Despite having known Renee for a long ti, it had to be said that this was the very first ti Fisher had entered the perspective of her illusory state. Her thod of touching him just now, causing him to beco illusory alongside her to dodge the bullet, was actually drawing him into the Crevice of the Spirit World. No wonder she could co and go as she pleased in her illusory state—not only was she untouchable, but she could also instantly teleport to extrely distant locations.
Renee, capable of freely entering the world of the Crevice?
"Gu-gu~"
In the freezing snow, the night gradually deepened. The nocturnal gale acted like invisible blades, whipping up the pervasive white snow all around and making the surrounding environnt seem exceedingly restless.
In the darkness, on the surrounding trees, purple Buntings—who knew where they ca from—hopped onto the branches one after another. They continuously tilted their heads, watching Renee as she ran forward through the snow, dragging Fisher along. They were going further and further into the mountains. Soon, a rather dilapidated hunter's cabin appeared in Renee's line of sight.
The people of the Sardin Woman's Country had a custom of hunting. Experienced hunters often coveted larger prey which carried a higher risk to hunt, and so they would build small wooden cabins in the mountains for resting and resupplying midway.
However, the cabin before them had obviously been abandoned for a long ti. The tiles and wooden beams above were either missing or completely snapped. A large portion of the ceiling lay exposed, and a thin layer of frost and snow had accumulated inside. Gazing up from within, one could plainly see the pure, starry night sky of the Northlands.
"Renee..."
"Mm-hmm, I'm here... They are still chasing us, but there should still be so distance between us. Let's rest here for a bit."
Smiling, Renee held the frail Fisher and walked into the small wooden cabin before them. Finding a spot inside that hadn't gathered frost and snow, she carefully supported Fisher and helped him sit down. Wind leaked into the cabin from all four sides; the main doors at the front, along with the wall, had completely collapsed, revealing the snowy plains of the night outside.
"Eimhart... is still behind..."
Fisher leaned against the back wall, panting, his gaze fixed endlessly on the beautiful woman he hadn't seen for so long. Even in the darkness, her captivating side profile remained bright. Her purple eyes, akin to poured red wine, slightly shifted to look at Fisher. Then, she tapped her own chin playfully and said,
"Eimhart? Is that the na of that book Relic?"
"Yeah, I t him while you were away. He's been by my side this entire ti."
"Oh? This entire ti? I'm getting a little jealous, you know. Whenever I stayed by your side for too long in the past, you would always shoo away, yet you actually managed to stay with a book for so long? How enviable... Or perhaps, in your eyes, I don't possess any charm at all?"
Renee's exaggerated gesture of reaching up to rub her eyes and cry could not fool Fisher. However, instead of interrupting her performance while being Insensitive To Romance like he used to be, he surprisingly just looked at her quietly, as if he could never see enough of her.
"No, in my eyes, you have always been very charming..."
"Eh, wait! Did you go out and find other ladies while I was gone? Why does it feel like your sweet-talking skills have shot straight up? ...Confess! Who taught you these things?"
Fisher rested against the back wall and shook his head, saying,
"No one. You were missing for too long, so I ca to the Northlands to find you. I previously obtained a small clue from the Witch Research Society... You didn't go to Cardu, right? Then where exactly have you been all this ti?"
"Uhm, about that..."
Cupping her chin, Renee seed sowhat distressed. Watching her struggle in thought, Fisher suddenly chuckled helplessly. He shook his head and replied,
"If you don't wish to say, then never mind. I'm not here to forcefully interrogate you, but to find you. Whether I know or not won't change anything for . It's just..."
Renee looked at Fisher, who was Hesitating To Speak. This was the first ti she had ever seen him so un-candid, leaving his words half-finished. This bad man had always spoken freely in front of her; for him to act coy like this was unprecedented. That unfinished half-sentence sparked dense curiosity in her heart. Smiling, she poked Fisher's now-slender arm and said,
"Mmhmm, say it, say it! It's just what?"
Unexpectedly, he shook his head and answered,
"No, forget it. It's nothing."
"Eh? That's it..."
Greatly disappointed, Renee curled her lip and sat beside Fisher, cupping her chin. She looked at the faint flashes of firelight appearing faintly at the foot of the snowy mountain in the distance, roughly guessing that the Witch Research Society group had already chased them to the bottom of the mountain. Yet she displayed no panic or any other reaction; she rely glanced at his currently feeble state leaning against the wall, pouting and complaining,
"You too! I specifically told you to take good care of yourself when I wasn't around, yet you still let yourself end up like this! Even if you don't feel heartache, I do! ...And you said you ca to find . From what I see, I'm perfectly fine, but you're the one in trouble. What a complete idiot!"
Fisher took an innocent glance at his own slender physique, turned his head to look at Renee, and said,
"Mm, comparing it to before, it must be very ugly. I will figure out a way."
"You really are an idiot, worrying about appearances at a ti like this... Didn't Gentleman Fisher in the past only care about his own talent? You didn't even like it when people bought you nice clothes. Why have you suddenly started caring about this now?"
"Caring? A little bit, I suppose. Especially when I'm in front of you."
Startled slightly, Renee hugged her knees, her face blushing a little. She turned her head to look at Fisher beside her and laughed,
"Ara, I'll give that last line ninety points. An excellent little detail of a phrase. Not bad, not bad."
"Mm-hmm."
Neither Agree Nor Disagree, Fisher watched the firelight at the bottom of the mountain draw closer and closer. His expression gradually turned serious as he said,
"Renee, you don't really have any combat capabilities. Head down the mountain first. If you head south, you'll reach McDowell's Heartho Castle. We will rendezvous there later... They have many people, and my current condition isn't good; I'm afraid I won't be able to protect you properly. After I go retrieve Eimhart, I will figure out a way to break away."
Renee didn't move. Instead, she reached out her hand to constantly draw circles in the snow in front of her. Looking closely, it appeared to be a horizontally lying, continually repeating figure-eight.
"You can barely even keep your eyes open. Your body has beco so weak, yet you still ran this fast to co see . If you could even break away under these circumstances, it would be a ghost story... Do you really trust that much? You were clearly suspecting of being the Undying Witch back in Nari. If I were the Undying Witch, I wouldn't be able to die no matter what, right? Just now, you hurried over the mont Harte called you, and why did you even stand in front of to block the gun?"
"I never said I trusted you..."
Hearing Fisher's words, Renee angrily stopped drawing circles, turned her head, and wanted to punch his shoulder. However, seeing his weak, frail appearance, she only threw two symbolic phantom punches as a warning, which made Fisher laugh.
"It's just that, you see, no matter how great the statistical probability in Reality is, people always subjectively trust what they want to trust... Even though my rationality tells that the probability of you being the Undying Witch infinitely approaches absolute one, you still told you weren't. Thus, even if there is only a minuscule sliver of possibility, I dare not make that gamble. After becoming familiar with you, I would constantly think: what if you truly aren't the Undying Witch?"
"If you weren't that exceedingly powerful Undying Witch, wouldn't you be in danger being out there for so long with no word? If you were hit by a bullet, wouldn't it hurt? Wouldn't you die...? I still rember the first ti we crossed the Schwari border and you were shot, lying weakly on the hospital bed. And of course, I rember how you cried and bled when you cut your own hand with a knife in Nari."
The firelight ahead drew closer and closer. Fisher tried to grip the Fluid Sword and stand up, but as Renee's delicate fragrance rushed into his nose, his eyelids and body grew heavier and heavier, causing an uncontrollable wave of dizziness to wash over him.
Fisher had always felt sleepy whenever he slled Renee's scent, but now, it seed to have struck at the worst possible ti.
He forced himself to stay conscious and continued,
"But later, I made my peace with it. Whether you are the Undying Witch or not actually has nothing to do with whether you are Renee. If I go to find you, and I can be one hundred percent certain that you are truly safe, and one hundred percent guarantee that you won't be struck by a bullet... then whether you are the Undying Witch or not no longer matters..."
"We have known each other for a long ti, but it seems that beside myself, I've never seen you interact with other family mbers or friends. It feels as if, from the mont we t until now, you have always been alone... Perhaps this might be a bit of Imagined Affection on my part, but I was indeed sowhat afraid that if I didn't go looking for you, no one else would. Now that I can see you return safely, I am satisfied."
Renee stared blankly at Fisher before her, until the deep, pleasant fragrance on her body dragged his consciousness bit by bit into slumber, filling him with drowsiness. He closed his eyes, and right before the irresistible sleep overtook him, he finally spoke the delayed half-sentence he hadn't spoken earlier,
"What I wanted to say just now... Renee, could you not leave from now on?"
Renee's deep eyes trembled slightly. She simply watched the Fisher before her speak his piece and quietly fall asleep. After waiting several seconds, she gently reached out to cradle his head in her embrace. Her sitting posture was elegant, legs tucked to the side, naturally forming a lap pillow that settled him within the profound fragrance.
Weakness and cold instantly retreated. Renee's pale, soft palm gently stroked the fragile gentleman's cheek, and suddenly, she spoke softly,
"Okay... you idiot."
It was only a pity that Fisher had already fallen into a deep slumber amidst her fragrance; he could not hear her sincere reply.
"Fisher! Help! Ahhhh! The great Eimhart is going to sacrifice his life!"
The distant firelight finally arrived before them. Leading the way was the wobbling book, Eimhart. With a single glance, he spotted Fisher and Renee, surrounded by a gentle atmosphere inside the dilapidated cabin. Hastily, he flew towards the two of them.
"Fisher, what happened to you—"
But the mont he entered the cabin, the golden light radiating across Eimhart's entire body slightly dimd. Completely losing consciousness, he plumted to the ground. Glancing at Eimhart quite apologetically, Renee reached out and beckoned, pulling his blocky book-body back into Fisher's embrace.
Soon, over a dozen Witch Research Society mbers gripping torches, dangerous Magic, swords, and firearms arrived before the ruined cabin with cold sneers.
"The Mother Goddess's gift is not sothing a re Witch like you can monopolize. Return to Cardu with us imdiately! We will bring fortune—"
But before his sentence could finish, the black-haired lady sitting on the ground, continuously stroking the exhausted gentleman in her embrace, had already preemptively spoken. Her tone was gentle and ethereal, but she kept her eyes solely on Fisher without even glancing at them.
"I once made a vow not to kill any living beings in this world. This is your final warning. Retreat imdiately, or face eternal damnation."
"Laughable! Eternal damnation? I—"
The leading man scoffed and took a step forward. Subsequently, under the astonished gazes of everyone present, his flesh and blood separated piece by piece. His bones, skin, blood, and soul all levitated irregularly in mid-air, yet he remained vividly alive.
His teeth and organs fell out and floated one by one, yet he was still speaking from various different locations. The form of his soul warped and tore piece by piece, but he continued to retain human sanity.
"Wh-what exactly is happening?!"
At this mont, the woven fabrics on the bodies of everyone behind him began to warp and change shape. Shifting in ways that violated the common sense and rules of the world, they first transford into tal, and then morphed into so sort of glowing, unlookable substance, burning the flesh and blood of the companions surrounding them until it fused into festering rot.
Seeing this, many Witch Research Society mbers panicked and tried to run. However, the mont they turned back, they discovered their own figures twisting and deforming bit by bit, tangling completely with the earth and air, heading toward inescapable Chaos.
"Ahhhh! Elder, s-save !"
In front of the house, every single Witch Research Society mber descended into ultimate Chaos. It wasn't just the items they wore; their bodies, souls, and even the surrounding gravity and Destiny all collapsed and rotted away, plunging into extre Chaos.
Yet inside the room, that beautiful, gentle lady kept her head lowered, gazing at the quietly sleeping gentleman in her embrace, with absolutely no signs of having made a move.
The nearly frenzied elder's body grew increasingly deford and twisted. The only thing still suspended in mid-air looking towards the cabin was his eyeballs, overflowing entirely with Unbelievable shock. His teeth and tongue had disappeared to who-knew-where long ago. Just as he tried to speak through his throat, he found that the source of the voice was exceedingly far away—it was a sound transmitting from the twisted mass of flesh and blood behind him.
"Y-You... exactly... are... ow... who?"
Whiffs of deep, profound fragrance overflowed and perated the area. Renee slowly lifted her eyes from the room, gazing at the infinite proliferation and boundless chaos marching towards annihilation right in front of her, displaying no special expression on her face.
It was just that in this mont, within this incredibly deep night, at the very edge of the sky, a gargantuan, pale white disc was slowly ascending. The frigid moonlight spilled like water across the vast, bleak earth, covering all sounds and traces of activity. Even the blizzards, considered natural disasters, t an Abrupt End at this second, ceasing all movent...
It was an incomparably bright, yet utterly frigid moon.
Within that suprely pure, infinite moonlight, the consciousness of every single living being from the Witch Research Society completely collapsed and tumbled into chaos, experiencing nothing but inexhaustible agony. The only things that remained were that deep fragrance and the tranquil female voice that echoed before fading away.
Renee's purple eyes lowered again. She rely gazed at Fisher in her embrace, smiling as if making a soft murmur.
"I am... the Undying Witch..."
In the next second of the Northlands' night, all was deadly silent.
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