After finishing the casual talk, they formally began discussing the Chosen One, which was also Miss Aurora's main purpose for coming here:
"Currently, no targets have been locked down. Besides the fragmented poem Jialinna obtained from Tobesk, the council only knows that the death Chosen One's ritual is closely related to the Gap and those three passages. Therefore, finding or even controlling a passage would be very helpful for us to find the Chosen One."
"I heard Miss Jialinna say that the Truth Society has already entered Middlesburg? This time, will it attract a large number of foreign Ring術士 like Coldwater Port did?"
Xia De asked Miss Aurora, who shook her head:
"This time, the Church has done an excellent job of blocking information, and with the death Gap incident as a cover, very few organizations currently know that the third Chosen One will appear in this City. However, because of this, they are also letting their guard down. Those madmen from the Truth Society, who knows what they will do."
The characteristic of The Society of Truth is to conduct illegal and forbidden Knowledge research, seeking "truth" to gain more powerful Knowledge. Similar madmen exist in every era, so The Society of Truth is an organization that has truly been passed down for at least two epochs. The guy Xia De and Priest Augustus encountered two months ago in Tobesk cemetery, who tried to fuse a relic with his body, was a member of the Truth Society, and people from the Truth Society also appeared in the Darkness Domain. However, before they could enter the core area of Millwood Forest, they were defeated because they mistakenly provoked the Prophet Association.
"So, this time, the only enemy is the Truth Society? Do they have a Thirteen Ring Sorcerer? How many people?"
"That's not the key."
Grandma Cassandra shook her head:
"The Three Great Arcane Academies have also sent people here under the pretext of 'helping the Church perform the ritual to seal the Gap.' And although the Truth Society has more madmen, their power is not as great as the Blood Spirit School you once encountered. The current leader of the Truth Society is a Twelve Ring Arcanist; they are only notorious because they are good at utilizing the power of relics."
"Does the college know who the Chosen One is yet?"
"They shouldn't know yet, at least the Speaker believes so."
Miss Aurora said, glancing at the bonfire outside the window again, and suddenly invited:
"Xia De, the atmosphere tonight is really good... Shall we go dance together later?"
"Huh? What? Oh, okay."
Xia De wasn't sure how the topic suddenly jumped to this.
"Also, the Vampires in this City seem to be planning something."
Xia De took out the blood brew he had just bought, but the Witches didn't care about this as much as Xia De did. Grandma Cassandra had lived in this City for many years, and Vampires selling forbidden blood brew was not the first day, so this matter was not important.
The Witches still had business to discuss, so Xia De didn't stay with them for too long. Leaving the lounge, calculating that it was almost time for the auction, and because he was thinking about that special rule card, Xia De decided to join in the fun.
But looking out into the courtyard from the corridor, intending to take a breath of fresh air while waiting for the auction to start, he actually saw Iluna's figure.
Although she had only arrived this afternoon, the steam airship journey was not tiring, so it was indeed possible for her to appear at this night banquet. But she didn't stop; instead, she walked towards the outer edge of the bonfire's light, in the direction of the forest behind the college.
"What is Iluna going to do?"
Confirming that he hadn't seen wrong, Xia De quickly left the castle, returned to the courtyard, and then followed her.
No matter what Iluna wanted to do, Xia De had to go see.
The castle of Middirburg Mechanical College was originally the main base of the Sicar Mountain garrison centuries ago, so the castle was adjacent to the mountain forest, and the forest behind the castle was the private property of the college. Young students also liked to have secret meetings here at night.
When Xia De arrived at the edge of the forest, which was not illuminated by the bonfire in the courtyard, Iluna's figure had already disappeared. But he had only walked a few hundred steps into the forest when he saw a faint light ahead. Further on, he saw two people confronting each other in the dark Woodland.
One was Iluna, and the other was a brown-skinned man with round glasses whom he had never seen before, with a long snake-like tattoo on the back of his hand. The two were clearly hostile, and it looked like they were about to fight at any second.
Taking out his mask and putting it on his face, as the Four Ring and PentaCircle Destiny Ring appeared behind the two confronting parties, Xia De took out the prepared casting materials.
"Sunlight Gun!"
Golden thunder appeared in Iluna's hand, and on the Destiny Ring behind the Five-Ring Sorcerer, the Enlightenment Ling Rune 【Hound】 suddenly lit up. With a flash of spiritual light, a ferocious three-headed hound actually jumped out of his Destiny Ring.
The hound was wrapped in black smoke, its body covered in bone spurs and festering sores.
"Similar to Dorothy and Leia, this is a Ring術士 who is good at the power of stories and fairy tales!"
Xia De immediately made a judgment.
The huge hound in the air blocked the Sunlight Gun thrown by Iluna, and then was directly severely wounded by the Sunlight Gun, half of its body vaporized. The Five-Ring man was quite surprised, not expecting that the young woman opposite him, who was one ring lower than him, could launch such a powerful attack:
"What grudge do you have against me?"
As he spoke, he summoned another hound, and at the same time, he reached into his pocket, apparently looking for something.
"You are from the Truth Society, that's enough."
Iluna said in a deep voice. Only then did Xia De remember that Iluna had said that she had grudges not only with Mercury Blood but also with The Society of Truth.
"However, I haven't encountered the Truth Society in Middlesburg for so long, yet Iluna encountered them on her first day. Is this the Destiny of the Chosen One?"
The sound of thunder appeared again in Iluna's hand. A golden long spear formed in her hand, which she held. It was Xia De's first time seeing the "Sunlight Gun" not being thrown immediately after it formed, and he thus speculated whether 【Sunlight Gun】 could be considered a spiritual weapon similar to 【Moonlight Greatsword】 and 【Death Bringer's Scythe】.
The three-headed dog, summoned again, opened its three mouths simultaneously, spewing out poisonous mist, fire streams, and cold air towards Iluna. But their speed of accumulating strength and spewing was too slow. Iluna leaped high to avoid the fan-shaped attack range, and then in the air, she threw the Sunlight Gun at the summoner of the three-headed dog.
To avoid attracting too much attention, she obviously didn't use her full strength. But even so, if this blow hit, without unique defensive techniques, the opponent would surely die.
But the man's hand, which had been in his pocket, now reached towards the sky. In his hand was a handheld cosmetic mirror. From its appearance, it looked very much like the 【Corpse-Hiding Mirror】 Xia De once owned, but the frame was smaller and the handle was shorter.
The mirror swung like a racket towards Iluna's Sunlight Gun. The two collided head-on, and then the golden thunder spear was actually directly absorbed by the mirror.
Iluna, who had leaped high, was not flustered at all. After landing steadily, she rolled to dodge the three-headed dog's claw attack, and then her fist, glowing with a scorching golden light, collided with the dog's paw that struck again:
"Sun Fist!"
The man behind the three-headed dog rotated his bronze ring, holding the mirror in one hand and starting to chant with his mouth. On the Destiny Ring behind him, the Enlightenment Ling Rune 【Ghoul】 began to flash, but he suddenly turned around halfway through the chant.
Clang!
The relic mirror in his hand blocked Xia De's Moonlight Greatsword, and the Moonlight from the two-handed greatsword illuminated the mask on Xia De's face:
"Who are you again? I'm just here for the auction. What exactly do you people want to do? This is too much!"
The man complained loudly, suddenly raising his hand to parry the greatsword in Xia De's hand. As Xia De silently hacked at him again, he suddenly widened his right eye.
Originally, the color of both eyes was the same brown, but at this moment, a blue halo rapidly spread in his left eye. Xia De, wielding the Moonlight Greatsword, only felt that the sword in his hand suddenly seemed to be solidified in space, actually not moving at all, and even the attached effect of 【Sword of Disordered Time】 was erased.
"Demonic Eye!"
Feeling vigilant, he retreated sharply, but even though he had let go, the 【Moonlight Greatsword】 solidified in space still did not disappear, which did not conform to the rules of this Miracle.
The Five-Ring Sorcerer still held the cosmetic mirror that had absorbed the Sunlight Gun in his right hand, and then with his empty left hand, he "picked" the Moonlight Greatsword from space and held it in his own hand. Xia De was surprised and wanted to summon another sword, but found that the 【Moonlight Greatsword】 Miracle was no longer working:
"What kind of Demonic Eye is this?"
The mirror swung again like a racket. As the golden light on its surface lit up, the absorbed Sunlight Gun was projected from the mirror's surface.
"Raglai's Leap!"
Xia De's figure disappeared into the darkness of the dense forest. At the same time, Iluna had already killed the three-headed dog again. She had, of course, seen the brief fight between Xia De, wearing a mask, and the Ring術士 of The Society of Truth, so she did not engage in close combat, but instead condensed golden long spears in both hands simultaneously:
"Sunlight Gun!"
Two Sunlight Guns were projected at the same time. The Five-Ring Sorcerer held the mirror in one hand and the sword in the other. The raised mirror absorbed one of the guns, while the greatsword in his right hand shattered the other.
"You've been tricked!"
A black vortex suddenly appeared in front of him. Iluna's hand, reaching out from it, directly grabbed the mirror.
At the same time, brilliant crossed Moonlight flew out from behind the man. Xia De in the dense forest kicked out the strongest form of 【Moonlight Slash】 that was solidified in the air.
The greatsword in his right hand slashed at Iluna's hand, forcing Iluna, who had not yet gripped the mirror firmly, to retract her hand. And just as Xia De's Moonlight Slash was about to hit his back, a terrifying ghoul darted out from the 【Ghoul】 Ling Rune on his Destiny Ring. As the ghoul was neatly split into four, the man dodged the Moonlight Slash by lying on the ground:
"Let me think, are you a survivor of the Senge Village Massacre? Or a collateral relative of the family that was turned into half-human, half-dog in the Kingston Dog Barking Incident?"
No one answered him. Iluna, not far from the man, saw the crossed Moonlight flying towards her and quickly dodged to the side. The crossed Moonlight hit the big tree behind her before stopping.
"Where are the other people from the Church?"
Xia De asked, muffling his voice.
"I attended this banquet in a private capacity. I don't know if other Ring術士 from the Church also came. What is the weakness of Moonlight Greatsword?"
Xia De and Iluna surrounded the opponent from front and back, and the man also stood up, looking at the two with a grim expression.
Xia De answered confidently:
"Other than not being able to leave my hand, it has no flaws. But don't worry, although his Demonic Eye stole my Miracle effect, the power of that sword in his hand has also diminished."
It was a pity that the newly acquired 【night watchman's Longsword】 was not carried with him due to inconvenience, otherwise Xia De would have dared to continue close combat.
"However..."
Xia De looked up past the branches, gazing at the three moons in the sky, and a bold idea arose in his mind:
"May the Moonlight be with me."
PS: It's impossible for Xia De to attend a banquet in formal wear with a sword. This is fine.
