Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

Chapter 1964: Red Butterflies

At this moment, the clouds enveloping the island had completely dissipated, revealing a brilliant starry sky and bright three moons.

The continuous earthquakes finally ceased at this moment, leaving only the furious monsters that keep charging at the normal living humans, still waging battle against the outsiders.

On the island’s surface, in the town cemetery, in the woods, in the town, at the dock, in the hills, one after another, red little trees suddenly exploded at this moment. Blood mist wafted toward the surroundings, covering more and more of the island’s surface with red vegetation.

Blood trees continuously grew in every corner of the island, dyeing the grass and flowers red. Even the underwater plants beneath the lake’s tumultuous surface turned red due to the intense battle, a process unstoppable, noticed even by the Circle Sorcerers aboard the hundreds of ships that had just sailed into these waters, with a red fungus blanket appearing on the deck’s surface.

At the crown of the giant tree, bright red light surrounded "Edwards." The light grew brighter and brighter, while the glimmer of the starry sky and moonlight grew weaker.

Initially, not everyone looked up to the treetop again, but at this moment, those who realized the light of the world seemed to be dimming raised their heads to see the glow at the treetop had become the sole light on this earth.

The world darkened, and only that glow seemed to turn into the eternal light illuminating this land.

Several Thirteen-Ring Sorcerers flew towards the giant tree from the ground, but they found themselves unable to reach that place. Darkness was devouring everything, and those areas not illuminated by that huge red light seemed to have fallen into eternal silence.

Suddenly, tiny points of light lit up, distributed among the Circle Sorcerers throughout the island and lake, who still managed to ignite the faintest light within this darkness.

At this moment, at the root of the giant tree, Edwards’ old house wasn’t destroyed by the growth of the tree. The old house leaned against the giant tree growing from behind the house, Sister Delphine nodded to Luviya and the Red Butterfly Maidens, then walked alone towards the hills in the dark south of the island.

Luviya, Grace, and Helen did not ignite any lights in this oppressive darkness, but the red butterflies fluttering around them had already illuminated everything around.

"Although this is currently the best choice."

Purple eyes shrouded in a kind of glow that drove Shard mad with fascination:

"Grace, Helen, if you don’t want to do this, Shard should have a way to let others become The Chosen One. Are you really going to do this? Truly going to be drawn back into the vortices of fate?"

The girls in the white dress and black dress holding hands gently nodded, smiles unwavering:

"What we need to do now is wait, wait for Shard to make a choice himself. Since we are his butterflies, we have to do something for him, not merely be decorations in a cage."

They rarely addressed Shard by name like this, Luviya nodded, then made a listening gesture, pointing to the side:

"Priest Augustus seems to need help, come on, we need to assist in containing an Angel-Level Relic... Strange, why do I feel that the power of that relic is so familiar?"

Grace and Helen looked in another direction, hesitated for a moment, then Helen in the black dress softly spoke:

"Are they here?"

"It’s okay."

The elder sister in the white dress, Grace, comforted:

"Someone will go help them."

In Green Lake Town, among the professors from the Three Major Academies resisting the darkness, Miss Danester suddenly noticed a red butterfly flying in the darkness before her, but oddly, no one else could see it.

She recalled her promise to the sisters of the Angel-Level Humanoid Relics, so after speaking to the other professors, she followed the red butterfly alone into the dense darkness.

At Green Lake Hotel, the darkness had reduced the three clusters of campfires left by Shard to mere glimmers. The girls gathered together, jointly employing Arcane Techniques to maintain the light, but their glow only slightly outshone the warm light coming from Mia clutched by Angelina.

Except for Granny Cassandra, the other four Grand Witches had already headed towards the giant tree before the darkness descended, luckily the Dark Great Witch was still capable enough to protect everyone here.

Lecia and Dorothy also stood amidst the crowd, both of them noticed the unnatural red light outside the windows. However, the Old Witch instructed everyone not to look at that light:

"That belongs to the mental and flesh power of the Evil Object, it will pollute spiritual power. Focus on Shard’s fire, no one turns away."

But even if they followed the instructions to fix their gaze on the fire, Lecia and Dorothy’s perception could still inexplicably touch the red light being blocked out the hotel.

They were clearly not members of the Edwards Family, nor like Shard and Iluna who participated in the ritual to gain some of the "Edwards’ Ascension Technique" power. Yet, they could somehow comprehend the essence of the red light, even sensing it clearer than Shard, the type of "United as One" and "Fracture and Healing" powers.

The instinct within the souls trembled, yet today was precisely the "Day of the Red Butterfly" when they could touch each other. As that red light delved deeper, disturbing the soul, Lecia and Dorothy only felt that the soul of the girl beside them was firmly attracting them like opposing poles of a magnet.

In the two pairs of green eyes, an unknown red glow appeared. Unconsciously, they left the crowd, and the space around them fluctuated unstably.

Always following Shard’s arrangements and keeping an eye on her sister, Angelina, noticed their abnormality first when the cat suddenly meowed softly:

"Sister! Where are you going?"

She shouted anxiously while holding the cat, easily squeezing out of the crowd due to her short stature and slim figure, arriving beside them. Then, in a swirl of distorted light and shadow, the three people and the cat disappeared altogether.

Under the giant tree, underground, in a study room filled with bookshelves behind a wooden archway transformed from a blood-red door, the figures of the three appeared together.

At the other end of the study, the banquet hall was lifted into the sky by the giant tree, yet the bookshelves outside the banquet hall in the study remained intact. The blood-red tree roots covered the walls and ceiling, writhing like animals but did not attack the three and the cat who suddenly appeared here.

On the ground, there was the brilliant glow of the huge ritual trace of "Sun, Moon, and Stars" that Shard and Miss Danester had always been investigating. Miniaturized blood-red door, thirteen keys, personal items representing 20 family members, divine items, the relic, the Boundary Stone of by gone days of Green Lake Town, and a series of ceremonial symbols, all placed within the gigantic ritual circle.

Among them were even the Balance representing The Chosen One, the scythe, the Holy Grail, the skull representing demons, and the halo representing angels.

However, Angelina didn’t care to look at what was here. At that moment, the soulless Lecia and Dorothy were trying to walk toward the lighted ritual core while holding hands. In the center of the circular base formation, there was a golden cube floating.

The "sisters" staggered in their steps, and as they walked, the Rings of Fate of Five Rings had already appeared behind them, vaguely merging together:

"Sister!"

The Little Princess called out anxiously, wanting to go up and pull them back, but just as she stepped into the ritual circle, the elements and spirit caused immense pain to her body, forcing her to retreat.

"If I want to have everything, how could I not even protect my sister?"

The innocent princess had only this thought in mind, and as uncertain voices gently whispered about [King] at her ear, she lifted her skirt with one hand, mustered her courage, and tried to rush forward again despite the pain, but the cat she was holding suddenly meowed:

"Meow~"

The cat’s meow was not loud, yet it struck directly at the deepest part of the two befuddled souls. Like the sun dispelling darkness, like sunlight dispersing shadows, Dorothy and Lecia, holding hands to move forward, were instantly awakened.

The two looked around in surprise and immediately understood what was happening here.

They turned to leave the ritual circle, but even though they were awake, the urge to merge their souls was unprecedentedly strong.

Even on that night a few months ago when they nearly merged during an out-of-body experience with "Wraith Iron Coin," the urge to become one with another soul was not this strong. This desire and impulse were more intense than any other feeling, so much so that even knowing it was wrong, they still took another small step forward.

"Cat, kitty, Mia, call out again!"

Angelina anxiously patted the cat, but Mia pushed her hand away with its paw. The orange and white kitten merely stared intently at them in the light with its bright eyes.

Then, Angelina considered throwing the cat toward her sister, but after thinking about it, she realized it wouldn’t help. So, she placed the cat on her head, lifted her skirt, and prepared to charge forward.

Her body trembled from fear, but she still gritted her teeth, ready to rush forward.

Fortunately, Lecia and Dorothy, who had taken a small step after waking up, stopped slowly and turned around together:

"Absolutely not!"

"We promised Shard!"

"The mistake last time, he promised we wouldn’t make it again!"

"We agreed, the three of us would be together!"

If not for the attempt from a few months ago and the lesson from Shard, they wouldn’t know at this moment if they could withstand this urge.

The light of the ritual had already seeped into their Rings of Fate, and as they turned around, Dorothy and Lecia, who were still preparing for their advancement, unexpectedly progressed from Five Rings to Six Rings purely by absorbing the power and immense spiritual power of the moment without any ritual.