Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

Shard gasped for breath as he crouched by Miss Luisa's side, and after waiting a moment longer, withdrew his trembling hand. Not bothering to heal his scratched wrist, he poured four-fifths of the water from his small bottle, after treating it with "Satiety Food," onto Miss Luisa's face, and helped her up to drink the rest.

The weak girl slowly drank the silver-glowing spiritual water, her lips cracked, but her consciousness was completely clear:

"It's like waking up from a brief nightmare... Detective, is my face very horrifying?"

Her voice was unusually hoarse, and her emerald eyes were filled with exhaustion.

"It's all right now, you need to trust my arcane technique,"

Shard whispered soothingly, his eyes darting nervously around. Something was not right about this place,

helping Miss Luisa to stand up, the blonde girl reached into her pocket and, taking deep breaths, pulled out a small mirror. It was almost enough to make her sob upon confirming that her face was still the same.

At the Des family's doorstep, even as Miss Luisa was peeking through the crack in the door at the first person, Shard had already begun to hear "Whisper" and "Desecration" elements repeating in his ear.

He initially thought that Miss Luisa had also noticed this and was trying to deceive whatever was in the house, but as the second and third person appeared at the crack, he was absolutely certain that Miss Luisa was under a spell—Miss Luisa was no longer herself.

Neither of them had anticipated that the "Scales of the Drowned One" would lose control and not be tamed. Unlike the fortunate Professor Manning, something terrible had happened in this alleyway.

Because he didn't know what was inside the house, Shard didn't dare to expose everything right there in the alley. It was only when he and Miss Luisa reached the mouth of the alley, and he noticed "her" trying to hurry him away, did he suddenly attack the girl who had transformed.

Luckily, after being infected by the fish scales and losing her own will, Miss Luisa seemed unable to use the Circle Sorcerer's power; otherwise, dealing with this would definitely not have been so easy.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"What did you see just now?"

Shard dabbed some water onto the scratches on his own wrist. The blonde girl was somewhat feeble, mainly due to mental strain. She stood up with Shard's support, looking apologetically at his wounds:

"I can't remember clearly, the last memory I have is pressing my eye to the crack in the door. I saw... oh!"

She clutched her head in pain.

"Don't think about it, don't try to recall. Open your eyes and look at me!"

Shard urgently said, Miss Luisa squinted at Shard while the silver moonlight flickered before her eyes—this was "Cyndia's Silvermoon Blessing."

"I'm afraid things are worse than we thought. Let's leave now, this isn't something we can handle. Go notify the True God Church; I suspect something terrifying has come to that house... something far more dreadful than a Relic gone out of control."

Relics out of control were never a joking matter. Even if it wasn't the girl that was out of control, the mere touch of the controller had caused such a consequence. Professor Manning, who had also experienced a Relic's loss of control, was one of the very few lucky ones.

Miss Luisa, still only partially lucid, was supported by Shard as they walked together down the riverside street toward the street corner, planning to find a carriage. The closest church in the area belonged to the True God, "Lady of Creation." Miss Luisa was quite experienced in reporting accidents to the True God Church.

But after a long walk in the thick fog, they still hadn't seen the junction. Wary, Shard stopped and first saw Miss Luisa squinting, barely able to keep her eyes open, then realized that they were almost back at the position near the Des family's alley entrance.

"Is it the original position?"

He asked himself.

[The dense fog obscured most of the visibility, also hampering my observation.]

"Are there many elements nearby?"

Shard tried a different approach.

[This fog is quite peculiar; it seems able to block the perception of "another me." Now, take a deep breath and get a closer contact with this fog.]

So Shard opened his mouth wide and took a deep breath, refraining from coughing even when he choked. This method of inhalation analysis was very effective, and he got his answer:

[Whisper and Desecration elements are rich, with the latter in greater abundance.]

"Why are there more desecration elements? The fish scale disease, could it have attracted some Evil God?"

He said, incredulously, then patted Miss Luisa's wrist:

"Miss Luisa, wake up quickly, we seem to be unable to get out."

After all, Shard was still inexperienced, and he needed the help of the blonde writer.

"Cannot get out... Oh, detective, I'm really too sleepy... too sleepy."

The mental trauma she suffered was not so easily healed. Even now, trying to muster her energy, she inevitably slid towards the edge of unconsciousness:

"Detective, don't stop my sleep. I have a small talent, I can replace a few hours' sleep for someone in just a few seconds."

This sounded like a lie, the blonde writer leaning on Shard managed a weak smile, then closed her eyes and fell into a peaceful sleep. Explore new worlds at empire

Shard pursed his lips as he watched all of this, and after confirming she had passed out, took a deep breath and summoned the Ring of Fate from behind:

"If there really is no other way, I can't be stingy with that drop... I want to see what is really..."

"Detective, I have a way."

The unconscious Miss Luisa suddenly opened her eyes, then left Shard's arm. She twisted her neck, yawned, and her pretty, spirited green eyes looked at the astonished outlander in front of her:

"What's wrong? I told you, I'd be fine after a little sleep."

Her complexion was rosy, her eyes were spirited, a complete change from just a few seconds ago:

"Detective, thank you for your care, I feel much better now."

"Hmm?"

If it weren't for her tone and demeanor being fine, Shard would have almost thought she was being controlled by something again, he hesitantly asked:

"Would you mind me asking, when we first met, you told me not to choose..."

Miss Luisa touched her earlobe:

"Not to choose the Chemistry Academy, you looked really interesting at that time, like you had just come to this world, uneasy about everything but also curious. It's understandable just waking up from foolishness. Do you believe it's really me now?"

She smiled briefly, Shard nodded his head, but still held doubts about the so-called "rapid sleep."

The golden-haired girl pointed in the direction of the alley where the Des family lived:

"Based on past experience, I think that this time, Little Sophie's fish scale disease is deeper than we thought. The disease has not only infected her family but also attracted the attention of an Evil God or Void Evil Creatures. Since we can't go in other directions, the exit must be here."

"Wait, are you saying we have to confront the thing inside the house?"

Shard looked hesitantly towards the entrance of the alley, having avoided entering that street again.

"'It' just now wanted to drive you away, not to transform you, which means whatever it is, its manifested power in the material world is not particularly strong. Even if we can't deal with it, at least we can find a chance to escape."

She threw the pages of her manuscript into the air, the pages ignited, and the Matchstick Girl's figure appeared in the Enlightening Aura. The elements seemed to dissipate the fog around them, and as the Matchstick Girl appeared, the visibility around them cleared up.

Sure enough, they were at the entrance to the Des family's alley.

"Detective, stay close to me, I'll get you out safely."