In front of the icon of the storm goddess Gemona, the blessed candle burned calmly, and the skylight from the dome shone around the icon, making the city-state bishop in dark robes seem to be bathed in divine grace.
.
Bishop Valentine raised his head in the light and stared quietly at Vanna's still firm gray eyes. His words seemed to carry some kind of magic. Faintly, Vanna heard the gentle sound of the waves.
There were ups and downs in her mind, and then there was a thunderous sound. With the help of external forces, the goddess's power finally broke through the curtain and exploded in her heart.
Vanna suddenly took a deep breath, as if she had suddenly returned to land from a state of suffocation in the deep water. Her chest heaved violently, her heart was pounding, and the feeling of God's gaze was overwhelming, and in a semi-trance state
, she heard Valentine’s voice continue to reach her ears:
"The existence of the Lost Home is recorded in history, and the omen dream you encountered is an objective fact. With these two points in place, your normal reaction should be to first assume the existence of the threat, and then seek a solution. But you
Just now you were subconsciously questioning whether the Lost Home really existed. This shows that you are subconsciously avoiding the information conveyed to you by the omen dream.
"Judge, you are subconsciously denying the existence of the Lost Home. This is evidence of the real existence of that ship. It seems that it is indeed approaching the territory of the civilized world."
Fanna felt a thin layer of sweat break out on her forehead, but the "curtain" that always blocked her and the goddess seemed to have disappeared, which made her feel a lot more relaxed, and the words of the city-state bishop made her realize what was happening.
What:
Unknowingly, I have been affected by the Lost Home Number!
This is exactly the characteristic of many visions or anomalies with terrifying tendencies: it causes confusion in the cognition of those who come into contact with it, leading to subconscious neglect and denial, so that the influence becomes more and more unknowingly!
This kind of subconscious neglect and denial is the instinctive reaction of intelligent creatures to protect themselves and the avoidance of danger. However, when in contact with abnormalities, this instinctive reaction will become the source of paralysis and carelessness, and ultimately lead to the ignorance of the self.
Suddenly become the victim of visions and anomalies!
As a judge who often deals with extraordinary powers, Fanna is well aware of this knowledge, but she never thought that she would fall into such a "psychological trap". Her strong will
The force had no effect at all?
"I don't know when I was affected," she said frankly. In front of the bishop, who is also a devout believer, she did not avoid the weakness she exposed this time. It is normal for her to be affected by abnormalities or visions and fall into psychological abnormalities.
In this situation, shame and concealment will not help. "I came here directly after waking up from the omen dream. I didn't talk to anyone, and I didn't touch any books or antiquities. I think I was in this process."
It has not been corroded by the outside world.”
"But you did show your deliberate avoidance of the foreboding dream just now... so the impact should have occurred earlier," the bishop stared at Vanna's face intently, as if he was observing the changes in her eyes and fluctuations in her breath at any time.
, "Have you been exposed to anything abnormal recently? It may be the... pollution from the Lost Home, which left an anchor in your subconscious in advance."
"Recently..." Fanna frowned, and then suddenly recalled the "sacrifice" that fell at the Black Sun sacrifice site, the green flames flashing in the other person's eyes, and her severed finger.
She opened her eyes wide and looked at the bishop suddenly: "The day before yesterday, I led a team to clean up the Black Sun Sacrificial Site in the sewers. When I came back, did I report any unknown pollution at the site? Did I report that there was a contaminated sacrificial site at the site?
Taste'?"
The bishop shook his head: "...No, you sent those cultists to the church and went back directly."
Fanna's heart skipped a beat: "Did anyone else who participated in the operation report anything like this?"
"There are no reports. All the case files only record things related to the Dark Sun Heresy."
Under the icon of the goddess, the bishop looked at Vanna, and Vanna looked at the bishop.
"It seems that we have found the time when the pollution first 'came ashore'," the bishop breathed out softly, his expression still calm, but his eyes seemed to be brewing with strong power as if a storm was about to come, "With the actions of my Lord Gemona,
Holy Name, Judge, is your memory of that night still clear and complete?"
Vanna took a deep breath: "In the holy name of my Lord Gemona, I still remember all the details of that night."
The bishop nodded, turned around and lit the special incense, then placed the copper incense burner at the foot of the icon and said in a calm voice: "What happened at that time?"
So, Vanna told everything she remembered about what happened in the sewer sacrificial site without missing any details. With the help of sacred incense, her memory and thinking became clearer than ever, and her experience that night became clearer than ever.
As clear as if I were to see you again...
She still remembers that the sacrifice suddenly opened its eyes, and she still remembers the green flames dancing in the sacrifice's eye sockets. She still remembers that the flames fell on her fingers, but she immediately carried out the purification. On the way back to the church,
She silently told herself that the pollution has been completely purified, the pollution has been completely purified, the pollution has been completely purified...
She was mumbling this sentence to herself along the way, and all the guards walking with her were also mumbling this sentence to themselves!
No one thinks there is anything wrong with this!
Looking back now, it was such a terrifying and strange scene. In the desolate night, the team of church defenders walked through the silent and deserted streets. Everyone kept whispering the same sentences to themselves until they returned to the church.
But during this process, they still thought they were doing normal things: guarding the heretics they had just captured, cleaning up the dirty sacrificial sites, and escorting the cultists back...
"...The spiritual flame falls on the soul, and the physical purification brought about by cutting off the limbs is ineffective. All you get is a deceptive comfort. The correct approach is to immediately light the incense and sprinkle holy oil on the ground to make a temporary arrangement.
sacred place, followed by ritual prayers to invoke the power of the goddess to perform the purification of the 'spirit'."
"...This is my fault," Fanna said in a serious tone, "I should have been more vigilant and alert."
"It was a mistake, but not a mistake." The old man shook his head. "You have great power, but as a judge, you are a little less experienced. Fortunately, you are now free of the influence. This shows that the remains of the sacrifice were
The 'pollution' is not too strong, it only interferes with your psychological level... Through the incense ceremony just now, I can roughly judge its intensity."
After saying this, he paused, seeming to be considering and judging something: "The guards who acted with you at that time should have been less affected. They were just standing around you, and the impact they received should be as strong as those in the church.
The prayers fade away quickly.
"Generally speaking, although the pollution you suffered at that time was dangerous and strange, since the source has been cut off, the subsequent effects are not terrible. According to your performance just now and the feedback from Xianxiang, even if you don't come today, you will be there by yourself in a few days.
Sensing something was wrong.
"What we need to worry about more than this is the future."
"In the future..." Fanna repeated the last word of the bishop, her expression slowly becoming serious.
Yes, in the future, this matter is not over yet.
The picture shown in the omen dream is a warning from the goddess. What I am currently exposed to is probably just the prelude to a storm.
"The Lost Home has not appeared in the sight of civilized territory for many years. Many people believe that it has returned to subspace and become one of the many shadows in the deepest part of the world. But now it seems that Captain Duncan is
Real world obsessions remain.”
Bishop Valentine spoke slowly, turning around and staring at the icon of the Storm Goddess.
"A century ago, the Homeless Ship fell into the depths of subspace. Although there is no clear evidence, many witness reports mentioned that there was a big storm lingering in the nearby sea at that time. The fall of the ship was affected by certain factors.
affected by the storm...
"The storm is my Lord's authority."
Vanna frowned: "Do you think Captain Duncan wants to... take revenge on God?"
"It's hard to say that even for ghosts returning from subspace, it is unimaginable to seek revenge from the gods. The gods live in the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of God is hidden above reality, and everything in the world can only fall from the upper level of the world. It has never been the case.
I've heard that some people can travel in reverse direction to the 'Kingdom of God' that is higher than reality...
"But if Captain Duncan wants to seek revenge on our Lord's agents on earth... the possibility is very high.
"The Holy Storm Cathedral patrols the world on behalf of the Lord on the boundless sea. It spends most of its time sailing on hidden routes, and no one can find its traces. In contrast...Plande City State is the only one in the world besides the Storm Cathedral.
, the Storm Goddess’s largest anchor point of faith in the world… and a faith anchor point that everyone can visit.
"Based on this consideration, it is logical that the vengeful ghost chose to land in Puland."