Recalling what our mentor said before sending us here, could it be that without our intervention, everything happened naturally, not only failing to save Leticia, but also causing the blind saintess to choose self-sacrifice, which in turn caused turmoil during the ritual due to some unexpected events, leading to the collapse of the mountain shell?
Or perhaps the ritual of dripping blood into the Holy Grail produced some unknown effect that eventually erupted and led to a crisis?
I don't think any of these are the correct reasons.
If the disaster truly struck for this reason, why would the blind saintess, who possesses the ability to see through calamities, choose to make a sacrifice? Unless her declaration that she wanted everyone to live a happy life is a lie, or like those madmen, she has some kind of incorrect distortion in her mind or spirit.
And speaking of those lunatics, it subconsciously reminds me of the few I've met before...
"Master, master, master—"
Alice's tugging and calling out quickly brought my increasingly scattered thoughts back to reality.
A little embarrassed, I wiped my face, put on a straight face, ignored the annoying gaze that the guy was giving me, a mixture of astonishment and confusion, and looked around following the direction of the rascal rabbit: "Master, look! These papers have become so strange! They weren't like this just now, but now I can't tear them off no matter what I do!"
As she spoke, she even demonstrated by reaching out and tugging at it a few times.
Judging from the range of arm movements alone, it was clear that a lot of effort was put in, yet at most only a corner of the white paper that served as the vessel for the ritual could be lifted, surprisingly achieving nothing.
It's not a stone, so how could it become so stubborn?
Just in case, I tried different methods, but whether I used the same method as before, such as using a gentle breeze woven with magic, or had Miyuki directly slash with her sword, or even tried Alice's eager rabbit leaping into the air and kicking, there was no change whatsoever, not even the slightest trace left on it.
Even if you just use fire to brush the edges, it doesn't work.
The orange-red flames were like a border of leaping flames adorning the ceremony itself, but after burning away the excess white paper on the outer edge, the flames stopped just outside the outermost line and could not advance any further.
This was a completely unexpected development, and things suddenly became tricky.
Confused, Feifei flew down to the fire ring at my signal, tilted her head and tore the burning ring apart as if she were eating it, gradually extinguishing it.
"Hmph, could it be because we put the golden cup in the center of the formation?" The person who first discovered the problem suggested again. "I felt something was a bit unusual before. After all, it's something even I couldn't successfully store. Perhaps there are some special features involved?"
No, the fact that you can take so much into your body seems quite unusual to me.
I hesitated for a moment before suppressing my urge to complain: "We tried the Golden Cup before, and it couldn't move either. It was like it was fixed to the base." I stroked my chin. "Logically, this shouldn't happen. I can't sense any abnormal magical fluctuations, and it doesn't seem like a reaction caused by the experiment."
These are clearly unrelated things, but now, everything laid out on the ritual site has been connected into a whole by some unknown factor. From the floor tiles themselves to the white paper with the ritual formation inscribed on it, and the golden cup placed in the center of the formation, there is almost nothing that can be moved.
Even the gaps that existed before have been filled. Could this be an undiscovered characteristic of the Golden Cup?
Surprisingly, it didn't seem like it either, otherwise those guys in the church wouldn't have taken it out after the ceremony, or even left it in a place like the basement.
Wait... a ceremony?
A sudden realization flashed through my mind: perhaps it's not that everything in front of me is connected into a whole and cannot be moved, but rather that it is currently regarded as an unfinished ritual, which is why it remains intact.
Isn't there a similar saying in horror stories? If the summoned entity isn't released at the end of the ritual, it will keep following you until it's exorcised or the ritual's objective is successfully achieved.
The moment I realized this reason, my mind suddenly became clear.
But at the same time, my mood inexplicably plummeted to rock bottom.
If I'm not mistaken, one of the people present might be fully aware of the current situation.
I subtly cast my gaze at the blind saintess who stood quietly, feeling that I couldn't understand the expression on her face.
“Your guess is correct,” she suddenly said.
Everyone stared at her, bewildered.
Then, at that moment, a chilling sense of dread returned from behind.
Without a doubt, what Till pulled from his sleeve was a very obvious ceremonial silver dagger.
Although it lacks an exaggerated size and a sharp blade, there are obvious traces of being lightly moistened with essential oil and light black marks from being smoked on the blade surface.
She casually stepped into the ritual circle, which had been almost never entered by anyone except Alice, who was too impulsive to be stopped, in order to avoid any accidents. Her expression was calm and relaxed: "In what I just explained, I actually deliberately omitted one part. Although it is a rare situation, only this time have I obtained a clear method to avert disaster."
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