Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 1655: Void

Returning from Silver Cross Avenue to the warehouse turned out to be trouble-free, but Shard didn’t let the driver take him directly to the warehouse door. Instead, he got off on a nearby street and walked the last stretch carrying the cat.

It was only when he approached the warehouse that he discovered, from a distance, that nothing seemed to be happening in the yard, yet there was a battle going on. Upon closer inspection, it was clearly Dr. Schneider, Luviya, and Dorothy fighting two unfamiliar Eight Rings Sorcerers:

"Attackers again?"

Shard was greatly surprised and wanted to join the battle, but Dr. Schneider urged him to quickly get into the warehouse:

"We’re fine, you go inside, the cleric can’t suppress it alone!"

"Alright... Diviner!"

The glowing Black Key in the foggy night resembled a pure white seed. The key was tossed by Shard to Luviya, and when she caught it, the light extended into a long staff. Although she had never seen this relic before, upon grabbing the [Yggdrasil’s Staff], she somehow fully understood what it was.

Shard did not explain, but rushed into the warehouse with Mia in his arms. As Luviya’s eyes lit up with a purple glow, she turned sharply, and with a slight tap of the staff’s bottom on the ground, the normally flowing time seemed to slow down incredibly in her eyes.

"Cleric, what’s the situation?"

After entering the warehouse, Shard saw Priest Augustus hurriedly scattering salt, and the longsword placed on the coffin was clinking along with the coffin’s vibrations.

The Old Cleric was already drenched in sweat:

"You’re back? The two Eight Rings Sorcerers outside used some means that nearly caused the relic to lose control... The coffin lid actually sprung open a crack just now, but I suppressed it using that kind of power. I can only do it once briefly, what’s exactly in here?"

"Mia, don’t move around."

Saying this, Shard placed the orange-and-white cat on the trembling coffin. Because of the coffin’s shaking, Mia was clearly not happy, but since Shard had asked, it could only let out a begrudging meow before watching Shard grab the salt too.

However, the cat’s arrival clearly had an effect. When Mia sat down, the coffin that seemed about to "dance" on the ground surprisingly calmed down. Although it was still shaking constantly, it was at least at an acceptable level now.

The somewhat displeased Mia then looked down at the coffin, flicked its tail, and tapped the coffin lid twice with its front paw. In response, the coffin finally fell completely silent.

Even though the coffin had stopped vibrating, it still rapidly evaporated the fallen salt. Shard and Priest Augustus had to repeat their actions at least five times to completely cover the crest’s patterns with salt.

Meanwhile, the battle outside was quite intense. Although Shard worried about Luviya and Dorothy, he also knew that the girls he cherished had their pride and strength.

The warehouse door was wide open, allowing a view of the combatants intentionally suppressing their power to avoid drawing too much attention from the Church. Thus, this battle was bound to have everyone holding back, or else the sorcerer’s battle wouldn’t have dragged on for so long.

However, the fight couldn’t last indefinitely. Eventually, Luviya, relying on the staff in her hand, used the basic sorcery "Ripple’s Blessing"—which shields against energy-type attacks using ripples—to ward off the most deadly attack for everyone, allowing Dr. Schneider to incapacitate one of the enemies seriously.

This finally showed signs that the stalemate was about to end. Seeing no victory in sight, the unfamiliar sorcerers retreated together. Supporting the Sleeping Princess in a long dress appeared behind them in a flash, hitting one with a spindle.

The effect of the "Sleeping Princess" wouldn’t usually take immediate effect on an Eight Rings Sorcerer, but after having his spiritual power weakened by Dr. Schneider, the struck sorcerer still closed his eyes and collapsed onto the ground.

His companion, the man capable of hovering close to the ground, abandoned him without hesitation. Before escaping, the man did something, directly rendering all the efforts of Shard and Priest Augustus futile:

"Praise to You! Nonexistent Void! Send everything to the quiet eyes! Obliterate the deathly force of all things!"

With a bang~, the coffin lid in the warehouse exploded open, throwing Mia, Shard, and Priest Augustus far away due to the immense force of the blast, but Shard managed to grab the cat in time to prevent injury.

The Eight Rings Sorcerer spat blood and vanished, while Luviya suddenly raised her gaze upward. Her purple-glowing eyes reflected the quickly gathering massive black clouds in the night sky. In just a few seconds, the black clouds completely obscured the previously faint starlit sky. Black thunder flickered within the clouds, rumbling ominously, awakening countless people from their pre-dawn dreams:

"This is bad!"

The doctor’s reaction was even faster, already one step ahead in rushing into the warehouse. The exploded coffin lid let the white dust inside float out, filling the warehouse with a thick haze.

Amidst that choking dust, Bill Schneider startlingly saw a figure sitting up inside the coffin. The bandage-wrapped corpse, which had been lying down, now seeing the ceiling after the lid flew off, made the warehouse roof vanish as if it were pencil marks erased by a rubber eraser. Even the heavy fog of black clouds above the roof dissipated because of the sightline.

And as it grabbed the side of the coffin and stood up, everything visible to its gaze began to vanish. From above, slowly moving to the sides, the warehouse walls, the carriage outside the walls, the courtyard walls beyond those, and even any tangible objects in the air disappeared. If not for the relic barely breaching containment limitations, the disappearing matter would not have been limited to the external walls of the neighboring warehouse.

Dr. Schneider could even trace the sightline movement of the bandage-wrapped corpse by the vanishing wall panels from the roof downwards. The Whisper Elements were permeating this whole region at an alarming rate and quickly dissipated upon sightline contact.

Even though Bill Schneider thought he had faced many horrifying things, at this moment, he was still frightened. And when the terrified doctor snapped out of it, he found another terrifying truth.

It wasn’t the awakened corpse looking towards him by the warehouse door; the corpse inside the coffin deliberately turned its head to meet Shard’s gaze, who was hugging Mia and getting up from the wall.

Shard knew nothing about the coffin’s interior earlier; he could only sense the Whisper Elements explosively filling the surroundings, and the Angel-Level Relic’s spiritual interference was unbearable even for him. Leaning against the wall, holding the cat while preparing to stand up, he saw the voided gaze of that figure amidst the floating white dust.

"This is..."

He froze on the spot, unable to describe what he saw. Clearly, it was a bald young man wrapped in bandages, but in his perception, what he saw was a void. There was nothing, just emptiness. When those white eyes met with him, he felt as though he too was about to become void.

The scorching blood turned cold, active thoughts stagnated, and the body occupying the human-shaped space merged with the void. Everything that was remembered, longed for, cherished, and attempted to grasp vanished. The world lost its significance, and those "anchor points" that made the Outlander fond of this world gradually broke, yet at the same time, his soul attempted something never before...

"No!"

"Meow!"

Those cherished figures flashed through Shard’s mind one by one, and his indifferent heart rediscovered the feeling of yearning for everything due to the tremor. Mia’s voice brought his thoughts back to normal temporarily, while "Her" gentle voice by his ear filled the vast void created by the momentary eye contact:

[Outlander, you have touched the "Whisper."]

[Outlander, you have gained insights on "disappearance," "indifference," "void."]

"Indifference..."

He held his heart and leaned against the wall, not knowing when he had become drenched in sweat, while Mia was meowing worriedly.

"Lie back down!"

The doctor’s angry shout appeared at the door, followed by the gigantic Flame Demon’s Stone Claw emerging from the void on the right side of the coffin, blocking the body’s gaze towards Shard and the cat. The obsidian palm pressed upon the burning flames covering the coffin, even making Shard feel the scorching heat.

The gaze caused the flaming palm to vanish, but it was once again summoned to fill the void by the doctor.

The corpse was unable to fully confront the doctor entirely because, on the other side of the warehouse, pure white glimmer almost simultaneously appeared amidst the sky full of white ashes. The wings’ shadow flickered, Priest Augustus’ prayers seemed to resonate with all the surrounding Miracle Elements, forcibly suppressing the continuation of the Relic Power.

On one side was flame, on the other was Holy Light, the power clash of the Angel-Level Relic between demon and angel, chaotic spirits and elements caused dense cracks to appear on the remaining walls of the warehouse. After a loud rumbling sound, even the ground trembled, the "corpse" turning to look at Shard, although still desperately clutching the edge of the coffin, was still being pressed down by an unseen hand bit by bit, lying back into the coffin. But its speed was very slow, it didn’t want to return to the coffin just like that.

At this moment—

"Sunlight Gun!"

Enveloped by golden thunder, the [Yggdrasil’s Staff] pierced through the smoky warehouse, hurled by Luviya from the courtyard. The exploding golden Thunder Spear almost pierced through the body’s head, but the thunder was erased by the moving gaze of the body.

However, it couldn’t erase the [Yggdrasil’s Staff], which was also an Angel-Level Relic.

The thunder dissipated as the staff continued forward, with a thud, hitting the "corpse’s" head. Like the straw that broke the camel’s back, the corpse fully fell into the coffin.

Shard, coming back to his senses, waved to let the black Magic Wand fly to him, then he swung the Long Staff, placing the coffin lid that had been flung away back on top.

"Night Watchman!"

The warmth from the curled-up cat on his chest made his body feel warmth and heat. The influence of the relic was completely eliminated, and the indifference that had denied all love and affection in the world made the Outlander feel deeply ashamed.

The previously flung Longsword also flew back into his hand, Shard held the sword in his left hand and the staff in his right, with Mia clinging to his shoulder, he lunged towards the coffin.

The orange and white cat leapt onto the coffin lid and squatted, and [Night Watchman] was again used to suppress the rioting relic. But it was still not enough. Determined, Shard turned his head to look at the blonde long-haired and brown short-haired girl arriving at the door.

He took a deep breath, then in the worried expressions of Dr. Schneider and Priest Augustus, his entire body radiated light.

Then, the four of them watched in astonishment as, in that light, all the relics fell from Shard’s body, and the silver-white cat jumped out, also squatting on the coffin. With the suppression of the two "cats," the coffin finally calmed down.

"Ah?"

Dr. Schneider briefly didn’t realize it was a Transformation Spell, watching the orange kitten nuzzling against the silver cat, suddenly came to:

"Why did you just..."

"If I transformed into a cat, we would lose combat ability. Besides, before the coffin rioted, I wasn’t sure if my transformation into a cat would count as a cat."

"Now’s not the time for this! Get out quickly, with such commotion here, the church’s people will be coming!"

Dorothy’s voice pulled everyone back to reality. Although the carriage disappeared, she picked up the pumpkin prepared earlier in the warehouse, after casting a spell, she smashed it onto the ground.

In the colorful glimmer and scattering little stars’ effects, smoke rose, and the Pumpkin Carriage emerged from the smoke, but unfortunately, it had no horse as the mice prepared earlier had escaped in the chaos.

Luviya blew Iluna’s whistle, as the Skeleton Horse emerged from the black mist, the silver cat waved its forepaw, using the Animated Rope Trick to loop the reins. The cat form could cast spells, though the effect would be greatly weakened, luckily, Shard had studied "Animated Rope Trick" deeply.

Priest Augustus immediately jumped onto the coach position, Luviya picked up the fallen Long Staff and Shard’s other relics, and together with Dr. Schneider, moved the coffin with the squatting two cats into the Pumpkin Carriage’s compartment, Luviya even took a moment to touch Shard.

Then, the three jumped into the compartment, the priest whipped the reins, under the flickering black thunderstorm clouds, they fled from the soon-to-collapse warehouse, disappearing on the streets before dawn.