Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 1405: "I’m Not Alone
Hearing the word "mirror," the ominous feeling in Shard’s heart reached its peak. He wished to follow Mr. Granger, but the intense pain in his heart made him unable to stand steadily.
A rumbling sound echoed from all directions, and around the summit of the low hill, numerous tall stone mirrors, identical in shape to the Stone Mirror Demon’s obsidian full-length mirror, slowly emerged from the soil, standing like tombstones in the black mud. This was a pre-arranged ritual, but due to the influence of the Puppeteer’s Notes, no one had noticed it beforehand.
The demon’s power unleashed wantonly, making the already dark sky even darker. Even though the base of the hill was less affected, some Inner Ring Sorcerers with insufficient soul resistance instantly felt intense nausea and headaches.
Although the demon’s power had manifested during the Battle of Eldron Lake, it had never been so vividly displayed before them as it was this time. At this moment, in the church camp close to the hillside, a professor from the Saint Byrons-taught Astronomy College, along with a Diviner from the accompanying Prophet’s Society, unveiled their divination cards:
"Demon!"
The power of the Stone Mirror Demon, which had lurked in the lands of the Randall Valley for nearly a thousand years after the ancient Stonville Kingdom’s downfall, was finally exposed for the first time in front of the True God Church.
Miss Benanis and Luviya knew the local demon’s power better than the church. They looked up at the hilltop, watching those tall mirrors seemingly elongating the hill, turning its summit into a sinister ancient ritual site.
With the black mud tainting the stone mirrors, two forces, both harboring great malice towards the world, perfectly fused together. In the mirrors, reflections of glowing souls and glowing stone statues appeared. But soon, only the stone statues exuding silver Desecration Aura remained in the mirrors. One by one, the stone statues stepped out of the demon’s mirror, surrounding the group of people on the hilltop.
Mr. Granger quickly retreated to Shard’s side, not because he was forced back by the stone statues, but because he wished to protect Shard.
Those stone statues emerging from the mirrors all possessed strength nearly equal to the stone statue boy. Although Shard could tell their time to exist wouldn’t be long, the battle had already fallen into despair at this moment.
The power of the Evil God, the power of the Thirteen-Ring Sorcerer, the power of the demon—all appeared on this small hill tonight. To force the Guardians to reveal their full strength, the enemy had laid out almost all their cards. Yet to this day, that transparent soul showed no signs of panic. He silently observed everything happening before him, watching the stone statues stand still, then reached out and pressed on Shard’s shoulder:
"You should avoid strenuous activity; your heart can’t handle it."
"In the current situation... If worse comes to worst, I still have another way."
He tightened his grip on the pink vial in his hand. He had never consumed this concentration of essence in one go, and although he wasn’t sure how severe the consequences would be, the power unleashed in an instant might just work.
"You don’t need to; let me."
Mr. Granger shook his head slightly and released his grip on Shard’s shoulder. The group of stone statues advanced toward the two in slow steps. Mr. Granger asked the original stone statue, the only one not originating from the mirror:
"You’ve shown your cards just to see my true form?"
"If possible, I would rather keep you here. Your soul is of great use to us."
The stone statue boy said. Mr. Granger shook his head slightly, then slowly ascended into the sky until he stood beneath the night sky stirring with dark clouds. Thus, the stone statues abandoned Shard on the ground and flew en masse into the air, leaving Shard alone clutching his heart on the ground, witnessing the scene.
Hundreds of stone statues surrounded Mr. Granger, each one raising its right index finger. The silver Desecration Aura flickered, illuminating more than half of the night sky. At that moment, even the people below the hill couldn’t help but look up to the hilltop, staring at that solitary soul surrounded by stone statues.
He still showed no panic, his expression remained cold:
"Is it you who wants to keep me here? Does the Order want to keep me here? Or does the demon want to keep me here?"
Mr. Granger continued speaking to the original boy stone statue, which was positioned the farthest away.
It pressed its own chest, which had consumed the heart voluntarily sacrificed:
"My thoughts only emerged once I obtained this soul. The command I received was merely to try and make you display your power. I cannot comprehend human thoughts, nor can I understand the mind of that ancient evil spirit. However, in such a situation, I cannot think of any way you could possibly escape."
The stone statue’s stiff voice conveyed a touch of humanity. It had its own thoughts, hence its confusion and bewilderment, and more so, its introspection:
"I cannot understand what I am, but if I can keep you here and merge with your soul, perhaps I can understand it all."
"Long ago, I too was confused about what I truly was."
Mr. Granger said, while Shard on the ground endured the pain and uncorked the bottle, intending to down the essential oils in one gulp. But "she" stopped him:
[Not yet necessary; something is emerging in the Guardian’s soul.]
"Her" voice was gentle:
[I know you are in pain; rest assured, I am experiencing this pain with you. What you need to do will present itself shortly.]
"I too have been bewildered, wondering what kind of existence I truly am."
Mr. Granger’s voice grew louder under the night sky, but correspondingly, his soul became dimmer, illuminating the entire spiritual body, rendering it silver by the glimmer emanating from the fingertips of the densely packed stone statues in the air:
"Until one day, I discovered that object, I witnessed the memory of the earth."
Confronted by encircling adversaries, he surprisingly closed his eyes in the air, but Shard noticed a faint glow at his heart. It wasn’t the golden hue of the Miracle Element, nor the silver of the Desecration Element; it was the earthy yellow unique to the earth.
"It was then that I understood that the self’s existence lacks meaning, only the meaning of the self holds significance."
When the soul, which had traversed endless years, opened its eyes again, the appearance of the spiritual body transformed in the glimmer from Thomas Granger to Johnson Fleming, one of the founding members of the Stonemason Guild, thus confirming that he hadn’t perished in the Battle of Eldron Lake.
The transformation of form also altered the tone:
"To guard the earth, we willingly abandoned our existence, forsaking the meaning of being human, solely for the eternal serenity of the earth."
Not only did the heart emit a glow, but even the eyes began to glow. The spiritual body flickered, grew blurry again, and when clear, it morphed into a female figure unfamiliar to Shard.
In the night sky above that hill, the silver glimmer from the fingertips of the stone statues was amassing, the final strike was imminent, and the woman’s voice was exceptionally clear:
"Regarding our secret, since the genesis of the Sixth Era to this day, no one has ever known. We have never sought gratitude from anyone, for everything was a voluntary sacrifice."
The woman’s soul fluctuated again, replaced by the appearance of an unfamiliar old man:
"Power comes from the earth, power comes from resolve. The legacy of the Guardian has never ceased, not because this voluntary sacrifice is so noble.
The old man’s soul fluctuated, and the image of an unknown young man appeared:
"The earth of Randall Valley has always been serene, not because any individual soul was so mighty;"
The spiritual body of a young man, rippling amid the Desecration Silver Light, gave way to the figure of a middle-aged woman in the twisted soul:
"Having never engaged with any Circle Sorcerer faction is not because we do not fear solitude;"
The figure of the middle-aged woman twisted, and the spiritual body transformed into a middle-aged half-elf with pointed ears:
"And now, daring to stand before you is not because I am arrogant about my power." 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦
Finally, the ever-morphing spiritual body froze on what was, until now, the last known soul to become a "Guardian."
Mr. Lathis’s image appeared:
"All of this is only because..."
He looked expressionlessly at the impending attack around him, the amassing silver light turning the night sky silver.
Derived from the Evil God’s Divine Ritual, the demon’s curse power, and the twisted force of the Crazy Earth, every statue in the night sky possessed the combat power of a High Ring Sorcerer.
While Mr. Lathis’s soul did not change form again, a myriad of ripples appeared on the surface of his spiritual body, the ripples intertwining till the surface was covered in faces of varied expressions. That sight made Shard beneath feel goosebumps all over.
Under the hill, the witch looked shocked at the hill full of stone mirrors illuminated by light, and the spiritual light exploding above in the night sky. Luviya suddenly covered her forehead, and after a moment of headache, she felt she understood something:
"Shard’s conjecture turned out to be completely correct."
At this moment, even the fallen Elemental Giants paused their assault for some unknown reason. The spread of the Crazy Earth halted, and all looked up at the night sky, at the soul covered with various faces.
Those expressionless faces looking at the outside world simultaneously vanished from the spiritual body, and hundreds of converged beams of silver light finally shot toward the closed-eyed soul.
Mr. Lathis clasped his hands together before him, the Brass Ring slowly rotating behind him, hundreds of arms belonging to different souls extending from his soul. Only Shard could see, at this moment, sitting within his soul were hundreds of small figures, their eyes tightly shut, collectively forming Mr. Lathis himself.
The Ring of Fate illuminated the closed-eyed, hands-clasped soul, illuminating the arms using hundreds of different Arcane Techniques, illuminating a soul aggregate reaching the peak state, faintly emanating signs of a demigod:
"Because I am not alone."
