novelraw Chapter 642: Broken Defenses
Chapter 642: Broken Defenses
"Valen...tina?"
Standing before the carriage, Fisher finally couldn't help but call out to the whispering girl. When Fisher's voice rang out, Valentiina's body also involuntarily trembled slightly. She hurriedly turned around to look behind her in disbelief.
What entered her eyes was the man who seemed to dissolve into the air yet solely revealed himself to her.
She froze for a second, and subsequently her eyes subconsciously reddened. She hurriedly stood up and ran towards Fisher,
"Fisher! Are you really here?!"
"Thump!"
Fisher subconsciously spread his arms, but although the Valentiina before him had transformed from a Phoenix into a human form, her rank was still a solid Fourteenth-Tier. At this moment, having reverted to the level of an ordinary person, he actually failed to catch the force of Valentiina's pounce and was abruptly pinned to the ground by her, drawing a breath of cold air in pain.
"Fisher! Are you... are you okay? I didn't mean to!"
"Fisher? What Fisher? What are you talking about, small fry?"
Seeing herself tackle Fisher to the ground, Valentiina somewhat panicked and hurriedly apologized, but at the exact same moment, Tao Gong's unbelievable voice suddenly resounded in her mind.Valentiina was slightly stunned and opened her mouth to explain,
"Eh? Isn't Fisher right..."
"Idiot small fry, talk to me in your mind, don't say it out loud!"
"Oh..." Valentiina hurriedly used the voice in her mind to Converse with Tao Gong. This also made their conversation extremely swift, very similar to psychological activities. "Fisher is right in front of my eyes. I accidentally tackled him to the ground."
"... Are you missing your deadbeat husband so much you've gone mad? I didn't see anything."
"Huh? How could this... how could this be possible?!"
Valentiina became somewhat flushed with shame. She hurriedly leaned down and stroked Fisher's body, causing the newly fallen Fisher to feel Valentiina's cold, invasive little hands before he could even react. With a shiver, he hastily reached out and grabbed her hands, asking suspiciously,
"Wait a minute, Valentiina, what are you doing?"
"Eh? I..." Upon hearing this, Valentiina blushed. Looking down at her hands that had reached too far into Fisher's clothes to verify his authenticity, she suddenly felt like a hooligan as well, and became embarrassed. "I... I was just checking if you, Fisher, had truly appeared before my eyes..."
Fisher smiled, then reached into his chest and took out the Demi-Human Completion Handbook that she couldn't see. From it, he retrieved the necklace belonging to Valentiina's mother that she had previously entrusted to his care. When that necklace appeared in his hand, Valentiina became increasingly certain that the person before her was truly Fisher.
"You can believe me now, right?"
"..."
Valentiina just looked at the Fisher beneath her like this. After a second, she pouted, then smiled at Fisher again,
"... That's great, to see you again, Fisher."
"Me too, Valentiina."
Fisher lay on the ground, but looking at Valentiina in human form before him, he couldn't shake the feeling that she carried a scent he was extremely familiar with. It was just that his senses had become exceedingly dull under the reversion of the Blessing, so he couldn't distinguish it for the time being.
Therefore, he could only voice his chest full of doubts straightforwardly,
"Valentiina, after awakening, shouldn't you have transformed into... a Phoenix? Why are you still in human form? Also, earlier when you were whispering here, were you..."
"Aiya, about that..."
Valentiina stood up somewhat embarrassedly, but after hesitating for a moment, she still swayed her skirt at Fisher and explained,
"I really am a Phoenix now. It's just that I was worried you, Fisher, wouldn't be used to or wouldn't like seeing my Phoenix form, so I..."
But her words came to an abrupt end at the end. She blinked, as if she was talking to someone in her mind, which was why her outward actions stagnated.
"... Valentiina?"
"Ah, ah, I'm here, Fisher!"
"What's wrong? What were you trying to say just now?"
"Uh, actually, there is the legacy of an elf named 'Tao' within the roots of the World Tree. While I was sleeping, I mastered a portion of her power, and then suddenly I was able to perform some simple manipulations on my physical body..."
Valentiina blinked and said this somewhat reluctantly.
"Tao? Why would that bad-tempered, narrow-minded, and disgusting elf have a legacy inside the roots of the World Tree in the Northern Border..."
Fisher frowned and said this with some concern. After all, the power related to Tao Gong was the Chaos of Life. He vividly did not wish for Valentiina to get involved with matters related to Chaos, not to mention Valentiina was already connected to the World-Ending Prophecy to begin with.
But Valentiina merely blinked and looked blankly at the Fisher before her without saying a word. It seemed some noisy storm had arisen in her mind again, causing her to get distracted.
"..."
"Then during this time, have you been using that power frequently? Have you experienced any auditory hallucinations in your mind, such as the phantom of the deceased Tao Gong talking to you, and instigating you to do something and the like?"
"Aiya, no, I'm perfectly fine. Although I just woke up, everything is already on track, and I don't need to worry too much about the Wutong Tree side of things either. Rather than this..."
As she spoke, Valentiina seemingly thought of something again. The joy of just reuniting with her lover also gradually faded, along with her slightly reddened eye rims turning resentful,
"Aren't you, Fisher, the one who makes people worry more? Although I slept for so long, at least I stayed inside the Wutong Tree the whole time! What about you? Before I fell asleep, you even hid your injuries from me! Do you know how heartbroken I was when I woke up and found you missing, thinking you might have died in the snow?! The slimes searched for ages without knowing where you went, and even your reappearance was the same. If the slimes hadn't left informants in the Southern Continent, I wouldn't have even known you appeared in the Southern Continent!"
As she spoke, she angrily raised her small fists, seemingly wanting to vent her depression. But recalling how she tackled Fisher earlier, he seemed to have a body as strong as an ordinary human now. If she really punched him, she might end up making herself a widow.
So, she huffily waved her fists in the air a few times, expressing her dissatisfaction through this method,
"Hurry up and apologize to your wife! I'm very angry right now!"
"... Sorry, Valentiina. But even if I told you back then, it would only unnecessarily add to your worries inside the egg. Rather than that, it would be better to let you rest peacefully..."
"Nonsense! Husband and wife... husband and wife should be honest with each other and support each other! How could you only share the good news and not the bad? Anyway, you definitely can't do this next time!"
"Okay."
Fisher gave a helpless smile, unable to refute the overly serious Valentiina, and had no choice but to agree.
At this moment, the priest's voice from outside also rang out. Being in the backstage area, they could only barely hear a little sound, even though the priest's voice had already been amplified countless times by amplification magic.
Fisher looked towards the Prayer Hall in front and began scanning around, searching for a suitable location to attend the entirety of his teacher's funeral,
"Valentiina, teacher's funeral is about to begin... I know you have many things you want to ask me, and I also have many things I want to tell you. Including Elizabeth, she probably also feels this is an opportunity that comes once in a thousand years. Although I don't want to avoid it, at least wait until the funeral is over... Let's find a suitable place to attend the funeral first."
Valentiina looked at the side of his face. She also heard the emotional prayers of the priest arriving from front. She didn't say anything else, just smiled and said,
"Mhm, since Mr. Helson was your teacher, I should respect him as well. I originally had no intention of disturbing this farewell ceremony for the old Mr. Helson. I came here solely to find you..."
As she spoke, however, she became a bit unnatural. As if remembering something, she silently took a few steps back and, in a spot Fisher couldn't see, gently stepped on the "Call to Arms Against Elizabeth" she had been writing while crouching on the ground earlier with her boots.
Because that cart full of gifts insulting the old woman Elizabeth was carted away by an unknown person, she originally wanted to compose a new one on the spot. But while writing, she heard Fisher calling her.
For a moment, she also felt somewhat embarrassed, deeply afraid of letting Fisher see that extremely aggressive side of her.
Like a shrew arguing, this wouldn't do. Lady Valentiina is a very gentle girl... mhm, Tao Gong taught her to write all this.
"... Found it. There's a platform on the second floor over there, right beside the Mother Goddess statue. If we're careful, we shouldn't be discovered."
"Mhm, let's head out."
Valentiina silently kicked the call to arms under a gift cart, then nodded and followed Fisher's footsteps, heading towards the platform on the side of the second floor amidst the tranquil hymns and the priest's leading introductions from the front.
This area was originally the second-floor corridor of the small church. Due to the need for expansion after renovations, they chiseled open the walls based on the original foundation, adding new rooms that made the overall space look much more spacious. However, this specific place wasn't being used for anything yet. At the very least, when Fisher and Valentiina arrived, they could still see some stones left behind after the construction was completed.
Fisher stealthily leaned against the wall, looking down from a gap in the wall five or six meters high, and could perfectly see the entire venue where the ceremony was being held.
He saw the side of the Mother Goddess statue, saw his teacher's Crystal Coffin sleeping beneath the statue, and saw the packed guests below and the many reporters setting up cameras in the back rows. Of course, he also saw Damian and his wife Vileli in the first row, Elizabeth, and the particularly restless Alicia beside her along with the slightly trembling Eimhart in her arms, as well as the empty seat next to Elizabeth.
On that seat, his own name was written.
His heart slightly stirred. Only at this moment, he vaguely felt it wasn't a trap. Who would fall for such a foolish trap and sit next to Elizabeth?
Perhaps, that seat really was reserved for him, to allow him to attend this funeral from the very front.
It was a pity that he was still only able to stand on the second floor, stealthily and silently watching all of this.
"Now, let us hold the most sincere feelings in our hearts and observe a moment of silence for the great Mr. Haelsem Lacazette, praying that he sleeps peacefully forever bathed in the radiance of the Mother Goddess..."
After a moment of silence, everyone below bowed their heads, clasped their hands, and began to pray.
Fisher also lowered his gaze and clasped his hands in prayer. Valentiina beside him, because she didn't believe in the Mother Goddess, performed the actions somewhat lackadaisically.
At this moment, she was still conversing with Tao Gong in her mind,
"Tao Gong, why won't you let me tell Fisher about your existence?"
"I'd like to ask you instead, don't you find it strange that only you can see him? I thought you encountered a ghost. But regardless of which possibility it is, there's no need for you to tell him about my existence. If he's a fake, telling him about me is undoubtedly exposing your trump card. If he's real, his every action will obviously be exposed to Chaos. If there are things an old monster who has lived for tens of thousands of years knows that they don't want Fisher to know, your life will be in danger, understand?"
"Wu, but the current Fisher is indeed a bit strange... Not talking about his behavior, but it feels like his body has reverted to that of an ordinary human, and his presence seems to be diminished."
"Isn't that pretty good? If only you can see him, then you won't need to worry about that small fry human Empress snatching him from you. Moreover, previously you two were so worried about that human Empress, even using various conspiracy theories to play up the miraculous powers she might possess. Now, from what I can see, she's nothing more than an ordinary human."
Borrowing Valentiina's sight, Tao Gong was also evaluating the Elizabeth sitting in the first row praying below, to give such an assessment.
"Is that so..."
Hearing Tao Gong's words, Valentiina couldn't help but feel reassured, and her confidence swelled.
There were many parts to the ceremony below, and a massive amount of eulogies, but ultimately they couldn't avoid the final burial. The end of the ceremony involved carrying Helson's coffin out of the church, proceeding from the inner area to the outer area where the public was gathered, and finally interring him in the predetermined grave to conclude the affair.
"Then next, please follow our footsteps to accompany this great figure of ours on his final journey!"
At the end of the ceremony, guided by the priest's words, the people in the first row stood up first. They watched as strong pallbearers lifted Helson's Crystal Coffin. Elizabeth also took Alicia's hand and led her behind the coffin, guiding the rest of the people to form a long line and slowly, orderly walk out of the church to bury Helson's remains.
Watching Elizabeth's departure, down to everyone standing up and leaving the venue in turn, Fisher also breathed a long sigh of relief. After silently chanting "Teacher" in his heart, he turned back from the peeping hole in the wall and looked at the consoling Valentiina behind him,
"Fisher, are you okay?"
"I'm fine, at least I saw teacher off on his final journey. Moreover, Elizabeth also didn't seem to make any moves during this time, although it's not guaranteed later. Alright, we'll go to the grave to visit teacher later. As for now, I also have some things to tell you about what happened over these years after you fell asleep... is there anything you want to ask first?"
"... Mhm, Fisher, I don't know if it's an illusion, but I keep feeling like you give off a strange vibe right now. Your former body shouldn't have been this weak, and your presence seems very low. Even I sometimes unintentionally forget that you're by my side. Is this a side effect of you dissipating Death?"
"Ah, about this..."
Fisher pondered for a moment, then opened his mouth and said,
"Valentiina, regarding what I'm about to tell you next, don't tell a third party. As you can see, I am currently concealed within an extremely Hidden Blessing that I cannot actively turn off. This Blessing can protect me from being discovered by others, but it also strips me of any Transcendent powers. So the current me is a through-and-through human, which must seem delicate and frail to a high-ranking Phoenix like you."
"But, why can I still see you?"
"I'm not entirely sure about the specifics either, but it's probably because you're the person I love, so you're exempt from the effects of this Blessing."
Upon hearing this, Valentiina's face slightly reddened, seemingly pinching her skirt a bit embarrassedly. This posture of a young maiden made the Tao Gong in her mind increasingly curious about what reason Fisher gave,
"So, what was the reason that allows you to see him?"
"I... I can't tell you, Tao Gong."
"... Truly slow and indecisive, you small fry."
"..."
Valentiina pursed her lips, as if grasping something from Fisher's present explanation. Her eyes lit up slightly, and she hurriedly spoke,
"Wait, if that's the case, does it also mean..."
"Means that the Fisher from now on won't be discovered by others. In other words, the Fisher from now on will only be discovered by very few people? So, even if I lock him in the Golden Palace for a lifetime, making him my husband for a lifetime, it doesn't matter... as long as I eradicate those other few females who can see Fisher, won't it be fine?"
But the very next second Valentiina spoke, within a sealed wall of the room they were occupying, a trembling voice filled with unbearable excitement and joy abruptly resounded.
Fisher and Valentiina were both slightly stunned. Then, in disbelief, they looked towards the adjacent space. Where there should have been a sealed wall, a room suddenly appeared out of thin air. Inside that room, a single chair was placed. Elizabeth, dressed entirely in black, was gazing at the Fisher before her with a smile. Even her voice couldn't help but become increasingly unrestrainable, and her face turned slightly flushed...
As if she had eavesdropped on something incredible!
"Moreover, Fisher reverting to an ordinary person also means he can never resist me again, never run away again?"
"Elizabeth..."
"How did you... shouldn't you have gone out just now?"
Fisher was momentarily startled, hastily turning his head to look at the crowd that had already walked out of the church, yet he could no longer see the figure in the lead holding Alicia's hand and walking out. But even so, it was impossible for her to have gone out and come back. The time frame was absolutely impossible to achieve, unless...
"You were here from the very beginning? But that one down there..."
Elizabeth's golden pupils flashed slightly. At the direct front of the church below, the Mother Goddess's originally affectionate gaze began to be tinged with a faint cool gold, like the Empress's eyes sweeping over every single inch below.
That gaze was Pandora's Prosthetic Eyes?
"Fisher, during the years you were away, I have also been constantly changing. I have been continuously becoming better, preparing everything and waiting for you to return. These prosthetic eyes have also become more and more obedient... Very surprising, right? Actually, from the very beginning of the funeral, everyone was deceived by my prosthetic eyes. I didn't enter the church at all. All they saw were the phantoms in their own minds. And do you know why I knew you were here?"
Elizabeth smiled. When Fisher looked again at the church below, he discovered that at an unknown time, an "Elizabeth" was also sitting on the chair with his name written on it beside her.
That Elizabeth's golden eyes continuously swept the surroundings, and very soon, made eye contact with Fisher's gaze on the second floor,
"I attached the prosthetic eye's ability to the chair next to me, having it help me monitor and watch if there were any existences looking in that direction."
Five years without seeing her, her prosthetic eyes were already capable of separating from her body and attaching to inanimate objects to activate their effects.
Although the ability to alter desires was still ineffective on Fisher, looking at it now, the prosthetic eyes could create false phantoms and attach suggestions. Who knows how many other unimaginable functions they possessed.
"..."
Seeing Fisher instantly freeze in place, Elizabeth seemed to very much enjoy seeing Fisher's appearance at this moment, like a table full of Manchu Han Imperial Feast placed before an extremely ravenous person, inducing profuse salivation. She licked her lips, and even her words turned somewhat hoarse due to extreme excitement,
"Although seeing another woman beside you makes me very angry, but I heard you say it's because you love me that I'm able to see you, right, my... Fish~er~ It doesn't matter. Once I deal with this woman, we'll return to the Golden Palace. I have prepared so, so much for you there. As long as you come back with me..."
"Shut up! You old woman!!"
But Valentiina could no longer listen. She abruptly reached out and pressed Fisher's chest, shoving the now-ordinary man behind her to protect him. The cold air in her hands swirled increasingly densely, like extreme cold storms from the Northern Border gradually brewing,
"You're clearly just an ex. Even if Fisher loved you, that was an event from over a decade ago! Yet here you are, clinging to one-sided wishful thinking. Have you fantasized so much that you've reached the point of daydreaming?! Fisher is now bound to me in marriage. You'd better give up this notion early!"
Elizabeth was still smiling, but wisps of blue veins faintly popped out on her forehead. It seemed she was already on the verge of explosive rage. Even her palms couldn't stop clenching tightly, so tight they were trembling,
"What did you say?"
"I said, you old woman!!"
"Wait a minute, Valentiina, there's something wrong with this human. If that was just an illusion earlier, it's impossible for even me to not notice and still think it was just an ordinary human, unless..."
"Wait a minute, Valentiina!"
Fisher beside her and Tao Gong in her mind instantly realized something was wrong simultaneously. But Elizabeth was clearly already enraged. She fiercely opened her pupils, like those high and mighty angels from tens of thousands of years ago, and gazed towards the Valentiina before her.