Reaching out to catch the falling snow in front of her, Dorothy Louisa looked around. The thick darkness and the door were gone, the air was fresh and cold, and the smell of fireworks belonging to civilization made her almost tremble all over.
She and the detective in front of her stood on the snowy street on a winter night. The snow under their feet almost covered their feet. The unique smell of winter rushed into their noses, and the small figure stood in front of Xia De.
She was barefoot wearing a pair of slippers, her feet were blue and purple from the cold, and her clothes were covered with countless patches. She had a ragged headscarf wrapped around her golden hair, and she was hunched over with a small basket... She smiled at Shade.
She lit the first match, and when it went out, five mermaids appeared before them. Snow surrounded them, and even if they roared, they could not break free from the shackles of ice and snow;
She lit the second match, and the match went out, and the five mermaids were surrounded by the light. It was the light of the match, weak but full of hope;
She lit the third match, and when it went out, five streaks of black smoke shot out of the fishman's body. A blurry figure in a black robe appeared beside the girl, waving a sickle in his hand, and the black smoke dissipated in the flying snowflakes.
She lit the fourth match, and when it went out, the flames on the fishmen also went out. This was the last match, and it was also the match that contained the end of the story and Shade's hope.
After the flames, the intact Dice family fell to the snow.
Shad came to the girl carrying the basket and looked up at the end of the snowy street. A huge black shadow occupied the sky and the earth, which meant that the evil god from the higher dimension was watching here, watching him.
Her voice appeared in my ears.
You are being watched by the old god, "God of the Drowned Deep", and you feel blasphemed.
The first dead who drowned in the deep sea knew the deepest secrets of the abyss. He hated the living and on stormy nights, he brought all living things to the bottom of the sea, wailing day and night in the sound of the death bell.
You have listened to the story of the old god "God of the Drowned Deep Sea", and you have learned one of the blasphemies of the old god "God of the Drowned Deep Sea".
You gain the spell of water breathing.
Xia De didn't care about the voice in his ear, and he didn't care that he knew who it was.
The sight fell on Shade, and the afterglow of divinity enveloped him like a burning golden flame. At that moment, he felt like he was peering into the abyss of the deep sea, and countless hands of rotten corpses in the abyss were pulling him, but he just stood there motionless.
The evil god did not come to the material world, but was just looking at this place, so Shad had the courage to stand here and look up at him.
He cannot retreat. Since he has decided to try to save those who he can save, he absolutely cannot retreat.
After a moment, before Shade could even decide whether to sacrifice his only drop of divinity, the gaze went away on its own.
The god gave up looking at this place, and the sense of spatial dislocation completely disappeared. The human who was transformed into a fish and favored by Him was saved, and He lost interest in the things here.
"Shad, you really... Oh!"
The scenery of the snowy street and the figure of the girl wearing slippers on her bare feet quickly faded away in the blazing flames that suddenly ignited around her. The gorgeous flames passed through Miss Louisa's body, and after being stared at by the evil god, the feeling that water plants were growing on her body disappeared.
The surroundings returned to being that alley in the night, and returned to being the night of Tobysk.
The Dice family lay quietly and neatly in the alley, breathing evenly. But Shad fell backwards, and this time he was supported by Miss Louisa.
The young stranger had his eyes closed tightly, his face was pale, and the rise and fall of his chest was almost invisible.
Miss Louisa held her breath for a long time before she stretched out her trembling hand with a sad look and tested his breath.
Letting out a long breath, Shade fainted from exhaustion simply because he had performed a magic that was far beyond his level.
"But this is the first time I've seen a puzzle lock."
Looking at the young detective's face in the moonlight, the blonde girl's eyes turned red and she forced a gentle smile of relief.
Three full moons hung overhead, shining here and shining on Shade. I could vaguely hear voices in the distance. The evil gods were watching the material world and the city was unfolding magic locks. The Church of the True Gods could not have been unaware of it.
Now, it's time to leave.
(Mi Mia is running...)
Dream, it was that dream again.
Xia De stood on the ridge of the field, looking up at the huge silver moon above his head. The moon seemed to be within reach, but when he stretched out his hand, he could not touch anything.
The light of the silver moon illuminated Shade, who was thoughtful:
"I keep having this dream, something must be wrong, does it mean..."
Then he opened his eyes and saw a familiar ceiling. This was the bedroom of number six St. Teresa's Square.
"Meow~"
Noticing that Shade had woken up, the cat beside the pillow rubbed the back of his hand happily. Shade wanted to raise his hand to touch Mia, but as soon as he got up, the pain in his head made him groan softly.
Not only that, my whole body aches and my body trembles when I raise my hand, as if I have been hungry for three days and three nights.
"It's 7 o'clock on Sunday morning."
He learned the time, and the time before he fell into a coma was Saturday night. In other words, he only slept for less than ten hours:
"Who sent me back? Oh, Mia, don't touch me, my whole body is not right now."
Perhaps because of Shad's voice, the bedroom door was pushed open. Shad was startled and looked up to see that the person who opened the door was the blonde girl Dorothy Louisa.
She was still wearing the same clothes as last night. When she saw Xia De wake up, she smiled and waved to him.
"water... ... "
He squeezed out the sound from his throat, and Miss Louisa walked into the bedroom with a tray, put the tray on the bedside table, and handed him the cup of water.
On the plate was meat porridge, hot goat milk, scrambled eggs, apples and bread. In the two weeks that Shad had lived here, he had never seen such a sumptuous breakfast in the house.
"Meow~"
Mia stared at Miss Louisa with a covetous look. Goat milk was her breakfast, but the blonde female writer obviously mistook it for the milk that Shade ordered for her.
He took the cup and gently touched the wall of the cup. A blasphemous silver light shone on the water. He took a sip of water carefully, felt his body condition, and drank another big sip.
"Oh~"
Then he groaned again and put the cup back on the bedside table.
"How do you feel now?"
Miss Louisa asked with concern while sitting in the armchair beside the bed.
"My physical condition is fine. I still have a headache, but I think it's fine now..."
He picked up the cat that had ulterior motives towards the dinner plate and leaned against the bedside table, feeling the throbbing pain in his temples.
Xia De still remembers what happened before he fell into a coma. Facing the exit, the regret in his heart and the touch for the innocent people who had suffered made him understand the true power given to him by the "Little Match Girl".
So he used the story paper that Miss Louisa had borrowed to complete the engraving of the Enlightenment Spirit Rune "The Little Match Girl". At the same time, this was also Shade's second Spirit Rune. He was only away from the second ring, "Miracle" and "Whisper". The acquisition of the Miracle Spirit Rune would depend on his performance in the year 1068, the last time he entered the Fifth Epoch, at dawn next Thursday.
"That is undoubtedly a puzzle lock."
When talking about this, Miss Louisa's face seemed to glow red, and she was a little excited:
"You should know that the purer the spiritual rune, the more magic that can be developed, such as Silver Moon Emotions and so on. The more complex and specific the spiritual rune, the fewer magics it corresponds to. A spiritual rune like the Little Match Girl, which is complex in itself and has been given a more specific image by civilization, has almost no possibility of developing magic in many aspects. But at the same time, spiritual runes with specific and complex meanings may themselves be magic. And last night, when you were engraving the spiritual rune, you obtained the only magic belonging to the Enlightenment Rune Little Match Girl. That is the puzzle lock!"
Xia De knew about the special mysterious power of "Maze Lock", which Professor Garcia mentioned yesterday morning.
Simply put, it is to use the four elements to influence space, and superimpose a temporary space between reality and falsehood on the material world, so as to trap or attack the enemy.
But this is a power that can only be used in large-scale rituals or by high-level sorcerers. Because of Shad's identity as a fairy tale creator and the fact that he allegedly told the stories to God, he suddenly realized this power last night. Unfortunately, his own level as a sorcerer is not high enough, so he immediately collapsed and passed out after using it.
If there wasn't a drop of divinity hidden in his life ring that could replenish his elements and spirit at all times, he might have turned into a vegetable on the spot.
Fortunately, Shad was not alone last night.
After he fell unconscious, Miss Louisa noticed that the Orthodox Church's ring magician team was approaching, and even a ten-ring magician stationed in the diocese came to check the situation. So she hurriedly covered up the traces and took Shade back to No. 6 St. Teresa's Square... ... In fact, there was no trace to cover up, after all, most of the things that happened were not in the real space.
They don't need to worry about the affairs of the Dais family, the Orthodox Church will give them the most stringent inspection and protection. The little girl Sophie Dais was the real reason why the evil god noticed her last night, but she lost her identity as a "fishman" and was no longer important to the gods.
After Miss Louisa escaped with Shade, she returned directly here. Because she was worried about Shade's condition, she did not go back last night, but spent the night on the sofa in the living room - she would not sleep in the bed that the middle-aged detective had slept in.
After being woken up by the hungry cat in the morning, I saw that Xia De was still asleep, so I hurried to make breakfast. When I came to check on him, I found that Xia De had already woken up.
"In that case, we are lucky. I am sorry to have troubled you last night, Miss Louisa. I am probably very heavy."
He wanted to get out of bed, but was stopped by Miss Louisa, who brought the dinner tray to Shad, apparently wanting him to eat before getting out of bed.
"You saved me, otherwise I would have been taken to the deep sea somewhere unknown, and I would have looked like that..."
She showed a frightened expression, lifted the hair beside her ear, and asked curiously:
"Shad, speaking of which, can you still use the power of the maze now?"
"I'll give it a try."
He thought about it, summoned a corner of the life ring, looked back at the spiritual rune of the little match girl that was flashing a dazzling brass light, and then took the initiative to activate a new magic.