The mirror image turned to ashes, the darkness began to recede, the phantoms of the Queen's Guards disappeared, the blasphemous creations that invaded the city-state also disintegrated, turning into black mud that quickly dried up, and the sound of gunfire everywhere in the city-state was silenced - replaced by However, it was an unspeakable fear and silence that enveloped the whole city.
Everyone can see that huge existence, that one standing in the boundless sea, overlooking the city-state from the clouds.
Just a few minutes ago, Mirror Frost turned to ashes in the hands of the "giant", and no one could guess what would happen next.
Only the green flames that spread throughout the city and covered the sea are still burning brightly - but these flames do not hurt people, they just flicker through the real world like phantoms, and they can be felt when touched. Just a harmless warmth.
Agatha lowered her head and helped the high-level aide with a bad expression. The flames burning on her arms made the latter a little nervous, but compared to the atmosphere that enveloped the whole city at the moment, these nervousness seemed insignificant.
"Next..." The high-level deacon's face was a little pale. He looked at Agatha, looking at the green spirit fire burning on her body, which was the same as the flames that filled the city at the moment. His voice was still trembling, "Next. what happens?"
Agatha thought for a moment and shook her head: "I don't know."
The senior aide's eyes widened: "You don't know?!"
"...I didn't ask," Agatha said calmly. "The situation was urgent and I had no other choice."
The high-ranking deacon was stunned. He had many questions to ask - the origin of the "giant" on the sea, the nature of the flames in the city, and the reason for Agatha's appearance at the moment. However, he could not ask any of them for a while.
Agatha ignored the reaction of the high-ranking aide. She just turned her face slightly and watched the last few delicate pale ashes slowly fall on her shoulders.
The flying ashes in the city-state had stopped at some point, and what seemed to be the last one falling on her shoulders - in a daze, she felt as if someone tapped her shoulder.
"I have to leave," she heard someone speaking in her ear. "The earthly journey is over, and there is still a longer road waiting for me to take."
"Bon voyage, Bishop Ivan."
The wind blew from afar, blowing through the door of the Silent Holy Cathedral and across the square in front of the door, picking up the light ashes and letting them quietly dissipate in the wind.
…
On the top of the bell tower behind the church, Shirley in a black dress looked at the street below. She sat on a section of wall extending from the edge of the eaves, her legs hanging outside, wandering around boredly, while muttering : "It's quiet down..."
"Everyone seems to be scared..." Nina stood on the small platform behind Shirley and looked up at the sky as she spoke, "I was shocked too..."
"Who wouldn't be scared after seeing this?" Shirley shrank her neck and carefully looked at the huge and hazy figure on the sea in the distance. "I never thought that Mr. Duncan would solve this trouble in this way in the end - better than The commotion in Puland was even bigger the first time.”
"Uncle Duncan said that the root cause of the Frost Crisis is the mirror image, so to solve the problem, the mirror image must be completely solved - the ritual of sealing or stopping the cultists can only be safe for a while. The way to solve it once and for all is to uproot the mirror image and pull it to The real world is burned," Nina said with a serious look, "But the scale of the mirror image is too large, so he needs a large enough 'fire field'..."
"Okay, okay, I got it, I got it, you're really good at setting fires, right? I'll definitely mention this to Mr. Duncan later," Shirley waved her hands repeatedly, and then raised her head in confusion, "But that's all. Then again...what is Mr. Duncan doing now? Hasn't the matter been resolved? When will he come back? "
Nina raised her head when she heard this, looked at the huge figure on the sea outside the city, thought for a moment and said, "Then let me go up and ask?"
"Go ahead, go ahead," Shirley waved quickly, "Don't forget to tell Mr. Duncan when you go up, that our homework was eaten by the deep hound..."
Before she finished speaking, Nina had already turned into a bright arc of flame in mid-air, and then rushed straight into the shadow that covered the sky and the sun outside the city.
…
At a height where he could overlook the entire frosty sea, Duncan's eyes penetrated the gaps between the clouds and quietly observed the sea and the city below.
The sea is endless and extends far into the distance. The city-state is like a disk floating on the sea, bathing in the sky light alone. At the end of the sea and sky, you can vaguely see a magnificent fog. The fog is like a wall, showing a A vague arc surrounds the entire border of civilization.
This was an unprecedented perspective - he had never observed the world from this position, and presumably no one in the world had ever done anything similar.
He could feel that the "flame" supporting his current posture was gradually extinguishing on the sea and city-states. This state of standing in the sky could not be maintained for a long time, but he still wanted to take one more look before the accumulated energy was exhausted. .
At this moment, a small flame bursting out of the clouds suddenly entered Duncan's field of vision.
The small cluster of flames jumped between the clouds, like a light swallow, and when the flames were close to him, he heard Nina's voice coming into his ears: "Uncle Duncan! What are you doing?"
"I'm observing the world," Duncan smiled and whispered to the "fire", then raised his finger and let the latter jump on his fingertips, "Why are you up here?"
"Shirley asked me to come up. She was curious about what you were doing," Nina said cheerfully, the flame swaying on Duncan's fingertips - even though her posture at the moment had expanded into a cluster of flames bigger than the clock tower, and under Duncan's His eyes were still very small, "You said you were observing the world? What's so interesting?"
Duncan smiled and raised his chin: "Look, down there."
The cluster of flames swayed to the side.
"……Wow."
"It's amazing, isn't it," Duncan said softly, "No one has ever overlooked the boundless sea and the city-states on the sea from this height - and the mist in the distance is so huge, even from my perspective at the moment, I am looking at It feels suffocating when you reach it.”
Nina thought about it seriously: "...But if it is really a normal-sized human being, he will not feel anything when he is at the border of the Eternal Veil, because he cannot see everything."
Duncan was startled for a moment, then suddenly laughed.
"Yes, you are right. When ordinary people really come to that wall of fog, they won't realize the sense of depression and suffocation, because they can't see everything... We see too much from high places. .”
"Uncle Duncan, why do I feel that... there seems to be a deeper meaning to your words?"
Duncan did not respond to Nina's question. He just looked into the distance quietly. After a while, he suddenly spoke: "Are you curious about...what's on the other side of that fog?"
"...The book says that the fog is endless, there is no other side, there is only fog outside."
Duncan looked at his fingertips: "This is what the book says, what are your own thoughts?"
"...I think the books are just speculations by scholars. Mr. Morris has said that all things outside the civilized world are speculations by scholars. The so-called research is the process of verifying the guesses. "Nina said her thoughts happily, "There might be another world on the other side of the fog!"
Then she paused, as if she suddenly realized: "Ah! Uncle Duncan, are you planning to walk through that thick fog? Do you really want to try? This is very close to the northern border, and you are so high now, say Maybe it’s true…”
"Unfortunately, it's not feasible," Duncan shook his head gently, interrupting the excited Nina, "I can't maintain this state for a long time, let alone leave this sea area in this state - there are limits to ritual means, we are now All we can do is watch from here."
Nina seemed a little frustrated for a moment. After a while, she tentatively said: "Then...can I go over and have a look? I can fly in the sky now~"
"But you can only fly for a short time. You know your limits very well." Duncan shook his head again, "And I don't recommend you to do this. We know too little about that thick fog, and we have a sense of adventure and recklessness." are different."
Nina was silent for a while and then said in a longer voice: "Oh - then we really can only take a look here."
"The first step on the journey is to look into the distance." The corners of Duncan's mouth curled up. He felt that the flames supporting him began to fade away rapidly. This all-consuming gesture had reached the critical moment, but before the projection of himself was dissipated, , he still smiled, "And what we want to see is not just the distance, Nina, have you noticed the appearance of the city-state? Such a regular disk, so neat that it doesn't look like a natural product, and the sea below is deep and vast. , we still don’t know what is on the bottom of the sea...
"Cultists firmly believe that this world will eventually be destroyed, and they can create a new world. The Holy See firmly believes that following the guidance of the four gods is the only way to maintain the eternity of the world, but there are too many unknown things in this world... Whether it is evil Be it believers, the Orthodox Church, or scholars from various city-states, everyone’s views on the boundless sea are all one-sided.”
Between the sea and the sky, the giant's huge body is quietly dissipating, and the mirror-like sea gradually resumes its undulating waves.
A ray of flame fell from the clouds towards the city-state.
The conversation between Duncan and Nina continued:
"Okay, Nina, go back, we still have a lot to do."
"Oh...ah, that's right! Uncle Duncan! I forgot to tell you that Shirley and I's homework was eaten by the Dark Hound!"
"...It doesn't matter, Maurice and I will prepare new ones for you."
(End of chapter)
