Deep Sea Embers

The endless stars collapsed, and those distant and brilliant starlights collapsed silently into a human being. Duncan returned from the stars to a dimension that Vanna, Morris and others could understand - but his voice seemed to still be in a certain place. The high-level dimensions were trembling, and the layers of murmurs and noises in her mind and cognition made it almost difficult for Vanna to think.

After an unknown amount of time, in fact it was probably just a moment, Vanna felt that the noise in her mind subsided slightly. She rubbed her forehead and saw Morris opposite him slowly taking out his pipe from his arms. The old gentleman was trembling. He lit a cigarette and muttered: "...I'm used to it..."

"It's so fucking exciting..." Agou lay at Shirley's feet, "I seemed to have seen the Holy Lord again just now."

Nina didn't seem to be affected much. She was just stunned for a while and then came to her senses. Then she seemed to be lost in thought. She occasionally glanced at Duncan secretly, with a hint of sadness in her eyes.

Duncan just stared calmly into the eyes of "Helena". Through the other person's eyes that seemed to reflect the waves in the distance, he looked at the distant and ancient creature quietly.

After a long time, a voice finally reached everyone's ears accompanied by the gentle sound of the waves: "I understand... we will meet again."

The sound of the waves subsided, and the damp smell and salty smell that had always been in the air gradually dissipated. Helena blinked her eyes, and all the inhuman and twisted qualities quickly receded from her body, and then she suddenly bent down. , violent breathing accompanied by violent retching - Vanna on the side reacted immediately and quickly stepped forward to support the female pope's arm, helping to straighten her breath while using magic to repair the wounds suffered by the latter.

After a while, Helena's breathing calmed down. She slowly raised her head, her face pale and tired, but with a sincere smile.

"...I haven't touched His will for a long time," she said softly, "I almost forgot what it feels like..."

"Stop feeling it, you almost died - you must return to the Ark immediately, where your mental state can be stabilized." Rune next to him shook his head, interrupting Helena's emotion, and then the old elf added His eyes fell on Duncan, "It's time for us to leave, Captain."

Duncan raised his hand: "Please."

After regaining some strength, Helena got up from the sofa. She and Rune said goodbye to Duncan and set off back to the Ark.

But when she was about to leave this "witch mansion", she stopped and looked back at Duncan, who was still in the living room.

"Go ahead, you have your own things to do," Duncan waved his hand gently to the female pope who was hesitant to speak, "Even if it is the end of the world, there are still many people whose lives need to continue - no matter how many It might as well last for a day.”

Helena nodded in silence, then turned around and stepped into the endless night outside the door with Lu En.

The two popes left, and the door was closed, blocking the vast night outside. Silence once again enveloped the entire living room. Amidst the slight crackle of the fireplace, it seemed that everyone had something on their mind and was silently lowering their head to think.

After thinking for an unknown amount of time, Duncan suddenly broke the silence: "... just by being a guest here for a while, one of the two popes lost half his life - no one in the Deep Sea Church would think that we were in this house. Five hundred machine gunners were ambushed, right?"

Lucretia lost her train of thought in the middle of her meditation. She raised her head and stared: "Is this what you were thinking about after being silent for a long time?"

"Don't you think this is a necessary worry?" Duncan looked at Lucretia seriously, "Your house doesn't have a very good reputation in this city. They all think you are here. There are all kinds of things lurking inside, and the pot is stewed with children and stray dogs from all over the world..."

"Then I thank them for the rumors - maybe it will help me block the sales ads that appear in the mailbox every week," Lucretia said with eyes wide, but she soon sighed and looked back Glancing out the window, "...of course, there may not be any sales ads now."

Duncan exhaled softly and stood up from the sofa.

"I talked too much just now, and I'm a little tired. Let's go back to the room and rest first - you can make arrangements for yourself. You don't have to wait for me for lunch."

With a slight creaking sound coming from the stairs leading to the second floor, Duncan's tall figure gradually disappeared at the end of the stairs.

Everyone who stayed in the living room looked at each other, as if they were at a loss for a while.

"Actually, I didn't even understand what they were saying just now," Shirley was the first to break the silence, "But there is one thing I can feel. The female pope just now...isn't actually her, right?"

Vanna nodded slowly: "The goddess told me that their connection with the world will be strengthened for the last time, and it seems that they have already started."

"What will happen in the future?" Nina couldn't help but ask.

"Who knows? In the past, optimistic people could at least say, 'The sun will rise as usual tomorrow anyway,' but now even this sentence is unconvincing." Morris held his pipe with one hand and spoke in a low voice, "But No matter what, tomorrow will always come, even if it is a morning without the sun rising. As the captain said, life always has to go on, he has what he has to do, and we have what we have to do."

The tobacco in the pipe gradually burned out, and the last few sparks disappeared in the curls of smoke.

An invisible wind blew up in the living room, and then the gorgeous pieces of colored paper swirled and disappeared from everyone's sight.

Duncan heard the sound of wind behind him and sensed the approach of a familiar scent. He turned his head and saw Lucretia's figure condensing into shape from the colorful flying pieces of paper.

"I thought that after the last 'accident', you would never use these colored pieces of paper in front of me again," Duncan said with a smile, "Aren't you afraid that I will be overly curious again?"

"You want to go outside the Eternal Veil," Lucretia ignored it and just looked into Duncan's eyes expressionlessly, "Crossing the six nautical mile critical line?"

Duncan was silent for a moment: "Why do you ask?"

"The thing you are looking for is not in the Infinite Sea - although I don't quite understand what you just said to the 'female pope', I know that you are going to pass through that curtain again, and I I can feel that you will go further this time and stay away longer.”

Duncan looked at the "witch" in front of him quietly. After a long time, he slowly said: "Lucy, you should have seen it just now."

Dots of starlight vaguely appeared in the room. In the interplay of light and shadow, the corner of Lucrecia's eyes seemed to reflect the distant starry sky.

"I saw it," "Sea Witch" said very frankly. "Actually, I saw it as early as the first time you appeared in front of me."

The starlight faded, and Duncan looked at the "witch" with some surprise.

"Then you should know that actually I am not..."

"Nina doesn't care whether you are her 'Uncle Duncan' or not." Lucretia said calmly.

Duncan exhaled and smiled helplessly.

"In the depths of the starlight, I can see the shadow of my father - whether you admit it or not," Lucretia shook her head slightly, "I know that you have indeed returned to this world, although it is as a You came back in a way that I can't yet understand, but you are standing here, just as I remember, and now you are leaving again... It seems you are still the same as before."

She paused and her expression became serious: "Do you remember? We discussed this matter."

"...Take you with me, yes, I remember," Duncan finally nodded slowly, "Okay, Lucy, I admit, before you came, I did briefly consider whether to set off on my own - Don't worry, I just thought about it and have no intention of putting it into practice..."

Probably because Miss Witch's expressionless gaze was really stressful, Duncan couldn't help but add a few words guiltily at the end, but suddenly, he discovered that there was actually a smile hidden in Lucretia's eyes. .

Miss Witch finally couldn't help but laugh, and the smile spread completely on her face.

Duncan frowned: "Why are you laughing?"

"...You have also been so hurriedly explaining things to me, although this situation is very rare," Lucretia smiled happily, "The last time, you broke my hairpin."

Duncan was stunned and spread his hands helplessly.

Then, a ray of light flashed from the window suddenly interrupted what he wanted to say next.

He was startled for a moment, and then he and Lucretia quickly rushed to the window.

In the thin golden "sunshine" spread by the luminous geometry, a brighter arc is slowly appearing at the end of the city in the distance.

Duncan looked at the "arc of light" in confusion, and then suddenly realized.

In Puland's antique shop, he looked through the open window on the second floor and saw a clearer scene——

The bright golden light is rising slowly at the end of the horizon.

In the first ten seconds, which excited countless people, almost everyone thought it was the sunrise.

Until that golden arc completely rose to the surface of the sea, and began to continue rushing into the sky at an alarming speed - until its fragmented state appeared more and more clearly in front of everyone's eyes, and became more and more obvious as it accelerated. disintegration.

Duncan finally saw what the thing looked like.

It was a quarter structure of a ring, and it looked like just a part of the outer rune ring of Vision 001. Its bright arc edges were covered with dark cracks visible to the naked eye, and these cracks eventually caused the entire "arc of light" to During the ascent, it split into a dozen loosely arranged luminous structures - in just ten minutes, this increasingly dispersed "luminous array" accelerated its ascent and reached the height of the sun at about nine or ten o'clock. .

Then, this rune ring rising alone into the sky completely disintegrated.

Accompanied by the roar that almost shook the entire world, the frightening roar and the flash of light that tore the sky apart, the luminous array turned into a dozen "meteors" that passed through the sky and fell towards the mortal beings.