Hearing the door open, Miss Bei Ya Si, who was in the darkness, turned around. Seeing it was Xia De, she smiled apologetically at him: "I couldn't Sleep much tonight, so I wanted to watch the rain."
She placed her teacup on the windowsill, her slightly hoarse voice blending perfectly with the background sound of the rain: "This place of yours is really nice. I was worried about waking you all up, so I came to this room to watch the rain. I'm usually so busy, opportunities like this are rare."
"Be careful not to catch a cold," Xia De kindly reminded her, hesitating for a moment. He didn't turn to leave but walked into the room and also stood by the window.
Outside the living room windows of both rooms was Saint Delan Square. Although the gas lamps in the square were still lit, in the rain, their light could only turn into a warm yellow halo, failing to illuminate the vast stretches of darkness in the square.
Raindrops, like tiny tadpoles, densely swam downwards on the window glass in front of them. Amidst the pattering sound, Xia De noticed words written on the glass in front of Miss Bei Ya Si, etched with her finger using the steam from her teacup.
It wasn't a contemporary language, but before Xia De could see clearly, Miss Bei Ya Si reached out and wiped it away.
"Are you worried about tonight's events?"
Miss Annette was the oldest of the three, and Outsider Xia De had also experienced too much. Only this 17-year-old girl seemed a bit green, and Xia De worried she might have negative thoughts due to the pressure.
"If I said I wasn't worried at all, that would definitely be impossible. But mainly... I'm still thinking about The Chosen."
She looked towards the window: "To be honest, I never thought I would become someone chosen. There will be a result tonight. Miss Annette said I would gain powerful strength, and my future path would become even more... magical. She used that word. Perhaps I'm being too sentimental, but I'm still a bit flustered about such a future."
"Do you want to become The Chosen?"
"Of course." Her answer was without hesitation.
"Then move forward and don't overthink it," Xia De said. He thought of himself a month ago and recalled the story he heard in the cemetery yesterday: "Sometimes, we can't choose what kind of future we face, and we can't foresee what situations we'll encounter... You can still make a choice, which is already very good. And you're not alone; Miss Annette and I will always be by your side to help you. Besides the two of us, more of The Chosen will appear around us in the future."
He wanted to reach out and pat Miss Bei Ya Si on the shoulder, but he hesitated, wondering if it was polite to touch a young girl's sleepwear.
"This is probably just sentimentality, Detective... Xia De, don't mind it."
She turned to Xia De and smiled: "Standing here alone watching the rain really makes one's mood worse, but you're right, instead of thinking about these things, it's better to plan tonight's arrangements."
Seeing her easily adjust her mood, Xia De wondered if his words had worked, or if she was inherently strong.
Just then, he heard another sound from the door behind him. Turning his head, he saw two glowing objects floating in the darkness outside the door. But before he could be surprised, a sleepy-eyed cat walked in on its short legs.
It probably came looking for Xia De because he hadn't returned for a long time. It wobbled to Xia De's feet and slowly extended its right front paw to scratch at Xia De's pants a few times.
When Xia De picked up the warm and soft cat, it actually fell asleep again. This cat's life was quite regular; it woke up promptly at six in the morning to urge Xia De to make breakfast. And now, it was still its rest time.
Miss Bei Ya Si smiled, watching Xia De holding the cat: "When all this is over, I..."
"Stop! Don't ever say such things."
Xia De stopped her from finishing her sentence with a rapid voice, reminding her very seriously: "Never say similar things before doing something important."
"Is that some strange superstition? Xia De, Ring術士 cannot be superstitious," Miss Bei Ya Si said with a laugh, turning back to look at the rain curtain outside: "I truly envy the life you have—quiet, peaceful, and in your leisure, you can hold a cat and watch the night rain. Although I am a Peace Church Ring術士, I actually greatly admire your Baylonian founder, that Thirteenth Ring Sorceress, the benevolent witch, the Knowledge witch, who established her great work and then comfortably enjoyed life, instead of constantly striving... It's not that I chose to become The Chosen; it's that I have no choice but to become The Chosen. This is power, this is a price, this is a curse, this is a blessing, this is... Balance."
"The Peace Church seems to know you are a candidate for The Chosen?" Xia De asked again.
"Yes, my Sun Church, and the Peace Church, which possesses some of the witch's relic, know." "Then, after tonight's success, will you confess that you have officially become The Chosen from a candidate?" "Yes, the value of The Chosen identity is that I will advance to the Thirteenth Ring, there's nothing to hide about that. On the contrary, I will use this point to gain more power and freedom, which will also make it easier to cooperate with you in finding more of The Chosen. In the future, there will be many more opportunities to cooperate with you and Miss Annette."
She showed a gentle smile at the glass, and Xia De nodded, but before he could agree, Miss Bei Ya Si murmured as if to herself: "Since the banquet on Sunday night, these past few days, I have thoroughly pondered the meaning of so-called Balance."
"Any insights?" Xia De, holding the cat, asked softly, thinking that with his Outsider Knowledge, he might be able to offer her some guidance. Miss Bei Ya Si answered directly: "Understanding the meaning of Balance doesn't have a quantifiable metric for me to reference. Since becoming a Ring術士, I've been uncovering my special abilities, and only after meeting you did I realize that it's the power of The Chosen. I can use the power of 'Balance' to lower the strength of Ring術士 higher in rank than me to be similar to mine."
The day Xia De first saw "Sunlight Gun," she used this power to defeat the Mercury Blood Ring術士.
"I can use the power of 'Balance' to discern good and evil in people."
That's why she had few friends; even without summoning that golden Balance, she could instinctively gauge a person's Balance of good and evil.
"I can even use this strange power to temporarily suppress the power of a powerful relic, maintaining Balance between the whisper element and the surrounding Enlightenment Element... Of course, this is very difficult and can only suppress part of the relic's power."
But this was already very impressive; for a Second-Circle Arcanist, she was truly very powerful.
"After that banquet, I deeply contemplated the profound meaning of my own power, attempting to unearth the essence of power from 'Balance' itself, and then... I failed. This power is like drinking water, walking, raising a hand; it's an ability I inherently possess, simply needing to be uncovered step by step. They don't have any special meaning; they are just a part of me, but because of this, I understood a very simple truth."
"What truth?" Xia De asked. The cat in his arms let out a soft "Meow~," but it was just a dream.
"I myself am Balance."
Her gaze shifted from outside the window to Xia De, and their eyes met at close range: "All Balance is based on me. Powers higher than mine, I will lower them; judgments of good and evil are based on my thoughts; balancing the power of relic is supported by my own inspiration. Since I am favored by the ancient god of 'Balance,' the hanged judge, then when I hold the Balance, I am the fulcrum of all Balance."
At this moment, golden light seemed to flicker in her eyes.
But soon Xia De realized that it was definitely not "seemed."
Miss Bei Ya Si raised her right hand, and a golden glow naturally shone from her palm. Behind her, amidst the whistles and bells, her Destiny Ring emerged from the thick steam.
The light in her palm connected with the Destiny Ring behind her, and the brass-colored ring actually shimmered with a golden luster at this moment: "Miss Annette was right; I used to just use power, not unearth it. Now I can feel it; after the ritual ends and I completely transform my Destiny Ring into gold, only then can I truly say I have mastered the power of Balance."
She suddenly clenched her right palm, letting the light in her palm scatter into specks of light that drifted in all directions.
The rain pattered, and Xia De stared dumbfounded at the Destiny Ring behind Miss Bei Ya Si. He had originally thought understanding the "power of Balance" would be extremely difficult, never expecting that in just three days, she seemed to have understood everything: "I thought you would need help, like with dynamic Balance or something."
He smiled sheepishly: "My understanding of Balance isn't a straight line, but rather fluctuations up and down around a line, forming a solid Balance. Miss Bei Ya Si, you are very good."
"You're very good too. How about it, Xia De, how's this power of mine?" Miss Bei Ya Si excitedly showed it to Xia De, seemingly wanting his evaluation: "I used that witch's copy paper to replicate the Balance power I used on myself in the mirror. Plus, while watching the rain here tonight, I thought of many, many things, and when I answered your question just now, I instinctively had this current understanding."
Xia De praised her sincerely: "Very powerful. Not your power, but your talent and wisdom are very powerful."
The Outsider truly witnessed how unique "The Chosen by Destiny" were. Compared to Miss Bei Ya Si, Xia De's path as a Ring術士 was simply too ordinary.
"So, tonight's operation will definitely be fine," Miss Bei Ya Si said, making the Destiny Ring behind her disappear. But after the excitement, fatigue surged back, and she could only temporarily bid farewell to Xia De to get some more Sleep before dawn.
Xia De was left alone in the empty room, watching the rain from the window: "The danger was divined in advance, everyone has prepared new powers, and Miss Bei Ya Si is even just one step away from fully mastering super-standard abilities... In this situation, I don't think there will be any surprises tonight."
"Do you really think so?" She asked softly in his ear.
"Although life always has surprises, with such meticulous planning, even if an accident does occur, it's not something we can change. Moreover..." He felt the power Sleep in his soul and Destiny Ring, closed his eyes, and in the darkness, he seemed to directly see the golden divine presence before him: "In tonight's operation, if something truly happens that they can't handle, I won't be stingy with this drop of divinity."
"Sacrifice a precious drop of divinity for Bei Ya Si?" "Sacrifice a precious drop of divinity to gain a powerful helper on the path to finding divinity in the future. I wouldn't do something I'd regret after death."
