Bernadette wore an Intis-style female shirt with large lace flowers at the collar, a patterned indigo captain's jacket, off-white trousers, and knee-high boots. On her head was a tricorn hat with a feather, making her look like the leader of a pirate ship.
Emotions surged in her eyes for a moment, then quickly receded. She smiled faintly at Bornova, who was looking at her calmly, and said, "Long time no see. This should be our first meeting since Father passed away."
Bornova nodded in silence, his tone as calm as if he were speaking to a familiar stranger. "The official bounty for you has been raised to two thousand Felkin."
"And then? Are you going to capture me and exchange me for the bounty with the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery, whom you believe in?" Bernadette countered with a very calm tone.
"Not today." Bornova shook his head.
Bernadette chuckled, then continued, "What if I'm here to stop you today?"
Bornova fell silent, simply gazing calmly at Bernadette, no longer speaking or moving.
"Is that your answer?"
After a long while, Bernadette sighed. Neither of them moved, and they remained in a stalemate.
Inside the magnificent and enormous church, where countless dark stone pillars stood tall, the classical quill pen in Zangwill's hand seemed to sense danger. It flew up on its own, writing word after word on the black clerical robe:
"Ouroboros, who has been watching the Paz River Valley for the True Creator, due to certain unknown factors, happened to notice the anomaly here. Therefore, at this point in time, it is reasonable for Ouroboros to descend here!"
"The arrival of Ouroboros broke the sealing of the Corpse Cathedral, allowing Al Tines and Ariehogg, who had been waiting in Berens Port, to seize the opportunity and descend here."
As soon as the quill pen finished writing the first sentence, rays of light streamed in from the stained-glass windows high up in the Corpse Cathedral, transforming into ethereal, layered, pure wings.
Beneath the covering wings, Ouroboros, with his long silver hair, materialized. He wore a torn linen robe, his face was delicate, his features soft, and his eyes seemed blank and vacant, as if lost in thought. In his hand, he held a peculiar crown covered in rust and bloodstains.
The moment Ouroboros's figure appeared, the Red Angel Evil Spirit within Zangwill sensed the characteristic of a Conqueror. For it, in its current state, this was an unbearable temptation. The intense desire caused it to break free from the Underworld within Zangwill's body.
Ouroboros ignored Medici, who had transformed into an evil spirit. At his feet, within the layered wings behind him, one transcendent and mysterious circular wheel after another emerged, converging into a flowing silver-white river, like an Ouroboros, connecting head to tail.
The Corpse Cathedral thoughtfully retreated to its initial state, where only the dark stone pillars had just risen, and the surrounding square, where starlight fell, flickered in and out of existence.
The evil spirit of Medici Sauron Einhorn was also forced back into Zangwill's body.
Outside on the square, the starlight instantly surged, pouring into the Corpse Cathedral like a tide.
Amidst the shimmering starlight, countless mysterious, three-dimensional runes floated, outlining the image of a giant dragon.
The dragon's enormous and ferocious head lowered, exhaling an invisible, transparent breath.
This was the Mind Dragon's unique "Mind Breath," a reinforced, area-of-effect version of Psychic Pierce.
The starlight mixed with "Mind Breath" could directly stimulate and harm the mind and spirit bodies, making those attacked feel as if struck by lightning, their minds tearing, and their spirit bodies seemingly pierced through.
Zangwill, whose surroundings became intensely layered with colors, fell into a daze, and his "Spirit World Shuttle" was forcibly interrupted.
Adam held the silver cross pendant at his chest with both hands, as if praying. A gentle smile always graced his face, and the starlight mixed with "Mind Breath" had no effect on him whatsoever.
Ouroboros was also unaffected by the starlight; his luck was surprisingly good, as the surging starlight always avoided his location due to various coincidences.
Amidst the surging starlight, a hundred-meter-long cross fell from above, heavily embedding itself in the center of the unformed Corpse Cathedral.
An infinite burst of light instantly erupted, engulfing all the surging starlight and the lingering figures within the Corpse Cathedral.
In an instant, the Corpse Cathedral reformed. Within this church, every stone pillar, every arch, every dome was inlaid with bones of different races, densely packed, watching the people who appeared in this church with different eye sockets.
On the walls, windows, and main door of the church, transparent, distorted faces emerged, as if the souls sealed here were isolating the existence of the Spirit World and the Astral World!
Before the giant cross that had fallen from above, a blurry figure stood there, seemingly watching everything with pity.
At this moment, there were three more figures in the Corpse Cathedral than before: Amon, wearing a sharp tailcoat and a top hat; Leyton, draped in a black classical Warlock robe, holding a miniature golden teapot-shaped oil lamp; and Ariehogg, who had transformed into an old man in a gray-white robe with dark gold long hair and a beard.
Zangwill's expression was contorted in pain. Blood continuously seeped from his body as the evil spirit of Medici Sauron Einhorn forcibly broke free from the Underworld within him again, peeling away from his body bit by bit.
The evil spirit's face was ferocious, with a scarlet gap on each side of its cheeks, like two new mouths.
The three mouths continuously opened and closed, emitting hoarse, uncontrollable voices:
"I smell iron and blood, Great Serpent. Quickly give me that 'Conqueror' characteristic."
"As long as I recover my Sequence 1 strength, we can completely cooperate with that eye monster and lizard monster to counterattack Amon and Adam together."
As he spoke, the classical quill pen, which Zangwill had clutched tightly, broke free on its own and flew towards Ariehogg.
The quill pen abruptly vanished in mid-air, then reappeared in Amon's hand.
"You all seem to want this pen. Why don't you make me an offer? The highest bidder gets it?"
As Amon bantered with everyone, his right hand tightened, exerting a little force, and the struggling quill pen in his hand instantly stopped moving.
Silently, the Corpse Cathedral was once again enveloped in a hazy starlight, completely obscuring the figures of Leyton, Ouroboros, Ariehogg, and Zangwill.
At the same time, eyes sprouted from the cracks and starlight, flaunting auras of madness, disaster, and ominousness, forming a confrontation with the Corpse Cathedral.
Within the hazy starlight, a gray-white giant dragon emerged.
Its gray-white scales were inscribed with complex and three-dimensional mysterious symbols, extending inward into its flesh and outward into the surrounding void, as if interwoven into something not belonging to the real world. Simply seeing it caused mental derangement, distorted thoughts, and the Spirit Body to be tainted with various seemingly heartfelt notions, making one wish to tear or destroy oneself.
Silver-white light simultaneously erupted amidst the hazy starlight, invading the embedded skulls and sealed souls around the Corpse Cathedral from different directions and angles, causing intense chaos.
This chaos, arising from a disturbance at the fate level, was difficult to stop and end.
This chaos caused flaws in the Corpse Cathedral's sealing of the Astral World and the Spirit World. Under the gaze and analysis of the Eyes of Mystery Prying, these flaws were exploited by Leyton.
Around him, one star after another emerged, densely packed and dazzling.
These stars scattered rays of brilliance, converging into a magnificent pillar of light that enveloped the entire Corpse Cathedral, gradually disintegrating and shattering it.
A pale gold vertical pupil suddenly appeared in front of Amon, and an invisible mental storm swept the surroundings, causing Amon to briefly fall into a state of distraction.
Adam glanced in Amon's direction but did not move. Around him, a silver-white river, head to tail, encircled him, forming a strange cycle of fate.
Ouroboros was constantly reinforcing and altering this cycle of fate, making it difficult for him to break through for a time.
Taking advantage of this brief stalemate, Leyton rubbed the golden teapot-shaped wishing lamp in his hand and softly said, "Let 0-08 return to Ariehogg's hands."
Golden water flowed from the spout, coalescing in mid-air into a golden, distorted human figure.
The Genie floated in mid-air, looking around with an air of watching a show, then looked down at Leyton and said indifferently, "This is the first wish!"
After speaking, he looked at Amon and Ariehogg, who were confronting each other on the mental level, extended a hand, and firmly gripped the air.
Amon raised the monocle over his right eye and turned his head to look at the Genie, attempting to steal the other party's thoughts and actions.
His attempt at theft failed, as expected, but the Genie's action of transferring 0-08 to Ariehogg's hands also failed.
Amon deceived the rules, swapped positions, and made 0-08 reappear in Zangwill's hand.
Zangwill, having regained 0-08, did not hesitate to write a new line of words on his black clerical robe:
"Al Tines and Ouroboros's destruction of the Corpse Cathedral has left it incomplete. Zangwill happened to be in a 'flaw,' and due to mutual restraint, no one noticed this small detail. Zangwill forcefully crashed out of the Corpse Cathedral, taking 0-08 and escaping the center of the storm. This is a very reasonable development!"
The moment the final exclamation mark fell, Zangwill's body spontaneously crashed into a nearby stained-glass window.
Silently, the glass window shattered and cracked, and a chilling, wailing gale swept Zangwill's figure out of the Corpse Cathedral.