Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

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Staggering out of the White Mist Gate, he took deep breaths as he looked at the ancient stone gate before him. The deadly wind blowing from the stone gate snapped Shard back to reality:

"Not good! Dawn is almost upon us!"

There was no time to think. Bending over, he quickly picked up his belongings off the ground and, making sure nothing was left behind, immediately dashed out along the passageway.

Inside the chapel, he encountered no resistance. Even the spirit of the Church Ring Sorcerer, standing at the chapel entrance with his arms crossed over his chest, congratulated him for successfully rescuing his companion.

Upon exiting the chapel onto the fog-filled street, Shard stopped after only a few steps.

In reality, both the Nature Chapel and the Dawn Chapel were located on Saint Kara Avenue, just at opposite ends of the street. However, at that moment on the Interstice's Saint Kara Avenue, dozens of evil spirits were prowling in the strange miasma, and then suddenly noticed Shard.

"Damn, why are there so many evil spirits... Wait, could it be the Maze Lock I used behind the door had a reaction in both the Interstice and reality?"

There was no time to think further, as those horrifying faces of evil spirits silently swept through the white fog and charged towards him. Almost merging with the mist, they seemed like both a fog and ghost tide surging towards him.

If this had been the outside world, the light from the Silvermoon or even Feliana's Witch Light would have severely wounded them all, but in order not to attract more attention, Shard couldn't do that.

"There are too many of them; I can't engage in close combat with the Silvermoon Greatsword either, I'm running out of time."

Thinking to himself, he took a step back and swung his right hand horizontally in front of him. A silver Light Trace, parallel to the ground, immediately shot out, but it only repelled the tall man at the very front, who was severed at the waist, his upper body and lower body able to attack separately, and the aristocratic evil spirit that held its own head, dragging hundreds of skulls behind it.

"The instantly cast Moonlight Slash isn't powerful enough."

Shard continued to retreat, his arms tracing a cross in front of him. The Light Trace hovered in the air as Shard bent slightly and then threw a punch forward. The cross-shaped Light Trace immediately flew out, but due to the long spellcasting time, all the evil spirits easily dodged the blow.

"It seems the power is sufficient, but it's not fast enough."

"What will you do? Use a Psychic Shockwave to repel all the evil spirits on the entire street with one punch?"

"She" asked with a light chuckle.

In the real world, Shard's strength wasn't so formidable, but in an Interstice that accentuates soul power, and straining his spirit to eighty percent, he could indeed achieve that. But there was still a long way to go, and Shard couldn't afford to fall into a state of power deficiency again.

"To be both quick and ruthless... I still have one more move."

As the terrifying spiritual bodies swept close, Shard closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He contemplated the Silvermoon in his mind and tried to grasp the deeper understanding of the moon he had felt when drinking the "Moon Wine."

Halted in his retreat, Shard spread his arms—

Clap!

With his arms fully extended in front of him, the hands slapped together:

"Moonlight—"

The moment he opened his eyes, numerous pale arms were already reaching out from the white fog ahead, stretching towards Shard's head:

"—Slash!"

As his hands forcefully parted towards the upper left and lower right, a dazzling arc of light was pulled out between his palms. Because of the motion of the hands, the Light Trace protruded in the center and trailed back, almost as soon as his arms were fully extended, the arc shot out.

A lingering afterimage remained in the fog for a long time, and in the next moment, the arc slashed through all the evil spirits piled in front of him, cutting them in two, before flying off into the depths of the fog. The cut edges of the spiritual bodies shimmered with brilliant moonlight, and after a silent second, the "last words" of the souls emerged one after another:

"If only I could make it home in time..."

"I wanted to live another hundred years."

"Actually, I didn't lose; he's the one who lost."

"Forgive me..."

"The fear beneath the earth is unimaginable to mortals."

...

Amidst the chaotic voices, Shard looked at his hands and smiled:

"I learned Moonlight Slash in the First Ring; it's not very powerful, but it's cast instantly. At the Second Ring, I learned to let the Light Trace linger before striking, which is powerful but takes a long time to cast. At the Three Rings, I mastered the technique of pulling out an arc of light with both palms, with intermediate power and casting time. Perhaps, this Arcane Technique is the most suitable for me. If there's one change per Ring, even if it's not a fundamental transformation like the Echo of Blood, this technique will be sufficient for me."

"We're running out of time."

"Oh! Let's go quickly!"

In the Interstice of Life and Death, the sky was obscured by the eerie fog, hiding the stars and moon. But at that moment in Midshire Fort City, the last moment before dawn had come. Using Lagre's Leap and Frog's Leap to move swiftly, Shard didn't know how many evil spirits he shattered on his way. As he entered the Russell Estate courtyard, there was only half a minute left until dawn.

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"We've still got time!"

The arrival of dawn in the material world seemed to suppress the "Interstice of Life and Death." The mist was thinning, significantly improving visibility.

Shard didn't even have time to use the main entrance; he burst right through the windows of the dilapidated manor's corridor and ran along it.

When he turned into the deepest corridor of the manor, due to the mismatch in time between the two spaces, what was half a minute ago was now less than five seconds.

With a sudden rush, he slammed into the decayed wooden door at the end of the corridor, behind which lay the normal world. But even if he could cross spaces, time in the normal world was still rapidly ticking away.

Shard leaped ten meters in a single step, his hand about to touch the wooden door, but it seemed he might still be too late.

"No choice, I have to use Lagre's Leap twice in a row!"

This could very likely attract the terrifying creatures that lived in the cracks of space, but Shard couldn't worry about that at the moment.

Just before he performed another spatial leap, the tightly shut rotten wooden door surprisingly swung open on its own. Following that, an old hand, stretching out like plasticine, reached out and grabbed Shard's right hand, then yanked fiercely, pulling Shard from a position 15 feet away from the door, straight into the gateway connecting the two worlds.

The burning thread on his right hand turned completely to ash, and the last sparks drifted in the empty corridor.

"Oh!"

And Shard, who had passed through that door, was now sprawled heavily in the Russell Estate's corridor, tumbling several times to dissipate the great force of impact. Lifting his gaze, there was no one in sight; the interior of Russell Estate had returned to normal. As for the black vortex on the wall behind him that connected to the "Interstice of Life and Death," it too had disappeared.

"We made it."

Leaning against the wall to slowly stand up, he only then felt the weariness of a sleepless night. Returning to reality allowed his numb body to regain normal sensation. As warmth surged, Shard also felt truly exhausted.

It wasn't just a sleepless night; he had indeed stepped into death and again faced the blood-sucking Saint. Even though everything was over, the pressure on his mind couldn't just dissipate now that his tense nerves were relaxing.

Yawning and fighting off sleepiness, he walked out from the manor, wanting to properly thank Sister Delphine and the "Spiritual Practice Order" for their help. By this time, the courtyard's bonfire had been extinguished by the dawn sky, leaving only very weak embers radiating heat on the charred wood.

The nuns and monks of the Order were also streaming into the building, preparing to clean up the ceremonial traces inside the building. Sister Delphine was still standing in front of the pile of bonfire embers, but now accompanied by an elderly woman.

She had a full head of silver hair, yet her face was still healthy, and although wrinkles could no longer be concealed, her eyes were still spirited.

Dressed in a very old-fashioned black dress, seemingly half a century out of fashion, she wore a wide-brimmed black hat adorned with large, white artificial flowers.

Shard abruptly stopped at the manor's entrance, then slipped his hand into his right pocket. Returning from the past, he didn't have time to put the pendant back around his neck, so he just tucked it into his pocket.

It was for this reason his skin couldn't directly touch the pendant that could sense the presence of a witch. Not until this moment, when the heat became so intense it could affect his waist through his coat and shirt, did he realize who the old lady standing before him was.

The woman nodded and smiled at him, with a kindly expression and seemingly no malice. Shard hesitated for a moment, then continued forward, brushing past the Order's blindfolded nuns, to stand before the gray-white-haired Sister Delphine and the Old Witch:

"Sister Delphine, I encountered some unexpected things inside, but the Priest has come out already. Not just the Priest but also most of the people who went missing this fall. They should now be scattered across the Sicarl Mountain. Someone helped us, a person with wings. I think just now, there must have been some strange phenomena in the real world's Sicarl Mountain Region..."

After detailing the "facts" he had fabricated to the nun, Shard bowed slightly to the elderly lady:

"Good morning, Ms. Cassandra, thank you for pulling me out just now."

The hand that had pulled Shard from the "Interstice of Life and Death" must belong to this Witch.

"Good morning, Mr. Hamilton."

The Witch addressed the Outlander by the surname he used in this world, while the nun beside her showed no reaction.

The old lady looked at Shard amiably:

"You're right, something indeed happened just now. I think someone must have used a Maze Lock deep in the Interstice, but it also helped you. You seem to be quite lucky."

Although aged, one could still discern from her facial details the grace she must have had in her youth:

"Actually, before I met you, I still had some doubts about what Galina had told me."

"Was it Miss Galina who asked you to come to my aid?" Shard inquired, noting that the Witch in front of him seemed to have no ill will toward him.

"Oh yes. Delphine told me yesterday that Galina's friend came seeking her help, even willing to personally enter the Interstice of Life and Death. Coincidentally, I spoke to Galina last night at the Council, and we discussed this matter."

Shard could imagine the Duchess' astonishment and shock at the time; Shard hadn't told her about his actions beforehand, because Miss Galina would surely not have agreed to such a venture. After all, the Red-Haired Witch didn't care whether Priest Augustus lived or died.

"I had heard rumors some time ago that the Duchess of Saradiel at Tobesk was dancing with a lucky man at the Queen's birthday banquet. Initially, I thought she had her maid dress up as a man to cover some facts and quell bad rumors, but it turned out to be true."