Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 796: The Door at 6 Saint Delan Square

Chapter 796 -796: The Door at 6 Saint Delan Square

The center of Tobesk City was serene and peaceful, and the autumn night in the Northern Pearl was so pleasant.

At Saint Delan Square, the warm glow of the lampposts around the square cast light on the orderly arranged stone-paved roads. Occasionally, a few lamps flickered, suggesting a minor issue with the gas lines.

The lamplight illuminated the walls of No. 6, and inside the house on the third floor, Luviya sat restlessly in a chair, awaiting the arrival of the Star Ocean Whales in a few hours. The room was filled with various experimental equipment she had gradually brought in throughout the fall for stargazing, including a massive astrolabe and a highly precise telescope.

But Luviya wasn’t the least bit happy about the imminent completion of her fall project. Instead, she was holding the “Grolinston Marriage Contract” with strong intuition telling her that something had gone wrong with Shard.

She moved the crystal ball in front of her, intending to attempt divination once more. However, before she could do anything, that familiar face unexpectedly appeared in the crystal ball:

“Shard?!”

Southern suburbs of Tobesk City, Galina Manor, study room.

Although it was already very late, the red-haired Duchess was still dealing with some troublesome documents, fretting over this year’s tax submission ratio. Even though the County of Saradiel was her fief, she still needed to submit a portion of the taxes to the Kingdom.

A knock on the door sounded, and Tifa entered wearing her black and white maid uniform, bringing in a tray to pour hot tea into the empty teacup:

“You are always so thoughtful.”

Miss Galina praised, and Tifa smiled and nodded slightly, then moved behind the Duchess, placing her hands on her shoulders.

“Oh, yes, that’s excellent pressure.”

Lifting the teacup to take a break, the witch slightly turned to look out at the night:

“I wonder what Shard is up to now. Before I go to sleep, I’ll visit the council; there should be news from Midshire Fort… Oh, I lent the necklace to Shard, so I can’t enter the council now. However, by tomorrow morning, there should be new news…”

She suddenly stopped mid-sentence because Shard’s face had appeared in the reflection of the tea.

With a suspicious frown, she looked down at the tea, then asked Tifa to let go:

“Tifa, get the carriage ready. We’re going to No. 6, Saint Delan Square now.”

“Do we need anything else prepared?”

Miss Maid inquired softly, and the witch pondered for a moment:

“Bring the people with us into the city, prepare the relics and spellcasting materials in the basement… this could be a big problem.”

The sound of hooves and wheels echoed through the night, disturbing who knows how many residents along the street. The coachman had orders to proceed at full speed, yet even with this, it was nearly eleven o’clock when the witch and her entourage reached Saint Delan Square.

Besides Miss Galina and Tifa, there were two high-ring female sorcerers and six mid-circle female witches accompanying them.

Tifa was the first to alight from the carriage. Knowing that Shard was not present, she intended to break the door lock to enter. However, just as she stepped onto the stairway, the door opened, and a girl with purple eyes stood there as though she had been waiting for them.

Since Luviya had once stayed at the manor, Tifa recognized her and knew her connection with Shard:

“Good evening, Miss Annette.”

“Good evening, come in. I also received Shard’s ‘last words.'”

She waved to those outside, nodding to Miss Galina as she and the group entered the brightly lit hallway of No. 6, Saint Delan Square.

The situation allowed no time for pleasantries. Heading upstairs, Luviya spoke rapidly:

“Shard asked us to find a way to open a gate to true death here.”

“Even though he asked me for help, I can’t do it either.”

The red-haired Duchess said as they hurried up to the second floor, her boots making urgent sounds on the stairs.

“I have a way. Shard had mentioned some things to me, his experiences in the Fifth Era.”

Overtaking Luviya on the stairs, Tifa opened the second-floor door, letting the group in while Luviya continued:

“He said that to search for the boundary between life and death, the council’s official member must act as the executioner, using the council’s power to summon the projection of the ‘Gate of Death’ at the boundary. The effect of opening it is identical to the original portal. (Chapter 722)”

Miss Galina sat on the couch, frowning slightly, while the mid-circle sorcerers waited on the third floor, and the high-ring sorcerers stood behind the couch awaiting orders:

“A boundary? Shard mentioned it. The third floor here is the boundary. But there’s still a problem: the boundary of life and death at No. 6, Saint Delan Square is extremely inactive. Unless we’re lucky enough for it to open tonight, we can’t enter… ”

If the boundary on the third floor could be easily opened, the Church would have discovered the anomaly during their numerous checks.

Miss Galina frowned again and said:

“I remember Shard saying that the great earthquake at Midshire Fort could temporarily open the boundary here.”

“That was in the past. Now with the sealing ritual upstairs, it’s impossible to open it actively. But it doesn’t matter; I have this.”

Luviya placed the blood-stained parchment roll “Grolinston Marriage Contract” on the tea table:

“One of its traits is that by writing the names of the living and the dead, it can break the boundary between life and death. (Chapter 558)”

The Duchess smiled, examining Luviya:

“It seems he chose you, so it’s not completely useless. But there’s still a problem. Even if we enter the boundary, we can’t summon the ‘Gate of Death’ projection. Perhaps the Witch Council of the Fifth Era could, but the Council in the Sixth Era has long lost this technique. At least, I’ve never heard of the Grand Witch being able to do this.”

“Not even any information?”

Luviya hadn’t considered this point but quickly had another idea:

“Let’s first open the boundary passage. I think we’ll find a solution.”

Breaking the life and death boundary using the “Grolinston Marriage Contract” took advantage of the relic’s out-of-control trait, which was extremely dangerous. Therefore, the high-ring witches Galina brought, along with the sealing ritual on the third floor, set up a more complex counter ritual for the relic’s out-of-control state.

Packing into the corridor, they confirmed readiness. Luviya then pricked her finger with a needle, letting her blood drip into the ink, and used the blood-mixed ink to write Shard’s and her names.

Since Shard entered death physically, his ghost was not invoked by the contract. However, a faint white mist appeared suddenly in the third-floor corridor:

“It’s opened.”

Miss Galina said, staring at the increasingly thick fog in front of her:

“Annette, Tifa, you come in with me. Fatir, Nina, you stay here to maintain the passage’s stability.”

The three stepped into the fog representing the boundary. With the spatial shift, they were now standing on the old third-floor floorboards of No. 6, Saint Delan Square, seemingly abandoned for a century.

The place looked even more dilapidated than before Shard repaired the third floor. Also, since this boundary only included part of the corridor, it was incredibly narrow and suffocating.

The boundary between life and death consisted of only black, white, and gray, and the evil spirits lingering here soon discovered these living beings. But before they could act, Tifa took the initiative to carry out the “cleaning.”

This was not Midshire Fort; the evil spirits here were just ordinary ones. Not to mention Tifa, even Shard with Three Rings could handle them with ease.

“So, this is the so-called boundary between life and death…”

The Red-Haired Witch sighed, reaching out to touch the gray moss on the wall, slightly raising her eyebrows, surprised at the intensity of the breath of death:

“So, Shard sleeps near such an environment every day. Didn’t he ever think of moving? Is he truly at peace, or is the so-called curse of this house affecting him?”

Luviya did not respond to the witch’s self-talk. Her eyes stared vacantly into the void while her ears listened intently to the sounds.

Miss Galina also noticed her abnormal state, but this peculiar look didn’t last too long:

“I received a hint from my ‘other self’. She helped me capture some traces of fate. Although the Witch Council in the Sixth Era lost the method to summon the projection of the Gate of Death, it doesn’t mean the council lacks this function.”

Miss Galina nodded:

“That’s indeed the case.”

“Though we don’t know how the witches of the past did it, we can give it a try. The key is ‘summoning the council’s power’, ‘pointing to the Gate of Death’, and ‘opening the gate.'”

“Although the necklace is not on me, I am still a witch with a seat. Summoning the council’s power is not hard; how do we point to the Gate of Death?”

Luviya thought for a moment and then took out a coin from her pocket, which was purchased with the help of the Prophet’s Society: the “Soul Coin of the Zealot.” Besides the faceless person’s face, it also had inscriptions in an ancient language—

“Belief, thus valuable.”

Luviya said nothing and threw the coin into the air in front of the witch. The relic turned to ashes before Miss Galina’s eyes, and Luviya got her answer:

“Using a relic with the trait of a gate, engraving the Holy Emblem of the Ancient God of Death on it can refer to the ‘Gate of Death’ within the boundary.”

“Shard has good taste in women.”

Miss Galina smiled, reaching out to lift Luviya’s chin, but the latter avoided it.

Luviya said sternly:

“Sorry, I’m not interested in women. I only like Shard.”

“That’s quite a coincidence, I also like Shard… Is there a gate here?”

“Of course, downstairs in Room No. 2, the ‘Traveler’s Gate’.”

“This place has everything indeed…”

The wooden door with a metal base was soon carried by two female sorcerers of the inner ring to the center of the ruined corridor within the boundary.

Tifa took some corpse grass growing in the corner, mixing it with corpse oil brought from the manor and special spirit ink, and then engraved the Holy Emblem of the Ancient God of Death on the wooden door, as recorded in the council’s ancient books. Originally decorated with a “Two-Faced Man” pointing in two directions, the Holy Emblem was drawn above the heads of the two faces.

“Praise the Chaos Witch, may the witch’s brilliance last forever.”

With Miss Galina’s prayer, the Eleventh Rank Golden Steps representing witch power appeared behind her. At the end of the steps, a door inscribed with the Holy Emblem of the Chaos Witch emerged. Slight whispers and glimmering light seeped through the door, shining on the “Traveler’s Gate” before Miss Galina.

This relic began to melt, or rather, it looked as if it were melting. The Holy Emblem of the Ancient God of Death, influenced by the power of the Chaos Ancient God, gradually transformed the wooden door into a stone gate, with the symbol on it exactly as Shard had described the “Gate of Death.”

Miss Galina reached out to push the door, but it didn’t budge.

Her Ring of Fate and Golden Steps appeared simultaneously. Her hands, imbued with various arcane techniques, exerted force again, but even so, the door in front of her remained unmoved:

“Summon the council’s power, point to the Gate of Death. These two parts are done. So, Diviner, how do we open the door? This must be very difficult; even if I’m not familiar with the traits of the Gate of Death, I know what it means to open this door.”

Tifa looked at Luviya, who thought for a moment:

“Perhaps it’s not that troublesome.”

She reached into her pocket once again and took out a black iron key, the slender ancient letters wriggling like worms, inscribed with the phrase Shard remembered deeply: “The only unopenable lock is the lock on a girl’s heart” (Chapter 650).

She handed the key to the Duchess, who hesitated before taking it:

“Is this the Poet-Level relic, the ‘Master Key’? What a coincidence, why is it in your possession?”

“Maybe it’s destiny.”

Luviya said, knowing that it was because of the whispers she heard upon waking this morning that made her bring it.

Miss Galina shook her head slightly, as if warning but also as if advising:

“Everyone has their secrets. Shard seems to particularly like girls with secrets. We can talk about your affairs later; for now, let’s rescue that troublesome young man first.”

She aimed the key at the stone door, and with her white wrist veins bulging, turned the key with great force. The key, upon being used, turned to sand, slipping through the witch’s fingers.

The door in front of them slowly opened, and a cold, harsh black wind forced the few in the third-floor boundary to step back.

Not only that, the Four-Ring Life Ring behind Luviya, the Six-Ring Life Ring behind Tifa, and the Eleven-Ring Sorcerer’s Life Ring behind Miss Galina all appeared and rapidly spun.

The accumulation of black iron spiritual light and the breath of death surrounded them. The ladies who opened a new Path of Death in the material world received an unexpected reward.