On the Resurrection Square, already covered in scorch marks and cracks, the environment suddenly darkened. An almost tangible gloom and coldness seeped in, and not even the blinding silver-white lightning could dispel this feeling.
Daly Simone keenly sensed that an unknown creature was traversing the Spirit World, approaching this area. A bad premonition arose in her heart, as if she could already see Ince Zangwill using this unexpected change to easily escape, disappearing without a trace.
An uncontrollable chill ran through her body, as if she had returned to the moment she first became a Beyonder.
The effects of the potion and the trauma of losing her family made her start liking the cold and damp. She couldn't help but approach corpses, always wandering through cemeteries and sleeping by the graves.
This made her seem strange, causing others to instinctively shun her. Not only did her body temperature drop, but her heart also felt like it was slowly freezing over, turning cold.
Terrified of this feeling, she still wished to be a living, breathing person. So, instinctively, she used the men's covetousness of her looks and body, going through one boyfriend after another, hoping to combat the freezing of her soul with the warmth of her body.
In this dissolute and degenerate life, she met that man. The man who always listened to her gently. The man who was always by her side, steadily offering help. The man who would be embarrassed by jokes about relationships. The man who sincerely tolerated all his teammates' shortcomings. The man who was at a loss again and again under her teasing. The man who liked to hide his pain and sorrow deep in his heart, causing his hairline to recede early. The man who, when danger came, would absolutely be the first to step forward and shield his teammates behind him.
She changed. She began to like wearing makeup that made her look older. She stopped getting close to other men, keeping only a bit of playful banter to deliberately show that she hadn't changed much.
But she was still too late. Too late to witness that man master the Acting Method, digest the potion, and advance to Sequence 6. Too late to see him take the initiative to extend his hand to her, inviting her for an opening dance. Too late to take part in the final battle of his life. Too late to tell him the feelings in her heart.
"Last time, I missed the chance. I didn't have time to do anything. Today, I don't want to be like this again..." Daly's expression turned sorrowful. The corners of her mouth slowly lifted, gentle and sweet.
With her eyes tightly shut, she suddenly pulled a small metal bottle from a hidden pocket in her clothes, threw away the stopper, and gulped down the liquid inside.
Her blue eyeshadow and blush instantly became vivid, and even her skin grew slightly translucent. Her pinned-up hair suddenly loosened, pushing back her hood and floating around her.
"Spirit that roams the void, fearsome creature of the upper realm, unpredictable visitor..." Daly chanted rapidly in concise and forceful Ancient Hermes. "I, I, in my own name, enter into a contract with you and beseech you to leave this place!"
Behind Ince Zangwill, who had eight legs and white feathers, a figure took shape. It was a bloody mass of flesh, covered in countless eyes and pierced by arms of all different races.
It was just about to grab Ince Zangwill's body and drag him into the Spirit World when it suddenly stopped and turned its countless gazes toward where Daly Simone was.
On the surface of Daly's skin, pitch-black snake scales suddenly bulged out, and white fuzz grew in the gaps between the scales.
Her knees gave way, and she fell painfully to her knees, but she never broke her spiritualist posture.
On Ince Zangwill's body, that quill began to write on its own:
"An unknown existence has descended upon Resurrection Square and is about to take Ince Zangwill away. No, it is attracted by Daly Simone! Its aesthetic actually leans towards humans! Oh dear, it has given up on Ince Zangwill. It has decided to heed Daly Simone's advice and leave this place."
"This is truly unexpected. In the matter of spiritualism, Ince Zangwill, a demigod, actually lost to Daly Simone, who is only Sequence 5! Although this lady consumed the Spirit Potion and paid a tremendous price, there was basically no way she could beat Ince Zangwill, who was barely using the Quill of Alzuhod!"
"Ince Zangwill is just too unlucky, encountering an event with close to zero probability!"
Amidst the thunder, in Ince Zangwill's pitch-black eyes surrounded by mystical symbols, a speck of blood-red light flared up, then subsided. His 'hand' holding the quill again wrote on the surface of his body:
"Another unknown existence is attracted and comes nearby, trying to enter the real world..."
Writing up to here, the quill suddenly paused, and then wrote on its own:
"It's coming, it's coming. It, She is Reinette Tinekerr! No, Reinette Tinekerr is driving away all the creatures of the Spirit World nearby. She glanced at Ince Zangwill. She withdrew her gaze. She left this place. She continues to wander nearby."
"Ince Zangwill is too unlucky, too unlucky!"
Ince Zangwill's rapidly moving body suddenly paused, as if he had received a great psychological blow.
Boom!
A thick silver-white lightning bolt struck down, heavily hitting the eight-legged "monster", sending Ince Zangwill leaping forward and letting out an inhuman shriek.
In his pitch-black eyes, a blood-red radiance exploded outwards, turning into two bloodthirsty, cruel, and deranged orbs of light.
"Ince Zangwill can no longer control his emotions, maintain a good state, and has lost most of his rationality..." The slightly worn-out quill wrote on, growing dimmer and dimmer, until it gradually stopped.
Within a hair-raising, guttural roar, endless darkness spread out, pulling both Daly Simone and Leonard Mitchell into a dream.
But the ensuing thunder and lightning immediately awakened the sleepers.
Ince Zangwill's eight legs pushed off the ground, leaving an afterimage in place, and dashed at full speed toward Daly Simone, who was in a state of half-losing control, intending to cruelly tear apart this Nighthawk who had ruined his escape.
Boom! Boom! One exaggeratedly thick lightning strike after another fell, blocking his advance.