Christopher's black coat was also stained red with blood. But his injuries were not serious, at least much lighter than Ed's, and most of the blood on them came from the enemy.
Seeing Ed coming over, he waved to the subordinates who were recording orders to stay away for the time being:
"Lafayette, please tell Agent "Judge" to come over. There are injured people here who need him to deal with. "
Lafayette? Ed focused his eyes on the face of the subordinate next to him, and was "surprised" to find that this guy was Director Lafayette.
"No need, let Rowan heal Byakuya first. I have a way to solve it myself." Ed refused with a smile.
Although the numbness has begun to weaken, the pain is only temporary for him, and he will recover as soon as he wakes up from the dream. With that in mind, this level of pain is not entirely unbearable.
Just as the two of them passed each other, he "friendly" stretched out his leg and tripped the guy hard. The unprepared Lafayette almost tripped over a dog and stumbled a few steps before barely stopping.
"Ouch... I'm so sorry, Mr. Lafayette, it's all my fault. My leg was injured and I was a little out of control."
"...It doesn't matter, as long as you're fine. I still have some things to deal with, so I'll take my leave."
Lafayette raised his head and squinted his eyes slightly, carefully looking at Ed's face. After confirming that he didn't know the man in front of him at all, he could only pretend to be indifferent and nodded slightly, quickened his pace and left.
"You don't seem to like Lafayette that much."
"This guy caused a lot of trouble for all of us ten years later." Ed looked back at the direction where Lafayette disappeared and said, "But this time he probably won't have a chance."
"The Bureau is not only an intelligence agency and a law enforcement agency, but also a bureaucracy. Lafayette's ability is actually very good, but sometimes his ambition can hide this."
"...Let's not mention this." Christopher looked up and down at the bruised Ed, "You seem to be in quite a lot of trouble."
"Yeah, I met a rather troublesome old guy, I heard he was called 'Elder Swan'..."
"Is that Swann?" Christopher's eyes dropped slightly, mobilizing the memory of this name. "An old rival. Although his body was not found in that siege, after so many years, I thought he would never be seen again. came back."
"At least we can be sure that he won't bother you again next time." Ed said with a smile while holding on to his cane.
"Thank you, Agent Waikolo."
Christopher took off his bloody gloves and solemnly placed his broad palm on the back of Ed's hand:
"You saved me and my family. If you hadn't appeared, it's hard for me to imagine what kind of tragedy would have happened tonight."
He took off his other pistol and its holster from his belt, held it up with both hands and gave it to Ed:
"I know this small gift is far from enough to repay you for everything you have done, but please accept it."
"You should keep it." Ed shook his head and refused, "I'm afraid I won't stay here for long, and I can't take your gift away."
He cannot bring the items he got in the dream into the real world. No matter how precious this gift is, it does not belong to him after all.
"What's more, I'm not doing this for any reward, I just want to put an end to Mr. Kraken's worries - and maybe my own worries," Ed said calmly.
His body was getting heavier and heavier, and he knew he had to hurry up and leave.
"...Now that it's safe here, if there's nothing else, I'll leave first."
A farewell like this doesn't require a formal farewell. Ed turned around with difficulty and walked forward with staggering steps again. Christopher's deep and deep voice came from behind:
"Goodbye, Agent Waikolo, and thank you again for everything. Please tell my two daughters that I love them."
"Happy to oblige."
He left his voice where it was.
…
"Is it over?" asked the sea monster who just walked out of the room.
"Well, it's over." Ed nodded and replied, "Is Quinn asleep?"
"Fall asleep, sleep peacefully."
The two of them were sitting on the steps doing nothing, like friends fishing together in the lake.
"I have never felt so relaxed. It's like a burden that has been carried for a long time has been lifted, and I suddenly don't know what to do." The sea monster said with a sigh of relief.
"Maybe it's time to retire? Now is a good time to retire after success. The director will definitely not refuse you." Ed suggested.
"What a good idea. The director happens to be right here. I'll hand him the retirement application later."
The sea monster took out the folded application form from his coat and read it again and again as if it were a love letter to his beloved girl.
"It's so strange. Who would have thought that I would live to retire?"
A sudden tear fell on the paper.
"Sometimes I often have dreams when I was young, dreaming that I was still the silly young man who just came out of the fishing village. Just like you at the age you are now." He looked at Ed enviously and said.
"Sometimes I have weirder dreams. I dream that I am older than now and live in the pool every day. Your face looks familiar to me, but I can't remember where I saw you - maybe At a younger age, maybe at an older age. God..."
He let out a long sigh, "Even I can't figure it out myself. Am I getting younger in my dream, or am I getting older in my dream?"
"Maybe...both?" Ed said.
"You can go to the director to submit your retirement letter now, and then don't think about anything and rest well and comfortably for a while. You are a good person and deserve such a happy ending."
"Or..." He stretched out his broken left palm, "I can try to take you back to the world outside of dreams, a crueler and more real world, but there are also things you miss and people who miss you. friend."
"I……"
The sea monster's eyes wandered between Ed's palm and the retirement book. He looked into Ed's eyes and seemed to see the dying, dying fish-faced old man in the reflection.
"Take me back, Ed." Finally, he mustered up the courage to reply, "I haven't even said goodbye to you properly."
Ed stretched his broken left palm towards the sea monster's forehead. Pale white flames flowed in the blood and brain, trying to repair the cracks in the crystal of personality.
Unlike crystal malignancy, in which he only needs to ablate and reshape the distorted parts of the surface, in the face of cracked personality crystals, he needs to use flames to melt and re-glue them back together.
This act irreversibly changes the deeper parts of the crystallized personality. He wasn't sure if doing so would save Mr. Kraken's life, but it was better than doing nothing.
Finally, pale flames consumed everything, the ceiling, the house, and the stairs beneath their feet. Before reaching the finish line, he heard the sea monster murmuring:
"...Only your warm souls can make me forget the coldness in the depths of the ocean."
