Deep Sea Embers

There are traces of pollution in the history of Pland, distorted and closed space-time junction points in the chapel of the sixth block, and a subspatial rift hidden in the statue head of the Storm Goddess…

Shirley was one of those who remembers the fire from that year. She should have died like everyone else when it burned, but she merged with a dark hound and survived. As a result, the girl escaped the historical pollution and retained her true memory.

Now, a group of Enders has attacked Shirley to correct the flawed loophole.

Of course, Duncan wouldn’t believe the absurd “truth” from their mouths, and even listening to their crap about correcting history was only to lure out more information. However, there’s one thing he’s certain of – these fanatical Enders are definitely the culprits behind the whole false history.

But not all problems have been explained yet though.

How did these madmen suddenly discover Shirley’s “loophole”?

What does historical pollution have to do with the Black Sun, and what role did that sun god play in this matter?

And most importantly…

Will Nina, the carrier of a suspected solar fragment, also be targeted by these cultists?

Duncan observed the three crazy fanatics with cold eyes as he raised a finger – a cluster of green flame ignited upon one of the Enders. This flame burned the cultist’s body, which could be regarded as a “transcendent object”, causing him to curl up in agony as he screamed. This also had the direct effect of silencing the other two cultists.

“Fire… blasphemous fire…” The cultist’s eyes widened with a fanatical frenzy crazier than before. This subspace follower, who never showed fear before, had finally learned what terror meant. “Blasphemy, blasphemy… O blasphemy!”

“If you don’t want to get burned then cooperate with my questioning,” Duncan orders the flames to ignite all over the deck, intertwining into a web of flame to surround the three cultists. “Answer me, how exactly did you people pollute history? Did it start in the sixth block?”

“We are putting history back on track!” Even though they were intimidated by the ghost flames, the Enders did not forget to retort and even shouted defiantly, “The sixth block… was just a failed attempt, but that’s nothing, nothing…”

The sixth block was just a failed attempt?

Duncan immediately frowned at this word. The other party did not answer honestly but still revealed some vital information!

First of all, the fire that year was indeed the doings of this group of subspace fanatics. It wasn’t simply a fire caused by the sun fragment as he had thought at the beginning. Secondly, these cultists’ attempts to pollute history did not seem to have gone as intended, or at least not yield the full result they wanted.

Immediately after that, he thought of another key year number, 1885.

Vanna found the number under the chapel, pointing to the year when the nun died in battle. So in theory, it should also be the year when the church was invaded by subspace forces.

Then there’s the 1889 great fire. Between the initial corruption and the outbreak, there’s a four-year gap in-between. It took that much time for the Enders to produce that “failed attempt”.

Things are starting to make sense for him with a clear picture of the truth.

“You actually failed twice,” Duncan said, gazing down at the Ender, who was being burned by the ghostly flames. “In 1885, you guys invaded a chapel and tried to use it as an anchor point to spread the pollution of history, but a nun ruined your plans with her life, sealing up both that year’s ‘invasion’ and her own ‘death’ in the underground church.”

“Four years later, in 1889, you carried out a second plan to create a fire in the sixth block where the chapel is located, trying to blanket reality with a historical branch of the city-state being engulfed by a huge fire. But that failed as well because an unknown force erased that reality. It did not continue to burn…”

“Then you guys lurked in the city to this today, looking for an opportunity to continue the plan until you discovered Shirley’s loophole. You believed the plan’s failure back then was related to her survival, so you wanted to get rid of this ‘hidden danger’ first, correct?”

Instead of answering or lashing at Duncan’s speculation or truth, the burning Ender only made a creepy grin under that intense searing pain.

“You don’t have to answer. I can see the answer in your eyes, the resentment, which means I’m right.” Duncan didn’t care about the other person’s provocation and calmly continued, “Next question… What is the connection between you and that ‘Black Sun’? The fire of 1889 was sparked by a sun fragment… You made that fragment?”

The Enders remained silent and didn’t answer.

Duncan became even more forceful and spread his flame onto the other two Enders. He watched as they curled up and twitched from the pain that could burn even their souls.

“If you won’t speak then I can only guess,” Duncan sighed, waving his hand to disperse the flames. He had realized that this simple torturing method wouldn’t work on these subspace fanatics. Their spirits and flesh are no longer human, meaning the simple definition of pain no longer applies to them. “I guess you have some sort of cooperation with those Suntists… No wait, maybe there is a partnership with the heirs of the sun? They promised your group something in return for the collaboration?”

Duncan paused, hoping for a response and got none: “In the early days of the new city-state calendar, there once existed a city-state called ‘Wilheim’ that no one knew about. The name left on the Flame Bearer’s Pillar was its only evidence of existence. You guys summoned the black sun from history and succeeded there… So, the process to summon it is to pollute history, right?”

Duncan’s imagination and memory were at their greatest when all the trivial clues and lines were put together. Things that were once incomprehensible and bizarre before now looked like concrete facts, and he’s now certain he’s getting closer than ever to the whole story.

Ordering the ghostly flames to converge, he forms a circle to jail these three as he peered down at them menacingly.

“There should be more than a few of you who have infiltrated the city-state. Where are the others hiding? What are you going to do next? Continue to eliminate what you call ‘loopholes’? Or is it waiting for an opportunity to set off more pollution?”

“Still refusing to answer?”

Duncan’s questions were thrown out one by one, and finally, one of the cultists caved. The skinny maniac slowly flicked his lips into a snarling grin while slurring the words: “We aare nnot hidding in thee so-calledd ccity-statee… We aare hidding in this cuursed, ttwisted, loong-overduue hhistory… Wheen it beegins, it woon’t endd… What thee Flame Bearers ccan’t do, you can’tt do, ‘Mr. Captain’…”

The grin on this cultist’s mouth became deeper and deeper to the point it’s derogatory: “I just saw it now, your humanity, it’s really dazzling. Where did you pick it up from?”

Duncan’s eyes immediately got ugly as he stomped forward: “What do you mean?”

“…… Have a nice day, Mr. Captain,” the Ender seemed to have flicked a switch there and became a well-mannered citizen instead of the bat-shit-crazy fanatic from earlier. “Ah… The Promised Land, the Promised Ark…”