All the runes had been prepared, the "text" of the symbiotic contract was written on the great earth of the Mysterious Deep Sea, the summoner was in place, and the demons had arrived at the correct positions—all the necessary conditions for initiating the ritual were complete.
Agou stood at the center of the rune matrix, its eyes flickering with faint green fire, gazing at Sherry on the edge of the Array. As its consciousness beca increasingly muddled, it slowly nodded its head.
Encouraged by Agou, Sherry moved to the Array’s "node" position and tried to calm her thoughts.
She knew nothing about these complex runes, had never received any formal occult training, nor did she understand the profound and dark rituals of the annihilation cultists—now she felt restless, facing these arcane and incomprehensible runes, her heart was filled with tension.
But she trusted Agou—she needed this friend, she had to reshape this bond.
She took a deep breath, slowly closed her eyes, and with all her mories and imagination, sketched out the appearance of the demon she wanted to "summon."
Yet that image had already been deeply imprinted in her mind for many years, and without much effort to envisage it vividly, that very familiar figure already erged in her thoughts.
The runes on the ground began to light up slowly, the ancient communication protocol was "awakened" in the unique logic and form of the Deep Sea Age, and a secret and subtle sense of connection appeared in both Sherry and Agou’s perception, growing steadily stronger with the brightening of the rune matrix...
However, just seconds later, all the runes went out without warning, and the newly established connection was instantly disrupted—a short, sharp wail echoed through the air, vibrating Agou’s charred bone fragnts and the twelve skeletal limbs behind Sherry.
Sherry was jolted from her ditation, her eyes wide with shock and bewildernt as she saw all the runes extinguish in a flash—her figure swayed, and she saw Agou at the center of the Array also suddenly lift its head.
The ritual to reshape the symbiotic contract had failed.
"How could this happen..." Sherry’s expression was one of astonishnt; she looked at the completely incomprehensible runes, then up at the equally perplexed Agou, "Did I do sothing wrong just now? Or are these runes mistaken?"
"It shouldn’t be..." Agou also appeared confused, stepping down from the position representing the "demon," coming beside Sherry to closely inspect the situation near the node, "These runes are definitely correct, this portion of knowledge is almost directly imprinted in my brain, your operation just now should also be correct, otherwise, these things wouldn’t light up... but I don’t know where the problem occurred... the whole process just stopped halfway..."
Sherry furrowed her brow furiously, noticing that the light in Agou’s eyes was beginning to dim, and it was speaking in fits and starts, which made her panic: "I... let’s try again!"
Agou imdiately nodded: "Good, let’s try once more!"
So they returned to the correct positions and tested the process again—but the result was the sa.
The rune array was briefly activated and lit up, but it could only maintain for a few seconds before it "froze" like a malfunctioning machine, followed by a short, piercing wail as it all went dark.
Sherry started to panic; in the briefly established connection, she felt that Agou’s condition was getting worse—its reason and humanity were gradually fading away, and in monts of daze, it couldn’t even distinguish her appearance.
With an increasingly severe dizziness and disruption of thought, Agou staggered to the "node" position where Sherry was, barely able to support its body, flopping down as it tried to focus its mind and spoke in a low voice: "It’s not right... there must be sothing I overlooked... The ritual setup is... is fine, the problem should be... be with our current special state, we must... make adjustnts..."
"Adjustnts? How do we adjust?" Sherry asked hurriedly, "Should I change my position? Is it that the node’s position isn’t quite right? Or is this place not suitable..."
However, Agou seed to no longer hear her words, its head drooping down, unsettling crackling noises coming from within its body, its skull wobbling side to side, emitting only a string of low murmurs Sherry couldn’t understand at all.
And just then, Sherry suddenly felt a familiar presence, followed by a low, authoritative voice, which, in this situation, brought her an unexpected sense of comfort and relief: "What are you doing?"
Sherry and the groggy Agou almost simultaneously lifted their heads, looking towards the direction the voice ca from.
Duncan and Alice were standing not far off in the wilderness.
"Captain!?" After a mont of hesitation and stupor, Sherry suddenly snapped to attention, seemingly forgetting the physical transformation she had undergone, nearly tripping over her own feet as she stepped forward—but she quickly braced herself with the long limbs behind her, rushing over to Duncan, "Captain, please help Agou, it’s... it’s in a bad way, our connection has been disrupted, the reshaping ritual just now also went wrong, I don’t know..."
"Stop stop stop, slow down," Duncan quickly gestured with his hand to cut off Sherry’s rapid blabber, his brow furrowed slightly as he looked at the girl before him, who had completely changed in appearance—he could still recognize the familiar Sherry from the "mark," but her current demonic deanor sowhat startled him—Agou nearby seed to have undergone significant changes too, "What exactly happened to you?"
Sherry paused for a mont, her lips trembling slightly: "I... our chains have been broken."
A Dog, not far from there, seed to have temporarily regained so strength and lifted his head with difficulty, "We... tried to hold another coexistence contract ceremony, but sothing went wrong with the ceremony..."
"Sothing went wrong with the ceremony?" Duncan imdiately furrowed his brows and asked as he walked toward the rough, makeshift array on the ground, "What specifically?"
"It started up and then suddenly stopped," Sherry explained swiftly to Duncan while supporting herself on her hind limbs as she walked forward, and she repeated the "knowledge" that A Dog had just told her to the captain, "...I was standing here, A Dog stood in the position representing ’demon,’ and then it didn’t work..."
As she spoke, she stepped over the temporarily immobilized A Dog and quickly strode to the center of the array, pointing to the ground at her feet and explaining what had just happened to Duncan, "This was A Dog’s position just now, and all the runes around here lit up like... like now... this?"
She hesitated and stopped.
Because she saw a circle of runes around her suddenly emit a dim glow—soon after, all the runes on the entire array began to light up one by one and started flashing rapidly according to a complex pattern.
Duncan, who had just figured out what a so-called "contract ceremony" process entailed, also saw this scene, and his expression gradually beca a bit subtle, "...?"
Sherry & A Dog: "...?"
The ancient communication protocol had been activated.
Alice saw a special set of "lines" extend simultaneously from Sherry and A Dog. Almost in the blink of an eye, they were guided by the faint light from the array, rged together, and quickly transford into a solid form, reshaping the broken chain.
The whole process was so fast it was over before one could react—by the ti Sherry finally realized what was happening, the chain between her and A Dog had been restored to its original state.
Afterward, the contract array completed its mission, all the runes finally dimd completely and gradually covered up with a layer of grey, the texture signifying depletion.
Sherry, who had been in a daze in the center of the array, finally walked out from the position representing "demon." She raised her arm, the pitch-black symbiotic chains rattled, and on the other end of the chain, the spiritually rejuvenated A Dog was slowly rising from the ground, shaking his enormous skeletal head.
In those eye sockets, which had once dimd almost to extinction, the light was being rekindled and once again released the glowing wisdom that represented the pinnacle of high school graduation and a half-step into City-State University.
The atmosphere on the scene beca slightly awkward for half a minute.
"Can I interpret it like this," Duncan said after a mont, standing beside the remnants of the array and looking at the two "crew mbers" in front of him, who had already rebuilt their chains but still looked the sa as before, "Now, A Dog, you really are Sherry’s ’guardian dog,’ and Sherry... you are now A Dog’s ’contract human.’"
Sherry looked a bit dazed, and so was A Dog’s posture.
Alice, who had been in a daze on the side, also ca to her senses at this mont and suddenly blurted out, "Why did this happen..."
Sherry’s expression remained dazed.
But A Dog’s wisdom suddenly started working; he pondered for a mont, hesitatingly speaking, "...Purity."
Duncan’s expression beca subtle, "Purity?"
A Dog lifted his head and pointed at Sherry, who now had so human features yet overall looked almost like a Profound Demon, "Her purity as a Profound Demon... is extrely high."
"...That’s not right," Sherry finally snapped out of her daze, imdiately spoke up after hearing what A Dog said, "Even if my purity is high, it can’t be higher than yours, I just have a part of the demon inside showing, you are originally from ’over there’..."
As they conducted their outlandish yet solemn analysis, Duncan looked at Sherry, then at A Dog, also feeling incredulous about the situation and couldn’t help but ponder for a mont, and an eerie yet unstoppable thought suddenly surfaced in his mind, "Maybe..."
Sherry and A Dog in unison, "Maybe?"
"Maybe it’s related to A Dog once having been ’marked’ by the God of Wisdom Rahm," Duncan continued, though he thought the idea was far-fetched, he still spoke earnestly, "Although it wasn’t pulled away at that ti, but now it truly is a saint of the God of Wisdom—that’s probably the reason."
Sherry’s expression began to daze once more, "..."
After a mont, Duncan stepped forward, patted Sherry’s arm (she was now very tall, no longer reachable to the head), and said with heartfelt sincerity, "That’s why I always say, knowledge changes fate."
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