"Priest, please rest assured, I will be fine. Please leave first. Oh, one more thing. I left a lot of empty bottles outside the door. Can you leave some of your blood in one of them?"
Shade had not originally planned to use the blood of anyone in the same group, because although everyone had their own stories, none of them seemed "special" enough. But the priest was different, because once he crossed that door, he would have jumped between death and life, so Shade thought that this blood would be useful.
Although the old priest was puzzled, he nodded:
"Okay, that's easy."
He turned and left. Shade held the burnt black feather and looked at the silver moon. He heard the heavy sound of the stone door being pushed open behind him. The priest really had a way to jump back and forth in death, and when Shade turned around, the door had already closed.
In other words, Xia De still has to find a way to escape death on his own.
"Are you sure I can leave?"
He couldn't help but ask again:
"It would be ridiculous if I rescued the priest but stayed behind."
Sure, and there is no need to use divinity.
Shade reached for the stone door and tried the key. Thaumaturgy worked, but trying to turn his hand to open the "lock" was like wrestling with the world.
But it didn't matter. After confirming that the key to the door was also useful for this door, he knew what he had to do.
As for the next seal, he only has the last drop of divinity left. He must not consume it on sealing this door, otherwise he will not even have the afterglow of divinity left, and he will not be able to pass through the narrow gap between life and death and return to the manor at the foot of the mountain.
He wanted to use magic to seal the door, and coincidentally, he did have a magic that could be used to seal it.
Look at the feather in your hand:
"Whispering Element, as expected, the priest's wings and the power of death all come from the unknowable relic that went out of control in Tobesk when he was young. So, priest Augustus is not actually the third chosen one?"
He clutched the feather and looked up at the low black sky. The life ring behind him silently appeared in the scorching steam mist. Ten spirit runes of four types, facing the huge half silver moon in the distance, quietly emitting spiritual light into the dark world.
And as the life ring appeared, the shadowy souls hovering on the water seemed to stop.
The world of the dead seemed to be completely stagnant at this moment, but Shade, who had closed his eyes, did not see this scene:
"Tree Kiss."
The white souls did not turn around to look at the only living being among the dead, but looked at the silver moon in the distance.
The moon slowly rose from the farthest point of the water, and the half moon turned into a full silver moon above the water. Then the silver moon slid towards the top of the dark sky little by little, and was embedded in the low sky.
The white shadows standing on the water looked up at the sky, the water was shimmering, and it was unclear whether it was the reflection of the silver moon or the reflection of the soul. Beside Shad, the wind rustled the treetops, and the red-gold bonfire in front of the stone gate crackled.
A giant tree stood on top of the stone gate, its roots firmly clinging to the gate, its canopy seeming to penetrate the entire sky. Its branches extended toward the black calm water, and even death could not make the branches wither.
However, the power of the Kiss of the Mystical Tree was still severely limited. The Thousand Tree Forest did not appear, and only the bonfire and the giant tree appeared. The range of the Mystical Tree was limited to the mudflats in front of the door, and did not spread to the water surface representing the exit, nor did it change the stone door.
Xia De took a deep breath and put the feather in his right hand against his chest. Then, he stood under the tree and, like all the souls on the water, looked up at the silver moon in the starry sky above.
The moonlight illuminated Shade's face from the gaps between the treetops, and the dark moon was reflected in his pupils. The black feather in his hand melted into his chest, and his heart stopped beating completely at this moment, and the familiar coldness spread throughout his body. Standing in the real death, looking at the moon that guided death, for a moment, he clearly felt the feeling of coming to this world and the last moment in his hometown:
"It turns out that I really came back from the dead..."
The dark iron-colored spiritual light gathered on the rapidly spinning life ring. Some imperceptible phosphorescence flew over from the calm black water surface. Even the moonlight seemed to gather on the life ring.
Passing through the narrow space between life and death, crossing the gate of death, you have truly entered death. This is the place closest to the end, and it is the final destination of all souls.
You saw the end of death, pushed open the door of death, and came into contact with the power of the first angel, Jakel...
"Um?"
... ... You heard the "whispers" from death.
The life ring rotated, not only the black iron whispering light was enriched, but even the surrounding darkness was constantly entering the life ring. Xia De believed that no one had ever been able to touch death in the true death.
Outsider, you have inscribed the Dark Iron Rune of Whispering Spirits - True Death.
Although it is not the broader spiritual rune of death, real death seems to be more powerful, and—
"False immortality... true death?"
Shade shook his head and channeled the power of his eleventh spiritual rune behind him to make himself more adaptable to the darkness. It was almost dawn outside, and he couldn't waste time.
The crown of the giant tree was blown by the wind of unknown origin, rustling under the huge silver moon. I don't know if it was Shade's illusion, when the real death took shape, this place seemed to become more real, but also more unreal.
Those souls who were looking up at the silver moon seemed to have the light of the silver moon inside their bodies, and beside Shade, the cluster of red-gold bonfire suddenly ignited.
In the material world, the old continent, the Kingdom of Drarion, the city of Midhill Castle was just before dawn on the twenty-third morning of the Harvest Moon. But before the first ray of sunlight shone from behind Mount Sikar, a slight vibration of the ground woke up the citizens.
Midhill Castle is an earthquake-prone mountainous area, so the city was not panicked. Only a few people noticed the abnormal light in the night sky, and even fewer people stood at the window or door to look at the towering Sikar Mountain and saw the abnormal red-gold aurora behind the mountains, floating in the night sky like a ribbon.
It covers a small half of the southeast sky. Under the starry sky, the light flickers, occasionally changing into red, blue, green and purple.
"The aurora before the big earthquake?"
The light was so dreamy and brilliant, but no one knew what this strange light that appeared with the earthquake was. Only the ring sorcerers with better eyesight could distinguish that the light vaguely reflected a huge body of water, but it also looked like a tree with a huge crown.
The earthquake only happened once and then disappeared, and the red-gold aurora that looked like a ribbon also disappeared with the earthquake, as if it was just a collective hallucination before dawn.
In the Russell Mansion at the foot of Mount Sikar, the bonfire that had been burning all night was still not extinguished, but the fire flow throughout the manor became increasingly weak.
The blind nuns looked up at the light above Mount Sikar, and no one spoke. Only Sister Defulin, the leader of the order, still held the flames in her hands, with her back to the bonfire, facing the open door of the mansion, and her head lowered, motionless.
Her hands were clasped together, and through the cracks on the backs of her hands and fingers, her skin was almost transparent in the firelight and embers, so that her hand bones could be seen.
An old figure stood beside the nun at some point, looking up at the aurora that was about to dissipate on the top of the mountain:
"It's really beautiful. It reminds me of the night sky I saw when I was young and followed the former Speaker to the Far North to visit Saint Byrons."
"Ma'am, what is this light?"
Sister Defulin asked softly, her tone still so cold.
"Another world is reflected in the sky, which means there are high-level sorcerers who have at least used a power like a puzzle lock that can be called a true miracle. Yes, someone has completely sealed the door at the foot of the mountain temporarily, which is amazing, but how did they do it? Could it be that the 'Silver Warden' from Saint Byrons has come? I remember that they haven't investigated the matter of Lady Mana Felena some time ago."
Xena Cassandra coughed:
"This is not important. After all, there is not much significance in sealing only one of the three passages. Speaking of which, has he not come back yet?"
"No, I have reminded him that dawn is coming."
Sister Devereine replied.
The old witch shook her head. Although she was old, her youthful demeanor could still be seen on her face:
"It's really worrying. If he gets lost there, I think little Carina will never come to see me again in her life."