Chapter 190 Staring into the Distance

The mirror turned to ashes, the darkness began to recede, the phantoms of the Queen's Guard vanished, and the blasphemous creations that had invaded the city-state also crumbled, turning into rapidly drying black mud. The sound of gunfire throughout the city-state subsided as well—replaced by an unspeakable fear and silence that enveloped the entire city.

Everyone could see that enormous being, standing in the boundless sea, looking down at the city-state from the clouds.

Just minutes ago, Mirrorfrost had turned to ashes in the hands of that "giant," and no one could guess what would happen next.

Only the ghostly green flames, spreading throughout the city and covering the sea, were still burning fiercely—but these flames did not harm anyone; they merely brushed over the real world like phantoms, and all one could feel upon touching them was a harmless warmth.

Agatha lowered her head and casually helped up the High Deacon, who looked terrible. The flames burning on her arm made the latter a little nervous, but compared to the atmosphere enveloping the entire city at this moment, this slight nervousness seemed insignificant.

"What next…" The High Deacon's face was pale. He looked at Agatha, at the ghostly green spirit fire burning on her body that was identical to the flames permeating the city, his voice still trembling slightly, "What will happen next?"

Agatha thought for a moment and shook her head, "I don't know."

The High Deacon's eyes widened, "You don't know?!"

"...Didn't ask," Agatha said frankly, "The situation was urgent, I didn't have more choices."

The High Deacon was dumbfounded. He had many questions he wanted to ask—the origin of the "giant" on the sea, the nature of these flames in the city, the reason for Agatha's current appearance—but for a moment, he couldn't ask any of them.

Agatha didn't pay any more attention to the High Deacon's reaction. She just turned her face slightly, watching the last bit of delicate pale ash slowly fall on her shoulder.

The ashes fluttering in the city had stopped at some point, and what fell on her shoulder seemed to be the last piece—in a trance, she felt as if someone had patted her on the shoulder.

"I have to leave," she heard someone say in her ear, "The journey in the mortal world is over, and there are farther roads waiting for me."

"Farewell, Bishop Ivan."

A wind blew from afar, through the gate of the silent Grand Cathedral, through the square in front of the gate, stirring up that light bone ash, causing it to quietly dissipate in the wind.

…

On the top of the bell tower behind the church, Shirley, dressed in a black dress, looked at the street below. She sat on a section of wall extending from the edge of the roof, her legs dangling outside, swinging them boredly, muttering to herself, "It's quieted down…"

"Everyone seems to be frightened…" Nina stood on the small platform behind Shirley, looking up at the sky as she spoke, "I was also startled…"

"Who wouldn't be afraid when they saw that," Shirley shrank her neck, carefully looking at the huge and hazy figure on the distant sea, "I really didn't expect that Mr. Duncan would use this method to solve this trouble in the end—it's even bigger than the last time in Pland."

"Uncle Duncan said that the root of the Mirrorfrost crisis was that mirror, so to solve the problem, you must completely solve the mirror—sealing or stopping the cultists' rituals can only provide temporary safety, and the one-time solution is to pull the mirror out by the roots and burn it in the real world," Nina said seriously, "But the scale of the mirror is too large, so he needs a large enough 'fire ground'…"

"Okay, okay, I got it, I got it, you're good at setting fires, right? I must mention this matter to Mr. Duncan later," Shirley waved her hands repeatedly, then raised her head with some doubt, "But then again… what is Mr. Duncan doing now? Isn't the matter already resolved? When is he coming back?"

Hearing this, Nina raised her head, looked at the huge figure on the sea outside the city, thought for a moment, and said, "Then I'll go up and ask?"

"Go ahead, go ahead," Shirley waved her hand quickly, "When you go up, don't forget to tell Mr. Duncan that the Deep Sea Hounds ate our homework…"

Before she finished speaking, Nina had already transformed into a bright arc of flame in mid-air, and then rushed straight towards the sky-covering shadow outside the city.

…

At a height overlooking the entire Mirrorfrost Sea, Duncan's gaze penetrated the gaps in the clouds, quietly observing the sea and the city below.

The sea was boundless, extending to the far distance, and the city-state was like a disc floating on the sea, alone bathed in the light of the sky. At the end of the sea and the sky, one could vaguely see a magnificent mist, which was like a wall, presenting a vaguely visible arc, surrounding the entire civilization's border.

This was an unprecedented perspective—he had never observed this world from this position, and presumably no one in this world had ever done anything similar.

He could feel that the "flames" supporting his current posture were gradually extinguishing in the sea and the city-state. This state of standing in the sky could not be maintained for long, but before the accumulated energy was exhausted, he still wanted to take another look.

At this moment, a small cluster of flames suddenly emerging from the clouds entered Duncan's sight. The small cluster of flames jumped in the clouds, like a light swallow, and as the flames approached him, he heard Nina's voice in his ears: "Uncle Duncan! What are you doing?"

"I'm observing this world," Duncan smiled and said softly to the cluster of "flames," then raised his finger to let the latter jump on his fingertip, "How did you get up here?"

"Shirley asked me to come up, she's curious about what you're doing," Nina said happily, the flames flickering on Duncan's fingertip—even though her current posture had expanded into a cluster of flames larger than the bell tower, it was still very small in Duncan's eyes, "You said you're observing the world? Is there anything interesting?"

Duncan smiled and raised his chin: "Look,"

The cluster of flames swayed to the side.

"…Wow."

"It's amazing, isn't it," Duncan said softly, "No one has ever overlooked the boundless sea and the city-state on the sea from this height—and that distant mist, so huge, even with my current perspective, I feel suffocated when I see it."

Nina thought about it very seriously: "...But if it's really a normal-sized human being, they wouldn't feel anything when they're at the edge of the Eternal Veil, because they can't see the whole picture."

Duncan was stunned for a moment, then suddenly laughed.

"Yes, you're right. Ordinary people really come to that mist wall, they won't realize this sense of oppression and suffocation, because they can't see the whole picture… We are at a high place, and we see too much."

"Uncle Duncan, I feel like… there seems to be a deeper meaning in your words?"

Duncan did not respond to Nina's question. He just quietly looked into the distance, and after a while, he suddenly said: "Have you ever felt curious, what is on the other side of that mist…?"

"...The books say that the mist is endless, there is no other side, there is only mist outside."

Duncan looked at his fingertips: "That's what the books say, what are your own thoughts?"

"...I think the books are just the scholars' guesses. Mr. Morris said that everything involving the outside world of civilization is the scholars' guess—the so-called research is the process of verifying along the conjecture," Nina happily said her thoughts, "Maybe there's another world on the other side of that mist!"

Then she paused, as if suddenly realizing something: "Ah! Uncle Duncan, are you planning to walk through that thick fog? Are you really going to try it? This place is very close to the northern border, and you are so high now, maybe you really can…"

"Unfortunately, it's not feasible," Duncan shook his head gently, interrupting the excited Nina, "I can't maintain this state for a long time, let alone leave this sea area in this state—ritual means have limits, all we can do now is watch here."

Nina seemed a little depressed for a moment. After a while, she tentatively said: "Then… can I go over and take a look? I can fly in the sky now~"

"But you can only fly for a short while, you know your own limits very well," Duncan shook his head again, "And I don't recommend you do that, we know too little about that thick fog. A spirit of adventure is different from recklessness."

Nina was silent for a while, and lengthened her voice: "Oh—then we can only look here."

"The first step of the journey is to look into the distance," the corners of Duncan's mouth curled up. He felt that the flames supporting him were beginning to recede rapidly. This energy-consuming posture had reached its limit, but before dissipating his own projection, he was still smiling, "And we have to look not only at the distance, Nina, have you noticed the appearance of the city-state? Such a regular disc, so neat that it doesn't look like a natural product, and the sea below, deep and vast, we still don't know what's at the bottom of the sea…

"The cultists firmly believe that this world will eventually be destroyed, and they can create a new world. The Church firmly believes that following the guidance of the Four Gods is the only way to maintain the eternity of the world, but there are too many unknown things in this world… Whether it is the cultists, the gods' church, or the scholars of various city-states, everyone's views on the boundless sea are one-sided."

Between the sea and the sky, the giant's huge body was quietly dissipating, and the sea, like a mirror, gradually returned to its undulating waves.

A flame fell from the clouds towards the city-state.

Duncan and Nina's conversation continued:

"Okay, Nina, go back, we have many things to do."

"Oh… oh right! Uncle Duncan! I forgot to tell you, the Deep Sea Hounds ate my and Shirley's homework!"

"...It's okay, Morris and I will prepare new ones for you."