“Sir, it seems this is truly our final farewell.”
Grace, dressed in a white dress, seemed to shed all her burdens at that moment. She looked at her gradually transparent hands, then turned to Xia De, who was enveloped in a shower of light:
“Although I’m very reluctant and truly don’t want to, our mission is complete. We have to leave.”
She held her sister’s hand. Helen’s blue eyes looked at Xia De, her beautiful face showing a regretful smile:
“Sir, I had hoped to have more stories with you, to see more of your life. I didn’t expect that in the end, it would only be a fleeting meeting.”
She tried to embrace Xia De with her left hand, but found her hand passed right through his body:
“Everything you’ve done for us is truly wonderful. We were just ordinary twin girls. Although we’ve experienced so many things and crossed such a long span of time, you are still the best person to us, because only your help required no return.”
Streams of red light flew from their bodies, entering the small path leading to the starry sky, flying towards the boundless sea of stars above. Accompanied by their souls, accompanied by the Star Whale, they journeyed together towards their destination.
The night wind at the edge of the cliff was cold. Xia De’s expression was completely frozen. He seemed to have saved everything, even Joey Barton found his beloved. But the Outsider alone could not save the girls who had been waiting for him since the beginning of the Mi Fort story.
He turned to look at Sister Devlin, who was quietly watching the scene by the bonfire, but the Sister only shook her head slightly; she was powerless to help.
“You said you wanted to help those girls who are not sisters but are closer than sisters? Please accept this.”
Grace and Helen clasped the Red Butterfly pendants tied to their waists and handed them to Xia De. It still maintained its physical form, because this was a gift from the God of Vampires at the end of the banquet:
“Give this to them. Having followed us for so long, it has also become a relic. If each holds half, they can gather for a full day every 21 days. This is a 22-day cycle. This is equivalent to a Sage-level relic.”
The transparent girls kissed Xia De’s left and right cheeks, one on each side, but Xia De felt no sensation at all.
He saw the tear stains on their faces, the transparent tears sliding from their two similar faces, but disappearing before they hit the ground:
“Our initial thanks to you were our hairbands. Now, our thanks to you are our pendants. Compared to what you’ve given us, these are simply not enough.”
“Are you truly willing to leave?”
Xia De asked. Their departure was not only because their mission was complete, but also because nearly a quarter of their essence had been taken by the God of Vampires. This injury was far more severe than Xia De had imagined.
Grace looked at Helen, and Helen also looked at Grace. Both shook their heads together, then embraced each other:
“If possible, I wish to stay with my sister/sister forever, until the end of eternity.”
Xia De was very worried that the two of them would kiss in front of him.
“Even if we suffer the pain and torment of the cycle again, we want to be together forever... Truly, we want to, truly don’t want to leave, don’t want to be separated...”
The color of their bodies completely faded, their vermilion souls nestled together, weeping. Red Butterflies filled the sky, adding an extra hue to the starry night, and the Red Butterflies flying along the 碎光小路 towards the stars added a more real touch to this scene under the moon.
“Are you going to do something?”
“She” asked with a smile.
Xia De sighed:
“Grace, Helen, I can let you stay. But you must know, there’s a price. For me, I’ll have to expend power, and for you, I don’t know what will happen. But, I do have a way.”
The two weeping crimson souls separated from each other and looked at Xia De standing before the bonfire. White light and shadow surrounded him, the warm yellow bonfire illuminated his light and shadow, and the silver moon above seemed to drape a thin veil over him.
“You...”
“Since I want to help you, and I’ve already done so much, helping one more time is nothing. Consider it a thank you for helping my friend.”
He turned to look at the Sister:
“Something might happen in a moment...”
“I am blind, I see nothing.”
Sister Devlin said softly.
Xia De nodded, and casually patted Mia’s little head, only then noticing a ring on her tail, and a very familiar one at that:
“Hmm? A vampire ring? Where did this come from? I remember those nine relics were all on the Evil God. After I defeated him, did those relics scatter into the mountains and forests and Mia just happened to pick it up?”
He was extremely surprised, and the small cat meowed proudly; it was truly proud.
White light rain followed him, the souls’ gratitude transformed into the purest Ling, and this powerful force was influencing the real space in the form of inspiration.
Whistles roared, bells chimed. In the thick and hot steam mist, the huge brass Destiny Ring completely appeared.
The gratitude given by the vast souls trapped in the Gap for several epochs affected Xia De’s soul essence. The pure Ling, unable to be contained, transformed into a brass-colored inspiration aura. That aura radiated across the entire mountaintop with an unprecedented momentum, so much so that above Sicar Mountain, it seemed as if a brass-colored sun had appeared.
Even the Ring術士s fighting the undead giant beasts above the City once again saw the light from this direction:
“What’s happening again? How many more things are there tonight?”
Fortunately, they currently had no leisure to fly over and investigate everything happening here.
Each time Xia De took a step forward, the cliff scenery in the surrounding night would transform into that magnificent palace hall.
Sister Devlin by the bonfire looked down “at” the red carpet that had appeared at her feet at some point, then looked up “at” the walls covered with silver and green tapestries. The silver tapestries depicted the moon, and the green tapestries depicted giant trees:
“Mystic Lock.”
“sleeping princess.”
Grace and Helen, nestled together, also noticed the changes around them, and noticed that their position was somehow slightly higher than Xia De’s.
Xia De stepped upward, and stairs appeared one by one beneath his feet. When he trod on the carpet and ascended the seventh step, he had already arrived before the girls.
The magnificent palace was so warm that even transparent souls were colored by it. Outside the French windows was a snow-falling town under the night, and further away, in the center of the tree sea, a giant tree stood like an umbrella canopy, swaying in the night wind under the moonlight.
Somehow, looking at Xia De approaching them at that moment, Helen, dressed in a black dress, instinctively took a step back, only then noticing that a massive ice coffin had appeared behind them at some point.
On the lid of the ice coffin, exquisite butterfly patterns were carved. The blood-red patterns looked as if the ice surface had been stained with blood. And inside the ice coffin, soft cushions had already been laid, and the size of the coffin was enough for two people to lie in.
“I must confirm one thing.”
Xia De asked as he ascended the steps in the palace:
“If I suddenly kissed you, would I get punched by each of you?”
Grace, who was always calm, was amused by this question. She shook her head slightly:
“Helen and I truly don’t know how to repay you.”
“I don’t need repayment. But have you truly thought this through? Not only will I pay a price for this, but you will also pay a price.”
Helen Black wiped away her tears, and Grace White also recomposed her expression:
“No matter how much it costs, I wish to be with my sister/sister forever. This was our wish when we met you, and it is our wish now.”
“Alright.”
Xia De nodded and pointed to the ice coffin behind them. So, Grace picked up her shy sister by the waist and placed her in the ice coffin. Then, Helen, sitting in the ice coffin, pulled her sister in as well.
The two lay side by side within, their bodies gradually losing color and turning back into souls about to depart. Xia De stepped forward, embraced them, and kissed them (Note).
【Outsider, the Ling Rune “Red Moon” has become unusable.】
【Attention, this state may be changed, but you need to find the method yourself. If you cannot change the unusable state, you cannot learn Miracles related to it, nor can this Ling Rune be used for promotion requirements.】
This was the sacrifice Xia De made. Compared to Miss Fiona Drago, who was merely in Sleep, Grace and Helen’s situation was much worse, so he paid a greater price.
“This sacrifice is truly a bit big...”
The inspiration aura rewrote the story of the Mystic Lock’s owner. The vast Ling, through this kiss, transformed into a Miracle in the human world, allowing two souls, who had experienced long years and were about to depart, to remain.
Xia De did not know what price the Red Butterflies paid, but he clearly saw two Red Butterflies land on his shoulders, then silently disappear:
【Long waiting, mutual torment, qualitative change in kinship, bitter love. From the twins encountering the Outsider at the God's banquet in the fifth epoch, to this kiss at the peak of Sicar Mountain in the sixth epoch. The story finally comes to an end. The story of the Red Butterflies, spanning two epochs, Outsider, only you and I can know.】
【You have learned the story of the relic “Red Butterfly Twins”, and you have touched the whisper.】
But it was not a Ling Rune, because a voluntary sacrifice cannot yield a better return than the cost:
【Outsider, you have gained the Sorcery - Incarnate Red Butterfly. Transform your body into a swarm of flying butterflies for movement, but cannot be used for a long time, otherwise you will lose yourself. Loss of a small number of butterflies will not cause self-damage.】
【You have gained the Sorcery - Red Butterfly Illusion. Create illusions with flying butterflies.】
【Due to the Sorcery originating from the most authentic power of an angel-level relic, the Sorcery can be exempt from the influence of most relics.】
Crimson butterfly swarms began to emerge from both shoulders, spreading across his entire body, until Xia De was completely dyed the color of Red Butterflies. There was indeed no Ling Rune, but a special power was fed back to Xia De’s soul through 【sleeping princess】. Regardless, the shadow of the Red Butterfly was already imprinted in his soul.
