All the runes are ready, the "text" of the symbiotic contract is written on the land of the deep sea, the summoner is in place, and the demon has also arrived at the right position - all the conditions required to start the ceremony are complete.

Agou stood in the center of the rune matrix, staring at Shirley at the edge of the circle with eyes flashing with faint green fire. As his consciousness became increasingly confused, he slowly nodded.

With Agou's encouragement, Shirley came to the "node" of the magic circle and tried to calm her mind.

She knew nothing about these complicated runes, and had never received any formal training in the mysticism, let alone the difficult and dark rituals of the Annihilation Cultists. She was now very uneasy, and faced with these mysterious and difficult runes, she felt only nervousness.

But she trusted Agou - she needed this friend, she had to rebuild this connection.

She took a deep breath and slowly closed her eyes, using all her memories and imagination to picture the appearance of the demon she was going to "summon".

And that image had been deeply imprinted in her mind for many years. She didn't need to describe it in her mind. That extremely familiar figure had already appeared in her mind.

The runes on the ground began to light up slowly, and the ancient communication protocol was "awakened" with the unique logic and form of the deep sea era. A secret and subtle sense of connection appeared in the perception of Shirley and Agou at the same time, and it became more and more stable as the rune matrix lit up...

However, just a few seconds later, all the runes went out without warning, and the connection that had just been established was instantly severed - a short and sharp whistle was heard in the air, shaking the charred bones on Agou's body and the twelve skeleton limbs behind Shirley.

Shirley woke up from her meditation, her eyes wide open in confusion and astonishment, she saw all the runes go out in an instant - her figure shook a little, and she saw Agou in the center of the magic circle also suddenly raised his head.

The ritual to recast the symbiotic pact has failed.

"How could this happen..." Shirley's expression was filled with astonishment. She looked at the runes that she couldn't understand at all, then raised her head to look at Agou who was also in a daze, "Did I do something wrong just now? Or are these runes wrong?"

"It shouldn't be... I can feel it activated..." Ah Gou was obviously confused. He walked down from the position representing "devil" and came to Shirley's side to carefully check the situation near the node. "These runes must be correct. This part of knowledge is almost directly imprinted in my mind. There should be no problem with your operation just now, otherwise you wouldn't be able to light up these things... But I don't know what went wrong in the middle... The whole process was stuck halfway..."

Shirley frowned hard. She noticed that the fire in Agou's eyes had begun to dim and his speech was intermittent. She was a little panicked: "I... let's try again!"

Agou nodded immediately: "Okay, try again!"

So they returned to the correct location and tested the process again - but the result was the same.

The rune array was briefly activated and lit up, but it only lasted for a few seconds, and then it was "stuck" like a malfunctioning machine, and all went out with a short scream.

Shirley became a little panicked. In the brief connection just established, she felt that Agou's condition was getting worse and worse - reason and humanity were gradually fading from him, and in a trance, he couldn't even recognize her appearance.

With the dizziness and interrupted thinking becoming more and more serious, Agou staggered to the "node" where Shirley was. He could hardly support his body and could only lie down with great effort. While trying to concentrate, he whispered: "No... There must be something I missed... The ritual arrangement is... There is no problem. The problem should be... It's in our special state now. We must... Make adjustments..."

"Adjust? How do I adjust?" Shirley asked hurriedly, "How about I change the position? Is the position of the node wrong? Or is this place not suitable..."

However, Agou seemed to no longer be able to hear what she said. Its head drooped, and disturbing crackling sounds came from its body. Its head shook from side to side, and it could only make a series of low mumblings that Shirley could not understand at all.

At this moment, Shirley suddenly felt a familiar breath, and then a low and majestic voice came into her ears, which made her feel particularly relieved and surprised under this situation: "What are you doing?"

Shirley and the drowsy Agou raised their heads almost at the same time and looked in the direction where the sound came from.

Duncan and Alice were standing not far away in the wilderness.

"Captain?!" After a brief hesitation and daze, Shirley suddenly reacted. She seemed to have forgotten the changes in her body and almost tripped herself when she took a step - but soon she used the long limbs behind her to support herself again and quickly came to Duncan, "Captain, please help Agou, it... it's in a bad state, our communication has been interrupted, and the recasting ceremony just now also went wrong, I don't know..."

"Stop, stop, stop, talk slower," Duncan quickly waved his hand to interrupt Shirley's rapid babala, while frowning slightly as he looked at the completely changed girl in front of him. He could still confirm from the "mark" that this was the familiar Shirley, but the other party's current devilish posture made him a little stunned. Agou, who was not far away, also looked very different. "What on earth happened to you?"

Shirley was stunned for a moment, her lips trembling slightly: "I...our chain is broken."

Agou, who was not far away, seemed to have recovered a little at this time. He raised his head with difficulty: "We... tried to hold the symbiotic contract ceremony again, but something went wrong..."

"Something went wrong with the ritual?" Duncan frowned immediately and asked as he walked towards the crude makeshift magic circle on the ground, "What's the specific problem?"

"It just started and then suddenly stopped," Shirley explained to Duncan quickly while using the limbs behind her to support herself and walk forward. She also explained to the captain the "knowledge" that Agou had just told her, "... I was standing in this position, and Agou was standing in the position representing the 'devil', and then it was useless..."

As she spoke, she walked past the temporarily immobile Agou and quickly came to the center of the magic circle. Pointing at the ground below, she explained the situation to Duncan: "This is where Agou was just now. The runes around here all lit up, just like now... like this?"

She paused, hesitating.

Because she saw a circle of runes around her suddenly release a dim glow - then, all the runes on the entire magic circle began to light up one by one, and flashed rapidly according to a complex set of rules.

Duncan, who had just figured out the process of the so-called "Contract Ceremony" beside the magic circle, also saw this scene, and his expression gradually became a little subtle: "......?"

Shirley & Agou also said: “……?”

The ancient communication protocol came into effect.

Alice saw a group of special "lines" extending from Shirley and Agou's bodies at the same time. Almost in the blink of an eye, the lines were guided by the faint light in the magic circle and merged together. They quickly transformed into physical forms, reshaping the broken chain.

The whole process happened so fast that there was no time to react - when Shirley finally realized what was happening, the chain between her and Agou had been restored to its original state.

Afterwards, the contract array completed its mission, and all the runes finally dimmed completely, and were gradually covered with a layer of gray texture representing exhaustion.

Shirley in the center of the magic circle was dazed for a while, and finally walked out from the position representing "devil". She raised her arms, and the dark symbiotic chains made a clattering sound. At the other end of the chains, Agou, who had recovered his spirit, was slowly crawling up from the ground, shaking his huge skeleton head.

In those eye sockets that were once dim to the point of being almost extinguished, the fire was now rekindled, once again emitting the light of wisdom that represented the pinnacle of high school graduation and half a step toward city-state university.

The atmosphere was slightly awkward for half a minute.

"Can I understand it this way?" A moment later, Duncan stood beside the wreckage of the magic circle, looking at the two "crew members" who had rebuilt their chains but were still in the same form as before. "Now, Agou, you are really Shirley's 'guardian dog', and Shirley... you are now Agou's 'contracted human'."

Shirley's expression was a little dull, and Agou's posture was also a little dull.

Alice was stunned for a long time, then she came to her senses and suddenly said, "Why is this happening..."

Shirley's expression continued to be dull.

But Agou's wisdom suddenly started to work. He thought for a moment and said hesitantly: "...Purity."

Duncan's expression was subtle: "Purity?"

Agou raised his head and pointed at Shirley, who now had some human features but looked like a deep demon. "Her purity as a deep demon... is very high."

"...That's not right." Shirley finally came to her senses and spoke immediately after hearing what Agou said, "No matter how pure I am, it's not as pure as you. This is just the devil in me that's showing. You're originally from 'that side'..."

Listening to their wild and serious analysis, Duncan looked at Shirley and then at Agou. He also felt that this matter was incredible, so he couldn't help but think about it. As a result, a strange and irresistible thought suddenly popped up in his mind: "Maybe..."

Shirley and Agou said in unison: "Maybe?"

"Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that Agou was once 'marked' by the God of Wisdom, Lahem," Duncan thought for a moment. Although he thought the idea was absurd, he still said seriously, "Although it was not taken away at that time, it is now a saint of the God of Wisdom - this is probably the reason."

Shirley's expression began to dull again: "..."

After a moment, Duncan stepped forward, patted Shirley's arm (she was now very tall and he couldn't pat her head), and said earnestly: "So I always say that knowledge changes destiny."