Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 1406: The Gaze
Hands pressed together, a hundred arms extended.
The Miracle Element erupted, like the sun falling into the winter night’s end. Black mud evaporated, the Stone Mirror shattered, and the Gale dispersed. Even in the intense light, Shard covered his heart, eyes wide open looking at the sky, breathing heavily due to the violent emotional fluctuations:
"As expected, there are no Guardians; the Guardians have never appeared all at once before me. Each time a different Guardian appears, their Spirit’s strength is astonishingly consistent. Luviya said that Mr. Fleming is only a part of The Chosen One because of this reason, and Osenfort reminded me that ordinary individuals’ souls are not qualified to resist the Demon for the same reason—the truth about the Guardians is: all the souls are fused together, they are just one person!"
Facing the hundreds of Stone Statues reproduced by the Demon’s Mirror, hundreds of different Arcane Techniques were used in retaliation. At that moment, it was as if Darkness suddenly turned into daylight; then the explosion in the sky almost made one suspect that even in the city they could hear the commotion.
Apart from the two fighting parties, Shard was the closest person to the center of the explosion. At this moment, he had no doubt that the Demon did not directly attack the Guardians not merely because he wanted to manipulate schemes; it is very likely that Goethe himself did not have one hundred percent confidence to defeat this unknown, special Spirit amalgamation.
And the fact that the Guardians repeatedly called Shard to handle the problem in the Randall Valley was definitely not because they were unable to purify the land but to feign weakness in front of the Demon so that the Demon wouldn’t see through him:
"In this situation, how did the previous Sixth Era head towards its destruction?"
When the chaotic color-like Spiritual Light in the night dissipated, the only one left standing was Mr. Lathis with a stern face, while the hundreds of arms around him had disappeared. Around him, the Stone Statues that walked out of the mirror vanished entirely like an Illusion, and even those tall Stone Mirrors on the ground had been destroyed.
The First child’s Stone Statue fell from the air into the black mud on the ground, and Mr. Lathis also landed beside Shard, reaching out to continue healing him. Of course, his care for Shard over his own daughter was not due to any special feelings for Shard, but purely because Shard was capable of healing the Earth, whereas Miss Lathis could not:
"Be careful; it’s not over yet, that Stone Statue..."
Shard squeezed out a voice from between his teeth, prompting the Guardian to turn around to see a crack running from the left shoulder through to the right leg of the Stone Statue. The crack happened to pass through the chest of the Stone Statue, and then the heart that had been placed inside fell out.
However, what had been devoured by the stone before was a blood-dripping Flesh heart, but at this moment, what fell out was a Heart of Stone emitting black smoke.
Regardless of what this signifies, Shard and the Guardian acted immediately. Moonlight and mud missiles shot towards the Heart of Stone falling into the black mud, yet the heart seemed to have its own consciousness, falling contrary to the direction of the black mud flow, landing directly in the already extremely weakened fissure from which the black mud was emerging.
And after that heart fell in, the continuous earthquake finally ceased, and no more black mud surged from the fissure, with signs of black mud even flowing back. Shard, astonished, felt that the Earth’s distortion was being cleansed, but this method of cleansing was entirely different from his use of "Power of the Earth: Healing Aura":
"I purify pollution, whereas that heart directly absorbed the power of the pollution."
After the black wind stopped blowing post the confrontation between the Group of Stone Statues and the Guardian, it blew again, and everyone within the area, except for Shard, including the special Spiritual Body of Mr. Lathis, experienced a strange ringing in their ears. It was as if they heard a sharp whistle piercing the Night but it also echoed the immense noise of rocks grinding.
The attack-weakened Fallen Earth Elemental Giant all knelt around that small hill, while others felt a shudder emanating from deep within their soul. Something was watching here, watching everyone here.
"What’s wrong with you?"
The Guardian asked Shard, who looked down at himself; a crack had opened in the center of his palm, from which brilliant golden Glimmer shone through. Then the fissure spread across his body, penetrating his eyes, even dragging golden-red embers from the hem of his clothes.
"Oh, it startled me. I thought the heart absorbed the filth here and was about to explode."
The pressure grew heavier, even causing the Guardian of the Thirteen Rings to subconsciously bend over, supporting himself on the Earth with his arms to avoid collapsing down.
He noticed the golden hue moving in front of his eyes and observed the golden-red embers, carrying sparks, falling upon his Spiritual Body.
"Luckily, it’s just attracting the gaze of the Evil God."
Shard stood at the hilltop, clutching his heart, raising his head to look at the silent, pitch-black night. The night wind pulled out streams of golden light from his body, as if a radiant torch had been lit atop the hill.
The Night held five-colored black glimmers; black clouds formed a vortex overhead, vaguely revealing the depths of the night sky, where a massive black figure composed of sparse Starlight, clouds, and night, exerted its oppressive presence upon everyone.
The majesty of that figure defies human language; any attempt to perceive it feels like trying to comprehend the entire world through a grain of sand. The instinctual shiver of the soul compels one to lower their head; even a momentary gaze from a higher-dimensional presence already begins to alter the fundamental rules of this region.
The earth solidifies into stone, and every creature of flesh and blood feels their bodies growing heavy and immobile. Even as the wind continues to blow, the sound completely vanishes, as if the entire world has petrified.
Fortunately, Shard had, during his time in the First Ring, encountered the gaze of ’God of the Drowned’ alongside Dorothy in Tobesk City, and it was Maze Lock that resolved the trouble. Now in the Fifth Ring, he would not fear the gaze of the Evil God.
The gale dragged at the radiance trailing behind him, his glowing hand uncorked the pink bottle, but he didn’t immediately drink it:
"Guardian, since I already know your truth. Would you be willing to have a detailed conversation with me once this is over?"
The spirit, struggling to support the body, gave a difficult response:
"You have learned my truth, and the demon knows my truth too. Furthermore, after this matter, the twisting of the earth enters the Third Stage, and the mutation speed accelerates. I must guard by the Heart of the Earth, stabilizing the twisted land. Once I temporarily stabilize the land, I will actively seek you out to hold the ceremony you mentioned, within a week at most."
"Very well, if you don’t come meet me when the first Randall Flower blossoms, then Miss Lathis and I will come to see you! At that time, you must be prepared to immediately conduct the Chosen One Ceremony!"
Shard only had time to finish speaking before he felt the divine gaze entirely focus on himself. He had once been misled by the demon to destroy this deity’s Divine Statue, and this did not come without consequence.
So, he tilted his head back and downed the essence in the pink bottle, initially feeling as if he had accidentally swallowed perfume from Lecia’s dressing table, but an explosive heat soon surged from his stomach to engulf his entire body.
The dense darkness, for some reason, suddenly reminded Shard of the landscape of the City of Eternal Night from the previous Era. Though the power of the moon he possessed was indeed a part of the night, Shard didn’t favor the lightless night. He remained enamored with that sanctified Silvermoon, with the eternally enigmatic moon.
"She" chuckled softly in his heart, as the drunken-like sensation from the Essential Oil of Desire surged to his mind, causing Shard’s consciousness to begin to unravel.
Still unable to fully utilize Maze Lock, an unusual smile appeared on his face as he extended his finger, adorned with the Witch’s Ring, toward the brilliant black night sky, amidst howling gales and swirling snowflakes and sand, pointing to the unnamable deity only he could perceive: 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎
"Praise—Silvermoon!"
The Moonlight blossomed upon the hills, illuminating the figure of the young outlander, not tall yet unmistakably straight.
Shard had never unleashed his ’Light Spell’ with full strength, as it was simply too bright, and if it were enough to defeat enemies with just the Light Spell, he could achieve the same with the Moonlight Greatsword.
At that moment, the immense spirit transformed by the Essential Oil of Desire, under the slightly influenced mind of Shard, fully materialized into the purest moonlight, emanating from his fingertips.
This time, however, the moonlight was not as glaring as it had been before; instead, it was quite gentle, to the point where those observing from below the hill didn’t even feel a sting in their eyes.
They merely saw the gentle silver moonlight spreading across the hilltop. The moonlight was so natural, as if the clouds in the sky had parted slightly, allowing rays of light to beam down to the earth.
The sanctity of the moonlight intoxicated everyone, and as Luviya was the first to regain her senses, she saw a completely restored normal woodland as the dark clouds dispersed and stars filled the sky. If not for the flames still burning in the woods and the faint remains of a massive stone mirror visible at the hilltop, she might have thought that everything just now was merely an illusion.
Of course, faint moonlight still lingered on the ground at this moment, the power of Silvermoon blessing this land, a phenomenon that always occurred after Shard used ’Light Spell.’
"Miss Benanis!"
Luviya hurriedly awakened the somewhat dazed witch, intending to retrieve Shard from the hilltop, whose condition was unknown, only to see the swarm of red butterflies fly in like a torrent in the darkness:
"I’m fine!"
Shard reverts to his original appearance, panting heavily as he leaned against a tree trunk, clutching his chest and gasping for air. His face bore an unnatural redness, each breath seeming as if it would expel his entire lungs.
