He was the mayor of Stan Town, Cass, a companion who had shared life-and-death adventures with Ye Chui and the others. He now sported a rugged beard and carried his greatsword in one hand.
Merlin quickly exchanged words with Cass. In the distance, a woman holding a small child ran towards them. It was Windsor, daughter of the lord of Windrock City. She had adventured with Ye Chui’s group in the Buried Sword Ground and later married Cass. It had been nearly a year since Ye Chui parted from them. He had received their letters and knew Windsor had been pregnant; she had now safely given birth.
At Cass’s urging, Windsor turned and fled with the child.
Cass swung his greatsword, determined to fight the white nun.
The spatial cage trapping her shattered completely. The white nun extended her palm towards Merlin. Her movement seemed slow yet impossibly fast, as if compressing space itself. In an instant, it reached him. Merlin’s expression flickered; he used spatial magic to escape far away, his usually neat hair now dishevelled.
Cass slashed down from above with his greatsword.
Since parting, Cass had not continued adventuring, yet his strength had kept growing. He seemed to have entered the realm of sword master. A swordsman who could cleave tornadoes, his strike now became a whirlwind, howling winds engulfing the white nun.
But in the next moment, the greatsword snapped. Cass spat blood and tumbled aside. A female swordswoman rushed to catch him. It was Roth. She and her companions had not fled in terror like the others.
The white nun was too terrifying.
She effortlessly dispatched the strongest people in Stan Town and continued forward. Some swordsmen and magi tried to stop her, only to be instantly killed and reduced to ash.
Thus, she reached the very centre of Stan Town.
White light suddenly enveloped her, making her shine like the sun. Those rays, solid as substance, assaulted in all directions. Merlin shouted something and rushed to Cass, grabbing his arm as they entered teleportation. In this dreadful moment, he chose to save Cass, unable to help the others.
The white light instantly swallowed Roth, Gayton, and the rest.
Cass and Merlin had not fully escaped. They appeared outside Stan Town, but as soon as they materialised, white light enveloped them. On Merlin’s aged face was desperate urgency as he shouted a name. His eyes looked in a certain direction. Then he and Cass were consumed together.
White light filled Ye Chui’s vision. When it faded, Stan Town had vanished. In its place was a flat, mirror-like plain stretching for miles.
The white nun walked barefoot on that mirror-smooth ground. Her body gradually turned transparent and then completely disappeared.
Back in the puppet graveyard, Debbie, Resha, and the others stared at Ye Chui in stunned silence. They saw him suddenly fall quiet, sweat pouring down his face and body, even tears welling in his eyes. They were all frightened by this state. Ye Chui breathed rapidly. He knew that nightmare was not merely a dream. No dream could feel so real.
It surged into his mind like a segment of memory.
“Ye Chui?” Gu Ni’s timid voice broke the silence. The girl stared wide-eyed at him, then solemnly offered the remaining half piece of bread. “You don’t need to cry just because you missed the bread. I’ll give this half to you.”
Ye Chui rolled his eyes but accepted the bread. After taking a bite, he said, “Something may have happened to Stan Town.”
“Happened?”
“What I just dreamed, no, it wasn’t a dream. It was a memory. I think it was Master Merlin’s doing. A white-clad nun appeared in Stan Town. I don’t know what she did, but the entire town vanished into thin air.”
Ye Chui recounted the vision, his voice heavy with gravity.
In that memory, he could not hear sounds, yet he somehow sensed their shouts, though faintly. Except for the name the elderly magus Merlin shouted at the end.
When Merlin shouted that name, he looked in a certain direction, and in the memory, those eyes seemed to gaze directly at Ye Chui.
Ye Chui frowned in thought for a moment and finally recalled the name.
“Continent of Divine Sin!”
“Continent of Divine Sin?” Hearing this, everyone looked puzzled. Even Fazer and the old puppet master showed blank ignorance. They had never heard of it.
However, Resha standing nearby turned visibly shocked.
“Continent of Divine Sin,” she said in surprise. “I saw that name in the Blue Abbey. It is the final destination proclaimed by the Church for those who commit crimes, hell!”
