Postscript to the Sixth Hundred and Thirtieth Chapter
Under the full moon, by the banks of Twinkling Star Lake, the Mirror Girl with her gossamer-like skin floated slightly in the air, watching “Gethsmoor” enduring countless bl**d needles piercing her body, a horrifying sight. She listened to the lifeless words coming from “Gethsmoor’s” face and responded softly.
“My situation is indeed tricky, but I have my own ways to handle it, so I still have some reserve strength left. This land once revered me for a thousand years, and the traces I left here will not disappear quickly. As long as the timing is right, I can still glimpse the night scenery of Prit.”
The Mirror Girl slowly replied to “Gethsmoor.” Hearing this, “Gethsmoor” sneered and continued speaking.
“Hmph… I underestimated you, Selene. I didn’t expect you to still have such powerful backup here. I admit, this time you won… ”
“Gethsmoor” said, and then a hint of danger appeared in her originally dull eyes.
“However, this is not over yet. I will eventually reclaim what should be mine…”
After saying that, Gethsmoor’s body began to disintegrate, turning into bl**d mist that dispersed into the air until it vanished completely.
Watching “Gethsmoor” completely disappear, the Mirror Girl paused slightly, then she looked around and observed the surroundings with her silver eyes. A strange expression appeared in her eyes, followed by a soft sigh.
“Sigh…”
Then, the Mirror Girl shifted her gaze to the church still floating in the air far away. The church slowly descended and finally landed back at the center of Twinkling Star Lake.
After returning the Mirror Moon Church to its place, the Mirror Girl focused her attention on her hands. She placed her delicate hands in front of her eyes, gently caressing them before focusing on the ring on her hand, which bore a moon pattern.
Just as the Mirror Girl was looking at the ring, something unexpected happened. Fine distortions started appearing on her body, and her entire figure became blurry and ethereal. Seeing this, the Mirror Girl frowned slightly and murmured.
“It has reached its limit…”
After saying that, she again fixed her gaze on the ring on her hand. She stretched out her hand and gently touched the ring, then let her hands fall.
Following that, the Mirror Girl drifted back to the ground. With bare feet, she slowly walked under a large tree by the lake and sat down silently on the grass, leaning against the trunk.
Thus, the Mirror Girl leaned against the thick tree trunk, fully relaxed, sitting on the grass under the moonlight, quietly appreciating the shimmering lake surface before her. Her silver gaze seemed to be contemplating or reminiscing.
Listening to the rustling of leaves in the evening breeze, the Mirror Girl lowered her head silently, her eyes slowly closing. She completely fell silent, seemingly falling asleep.
And just moments after she fell asleep, silver light began to emanate from her body. The layers of gossamer draped over her gradually disappeared, and her skin began to lose its mirror-like luster under the silver light. Her entire body started to shrink.
When the divine aura faded, the figure that emerged under the tree was Dorothy. At this moment, she had returned to her original form. Her hair, which had been loose, was now tied back, and her hidden dress was once again worn. Dorothy maintained the same posture as the Mirror Girl, lowering her head and sleeping under the tree, letting the gentle breeze blow past her.
After a while, Dorothy’s eyebrows trembled slightly, then she slowly opened her eyes. As if she had just woken up from a good sleep, she yawned widely and stretched lazily, then rubbed her eyes.
Then, Dorothy slowly stood up from the grass and looked at the calm surface of Twinkling Star Lake in front of her. After a brief moment of confusion, she softly spoke.
“Has… everything ended?”
…
In the depths of Twinkling Star Lake, inside the Mirror Moon Church. At this moment, a group of people lay unconscious on the cold floor. Vania and her pilgrimage guards were among them, completely unconscious.
When the entire pilgrimage guard was knocked down by Ed, Audric activated the magification of the Mirror Moon Church, saving everyone at the critical moment. During the process of the Mirror Moon Church’s magification, Audric used the transformation to safely place the entire pilgrimage guard in a specially designed room within the magified structure, ensuring their safety.
Since the puppeteer was an extraordinary being primarily aligned with “Stone” and secondarily with “Enlightenment,” Audric could use some of the hypnotic abilities of the Mirror Moon Statue to a certain extent. However, he used these abilities very weakly and did not apply them to the battle against Gethsmoor and Ed, as both were at the Red Tier “Shadow” level and could not be hypnotized by Audric’s powers.
However, the situation with the pilgrimage guard was different. During the battle with Ed, the guards were severely wounded by the intense pain from the sharp spikes, including the ascetics. Almost the entire team was driven to the brink of mental collapse due to extreme suffering. To prevent any mishaps, Audric decisively put the pilgrimage guard into a deep sleep during the battle, keeping them unconscious throughout.
Not only the pilgrimage guard, but many ordinary people were also hypnotized. Audric hypnotized and put almost all the ordinary citizens around Twinkling Star Lake and even in Gramorn to sleep, preventing them from waking up due to the massive disturbances on the lake. If these ordinary people had gathered in large numbers out of curiosity, they might have been caught in the crossfire between the Red Tier “Shadows,” leading to unnecessary casualties.
On the cold floor of the church, the guards of the pilgrimage were still deeply asleep. The mental trauma inflicted by the Red Tier had temporarily prevented them from waking up on their own. The ones who could wake up were those who had not been lightly injured by the bl**d spikes during their fight with Ed, and this was Vania.
“Mmm…”
As her eyelids fluttered slightly, Vania gradually awakened following some inner guidance. She slowly opened her eyes and woke up on the cold floor.
Vania, dressed in white nun’s robes, stood up in the room. She looked around at her companions and the moon outside the window, her expression filled with confusion.
“Where am I? What just happened?” Vania muttered, holding her aching head. She tried to recall what she had seen before losing consciousness, and all she remembered were the trembling ground and the fierce attack from the powerful enemy.
“Right… the enemy… Now, what’s happening outside!” Thinking about the possibility that they might still be in combat, Vania felt a surge of anxiety. At that moment, a familiar voice echoed in her heart.
“Don’t panic, everything has ended.”
“Who is this… Miss Dorothy! You say it’s over… Were the cultists stopped?”
Hearing this inner voice, Vania was initially stunned, then immediately responded.
“Yes… Thanks to your help and others, our plan went smoothly. The Eight Pinnacle Nest was severely damaged this time, and they shouldn’t have any more actions in Prit in the short term.”
Dorothy replied in Vania’s heart, and hearing this, Vania sighed with relief and replied gratefully.
“Is that so? That’s great. Thank the Lord’s protection…”
After hearing the good news, Vania began to pray as usual, but Dorothy interrupted her again and said.
“Now is not the time to relax entirely. We still have post-battle work to do, and some of it needs your involvement.”
“What post-battle work… on my side?” Vania said with a puzzled expression, and Dorothy quickly responded in her heart.
“Quickly awaken the people around you, then go to the woods by the north side of the lake. There, you can find the Archbishop of the Prit Diocese. He is in a bad state and needs your help…”
“Ah… Archbishop Francesco!?”
…
In the darkness, by the side of Twinkling Star Lake, Dorothy, who had nearly recovered her composure, stood here, gazing at the shimmering lake surface. She slowly said, focusing on the church in the middle of the lake.
“It seems the Eight Pinnacle Nest is truly worried about their affairs. They are upgrading their concerns in the eyes of the Sacred Summit. Even after defeating their enemies, they still held back from finishing them off.”
“Of course, for the Church, the Archbishop is their highest representative in a country. The d*ath of someone at this level would elevate the priority of national affairs to the highest in the conclave meetings…” replied the elderly man standing nearby, dressed in a coat and hat, Audric. After some thought, he continued.
“Currently, the upper echelons of the Church are experiencing obvious power struggles due to the absence of the Pope. Various factions are hindering each other, and the remaining six saints are struggling to reach consensus, causing a decline in the Church’s overall cohesion and responsiveness. Many societies are taking advantage of this opportunity to become more active, daring to make bold moves they wouldn’t normally make. But no one wants to escalate the situation too much. Excessive stimulation might cause the Church to regroup and solve urgent issues, and no one wants to be the catalyst for that.”
Audric continued to speak slowly, and hearing his words, Dorothy felt somewhat surprised. This was the first time she heard that the internal conflicts within the Church came from the Pope’s absence. What did “ascending to heaven” mean—had the Pope gone to the Inner Realm related to the “Lamp” and not returned?
“Pope ascending to heaven… I didn’t expect you to be so open about such high-level information now. Before, this would have cost hundreds of pounds.”
With a sarcastic tone, Dorothy said to Audric, and he smiled and replied.
“This information has already spread among the higher-ups of many larger societies. It’s not particularly valuable, and even if it were sold, it wouldn’t fetch much. Bargaining with the High Priestess of the Night Sky Empress over such minor details would be disrespectful to the Shadow Lord…”
Audric said with a smile, and hearing this, Dorothy couldn’t help but twitch her lips. She thought to herself, “Oh, so this merchant also treats people based on their status.”
“By the way, you immediately judged that I am the High Priestess of the Night Sky Empress?”
“Well, what else could you be? You can invoke the power of the Night Sky Empress, and your appearance is so similar to her statue. Could you be anything else but her High Priestess? Or do you want me, an old man, to acknowledge that an ordinary girl unrelated to the extraordinary could rise from a commoner to the Red Tier in just a year? Where would this old, half-golden face go?”
With a shrug, Audric said to Dorothy. In his view, only the theory that Dorothy was chosen and specially cared for by the Mirror Moon Goddess could explain how she managed to leap four levels in a year. Although this explanation had many doubts, it was the most plausible one Audric could come up with.
Hearing this, Dorothy was momentarily speechless. Then, after slightly adjusting her expression, she became slightly serious and continued to ask Audric.
“By the way, just now, did you see anything on me?”
Dorothy asked Audric, having fallen asleep after being possessed by the power of the Mirror Moon. Now, she wanted to know what had happened afterward from someone else’s perspective. At that time, the only person who might still have consciousness was Audric, but his response disappointed Dorothy.
“I saw nothing. When the power of the Night Sky Empress descended, I saw only darkness, heard only silence, and touched only emptiness… Under such circumstances, there was no way I could glimpse the true thoughts of any deity. I could only pray to the Forge of the Craftsman in eternal darkness, waiting for the return of light…”
Audric said to Dorothy, and upon hearing this, Dorothy couldn’t help but sigh and speak.
“You didn’t know what was happening then? It’s a bit of a pity… If the Construct Core had really responded to your prayers then, perhaps you could have seen something.”
Dorothy said with a slight teasing tone, but hearing this, Audric furrowed his brows and immediately turned to Dorothy.
“You just… said what? You said who heard my prayers?”
“Oh? The Construct Core, the god of your Craftsmen’s Guild, the Craftsman God, aren’t the Construct Core and the Forge of the Craftsman His names?”
Facing Audric’s question, Dorothy naturally replied.
“The Construct Core…” After hearing Dorothy’s words, Audric murmured with a slightly odd expression, then immediately said in a solemn tone.
“Where did you hear this name?”
