Chapter 1424: A Brief Rest

Amidst the splashing sound of water, a fair arm also reached out from the right side of the beautiful head in the water.

Both palms together held up the small yellow flower, bringing it to a height level with the pier deck. The wet, beautiful face looked up at Xia De:

"Using tonight's story as the stage, before dawn arrives, with you as the protagonist, show me a story about your desires." The purple eyes looked at Xia De with deep emotion:

"On this turbulent earth, use your desires—those burning, forever unsatisfied desires—to perform the most magnificent drama for me."

"Desires? What kind of desires?" "Any desire will do."

She stared at Xia De, who was gradually bending over:

"I can see through your heart; I can see your longings. This request isn't difficult for you, right?" "What if I can't do it?"

Xia De asked. Because of the action of bending over to pick up the flower, his face was now quite close to Desire's face, one could even say closer than ever before.

And at this distance, besides seeing more carefully that beautiful face—which had some snow on its head and seemed to combine the facial advantages of all the girls he knew—he even smelled the perfume on 【Desire】's face amidst the fishy smell of the Schluch River water. It was the scent of a witch.

"She really did imitate the perfume scent I like most."

Xia De reached out and pinched the small flower held by the two palms, and quickly retracted his hand, avoiding any direct contact with Desire in any form.

The latter also retracted her hands, and the two arms re-entered the water like water snakes:

"If you don't do it, next time you take a bath, I will appear in the water and bestow a kiss upon you." She laughed softly, watching Xia De, her head moving backward into the distance of the lake in the snow:

"Of course, you can also choose to never take a bath again. Interesting soul, I look forward to our next meeting." The face gradually became blurred in the night until it disappeared completely.

Thump!

Xia De heard something hitting the pillar under the pier deck. He tilted his head to look, only to see it was that small perfume bottle. The perfume bottle contained crystallized Desire, and it could summon 【Desire】 when thrown into water. Xia De had thought this would allow him to get rid of this relic.

He bent down to fish out the perfume bottle as well, and then, with that small yellow flower—which made all sorts of distracting thoughts appear in his heart just by smelling its fragrance—he spent a large amount of spirit to turn it into a toy, just like the winter flower planted on the Stone Heart earlier.

"With this, the Four Seasons Flowers are complete. Osenfort is dead, and even in the worst-case scenario where the guardians are beyond saving, at least I have a third candidate to choose from."

【Aren't you trying your best to avoid such an ending?】 "Yes."

Xia De looked up at the pitch-black night, letting the snowflakes fall on his cheeks. Even though there was no moon tonight, the effect of the miracle 【Moon Shadow】 still ensured that Xia De was bathed in moonlight at this moment. The Archangel was right; playing that game with the demon did indeed allow Xia De to get more "compiled"...

"But I must be prepared to deal with any situation, this night." He clenched his palm:

"Has only just begun."

Following the witch's loud shout, a vortex interwoven with gold and black suddenly appeared in the snow amidst the sound of shattering glass.

At the same time, in the No. 3 performance hall of the Wilde Opera House in Randel Valley, a sudden gale swirled on the calm indoor stage. An identical gold-black spatial vortex appeared above the already drawn pentagram ritual base, and then Xia De and Miss Sylvia, leading a horse, walked out of the vortex.

"Xia De!"

Luvia, who had been waiting here, rushed over almost immediately. Seeing that Xia De was in a sorry state but not in life-threatening danger, she opened her arms and hugged him.

As for Doctor Schneider, he didn't want more people to know he was in the Randel Valley area, so he didn't return with Xia De. Of course, this was also because the Doctor had heard that spatial teleportation had a one-in-a-thousand chance...

... of an accident, and considering his own luck, he made a very wise choice.

The Doctor remained at Osenfort Manor to retrieve the demon summoning materials Osenfort had stolen from the old captain and to clean up the traces of the battle there.

After devouring the Stone Mirror Demon tonight, he had gained more peculiar abilities. After dealing with Osenfort Manor, he would ride his horse toward the Temple of Night. If he could rendezvous with Xia De later, the Doctor could play a greater role tonight.

"It went quite smoothly. Although there were some mistakes in the middle, Xia De still solved the demon."

Miss Sylvia had promised Xia De to keep Doctor Schneider's secret, so she explained the situation, looking slightly exhausted, and then went to rest first with Miss Rita Swift, who had arrived. During the half-hour Xia De spent in a near-coma with his eyes closed, she had blocked more than one enemy on the outskirts of Osenfort Manor, so although her health was much better than Xia De's, she still needed to rest.

"I'm fine. Oh, Luvia, can you let go of me first?"

Xia De's sorry state at this moment couldn't be solved just by changing his clothes. After this hug ended, the girls from the Golden Dawn who had stayed behind brought the prepared healing potions...

... to help Xia De heal his wounds.

Although Xia De claimed he was fine, and the potion prepared by the Doctor in advance to treat the demon's influence had played an excellent role, after a careful examination, Xia De's current condition was still worrying.

Unfortunately, it was already close to midnight, and Xia De had no time to rest properly. Luvia's divination showed that the earthquake, an important node in the distortion of the earth, would occur after midnight, and an hour and a half after that earthquake, the completely insane guardian would appear on the surface.

He sat shirtless on the sofa in Miss Bernice's office. A cart filled with potions and late-night snacks was parked next to the sofa, and Tifa and another maid of Miss Galina were treating his wounds. Little Mia, who had been a toy all night, was restored by Xia De and was now lying on Xia De's lap, her eyes fixed on the food on the coffee table.

The office lights were quite bright. Luvia tried her best not to look at the scars on Xia De's body. She sat beside Xia De, holding the summarized data and telling Xia De the current situation:

"The situation in the city in the first half of the night is still stable. Because of the experience of the Battle of Midhillburg, the arrangements made by the church for this city defense battle are much more sufficient than in Midhillburg. The enemies outside the city have been intercepted outside the old city walls, and the enemies that appeared in the city have been eliminated one by one by patrols organized in a grid structure."

"Is there any news from Iluna?" Xia De asked. Luvia shook her head:

"Not for the moment, but don't worry about her. The 13th-ring sorcerer of the Church of the Sun, Mr. Pierre Granger, the 'Earth Shaker', is staying in the city, and Princess Margaret and Prince William are also at the Sun Church; that is the safest place. However, when the earthquake occurs, the Church of the Sun and the Church of the Earth will join forces with the Prophecy Association to cast spells to determine the core source of the earthquake, and then Iluna will probably have to take action."

Although the fragments of the poem mastered by all parties did not clearly indicate where the Chosen One ritual would take place this time, the fragments mastered by the Church of Peace pointed out—at the center where the earth surges. Therefore, after the earthquake occurs, the answer will naturally be revealed.

"Xia De, drink your medicine,"

Tifa handed Xia De a cup containing a brown potion. The potion had a pungent smell, so this time the greedy cat didn't even have the thought of wanting a share.

"Okay... Oh, this taste is really..."

The temperature of the potion was just right, and Xia De held his breath and drank it all. Luvia asked Tifa worriedly: "How is his condition? Can he continue to engage in high-intensity combat?"

"Ordinary external and internal injuries are no problem, but the state of his body being eroded by abnormal power is very troublesome. According to Xia De, that is the erosion of the demon's domain on individuals with souls. We don't have good treatment methods for this kind of injury."

The black-haired maid said worriedly.

"But didn't I take another kind of potion?" That was the potion brought by Doctor Schneider.

"Yes, so you can still act normally now, just feeling a slight drowsiness." The black-haired maid continued:

"That kind of potion seems to be specifically used to deal with this kind of demon erosion injury, but the effect takes time, at least an hour. Xia De, do you feel that your spirit recovery is slower than usual, and your heartbeat is irregular?"

Under the gaze of Luvia's purple eyes, Xia De could only nod. No matter how strong his physical fitness was, it was still a mortal body after all, and he couldn't completely withstand the influence of the ancient evil spirit demon's domain on mortals.

The First Fire had the power to protect the body, but unfortunately, the Primordial Fire was not complete enough yet. "Meow~"

Mia meowed softly on Xia De's lap, but no one paid attention to the cat now.

"An hour is an hour. The earthquake hasn't happened yet, so I have time to wait."

Xia De said, and Luvia and Tifa looked at the clock in the corner together. The time was 12:13 AM, and the final time was actually not far off.

"Continue to tell me the current situation."

Xia De reached out to take his shirt and coat, wanting to put on his top, but Tifa got his clothes one step ahead, and then helped Xia De dress along with the other maids.

Xia De had always been quite resistant to others helping him dress, but at this time, it was not good to oppose their actions. ===== CHAPTER 1425 =====

Xia De had always been quite resistant to others helping him dress, but at this moment, it was difficult to object to their methods.