisted into an inhuman appearance, a hoarse and shocked voice came out from the pile of charcoal: "You... You turned this city-state into a part of the Lost Homeland?!"
"The Lost Homeland is the promised ark. I think we can explore the idea of the 'ark'," Duncan smiled and bent down slightly. "If a ship encounters the Lost Homeland at sea, it will be assimilated and absorbed.
So... why can't the Plunder, who I'm looking at, be considered another Lost Homelander?"
A loud bell rang from afar, indicating that a ship was approaching the port. Vanna subconsciously raised her head and looked into the distance. The next second, she saw a scene that was enough to shock her -
She saw a ship.
The Lost Homeland appeared, coming from the direction of the Boundless Ocean, its body burning with raging spiritual fire, its translucent spiritual sails fluttering like a curtain covering the sky and the sun.
The ship passed the coast, passed the port that was being restored at a rapid speed, and sailed directly into the city-state of Plande, which was already covered with dark green flames, as if it was sailing on the water. It moved forward majestically among the high walls, houses and towers that were constantly being repaired and reset. Its sides were constantly rippling with illusory ripples, and with each ripple, the city-state would be repaired further. It seemed as if the entire Plande was reborn in the wake of the Lost Hometown!
"You... You can save this city-state... But you can't stop the sun from setting..." A faint voice came from the twisted charcoal on the platform that was once the preacher of the end, like the last whisper before the nightmare dissipated, "Even if it is just a few fragments summoned from history... It is enough to destroy it again... Destined..."
The sound gradually became weaker and finally disappeared. The twisted pile of charcoal finally exhausted all its vitality and turned into a cloud of dust that drifted in the wind under the burning of the spiritual flame.
After hearing the words of the End Preacher, Vanna suddenly reacted. She looked up at the sky and saw that the "black sun" with extremely bright edges and dark red interior like the entrance of an abyss was still suspended high above the city-state. The agitation inside the sun became even more obvious and stronger than before!
The flames of the Lost Homeland removed the historical pollution suffered by Pland, but the blasphemous sun... was not a part of Pland from the beginning. It was a historical projection summoned by the Preacher of the End and the Children of the Sun. It existed independently outside of all official history and pseudo-history!
"Something is awakening in the black sun!" At this moment, Vanna even forgot her own and that of "Captain Duncan" and subconsciously reminded loudly, "It will..."
Duncan just waved at her gently.
Then, Vanna saw the ghost captain turned around and headed towards the direction where the blasphemous sun was hanging high. He raised his hand, as if calling out to or welcoming something, and spoke in a gentle voice -
“Come this way… Yes, don’t worry, you won’t fall, just move forward.
"Remember how to ride a bike? Like that... Come on, I'll hold you."
The next second, a bright arc of golden flame suddenly stung Vanna's vision. She saw a huge gap torn in the edge of the black sun, and an arc of flame jumped onto Captain Duncan as if cheering. As the flame left, a shrill howl suddenly sounded from the blasphemous and terrifying sun disk in the sky!
It was as if some giant beast had suddenly suffered a blow through the heart. The dark red core of the sun was quickly covered with countless dazzling red cracks, and the bright and dazzling halo at its edge was instantly infected and burned by the dark green flames. Then, the dark green flames began to spread rapidly into the dark core of the sun. The agitation in the dark core completely disappeared, and the vague vitality before was almost gone in the blink of an eye. It broke apart, and hot and boiling substances flowed out of it, but were burned clean by the ubiquitous dark green flames before falling into the city-state.
Accompanied by continuous screams, roars, and crackling sounds, the deformed and blasphemous sun finally disintegrated completely, leaving only a few residues and fragments that fell into the ripples on the edge of the Lost Homeland.
The huge Homeland Lost had also sailed to the center of the city-state at this moment. It gradually floated up in a spiritual state, and approached the bell tower of the cathedral in the illusory sea water and ripples. The spiritual sails that covered the sky swept across the sky, and the light and shadows of the masts and cables passed by Vanna.
She heard the sound of bells, the bells of the cathedral - the bell tower at her feet had also broken free from the pollution of history, and the bell-ringing device started to work automatically.
The figure of Archbishop Valentine gradually emerged in the air. The archbishop who defended the city-state until the last moment successfully returned to reality, proving that the branch of history pointing to destruction had completely disappeared.
Vanna's eyes did not stay on the archbishop. She was still staring at Duncan not far away, but the latter had turned away.
A leaping arc of flame surrounded him, and the warmth and brightness brought by the flame even softened his gloomy and majestic face a little.
"I thought you were going to come up and jump," Duncan said to Vanna with a smile, as if he was chatting with a friend, "just like last time."
“… I am not a mindless and reckless person.”
"Really? I thought you loved jumping. After all, every mature warrior can't resist the urge to jump at the opponent," Duncan joked. He reached out to calm the arc of flame beside him that seemed a little restless, and then nodded to Vanna. "I'm done. See you next time."
Fanna was startled and stepped forward subconsciously: "Wait! You can't just... "
Duncan had already turned around, waved his hand, and walked towards the air outside the bell tower platform. The towering stern of the Lost Homeland slowly moved past the tall tower, and at the rudder on the deck was the captain who was steering the ship himself.
Duncan's projection wrapped in spiritual flames stepped directly onto the boat and merged with his real body.
He stood on the bridge, holding the steering wheel, smiling and nodding to Vanna.
The huge ghost ship then began to gradually accelerate, and the illusory hull passed over Plande, and in the gradually spreading ripples, it sailed towards the coast on the other side of the city-state, towards the boundless sea.