"What did you say? They pushed forward a goat head wood carving?!"
Duncan’s voice ca from the mirror on the vanity, carrying undeniable shock.
"Yes, a black wooden goat head," Lucricia quickly said, turning her head to glance at the crystal ball on the table beside her, discerning the faint image erging within the crystal ball—a scene being transmitted directly from the heretics’ gathering, "It looks very similar to the ’First Mate’ on the Holoss... no, not just similar, it’s exactly the sa!"
"Besides that, what is the goat head doing after being pushed forward?" In the mirror before Lucricia, Duncan’s figure leaned slightly forward, "Is it communicating with those heretics?"
"...No," Lucricia shook her head while looking at the fuzzy image in the crystal ball, "The goat head seems ’dead’... It hasn’t moved since they pushed it forward, it just looks like a wood carving... those heretics are performing rituals around it, lighting candlesticks and burning incense, and the goat head, which they call the ’Skull of Dreams,’ still shows no reaction."
Duncan furrowed his brows tightly in the mirror.
He knew that Rabi, hidden within the heretics’ stronghold, could certainly send back a lot of valuable information, but he hadn’t expected the information that rabbit relayed would be this significant—from the beginning of the heretics’ gathering to now, he and Lucricia had been paying attention to the continuous ssages from Rabi, and among these ssages, the most astonishing was the current scene.
Those annihilation heretics... they also have a goat head identical to the ’First Mate’ on the Holoss!?
And from the looks of the scene, this was the reason they could move in and out of The Dream of the Naless so freely?
Within the mirror-connected dinsional realm, Duncan stood in the dim light and fell into thinking. After a long while, he raised his head, his gaze sweeping around.
This was the world inside the mirror—though according to Agatha, a more accurate description was "Holoss’s reflection on the edge of the Spirit Realm and reality."
Where his eyes reached, was the Holoss he knew, yet the whole ship was enveloped in an unsettling, bizarre atmosphere. His gaze passed through the nearby window, where he could see the deck enveloped in darkness, and the distant sky and sea showing a texture reminiscent of the Spirit Realm. Near the ship’s railing, a hazy glow shimred, its outline seeming to undergo strange disturbance, waving and trembling like a reflection in the water.
And behind him was the familiar sight of the captain’s quarters—the sea chart table, the shelf, the precious tapestry on the wall, and... the silent goat head beside the sea chart table.
All of these were shrouded in an unusual dimness, as if stamped into this space, constantly reminding anyone who ca here that they were not in the real dinsion.
The only thing in the room emitting a soft, reassuring glow was the oval mirror ahead of Duncan—it reflected the scene in Lucricia’s room, reflecting the "warmth" from the real dinsion.
Duncan turned around and walked slowly towards the sea chart table, looking at the goat head wood carving quietly sitting on the table, which responded not at all to his approach, just like... the ’Skull of Dreams’ used by the heretics during their ceremony.
After quietly observing this black wood carving for a mont, Duncan reached out and patted the goat head.
If it were in the real world on the other side of the mirror, this action would certainly have provoked a noisy uproar; the goat head would not pass up the chance to speak.
However, here, in this ’reflection’ of the Holoss, the goat head just quietly remained, just as if... it had not yet awakened.
Footsteps ca from the side, and Duncan turned his head to see Agatha step up to him.
"Captain, there are thirty minutes until ’activation’ of The Dream of the Naless," the lady ’living’ in the world within the mirror said, "Based on my last experience, at that ti, the reflection of the Holoss will transform into that ship sailing through the dark mists, and this ’wood carving’ will also ’co to life.’"
"...Yes, co to life, but still not quite like the ’First Mate’ I’m familiar with—it’s another goat head—and in the hands of those annihilation heretics, there’s yet another goat head." Duncan spoke slowly, his face thoughtful, "They seem to be using a goat head they found sowhere to enter The Dream of the Naless, this... makes sense, yet it exceeds my expectations."
Agatha hesitated a bit, then couldn’t help but ask, "Are there many ’goat heads’?"
"...I used to think there was only one," Duncan shook his head, "It thought so too."
"I rember you said the ’First Mate’ was sothing you brought from the Subspace. If it’s the Subspace... maybe anything is possible, maybe the ’goat head’ is even a tribe from there..."
Agatha started to say but then stopped, clearly finding her own suggestion a bit far-fetched.
Duncan did not speak; he just looked at the goat head on the table that was silent as a real wood carving, lost in thought for who knows how long before he softly muttered, "Fragnted, huh?"
Agatha heard the captain’s mutter but was confused: "Huh?"
Duncan didn’t respond to her confusion, but just gently shook his head, "It seems there’s another reason to capture those annihilation heretics alive... this ti, not only do we need to figure out how to capture their people but also their ship."
"As long as we know where the ship is, no worldly vessel can escape the pursuit of the Holoss," Agatha imdiately said.
Duncan looked at the forr gatekeeper with so surprise, "You seem very confident—you haven’t actually seen the Holoss in combat, have you?"
"But the records of the Death Church have tons of terrifying descriptions about the Holoss," Agatha spread her hands, "It’s said that you once erased Banster’s newly built warship in an instant—even in front of the Pilgrimage Ark, in front of an entire fleet. No matter how you think about it, those heretics couldn’t possibly build a ship stronger than the Pilgrimage Ark."
Duncan’s expression froze for a mont, and after a few seconds of awkwardness, he managed a forced smile, "I’ll take that as a complint."
Realizing the awkwardness of the topic, Agatha quickly changed the subject, "Captain, what do you think about the purposes of those heretics?"
"Purpose? Do you an their interest in Sherry and Adog, or their collaborative goals with those ’Sun Followers’?"
"Both," Agatha nodded.
"Their interest in Sherry and Adog was expected—no right-minded obliterator would witness Adog without being impacted, and from that saint’s reaction, the ’Profound Demons possessing intellect’ seems to hold an extraordinary significance for them," Duncan recalled the intelligence sent by Rabi and continued, "That saint ntioned ’the last puzzle piece on the road to ascension’... that phrase caught my attention.
"As for their ’collaboration’ with those Sun Followers," Duncan paused, then fell silent for a while before breaking the silence, "The obliterator’s goal is the ’Tree,’ which is understandable, referring probably to the World Tree Silantis, whereas those Sun Followers’ goal is the ’Sun’..."
He furrowed his brow, lifting his head as if trying to look through the dinsions of space and ti, towards a ’star’ hanging in the ancient mories of The Dream of the Naless.
"...how are they planning to access the ’Sun’?"
The captain’s quarters fell silent, with Agatha unsure how to respond to the captain’s questioning. After an indeterminate amount of ti, Lucrezia’s voice suddenly ca through from a nearby mirror, breaking the silence:
"Dad, Rabi says those heretics appear to be ready for the final step of the ritual."
Duncan imdiately lifted his head, looking towards the chanical clock hanging on the opposite wall.
The hands on the mirrored clock face were moving counterclockwise, slowly pointing towards nine o’clock.
The Dream of the Naless was about to beco active.
He shifted his gaze back to the nautical chart on the desk next to him.
Even in this "reflection" world, the nautical chart in the captain’s quarters still showed Holoss navigating a normal course in the Endless Sea—now, Holoss was about a thousand miles north of Light Breeze Harbor, still heading further north, continuing to distance itself from the City-State.
The "test" was about to yield a conclusion, yet Duncan faintly sensed that even moving Holoss away from Light Breeze Harbor, letting Goat Head reach such a distant place, The Dream of the Naless would still occur—Light Breeze Harbor would still be enveloped in dreamscape, and Holoss’s reflection would still undergo the sa changes as before.
Because dusk was approaching.
Because the "Sun" was becoming milder, and those once exiled would return to the reality dinsion—just like that warrior who suddenly fell into reality and ultimately transford into an indescribable entity, the so-called Dream of the Naless was rely returning from a realm of oblivion and exile.
At dusk, all these changes would inevitably occur, and Holoss reaching Light Breeze Harbor was rely accelerating the activation of The Dream of the Naless.
Just as that saint proclaid, this so-called "Deep Sea Age" was continually approaching its "final seconds."
"Lucy, report the progress observed by Rabi’s side," Duncan suddenly said.
Lucrezia’s voice imdiately ca through the mirror, "Yes, those selected heretics have gathered around the ’Skull of Dreams,’ waiting for the final sacrificial ceremony...
"The saint is ordering the ’blood al’ to be brought into the hall.
"... it’s two severely scarred Elves."
(I have a bold idea!)
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