At 7 PM, Xia De left his home in Middlesburg and went down the mountain, finding Sister Devlin who was waiting for him. Two other Sisters from the Spiritual Cultivation Order were with her, but ultimately, only the leader of the Order accompanied Xia De into the mountains.
The two returned along the path Xia De had taken down the mountain. During this time, Xia De explained that there were others at his home in Tobesk City, but they were absolutely trustworthy, so the Sister didn't mind.
Whether it was bad luck or not, they encountered an evil spirit while entering the mountain. This evil spirit was a headless man holding a machete, covered in terrifying encrypted texts. As a strange mist appeared, it rushed towards the two, who were traversing the dense forest, with its machete raised.
Because they were entering the mountain at night, Xia De's Night Watchman, which he held in his hand, was the first to discover the evil spirit. After being strengthened by two earthquakes, the power of the mountain's evil spirits had increased to a terrifying degree. He was prepared to deal with it, but before he could even make a move, Sister Devlin threw a ball of flame in the direction of the evil spirit.
The evil spirit didn't even have a chance to leave a last word before it was burned to Ashes.
"Original Fire has an extraordinary effect on souls," the Eleventh Ring Sister said calmly, then gestured for Xia De to continue leading the way.
At 7:40 PM, the two arrived at the dilapidated tower in the mountains, and led by Xia De, jumped into the basement.
Moonlight streamed into the tower through the doorframe, which had no door, and illuminated the traveler's travel door in the basement through the trapdoor.
"Sister, this is it," Xia De introduced.
The weight of this door was incredibly exaggerated; when it was transported to Saint Delan Square, Doctor Schneider even helped move it to the second floor. Just now, when Xia De moved it out of the hidden wall, he almost ran out of breath, and was mocked by the voice in his mind for "over-exercising in the afternoon."
Sister Devlin reached out and rubbed the wooden door panel: "No problem, I will wait here for you to open the door."
"Okay."
Xia De nodded, pulled the key from the door, hesitated for a moment, then walked towards the wall at the end of the basement. The process of illuminating the wall with spiritual light to open the door would definitely be "seen" by the Sister. Although this exposed his secret, for the safety of his home, he had to do it.
A corner of the Destiny Ring appeared, and under the brass spiritual light of Time-Space, the hidden wall disappeared.
The Sister, who was "watching" here, let out a soft sound of surprise: "So that's it, it's the Space Labyrinth left by that ancient god."
"Sister, you know about this?" Xia De turned his head, a little surprised.
"The history of the Order is very long; we have recorded some stories from the ancient epochs. Before the thirteen ancient gods departed, they each left a space. Among them, the Space Labyrinth was the remnant of the ancient god of space, the cracks of origin. I didn't expect to actually see it."
Since the Sister already knew about this, Xia De nodded: "Yes, I do indeed travel between two places through here. Sister, please keep it a secret."
"No problem."
He then remembered that Luvia had mentioned that the Spiritual Cultivation Order was actually a branch of an ancient death church, so he asked curiously: "Sister Devlin, do you know what space the ancient death god left behind?"
The Sister clasped her hands in front of her, her head slightly bowed. Under the silver eye patch, her fair face further highlighted the color of her lips. The corners of her mouth curved, as if she was trying to form a smile: "Soul Graveyard."
He returned to Saint Delan Square by touching the ancient god statue, then went from the basement to the second floor, picked up Mia, and then went to the third-floor corridor with Luvia.
Xia De himself rarely used the third floor, but Luvia had been stargazing here for over a month recently, and Mia also liked to stroll on the third floor, so it wasn't too deserted.
Because using the traveler's travel door in a spatial anomaly would cause big trouble, Xia De turned the key in Room No. 1 on the third floor, which Luvia had temporarily occupied as her stargazing room, after Luvia confirmed it was absolutely safe.
With a click, Xia De stepped back two paces, and he, Luvia, and the cat Luvia was holding, watched as the key floating in the air extended outwards into the shape of a door.
After the engraved metal base was fully formed, Sister Devlin pushed open the door and walked out.
Traveling thousands of miles to Tobesk City did not cause any change in expression for the Sister. Instead, she first noticed Luvia, who was also curiously observing the Sister, who also possessed divinatory abilities.
In an instant, both of them froze simultaneously. More accurately, Luvia froze, while Sister Devlin just stood there motionless. Xia De didn't know what she was thinking; she was always like this.
The countdown for the use of the traveler's travel door had already begun, but under the Moonlight outside the window, the two ladies remained motionless.
Xia De hesitated, wanting to speak, but felt it wasn't a good time. He frowned slightly, guessing that this might be a unique way of communication for Diviners.
"It shouldn't be."
"Why?"
"Look at her shadow."
The shadow of Sister Devlin, dressed in a dark grey silk Sister's robe, was normal, but the shadow at Luvia's feet had surprisingly become two, and they were identical. This was not the result of an optical phenomenon, but a supernatural one.
"What's going on... hmm?"
Just as Xia De noticed the shadow, it merged again. At the same time, under the Moonlight outside the window, a faint, indistinct figure appeared behind Luvia. It was so blurry that Xia De even thought he wasn't seeing it with his eyes, but perceiving it with his spiritual sense.
Xia De had seen this figure before; it was the blurry image of a slightly more mature Luvia. She was truly very blurry; even though Xia De and Luvia stood so close, he could barely discern the expression on that somewhat incomplete figure.
"What's wrong now?"
After the figure appeared, it gradually disappeared behind Luvia, who seemed to have just come back to her senses and quietly greeted Sister Devlin: "Good evening, Sister, I am Xia De's friend, Luvia Annett. I apologize for my rudeness just now; I've just never seen a Fortune Teller with such a unique temperament as yours. I work at the Prophet Association and also know a bit about divination."
"Good evening, Miss Annett."
Sister Devlin acted as if nothing had happened, and led by Xia De, walked out of the room and into the third-floor corridor.
The gas lamp in the corridor was lit. The style of the gas lamp was a cat carrying a lamp, which Tifa had specially chosen for Xia De.
The Sister asked Xia De to wait a moment, then removed her silver eye patch and looked at the empty corridor in front of her. Luvia, holding Mia, leaned against the doorframe and watched them. After learning that there was an entrance to an alternate space in his familiar home, Xia De felt that this corridor had also become eerie.
After waiting for a full minute, the Sister rearranged her hair and put her eye patch back on: "There is indeed a boundary entrance here. But the scope is very small, only covering half of the corridor. I have seen boundaries of life and death in many places, but this one is the smallest."
Compared to the Gap that encompassed the entire Sicar Mountain and its surrounding areas, the problem at Saint Delan Square Six was a minor one.
"Is there a way to seal it? Recently, two evil spirits have run into the house through this entrance, and they really scared my cat."
Xia De asked. The Sister considered it for a moment and nodded: "The scope is very small, so sealing it is easy. However, sealing is not the fundamental solution; every two or three years, you will need to reinforce the seal."
"That's certainly no problem."
Xia De immediately nodded, thinking that in two or three years, he might even be in Saint Byron's in the far north. But before leaving here, he might inform the Church about the house's problem.
The Sister could not stay here for long, so while there was still time, Xia De asked Sister Devlin to observe the situation on the third floor as much as possible within the range allowed by that door.
The Spiritual Cultivation Order had a different divination method from ordinary Fortune Tellers. Believing that all things have spirits, they could perceive the world from a different perspective. Therefore, before Sister Devlin left, she gave Xia De a suggestion: "If this were my house, I would sell it immediately."
"Why?"
This was the one thing Xia De would absolutely not do.
“There is too much misery and misfortune here. The problems with this house are definitely not limited to just the third floor. I once accepted a commission to visit a notorious haunted house in Carson Rick, but the level of danger there was absolutely incomparable to this place. Saint Delan Square Six, is that right? I had only heard of its name before, but I never expected the problem to be so severe.”
But even if the problem was severe, Xia De would not move out. He believed he already knew all the secrets of this house. Now that the problems in the basement and on the third floor had been resolved, and all safety hazards had been eliminated, Xia De believed living here would be quite safe.
Three minutes and twelve seconds passed in a flash. Sister Devlin returned to the basement of the ruined tower on Sicar Mountain through the 【traveler's travel door】, and after Xia De greeted Luvia, he also returned to the ruined tower from the basement, planning to see the Sister down the mountain before going home.
Sister Devlin was certainly much stronger than Xia De, but since Xia De had invited her down the mountain, he should at least see her back. This was also a form of gentlemanly conduct.
Sicar Mountain at night was quiet and serene. As late autumn approached, even the mountain forests at night seemed to have fallen completely into slumber.
On the way down the mountain, the Sister verbally recounted the ritual used to seal the entrance to the small life-and-death boundary. The ritual itself was not complicated, but some materials were difficult to obtain. However, for Xia De, who could travel between Coldwater Port and Tobesk City, these were not issues.
“Your Fortune Teller friend has a problem.”
After explaining the ritual, they had only walked halfway down the mountain. It seemed awkward not to speak, and as Xia De tried to introduce a new topic, Sister Devlin suddenly spoke.
“Oh, I know.”
Xia De looked up at the starry sky and said softly:
“I’ve known for a long time.”
The Sister was silent for a moment:
“Her ‘other self’ is abnormal; ‘she’ is afflicted by a very terrifying curse. This curse was not artificially imposed; it is more like a natural phenomenon, as if this world detests her.”
Only the Spiritual Cultivation Order, which advocates animism, could easily discern this point.
“Yes, that is the curse of Time.”
Xia De said softly again, feeling a little melancholy for some reason.
“Then she must have done something that severely violated the normal rules of Time. I can’t imagine what one would have to do to incur such a terrible curse. The world never harbors such strong malice towards a single individual.”
The Sister fell silent after speaking, and Xia De, pondering Luvia’s problem, also did not think of a new topic. After a long while, he finally broke the monotonous sound of the lady’s boots and man’s leather shoes stepping on fallen leaves. The howling of wolves came from afar, and the City at the foot of the mountain was lit by gas lamps:
“Sister, regarding Luvia’s problem, can you perceive more deeply?”
“She needs to remain still in front of me, allowing me to remove my blindfold and look directly at her. Moreover, that terrifying curse is not something mortals can resolve. You at least need to know what she has done to know how to break the curse.”
“I understand.”
Xia De nodded and escorted the Sister all the way down the mountain before turning and re-entering the mountain forest, bathed in Moonlight.
Coming out of the basement, he found Luvia on the second floor, holding a reluctant Mia, and looking somewhat sad.
“Luvia, what’s wrong with you? Why do you look unhappy?”
The purple-eyed girl stood by the window, looking out at the square. The room was too bright, so much so that the glass in front of her reflected her and Mia’s expressions like a mirror.
The smart cat also noticed Xia De in the reflection of the window glass and immediately struggled to escape from Luvia’s embrace.
“Nothing, it’s just that when I saw that Sister just now, some strange visions appeared before my eyes—”
She turned around, her rosy lips moved slightly, and her purple eyes gazed at Xia De:
“I saw Sister Devlin die in flames. Her body was covered in fiery red cracks, and in the end, even her corpse was incinerated into Ashes. She handed me a faint fire, entrusting me to inherit her duty and guard the Original Fire.”
“Original Fire?”
Xia De frowned slightly and stopped walking.
He had indeed told Luvia about the “reverse birth” man, Joey Barton’s, death prophecies for him and the Sister: dying in a collapsed tower at the beginning of this year and turning into Ashes more than ten years later. But due to his promise to keep secrets, he had not told Luvia that the fire in Sister Devlin’s hand was the Angel-level (1st-level) relic 【Original Fire】.
“Is this a true prophecy made in a flash of inspiration?”
Xia De asked. It was indeed possible for a Diviner to suddenly see fragments of the future in a certain moment. But Xia De’s own guess, he didn’t believe it himself. After tonight’s conversation with the Sister, he had a vague guess about Luvia’s situation, but he wasn’t yet certain:
“It’s alright, not everything in the future is destined to unfold according to your prophecy.”
He walked over and embraced Luvia, and Mia finally found a chance to “escape” from her embrace:
“It’s like, didn’t you always think our group would only ever have four people? But I still appeared this summer. Oh, I still remember your expression the first time you saw me at Lakeview Manor.”
“Yes.”
The purple-eyed girl nodded gently.
“What you saw is just one possibility, and besides, you don’t even know Sister Devlin. Even if the Sister truly wanted to entrust that Angel-level relic to someone, it couldn’t possibly be you.”
“But the future—”
“The sixth epoch, common era, 1853, late autumn—”
Xia De imitated “her” tone and then glanced out the window:
“...The day of the crimson moon’s dim glow. Luvia Fiocchi Annett, you have once again witnessed the unknowable future, but standing beside you at this moment, besides yourself, is also that Outsider from beyond Destiny, whose heart harbors secrets.”
He held Luvia, looking closely into her pair of pretty purple eyes:
“Time has cursed you, but Destiny is blessing you. The magnificent epic has already begun, the curtain has been drawn, so why be confused? You are not walking alone; the one who awakened from blind foolishness is by your side. When two hands grasp each other on a summer night, you should understand—this is the beginning of the epic, the story of you and him.”
Luvia finally smiled:
“What is this? A poem of Destiny you wrote for me?”
“No, no, this is just stating facts.”
Xia De said.
“Alright then, Xia De, perhaps you are more charming to Witches than I thought—may Destiny bless us both.”
Saying this, she wrapped her arms around Xia De’s neck and then kissed him passionately, but as that gentle sensation flooded Xia De’s mind, he inexplicably felt as if he was kissing two people.
“What is this strange feeling? Wait.”
He unromantically pushed Luvia away for a moment:
“You haven’t told me yet, is Sister Devlin truly the first candidate for the ‘death’ Chosen One?”
“She is not, but she has other problems. The first candidate for death should be between the reverse-birth person Joey Barton and our friend Priest Latt Augustus... Xia De, is it really appropriate to ask this question at a time like this?”
She asked playfully, then embraced Xia De again.
“Meow!”
The cat standing on the back of the sofa meowed discontentedly, feeling that it had been ignored by Xia De again.
Then, in the light of the gas lamp, the cat actually saw a double image of the human woman’s body. A blurred shadow almost completely overlapped with her body, four arms simultaneously embraced Xia De, and it was two identical faces that were kissing Xia De.
“Meow?”
Its large amber eyes were full of curiosity. The cat could not understand this strange phenomenon.
“Xia De...”
In her purple eyes, it seemed as if the secrets of the entire world were contained. Although Xia De believed that even if the Witches were unparalleled in beauty, Luvia’s eyes were still the prettiest.
“What’s wrong?”
Under the gas lamp in the living room, she revealed a gentle smile. Their shadows intertwined, just like their already interwoven Destinies:
“Can you grant me a small wish?”
“Of course, what wish?”
“I probably need to hold the youthful immortality leaf in my mouth... Tonight, I want to be a Knight.”
