When her head was forcibly lifted by the wings, Lin Shu saw the Pope’s face clearly. Even though her eyes were shielded by pure white feathers, Lin Shu still made out the mole under the corner of her lips. The position of the mole was the same as Fiona’s. Were they sisters?
At this moment, the key hovered between them, emitting a brilliant light, flashing again and again.
The surrounding crowd remained still. All movements of the Sacred Race were frozen, and the entire hall was pulled into a world belonging only to the two of them. Only she and the Pope could move.
The ethereal female voice sounded again.
“I thought this thing didn’t exist at all, but it actually appeared.”
“The oracle is true. It really is in the hands of a human.”
“Thanks to Fiona.”
Her eyes were hidden by the wings, making her expression unreadable, but Lin Shu could clearly hear the delight in her tone.
So, among the Sacred Race, the one who wanted this key was her? But why? Just because it belonged to the Creator God?
The Pope raised her hand and curled her finger. The thread holding the key snapped instantly.
“Wait!”
Lin Shu instinctively reached out to stop her. Before she could get a clear explanation, Lin Shu wasn’t willing to hand over this special key so easily.
However, in the next second, a terrifying pressure erupted. An invisible force slammed into Lin Shu, sending her flying. She rolled several times on the ground, sliding a considerable distance.
Lin Shu gritted her teeth and pushed herself up, urgently looking up. The six wings on the Pope’s back instantly spread open, their light blinding her almost completely. After the wings fully unfolded, the body beneath was revealed.
Lin Shu’s heart clenched. What was that? Countless chains coiled around her body, embedded into her skin, grown together with her flesh. The chains converged at her heart, where an intricate lock lay. The pattern on the lock was exactly the same as the pattern on the key.
‘Some things are better left unexplored.’
Lin Shu suddenly recalled Fiona’s words. She was clearly bound. Was this the reason she had been looking for the key?
The Pope extended her hand, slowly reaching for the floating key.
“!”
The key suddenly burst with blinding light. The Pope snatched her hand back as if burned.
“…How?!” The ethereal female voice carried a hint of shock.
The key, as if alive, floated back to Lin Shu.
Lin Shu stared at the key in surprise. She reached out, and the key obediently fell back into her palm. At the same time, the long-unseen system panel suddenly popped up:
[Ciallo~]
[You’ve finally come to the place closest to me~]
Lin Shu: ? She had almost forgotten she even had this system!! But compared to the previous constant server busy, why did the system suddenly feel so alive? “Closest to me”? She was currently in the Creator God’s church. Could it be that behind this system…
Only the subtitles visible to Lin Shu kept popping up:
[It’s time to take you back. Please grab the key~]
When the last subtitle appeared, a huge magic circle suddenly emerged beneath Lin Shu’s feet.
Space began to warp, exactly like when she had encountered the meteor before. She could feel the power of time and space tearing.
“You can’t leave!”
The six wings instantly expanded, and several holy light beams shot up, intertwining into a cage of light that closed in on Lin Shu.
Lin Shu summoned her war flag and slammed it into the ground. Her unique domain instantly expanded—small, but always favoring the flag’s owner. The speed of the light beams’ convergence abruptly slowed, the two forces locked in a stalemate.
“No…”
The Pope’s voice weakened along with her hope. Lin Shu closed her eyes tightly, feeling herself swept up by a force. The world fell silent once more.
—
After parting with Lin Shu, Furina ran for a long time. She crossed street after street, dodging oncoming pedestrians sideways. It wasn’t until the church bells rang that she was jolted out of her daze.
She didn’t know where she had run to. The surroundings were still bustling. The Sacred Race, dressed in gorgeous clothes, passed her by, their halos dazzling. Everything here seemed out of reach.
Furina’s heart still ached. She gasped for air.
‘It’s okay.’
Furina told herself. She had survived years of being treated like a tool in her foster family. Lin Shu was just a strange human she had met by chance. Like before, Furina comforted herself, trying to suppress the surging emotions.
She dragged her heavy steps, looking around blankly. This magnificent city felt foreign. Where to go next? Start over here? It must cost a lot in the royal city.
Furina put down her backpack and searched for her remaining money. Suddenly, she touched a bulging object.
‘Huh?’
She hesitated and pulled it out—a small, heavy cloth pouch. Furina untied the knot, opened the mouth of the pouch, and found it full of coins. Furina froze. On top of the coins lay a small note: “Safe travels :)”
No one else would secretly put things in her bag besides Lin Shu. Furina’s heart trembled, and she frowned. She didn’t want to see anything related to Lin Shu anymore. She quickly closed the pouch and shoved it deep into her backpack.
But her fingers touched another hard-covered notebook. She pulled it out and found it was the book she had helped Lin Shu copy. She had originally thought Lin Shu would agree to take her along, so there was no need to return it so soon. But the parting came too suddenly; she hadn’t had time to give it back to Lin Shu.
Furina sat on a long stone bench by the roadside. After a moment of hesitation, she slowly opened the pages. Inside, densely packed, were black ink words.
“To protect yourself after we part, I’ll teach you magic.”
The image of Lin Shu speaking to her that day floated in her mind. She remembered every incantation. The first page was the Glimmer spell, the first spell Lin Shu taught her. The most basic magic, and Lin Shu had praised her for picking it up quickly. Turning a few more pages, there was ice magic—the magic she used during the first commission with Lin Shu.
The backpack also contained spellcasting materials, all bought by Lin Shu.
Furina turned page after page, reading the words written during the days and nights she spent with Lin Shu. Those times in the inn were the moments she had wanted to hold onto.
plop.
A drop of water fell on the paper, blurring the black characters, smudging the ink.
‘Huh?’
Furina froze. She raised her hand to touch her eyes and realized she had been crying without knowing when. She wiped with the back of her hand, but as soon as she wiped away, more tears came. Why couldn’t the tears stop? She didn’t want to think about that person.
Furina’s vision blurred with tears, and the emotions finally broke through, surging into her nose. She gave up wiping and let the tears roll down her cheeks. Furina curled her knees, huddled on the stone bench, and buried her face in the book. Her slender body trembled slightly, tears silently soaking the pages.
People came and went around her, but no one noticed her by the roadside.