Glass Island, White Queen.
On the second floor of the pure white Brown Hotel, a well-dressed and well-mannered young gentleman was leisurely eating a freshly fried steak in his room.
Next to his table stood a maid in spirit form. She had a pure white translucent body and looked to be only seventeen or eighteen years old. She was dressed similarly to the Fox, both wearing white priest robes without a mitre. The only part of her body that was solid was her spine, so through her translucent white body, one could barely see the pale color of her spine.
Suddenly, the girl leaned over and whispered something in the gentleman's ear. Her mouth moved, but no sound came out.
The gentleman seemed to have heard something. He raised his eyebrows, took out a pure gold pocket watch inlaid with gemstones from his pocket, and opened it.
“It’s almost over.”
He looked at the time, put it away, and then stuffed the remaining piece of steak into his mouth.
He chewed with all his strength, the meat juices kept seeping out. Some of the tough tendons made a creaking sound. But because he had good teeth, he still chewed the meat into pieces and swallowed it.
The young gentleman murmured in a low voice with some satisfaction and reluctance: "I really can't bear to part with such a young and healthy body..."
at the same time.
In the gentleman's room downstairs, the room was being cleaned slowly and intermittently, and the maid who looked like a newsboy sighed with some worry.
"It's finally over... This is torture. It's horrible."
As for Sherlock, who was hiding in the abandoned chemical plant with Lulu, he had nothing in common with the princess, so they maintained a polite and somewhat awkward silence.
He focused on the sun rising to its highest point in the sky, and suddenly said, "It's almost time."
"What?"
Lulu, who was holding the child, asked subconsciously, and then immediately reacted and became alert: "Is the ceremony about to end?"
"There are still four survivors. Those two survived until the end."
Sherlock whispered, "'Bone Sculptor'... Lars Graham? I'll check him out."
"If it's not—don't say it was me who said it!"
Lulu whispered nervously.
The newsboy sighed.
"My dear Princess," he said lazily, "Normally, even if I told him, he wouldn't know it was you. The one I know is 'Lulu', not 'Isabelle du Lac'."
“…Huh?” Lulu, who was trying her best to play the role of “Anne Alexander”, suddenly opened her eyes wide when her real name was revealed.
"Master Janice, you are too irresponsible. Although there will be no punishment for failing the first advancement ceremony, and you are not afraid of being exposed to your true identity with your dignity. But I think some common sense should be taught in advance. Not all setbacks have their meanings - especially since you have suffered a lot of setbacks."
The newsboy pulled his newsboy cap, lowered his head and said calmly: "I will report this ceremony to Her Majesty the Queen in detail. Including the unusual difficulty of this ceremony, the information about the 'Bone Sculpture', the 'Knight', the 'Fox' and 'Coco', and the matter between you and Mr. Fox. Of course, it also includes the mistakes you made in this ceremony - I remember them all in my mind, without missing a single detail.
“It’s fine this time. But please remember… starting from the second advancement ritual, failure and death in the ritual will come at a slight price.
"I am one of the few extraordinary people in Avalon who have transcended the path of wisdom. If nothing unexpected happens, Her Majesty the Queen may entrust me to advance with you and protect you during the ceremony. I hope that next time we meet, you can correct your bad habit of being naive."
Having said this, the newsboy looked into Anne Alexander's somewhat stunned and flustered eyes and pondered for a moment.
Then he added: "I will try to investigate the real identity of 'Fox' for you. But please don't expect too much. My priority for the next period of time will be 'Sweater Brotherhood' and 'Bone Sculpture'."
"…Huh? Well, thank you, Mr. Sherlock…"
Although Lulu didn't know when she was exposed, it wasn't surprising that the famous Mr. Sherlock Hermes found out her true identity. So she wasn't too shocked.
But when Sherlock said he wanted to help her investigate the "fox", she was still a little embarrassed. But she didn't refuse.
Seeing this, Sherlock sighed again and said nothing more.
At this moment, a light suddenly appeared in front of everyone's eyes - it was the pure white light that burst out when the world collapsed and disintegrated.
A series of ever-changing images appeared before the eyes of all the ritual participants, including those who were dead and those who were still alive.
The young pastor with black hair and blue eyes put his hand on the back of the child's neck, his palm glowing;
The young inspector, who was seriously injured and had his stomach ripped open by an iron hook, turned his back to the civilians fleeing behind him, and the dagger in his hand, which symbolized the authority of the law, glowed with pure white light, and he still stood there;
The dark green claws of the Water Demon tightly grasped the Iron Hook Demon, and white smoke came out. The Iron Hook Demon had a hideous look on his face, and seemed to be shouting something at the top of his voice;
A bone staff was thrown into the air and emitted a dim yellow glow. Pure white smoke emerged from it and wrapped around the staff, forming a translucent ghost of a girl with a blurred face.
The young pastor took a paper cutter and used it firmly and fearlessly to slit his own throat;
A dark-skinned fat man with his head held by a pale, skinny right hand, the fat on his face and his frightened eyes leaking out from between the fingers;
Anne Alexander held the still sleeping little Edwards in the sunset, with a look of sadness and strength on her face.
—The next moment, the scene in front of me and the entire world around me began to turn into sand.
Everything before my eyes vanished like flying sand.
The sand flew into the air, then rose against the current and was sucked back into the body by the giant glowing hourglass.
Aiwass regained consciousness and sorted out his mixed emotions. He decided to at least ask indirectly before jumping to any conclusions.
After all, the information given in the ceremony may not be completely correct... right
… But having said that, he actually had a similar guess in his mind a long time ago.
This was also expected.
Aiwass sighed and looked up, only to find himself back in his original "Faceless Priest" form, still sitting in his scary-looking large chair.
But there was no longer darkness before his eyes, nor were there the other eight chairs and the other eight participants in the ceremony.
But it is bright.
It was just like when he first advanced, a bright world without any shadows.
A series of light curtains fell quickly in front of my eyes. They were Aiwass's settlement points:
Necessary tasks completed (points: 600)
Self-preservation: Ensure your own survival (unfinished)
The Heart is a Sanctuary: Do not choose to hide in the Candlemas Cathedral, but go to the Legal Square (Points: 100)
My Unforgettable Nature: Save the Dying (Points: 100)
Once and for all: Find and kill the murderer (Points: 500)
My Favorite Jasmine: Ensure the survival of your wife Anne Alexander (Points: 500)
Live Longer: Survive as long as possible among the nine ritualists, or die as late as possible (points: 100)
The beginning of everything: Find the mastermind (points: 1000)
Total points: 2900, ranked first
The familiar figure of a stag, as transparent and pure as a ruby, appeared again in the distance.
His blood dripped onto the ground, igniting red footprints of fire.
He approached Aiwass again and gently licked Aiwass's cheek.
The black thorn on His neck pierced Aiwass's cheek, leaving an invisible wound, from which black blood oozed—
Three lines of text appeared in front of Aiwas's eyes again.
Light Affinity LV1 (Blue): You were scratched by the Sinthorn of the Candlestick, and from it you have realized some of the essence of light.
Before he could see if there were any expansion entries in the remaining two lines, the two blue and white words were completely burned by the black flames.
Two rays of purple light shone and overflowed, emitting a heavy humming sound.
This extremely familiar voice made Aiwas open his eyes wide and perk up instantly.
—Shipped!
It was shipped after the first advancement!
Still two!
… Could it be that the points ranking really determines the quality of shipments
This is a setting that is not in the game... but it makes more sense this way.
But this seems more like a setting that should have been there originally, but was cut out for fairness reasons...
Aiwas opened his eyes wide and saw two rare purple entries:
Vessel of Burning and Shining (Purple): Light is born from fire, and fire floats from light. Your soul is nourished by both.
Corrupted Light LV1 (Purple): No light is absolutely pure, just like the human heart. You try to inject poison into your light.