novelraw Chapter 651: Broken Defenses
Chapter 651: Broken Defenses
"Valentina?"
Looking at the figure in front of the carriage, Fisher finally couldn't help but call out to the whispering girl. After Fisher's voice sounded, Valentina's body could not help but tremble slightly, and she hurriedly turned around to look behind her in disbelief.
What caught her eye was the man who seemed to melt into the air but only appeared to her.
She was stunned for a second, and then her eyes subconsciously became red. She hurriedly stood up and ran towards Fisher.
"Fisher! Are you really here?!"
"Thud!"
Fisher subconsciously opened his arms, but although Valentina in front of him had changed from a phoenix to a human form, her rank was still a solid fourteenth-tier. At this moment, he had returned to the level of an ordinary person, and unexpectedly failed to catch the force of Valentina's pounce. He was pinned to the ground by her all at once, and gasped in pain.
"Fisher! Are—are you okay? I didn't mean to!"
"Fisher? What Fisher? What are you talking about, small fry?"
Seeing herself pinning Fisher down, Valentina hurriedly apologized in a slight panic, but at the same time, Tao Gong's unbelievable voice suddenly came to her mind.Valentina was slightly stunned and opened her mouth to explain.
"Ah, isn't Fisher just..."
"Stupid small fry, talk to me in your mind, don't say it out loud!"
"Oh..." Valentina hurriedly used the voice in her mind to talk to Tao Gong, which made their conversation extremely fast, very similar to psychological activities. 'Fisher is right in front of my eyes. I accidentally pinned him down.'
'...Are you losing your mind missing your dead husband? I don't see anything.'
'Huh? How—how is this possible?!'
Valentina became a little flushed with shame. She hurriedly leaned over and touched Fisher's body, making Fisher, who had just fallen down and hadn't reacted yet, feel Valentina's cold little hands invading. He shuddered and hurriedly reached out to hold her hand, asking in confusion.
"Wait a minute, Valentina, what are you doing?"
"Eh? I..." Hearing this, Valentina blushed, looking down at her hand that reached too deeply into Fisher's clothes to check his authenticity. Suddenly, she felt like a hooligan, and became embarrassed. "I—I'm just checking if you, Fisher, really appeared in front of me..."
Fisher smiled, then reached into his arms and took out the Demi-Human Completion Handbook that she couldn't see, and from the interlayer took out the necklace of Valentina's mother that she had previously entrusted to him. When that necklace appeared in his hand, Valentina became increasingly certain that the person in front of her was the real Fisher.
"Can you believe me now?"
"..."
Valentina just looked at Fisher beneath her like this. A second later, she pouted and smiled at Fisher again.
"...That's great, seeing you again, Fisher."
"Me too, Valentina."
Fisher lay on the ground, but looking at Valentina who had transformed into a human form before him, he always felt that there was a scent on her that he was extremely familiar with, but at this moment his senses had become extremely dull under the restoration of the Blessing, and he temporarily couldn't distinguish it.
So, he could only ask his doubts straightforwardly.
"Valentina, shouldn't you turn into... a phoenix after you wake up? Why are you still in human form now? And earlier you were whispering here, were you..."
"Ah, um, that..."
Valentina stood up a little embarrassedly, but after hesitating for a moment, she still shook her skirt at Fisher and explained.
"I am indeed a phoenix now, but I was worried that Fisher wouldn't be used to or wouldn't like seeing my phoenix form, so I let..."
But the words came to an abrupt end at the end. She blinked, as if talking to someone in her mind, so her outward actions stagnated.
"...Valentina?"
"Ah, ah, I'm here, Fisher!"
"What's wrong with you? What did you want to say just now?"
"Uh, actually, there is the legacy of an elf named 'Tao' among the roots of the World Tree. When I was deeply asleep, I mastered part of her power, and then suddenly I could do some simple manipulation of my body..."
Valentina blinked and said somewhat reluctantly.
"Tao? How could there still be a legacy of that bad-tempered, narrow-minded, and disgusting elf in the roots of the World Tree in the Northern Border..."
Fisher frowned and said somewhat worriedly. After all, the power related to Tao Gong was the Chaos of Life, and he very much did not want Valentina to get involved with things related to Chaos, not to mention that Valentina was originally related to the World-Ending Prophecy.
But Valentina just blinked and looked at Fisher before her ignorantly, saying nothing, as if some noisy storm had arisen in her mind again to distract her.
"..."
"Then have you used that power often recently? Have there been any auditory hallucinations in your mind, such as the phantom of the dead Tao Gong talking to you and instigating you to do something?"
"Ah, eh, no, I'm all good. Although I just woke up, everything is already on the right track, and the Wutong Tree doesn't need me to worry too much. Compared to this..."
As she spoke, Valentina seemed to suddenly think of something again, and the joy of reuniting with her lover faded a little. Along with her slightly red eye rims becoming reproachful.
"Aren't you more worrying, Fisher? Although I slept for so long, I at least stayed in the Wutong Tree all the time! What about you? Before I fell asleep, you even hid your injuries from me! Do you know how sad I was when I first woke up and knew that your whereabouts were unknown and you might have died in the snow?! The slimes searched for a long time but didn't know where you went, and even your appearance... If the slimes hadn't left informants in the Southern Continent, I wouldn't have known you appeared in the Southern Continent!"
As she spoke, she angrily raised her pink fists, as if to vent her depression. But thinking of the matter of pinning Fisher down just now, his body now seemed to be of the same strength as an ordinary human, if she really hammered him, she might turn herself into a widow.
Thus, she angrily waved her fists a few times in mid-air, expressing her dissatisfaction in this way.
"Hurry up and apologize to your wife. I am very angry now!"
"...I am sorry, Valentina. But at that time, even if I told you, it would only add to your worries in the egg. Instead of doing this, it would be better to let you safely..."
"Nonsense! Husband and wife—husband and wife should be honest with each other and support each other! How can you report only the good news and not the bad? In short, you can't do this next time!"
"Alright."
Fisher smiled helplessly, unable to refute the serious Valentina, and had to agree.
At this moment, the priest's voice outside also rang out. Being backstage, they could only barely hear a little sound, even though the priest's voice had been amplified countless times by amplification magic.
Fisher looked toward the Prayer Hall ahead and looked around, looking for a suitable position to participate in the entire process of his teacher's funeral.
"Valentina, the teacher's funeral is about to begin... I know you have a lot of things you want to ask me, and I also have a lot of things I want to tell you. Including Elizabeth, she probably also thinks this is a once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity. Although I don't want to escape, we should at least wait until the funeral is over... Let's find a suitable position to attend the funeral first."
Valentina looked at his side profile, also hearing the emotional praying voice of the priest ahead. She did not say anything else, but just smiled.
"Yeah, since Mr. Helson is your teacher, I should also respect him. I didn't intend to disturb this farewell ceremony for the old Mr. Helson either. I came here just to find you..."
As she spoke, she became somewhat unnatural. She seemed to have thought of something, and quietly took a few steps back, and in a place Fisher didn't notice, lightly stepped her boot on the "Crusade Against Elizabeth" that she was crouching on the ground writing just now.
Because the gift cart filled with insults for that old woman Elizabeth was taken away by someone at some point, she originally wanted to create another piece on the spot. While writing, she heard Fisher calling her.
For a moment she also felt somewhat embarrassed, afraid of letting Fisher see her extremely aggressive side.
Just like a shrew arguing, this wouldn't do. Miss Valentina is a very gentle girl... Mm, Tao Gong taught her to write all of this.
"...Found it. There is a platform on the second floor over there, right beside the Mother Goddess statue. If we are careful, we shouldn't be discovered."
"Mm, let's go."
Valentina quietly kicked the crusade manifesto under a gift cart, and then nodded, keeping up with Fisher's pace. Amid the peaceful hymns and the priest's introductory voice ahead, they headed toward the platform on the side of the second floor.
This was originally the second-floor corridor of the small chapel. Because it needed to be expanded after renovation, the wall was knocked out on the original basis, and new rooms were expanded, making the whole look much more spacious. But specifically, there was no use for it here. At least when Fisher and Valentina came, they could still see some stones that hadn't been taken away after the project was completed.
Fisher quietly leaned against the wall and looked down from the gap in the five or six-meter-high wall, exactly able to see the entire venue where the ceremony was being held.
He saw the side of the Mother Goddess statue, saw the crystal coffin of his teacher sleeping under the Mother Goddess statue, and saw a full house of guests below and many reporters setting up camera machines in the back row. Of course, he also saw Damian, the Vileli couple in the first row, Elizabeth, and Alicia, who looked particularly restless beside her, as well as Eimhart who was slightly trembling in her arms, and, the vacant seat beside Elizabeth.
On that seat, his own name was written.
His heart moved slightly, but at this moment, he seemed to feel that it was not a trap. Who would fall for such a silly trap and sit next to Elizabeth?
Perhaps that position was really reserved for him, allowing him to participate in this funeral from the foremost position.
It was a pity that he still could only stand on the second floor, silently and stealthily watching all of this.
"Now, let us observe a moment of silence with the most sincere hearts for the great Mr. Helson Lacazette, and pray that he slumbers peacefully forever bathed in the glory of the Mother Goddess..."
After a moment of silence, everyone below lowered their heads and clasped their hands to pray.
Fisher also lowered his gaze and clasped his hands to pray. Because Valentina beside him did not believe in the Mother Goddess, her movements were still a little unfamiliar.
At this moment, she was still talking to Tao Gong in her mind.
'Tao Gong, why don't you let me tell Fisher about your existence?'
'I also want to ask you, don't you think it's very strange that only you can see him? I thought you met a ghost? But even if both possibilities exist, you have no need to tell him of my existence. If he is fake, telling him about me is undoubtedly exposing your trump card; if he is real, every move of his will obviously be exposed to Chaos. The knowledge of an old monster who has lived for ten thousand years... if they don't want Fisher to know, your life will be in danger, understand?'
'Hmm, but the current Fisher is indeed a little strange... Not talking about his performance, it's that his body seems to have changed back to an ordinary human, and it seems that his presence is lowered.'
'Isn't this quite good? If only you can see him, you don't have to worry about that small fry human empress fighting with you for him. Moreover, previously you two were so worried about that human empress and used various conspiracy theories to exaggerate the miraculous power she might have on her. Looking at it now, she is nothing more than an ordinary human.'
Using Valentina's gaze, Tao Gong was also sizing up Elizabeth who was sitting and praying in the first row below, and commented in this way.
'Is that so...'
Hearing Tao Gong's words, Valentina couldn't help but feel reassured, and confidence swelled in her heart.
There were many ceremonies below, and a lot of mourning words, but ultimately it could not avoid being laid to rest in the earth at the very end. The end of the ceremony was to support Helson's coffin from the church, all the way from the inner field to the outer field where the public gathered, and finally bury it in the predetermined grave to be considered finished.
"Then next, please follow our footsteps and accompany this great figure of ours on this final stretch of the road one last time!"
At the end of the ceremony, guided by the priest's words, the people in the first row stood up first, watching the strong laborers support Helson's crystal coffin. Elizabeth also took Alicia's hand and led her behind the coffin, leading the rest of the people to form a long line and slowly and orderly step out of the church to bury Helson's remains.
Watching Elizabeth's departure, and then everyone standing up and leaving in turn, Fisher also breathed a long sigh of relief. After silently saying "Teacher" in his heart, he returned from the peeping spot on the wall and looked at the comforting Valentina behind him.
"Fisher, are you okay?"
"I'm fine, at least I saw the teacher off on his last journey, and Elizabeth didn't seem to make any moves during this period, although it's not certain afterward. Alright, we'll go visit the teacher at the grave later. As for now, there are some things I want to tell you about what happened after you fell asleep all these years... Is there anything you want to ask first?"
"...Mm, Fisher, I don't know if it's an illusion, but I always feel that you now give off a strange feeling. Your previous body shouldn't have been this weak, and it seems your presence is very low. Even I will inadvertently forget that you are still around sometimes. Is this the side effect of you dispelling the Death Rule?"
"Ah, this..."
Fisher thought for a moment and spoke.
"Valentina, do not tell a third entity what I am about to tell you. As you can see, I am currently covered by an extremely concealed Blessing that cannot be actively turned off by myself. This Blessing can protect me from being discovered by others, but at the same time, it strips away any Transcendent power on me. So the current me is a solid human being, which appears weak to a high-ranking phoenix like you."
"But, why can I still see you?"
"I'm not too clear on the specifics, but it's probably because you are the person I love, so you are exempt from the influence of this Blessing."
Hearing this, Valentina's face turned slightly red, and she pinched the hem of her skirt with some embarrassment. This posture of a little daughter made Tao Gong in her mind even more curious about the reason Fisher stated.
'So, what is the exact reason that causes you to be able to see him?'
'I—I can't tell you, Tao Gong.'
'...So long-winded, you small fry.'
"..."
Valentina pursed her lips, as if realizing something from Fisher's current explanation. Her eyes lit up slightly, and she hastily said.
"Wait, if that's the case, doesn't it also mean..."
"Mean that, the future Fisher will not be discovered by others, which means that the future Fisher will only be discovered by a very few people? So, even if he is locked up in the Golden Palace for a lifetime and becomes my husband for a lifetime, it doesn't matter... As long as I wipe out the minority of other women who can see Fisher?"
But in the next second after Valentina spoke, within a sealed wall of the room they were in, a trembling voice filled with unbearable excitement and joy suddenly sounded.
Fisher and Valentina were both slightly stunned, and then looked at the next room in disbelief. A room suddenly appeared out of thin air in a place that should have been a sealed wall. In that room, a single chair was placed. Elizabeth, dressed in black, was smilingly watching Fisher in front of her. Even her voice couldn't help but become increasingly irrepressible, and her face became slightly flush...
It was as if she had eavesdropped on something incredible!
"Moreover, Fisher turning back into an ordinary person also means that he can no longer resist me, and can no longer escape?"
"Elizabeth..."
"How did you—shouldn't you have gone out just now?"
Fisher was slightly stunned and hurriedly turned his head to look at the crowd that had already walked out of the church, but he could no longer see the figure leading Alicia out of the church. But even so, it was impossible for her to go out and come back. This time frame was absolutely impossible to achieve, unless...
"You were here from the beginning? But the one below..."
Elizabeth's golden pupils flashed slightly, but he saw that in the front of the church below, the previously loving gaze of the Mother Goddess began to be dyed with a faint cool gold, as if the empress's eyes swept over every inch below.
That gaze was Pandora's Prosthetic Eyes?
"Fisher, I have also been changing these years you were away. I have always been getting better, preparing everything and waiting for you to come back. This pair of prosthetic eyes has become more and more obedient... very surprising, isn't it? Actually, from the beginning of the funeral, everyone was deceived by my prosthetic eyes. I didn't enter the church at all. What they saw were just phantoms in their own minds. And do you know why I knew you two were here?"
Elizabeth smiled, and when Fisher looked at the church below again, he found that unknowingly from when, an "Elizabeth" was also sitting on the chair with his name written on it beside her.
That Elizabeth's golden eyes constantly swept over the surroundings, and soon made eye contact with Fisher's gaze on the second floor.
"I attached the prosthetic eye's ability to the chair beside me, letting it help me monitor and gaze at the existences in that direction."
Five years without seeing her, her prosthetic eyes had been able to detach from herself and attach to inanimate objects to activate its effects.
Although the ability to change desires was still ineffective on Fisher, looking at it now, the prosthetic eye could create false phantoms and additional suggestions. Who knew how many more functions he couldn't imagine it possessed.
"..."
Seeing Fisher suddenly frozen in place, Elizabeth seemed to very much enjoy seeing Fisher's appearance right now, just like a table full of Manchu Han Imperial Feast placed in front of an extremely thirsty and hungry person, making people salivate. She licked her lips, and even her words became a little hoarse because of extreme excitement.
"Although seeing another woman beside you makes me very angry, hearing you say that it's because of loving me that I can see you, right, my... Fish~er~ It doesn't matter, wait until I deal with this woman, and we will return to the Golden Palace. I have already prepared a lot, a lot for you there, as long as you return with me..."
"Shut up! You old woman!!"
Valentina couldn't listen anymore. She reached out and pressed Fisher's chest, protecting the now ordinary him behind her. The cold air in her hands became increasingly dense, as if an extreme cold storm from the Northern Border was gradually brewing.
"Obviously just an ex, even if Fisher loved you, that was something from more than ten years ago! Still wishfully thinking and obsessing over it here, don't tell me you have so many fantasies that it has reached the point of daydreaming?! Fisher is already married to me now, you better give up on this idea as soon as possible!"
Elizabeth still smiled, but traces of blue veins faintly appeared on her forehead, seemingly already on the verge of fury. Even her palms couldn't help but clench tightly, so tight that they trembled.
"What did you say?"
"I said, you old woman!!"
'Wait a minute, Valentina, this human is not right. If that was just a hallucination just now, it's impossible that even I couldn't detect it, and still feel that it's just an ordinary human, unless...'
"Wait a minute, Valentina!"
Fisher beside her and Tao Gong in her mind both instantly realized something was wrong, but Elizabeth was obviously already furious. She fiercely opened her pupils, looking at Valentina in front of her like that lofty angel from ten thousand years ago.