Serpents surround the earth and the sky.

Kelly saw the nine worlds hanging high in the void, some as hot as the sun, some as cold as the abyss, some hazy as smoke and dust, and a golden palace overlooking the other eight worlds.

And in the middle of it, a world she couldn't know anymore floated.

Continent of Oberia.

In the fog around the continent, it seems that the entire planet Orlens can still be seen.

However, such a magnificent Nine Worlds seem incomparably small under one thing.

Like the huge scales of the mountains, like the unfathomable crevices of the deep sea ravines, like the huge eyes of the planets, and the greedy forked tongue that licks the nine worlds as if playing with the contents of the bag.

The earthly python - Jörmungad.

The moment Kelly saw the serpent's eyes, she naturally knew her name.

But Kelly knew that the beautiful giant thing didn't see her, and she was looking out into the void in the distance, waiting for something to appear.

"Kelly?"

The girl returned to reality and found Hewen looking at her with concern.

She looked around, but she didn't see what she expected, she didn't see everyone as snakes, she didn't see the big as small, and the small as big.

Nothing.

The mind has not collapsed, and the intellect has not collapsed.

Kelly looked around again in disbelief, trying to find something wrong, but couldn't find anything that didn't match her perception.

"Kelly?" asked Hervin again.

The girl shook her head violently:

"I'm fine, what's wrong?"

Elwood says:

"You just looked a little distracted. ”

Kelly smiled and explained:

"I was just a little distracted. ”

Elwood twitched the corners of his mouth, wandering in front of the corpse, he preferred to believe that Kelly was indulging in some weird part of it.

His speculation didn't go far from reality.

Elwood didn't want to get into Kelly's true thoughts, and asked Hervin:

"What do you think, what is the purpose of this prisoner, to express himself, to show off, or is he really a fanatic?"

Hervin analyzed:

"He definitely does not believe in Ouroboros, nor is he a member of a sect that has been systematically studied, as there are a lot of blasphemous details in his handling of his victims, in this case referring to the blasphemy of Ouroboros. ”

Elwood asked:

"Could it be that he is a mad artist who uses human life as a material for his own expression, but why would he choose this blood ritual that has been lost for many years?"

Ellwood has seen a number of killers in his career, and the proportion of "artists" among them is far greater than that of other groups, but he has never seen such a great creator.

The killer must have known and understood that any visual arrangement can trigger the horror and fear of human instincts.

Hervin says:

In terms of technique, his handling of the corpse was neither solemn nor serious, but more like a casual work, and he did not take Abbas's corpse seriously, but killed him for some purpose, such as to induce fear or provoke the police, and simply dealt with it in a way that he was already familiar with. ”

Elwood couldn't imagine what horrible things the murderer could have done if it were a casual work, and that would have pushed the boundaries of human thought in earnest.

But there are doubts.

Elwood asked:

"Professor Herwen, can you tell from the appearance of the corpse that the murderer was in when he disposed of the corpse? ”

Herwin asked:

"Detective Elwood, you haven't read my book seriously, have you?"

Elwood sneered:

"I've been busy these days. ”

Hervin says:

"In the chapter of my book on Ouroboros, I tell about seeing a similar blood sacrifice. ”

Elwood asked, confused:

"Doesn't that mean this church has been dead for years?"

Hervin replied:

"Yes, the church has been dead for a long time, and the young man who performed the blood sacrifice was not a believer in Ouroboros, but a well-educated young man who was on the verge of spiritual collapse.

According to his own account, he performed this ritual because he was hunted by a terrifying ancient demon, the Sons of Chaos of Managarm, and he had to borrow the power of another ancient god in order to fight the demon. ”

Elwood scoffed:

"Commit to the demon and pray that he can fight another demon?

Hervin continued:

"The young man had a better conscience than Aaron's murderer, and instead of using humans for blood sacrifices, he painstakingly studied ancient texts and completed the ritual with doctrinal substitutes—various animals.

"I've been there at the end of it all, and because I've seen what a blood sacrifice looks like, I know that this sacrifice is nothing more than a merciless mockery of Ouroboros and everyone.

When he was finally discovered, it didn't end well, as red marks were found on his throat as if he had been entwined by a python, and the lower half of his body was missing, leaving only traces of being eaten by canines. ”

Hervin smiled and explained:

"Of course, since I arrived there after his death, I was not able to see his death with my own eyes, and it is not known how much of it was rumored by the public and how much was the imagination of the ignorant. ”

Hewen hadn't forgotten to clean up the remnants of the Old God's power before leaving there.

Or should I call it the Old Demons?

Elwood seems to be in awe of the story, as he calls himself, a half-mystic.

Hervin says:

"To the murderer, this ritual of desecration of humanity is nothing more than a tool for a certain end, a crude work that he has casually created. ”

Elwood closed his eyes.

Tools, Rituals, Hervin, Books, Ouroboros, Eternal Life, Reincarnation, Abbas, Aaron, Purpose, Distance, Time, Place.

The detective slowly stated his reasoning:

"The killer wants everyone to notice Abbas's death, and for some purpose that I can't be sure for yet, he needs people to turn their attention to this man.

"What changed because of his death?"

As the detective muttered to herself, Kelly looked at Herwin.

Because she thought of a terrible answer, one that she could not understand and accept, but which seemed to explain everything.

That is, the reason why the murderer killed Abbas in such a cruel way was so that Hervin would be suspicious of others because of it.

How could anyone indifferently kill an ordinary student who had no grudge against him just to create some trouble for the professor that could not pose a real threat?

The figure of a woman dressed in black came to mind.

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