Chapter 3514: Misfortune VS Fortune

"Where was the location where you encountered that temple?"

Megan asked at this moment, and the tearful Kruger answered:

"I took that gemstone and fled from the temple. After I got home, I felt like I had been dreaming, but the gemstone was lying right there in my pocket. Later I went to look for that temple again, but I could never find it."

He named a small area in the northwest of the city, near where he went winter fishing. But whether it was Xia De or Megan, both believed that even if they went to look again, it would probably be very difficult to find the so-called "temple."

This matter sounded unlike anything that had ever happened on the island before, and the fact that he had come here alone to live after his family members had all met with misfortune was because he worried that once he got close to other people, they too would become the "price" of his good luck. He still did not understand why the price he had to pay today was so great.

Afterwards Megan put the weeping young man into a deep sleep:

"What should we do next?"

"Take him away. In a bit, please contact Vanessa for me, and have Hilarys come over. I want to take a look inside his head, at the memories about the so-called temple and Mr. Snake. I still suspect this is that demon running a scam. Right now I equally suspect that any unknown thing on this island is related to the demon."

"But isn't the demon the Weapon Demon? Does it also have the power to manipulate fate?"

"It might be some kind of relic. Without evidence right now, I can't say for certain."

This should count as "kidnapping," but Xia De planned to pay Mr. Kruger some kronor afterwards, as compensation for purchasing information from him. Xia De even kindly helped him pack his luggage, then turned the luggage into a toy. Carrying the sleeping man on his shoulder, he returned to the alley together with Megan.

After the two of them landed, however, both frowned. The clamor that had still been audible from the second floor of the tavern had instead vanished upon returning to the alley. All around was silent, and there was no longer any light in the buildings on either side of the alley or in the tavern behind them.

Looking up at the sky, a large mass of dark clouds had just drifted over to cover the three moons, making the surroundings truly pitch-black.

Solemn and stately singing now approached from far to near. Both Xia De and Megan had strong darkvision, so they saw a group of people walking out from the depths of the alley.

On the outermost edge of the group were ordinary believers performing hymns, while in the middle were priests wearing high priest robes. Silver lanterns of identical make hung from each priest's waist, and they clustered around a half-person-tall shrine borne aloft by four people. Within the shrine, four candles burned with silver flames, and the holy sigil belonging to the evil god 【Mr. Misfortune】 glittered and gleamed.

Utterly solemn, utterly stately. Xia De roughly estimated the total number of this group at around thirty, among whom the highest-ranked were the three people standing at the very front of the procession. The man in the very center was a full twelve rings, while the man and woman on either side each had eleven rings.

They advanced toward Xia De and Megan at no great speed, while Xia De and Megan both retreated backward.

With the four elements of hymn, priests, believers, and holy sigil all present, it was as if the church of the god of misfortune had appeared here. The anomalies of light and sound in the surroundings had all arisen because of this. And with the boosts from the site, the ritual, and their companions, although these ring-warlock cultists had not yet cast spells, Xia De and Megan were already considering what route they should take to leave.

Even thirteen-ring warlocks would not lightly contend with cultists inside an evil god's church. Although strictly speaking, what had appeared in this alley was only a "church environment" and not a true church, the ever-cautious Xia De still did not wish to fight the enemy here.

"What is this huge display for? Is this meant to be a fight to the death with me?"

He wondered to himself, then saw the slowly approaching group come to a halt. In the alley, they were separated from Xia De and Megan by roughly thirty meters, and the leading twelve-ring warlock said to Xia De amid the hymn:

"Leave the man on your shoulder behind."

Xia De raised an eyebrow. He knew this person. A few weeks ago, when he had gone to visit "Lower Spring," it had been this very man who had intercepted Claire, who had been waiting for Xia De at the time. This was the Archbishop of the Misfortune Cult, Kaley Wortuna.

Xia De did not know whether the other party had also recognized him, so with Kruger on his right shoulder, he gestured behind his back with his left hand for Megan to be ready to leave at any moment:

"Why should I listen to you? And do you even know who I am?"

Then the twelve-ring warlock said:

"God-Summoner, although the 【Spindle of Prophetic Words】 cannot weave your fate either, when the thread snaps during spinning, we know for certain that it is you whose fate is about to intertwine with ours. We know how formidable you are, which is precisely why we have used such a formation to welcome you this time.

You can kill each one of us individually, but when the greater part of the cult's elite is here, you certainly cannot take us all down."

He stated his demand:

"I have not come to oppose you. How about we make a trade? Leave the man on your shoulder behind, and we will exchange a secret with you. This is a secret concerning the Chosen One ritual. If we do not tell you, you will only learn of it at the very end."

"Mm... you're not trying to tell me the secret of the Fate Dice, are you?"

The twelve-ring warlock was somewhat surprised:

"You know? Did the Prophets' Association tell you?"

Xia De certainly would not answer this question:

"If there's nothing else, I'll be going now. You're right, I don't want to fight you in a setting like this, but can you hold me here? As far as I know, the Misfortune Cult isn't exactly a faction skilled in spatial lockdown."

"Wait a moment, God-Summoner."

He called out to Xia De again:

"Then let's change the form of the trade—you leave him with us, and I'll tell you another secret. This too is related to the Fate Dice, and moreover, even if the Prophets' Association knows this secret, they absolutely will not tell you."

Although Xia De was not the sort of person who absolutely refused to deal with cultists, he was not so lost as to hand an ordinary person over to cultists:

"My apologies, but I don't want to know any secrets. Look, it's getting late—why don't you head back and wash up and get some sleep."

As he spoke, he took a step backward. Megan, long prepared, grabbed Xia De's shoulder, and the three of them vanished directly into the darkness of the alley. Only this time, the spatial movement clearly went wrong. Xia De felt his entire body as though it were being squeezed into a pipe, and after the squeezing sensation finally faded, the position where they appeared had only shifted three steps to the right.

The backlash from the failed casting made Megan's expression very ugly, while the Archbishop of Misfortune said quite calmly:

"We are indeed not skilled in spatial lockdown, but we are skilled in bringing misfortune to others. With the church here, even you, God-Summoner, will find it hard to leave this place easily before killing all of us. This trade is not a bad one for you. We have come in good faith. You..."

Ding-ding~

A clear bell rang out. Xia De shook the holy bell lent by the hermits. Although the force with which he rang it was not great, this single chime nearly drowned out the hymn being played by the Misfortune believers.

In the lingering afterechoes of the bell, the vanished lamplight and the tavern's clamor reappeared in the alley. Although the surroundings returned to darkness once the bell's sound faded, Xia De immediately rang the bell again.

So the cultists' hymn grew louder, attempting to contend with the bell. After Xia De confirmed with a sidelong glance that Megan was all right, he also accelerated his ringing.

The bell and the song collided, unsettling the heart. On the cultists' side, silver profane elements clung to every single person, like silver flames wavering above the procession; while as Xia De kept ringing, golden miracle elements rippled outward together with the sound waves, centered on the holy bell.

For the first time in a thousand years, the powers of the god of misfortune and the god of fortune met face to face once more in the material world.

Although Xia De was not a believer of that deity, and a holy relic left behind by an old-era cult alone could not possibly let him defeat the priestly formation composed of so many people before him on their own ground. What he wanted to do was merely to briefly pry open a crack in the "church site" the enemy had created. As long as the site revealed even the slightest flaw, he and Megan could leave.

The most fortunate thing for Xia De in this matter was that the power wielded by the cult of 【the God of Misfortune】 had no direct damaging effects, and although his luck was not absolutely immovable, it was also impossible for short-term influence alone to cause situations like "coughing while chanting" or "losing grip while shaking the bell."

Although the golden ripples spread by the bell were being compressed, shrinking in area, the bell's sound grew ever louder, and the runes and patterns on the silver bell grew ever brighter.

Until, no matter how loud the cultists' hymn became, no matter how elaborate and varied the rituals they employed, the ripples spreading from the holy bell in Xia De's hand still preserved a safe zone of roughly one meter in radius around him and Megan behind him. This represented that the power of the god of fortune could, no matter what, carve out a sanctuary within misfortune.

The "she" by his ear softly reminded Xia De of his insights into "fortune" and "misfortune," and at this moment when miracle and profanity collided, fortune and misfortune intertwined, the Outsider, feeling the two powers clash yet resonate with each other, felt he suddenly understood something.

If fate is a double-edged sword, then the simplest composition of that sword's two blades is fortune and misfortune. Those who seek to grasp their own fate must, when holding the sword, know that fortune faces themselves and misfortune faces the enemy, and must always be wary of the blade turning.

The powers of fortune and misfortune both originate from fate itself, so misfortune can never completely defeat fortune, and fortune can never utterly prevail over misfortune—just as the two edges of a single sword cannot strike each other.

Clatter-clatter~

As if the sound of dice leaping by his ear, the "Noble Fate" on the back of his hand at this moment actively manifested that noble hue. Megan noticed that color, which was very similar to Luvia's eyes, and then saw that shade of purple flow into the holy bell in Xia De's hand.