Fisher initially wanted to ask more about the world Asuka Karasawa ca from, but seeing her curled into a ball, sleepy-eyed yet forcing herself to scrutinize their surroundings, he couldn't bear to do it anymore. Perhaps she would truly beco that great leader of the Creator's Society in the future, but right now, she was just a little girl who had recently arrived from another world.
He didn't continue asking. Anyway, the stories before her arrival likely wouldn't be of any help to their current situation, so he opened his mouth and said,
"You should get so rest. You look very exhausted. We can talk about the rest when you wake up... Don't worry, neither of us are bad people. We won't do anything strange to you."
Asuka Karasawa didn't know why she suddenly felt so exhausted either. Hearing Fisher's words, she pursed her lips, gave a sowhat embarrassed look at the handso dark-haired man beside her, shook her head, and whispered,
"It's fine... So, we are locked up right now? By angels?"
"Yes, but they can't possibly lock us up forever. They must have a purpose for keeping us, otherwise they would have killed us the mont we were discovered. So, before that happens, you really should hurry up and rest—"
Before Fisher finished his words, he turned to see that Asuka Karasawa, still maintaining her curled-up posture, had completely fallen fast asleep, causing his words to co to an abrupt end.
He paused for a mont, then turned to look at Gou Wen, who was cupping his chin, and asked suspiciously,
"Her drowsiness is very unnatural. Was this your doing?"
Hearing Fisher's question, just like before, Gou Wen nodded frankly and admitted it again.
"Yes, this little girl is just an ordinary human. I was worried she might do sothing extre and attract those bad-tempered angels, so I had to resort to this poor tactic. But, Mr. Fisher, you see, up until now I've practically been answering every question asked regarding your inquiries, yet you turn a blind eye to my questions. Is it because you worry I might interfere with you achieving your goal for coming to the Sanctuary? Or is it that, in your eyes, I'm so untrustworthy that I might harm you at any mont?"
"..."
Fisher leaned against the wall. After remaining silent for quite a while, he finally spoke again,
"Sorry, I was being paranoid. Actually, if we're being strict, like her, I am not a person of this ti. But unlike her coming from another space, I co from the very distant future. I ca to the Sanctuary for the 【Holy Grail】 managed by the angel nad Pandora. I need to borrow that Holy Grail to fulfill a wish to escape death."
Hearing this, Gou Wen's expression blanked slightly. His long black ears twitched, then he hastily raised his hands and said,
"Wait, wait, wait... say no more, say no more, I understand now. So that's how it is... Mr. Fisher, I didn't know about this beforehand. I only asked because I suspected you were an outsider like this little girl. But now that I know, I must warn you: absolutely do not tell this to anyone else later."
"Why?"
Gou Wen's expression grew sowhat serious. He pointed toward the ceiling and warned Fisher,
"Although I don't know what thods Mr. Fisher used to achieve your goal, it definitely wasn't sothing the world's original operating rules could accomplish. And this is a very, very dangerous thing."
"Once the gods discover the fact that you disrupted destiny, there is a high probability you will face the disaster of destruction. Let alone achieving your goal, even returning will be a delusion... Therefore, absolutely do not ntion this to anyone else, nor speak of things that might happen in the future. From now on, just treat yourself as a Transferred Person like this girl. Bear firmly in mind."
Fisher turned to glance at Asuka Karasawa beside him, then smiled faintly and thanked Gou Wen gratefully,
"I see, I understand. Thank you for the reminder. I will be careful of this and won't make this mistake again in the future."
"It's nothing, it's nothing. Although I'm also very curious about what happens in the future, thinking carefully about it, I'll pass. Keeping our lives is what's most important, isn't it?"
Fisher looked at Gou Wen before him. Perhaps because of Jasmine, he had quite a favorable impression of the Whale-kin race. Coupled with this doctor's own easygoing and gentle nature, Fisher felt no resistance or heavy guard against him...
But speaking of keeping their lives, being locked in this cage right now, they knew completely nothing about the outside, much like at on a chopping block waiting to be slaughtered. Furthermore, the sudden appearance of the Transferred Person Asuka Karasawa beside him threw Fisher's composure sowhat into chaos, leaving him a bit unsure on how to face this long-missing President of the society.
The Lord of Fate wanted him to find her. He just didn't know whether finding her now would count, nor did he know if the Lord of Fate had transmigrated over right now.
Amidst such thoughts, Gou Wen and Fisher stopped talking, and the cell gradually fell into silence again.
Asuka Karasawa woke up approaching midnight that evening, having slept for about six or seven hours. Looking outside at this mont, at the edge of the planet's silhouette at the end of their line of sight, one could see the extrely dazzling sun slowly rising from the due east, illuminating the land brightly. But it was unknown whether the nights in the Eastern Continent were as pitch-black as Fisher rembered; after all, they had a massive World Tree there.
By the ti Asuka Karasawa woke up, whatever tricks Gou Wen had pulled on her earlier had mostly worn off. Yet she still just blankly hugged her knees, curled up in the corner of the cage, occasionally pinching her finger joints hard until every one of them was rubbed a bright red.
She remained in this daze until several tens of minutes passed. Only then did she truly confirm she had transmigrated—she was not within her school, not even in Japan, not on Earth, but had appeared all alone in another world.
During these quiet tens of minutes, an imnse sense of loneliness and helplessness suddenly washed over her. Staying like that, she began silently shedding tears. Her mind was a blank slate, having completely no idea what to do now.
Although her sobs were very soft, neither Fisher nor Gou Wen were ordinary people. They both noticed her abnormality, yet neither spoke up. Fisher was resting with his eyes closed, while Gou Wen was cupping his chin and staring at the ceiling, thinking about who knew what.
It was unknown how much ti passed before the atmosphere in this cramped cage was interrupted by the sudden sound of the cell door opening. As the "clack-clack" noise echoed over, Asuka Karasawa, crying with her head down, hugged her legs even tighter. Fisher abruptly opened his eyes and, together with Gou Wen, looked toward the doorway.
"Hello, did you sleep well last night? I brought you a little sothing to eat... My, since when did an extra little calico cat appear here?"
Appearing at the door was the angel with short golden hair from yesterday. Fisher still rembered the other angel addressing her as "Helaire".
Her beautiful face carried a lazy and intoxicating smile. With arms crossed, her tone and attitude were extrely affectionate. Yet even upon hearing her teasing voice, the mont Asuka Karasawa saw the deep space outside—more real than anything—and the pairs of blue-gold wings hovering behind her back, she shrank her head like a little chick, not daring to look at her at all, which made the angel cover her mouth in amusent.
She hooked her finger, and many fruits and foods flew into the cage behind her. Gou Wen smiled, said "Thank you", casually grabbed one, and was ready to start enjoying it. Fisher wasn't very hungry, so he didn't move. Asuka Karasawa, likely terrified to death, made absolutely no motion to reach out and eat.
"Don't be so stubborn. I brought these all the way from very far below... Besides, if you don't eat now, you might not get the chance later on."
Fisher glanced at the cross-ard angel, seeing she had absolutely no intention of closing the cell door. He imdiately realized the angels were about to start discussing how to dispose of them, these prisoners.
Based on what Fisher had heard previously from Eimhart and Eliog, this group of Angel-kin definitely couldn't be considered friendly beings. As Mythical Species, they naturally had no compassion for humans, so this upcoming journey was very likely extrely dangerous...
However, the angel in front of them was clearly a Mythical Species with a terrifyingly high rank, possessing an aura even more horrifying than the Base he had seen before. Moreover, she wasn't a mindless entity. Neither he nor Gou Wen were at the Mythical Rank; combined, they wouldn't even be able to withstand one of her hands. Furthermore, Eimhart was still in their hands. Even if he could run, he couldn't leave him behind.
Thinking up to here, Fisher no longer hesitated. He lowered his head, grabbed the food she threw over, and started eating heartily. While eating, he saved so, forcefully tossing it to Asuka Karasawa beside him, and said,
"Hurry up and eat. Stop crouching there."
"U-um, thank you."
Asuka Karasawa slowly reached out to grasp the fruit Fisher handed over. She had never seen that massive green fruit, let alone eaten it. She hesitated for a mont before bringing it to her face, taking small, nibbling bites of the soft, glutinous flesh.
"Not bad, not bad. Hurry up and eat. We'll leave once you're done. I'm taking you all to the 【Seventh Heaven】, the Archangels are already waiting for you there."
Gou Wen, having eaten several fruits, gave a bitter smile and raised his hand. Looking at the beautiful, radiant angel before him, he said,
"Um, Lady Angel, I only wanted to co up and see the angels' dical practices. That shouldn't count as so felony, right? Couldn't you just let us go?"
Helaire still maintained her smiling expression. Tapping her chin, she replied,
"Sorry, whether you can be released isn't up to to decide. However, according to my understanding of the Sanctuary Laws, trespassing into the Sanctuary by other races is a felony. Lord Raguel and Lord Uriel seem quite angry about it. What, missing your ho in the ocean?"
The bitterness in Gou Wen's smile grew deeper, but there was nothing he could do. He could only sigh and say,
"It's just that I didn't tell my wife I would be gone for so long before I left. She will worry about my safety."
Helaire didn't respond anymore. She stepped back slightly, flying outside the cage out of Fisher's sight, and he only heard her say,
"Co out once you're done eating. I'll take you up. Hurry up now."
Fisher chewed the sweet, cloying fruit in his mouth, his mind constantly pondering counterasures, but no matter how he thought about it, every path was a dead end. Fleeing was impossible. Against a Mythical Species, a hundred of him wouldn't be enough to fight just one. He could only approach this from another angle.
"Um... where is she taking us? She just said... did we commit so cri?"
Gou Wen turned his head, considerately explaining to her,
"Just understand it as us presently trespassing into the lair of a bunch of very powerful folks. It's just that unlike Mr. Fisher and , who ca here intentionally, you arrived here accidentally. But they don't care whether you did it on purpose or not."
This single sentence scared Asuka Karasawa so much that she imdiately placed her hands together in prayer, and her mouth started chanting those words Fisher completely didn't know the exact aning of again.
"Then... then what do we do... A-are we going to die? I don't want to die yet... Namo Amitabha... Namo Amitabha..."
Fisher set down the half-eaten fruit in his hand. He gave a glance to Asuka Karasawa beside him, then stood up.
"You won't die."
"Eh? Eh?"
Asuka Karasawa stared blankly at Fisher's back and asked,
"How... how do you know?"
"... I just know."
If you were to die right now, the future Lord of Fate wouldn't have asked to co find you.
Fisher thought this in his heart.
Asuka Karasawa, on the other hand, was choked by Fisher's non-answer. She had been crying just a mont ago, and now she sniffled, becoming sowhat at a loss for what to do.
"Hurry up and let's go. Are you done eating?"
But Fisher's voice rang out again. Raising her eyes, she saw that both Gou Wen and Fisher had already walked to the cage door. Even though just yesterday she thought they were monsters, seeing them about to leave now instantly made Asuka Karasawa feel frightened. She struggled to stand up and ran toward Fisher and the other.
"O-okay... sorry."
She silently followed behind Fisher's back. Perhaps she felt that since Fisher was also human, he was at least sowhat better than a Gou Wen with whale ears and a tail.
And so, they exited the cage. Outside the cell was a suspended pure-white path. This seed to be the edge of the Third Heaven, so aside from the angel before them, Fisher saw absolutely no other angels.
Everything was dead silent. Once they left the cage, they imdiately floated up as if they had lost their weight. But when stepping onto those white stone slabs, it was as if they were magnetically attracted to them, no longer drifting aimlessly.
"Everyone, watch your step, follow ."
"..."
The beautiful angel ahead spoke. Fisher pondered for a mont, then obediently followed her, heading toward the center of the Third Heaven along the path ahead.
Along the way, they passed by nurous ornately designed buildings of unknown purpose. Sitting upon them now were many angels with illusory wings, varying hair ornants, and diverse appearances behind them. Their expressions also differed. The only common trait was that, from afar, they all seed to possess an ambiguous, androgynous beauty, making it hard to imdiately ascertain their specific gender.
Right now, they were all silently staring at Fisher's group down below. Up ahead, Helaire openly waved her hand at them, and many angels either nodded or waved back in return. This made Fisher subconsciously stare at the beautiful female angel before him, who was quite different from the others.
She was wearing a heavy robe, making Fisher unable to see her specific bodily curves, noting only that her figure was sowhat shorter than his own. Fisher pondered for a mont and was just about to ask about the origins of the angel in front of him when she, without turning her head, suddenly spoke up.
"Helaire... 【Morning Star】 Helaire, that's what they all call . I'm a Power Angel responsible for a few minor affairs across the seven heavens."
Behind him, Asuka Karasawa blinked, but didn't utter a word, continuing to remain silent.
"Fischer Benavides."
"Oh, robust humans like you are truly rare... Not bad, not bad..."
"... Allow to ask, is the talking book that was with currently safe? He is very important to ."
"Oh, him... Don't worry, you'll find out shortly. He indeed is very important, rember that point."
"..."
Fisher stared at her back and pondered for a second or two. Unable to imdiately grasp the aning behind her words, he didn't press further because by now, they had arrived at the bizarre cylindrical tunnel connecting the various levels of the Sanctuary that Fisher had previously seen from inside the Cage of Sealing Curses. Helaire also paused her steps slightly before that tunnel, turning around to say to Fisher and the others,
"Everyone, please jump inside here. Don't worry, you won't fall down."
It would have been better if she hadn't said anything. The mont she did, Asuka Karasawa subconsciously poked her head out to look down the tunnel, only to see that beneath the massive cylindrical tunnel lay a gigantic planet extending as far as the eye could see. Her acrophobia instantly flared up, and she almost sat on the ground with weak legs.
"A-are we really jumping down? Hah... really?"
"Really."
Asuka Karasawa's lips trembled as she looked back at Gou Wen and Fisher. Gou Wen was the first to shake his head, taking a light leap forward into the cylindrical tunnel, subsequently hovering within it. But before he could even turn back to speak to Asuka Karasawa, he was instantly enveloped by a ray of light and shot upwards at a rapid speed.
"Ahhhhhh!"
Watching Gou Wen's figure fly upward with such speed it left afterimages, giving off a feeling as if he had just passed away, Asuka Karasawa was so terrified she didn't dare move anymore, plopping her buttocks onto the ground.
"S-so scary..."
Behind them, Helaire covered her mouth and smiled soundlessly in an extrely mischievous manner, prompting Fisher, who had witnessed everything, to suppress a sigh. He walked to Asuka Karasawa's side, stretched his hand out toward her, and said,
"It's okay, co with ."
"Eh... mm."
Asuka Karasawa wanted to cry again, but looking at Fisher's outstretched hand, she had just reached out to grab it when her entire body was uncontrollably sent flying toward the tunnel. Her face instantly went deathly pale. Before she could cry out, she turned into an afterimage and flew upward.
"Ahhhhhh!"
Her miserable shriek grew further and further away. Fisher's outstretched hand also froze in mid-air. He turned to look at the angel, only to see her saying very apologetically,
"Sorry, sorry, while letting her hold your hand and warmly overco her fears is indeed nice, it's not fun that way..."
"Fun?"
Fisher furrowed his brows, and his hand extended in mid-air had just begun to retract when Helaire was almost instantaneously in front of his face. Her icy cold hand tightly grasped his. Fisher's pupils contracted slightly. Before he could even look at her, he only heard her single-word answer.
"Yes..."
Under her smiling reply, in the next second, Fisher's vision was instantly blanketed by countless extraordinarily dazzling rays of light. Then, as if weightless, he was violently dragged upward by so extrely light force.
In the dark universe, those eternally stationery stars seed to turn into teors at this mont, dragging long glowing tails behind them. This sense of displacent beyond human perception made even Fisher feel slightly uncomfortable. He gritted his teeth, the hand holding Helaire's gripping a bit tighter unawares, yet in the next second, the icy hand grabbing his own vanished entirely.
"Buzz buzz buzz!"
"Blergh!"
Fisher instantly appeared upon a massive and bright circular platform. Beside him, Asuka Karasawa was prostrating on the ground, dry heaving non-stop. Gou Wen's complexion was normal as he glanced at the pale-faced Fisher, whose brain was feeling sowhat dizzy.
"Mr. Fisher, are you alright? The angels' teleportation is a bit too violent."
"... I'm fine."
Fisher covered his head in discomfort. Looking around, he found the three of them were currently situated on a circular stone carving. A ring of bizarre, glowing patterns flickered at the edge of the carving. Just as Fisher was about to approach to observe the patterns closer, Gou Wen beside him quickly spoke up.
"Don't move, Mr. Fisher... we can only stay on this circular stone carving. Absolutely do not go near there, otherwise you'll instantaneously be burned to death by the flas of Angel Uriel. This thing is an instrunt of torture used in the Third Heaven to punish angels. An implent ant for beings of their level is not sothing you or I could endure."
"..."
Fisher imdiately froze in place, rely turning to look outside the stone carving. There, the white-robed Helaire was standing with a smile. She wasn't looking their way at all, but facing straight ahead where there seed to be a gigantic elevated platform. The light radiating from the platform was far too blinding, rendering Fisher unable to look directly at it for the mont...
In the next second, the light from the platform was abruptly drawn and focused by so imnse power, becoming distinct and stratified as it dispersed. The pressure on this blinding platform suddenly multiplied drastically. Fisher and Gou Wen both instantly paled, feeling heart palpitations. Acting purely on survival instinct, they naturally averted their gazes from the direction of the light ahead.
Because Asuka Karasawa was still dry heaving, she hadn't sensed the arrival of a terrifying existence over there at all.
anwhile, the smile on Helaire's face completely vanished. She knelt on one knee facing the direction of the imnse light and spoke up,
"Archangels, the three prisoners who trespassed into the Sanctuary are here. We may begin discussing the thods for their disposal..."
As her words fell, the light before Fisher slowly receded until the terrifying aura was completely withdrawn and imperceptible to humans...
There, seated upon the elevated platform, were seven extrely dazzling, blurred figures.
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