With Sister Devlyn's final blessing, the bonfire behind the two of them leaped violently. Centered on the bonfire, the flames flowed along the ritual traces previously laid out on the ground; within a few breaths, the fiery red lines had illuminated the entire courtyard.
Those winding patterns and ancient runes danced under the starry sky, the flickering firelight making them appear increasingly three-dimensional and real.
Simultaneously, the flames flowing across the ground streamed past Shade and Sister Devlyn, following the grooves on both sides of the walkway toward the great manor ahead. However, they turned just before the manor's steps, the two streams of fire extending to the sides to encircle the entire building.
The nun by the walkway shook a bell, held up a porcelain vase, and gently waved a white banner. Meanwhile, the two high-ring nuns before the main gate pulled open the doors of the manor at the same time.
Instantly, a white mist representing the boundary between two worlds surged out like a roaring beast. But as it moved away from the doorway, it grew thinner, stopping its spread exactly at the edge of the courtyard. The firelight of the courtyard flickered within the mist, keeping the boundary stabilized here.
Beneath their feet was still the soil of the material world, but the world of the dead had permeated through.
Shade said nothing more and walked forward along the path. The white mist seemed densest on the walkway; walking through it, Shade could not even clearly see the nuns on either side.
Yet, he could still hear the nuns' soft murmurs. They were praying to Death itself, using archaic language and old grammar that seemed to pull time back to the old era—the age when everyone lived in awe of death.
【Outlander, you feel a miracle.】
【Outlander, you feel a profanation.】
【Outlander, you feel enlightenment.】
【Outlander, you feel whispers.】
"Her" voice echoed continuously in his ear, and as Shade continued forward, he vaguely felt that the world had become somewhat different. It wasn't just the chilly wind and strange whispers; the entirety of the world had shifted.
By the time he reached the entrance of the manor, he could barely see the nuns standing on either side. The door was directly ahead; without hesitation, Shade stepped inside.
The white mist still existed indoors, but the manor before him was no longer as it had been when he first entered. There was no foyer; there was only a straight corridor—the corridor leading to the deepest part of the manor—and at the end of that corridor was the door.
"Fine, I don't have to waste any more time."
The wind carried the scent of decay and rot. Within the white mist surging from ahead, fragmented voices grew more numerous, and none of them sounded like living humans. Shade held his breath, feeling the power of the anomalous space, and approached the end of the corridor step by step.
At the source of the white mist, the wall that originally represented the "rift" was no longer a rotating black vortex; it was now a dilapidated wooden door. Shade paused before the door, then reached out and pushed it open.
Behind the door was darkness. A freezing current of air mixed with white mist slammed into his body and soul. The thin thread on his wrist emitted a crimson glow, providing him with warmth, while the leaf in his mouth continuously replenished his body with vitality.
"Praise the Father of the Infinite Tree, may time be with me."
"Praise the Silver Moon Sage, may the moonlight shine upon me eternally."
"Praise Mr. Dawn, light the shadows, shadows follow the dawn."
【And?】
After Shade's three praises, "She" asked softly.
"Praise the Ancient God of Death, may death protect me, this outlander."
He stepped across.
【Crossing the divide between life and death, the blurred boundary allows you to touch the deepest secrets of the soul.】
【Outlander, you have gained an insight into 'Death'.】
This phrasing had appeared before he obtained the "Greed" spirit rune, indicating that while Shade could feel the power of 【Death】, it was not yet enough to construct a spirit rune within his life ring. This was the second time he had heard this sentence; the first was when Priest Augustus gave him his final words.
【Death, outlander, you have left the world of the living.】
【Even you cannot linger in this world for long.】
"Her" reminder sounded in his ear, and as he stepped through the door, the piercing wind suddenly vanished.
The shift in space caused no discomfort for Shade, who was already accustomed to spatial leaps. However, the feeling of the surroundings rejecting his physical body made him truly realize what the "Interstice of Life and Death" actually was.
Outside the door was still a world of drifting white mist, except that the mist here did not flow; it remained static in the air. Before him was still the corridor deep within Viscount Russell's manor, but everything looked as if it had faded, turning into shades of gray, white, and black. Moreover, it looked as though it had undergone a century of weathering, becoming exceptionally dilapidated.
The cold, damp mist was extremely similar to what Shade had encountered while descending the mountain in the afternoon, and it was even more unfriendly to the living.
"A low-ring warlock like the Priest could stay in a place like this for a week at most. What about me?"
【As long as you keep that leaf in your mouth, you must leave within one thousand days.】
"Understood."
Shade nodded and looked at his hand. In this world devoid of color and life, his skin and clothes still retained their hues. However, when he moved his limbs, he felt a sense of power distinct from that of the physical flesh.
This Grade 0 relic was very different from other relics Shade had encountered. The omnipresent four elements did not cause negative sensations like headaches; the whisper element was being effectively balanced by the other three.
Although physical strength was not prominent here—the soul being external and the body internal—it was clear that a soul containing divinity was more powerful than a mortal body. Because the Ring Warlock system unified the body and soul, he was still a Third Ring, but the abundant spirit and the feeling that he could punch through a wall with a wave of his hand were things a normal body did not possess.
He even felt that in this place, he could barely use a Maze Lock once. But Sister Devlyn had said that in this world between life and death, the recovery speed of a Ring Warlock's spirit and stamina was extremely slow. Therefore, if Shade dared to use a Maze Lock here, he would suffer the consequence of complete exhaustion for several hours, unable to use any奇术 (miracles) or spells.
"Not too bad."
The ground was covered in gray moss, and black streaks clung to the walls. Turning around to look behind him, the door he had come through was gone.
However, the thin thread wrapped around his wrist remained a burning crimson. When Shade wished to return, he could return to this position; this thread would guide him out.
He did not set off immediately, but instead crouched to examine the moss by the wall, barely recognizing it as a special plant called 【Corpse Grass】. In the material world, this plant grew from corpses; it was not only highly toxic, but merely carrying it would accelerate the carrier's aging. In this world, however, it seemed like a very ordinary plant.
"This place is stranger than I imagined."
Standing up, he looked at the pendant on his chest and gave it a light touch. The holy symbol of the deity 【Mr. Dawn】 emitted a golden light and then floated forward, though it only hovered before his chest because it was tethered by a string.
In this world on the edge of life and death, which should not exist, white mist floated year-round. Shade, possessing the 【Space-Time】 spirit rune, could clearly feel that this was not a stable, normal space, but more like an illusory dream or something similar.
The terrain was essentially a replica of Mount Sicar and the city of Midhillburg at its foot. Only, there was no other life here—only patrolling souls.
The entire world was devoid of even a hint of sound; even the noise caused by Shade's footsteps was dampened to the point where he could barely hear it himself.
Leaving the manor and stepping outside, he unexpectedly found that the sky was not the black he had imagined, but a weird shade of gray. There was no sun, no moon, and no stars; everything seemed dead.
Shade was unwilling to linger in such a world, so he followed the guidance of the holy symbol, left the manor, and walked toward the city.
A silent world was particularly terrifying. Occasionally, spirits with gruesome deaths would suddenly appear beside him; although they merely brushed past him, they still made his already oppressive mood worse.
Before Shade actually entered the city, he encountered a malevolent spirit in the woods attempting to attack him. It was the undead of a knight, riding a horse, holding its own severed head, with a sunken chest—it looked like a soul that had died a long time ago.
The ritual of the Spirit Cult should have protected Shade from being noticed by malevolent spirits, but perhaps because of the unfortunate person's hair, the headless knight's spirit still looked at him after Shade drew near.
"As expected, the ritual can indeed weaken a malevolent spirit's perception of me, but if I get too close..."
Silently, the knight charged toward Shade with a lance. In the instant the malevolent spirit and Shade crossed paths, a flash of silver moonlight flickered through this colorless world.
Shade continued walking forward, while the malevolent spirit was silently split in two and then dissipated into the air.
"I am a true knight."
Those were its final words.
On the boundary between life and death, Shade was truly strong.
Although the manor was far from the city, after Shade crossed the forest, he discovered he was already standing in the outskirts of the silent Midhillburg.
Walking one more street and crossing an intersection, he stepped directly into the city. While this place was indeed like a reflection of the real world, it was similar yet different, not entirely identical.
"This makes it easier to save time, but is Priest Augustus in the city? Could he be in the church?" Shade speculated.
The white mist was hazy, and flickering souls drifted everywhere. The number of souls Shade saw today was more than the total number of souls he had seen since arriving in this world. It seemed that the souls of people who died in Midhillburg and the surrounding areas had a chance of coming to this abnormal place.
This was a trampling of the rules of death; normally, after death, the soul should leave directly.
"How exactly was such a mistaken place, where life and death are ambiguous, formed?"
He truly couldn't figure it out, but if all the souls existing here surged into the real world, even if only a few were malevolent spirits, they would certainly be able to annihilate the entire east-central region of the Old Continent.
"Does the Church not have a way to resolve such places once and for all? If they only blindly seal them, bigger problems will definitely arise in the future."
As he thought this, he suddenly heard a faint cry for help. Shade paused hesitantly; because this world dampened sound, the source of the voice should be very close.
"Are there other living people here?"
He remembered that the information from the Academy mentioned that an unusually high number of people had gone missing this autumn.