When Xia De walked over with a frown, the stranger waved, signaling Xia De to sit down.
Only then did Xia De notice that on the fingers of his right hand, which had loose skin and looked as if it had been soaked in water for too long until it peeled, he wore a white bone ring in the shape of a skull, with a small section of a snake's head protruding from the skull's mouth.
“I was just waiting for you.”
The stranger's eyes lit up; although his voice was full of fatigue, his tone became lighter:
“Sit down quickly, it's more convenient for me to talk now that all three of you are here.”
He spoke with an exceptionally standard Tobesk accent.
“Be careful.”
“Her” voice came from beside his ear. Xia De hesitated for a moment, looked at the two princesses, and then sat down opposite the strange man.
The man tapped the table, stared into Xia De's eyes, and said to him:
“Let me introduce myself, I am Victor Fanny.”
His head tilted slightly to one side:
“I know you've been investigating me, and you've been very fast, so don't investigate anymore.”
After a slight pause, he softly added:
“Otherwise, I will kill you.”
Dorothy and Princess Margaret both showed displeasure. Xia De stared into his pure black eyes:
“Oh?”
He used an interjection.
The man who called himself Victor Fanny nodded:
“If you are willing to do business with me, I am very willing. If you dare to investigate me again, I will make everyone in this world forget your existence.”
As he spoke, he prepared to stand up, seemingly unwilling to waste more time here, but Xia De stopped him:
“Is your real name truly Victor Fanny?”
His half-standing movement abruptly paused. The man who called himself “Victor Fanny” stared at Xia De with those strange eyes:
“I am very good at manipulating people's emotions, usurping power from self-proliferating desire.”
He said softly, then sat down again:
“greed, lust, immortality…”
His eyes fixed on Xia De:
“But that doesn't mean I have a good temper towards humans.”
As the last sentence was spoken, the malice in his tone became increasingly obvious. The bright light on the first floor of the Three Cats Inn suddenly dimmed. Dorothy and Princess Margaret were both surprised by this, not believing that he would dare to do such a thing in a public place. But then they realized that only the few people at the table could notice the change in the surrounding environment.
Neither Xia De nor Victor Fanny spoke. As the light around the table grew dimmer, black mud welled up from the cracks in the floor tiles, and black muddy water dripped from the cracks in the ceiling above, as if the entire inn was rotting.
Princess Margaret clearly saw the dark muddy water, and it even dripped into the soup on the table of a hat-wearing guest at the next table, splashing the soup, but he remained completely oblivious.
A cold wind blew through the warm room, as if the entire environment was changing with Victor Fanny's mood. Some fragmented sounds entered the ears of the three, and upon careful distinction, those slimy sounds seemed to stir up the most primitive desire in their hearts, but the tone was very similar to the sound that appeared after Xia De burned the “victor box” with holy water that morning.
The princess of the southern kingdom realized that they had provoked some kind of terrifying existence. While her body involuntarily trembled in the darkness, she looked at the blonde Writer.
The latter seemed to be in good condition, turning her head and pursing her lips as she looked at Xia De. And as her gaze followed, the young Detective's surroundings had already completely fallen into darkness, as if a black quagmire had completely enveloped the space where he was.
But Xia De was not swallowed by that captivating darkness, and a not-bright but indeed splendid holy silver light emanated from all around him. Looking at that silver Moonlight, Margaret Anjou felt an instinctive sense of peace, as if on a summer night, holding a wine glass and gazing at the fullest silver moon in the night sky.
“That's truly amazing, you weren't swallowed.”
The originally standard delarion had severe echoes and distorted pronunciation in the darkness. Victor Fanny was still sitting opposite Xia De, but it was as if it wasn't him sitting there.
With just a hasty glance, Princess Margaret vaguely saw a twisted, massive, Dark shadow within that humanoid outline. The immense mental impact in that instant directly caused blood to flow from the corners of her eyes. She closed her eyes, breathing heavily, no longer daring to open them. But the act of closing her eyes made her other senses even more acute, allowing her to vaguely seem to glimpse what was lurking in this darkness.
Fear, anger, lust, hunger—all sorts of unusual emotions simultaneously surged into her heart, then instantly exploded within her. Margaret Anjou's slightly glowing red eyes snapped open, but upon seeing the silver Moonlight on Xia De's body, that inexplicable emotion gradually subsided.
She and the blonde Writer looked at the light on Xia De's body; this was the only light source that could bring peace of mind in the completely darkened surroundings. Everything in the Three Cats Inn seemed to have disappeared, but it also seemed that only they had disappeared.
A wooden table, four long benches, four “people”—only these objects existed in the darkness.
Black mud gurgled and churned in the darkness. Margaret Anjou, who was watching Xia De, could hear someone whispering behind her, urging her to fulfill the desire in her heart.
Xia De, whose body was glowing, had a normal expression. After confirming that his companions were temporarily safe, he looked at the figure opposite him, which was gradually shedding its human form. While enduring the mental pollution, he nodded slightly, as if confirming something:
“We also have no intention of opposing you. Since that's the case, why don't you give me a victor box so I can copy the coin, and we'll call it even, how about that?”
Princess Margaret knew this was “surrendering” to the other party, but she understood this behavior. The thing they had provoked this time was a monster that humans could not casually approach.
“Of course.”
Victor Fanny was clearly sitting at the table, but the overlapping voices came from the distant darkness.
A pair of human hands appeared beside Xia De, holding a wooden “victor box.” The darkness swallowed the space behind those hands, as if severed hands were floating in the air.
Xia De brought the box in front of him, took out the coin of wisdom from his pocket, and put it in. After closing and reopening the box, there was still only one coin inside:
“Look, what you made doesn't work at all. I really thought your creation could copy relics at will.”
Xia De mocked with a relaxed tone. The man sitting opposite him, half of his body merged with the darkness, whispered:
“wisdom is a power that even desire cannot copy.”
“Do you know much about wisdom?”
Xia De laughed again:
“Answer me one question, and I can leave as if nothing happened. Why did the Cherub stay?”
The hand wearing the white bone ring stretched towards Xia De like a long snake, its soft arm covered with a layer of chilling scales. But after a dazzling silver Moonlight flashed, that hand was forced back, carrying Victor Fanny with it, disappearing into the darkness around the table.
“I knew it felt familiar… So it's a demon.”
“A demon?”
Even though she had a vague guess in her heart, Princess Margaret was still extremely surprised when she actually heard the answer.
“No need to worry, the opponent is not strong.”
Xia De said. This demon, at least, was much weaker than Human Pus.
The surging darkness was not only churning around; although that darkness was still just darkness, with Victor Fanny's disappearance, something seemed to have fundamentally changed.
Princess Margaret and Dorothy's Destiny Ring simultaneously appeared behind them. The Princess was Four Ring, and Dorothy was PentaCircle. The burning of the parchment caused the sleeping princess holding a spindle and the match girl carrying a basket to appear, while the thrown small doll transformed into “Killer Jack,” whom Xia De had seen once before.
Three summoned beings, called forth by Enlightenment Element, circled the table, trying to dispel the things that came from the darkness. Instinctive fear caused the spiritual light of the ladies' Destiny Ring to tremble, and invisible tentacles extending from the viscous darkness gradually surrounded them.
“Moonlight Greatsword!”
The greatsword, emanating holy Moonlight, became a new light source. The magnificent greatsword made the Princess unable to help but glance at it, but Xia De did not use this sword to attack the enemy in the darkness. Instead, he stood up holding the sword, and he raised his head to look forward.
“Don't look up.”
Xia De warned softly. He squinted his eyes and saw an enormous, indescribable, bizarre figure, whose full form he couldn't even discern, extending its “hand” downwards from the writhing darkness above the three.
It was very difficult to define whether that organ could be called a “hand,” but whether it was Xia De, Dorothy, or Princess Margaret, the image of the three being grabbed by that giant creature and then completely disappearing from this world flashed through their minds.
“Don't worry, since I've involved you in this matter, I will naturally protect your safety. I'm really sorry, I didn't expect it to be a demon…”
Xia De softly expressed his apology. Due to looking directly at the huge demon figure in the darkness, blood tears also flowed from Xia De's eyes in his normal state.
As the “hand” descending from above gradually pressed down, the rotation of the girls' Destiny Ring became sluggish.
Xia De took a deep breath, pulled out the “Witch Detection” badge from his neck, and aimed it at the writhing darkness:
“Praise the Cherub, praise death.”
He said softly.
Margaret Anjou, who was trembling slightly out of fear, actually felt a scorching light at this moment. And after her senses perceived a strange temperature, a soft white light appeared in her vision.
She looked up in surprise and saw a huge winged figure flash above Xia De's head. At the same time, the white, holy light, like the sun, emanating from the badge he held high, instantly completely dispelled the surrounding darkness, as if it wanted to melt that huge and terrifying black figure.
