Chapter 757: “Sunrise”
Chapter 755 “Sunrise”
The endless swarms of stars crumbled away, those distant and brilliant starlight collapsing back into a human being in a soundless moment, and Duncan returned from the starlight to a dimension that Vanna and Maurice and the others could comprehend – all the while his voice seemed to vibrate as if it were still vibrating in one of the higher dimensions, and the murmured murmurs and noises that cascaded through reason and cognition made Vanna feel almost hard to think.
It took an unknown amount of time, in fact it may have been only an instant, before Vanna felt the noise in her head subside slightly, and rubbing her forehead, she saw that Maurice across the room was slowly pulling his pipe out of his pocket, and that the old man was shakily lighting his cigarette as he muttered, “…… Getting used to it ……”
“It’s so damn exciting ……” Dog plopped down at Shirley’s feet, “I think I just saw the Holy Lord again.”
Nina, however, looked little affected; she froze for just a moment before returning to her senses, and then seemed to be lost in thought, occasionally sneaking glances at Duncan with what seemed to be a hint of sadness in her eyes.
Duncan, on the other hand, just gazed calmly into the eyes of “Helena”, and through her eyes, which seemed to reflect the waves in the distance, he looked at that distant and ancient creature.
After a long time, a voice finally accompanied by the soft sound of the waves reached everyone’s ears, “I understand …… we will meet again.”
The sound of the waves subsided, and the dampness and fishy salty smell that had always been in the air gradually dissipated, and Helena blinked her eyes, all sorts of inhuman and twisted qualities quickly receding from her, and right after that she suddenly bent over, and her violent gasps were accompanied by violent dry heaves – Vanna, who was on the sidelines, immediately reacted, and hurriedly went up to support the female The Pope’s arm, helping to straighten out her breath while repairing the trauma the latter had suffered with divine magic.
After a while, Helena’s breath stabilized, and she slowly raised her head, her face pale and tired, but with a smile that came from her heart.
“It’s been a long time since …… I’ve touched His will,” she said softly, “I’ve almost forgotten what it feels like …… “
“What will happen in the future?” Nina couldn’t help but ask.
Duncan raised his hand, “Be my guest.”
“Don’t feel it, you almost died – you must go back to the Ark immediately, it will stabilize your mental state there,” Lune, who was next to him, shook his head, interrupting Helena’s sentiments, before the elderly elf dropped his gaze back to Duncan, “We should leave. “It is time for us to leave, Captain.”
After thinking for an unknown period of time, Duncan suddenly broke the silence: “…… just here as a guest for such a short period of time, one of the two popes lost half of his life – turning back to the Church of the Deep Sea won’t think that we have ambushed five hundred machine gunners in this house. The Deep Sea Church won’t think that we have ambushed 500 machine gunners in this house, right?”
The people who stayed in the living room looked at each other, seemingly at a loss.
After regaining some of her strength, Helena got up from the sofa, and together with Lune, she said goodbye to Duncan and left to return to the ark.
“I’m also a bit tired after talking too much just now, so I’ll go back to my room to rest first – you’ll see to your own arrangements, there’s no need to wait for me for lunch.”
“Go on, you have your things,” Duncan gently waved his hand at the female pope who was about to speak, “even if it is now the end of the world, there are still many people whose lives need to continue – even if it is just to last one more day It would be good.”
The tobacco in his pipe gradually burned out, the last few sparks disappearing into the curls of smoke.
Vanna nodded slowly, “The Goddess told me that His connection to the earthly world would be strengthened one last time, and it seems that now He has begun.”
“I thank them for the rumor then – maybe it’ll help me block the sales ads that show up in my mailbox every week,” Lucrecia said with a glare, but soon she sighed and looked back out the window, ” …… Of course, there probably aren’t many sales ads now, either.”
“I actually didn’t even catch what they were saying just now,” Sherry was the first to break the silence, “but one thing I sensed was that the Popeess …… wasn’t actually her just now, was she? ”
Duncan exhaled softly and got up from the couch.
Accompanied by a slight creaking sound coming from the stairs leading to the second floor, Duncan’s tall figure faded away at the end of the stairs.
But when she was about to leave the “witch’s mansion”, she still stopped and looked back at Duncan, who was still in the living room.
“Don’t you think this is a very necessary concern?” Duncan looked at Lucrecia with a serious look on his face, “Originally your house didn’t have a very good reputation in this town, they all thought you had ambushed all sorts of things in here, with little children and stray dogs from all over the world stewing in the pot ……”
The two popes left, the door closed, blocking out the blanket of night beyond, and silence reigned over the entire parlor, and it seemed as if everyone had something on their mind, and were silently bowing their heads in thought over the soft crackle of the fireplace burning.
“Who knows? It used to be that optimistic people could at least say ‘the sun will rise again as usual tomorrow anyway,’ but even that isn’t convincing anymore,” Maurice’s voice trailed off as he held his pipe in one hand, “but tomorrow will always come no matter what, even if it will be a morning without the sun rising. As the captain says, life always goes on, and he has his things to do, and we have ours.”
Lucrecia’s halfway contemplative train of thought instantly picked up and she looked up and stared, “Is that what you were thinking about just now when you were silent for half a day?”
Helena nodded in the silence, then turned and stepped with Lune into the long, endless night beyond the door.
An invisible wind swept through the living room before the brilliantly colored pieces of paper hovered and disappeared from everyone’s sight.
Duncan heard the wind coming from behind him, and sensing the approach of a familiar scent, he turned his head to see Lucrecia’s figure coalescing and taking shape from the brilliantly fluttering pieces of colored paper.
“I thought you’d never rush around in front of me with those colored pieces of paper again since the last ‘accident’,” Duncan chuckled, “Not afraid of my curiosity overload again? ” “You’re going beyond the Eternal Curtain,” Lucrecia butted in, just looking expressionlessly into Duncan’s eyes, “across the six nautical mile critical line?”
Duncan was silent for a moment, “Why do you ask?”
“What you are looking for is not in the Boundless Sea – and while I don’t really understand exactly what you meant by what you just said to that ‘Popeess’, I do know that you are going to go through that curtain again, and I can sense that you will go farther this time, and stay away longer.”
Duncan looked quietly at the ‘witch’ in front of him, and after a long time he slowly spoke, “Lucy, you should have seen it earlier.”
Starlight dotted with stars floated vaguely in the room, and in the interplay of light and shadow, the remaining light from the corner of Lucrecia’s eyes seemed to reflect the distant starry sky.
“I saw it,” said the “Witch of the Sea” quite frankly, “in fact, as early as when you first appeared in front of me, I saw it.”
The starlight faded and Duncan looked at the Witch with some surprise.
“Then you should know that I’m not actually ……”
“Nina hasn’t cared whether you are her ‘Uncle Duncan’ or not.” Lucrecia said calmly.
Duncan exhaled and smiled somewhat helplessly.
“I can see my father’s shadow in the depths of the starlight – whether you recognize it yourself or not,” Lucrecia shook her head gently, “I know that you did return to this world, albeit in a way that I cannot yet understand, but you did stand here, just as I remember, and now you are leaving …… as it seems you did then.”
She paused, her expression becoming serious, “Do you remember? We discussed this matter.”
“…… taking you with me, yes, I remember,” Duncan finally nodded slowly, “Well, Lucy, I admit that I did think slightly about setting off on my own before you came here –You don’t have to worry, that’s how I considered it, I didn’t mean to put it into practice ……”
Probably because the expressionless gaze of the witch lady was really stressful, Duncan couldn’t help but add a few words somewhat sheepishly at the end of his sentence, but suddenly, he realized that what was actually hidden under Lucrecia’s eyes was a hint of a smile.
The sorceress finally couldn’t help but smile, a smile that fully bloomed on her face.
Duncan frowned, “What are you smiling about?”
“…… You used to explain things to me on your hands and knees like that, though it was rare and infrequent,” Lucrecia giggled happily, “The last time, you were the one who broke my hairbrush. ”
Duncan froze, spreading his hands hopelessly.
And then a ray of bright light flashing through the window suddenly interrupted what he was about to say next.
He was stunned for a moment, then darted to the window with Lucrecia.
In the thin golden “sunlight” spread by the glowing geometry, a brighter arc was slowly appearing at the end of the city in the distance.
Duncan looked at the “arc of light” with puzzlement, and then suddenly reacted.
In Prender’s antique store, he looked through the open window on the second floor and saw a clearer scene – the golden light was shining brightly.
A brilliant golden light was slowly rising at the end of the sea horizon.
For the first ten seconds or so, to the excitement and thrill of countless people, almost every one thought it was sunrise.
That is, until the golden arc rose fully above the sea and began to continue its charge into the sky at an alarming rate-until its fragmented state became clearer and clearer to everyone’s eyes and disintegrated more and more as it accelerated its ascent.
Duncan finally got a good look at the thing.
It was a quarter of a circle, appearing to be only a part of the outer runic ring of Vision 001, and its bright arc was riddled with dark cracks that were visible to the naked eye, and which ultimately caused the entire Arc of Light to split into a dozen or so loosely arranged glowing structures as it rose – -In just ten minutes, this increasingly decentralized “luminous array” accelerated all the way up to the altitude of about nine or ten o’clock in the sun.
Afterward, the ring of runes, which had risen alone into the sky, completely disintegrated.
With a roar that almost shook the entire world, a fearful whistling and a flash that tore through the sky, the luminous array transformed into a dozen or so “meteors” that swept through the sky and crashed into the earthly beings.
(End of chapter)