Chapter 126: The Final Power
Siles Noel couldn’t help but freeze, then frowned slightly. He looked around and saw the wandering street urchins from the West District dispersing and chatting with each other. He indeed didn’t see Jimmy.
He asked, “Could he have gone to deliver goods and not returned yet?”
Anthony shook his head. He was silent for a while, then said, “It’s… this afternoon, he told me he had something to take care of. Then he left. He said he would try to be back within two hours.
“You hadn’t arrived yet. I thought he went to eat, or something like that. But now, three or four hours have almost passed, and it’s getting dark, yet he still hasn’t shown up. I don’t know… I don’t know what happened.”
“Calm down, Anthony,” Siles said in a low voice. “When Jimmy left, did he say what he was going to do?”
“…He didn’t say,” Anthony thought hard for a moment. “Oh, he seemed to have been pondering something before that. Let me think. He casually mentioned something to me… ‘Very bright and very dark’?”
Siles was surprised to hear Anthony mention these six words. He couldn’t help but press, “In what context?”
“Jimmy was… was just saying he had thought of something and told me not to bother him. I asked him what he thought of, and he said the place was ‘very bright and very dark’, which reminded him of something else. I don’t know anything else.”
Siles nodded thoughtfully.
Beside him, Chendo Praia whispered in confusion, “He found…?”
“Perhaps,” Siles said. “And then he impulsively ran over there. I imagine he might have wanted to prove himself, or perhaps he didn’t want to have the wrong place, so he went to verify it carefully. But…”
At this point, he couldn’t help but stop and sigh softly.
Anthony’s eyes widened, and he asked in confusion, “Do you know where Jimmy went?”
Siles shook his head. He changed the subject and said, “However, we should be able to find him. Do you have anything Jimmy usually carries with him?”
Anthony scratched his head. He said, “I don’t think so… wait.” He took a Rubik’s Cube out of his backpack. “Jimmy bought this secretly with the money he saved. He said he really likes this toy.
“He was playing with it all through lunch, but before he left, he said it was inconvenient to carry, so he asked me to keep it… Would this be useful?”
Siles nodded. He reached out and took the Rubik’s Cube, saying, “It will. Don’t worry.”
“…Anthony?” Irene’s call came from afar, probably asking Anthony to leave with them.
“I’m coming, Mom!” Anthony responded loudly, then looked at Siles uneasily and asked, “Could Jimmy… have met with some trouble?”
“We will go find him,” Siles said in a low voice. “So, don’t worry. Wait at home for good news, Anthony.”
Anthony nodded doubtfully, then left with his parents. Soon, only Siles and Chendo were left at the entrance of the closed toy store.
Chendo said, “Did he really find that place? A child that young?”
“Perhaps we aren’t as smart as this young child,” Siles said. He handed the Rubik’s Cube to Chendo. “I’ll leave it to you; try to find him.”
Chendo toyed with it for a moment. The location of this store was originally rather remote, situated in a corner alley, so no one noticed the two of them standing there.
Chendo took a page from the bloodline transcript out of his pocket, then reached out and pinched a word from it, tossing it casually onto the Rubik’s Cube. The entire process was exactly the same as when they looked for Mike Lampson’s missing item previously.
And the process of finding a person was even simpler than finding an object.
Siles and Chendo’s gazes simultaneously fell on the Rubik’s Cube. After a moment, Chendo raised his eyes and looked deep into the underground passage. He said, “Found him.”
Jimmy sat on the ground, shivering. Around him were other crying children. The light flickered, illuminating a ferocious and aged face ahead.
When Jimmy unhesitatingly ran toward the place he had guessed, what he thought in his heart was that he finally had a way to help Mr. Noel.
He had only ever seen that place from a distance, so he wanted to verify it first. If it didn’t fit the criteria of being “very bright and very dark,” then he would just assume he guessed wrong. He didn’t want to disappoint Mr. Noel.
…That place was by the Kanla River, very, very close to the riverbank.
Jimmy had seen that place when he went to pick up trash by the Kanla River. He had caught a fleeting glimpse of lights and figures; that was… an underground room. He had almost thought his eyes were playing tricks on him at the time.
He told his companions then, “Why does it seem like there’s a room under the river?”
Then he looked at them in dismay, realizing that there really was an underground room there.
The underground passage extended near the Kanla River, creating a completely new and unknown underground territory. The ventilation window at the top of the room was right on the slope along the Kanla River; if one didn’t look carefully, they might even think it was construction debris.
And the Kanla River bank in the West District was practically uninhabited to begin with. It was an abandoned wasteland; no one came to redevelop it, and no one was willing to invest here. Even the vagrants disdained the land along the Kanla River bank for being too damp.
…So there was an underground passage here too. This thought flashed through Jimmy’s mind.
He also thought at the time that the place was really strange. Outside it was pitch black, yet inside it was brightly lit; but if the lights weren’t on, or the light didn’t reach, it must be very, very dark—so dark it would strike fear into one’s heart. Outside the window of that bright place was the deep, gloomy Kanla River.
That was three years ago.
Three years ago, Nanisal Bryant hadn’t started wandering yet; three years ago, Jonathan Bryant’s evil plan had just begun; three years ago, Darwin Hospital’s reputation still maintained a good record.
Jimmy knew nothing of this.
He only knew that Mr. Noel was looking for a place that was very bright and very dark, near the Kanla River, and related to the underground gangs.
…Then, that stretch of underground passage along the Kanla River had to be the most fitting match, right? Perhaps someone had carved out some underground space there and was doing some unseemly things.
That must be Mr. Noel’s destination too. He was tracking down some evil people, just like the heroes in the stories. Jimmy thought this way.
He felt an unprecedented excitement, which could also be described as unease and nervousness. He felt he was involved in something incredible, and that his accidental discovery from three years ago could actually help with this… truly unbelievable!
He was so excited that he decided to go see for himself without much thought. He had to verify it, he thought; if he didn’t, and let Mr. Noel make a trip for nothing, that wouldn’t be a good thing.
Besides, Jimmy was a young child. Young children like them rarely attracted the attention of underground gangs. Most underground passages were guarded by the West District’s underground gangs, and no one was allowed to enter, except for places like Dawson Street that were open for business.
So, Jimmy felt he needed to scout the way. Perhaps Mr. Noel would even have to rely on him to reach that place—Jimmy couldn’t help but think proudly.
This thought excited him so much that he forgot the cold of the winter evening, forgot his hunger from not having had dinner yet, and forgot that this matter might put him in danger. He just impulsively rushed to that possible secret location.
When he stealthily bypassed the lookouts of the underground gang members he knew, traversed the massive, complex, and meticulous path of the underground passage, and reached that mysterious area, he himself didn’t truly realize that he had actually succeeded.
That really was a place that was very bright and very dark, because some of the wall lamps were broken, and without the lights, the illumination was extremely dim. Therefore, as people walked through here, they would feel their vision alternating between bright and dark, flickering constantly, which was very bizarre.
It was very quiet here. Jimmy had actually gotten a bit lost while passing through the areas guarded by the underground gangs, but he kept walking eastward, pressing forward with a courage and persistence he himself hadn’t anticipated.
Until a certain moment, he stopped and saw that the complex, winding underground passage finally ended before an iron door. It had the beautiful and elegant shape of an archway, but it used a cold, profound iron door as its portal.
He stared at the iron door across the corridor with its flickering light. This was underground, surrounded by silence, and Jimmy heard himself swallow nervously.
In that instant, he belatedly realized that this iron door seemed to foreshadow something, as if it meant he had truly found some incredible place.
But… he thought with a bit of astonishment, how could this be? How could he have found it so easily?
Was no one guarding this iron door?
Mustering his courage, Jimmy tiptoed to the front of the iron door. It was indeed a heavy iron door. The ground was earth that had gradually become somewhat moist and muddy. Jimmy saw two scratches on the ground, as if someone had pushed a small cart through here.
He also saw his own footprints, as well as other complex and numerous footprints, beside those two scratches. A vague thought flashed through his mind: not long ago, many people had come here.
But Jimmy didn’t think carefully, because his attention was drawn by the sounds coming from behind the iron door. They were truly loud, booming sounds—an old man’s scolding, and the sounds of some children crying loudly.
Jimmy also heard the voice of a young boy and a young girl. The voices of those two children were much calmer than the other children’s, as if they were saying something to the old man. In addition, there were the voices of some adults.
Too many, far too many voices. Jimmy felt a headache coming on.
He pressed himself against the iron door, shivering from the coldness of the metal. He placed his hand on the gap of the iron door, closed one eye, and looked through the gap with the other.
He did this carefully, and then slowly saw the scene inside the door.
It really was quite a large place!
An empty hall, bright lights, a few tables and chairs, and many, many doors. There were many people standing in the middle, but Jimmy couldn’t see them clearly. He only saw some children slumped on the floor, two standing children, and several standing adults.
There was another person standing there with his back to Jimmy. Even though he was weakly leaning on a cane, he made Jimmy feel a very strange sense of terror. He stared blankly at the hunchbacked old man.
Suddenly, his vision darkened, and a round object appeared in his line of sight. He was stunned for a moment before realizing that it was an eye.
“…Ah!”
Jimmy belatedly let out a cry of alarm, frightened out of his wits by that eyeball. His legs went weak, and he collapsed directly onto the ground.
The iron door creaked open, and a burly man walked out, hoisted Jimmy up with one hand, then walked back into the secret room and tossed Jimmy into the pile of slumped children. He said concisely, “Don’t know where this kid ran in from.”
Jonathan Bryant glanced at Jimmy, let out a cold snort from his nose, and said, “Ignore the child.”
Jimmy trembled, terrified by the coldness in the old man’s gaze. He felt fear, but also a deeper sense of excitement. He tried hard to conceal this emotion, lowering his head, his body shaking because of it.
Jonathan thought the child was probably scared silly. He had the burly man close the iron door, then asked, “Is everyone else ready?”
“They have been evacuated according to your wishes,” the burly man said honestly.
Jonathan nodded in satisfaction. He coughed, and just as he was about to say something, one of the two standing children in front of him, the young boy, said, “Ignorant fool.”
Beside him, the young girl nodded earnestly.
Jimmy looked at the two of them, then at the old man who looked cold and arrogant, and was momentarily confused.
Jonathan frowned and said, “What are you talking about?”
Further away, several adults dressed in white stood expressionlessly. They did not seem to want to participate in the conversation between Jonathan and the others at this time.
“What are you talking about, Nanisal?” Jonathan said again.
“I said you’re an ignorant fool.” Nanisal had a hint of a mocking smile. His tender face displayed a distinct malice on one half, and a strange coldness on the other. “Once you’re dead, you’re dead; why do you still want to live?”
The girl nodded earnestly once again. She repeated, “Once you’re dead, you’re dead; why do you still want to live?”
Jonathan’s face slowly turned red, and he said incredulously, “What… what the hell are you doing, Nanisal? Do you know what you are saying? Do you know who I am? Do you know who you are?”
“Who are you? Who am I?” Nanisal said. “You should be my humble believer, and I should be the deity you worship!”
Jonathan’s eyes widened in shock. He looked at Nanisal with a complex emotion in his gaze—a mix of confusion, bewilderment, and as if he had been amused by something.
He said, “What are you talking about, Nanisal? Have you gone mad?”
Nanisal tilted his head, and then his voice suddenly deepened. His voice shouldn’t have been this deep; it didn’t match his age. He looked like a young boy who was still quite far from his voice-changing period.
He said, “Have you forgotten, Jonathan Bryant? I am the ‘Holy Child’. You made me live apart from the group, isolated from the world, and witness countless deaths—wasn’t that just to cultivate me to become the ‘Holy Child’?”
Jonathan froze there, his face suddenly trembling with very distinct shock and horror.
“And now… oh, now, you actually regret it. Because you originally wanted to cultivate me into a vessel for the deity, but now, you want me to become your vessel. So, you regret it.” Nanisal raised his hands and slowly clapped them.
That loud clapping drew an even deeper silence.
The girl looked around, tilted her head in thought, and then also clapped her hands. She smiled and said, “Clap, clap. Thaddeus claps; Personari also claps.”
Personari?
Everyone was stunned. Jimmy curled himself into a ball, exposing only his eyes, trying to look at these people as calmly as possible—Calm down, calm down, Jimmy. Think about what Mr. Noel would do in this situation.
Mr. Noel would definitely observe the situation calmly, gather information, and look for a breakthrough point. Yes, that was it.
Jimmy knew he didn’t possess any power, but he also knew he had been missing for too long, and someone would come looking for him. He believed Mr. Noel was already on the way.
And the scene in front of him, this baffling scene, must symbolize something. He had to remember it, then tell Mr. Noel, just as he had always done.
Jimmy forced himself to inhale and exhale slowly. He listened to the strange conversation of these people.
Jonathan stood there trembling, his expression changing unpredictably. He looked at the two children in front of him, momentarily not even knowing how to react.
Nanisal also looked at him, and then suddenly, he burst into laughter: “Look at yourself! Jonathan Bryant, look at yourself! You are already this old, yet you’re still not resigned to it! You still want to keep living!”
“…Enough! Enough! Shut up!” Jonathan said loudly. “So what? Is it a bad thing to want to keep living?! And you, do you really think you are some kind of deity?!”
His gaze swept viciously over everyone present. The burly man, the people in white clothes, the two standing children, the children slumped on the floor, and Jimmy.
He said, “You… all of you people are nothing but my future vessels! I will remember your names, because they will also be my future names!”
Nanisal sneered, “Ignorant fool. Ignorant fool! You have such thoughts, yet have you never considered a possibility? Idiot!”
“Idiot! Idiot!” the girl repeated like a parrot beside him. She had been smiling the whole time, looking very obedient and cute. However, she stood next to that boy, as if she were his other half.
Jonathan gave a contemptuous laugh and said, “And what can you do, young Nanisal?”
“What can I do?” Nanisal repeated the question, then sighed heavily and shook his head, “How foolish… How foolish! You want to ‘become’ these young humans, but I—I only want to ‘become’ an eternal deity!”
“An eternal deity,” the girl repeated this description in an exceptionally soft voice, then smiled slightly. Her smile remained just as soft and gentle.
But Jonathan shuddered uncontrollably.
Jimmy swallowed hard in terror. He thought, did I just hear… did I just hear that young boy say he wants to become… wants to become, a deity?
What an arrogant and conceited child this is!
But Nanisal continued to use that exceptionally mature tone that did not match his appearance and age: “You remember the names of the people present—but I, I remember the names of the deities. Why can’t I become a deity?”
The girl also softly repeated this statement: “Why can’t he?”
Nanisal laughed aloud. His laughter was so loud and resonant that it created countless echoes in this massive underground passage. It almost made Jimmy dizzy.
He forgot to hide his purpose, merely raising his eyes to stare in shock at the boy. In fact, everyone was staring at him in shock, including the children who had previously been crying softly.
Every single person seemed to have their soul seized by some unbelievable power. They looked at Nanisal with confusion, bewilderment, shock, and dawning realization.
…The method to become a deity. To replicate a deity upon oneself. This was how the power of this world worked.
Replicate the process of a deity’s birth, replicate the power and actions of a deity, and thus, replicate the deity.
Thus, a human becomes a god.
Jonathan trembled continuously; even he probably had never thought of such a terrifying method. He knew some arrogant Revelators wanted to replicate the power of the deities, but… but, Nanisal was so wildly attempting to become a god!
In this dark yet bright basement, he merely wanted to rid himself of his burdensome body; however, his descendant, his young and arrogant grandson, had devised a blasphemous method.
Blasphemy! his stern yet cowardly gaze seemed to say. But he himself was trembling, not even daring to actually speak those two words.
Because he perhaps could not deny that when Nanisal spoke of this method, he himself was also so… so… so uncontrollably tempted.
He squeezed his eyes shut forcefully, then waved his hand. He said hoarsely, “Go make the final preparations!”
The sound jolted the dazed people in white clothes awake. They looked at Nanisal and the girl—both taking their time with smiles on their faces—and then at Jonathan. Finally, like corpses, they walked expressionlessly into a nearby room.
Jimmy heard a strange, agitated mechanical sound. He curled his body up uneasily. The rest of the children were doing the same; their bodies were extremely cold, yet it gave Jimmy a very forced sense of security.
He thought, Mr. Noel—Mr. Noel, please hurry.
Jonathan took a deep breath, and at this moment, he unexpectedly calmed down. He sneered, “You want to become a god, Nanisal. A ridiculous idea. If you can really become a god, then why not resist right now? If…”
“You wavered.” Nanisal looked arrogantly at Jonathan, repeating the phrase, “You wavered. Because you thought, since you can become a god with the identity of Jonathan Bryant, you don’t want to abandon this self-identity.”
In that instant, Jimmy saw Jonathan’s face covered by the flickering light. The light seemed to wear away the true colors of this aged face, making it display only an ever-changing, detached blurriness.
Jimmy thought in confusion at that moment, Does that look like a living person? Or just someone crawling on the ground, lingering at the boundary between half-dead and half-alive?
He silently curled himself up even tighter.
The burly man walked to the doorway of the inner room, loyally guarding the door.
After a long time, the silence in the basement still persisted. Jonathan panted heavily, as if he would die if he didn’t. He said slowly, “I can… have it all.”
Both Nanisal and the girl were slightly taken aback.
“The eternal life of a living person, and the eternal life of a god.” Jonathan closed his eyes, his nostrils flaring, as if sensing the beauty of this world. “To live, as a human; to live, as a god. I can have it all, all of it! Why must I choose only one?!”
He snapped his eyes open. His eyes were bloodshot as he glared forcefully at everyone present.
“A young body, a young mind, and youthful vitality—I still want to possess them! I want to restore my youth, regain my prime, and then stay frozen in this state forever! I will become a god in my youthful form… isn’t that wonderful?”
His tone gradually deepened, even taking on a sickly sweet sense of tenderness. He seemed to be confessing to someone or perhaps just speaking to the Goddess of Youth, who had long since left him behind.
Nanisal shook his head and said, “How greedy.”
The girl continued to parrot him, saying, “How greedy.”
A ferocious anger flashed in Jonathan’s eyes, making him look even more ruthless and gloomy. He pushed off with his cane forcefully, as if using his last bit of strength to lunge at Nanisal.
Just at that moment, the iron door was suddenly kicked open forcefully with a heavy thud, crashing against the wall and making a very loud “clang.”
The newcomer was dressed in a suit, wearing an overcoat. He stood outside the archway with his back to the light, his face seemingly hidden in the deep darkness of the corridor. His gaze swept intently over the situation in the room.
Jimmy’s eyes lit up, and he loudly said, almost without thinking, “Mr. Noel! You’re here!”
“…Siles Noel!” Jonathan Bryant, who had just steadied himself, felt his anger flare up the moment he heard this name. He turned to look at the figure and said fiercely, “You again!”
The newcomer narrowed his eyes impassively, stared fixedly at the dumbfounded Jimmy standing to the side, signaling him to keep quiet. Meanwhile, he himself just silently looked at Jonathan.
His gaze also swept over the other children present. Nanisal, that girl, and those children slumped on the floor shivering. And that tall, burly man.
In almost an instant, he took in the entire situation in the room. He lowered his eyes and nodded casually, as if answering Jonathan’s question—yes, it was him.
Jonathan panted heavily, veins popping on his forehead; his whole person looked ferocious and angry. He paced back and forth, not even really looking at the man standing at the door. He was just immersed in his own world.
“Just a moment! Just a little while longer! I can die an ordinary death, and then become another young, healthy person! Just this little while!”
His voice was so angry, even filled with an inexplicable indignation.
“And you, all of you! All of you are trying to stop me! What kind of world is this? Why can’t I live forever in this world? Yes, I’ve lived for several decades. Can’t I try to live for another several decades for myself? I want to welcome the revival of the deities in that distant future!”
Nanisal suddenly sneered.
Jonathan abruptly stopped talking and glared furiously at Nanisal. That burly man stepped forward, slowly walking to stand behind Jonathan, his gaze coldly fixed on the man at the door.
They had almost formed a standoff.
And at that moment, Nanisal said, “But the deities are already dead. Shouldn’t you understand this better than anyone?”
Jonathan let out a sudden, meaningless wail, as if someone had abruptly seized him by the throat.
“Since my birth, you’ve tried to make me the vessel for Thaddeus’s revival,” Nanisal said in a very flat tone. He raised his eyes, seemingly looking at Jonathan, but also seemingly looking through Jonathan at the other people.
He said in an almost confused tone, “You made me witness the deaths of countless people. Those you killed, those my parents killed, those I killed myself. You made me experience death, occasionally throwing me out of the house to let me taste the flavor of death.
“In the end, you killed my parents with your own hands, letting me see their blood flow onto me. You felt time was running out; you were on the verge of despair… But I would also feel despair, wouldn’t I?
“You want to live, so you let others die; you made me walk the path of the deity, hoping the deity would become me… But why couldn’t I become the deity? Why shouldn’t you be the one to die?
“Why can’t the world be turned upside down? Why?”
Nanisal questioned Jonathan so stubbornly and so calmly.
Jonathan’s lips trembled. He couldn’t answer these questions, and these questions also seemed to drag him back to that time… when he wasn’t yet this old, and could still cruelly and excitedly use his own family members to test the possibility of reviving a deity.
…He was a believer of death. He had killed countless people, and his life was also crushed by the deaths of countless people. He heard the death knell ring for countless people, and one day, that death knell would ring for him too.
Jonathan closed his eyes. After a while, he opened them again. He heard his own very cold voice: “Kill that guy at the door. And then, Nanisal…”
The first sentence was directed at the burly man; the second was directed at Nanisal.
But before he could finish speaking, the sound of a resounding collapse came from behind him. It was his subordinate, that strong, tenacious man—Jonathan had once considered using this body, but ultimately chose a younger and more tender one.
He turned around in disbelief and looked towards the door. All the children maintained a very resolute silence; Nanisal and that girl did so, and the rest of the children also quietly covered their mouths and eyes at Jimmy’s signal.
Two men appeared at the door.
The first man had already walked in. He had emerald green eyes and grayish-white, shoulder-length hair. He was casually tossing something in his hand, like lively, bouncing words. Jonathan merely took one look at his action and felt his head swell, bordering on madness.
The second man was still standing at the door. Both his hair and eye colors were pitch-black, he wore a pair of leather gloves, and he seemed to be holding something in his hand. Both men wore suits and overcoats; if not for their faces, hair colors, and eye colors, they would be almost identical.
…When Chendo unlocked that iron door and kicked it open to enter, Siles was right behind him. They hadn’t encountered any resistance all the way here, which made Siles feel strange. He realized something had happened, or was about to happen.
And Jonathan also realized someone had come.
But at the time, Siles hadn’t stepped out of the darkness yet, and Jonathan was misled by Jimmy. Misguided by his anger and the dim light, he assumed the man standing at the door was Siles. He thought he had come alone, and since the burly man was waiting for an opportunity nearby, and Nanisal’s words had drawn his attention, Jonathan completely disregarded Siles’s appearance.
But Chendo was also there. When Chendo used his power, it was always very quiet and inconspicuous.
That dense grayish-white mist transformed into a blade and stabbed into the burly man’s chest. And besides Siles, probably no one else in the world could see this scene, not even Chendo himself.
The invisible blade cut a tangible wound. The burly man looked down at his chest in extreme shock; the pain assaulted his brain in an instant. He only had time to let out an “uh” sound before collapsing.
In that last moment, he didn’t forget that his employer was behind him, so he tried his best to fall to the side. Despite this, his massive falling body still sent a tremor through the floor.
Jonathan watched this scene in shock.
Siles smiled slightly and said, “Mr. Bryant, we meet again.”
Jonathan looked at him, then at Chendo, and said angrily, “You knew all along…!”
“Yes, I knew all along,” Siles said. “However, I wasn’t quite sure where your secret base was located, so I didn’t dare act rashly. Besides, this matter involved so many children.
“…Thank you, Jimmy. Your bravery is commendable. You were the one who guided us here; you are the greatest hero in stopping this conspiracy.”
Jimmy opened his mouth, feeling somewhat overwhelmed. He quickly covered up this somewhat silly expression, coughed lightly, and whispered, “Y-you’re welcome, sir.”
Jonathan stared at him coldly and said, “Do you think all of this is over, even if you kill me?”
“…I’ve always been very curious, how exactly are you so certain that a person’s soul can be transferred to another person’s body?” Siles said. “You think that would still be you?”
“Of course,” Jonathan said firmly. “My god will bless my piety.”
Siles waited a moment, confirming that Jonathan truly believed this so firmly, and couldn’t help but take a deep look at this stubborn, cold old man. His fear of death and his attachment to life had been twisted by time into an unbearable form.
And Jonathan didn’t seem to want to waste any more words either. He took a deep breath, then shouted, “Do it!”
Everything that happened next was like a long, slow-motion shot.
Several doors around the hall burst open, and warriors clad in armor filed in. Chendo’s gaze was focused; he plucked a word from that sheet of the deity’s template, and an invisible protective shield separated them from those warriors.
And Siles merely looked at Jonathan and raised his hand. As Jonathan spoke, he picked up his cane and broke it—it was a miniature gun.
That dark muzzle was aimed at Siles, but the invisible metal shard had already pierced through Jonathan’s shoulder according to Siles’s will before that.
The metal shard passed through the flesh of Jonathan’s shoulder, splashing a burst of blood. Without losing speed, it continued forward and embedded itself into the tabletop. The resulting wind stirred up the newspapers on the table; the pages scattered all over the floor, dotted with traces of blood.
Jonathan let out a miserable scream and fell to the ground. Siles breathed a slight sigh of relief, then looked around. He thought to himself, I originally intended to attack Jonathan’s hand… whatever, it only missed by a little bit.
After all, in that split second, he hadn’t had the time to use Akamara’s Eyeglass Frame to aim at a more specific location. Anyway, as long as the attack worked, it was fine.
He twirled the fountain pen casually and put it back into the pen pocket inside his suit.
In that brief moment of his confrontation with Jonathan, the protective shield formed by Chendo’s power suddenly exploded outward, blasting away the circle of armored warriors trying to attack them. The people in white clothes, hearing the commotion outside, swarmed in, only to be casually dealt with by Chendo as well.
“…These… soldiers?” Siles looked around, then looked at Jonathan, somewhat troubled.
He wondered, Is the Minister of Finance of the Duchy of Konst keeping a private army?
Blood flowed from Jonathan’s shoulder. He was panting, like a spent arrow, with only the last spark of life remaining. He lay on the ground, slowly placing his hand over the wound on his shoulder.
He had originally hoped to welcome that spring day of blooming flowers with a brand-new life. But now, with the warm spring so close at hand, he might forever remain in this cold winter day.
Siles wanted to walk over to Jonathan, but Chendo grabbed him.
“Such a crazy guy; be careful of any mutation before he dies,” Chendo said. “You must be a little vigilant.”
Siles was taken aback, only belatedly realizing this possibility. He told those children to go to other rooms. Jimmy led them away. Siles wasn’t sure of the origins of these children, but those matters would have to be resolved later.
The floor was littered with unconscious people, as well as a groggy Jonathan. Only Siles, Chendo, Nanisal, and that girl remained standing.
“Is this what death feels like, old man?” Nanisal said maliciously. He walked to Jonathan’s side, kicked his shoulder, then squatted down and whispered, “Did you think about this when you killed your daughter and your son-in-law with your own hands?”
Jonathan let out a series of vague, mumbled sounds.
Nanisal sneered, saying, “Unfortunately, I’m afraid I cannot receive your soul.”
His words made Siles look at him. Siles didn’t know what had happened earlier; he merely felt that Nanisal’s words seemed to carry an ulterior meaning… receive Jonathan’s soul?
Jonathan’s eyes widened abruptly, and he hoarsely tried to say something.
“Live on, old man,” Nanisal said with a smile. “Just live on so miserably—just like this, live on, as you wished.”
He turned to look at the girl who had been silent all along, and said, “Personari.”
The girl tilted her head, then whispered, “Oh, that’s me… that’s my name, so you’re calling me. What is it?”
“Make him live,” Nanisal said coldly.
“Then I…” The girl thought for a while, and suddenly smiled. A strange brilliance shown in her smile. “Then I understand. I should do this, I ought to do this…”
She staggered over to Jonathan’s side, squatted down, and gently patted his shoulder.
In Siles’s field of vision, following the girl’s actions, a faint but distinct light purple mist appeared around Jonathan.
Jonathan’s overall condition seemed to slowly improve, and the blood from his wound stopped flowing. He was no longer so close to death. His originally murky eyes gradually cleared, but also gradually filled with despair.
The girl’s body swayed, and then she fell to the ground. She had fainted.
Nanisal showed a satisfied smile and whispered, “Alright, old man, as you wished. Keep on living.”
Siles watched this scene, momentarily falling into confusion.
Chendo rubbed his chin, looked at Siles, and after a while, sighed very sincerely, “How baffling!”
And Nanisal suddenly turned to look at Siles. He gazed silently at Siles, and finally, he smiled slightly and said, “Thank you.”
Siles unexpectedly received this thanks. He was just about to ask what the thanks was for, but before he had time to voice it out, Nanisal also fainted on the ground.
Siles saw a burst of pure black mist emerge from the unconscious Nanisal and then dissipate into the air. He furrowed his brows tightly at this sight.
…They had indeed stopped Jonathan’s conspiracy, but the behavior of Nanisal and Nona—yes, that was Nona—made him feel strange.
Did these two young children seem to have grasped very superficial powers of deities?
But how did they do it?
This situation felt more like… more like the scene of the dice appearing in that feather not long ago. It was a brief possession.
Perhaps, just as the dice had said, it was something stirring in the “darkness.” They seized the opportunity and invaded the bodies of Nanisal and Nona, but couldn’t stay here forever, so they quickly left again.
…Light purple and pure black mist. That looked very much like the powers of Personari and Thaddeus.
After thinking for a moment, Siles still couldn’t reach a conclusion. He felt a better method might be to ask Nanisal and Nona, but that would have to wait until they woke up.
Chendo went to check on the situation in this complex space, while Siles walked to the center of the room. Jonathan lay there, staring blankly at the ceiling, seemingly lost in thought about something.
Siles kicked the gun aside, confirmed that Jonathan temporarily had no ability to act, and then looked at the other two children lying on the ground.
He was just about to move the two children aside—this underground space was still very cold. But right at this moment, the young girl suddenly woke up. The girl dazedly rubbed her eyes and sat up from the ground.
Siles then asked, “Nona, are you alright?”
The young girl was stunned for a moment and only then realized he was talking to her.
“What? Sir, do you have the wrong person?” The girl’s eyes widened. “My name isn’t Nona.”
Siles froze there.
The girl looked around left and right and then suddenly picked up the newspaper on the ground. She pointed to the words on the newspaper that were dyed red with blood and then showed a very innocent smile.
She said, “I am Garland. You can call me Miss Garland!”
