Fear, panic, dejection, terror...
His body temperature rapidly dropped, his body trembled uncontrollably, the color drained from his arms, and his soul seemed to be shaking.
Facing the door just ten steps away, he and Miss Louisa both felt it. In the deep darkness behind them, something was watching them.
That was darkness, that was chaos, that was a deep ocean, that was... an Old God.
The two of them almost simultaneously understood the current situation: the out-of-control Ichthyosis had attracted an unknown Old God. It had not descended, but It was watching this place right now, causing the abnormal characteristics of the environment.
This matter was not actually dangerous; as long as they left the observed, gradually abnormal area, they would be safe.
The golden light marks on Xia De's body suddenly erupted, and the gaze from the higher dimension slowly disappeared. The trembling Miss Louisa almost fell, but Xia De supported her again.
"Hurry..."
In her emerald green eyes, Xia De was reflected as if golden flames were burning on his body. Xia De nodded, helping her forward.
And after that terrifying gaze departed, the door in front of them actually began to close little by little.
"Sorry."
After a soft apology, Xia De directly picked up Miss Louisa, but even so, that door still seemed to close before they could reach it.
"Xia De, put me down, you yourself..."
A small figure appeared in front of the door; the fifth skinny merman, who had not appeared until now, held the door open, allowing Xia De and Miss Louisa to reach the doorway in time. They both saw the figure; she still had fragments of the clothes she wore last night, and on her only human-like legs, she still wore those shoes.
Xia De's hand held the door, and the afterglow of divinity dispelled the power of the whisper and blasphemy elements, preventing the door from closing further.
"She is..."
Miss Louisa covered her mouth.
Xia De leaned against the door, watching the small merman leave the doorway and squat at the edge of the golden light that Xia De's body could illuminate. It looked at them, its rotten fish face showing no expression.
It wanted to see them off, but it could not leave this place. The God from the higher dimension was watching this place for its sake.
Xia De and Miss Louisa both stood still, and then Miss Louisa spoke first:
"We can't save her, let's go, Detective."
The Golden-haired girl held Xia De's hand, her eyes a little red. Xia De continued to hold the door frame, looking at the rotten merman. He knew he was powerless to do anything about it; escaping with Miss Louisa was already his limit.
He turned his gaze to outside the door, where there was Moonlight. Xia De, who was particularly sensitive to Silver Moon, knew that it was real Moonlight, and outside the door was a safe place:
"But... I really want to save her."
"There's nothing we can do... We can't change any of this, Detective. This isn't a fairy tale; not everything has a good ending. We've done our best."
The Golden-haired girl's voice was slightly sad.
"Reality isn't a fairy tale..."
He understood this, which was why he hadn't said anything foolish about wanting to save the girl's family.
At this moment, looking at the Moonlight outside the door, he thought of many things, from his hometown to here, from the present time to the past time.
He thought of the joy and sadness he felt when he first read fairy tales in his childhood back in his hometown. He thought of the melancholy of an adult when telling that story to three children in this world.
From a foreign land to here, from the present to the past. Standing on the ground beneath his feet, feeling the four elements flowing in the souls, contemplating the current situation, Xia De felt that for the first time, he truly understood what kind of feeling that sorrowful story had brought him through personal experience.
It was a feeling that touched his heart.
"This consciousness can influence the real world; perhaps I am not powerless. Although I am weak, I can make some attempts."
He reached into Miss Louisa's pocket, and to her surprised gaze, took out a rolled-up parchment scroll.
With the hesitation and emotion in his heart, and that desire "to save," the scroll actually spontaneously burned in his hand. The pages, which recorded ancient fairy tales and possessed mysterious power, returned the power of inspiration to him.
He had given an answer to the Old God's question. At this moment, he gave that answer again:
"I want to save her."
In a trance, he actually saw a young man wearing a clown hat smiling at him. Xia De understood what he needed to do.
He turned around, his gaze firm, looking at the darkness, feeling the power surging from the depths of his heart. inspiration represented civilization; he came from another civilization, brought the story here, and re-understood the story.
Plus the precipitation of the power of "fire" obtained from the translated book—
Steam surged out, and whistles and bells rang out loudly.
The brass-colored Enlightenment Ling Rune, something that had never happened before, flickered on the Destiny Ring. In this light, delarion common language letters flew out in sheets, constructing the story around Xia De that he had never written in this world.
Miss Louisa's eyes widened; the brass-colored light illuminated her face, and large swathes of letters were reflected in her eyes. She recognized it; it was "the little match girl."
Facing the darkness behind him, allowing the Destiny Ring to manifest behind him, listening to the whisper in his ears, surrounded by the story from his hometown. The story from another world ultimately became a part of this civilization.
The power he possessed was not strong, but it was pure enough, because it belonged only to Xia De.
The voice in his ear rang out at just the right moment:
【On a snowy winter night, a lonely girl lit four candles. Firelight, food, gifts, kinship. She departed in the darkness; she briefly touched the light. And you, you yearn for the Miracle that saves everything.】
【You listened to the fairy tale you told; you gained the inspiration of civilization.】
Golden light marks illuminated the surroundings, and the Destiny Ring behind him spun at an unprecedented speed. Amidst the surging steam, the letters suspended in the air re-converged towards the Destiny Ring. The brass-colored Enlightenment Ling Rune shone, and all the text overlapped into one place on the Destiny Ring, condensing into a brand new power.
【Outsider, you have inscribed the Brass Enlightenment Ling Rune - the little match girl.】
On the scorching Destiny Ring, enveloped in steam, the second ancient Ling Rune quietly appeared. The flickering brass-colored Ling Rune almost suppressed the gluttony from the Old God's power next to it.
Miss Louisa stared in disbelief at what was happening before her, suspecting that everything that had happened since tonight was just a dream:
"Even if you did more outrageous things at Lakeview Manor, this time it's just too..."
Light appeared from above, illuminating the scene before them. The Golden-haired girl looked up, and above her was an endless sea of stars. The ceiling was gone; they were standing outdoors, and a colossal Silver Moon, as if about to fall to the ground, had appeared in the night sky. Cold snowflakes landed on her face; the snow was falling.
She reached out to catch it in disbelief:
"It's snowing?"