The Handbook for Completing Demi-Human Girls

Chapter 553: True and False Prophecies

Having just awakened from that incredibly murky state, Fisher was still staring blankly, not having fully grasped the situation before him. He merely looked at the Renee in front of him. The joy of finally, unexpectedly reuniting with Renee, the confusion over her sudden appearance here, and the shock of his own blurted-out name all blended together at this moment, preventing him from coming back to his senses right away.

Behind Renee, Eimhart—who simply wanted to find a place to smack himself to death—watched Fisher's body slowly revert to humanoid form. After hesitating for a moment, he hurriedly flew in front of Fisher and interrupted,

"Great, Fisher, you've changed back!! I thought you were going to be a ball forever!"

Eimhart's rescue relieved the originally murderous atmosphere. Renee's slightly stunned expression also eased up. She looked at Fisher's body and let out a sigh of relief, saying,

"Great, it succeeded..."

"Renee..."

Fisher's newly grown eyes struggled to focus. At this moment, he felt like a newborn infant still in swaddling clothes; his entire body felt so unfamiliar. He did his utmost to look at the person in front of him. Amidst the focus of the faint, delicate fragrance, her all-too-familiar appearance finally became clear.

Looking at Fisher's somewhat stunned expression, Renee couldn't help but smile slightly. However, that smile was soon covered by a hint of faint resentment. She gave a delicate harrumph, stood up, and asked Fisher,

"Did something happen to you in the past? Why are your return time and location so weird? I searched for you for a long time, and waited for you for a long time. If it wasn't for the extremely obvious Chaos and the presence of this little thing appearing here, I wouldn't have even known you returned..."

"I didn't do it on purpose, Renee. I encountered danger in the past, so I used your sigil a bit. I don't know if it's because of this, but my return time and location deviated... I indeed landed in the Sanctuary, but was captured by Angels, along with several other Transferred Persons who descended upon this world at that time. Then I was forced into some trouble... In the Tree Continent, I encountered the Nineteenth-Tier Duke Tao. The situation was critical at the time, so I could only use your sigil to intimidate her."Fisher briefly explained the matter of appropriating the sigil to Renee. After all, this sigil was hers. The power of a True God was too bizarre, and he didn't know its specific properties either, so he could only tell her the situation and let her judge.

Hearing that he had used the sigil, Renee was entirely shocked. She said in disbelief,

"Wait, what did you say? You took my sigil out prematurely?!"

"Ah, but after scaring away Duke Tao, I sealed it back inside my body again..."

Renee was frightened pale. She hurriedly squatted down again and inspected Fisher's body from top to bottom.

"How could... Fisher, you... you really are..."

"What's wrong?"

The current Fisher was stark naked. Being scrutinized by Renee like this felt somewhat unnatural. He retreated a shying distance on the reef, but Renee still wasn't reassured. She meticulously looked at Fisher's chest and other areas, speaking simultaneously,

"The sigil I sealed within your body was very unstable to begin with, you know this. I am intolerant to this world; even exposing my power will cause very severe consequences. Sending you away and bringing you back relied entirely on this property. For you to release it in another way... it's very likely it would completely swallow you up... You... you truly are overly audacious!"

Even when angry, Renee's words toward Fisher weren't that heavy. He couldn't feel any aggressiveness at all, only her concern.

Actually, compared to himself, Fisher felt that once her sigil lost control, he wouldn't be the only one to suffer; it would even trigger a disaster far worse than the Ideal State.

"Aren't I fine? Moreover, in the past, I not only escaped Death but also advanced to the Mythic Rank. It's just that a slight deviation occurred upon return. Not only did I directly cross four and a half years, but I also came straight to the Southern Continent..."

Amidst Fisher's soothing words, the anxious worry on Renee's face finally slowed down. She was indeed very worried about Fisher. To her, let alone newly entering the Mythic Rank, even Demigods would find her power extremely dangerous, not to mention he seemingly didn't even have the Mythic Rank at the time...

The moment she thought he might have passed away, Renee's heart was instantly occupied by an unprecedented sorrow, her thoughts almost coming to a complete halt.

But at least, he was fine now, and had safely returned having achieved his goal...

Renee slowly calmed her emotions. She panted for breath, looked at the Fisher in front of her, and realizing after the fact, discovered he was wearing absolutely no clothes.

"!"

In the hazy moonlight, an imperceptible pink tinted Renee's face. Her bright purple eyes also shifted away slightly. Dodgingly, she stood up, curled her lips, and grumbled to Fisher,

"Yeah, if you didn't explain, I would have thought the first thing you did upon coming back was to find that Dragonewt and Whale-person. Raphaela... Heh, she burned the clothes you gave me; she really has some nerve."

Fisher glanced awkwardly at Eimhart. He was completely bewildered, but Fisher knew exactly what was going on.

Back then, before leaving the Southern Continent, he gifted his horse carriage to Raphaela to help her cross the entire continent and take her companions home. However, leaving in a hurry, he actually forgot to take away the clothes Renee left in his carriage...

Well, honestly speaking, just going to retrieve those clothes was indeed inappropriate. Otherwise, if he had been holding another woman's clothes while completing the final assassination with Raphaela back then, Raphaela probably would have gotten genuinely angry halfway through the fight...

As for Raphaela burning Renee's clothes, this matter was both totally unexpected and entirely reasonable.

"Me landing in the Southern Continent really was an accident. Eimhart can testify."

"Ah? Me? Uh..."

It was a good thing Eimhart didn't have hands, otherwise, at this moment, he would definitely be pointing at his own face while feeling perplexed.

When Renee looked over, a layer of cold sweat seemed to appear on his book covers. He mumbled, speaking timidly,

"Indeed... indeed it is so..."

"Heh, then who is that Helaire Fisher just mentioned? Was he messing with flowers and grass again in the past?"

Renee crossed her arms and asked Eimhart expressionlessly, frightening him into taking a step back. He looked at Fisher beside him, then glanced at Renee in front of him, and hurriedly said,

"I... I don't know... After returning to the past, I was captured by the Holy Progeny. I basically didn't see what he was doing... This... all of this has nothing to do with me! Lady Renee, please see clearly!"

"You are just a Holy Artifact, what could it possibly have to do with you?"

Renee seemingly asked Eimhart, but in reality, she was asking Fisher. After saying this, she looked at Fisher beside him, seemingly quite jealous that he had called out someone else's name so desperately and worriedly when he hadn't even fully awakened just now.

She had once said that she cared very little for the many rules and regulations humans were bound by, but that statement actually had a prerequisite: those women must not provoke her.

This wave was almost a taunt to her face. Although it was spoken through Fisher, couldn't one see Fisher's treasuring of the owner of this name?

Being asked by Renee at this moment, Fisher's expression suddenly became solemn. He didn't look like he was being interrogated at all; rather, he seemed to use this topic as an opportunity to tell Renee something important.

"Speaking of Helaire... Renee, she is an Angel I met in the Sanctuary, a Mythical Species created by the Chain of Heaven. During the disaster of Chaos triggered by a Transferred Person in the Ideal State, she and I both sank into the ocean of Chaos. She was corrupted by Chaos, but I had no major issues... at least on the surface. A new Mythical Species—the Demon-kin—was born in the Ideal State. Due to this opportunity, she was sent in by the Angels, adopting the alias 'Baimon'..."

"Perhaps precisely because of her identity as a 'Demon God' on the surface but truly an 'Angel', she not only avoided the Sanctuary's destruction in the war but also escaped the Mother Goddess' purge of Demons. Over thousands of years, she has always been active in the world. After my return, she awakened two Eighteenth-Tier Demons from the Abyss, currently hiding in Naris' army... And most crucially, right at the end when I was about to leave the past and return to the present, the [Mother Goddess] had also just been born. And the Mother Goddess' birth seems to have some connection to her, or rather, to an Elf named [Gui] who seems connected to you..."

Renee was slightly stunned, then chewed over this name.

"Gui?"

"Ah, Gui, one of the three Elf children descended from the World Tree. I met her in the past. It was her and Helaire who helped me enter Chaos relying on the Mythic Rank. She looks exactly like you, completely exactly the same..."

Fisher briefly told Renee about meeting Gui, especially her stating that he was very special, and combining it with Helaire's earlier words, "Fisher is the key to resolving the World-Ending Prophecy", he told Renee everything.

The more she listened, the more confused the expression on Renee's face became. She murmured,

"Gui, Helaire... Baimon, I have indeed heard these names, but know very little about them. My previous incarnation, meaning the Mother Goddess revered by humans, fought a war with the gods in the Spirit World at the end of the Mythic War. She perished completely because of this, and I sprouted and was born as a result. I am not Her, and She is not me. We are merely two existences born from the [Authority]. I also lack Her memories, only able to hazily, occasionally see scenes She had seen... But I know the time the Authority descended upon this world was roughly ten thousand years ago..."

"If she was born when you left, then the time you went back to is exactly ten thousand years. Judging by the time, the duration She lived and the experiences She went through are far greater than mine. Her knowledge of this world is also far superior to mine. Even until now, I have been searching for the truth of Her participation in the war; this is something even Ramastia and the others have no way of knowing the reason for. She was born in the Spirit World of this world ten thousand years ago, and had clearly lived quietly and peacefully with this world for so long. Why would She suddenly intervene in the Mythic War?"

"As for that whatever you said... the World-Ending Prophecy..."

As Renee spoke, she secretly glanced at Fisher in front of her. Seeing that he was also pondering and thus didn't notice her gaze, some unclear meaning flashed across Renee's face. Then she said abruptly,

"Fisher, I do not believe you are the key to resolving the World-Ending Prophecy. I believe you have no need to participate in this matter either."

Fisher's thoughts came to an abrupt end. He looked up at Renee, only to find she was already looking toward the distant sea surface and Dragon Court. He couldn't help but ask,

"What do you mean?"

"Fisher, do you remember when you met me many years ago, I only noticed you precisely because you said you were looking for the [Undying Witch]. I know you knew about that Prophecy very early on, and tried to resolve it. Even that Dragonewt, Whale-person, and that Valentiina who just finished Nirvana in the Northern Border... you met them all because of this Prophecy..."

"...That is indeed the case."

"But I must say, the Prophecy you read has been tampered with. the meaning of that Prophecy was altered by a certain person, thereby creating ambiguity..."

Renee turned her head back to look at Fisher, continuing to tell him,

"The World-Ending Prophecy was discovered by the God of Destiny [Annebatos] within the threads of destiny roughly nine thousand five hundred years ago. At that time, they had already attempted contact with my previous incarnation for five hundred years, but gained nothing. She provided no response, only silently watching this world all along. Until that day, my previous incarnation brought a Prophecy to this world, and She Herself was the omen of this Annihilation Prophecy. She said:"

"['The Flame of the Soul will ignite first, incinerating everything in the world with the flames of war.']"

"['Twisted Life will stir up massive waves, erasing the rules upon which living beings depend for survival.']"

"['False Gods from within the Barrier will leave the remnants of thieves with nowhere to hide, nowhere to return.']"

"['Your indelible fallacies will compose an Epitaph for you with their song...']"

Along with Renee's gentle whispers, that song-like prophecy—seemingly infused into the future of this world—finally presented itself completely before Fisher at this moment.

A bit of blurry whispering flashed past his ears. Both he and Eimhart instantly froze in place, letting that prophecy of unknown meaning crash into their minds.

"This is the prophecy we truly face. If I'm not mistaken, you hold another version of the World-Ending Prophecy in your hands, stemming from the speculation and fantasy of a lower-tier existence. Thousands of years ago, Ramastia also heard this version of the prophecy from somewhere unknown, and believed this tampered and forged version was the key to resolving the World-Ending Prophecy..."

Hearing this, Fisher frowned slightly. He inevitably compared the version Renee just spoke of with the World-Ending Prophecy in his Demi-Human Completion Handbook. Putting everything else aside, judging purely by surface appearances, Renee's prophecy felt much more like a genuine "World-Ending Prophecy".

Perhaps due to spending a long time with her, Fisher also somewhat understood the disposition of that Demi-Human Girl Con, thus inevitably viewing her attitude through slightly tinted glasses.

But setting aside past prejudice, there were two possibilities for the World-Ending Prophecy in his hands.

First, Renee was right. That Demi-Human Girl Con might have caught a glimpse of a corner of the World-Ending Prophecy from somewhere unknown. But due to her Life Tier and the mental issues peculiar to Transferred Persons (especially since this Transferred Person's mental issues weren't ordinary), the prophecy she held as absolute truth really was a prank version of the World-Ending Prophecy.

Judging from the current situation, the few "world enders" he previously identified weren't genuinely the real problem at all. The real problem were those Completion Handbooks harboring Chaotic Knowledge, not these Demi-Human Girls. Therefore, Fisher previously had the illusion of resolving the World-Ending Prophecy.

Second, Ramastia was right. Both the prophecy spoken by the Demi-Human Girl Con and the prophecy spoken by Renee were true. It was just that the World-Ending Prophecy provided by the Demi-Human Girl Con was translated. It might harbor specific events of destruction, or might relay the key to resolving the World-Ending Prophecy...

Moreover, Helaire previously told him just recently that the key to initiating the World-Ending Prophecy lay with Raphaela. Didn't this somewhat corroborate that the World-Ending Prophecy spoken by the Demi-Human Girl Con was true?

But this created another problem. Since Fisher also couldn't judge whether Helaire's words were entirely true, and couldn't even falsify her viewpoints, using her viewpoints to support his hypothesis was truly unreasonable.

The key was that right now, Fisher couldn't find evidence for many things. If he really dug deep, the entire logical chain was an infinitely repeating chain of suspicion. He would then fall into the trap of "skepticism" and become overly cautious.

However, the current problem still had to be faced. The two approaching Eighteenth-Tier Demons were real. That seemingly formless yet well-corroborated "World-Ending Prophecy" was real. These didn't need proof; they were laid out right before his eyes...

Fisher pondered for a moment. Having also read the hidden meaning behind Renee's words, he asked,

"Renee, do you mean... you want me to withdraw from this matter of the World-Ending Prophecy?"

Renee nodded. Her peripheral vision looked at those few Completion Handbooks that were still clearly visible despite Fisher currently being stark naked.

In her eyes, those items weren't Completion Handbooks, but rather some sort of scourge...

Because of this, her tone of voice was both worried and solemn.

"Fisher, you just barely escaped from losing control. Don't you know how dangerous these things are? They will harm you. It is exactly because you consider yourself the key to the World-Ending Prophecy that you keep coming into contact with these things, leading them to drag you into this vortex of destruction."

"...It's not that I consider myself the key, I never felt I was special, nor felt this great responsibility of saving the world could only be borne by me. It's that I have no choice but to do this. Even if the World-Ending Prophecy I see is fake, the World-Ending Prophecy genuinely exists. It will implicate the people I care about. When they cannot escape, how could I leave?"

"Even if by doing so you'll lose control like today, you'll constantly walk on the edge of a breakdown?"

Looking at Renee's worried face, Fisher finally nodded and said,

"Even if it's like this."

"...It's because of Raphaela and Jasmine, right?"

This sentence actually didn't sound like a question, but more like a statement. Powerful as Renee was, she had long known about Fisher's relationships with those ladies. She didn't even need to guess to know Fisher's thoughts.

But to Fisher's surprise, there didn't seem to be much jealousy in this sentence; instead, there was some dejection.

"It's also because of you, Renee. At the end of that World-Ending Prophecy was the 'Undying Witch'. I precisely went to Schwari to find you because of this. It's just that back then, I only held an inquiring attitude toward the World-Ending Prophecy, not knowing it would be such a severe matter..."

Renee remained silent, wanting to say something more, but Fisher spoke first again.

"Alright Renee, we've only just reunited. Are you sure you want to turn this reunion into a meaningless argument?... Alright, although it was quite sudden in the Northern Border last time too... Since you came from the Spirit World, it's possible for you to appear from anywhere. I will carefully reconsider reading the Completion Handbooks."

Renee let out a long sigh. Ultimately, however, she didn't seem to intend to continue arguing this point with Fisher.

They had known each other for so long. Although for a very long time Renee hadn't informed Fisher of her true identity, precisely because of this, she was able to comfortably and naturally reveal her true personality to Fisher.

Identity aside, they indeed understood each other well enough to read the meaning in the other's words, rather than bickering stubbornly.

Renee pouted, then lightly punched Fisher's chest with her small fist, saying,

"Hmph, anyway, our Fisher is quite capable. Even the Angels of the Sanctuary will unconditionally assist you, and even keep you in their thoughts from the past all the way to ten thousand years later. Comparatively speaking, it's actually the fault of this Witch, who only waited for you for four and a half years. I'm truly sorry, Lord Fisher of the Sanctuary..."

These sarcastic and ambiguous words clearly indicated that she was still taking to heart the fact that Fisher's very first words upon speaking just now were of that whatever Helaire, and not her.

"Renee..."

"Hmph, no excuses. Next time when you are together with me, it's best you don't mention the name of any woman. I'm jealous."

"Wait, didn't you previously say that as long as..."

"That was the Renee from four and a half years ago. I've changed my mind now. Not allowed to mention, not allowed to mention, not allowed to mention..."

"Alright."

Fisher nodded, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. Beside them, Eimhart stood at attention looking at Renee, seemingly ready to "resolutely implement Lady Renee's handling opinions regarding issues during new types of alone time". He had long since defected to Lady Renee's side, becoming a "Pro-Renee Anti-Baimon Party Member".

Upon receiving Fisher's affirmation, the coquettishly temperamental Renee let out a satisfied hmph and stood up. Her body slowly became ethereal, just like in the past.

"I'll go find a piece of clothing for you first. You looking like this right now is too indecent. Wait here for a moment..."

Upon leaving, Renee left Fisher with her retreating figure, as well as the words she waited a moment to follow up with.

"Also... Regarding the topic we just discussed, I'm serious. Consider it carefully... Just leave this matter to me and those few Deities..."

"We already have a way to resolve the World-Ending Prophecy."

As soon as her voice faded, she entirely vanished from her spot, heading toward the Dragon Court in the distance.