The bright starlight was opening to herself, coming to herself—he had been sitting on the couch before, but as he took a step in this direction, Agatha felt as if she were looking at a giant that was difficult to describe in words, and for a brief moment she lost even the ability to judge size and proportion, and her confused perception made it impossible for her to comprehend the size of the house, and the giant that the starlight had gathered...... It almost suffocated her soul.

But it was only a brief illusion, and the next moment, Agatha awoke from her stunned moment, realizing that her sanity was not affected by any of the beings in this room, as if it were ...... I've come naturally into the place.

"I ......" she fixed her gaze, staring at the starlit giant in front of her, she knew that she was constantly staring at the "truth" of this unspeakable being, which was normally no different from suicide, but after confirming that she was really not affected by it now, she became bolder, "I didn't expect you to be really here, just to try your luck......

"Where do you think I'm going? Do you swagger away when the floor is full of messes here? Like the protagonists in picture books who complete tasks? Duncan laughed, leaning over to signal Agatha to enter the room, then paused, glanced at Alice next to him, and added, "I'm referring to picture books with normal content. ”

Agatha was a little stunned, she felt as if she was a little out of the Great Being's train of thought, but she quickly convinced herself that it was normal for mortals not to understand the thoughts of the old gods, and walked towards the house.

Duncan stopped abruptly and glanced at Agatha's hand.

“…… Can you put Shirley down first? He said in a somewhat strange tone, "Shirley, too—how do you see you enjoying it?" ”

"Ah, I'm sorry!" Agatha reacted suddenly, and quickly put the thin girl she was carrying on the ground, but the moment she put it down, her expression suddenly changed.

She hadn't paid attention to Shirley when she was in the doorway, and it was then that she suddenly noticed the abnormality in the latter's body—limbs mutated by the symbiosis of the ghostly demons, chains that stretched out of her body and hidden, and the ghostly hound that was hiding in the shadows, sneaking outside.

"Seteriose ......" Agatha subconsciously spoke, and the muscles in her body were already tense in an instant.

But before she could do anything, Duncan's voice was already ringing on the side: "Relax, it's just a harmless hound, and I need a hound to help me find something once in a while." ”

"Harmless...... Hound? Agatha spoke with a strange expression, but her gaze subconsciously swept around.

The figures came into view again—those that looked like God's chosen, those who seemed to be blessed by subspace, those that seemed to be housed with the power of the sun, and the empty shells of souls that couldn't even be seen through......

Her gaze fell on the girl named Shirley again.

Realizing that he had been discovered, the Hound was crouching in the shadows with his neck bent, looking pitiful.

Agatha fell silent.

The Old Gods and their followers are gathered here—indeed, any dark demon is harmless here.

"Rest assured, Shirley is not an Annihilationist," Duncan patiently explained when he saw Agatha fall silent, "She and Dog have met for other reasons, and they are now acting according to my orders, and they will not harm the city-state." ”

As he spoke, he pointed to a chair not far away: "Sit down, you should have a lot to say." ”

Agatha walked slowly, and Duncan watched her movements—she had found the chair with precision, but was clearly a little hesitant and fumbling as she sat down.

"It seems like you're going to need some time to get used to where you're now," Duncan began, "is that okay?" ”

The mysterious being seemed to be so kind and peaceful forever, but Agatha moved her body a little uncomfortably: "...... I'm not used to the way I perceive the world now, but this body doesn't have to worry. In fact, there are many benefits to the changes that have happened to me, and I am now able to see many things that I could not have observed before, but ...... Adaptation is required. ”

"I'm sorry," Duncan said earnestly, "I didn't expect such a change—in fact you wouldn't have had to go to such an extreme point as self-sacrifice. ”

"But it's the most efficient way to do it," Agatha shook her head slightly, "and there's nothing better than a gatekeeper to be a vehicle of your might." ”

Duncan didn't say anything more, and then his attention was on the other party's special outfit at the moment.

"You're very different from the last time we met," he said casually, "and you look ...... You're more of a priest now than you've been before. ”

"I'm in charge of the Archbishop temporarily," Agatha nodded slightly, "Bishop Ivan is gone, and now that the fighting in the city is over, it's more important to have someone here to lead the church to calm the souls of the dead and the minds of the living than a heavily armed gatekeeper." ”

"Bishop Ivan...... Duncan's tone was somewhat solemn, and after a brief silence, he sighed softly, "I haven't seen him, but at that time, I sensed the shelter that had descended on the city-state...... Although short-lived, his efforts did weaken the connection between the mirror and reality for a short time, and many more people would have died without him. ”

"May he have peace in Bartók's kingdom," Agatha whispered, "and he ...... After many years, I can finally take a long break. ”

"He will—though I don't know exactly what Bartók's realm is all about, but as a righteous god, he will do justice to the noble souls," Duncan said casually, and then the conversation shifted, "Now, tell me about the situation in the city-state." ”

Agatha nodded slightly.

She knew that as the gatekeeper of the Church of Death, and one of the only remaining people in the city-state who could preside over the situation, she should not casually reveal Frost's embarrassment at the moment, let alone establish more communication with the existence of the unknown and suspected ancient gods, but after witnessing the behemoth figure standing in the sea outside the city-state, after performing that "self-sacrifice", she knew that both Frost and herself had inevitably established an inseparable connection with this mysterious being.

Now that the being was clearly interested in keeping an eye on the shattered city-state, there was no way she could avoid it.

If you have sinned by your choices today, let the church and the Lord judge you.

"The current situation of the frost ...... "It's bad," she began, her voice low, "as you know, we've just lost Archbishop Ivan, and the clergy and defenders of the Church have lost a lot in defending the city-state, and now the city is filled with fear and tension, and all sorts of negative effects of death and injury—if these are not dealt with in time, then secondary disasters are very likely, horrors will grow from people's hearts, and in the case of a lack of manpower in the church, 'fear' itself will snowball through the city-state."

In fact, the sunset a few hours later may well be the beginning of the ordeal - in the previous mirror invasion, the frost had not been shining by the sun for a long time, which greatly weakened the city-state's protection against supernatural powers, and no one knew what would happen on the first night of the next day.

"On the other hand, the situation at the town hall is actually worse than the church - apart from the battle damage suffered by the city-state guard and the sheriff's troops, the most serious is ......"

Agatha was visibly hesitant to say this, but after a few seconds of confusion she told the story - after all, it was impossible to hide the Archon's whereabouts from anyone.

"The most serious thing is that the consul is missing."

Duncan raised his eyebrows: "Missing?" ”

"He disappeared into the boiling gold mines, and I ......" Agatha was a little stuck, as if organizing her language, and after a few seconds she continued with a complicated expression, "The other me, who led a team to investigate the mine where the Archon disappeared, and according to the report of the exploration team that returned to the Cathedral, both 'I' and Archon Winston entered an anomalous area blocked by a stone wall and did not return ......"

Her tone was low and hesitant, and it was clear that her mood was not as calm as she appeared to be at the mention of "another self".

Duncan, on the other hand, could almost imagine the tangled, chaotic, and contradictory process of Agatha's return to the cathedral to learn from the other clerics about the actions of her "alter self" over the past few days.

He looked at Agatha calmly, "You can put it bluntly—the Archon of the Frost City-State is dead, you have judged it, right?" ”

"Yes," Agatha said calmly, no longer hesitating, "although there is no evidence, I do 'know' that he is dead, dead in some strange and dark space, and probably will not even be able to recover his body." ”

"You 'know,'" Duncan emphasized the word "know," and then adjusted his position in his chair, "Looks like you're going to go to the boiling gold mine again." ”

"There...... It's the last place 'she' disappears," Agatha nodded slightly, "and when she finally disappeared, I felt something indescribable in words, I felt as if I could sense her thoughts, I felt ...... She seems to have a lot of things to tell me, but she doesn't have time......"

Agatha paused, then continued, "And...... The members of the exploration team who returned from the mine also mentioned to me something that the 'other me' told them when they were leading the team to explore the mine, which made me even more uneasy......"

(End of chapter)