Chapter 1189. Winter Gifts Day |
As soon as the dark clouds in the sky dispersed, everything in the Holy Wind Cathedral returned to normal.
In a nearby corner, Klein raised his hand to rub his forehead. The corners of his mouth twitched as he mumbled, “If you don’t want to give it to me, so be it… But why did you kill my marionette…”
He then took a deep breath before his figure rapidly faded away and disappeared. The time limit for maintaining the Historical Void projection was almost over. After all, a Scribe’s imitation of a high-level power had significant differences from the original version. The burden of a Sequence 6 summoning a Sequence 3 was rather heavy. Even if a Scholar of Yore could transfer his consciousness over and reduce the spirituality expenditure, it was impossible for Fors to keep it up for too long.
…
In the outskirts of Backlund, downstream of the Tussock River.
Leonard hid his red gloves and slowly walked towards a certain spot.
Suddenly, the slightly-aged voice of Pallez Zoroast rang out in his mind:
“How’s your former colleague been doing recently?”
Thinking back to the conversation at the Tarot Club, Leonard suppressed his voice and said, “He just avoided a trap set up by Amon’s avatar. He’s searching for the truth in the Forsaken Land of the Gods.”
…
After setting up the special coordinates, Fors was thrown back into the real world by Gehrman Sparrow’s messenger.
“I feel exhausted, but I just woke up not too long ago… It must be that High-Sequence Beyonder powers are too draining on my spirituality…” Fors covered her mouth and yawned. She looked at Xio with a haggard expression.
“That’s possible.” Xio agreed with her friend’s judgment.
Her intuition told her that the Gehrman Sparrow projection that had been summoned definitely wasn’t simple. It could even be equivalent to a saint.
After some hesitation, Xio said, “Sleep a little longer. Don’t attempt to advance in such a state.
“In one of my previous trials, the murderer was mentally psychotic. He would deliberately make his friends, his students, and the tramps he took in, consume potions in all sorts of negative states, watch them lose control, and mutate into all kinds of monsters—disgusting and terrifying ones.”
“…What was this fellow’s goal?” Fors was stunned for a second.
“Two goals. One was to observe whether the same potion caused the same loss of control on different people. The other was to use oil paintings to record the corresponding scenes. He believed that the madness, the pain, and the distortion had an unparalleled beauty, one that can stimulate his greatest creative passion.” Xio recalled the trial from back then. She felt a sense of hatred and lingering fear. “He was a complete lunatic.”
“That fellow should be executed!” Fors couldn’t help but shudder when she imagined it. She bared her teeth and said, “Was he a cultist?”
“Perhaps, but there were no clues… On the surface, he appeared to be an outstanding artist, and he is very famous internationally. If it wasn’t for more than five of his students and friends who had disappeared over the past few years, attracting our attention, then he might’ve had to wait until he completely went mad and lost control, becoming a monster, before this matter would be discovered.” Xio suddenly paused for a moment before saying, “Back then, everyone in the law-enforcement team that opened his hidden basement vomited. There were all kinds of mutated and terrifying corpses, and hanging overhead were all kinds of harrowing yet charming oil paintings…”
“A hateful fellow, but it’s also a very attractive story.” Fors thought for a moment and pressed, “Was he a Devil?”
“No, he’s a Psychiatrist.” Xio rejected her friend’s guess.
“…You sentenced him to death?” Fors asked in anticipation.
Xio shook her head.
“His defense lawyer convinced me that he’s more suited to be a Sealed Artifact researcher.”
“There’s a lawyer? You have lawyers at the Paranormal Court? Isn’t it all a direct trial?” Fors asked in surprise.
Xio straightened her blonde hair and said, “There are some Beyonders from the Lawyer pathway among us who also need to act. Of course, they don’t know that they’re acting.”
“Alright.” Fors yawned again and pointed to the reclining chair beside the fireplace. “I’ll sleep for a while. Eh, don’t you have work?”
“We can take days off,” Xio replied succinctly.
Fors didn’t ask further as she walked to the fireplace and collapsed into it.
About two to three hours later, she woke up and Cogitated for fifteen minutes.
Following that, she found the Traveler Beyonder characteristic and the supplementary ingredients given to her by her teacher, Dorian Gray Abraham, and concocted a potion bottle.
The potion’s color was white but transparent. It was like half-melted snow water, occasionally producing light-green bubbles.
Fors held the potion and glanced at her friend who was on guard by the side. She smiled and said, “If I lose control, don’t hesitate. Just chop off my head.
“No, pray first. There might still be a chance to save me.”
“…” Xio slowly nodded. “Maintain this state.”
Fors silently exhaled. Without any hesitation, she raised the bottle and gulped it down.
In the blink of an eye, she felt her body and her eyes light up one after another. They blasted around her body and opened one illusory door after another.
Fors’s consciousness couldn’t help but enter one of them. Her entire body turned transparent as she vanished.
In such a chaotic state of mind, Fors nearly couldn’t regain her sense of self-awareness. Thankfully, she had her fair share of being tormented recently and had a strong will. Furthermore, from time to time, she could feel the four special coordinates in the spirit world. Finally, she slowly came to her senses.
After an unknown period of time, she realized that she had already entered the depths of the spirit world. It was difficult to tell her exact location, and she couldn’t find her “way” back.
With the help of the four special coordinates, Fors slowly “traversed” back to a familiar spot, leaving the saturated, stacked colors and the thin fog before walking out of the spirit world.
The four special coordinates weren’t only used to help me find a way back, they can also effectively maintain my self-awareness… Teacher is only a Sequence 7, so without any actual experience, it’s inevitable for him to miss out on such knowledge… As Fors thought, she cast her gaze towards Xio and smiled slightly.
“I’m a Traveler.”
Xio heaved a sigh of relief and asked curiously, “What new Beyonder powers did you get?”
“The main one is ‘Teleportation.’ Also, ‘Invisible Hand.’ In addition, the number of demigod-level Beyonder powers I can ‘Record’ has increased to four. The actual effects should be close to that of a Sequence 4…” Fors examined herself.
She then raised her hand and pulled out a tarot card from across the room, one used for divination.
It was a person with a scepter in his right hand that pointed towards the sky. His left hand pointed to the earth. In front of him were people like the holy grail, a scepter, a sword, star coins: The Magician card.
…
Every year’s longest night was the birthday of the Evernight Goddess, commonly known as the Winter Gifts Day.
On this day, all Evernight believers would head to a nearby cathedral to witness the sunset of the sun. When night fell, they would participate in Mass, enjoy a holy meal, listen to the hymns, and do all sorts of activities.
The year 1350 for Loen’s Evernight believers was a very heavy year. The intensity of the war and the cost of items had made them lose the good mood they had. However, on Winter Gifts Day, they still came out of their houses. This was because the Church of Evernight was going to hold a massive Mass in the various large public squares to placate the souls that had passed away.
At the same time, many foundations would distribute food vouchers at the Mass. People who received them could be able to obtain the corresponding items in any of the relief points or cathedrals. This led to Storm and Steam believers who didn’t celebrate Winter Gifts Day to head for the nearest square.
West Borough, Memorial Square, where George III was blasted to death.
Dressed in a black cloak while walking her golden retriever, Susie, with a leather bag on her back, Audrey walked among the nobles looking refined. Her expression didn’t seem abnormal, but she hid some pain and guilt.
She had obtained the blood of an elderly mind dragon. After concocting the Manipulator potion, she placed it in the small bag Susie was carrying.
Susie was already a Sequence 6 Hypnotist. She believed that not many people present would notice her abnormality and snatch things from her.
The blood of the elderly mind dragon came from The Hermit Cattleya. Apparently, she had obtained it from Queen Mystic, and she had paid 3,000 pounds for it.
This was in line with her expectations, as she didn’t really want to obtain the ingredients from the Psychology Alchemists. After all, her direct superior, Hvin Rambis, had only died a few months ago. To collect the items needed for an advancement, it made it inevitable for people to suspect her. As for the other members of the Psychology Alchemists, they had the ability and intelligence to notice this point.
Besides, after becoming a demigod, one has to come into contact with the Psychology Alchemists’ councilors. According to Mr. World, there might be an angel from the mind domain hidden amongst them. I’ll continue making preparations. With a suitable opportunity and excuse, I’ll consider raising my position in the organization… I’ll hide my strength for now… The blonde Audrey lifted the ends of her skirt slightly and slowly walked towards her predetermined spot.
Along the way, many nobles extended their hands to her in a friendly manner, hoping to help this beautiful, noble, and weak young lady through the crowd. However, these were all blocked by Earl Hall.
He got his eldest son, Hibbert, to be in charge of his youngest daughter while he held his wife’s arm and walked ahead. From time to time, he would turn back to look at the most dazzling jewel of Backlund.
Not long after their family arrived at their destination, the Church of Evernight’s Bishop of the Backlund diocese, Saint Anthony Stevens, walked up to the high platform in his black robe with red patterns.
He looked around, raised his right hand, and tapped his chest four times in a clockwise fashion.
“Praise the Lady!”
When the believers below responded, this saint’s deep voice could be heard by everyone.
“Today is the celebration of the night, but the Goddess’s response is pity.
“‘She’ takes pity on every mother who has lost her child. ‘She’ takes pity on every lonely child. And ‘She’ takes pity on everyone who has suffered immense pain.
“‘She’ said that all of this will end. All the suffering will return to silence and repose.”
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