Chapter 323

Chapter 323: The Crisis of Death, Patronus Magic, a Gift

Sankt Wolfgang, above the sky.

The night sky made of stars and moonlight collapsed, with dimensional rifts spilling out strands of brilliant auroras, more dazzling than fire clouds, covering the entire town and reflecting in the gem-like lake, about to unleash a transformation of reality.

And before the blessing for the small town could take effect,

Chu Yuanqing suddenly regained her focus and severed the connection with the Flower of the Soul, causing all the strange visions to disappear in an instant.

The few remaining glimmers of light fell on the stage just as the melody reached its ending, illuminating the little idols as if they were being celebrated for this performance.

But in that moment,

Chu Yuanqing did not notice the brightness onstage and had no time to think about what kind of magic had been awakened.

The vision of the Sea of Truth arrived as expected, and at that moment, the soul shattered at a thousand times the past’s speed, with a harsh cracking sound echoing in her ears.

The Pure White Witch’s consciousness faded, and she coughed violently, spitting out a lot of bright red. Her whole body of Mercury Blood boiled violently, with nearly a third turning to ash.

In the next second, her golden eyes were engulfed, with countless lines spreading from within, causing her vision to collapse along with the breaking flesh.

On the girl’s delicate and beautiful face, the white skin cracked like porcelain, as if it were a mask about to peel off. Her right arm burned away, resembling ash that had collapsed, blown high by the wind and appearing like blue smoke in the light of the campfire.

Although the Pure White had not collapsed, the wall built on the dreams of many was still strong enough to suppress the thirteen Calamity Gods, resisting the Sea of Truth.

But the magic that had just awakened seemed to touch some kind of cause and effect, once again catching the attention of the Sea of Truth, increasing the curse’s intensity all at once, with the overflowing part bypassing the walls, allowing her to smell the scent of death that she hadn’t sensed in a long time.

Existence, cause and effect, fate, traces, the past…

The Corrective Force of the Sea of Truth was interfering with the whole planet, causing all the proof of her existence and her past to suddenly blur.

So, Sister Ellie knew nothing about this; the children nearby were still waving their glow sticks, and the little idols on stage were momentarily confused. They instinctively glanced down towards the audience, as if wanting to meet someone’s gaze, but saw nothing.

The night’s celebration was lively and noisy, filled with delightful laughter and joy everywhere. The atmosphere among the audience was completely heated up by the performance, like waves of an encore rushing towards the stage, covering Chu Yuanqing who was kneeling and coughing up blood, and swallowing the idols on stage.

Charlotte looked down towards the distance; she saw Sister Ellie, saw the children in the little church cheering for her, and glanced at many familiar and friendly townsfolk, but her heart felt a strong sense of emptiness.

It was a sudden emptiness in memory, like a piece of her soul had been taken away, yet she couldn’t remember anything for a moment. A powerful suppressive force swallowed her discomfort, urging her to continue standing on stage.

Xie Qingxuan instinctively sensed something was wrong; a dark cross appeared in her eyes, and the Cocoon of the Heart, glowing as it absorbed energy, extracted magic to inspire blessings.

However, just as The Power of the Titan began to awaken, it lost its target and calmed down.

This was the expected result; at this stage, the blessings could not reach the realm of the divine, let alone the Sea of Truth.

Kirimi Miyuki’s Tempering of the Heart was the same.

Tang Liuli had no blessings and could hardly notice anything unusual.

Chu Wang Shu had the protection left from the first playthrough, but it was not much better than her companions.

So, the little idols were swept away by the enthusiastic cheers and clumsily started dancing to another song prepared for the performance.

Even though, during this time, a certain discomfort in her heart kept growing, she failed to notice the truth in the audience right away.

Even the super AI monitoring this in real time felt the same way.

Chu Yuanqing felt as if she had returned to the moment when Levatin was first activated at full power, carrying the concept of myth, being consumed by the end, and wrapped in eternal fire.

In this state, all senses became chaotic; she could only rely on the soul realm that listened to the gaps of all things and the technology to reach God’s Domain to maintain her awareness of the world and turn the remaining fire into her own strength.

At that moment, the soul fell into nothingness, and the skills carved into instinct could not be used at all because of the stacked curse.

At this moment, the shining Lantern Gem dimmed immensely. Even though it was constantly filled with a great deal of wish power, it still could not overcome the curse, continuously breaking fiercely, immediately falling back to a dangerous threshold of 3%, and then all the way down to 1%.

The pure white flowers swayed, their branches outlining bright golden fragments that were burning hot at this moment, like lovers embracing, merging into the shape of a holy cup, shining brightly.

—[Broken Golden Cup].

This Patronus Magic also evolved after entering the river realm, becoming the main shield against the first wave of attacks.

Chu Yuanqing’s eyes were filled with liquid silver, a delicate web of magical fibers forming a lifeless hollow gaze; her consciousness faded and shattered, like ashes falling to the ground.

But just as the illusion began to appear, threatening to take away her mind completely, the desire to save, like a spark, ignited all the ashes, creating a scene as powerful as a hurricane or thunder.

"It’s not time to die yet."

Chu Yuanqing whispered to herself.

So, a strong will that crossed the chasm forcefully protected the soon-to-shatter flowers, causing the shape of the golden cup to blur, blocking out all decay.

In the next moment, the broken body began to awaken.

The girl coughed as she stood up; her pale skin and beautiful joints looked like cracked porcelain, creating a mottled picture filled with dreamy fragility, the dark cracks scattering ashes, resembling butterflies that carried the meaning of death.

Chu Yuanqing used her disguise spell to cover her unusual appearance and quickly sat back in her original position before the distortions from the Sea of Truth faded away.

The Pure White Witch took a sip of orange juice, her gaze lowered as her vision had not yet returned, controlling the Lantern Gem to speed up the transformation of her will, quickly repairing the shell with Mercury Blood and the Broken Golden Cup.

From the surface, it seemed like nothing had happened; even the celestial phenomena caused by Patronus Magic needed a high-speed camera to catch.

Chu Yuanqing swallowed the blood foam with the orange juice, quietly blending back into the lively atmosphere of the celebration, looking at the little idols on stage, gathering information from Patronus Magic, and feeling quite happy.

The erosion of the Sea of Truth was a destined result, and so was her death.

But how much value this life could ultimately create, how much it could leave for the world, for her family, and for her loved ones, remained an unknown.

The revived Patronus Magic—[End of Utopia]—is what causes changes in the Sea of Truth system, paving the way for more possibilities in the future.

Final City, City of Light, City of Hope, Sky Garden, humanity’s last pure land, Ideal Homeland away from the world…

At the same time, it is the hometown of both herself and Charlotte.

This super city, full of hope and light, has many names. On the surface of the ruined land destroyed in the first playthrough, it stood like a celebrated legend, carrying a very special meaning.

The brand new magic born from pure white flowers is the realization of its concept.

Of course, from the prefix, one could tell that this magic did not represent the Final City at its peak.

But rather…

Charlotte activated [Funeral March], and along with this super city, fell from the sky into the Intracastral Sea, burying all things and giving the world a final ending.

This is similar to the endings of various mythological groups.

The difference is that,

Chu Yuanqing witnessed this scene; at that time, she was inside the belly of the planetary concept, watching the inner sea collapse around her, gazing at Charlotte’s lifeless body, which alone fell into the broken main city, waiting for the world to end.

In the end, she received the blessing of the [Funeral March] and, according to the original plan, restarted the world line, correcting all of history and the past, creating a New Game Plus before the Disaster arrived.

Therefore, the [End of Utopia] does not simply mean the end of the world; it carries the most brilliant and precious hope, representing the light of rebirth and a fresh start.

Otherwise, the previous falling projections would not be a dazzling scene like the aurora but rather a lonely and far-reaching tide of death like a whale’s song.

"It is neither a Reality Marble nor a space; it has uniquely opened a layer of dimensional world outside the planet."

As for the effect,

The simplest and most direct function was as a magic power storage.

Due to the curse, Chu Yuanqing’s soul that held magic power was always shattering, like a leaking water bottle that needed to rely on a large external water source to maintain relative balance.

But with this technique, she could store all the magical power that leaked out at all times in the Ideal Homeland, located in another dimension, solving the problem of wasted magic.

Moreover, the most useful thing was that willpower could also be poured into it, allowing it to naturally transform into stored magic.

Although the transformation was not as fast as the Lantern Gem, it could be considered a dual-core process.

In summary, the Ideal Homeland was like having a Paper Crane Amulet and Lantern Gem combined, but with many more enhanced effects.

On the other hand, the magic poured into it would slowly become tinged with a hint of end-of-days power.

The so-called end of days referred to the destruction of planets, the fall of civilizations, the evaporation of billions of souls, the collapse of physics, the chaos of all rules and concepts, and the collective slide of energy particles; only when these conditions were met would the phenomenon of chain decay occur.

Even the [Calamity God], which had destroyed many civilizations, was only passively touched by the related aura, being a byproduct of the ultimate development of [Burial].

Of course, the end of days could not kill her.

Chu Yuanqing was someone who had survived and could restart the world.

Just…

The curse of the Sea of Truth was somewhat similar to the power of the end.

But no matter what, this power could work wonders at critical moments.

"If it is not fully projected, these are all the functions it currently has."

Chu Yuanqing calculated in her heart; she believed that even in extreme cases of being cursed, she could see the Ideal Homeland as a sky throne filled with power.

Because even without projecting it, opening dimensional rifts in the sky could allow her to pull down magic and temporarily create spells to achieve effects like a space-based weapon’s bombardment.

While resting and thinking of new magic, the little idols finally left the stage, changed their clothes in the waiting room, and returned to the dining table.

Tang Liuli was the first to come over; she pretended to be cute by leaning against Honey Qing’s embrace, but secretly sniffed the collar like a small animal, making sure she didn’t smell any blood or flowers before she suspiciously sat down.

Chu Yuanqing thought Liuli’s intuition was quite frightening; she decided to reach out and pet the cat’s head to quietly divert her attention, but halfway through, her head was caught in a soft hug.

The Pure White Witch’s vision was overwhelmed, her face buried in the fragrant softness, and for a moment, she could barely breathe.

Xie Qingxuan looked down at Honey Qing in her arms, ignoring the sinking curve caused by the collision, seeming unaware of the benefits she was giving, and earnestly said in a gentle and honest tone:

"I don’t know why, but I suddenly miss you so much."

Kirimi Miyuki sat beside her, squeezing Chu Yuanqing’s warm hand, her innocent face full of confusion, murmuring to herself:

"It’s so strange, just now on stage, my heart skipped a beat, and I even lost my sense of the Paper Crane Amulet. Was that just an illusion?"

Chu Wang Shu didn’t join the flattery crowd; she was quietly questioning life in her heart.

It was one thing for the younger ones to have some strange connection with Honey Qing, but why did she also feel that something was off just now?

Charlotte watched Chu Yuanqing’s expression with suspicion; she knew the truth and wasn’t as easily fooled as the other idols, doubting that this was the Sea of Truth’s fault.

Could it be that the backlash after the clearing of Disaster Relief wasn’t over yet?

It seemed that today she needed to send Liuli and Miyuki to Honey Qing’s bed together.

As for Honey Xuan, she would manage by herself; even without being prompted, she would be involved.

Tang Liuli glared at the golden retriever angrily; it was bad enough to bump into others with the ball, but how could it ruin the head pat that Honey Qing gave her? Wasn’t that just bullying?

The green-eyed cat decided to protest against the bullying in the palace by lying down on Honey Qing’s soft lap, declaring with righteousness:

"Little Qing definitely has something she’s hiding from me. If she doesn’t tell me, I won’t get up."

Little Sakura looked at the naughty cat with a blank expression, grabbed her collar from behind, and lifted her up, saying:

"Don’t make taking advantage sound so justifiable."

"Don’t forget we are still filming the show."

Tang Liuli puffed up her cheeks, annoyed with the sakura girl; she had been lying on Honey Qing’s lap in the show for a long time, and so what if she was caught on camera? "Qing Ci Li Qu" would be proud of her!

But after thinking for a moment,

The green-eyed cat brought up the important topic, saying:

"How is everyone’s magic coming along? I feel like I can officially create my Magic Armor now, and I even know the name of my Patronus Magic in advance, but it seems like it can only fully take shape when it is ‘Fully Blooming.’"

This sentence was formed using magic and echoed in everyone’s ears without worrying about Sister Ellie and the children nearby hearing it.

Xie Qingxuan reluctantly let go of Honey Qing in her arms and waited for her to create a small barrier for controlling sound before she answered:

"Same here, my Patronus Magic is [Monarchy]."

Kirimi Miyuki honestly said:

"My Patronus Magic is called [Perfect Rule]. It should come from the Perfect Interpretation Method, but I can’t really tell the difference yet. Maybe I will know more when it officially transforms?"

Tang Liuli thought for a moment and then commented:

"My name is [Spirit Power]. It sounds like more than just a support type; I wonder what kind of magic it will lead to."

The lovely daughter held back her excitement, took on the posture of an honor student, and happily joined the discussion.

"Esther said that Patronus Magic is strange and varied; no magical girl has the same powers yet."

"The magic that extends from it, in the action games that Liuli often plays, is like each character having their own unique set of skills."

"Thinking about it this way, Patronus Magic sounds similar to card games online, where the initial character can even determine future development and limits. Liuli might be like a strong attacker wielding a chainsaw."

After Chu Wang Shu spoke, she shyly added:

"I don’t know the name of my Patronus Magic yet, but I have lit the way, so I can join everyone in training."

Charlotte held the Pure White Witch’s hand and used the Chain of Contracts to create an internal channel. While questioning the mischievous Honey Qing, she gently patted her daughter’s hair and smiled as she nodded.

"That means your team will all be [witches]."

"If nothing big happens, we can definitely debut together in the future."

Chu Yuanqing had no plans to hide; she calmly shared the truth in secret while looking around and said to everyone:

"Even though we haven’t reached the constant stage of ‘Fully Blooming,’ I will still teach you how to identify your magical properties when we go back today, so you can adapt to the type of spells."

After she spoke,

The little idols all looked excited; after they returned to the hotel, they could try transforming and officially learn the magic that only appears in cartoons.

Even the Great Devil, who seemed the most indifferent, had different expectations about going back to the hotel because she always remembered that after ‘Fully Blooming,’ she would be able to give Honey Qing a Demon Mark.

But the celebration wasn’t over yet,

Charlotte still had to be responsible for all the townspeople who helped her prepare; she couldn’t leave the stage until the very end, at least not until everyone else had left.

This was a matter of basic politeness and respect.

So, after understanding that Chu Yuanqing was attacked because she cast a powerful Patronus Magic,

Charlotte spent some time talking with Sister Ellie, watched a few shows prepared by the townspeople, and then returned to the stage.

However, before she left, she received gifts from her good friends and daughter.

Xie Qingxuan gave her a mysterious prop box.

Kirimi Miyuki gave a music box with added blessings.

Chu Wang Shu only gave a camera on the surface, but hidden in the camera’s memory card was her photo album; this disguise was her last stubborn attempt to hide her shame.

Tang Liuli’s gift was similar to her lovely daughter’s; it was a collection of all the films and videos she had made throughout her life, complete with signatures and special features, along with rare childhood photographs.

It could be said that, in a way, everyone understood Charlotte’s tastes very well.