After Dorothy left, Shade continued to wait. At eight o'clock in the evening, Luvia sent a letter to Shade, saying that the Peace Church had found the traces of Darkness and the Bloodthirster in the south of the city, but due to the appearance of other ring wizard organizations, the tracking of the two was not smooth.
"There are other orders of ring sorcerers..."
Shade, who stayed in Saint Teresa Square, felt that the situation seemed to be getting worse and worse. The ring wizard organization that was pursuing the chosen one was far more than the church, the academy, the parliament and the blood spirit school. If he delayed for a few more days, there might be a new thirteen-ring wizard appearing.
In addition, Luvia has contacted Iluna. The dark realm of the out-of-control relic is extremely dangerous, and the church has made some amulets to protect those who need to enter it. Iluna has obtained two extra amulets, and Luvia will bring the amulets with her next time she comes to Saint Teresa's Square.
She also seemed to think that there was a high probability that Darkness would be able to successfully enter the dark realm, so she asked Shade to be ready to set off at any time.
And so it came to Saturday morning, the 31st day of the Flower Month, the end of the Flower Month in August.
When he woke up in the morning, Shad thought that if he still couldn't confirm Darkness's whereabouts by noon, he would go find Luvia and stop waiting.
But just after breakfast, there was a knock on the door downstairs. When Shade opened the door downstairs with expectation, he found that the visitor was not Luvia, nor the maid holding the Dark Box, but priest Augustus.
"Why are you so disappointed to see me? Xia De, do you hate me so much?"
The priests were not involved in the affairs of the Chosen Ones, so while Shad was nervously and expectantly waiting for the final battle, the priests' lives were still very leisurely.
"No, no, I'm glad you came. But I'm waiting for Luvia. I have something very important to ask her."
Shade said, and then made way for the door to allow Father Augustus to enter.
"Luvia? Who is this? Have you met a new girl?"
The priest asked with a smile, and when he was about to enter the door, he saw Shade standing there in a daze:
"Detective, you look strange today, what's wrong?"
He frowned.
"Priest, Luvia Annette, don't you know her?"
"Who is that?"
Father Augustus asked curiously, stroking his chin, and it seemed that he was not joking.
At this moment, Xia De suspected that he had not woken up yet, but he immediately thought of the characteristics of the dark realm:
"Then priest, please think carefully, how many people are there in our group, including you and me?"
Xia De asked again.
"There are also a doctor and a writer, four people... Hmm? Why do I feel like there is something wrong... Wait, don't we have a complete team of five people?"
He looked up at the detective at the door:
"Has my memory been affected by something?"
“It doesn’t affect memory, it changes cognition.”
The area covered by the Dark Domain will not only disappear completely, but will also be forgotten by people, and any related records will disappear in a relatively reasonable way. Therefore, people who enter the area will also be forgotten by everyone. But even if all records disappear, people will gradually find something wrong, so the church was able to initially discover that the Dark Domain appeared around Tobesk.
"Come with me, priest, there is something important that needs to be confirmed."
Shade walked up the stairs quickly, and the priest closed the door behind him, thinking as he followed:
"Oh, don't walk so fast. Do you think I'm the same age as you? Xia De, tell me first, what level of relic is this?"
Shade was almost on the second floor at this time. He was moving very fast, while the priest had just reached the corner of the stairs:
"It's the Angel-level (Level 1) Relic Dark Realm!"
"It's good that it's not unknowable level (level 0). I don't want the bad luck that happened last time to happen again."
"Priest, have you ever experienced an unknowable-level relic going out of control?"
When the priest came to the second floor, panting, Shad's voice came from the study.
"Yes, yes, that was a terrible thing. It was me and Annette... Oh, I remembered Annette!"
The old priest said in surprise, took a deep breath, walked through the living room and went to the study:
"When the Unknown-level relic was traced back, it looked like an hourglass with silver sand inside. This thing caused the Tobesk region to repeat the cycle within a day, and as the number of cycles increased, the coverage area became larger and larger. When she found me, the relic's range of influence had almost reached the southern border of the kingdom."
"Um?"
Xia De's head stuck out from the study door:
"Time loop? You two have figured out something like this?"
"It's mainly Annat. She is completely immune to this kind of time reset and can remember the contents of each cycle. She tried eight times by herself, but failed to find the relic and contain it within 24 hours, so she came to me for help."
The priest was slightly pleased:
"Although I only have the second ring, after I knock Bishop Owen unconscious and stuff him into the broom cupboard, I can mobilize the ring sorcerers of the entire Dawn Church in the name of searching for the missing bishop."
He walked into the study and saw Shade walking towards the door holding a huge rolled-up map:
"Priest, there's no need to come to the study. Please help open the door to Room 2 on the living room wall. This map can only be fully unfolded next door... Then what did you do with that unknowable relic? Such a tricky thing, did you sell it to the academy after collecting it?"
"No, no, Annat thought that it was so difficult to get an unknowable relic, so how could she let it go so easily? The hourglass was placed in the church. I dug up the floor under the statue and buried the hourglass under the statue to prevent it from getting out of control again. Speaking of which, Annat saved the world that time."
The priest said, opening the door and walking into room number two first.
"Reverend Father, you have a very good idea. But is this not blasphemy?"
"Of course not. I took the initiative to use the power of my Lord to suppress an unknowable relic. If this matter could be made public, the church would canonize me after my death."
The priest said proudly as he and Shade unfolded the map that Miss Carina described as "military grade" on the floor.
"But Shade, don't tell anyone what I just told you. I promised Anat that I wouldn't tell anyone."
The priest reminded with some concern:
"I only told you this because of the incident I encountered this time and you have a good relationship with Annat."
"No problem priest."
Shade squatted down, looking down at the map of the southern region of Tobesk, while explaining to Priest Augustus what the Dark Realm was. Although the priest was not a ring wizard of the church, he had heard of this dangerous angel-level relic that appeared in the Tobesk Diocese, so Shade didn't have to waste too much time explaining it.
"But why are you not affected by the Dark Realm?"
The priest asked doubtfully, standing behind Shad.
"I'm not completely unaffected, but the effect is weaker. When I woke up this morning, I thought I was waiting for someone, but I couldn't remember who. When you knocked on the door downstairs, I blurted out 'Luvia is here', and then I realized that I was waiting for her... Ha, I thought I was confused in my sleep."
Shade explained this, and the priest nodded and accepted this statement:
"But I really can't think of the reason why Anat is not affected by the cycle. From my impression, she doesn't have any time-related powers."
The priest muttered quietly, a question to which Shad knew the answer.
When kissing Luvia under the moon, "she" unromantically reminded Guo Xiade that Luvia Fiorchi Anat was cursed by time. She was not affected by any power of time, and the damage of time would be more obvious to her.
Perhaps the time cycle can also be considered a kind of great power of time.
Although Shad slandered "her" for being unromantic, the voice in his ear still assisted Shad. Together with Father Augustus, they compared the current map and found out how much area had disappeared compared to the last time Shad saw it.
The situation was better than Shad had thought, and the urban area was not affected. When Dorothy and I heard the news of the relic at the opera house a month ago, the dark domain had only swallowed up a small town in the southeast of Tobesk. This time, the part that disappeared on the map had expanded northward and westward to the southern suburbs of Tobesk.
Even Miss Carina's estate was included.
This means that the relics, which were already basically under control, have experienced new changes, but the changes are not particularly serious. This is most likely related to the approach of the dark chosen one.
This situation should have occurred within a few hours, because before Xia De went to bed in the early morning, he studied the terrain of the southeast of the city on a simple map, and everything was normal at that time.
"The Dark Realm got out of control, and then it was brought under control again."
Father Augustus made the same judgment as Shad.
"Yes, the murderer that the church is chasing must have done something."
Xia De stood up and looked at the map under his feet:
"Priest, I have to do something that I should do. Please inform the church about the loss of control of the relic... Well, they must know that I look down on the Orthodox Church a little too much."
Shad shook his head.
Father Augustus frowned and looked at Shade:
"What are you going to do?"
"I'm sorry, I can't tell you that."
"Is it related to the demon you asked about? Is it related to the dark realm?"
"Yes."
Xia De nodded:
"And Luvia is probably in that area too. I'm going to save her. Priest, you don't have to stop me or follow me. I'm ready. Don't forget what I did at Lakeview Manor. I can use that power again."
The two returned to the living room of Room 1. The priest watched Shade put away the things on the coffee table and prepared to leave. The old man hesitated to speak:
"Well, at my age, even if I follow you, I probably won't be able to help you much... Xia De."
"What's wrong?"
The stranger looked in surprise at the old priest who suddenly raised his voice.
"Darkness is never invincible. I have always believed that the human heart is dark at first and needs to be purified through faith. But I also believe that even the deepest darkness will meet someone who can swallow it up."
Father Augustus looked serious:
"Next, please close your eyes and don't look directly at me. Before you set off, I can give you some blessings and strength. Detective, if your journey is a just one, you will be blessed by the gods."
Shade was holding the cat, intending to throw it on the sofa and close the lid of the gift box from God. When he heard the priest say this, he put the cat down:
"Whatever you want to do... Well, I believe you."
He stood beside the coffee table and closed his eyes. Then the air around him began to flow and he seemed to hear the sound of flapping wings in his ears.
Shad understood that the priest had spread his wings.
The cold fingers suddenly touched the center of Shade's brow. A chill that almost froze the soul entered Shade's forehead from the fingertips of the priest Augustus, making him shiver uncontrollably because of the chill.
Stranger, you feel the "whisper".
This is the power of death. A death so brilliant, so beautiful, so dazzling.
She was whispering something, as if she was singing.
"alright."
Retracting his fingers, Father Augustus said weakly.
Xia De opened his eyes and saw the priest sitting down on the sofa with a pale face.
"Priest, you are..."
"I'm fine."
The old man waved his hands with difficulty. The wrinkles on his face were more obvious than ever before. He didn't look like he was fine.
"I'm too old, Shade, to go with you. The blessing I just gave you is not very effective. It can only protect you from the influence of darkness after you enter the range of influence of the relic."
Xia De had not yet received the amulet specially made by the church. He originally wanted to rely on his divinity to resist the influence of the relic just like he did when he went deep into the fishbone pirate ship. Unexpectedly, the priest gave him convenience.
"Are you really okay?"
"It's really nothing. I just need to take a break. I'm too old to compete with you youngsters."
His voice was still weak. Seeing that Xia De wanted to treat him, he waved his hand again:
"I'm just exhausted, not injured. Go quickly, Xia De, and be careful. Don't think that there will be no danger just because I bless you.
You have to remember that victory over darkness depends on courage and strength, not light. Light and darkness are one and the same. Darkness is also power, and darkness is never equal to evil. "
The priest explained that this statement was consistent with his identity as an old priest of the Church of Light and Shadow.
"I remember that."
Xia De nodded, turned around, closed the lid of the God's gift box on the coffee table, and then put it into the backpack he had sewn.
Father Augustus obviously did not know what it was.
After packing everything up and putting on my backpack, I realized that Mia, who was on the coffee table just now, was gone. The cat probably ran through the open door to Room 2 to sharpen its claws.
Xia De tried calling a few times, but the orange cat didn't show up. Because time was tight, he didn't go looking for Mia anymore. Anyway, it wouldn't be in any danger if it stayed at home.
"Oh, by the way, priest, what do you want to talk to me about?"
Only then did Xia De remember this matter.
"Oh, I almost forgot."
Father Augustus patted his face, which had regained some color.
"Schneider asked me to inform you that today's study session will be cancelled. He has something important to do outside the city and will probably be back very late."
"That's great. I definitely won't be able to go back to the city this afternoon."
Even if Shade moved as fast as he could in the dark realm, it would still take a long time to get from the city center to the south of the city.
"Well, you go see Anat later and tell her that today's study session is cancelled. I'll rest here for a while and then go inform Louisa."
"Priest, just rest here with peace of mind."
Shade adjusted the straps to the right position and threw the house key to the priest:
"Please lock the door for me when you leave. Then I will be off."
"Whatever you do, be careful."
The priest sighed:
"Light shines in the shadows, and shadows follow the dawn. May Mr. Dawn protect you, Shade."