Whispering Verse

That night, as usual, Dorothy spent the night at Shade's house. Because I heard that Luvia will finish her work in Randall Valley next week and will probably be back soon, so the writer cherishes her time now.

She even let Mia out of the closet after the adult hours of the evening so the cat could sleep on Shade's pillow.

It was half past one on Sunday morning, and the bedroom at No. 6 Saint Teresa Square was dark. The tightly closed curtains blocked out the moonlight and the light of the gas street lamp.

Shade, who was sleeping, hugged the girl in his arms. Suddenly, the cat on the pillow opened its amber eyes. After standing up alertly, it jumped on Shade's body, and then patted his quilt with its paws.

When Shade, who had been sleeping lightly, regained some consciousness, "she" whispered in his ear:

"earthquake."

"What?"

The feeling of the bed shaking slightly only appeared after Shade asked. With no time to think, Shade instinctively hugged Dorothy with one hand and grabbed the cat with the other, and then turned over and got out of bed. Then he rolled hard and rolled under the bed with the cat and Dorothy.

It was only then that Dorothy, who was sleeping soundly, came back to her senses:

"Oh, Shade, if you want to try it under the bed, can you tell me in advance?"

"It's an earthquake!"

Shade emphasized, as the shaking feeling was lessening.

"What happened to the earthquake? If your haunted house collapses in an earthquake, then it's not a haunted house."

The sleepy blonde muttered, hugged Shade tightly, and rolled with him out of the bed. Fortunately, the maid who came to clean every week diligently cleaned every corner, so the bottom of the bed was not dirty.

Dorothy couldn't sleep now, so they got up and went to the window. They saw Shade's neighbors nervously coming outside in their pajamas one after another, but then returned to the house because it was too cold, and then returned to the house again. Go to bed and fall asleep.

Although this small earthquake that occurred in Tobesk did not cause too many casualties, it made Shade inexplicably feel that his actions in the Randall Valley would probably speed up.

And this Sunday during the day, the first long-lost acquaintance that Shade saw in the Randall Valley was not Sister Devlin. It was when he went to the Fertile Land Hotel to look for Luvia early in the morning, he saw her on the first floor of the hotel. Marilyn Handel arrived.

This woman's whereabouts have been unclear since she was last seen by Dr. Schade and Dr. Schneider at the Tobesk Public Cemetery in late autumn last year. After not seeing her for half a year, she looked thinner and her skin became paler than last time.

But at the same time, the feeling of almost directly touching the essence of death became more and more obvious in her body. Shade didn't know whether this was because she truly walked out of death, or because of the curse of death.

The soul of Joey Barton, standing next to Ms. Handel, nodded to Shade when he saw him walking into the hotel.

Shadra opened the chair and sat down in front of the pale woman. After calling the waiter to prepare hot tea for them, he held his hands together:

"Long time no see, Ms. Handel, how do you feel about this city?"

"Like a dead soul about to fall into the abyss."

Marilyn Hendel said in Delarian:

"I can feel the breath of death spreading on this land, and if you die here, you may not be able to reach the end. The earth is binding the soul, and the earth is trying to fight for the power of death."

Shade nodded:

"Someone will solve the matter here. I sent someone to find you this time in the hope that you can deal with a soul."

"Where is that soul?"

Ms. Handel asked.

"I haven't killed the person yet. But I hope that after he dies, he can leave the world of the living as soon as possible. It's best to go directly to the end."

Ms. Handel looked at the soul next to her:

"No problem, sending the resident souls home is our way of atonement."

"That's good. Actually, there is another problem. I recently saw a very special soul. The existence of the soul itself is complete, but it is composed of hundreds of powerful souls. They share a consciousness and can embody Come up with hundreds of different ways of thinking.”

He described the way the Guardians existed, and Ms. Handel hesitated:

"The soul belongs to the world and the gods. Theoretically speaking, the situation you described does not conform to basic common sense and should not happen. But if it is a voluntary sacrifice, coupled with the power of the great, it is possible to bring so many souls together Together, there is an almost sublimation phenomenon.”

Seeing that Shade still wanted to ask, Ms. Handel added:

"But even if the gods agree, this form of existence still conflicts with the world. The world itself, as well as the supernatural system and mysticism, all have strict definitions of the soul. In the view of Barton and I, even if it is voluntary sacrifice, this is It's a sign of blaspheming the soul. Even if it's to protect the ground beneath your feet, you shouldn't do this."

Joey Barton, who had been silent until now, also spoke:

"Those souls are destined to be unable to die, because they have blasphemed their souls and rejected death, so death has also rejected them. Compared with the demon soul you just mentioned, this aggregate soul is an existence that is absolutely not allowed to appear. . We have no intention to evaluate other candidates, but he may be even crazier than me."

Shade pursed his lips, lowered his voice, and asked very, very softly:

"If there is a situation where I have a conflict with the guardian, do I have a way to deal with him in a targeted way?"

【what are you up to? 】

"She" asked suddenly.

"It is essential to be on guard against others. Nothing can be said before the ceremony of the chosen one has been held. Besides, the long-haired Luvia insisted on letting Miss Lassus die and used her soul to dominate the Guardians and represent the Guardians. There is a high probability that something is going to happen. After facing the Shadow of the Evil God on Tuesday night, Luvia and I discussed this situation."

Ms. Handel and Joy Barton both considered it, and then the pale woman answered:

"Fighting the Guardian is equivalent to fighting hundreds of ring warlocks at the same time. In terms of strength, you can't suppress so many souls now, but they are souls after all. The nun wearing a silver eyepatch, the chosen one by virtue of death The power can definitely be an enemy to it.”

"Can't we make targeted preparations based on the characteristics of its hundreds of souls?"

Shade asked again, Joey Barton nodded:

"Because hundreds of souls are integrated into one, once a soul curse is successfully applied, it is equivalent to the other party having to make hundreds of judgments. As long as one judgment fails, all souls will be cursed. If the devil you mentioned If you want to fight against the Guardian, you will most likely use this method."

He signaled Ms. Handel to take out a pen and paper, wrote down a thaumaturgy and handed it to Shade:

"Because the opponent's soul resistance must be extremely high, and you are also aware of your own weaknesses, the highly lethal soul curse has a high probability of being ineffective. You can try this. Although it may not be able to defeat the enemy with one move, it will definitely work."

Shade went to read the content on the note:

"Thumbacary - [Soul Whip], corresponding to the spiritual rune - [Retribution] [Thorns] [Punishment] [Whip] [Pain], and can only be of the miraculous or blasphemy type. Active thaumaturgy requires the casting material to be one's own. A drop of blood. Prick your finger, throw out the blood, and turn it into an invisible whipping of the soul, causing the target's soul to suffer as much as if it was being beaten by thorns. But apart from the pain, thaumaturgy itself has no direct harm."

"The pain itself is an injury."

Shade said, and then felt that he had seen similar thaumaturgy. But the one he saw was not for the soul, but for the body. It could only make the body feel pain but not actually cause any harm. The similar thaumaturgy he saw came from the "Pink Book", and Shade did not learn the thaumaturgy he saw.

"The whipping pain produced by the thaumaturgy itself is enough to stun a strong soul for a moment. And the superposition of hundreds of the same pain should be enough to cause problems for the guardian. Or at least, delay his actions."

Ms. Handel said, explaining the origin of thaumaturgy:

"Not all souls residing in the living world are polite. The ancient messengers of death created this ancient thaumaturgy in order to send the soul away politely without harming it. Because since the With a reputation that has spread far and wide since the first era, [Soul Flagellation] is more effective on ancient souls. Time and years have given this thaumaturgy its unique ability."

Although Shade did not have the "Thorn" spiritual rune, he had the miracle "Thorn of the Moon", so he felt that he might be able to learn this magical technique.

After thanking Ms. Handel, Shade arranged for her to stay at the Fertile Land Hotel and told her that although the specific time of the operation has not yet been determined, it will definitely be next week.

As for Sister Devlin, she arrived at Randall Valley at noon that day, but then went to the Church of the Sun. By the time Shade saw the nun at the Wilde Opera House, it was already after dinner.

Because Sister Devlin came here nominally to support the church, it was inconvenient for her to contact the witch directly, so she met Shade and Luvia in the box of the Wilde Opera House.

At the beginning of the opera, the high-spirited female voice expresses the washerwoman's longing and expectation for a new day. This is Kasenrik's famous play "The Laundromat and the Cat Prince", which Shade has seen many times at the Wilde Opera House.

"That's probably what happened."

Shade and Luvia told the nuns about the current progress, and Sister Devlin actually came to a conclusion that was quite similar to Marilyn Handel’s in the morning:

"This time there are not two enemies, but three. Something will definitely happen to the guardian. The special form of soul existence means that he is more easily distorted than a normal soul. Maybe the heart of the earth you mentioned was in the past Thousands of years have protected him, but now that the earth itself is distorted, I am afraid that this distortion will also be passed on to him. You and Luvia's judgment is correct, the crazy guardian will be the final enemy."