Endless stars collapsed, and those distant and brilliant starlights collapsed silently into a human being. Duncan returned from the starlight to a dimension that Vanna, Morris and others could understand - and his voice seemed to still tremble in some higher dimension. The layers of whispers and noises in reason and cognition made Vanna feel almost unable to think.
After an unknown amount of time, perhaps only a moment, Vanna felt the noise in her head subside a little. She rubbed her forehead and saw Morris slowly taking out a pipe from his arms. The old man tremblingly lit the cigarette while muttering, "...I'm used to it..."
"It's fucking exciting..." Agou lay at Shirley's feet, "I seemed to have seen the Holy Lord again just now."
Nina didn't seem to be affected much. She was just stunned for a moment and then came to her senses. Then she seemed to fall into thought, occasionally secretly glancing at Duncan with a hint of sadness in her eyes.
Duncan just stared calmly into "Helena's" eyes. Through those eyes that seemed to reflect the distant waves, he looked quietly at that distant and ancient creature.
After a long time, a voice finally reached everyone's ears along with the gentle sound of the waves: "I understand... We will meet again."
The sound of the waves subsided, and the damp and salty smell that had always filled the air gradually dissipated. Helena blinked her eyes, and all the inhuman and twisted characteristics quickly retreated from her. Then she suddenly bent over, gasping for breath and retching violently. Vanna, who was standing by, reacted immediately and rushed forward to support the Pope's arm, helping her to regulate her breathing while using divine magic to repair the injuries she had suffered.
After a long while, Helena's breathing finally stabilized. She slowly raised her head, her face pale and tired, but with a sincere smile.
“…I haven’t touched His will for a long time,” she said softly, “I almost forgot what it feels like…”
"Don't feel it, you almost died - you must return to the Ark immediately, where your mental state can be stabilized." Rune beside him shook his head, interrupting Helena's sigh, and then the old elf looked at Duncan again, "We should leave, Captain."
Duncan raised his hand. "Go ahead."
After regaining some strength, Helena got up from the sofa. She and Rune said goodbye to Duncan and set off back to the Ark.
But when she was about to leave this "witch house", she stopped and looked back at Duncan who was still in the living room.
"Go ahead. You have your own business," Duncan gently waved his hand at the Pope who was hesitant to speak. "Even though it is the end of the world, there are still many people who need to continue their lives - even if it is just for one more day."
Helena nodded in silence, then turned around and stepped into the endless night outside the door with Rune.
The two popes left and the door closed, blocking out the vast night outside. Silence once again enveloped the entire living room. Amid the slight crackling of the burning fireplace, it seemed that everyone had something on their mind and was silently thinking with their heads down.
After thinking for an unknown amount of time, Duncan suddenly broke the silence: "...Just being a guest here for such a short time, one of the two popes has lost half his life - the Deep Sea Church will not think that we have ambushed 500 machine gunners in this house, right?"
Lucrecia's train of thought suddenly stopped. She raised her head and stared, "You were silent for so long just now, thinking about this?"
"Don't you think this is a necessary worry?" Duncan looked at Lucrecia seriously. "Your house doesn't have a very good reputation in this city. They think you have hidden all kinds of things in it, and you even have children and stray dogs from all over the world stewing in the pot..."
"Then I'm grateful for their rumors - maybe this can help me block the sales ads that appear in my mailbox every week," Lucrecia said with her eyes wide open, but soon she sighed and looked back out the window, "... Of course, there may not be any sales ads now."
Duncan exhaled softly and stood up from the sofa.
"I just talked too much, and I'm a little tired. Let's go back to the room and rest. You can make your own arrangements. You don't have to wait for me for lunch."
Along with a slight creaking sound coming from the stairs leading to the second floor, Duncan's tall figure gradually disappeared at the end of the stairs.
The people left in the living room looked at each other, seemingly at a loss for what to do for a moment.
"Actually, I didn't understand what they were saying just now," Shirley was the first to break the silence, "but I feel one thing, the female pope just now...isn't actually her, right?"
Vanna nodded slowly: "The goddess told me that their connection with the mortal world will be strengthened one last time, and it seems that they have begun now."
"What will happen next?" Nina couldn't help asking.
"Who knows? In the past, optimistic people could at least say, 'Anyway, the sun will rise tomorrow as usual.' But now even this sentence is not convincing," Morris held his pipe with one hand and said in a low voice, "But no matter what, tomorrow will always come, even if it will be a morning without the sun rising. Just like the captain said, life must go on. He has his things to do, and we have our things to do."
The tobacco in the pipe gradually burned out, and the last few sparks disappeared in the curling smoke.
An invisible wind blew up in the living room, and then the colorful pieces of paper swirled and disappeared from everyone's sight.
Duncan heard the sound of wind behind him and sensed a familiar breath approaching. He turned his head and saw Lucrecia's figure taking shape from the colorful flying papers.
"I thought that after the last 'accident', you would never use these colored papers to rush around in front of me again," Duncan said with a smile, "Aren't you afraid that I will become overly curious again?"
"You want to go beyond the Eternal Curtain," Lucrecia ignored him and looked into Duncan's eyes expressionlessly, "cross the six-mile critical line?"
Duncan was silent for a moment: "Why do you ask?"
"What you are looking for is not in the Endless Sea. Although I don't quite understand what you just said to the 'Pope',' I know that you are going to pass through that curtain again, and I can feel that you will go further and stay away for a longer time this time."
Duncan looked at the "witch" in front of him quietly. After a long time, he slowly spoke: "Lucy, you should have seen it just now."
Stars faintly appeared in the room, and in the interweaving of light and shadow, the corner of Lucrecia's eye seemed to reflect the distant starry sky.
"I saw it," the "Sea Witch" said very calmly, "In fact, I saw it as early as the first time you appeared in front of me."
The starlight faded, and Duncan looked at the "witch" in some surprise.
"Then you should know that I am not..."
"Nina didn't care whether you were her 'Uncle Duncan' or not." Lucrecia said calmly.
Duncan exhaled and laughed helplessly.
"In the depths of the starlight, I can see my father's shadow - whether you agree with this or not," Lucrecia shook her head gently, "I know that you have indeed returned to this world, although in a way that I cannot yet understand, but you are indeed standing here, just as I remember, and now you are leaving again... It seems to be the same as before."
She paused, her expression becoming serious: "Do you remember? We discussed this matter."
"...Take you with me. Yes, I remember." Duncan finally nodded slowly. "Okay, Lucy, I admit that before you came, I did consider whether to go alone. Don't worry, I just thought about it, but I didn't mean to put it into practice..."
Perhaps it was because the witch lady's expressionless gaze was so stressful that Duncan couldn't help but add a few more words at the end with a guilty conscience, but suddenly, he discovered that there was actually a hint of smile in Lucrecia's eyes.
The witch lady finally couldn't help laughing, and the smile bloomed completely on her face.
Duncan frowned: "What are you laughing at?"
"...You've been so flustered explaining things to me before, although it's rare," Lucrecia smiled happily, "The last time was when you broke my hairpin."
Duncan was stunned and spread his hands helplessly.
Then, a ray of light flashing from the window suddenly interrupted what he was about to say.
He was stunned for a moment, then rushed to the window with Lucrecia.
In the thin golden "sunlight" spreading from the luminous geometric body, an even brighter arc is slowly appearing at the end of the city in the distance.
Duncan looked at the "arc of light" in confusion, and then suddenly reacted.
In Pland's antique shop, he looked through the open window on the second floor and saw a clearer scene -
The brilliant golden light is slowly rising at the end of the horizon.
In the first dozen or so seconds that excited and thrilled countless people, almost everyone thought it was a sunrise.
Until the golden arc completely rose above the sea surface and began to rush into the sky at an astonishing speed - until its fragmented state appeared more and more clearly in front of everyone's eyes, and disintegrated more and more as it accelerated upward.
Duncan finally saw what the thing looked like.
It was a quarter structure of a circular ring, and appeared to be only a portion of the outer rune ring of Vision 001. Its bright arc edge was covered with dark cracks visible to the naked eye, and these cracks eventually caused the entire "arc of light" to split into a dozen loosely arranged luminous structures during the ascent. In just over ten minutes, this increasingly scattered "luminous array" accelerated its ascent all the way to the height of the sun at about nine or ten o'clock.
Then, the rune ring that rose up into the sky alone completely disintegrated.
With a roar that almost shook the entire world, accompanied by a terrifying whistle and a flash of light that tore through the sky, the luminous array turned into a dozen "meteors" that streaked across the sky and fell towards all living beings on earth.