Chapter 23 Chapter 6

Our car was driven by Gennady.Apparently, Edgar and Alina thought they would be more capable of overpowering me should I attempt to escape or attack them.I sat in the middle of the back seat with Edgar on the left and Alina on the right. In fact, I have no intention of running away or attacking them, because they have some tricks that have not yet been shot. The "cat essence" was removed from me, but the skin around my neck was scratched and it was unbearably itchy. "'Crown of All Things' is fairly heavily defended," I said. "Are you not afraid of triggering a fierce battle, Alina? Can you stand the condemnation of your conscience?"

"We can get the 'Crown of All Things' without causing massive bloodshed," Arina said confidently. "It's entirely possible." Although I was skeptical, I didn't argue with her again.My eyes stared at every place I passed along the way, as if hoping to see Lemont and his dark-skinned assistant, even if I used a look or a gesture to warn them in advance... Once I try to leave, they will definitely stop me...should be patient. At this time, it was almost dusk, and the prime time for tourists began.But Edinburgh is very different today than it was two weeks ago.The pedestrians on the street were much quieter, they looked a little melancholy, the sky was shrouded in a thin layer of mist, and a group of frightened birds circled over the city.

It seems that the creatures of the world have a premonition that a catastrophic upheaval is about to take place.Humans feel the same way as birds. Suddenly the phone in my pocket rang.Edgar took a breath and his expression became tense.I looked at Alina questioningly. "Go ahead, but be sensible," she said. I looked at the screen, it was Svetlana calling. "Hey." God seems to be deliberately against me - the voice of the call is very clear.She would not have imagined that we are now thousands of kilometers apart. "Are you busy, Anton?" "say to me. "I'm in the car."

Alina stared at me intently.She could probably hear every word Svetlana said. "I deliberately didn't call you. I heard that something happened...a group of terrorists controlled by magic...Is this why you delayed?" A glimmer of hope flashed through my mind.I didn't delay at all!Svetlana couldn't have waited for me to leave work so early. "Of course, that's why." I said. Hope you see what I mean!Quickly cast the magic!You'll know where I am now.Quickly arouse everyone's vigilance.Inform Gesar of this matter, and he will definitely contact Remont.If the patrols of the Night's Watch in Edinburgh are ready, wait and see, the end of the Last Guardian is coming.

"Don't wait too long," said Svetlana. "Aren't you short on staff? Don't take everything on yourself. Okay?" "I will." I said. "Are you with Semyon?" Svetlana asked casually. Before I could answer, Alina shook her head.It doesn't matter, if Svetlana has doubts, she will call Semyon again after hearing my answer. "No," I said. "I'm alone. On a special mission." "Need help? I'm tired of being home." Svetlana laughed. Alina immediately tensed up. "No, it's not a big deal," I said. "Just out for inspection."

"Be careful," Svetlana said sadly. "If it takes too long, give me a call. Oh, Nadya is messing around again, let's stop here..." She hung up the phone.I put my phone in my pocket.Alina breathed a sigh of relief, I looked at her face, quietly pressed three times on the phone button: answered call - the last received call - call back. All right.I wouldn't risk putting the phone on a call, Alina would hear the call signal from my pocket.So after a beep, I hung up the phone.If the call is dropped, will the international telecommunications network have time to process the signal?I have no idea.Now we can only hope that the communication operators are eager to make money. For them, it is the most cost-effective to transmit a telephone signal and charge an extra fee.

Of course, I also hope that when Svetlana hears the phone ringing and disconnecting suddenly, she will not redial immediately, but will use magic to find out the reason.Alina and Edgar were older and wiser than I was.But they think that the mobile phone is just a big, bulky talking device turned into a portable one, and that's it.In the past, to make a call with this communication device, you had to shout into it: "Miss Operator! Miss Operator! Please take Smolny Palace!" "She's suspicious," Edgar said. "You shouldn't have said anything about the bomb. Even if the bomb didn't go off, we have an extra trump card in our hand."

"It's okay," Alina said. "She just doubts...they don't have time. Anton, give me the phone." There was some suspicion in her eyes.I silently took out the phone, holding it between my fingertips on purpose so as not to touch the buttons. Alina looked at her phone, making sure it was on standby.She shrugged, then pressed the off button. "Let's make do with it and don't use the phone, okay? If you have to, use my cell phone." "I'm afraid I'll cost you money." I said politely. "It's okay." Alina really took out her mobile phone.She dialed the number, not the number stored in the address book, but entered the numbers one by one according to the old way.She held the phone to her ear, and the call went through.Alina said softly, "It's time to act. Let's do it."

"Do you have any other accomplices?" I asked. "It's not an accomplice, Anton. It's a hired staff. As long as ordinary people wear a few talismans, they will become allies, and their work efficiency is extremely high. Especially those talismans used by Edgar are more effective. " I looked at the king's castle towering over the city, above the ruins of an ancient volcano.Unexpectedly, I will come to Edinburgh for the second time, unfortunately I don't have time to visit the places of interest in this city. "What magical equipment have you prepared this time?" I asked.

A thought keeps popping up in my head, like "Schrödinger's cat" keeps scratching someone.A very important thought... "As ridiculous as it may seem, I've prepared yet another Merlin masterpiece," Edgar said. "Although it was attacked by me in a very rude manner, it has now recovered. This is the so-called 'Merlin's Dream'." "Oh, oh, it has a special name," I nodded. "Dream?" "Yes." Edgar spread his hands. "Alina is very sad because of the high number of casualties last time. All future operations will be... very civilized."

"This is the first fire of civilization you lit," I said, looking at the smoking taxi in the distance.The driver apparently fell asleep while making the turn, and the car drove onto the pavement and into an old house.The scariest thing was not the billowing smoke billowing from under the hood, or the frozen bodies in the cars—the sidewalks were full of motionless citizens and tourists.One girl appears to have been thrown from the front of a car against a building wall as she fell, and then crushed by the taxi's old-fashioned black hull.She was dying, and the only consolation was that she could die in her sleep. "Merlin's Dream" is different from the humanitarian spell "Morpheus" taught by the Night Watch patrol.The latter usually takes a few seconds before the person loses consciousness, allowing them to fall asleep painlessly. "Merlin's Dream" can be effective in an instant.Its area of ​​influence is remarkably precise, and I've seen firsthand how far its influence can reach.The two adults walking ahead passed out and collapsed.A seven or eight-year-old boy a few steps away from them was not affected. He could only cry and pull his motionless parents.No one extended a helping hand to the boy, and those who did not enter the circle of "Merlin's Dream" quickly fled.Their behavior is understandable, and from a bystander's point of view, it looks like the work of highly toxic gas.Behind the fleeing crowd, a wailing boy tries to wake his sleeping parents, a scene as tragic as the girl who was hit and killed. Edgar watched the smoking taxi as we passed it.If I'm going to run away, this is the perfect time to run away... "Reminds you of something?" I asked. "Accidental sacrifices are inevitable," said Edgar hoarsely. "I know what I'm doing." "Unfortunately they don't know," I said.Then I looked at Edgar through the Twilight. It's bad, very bad.He was covered with talismans from evil, and there were ten amulets in total, and the spell that was ready to break free was trembling on his fingertips.The ready-to-go energy lit up his whole body.Alina and Gennady did the same.Even vampires don't look down on those tinkling magic gadgets. There is no way I can handle it with my energy alone. In deathly silence, we drove down the pavement to the "burrow," strewn with sleeping bodies and wrecked cars (three still belching smoke).We got out of the car we were riding in. On the way across the green to the "Princess Avenue" everything was still, but from somewhere there came the whistle of a siren.Humans are always overcoming panic, even if they don't know what's causing it. "Let's go." Edgar gently pushed my back. We started to walk into the "burrow".I turned and stopped for a moment, looking up at the stone crown that towered over the castle. There is no doubt that everything should be connected and thought through carefully.Merlin was very open-minded and magnanimous when setting up traps... "Don't dawdle!" Edgar scolded.His whole person appears to be very neurotic, which is actually very unwise.Perhaps he is eagerly looking forward to meeting a loved one. We walked past the frozen body lying on the ground.Among them are ordinary people and others. "Merlin's Dream" did not affect them any differently.I found several sleeping Inquisitors whose bioelectric fields hadn't died down.They had been waiting here, and the ambush they had set up was quite in place. It's just that no one expected to encounter such a terrible attack. "You haven't forgotten the obstacles on the third layer of the twilight world?" I asked. "No." Arina said. I found that along the way, Edgar and Alina alternately left enchanted objects on the floor and walls of the "burrow", which were not lethal in themselves: such as pieces of paper, sticks of chewing gum and rope.Somewhere Edgar quickly drew a few symbols on the wall with red chalk.No sooner had he drawn the last symbol than the chalk crumbled to powder.In another place Alina spilled a small box of matches on the floor.The Last Guardian clearly feared being pursued. We finally entered a hall with a guillotine, which the Last Guardian somehow chose as the entrance to the Twilight.Maybe this is where the energy gathers, the center of the cyclone. In addition to two sleepy first-level magicians, there is also a sober ordinary person here. This man is young and strong, not tall, wearing glasses, like an intellectual.He looked very calm in jeans and a brightly colored shirt.In the corner of the room, I saw a sleeping ten-year-old girl with a small bag under her head.Are they going to clear the way with the blood of their children? "My daughter is asleep," the young man cleared up my misunderstanding. "It should be admitted that this is indeed a very interesting device..." He took out a rough mesh metal ball from his pocket. "When a lever is moved, it can never be reset." "That's the way it should be," Edgar said. "It's going to take over seventy years to reset. This device won't do you any good, so just leave it alone. Go on!" Edgar tossed the man a wad of money.The man catches the money in the air, then runs his fingers nonchalantly through the notes.I found that he kept his left hand behind his back.There must be a play here... "That's right." The man nodded. "But the scale of your operation ... and the devices you're using confuses me a bit. I think our deal is clearly unfair." "I've said it would come out like this," Edgar told Alina.Then he turned to the man again, "What do you want? Money?" The man shook his head. "Take the money and your daughter and leave immediately," Alina said. "This is my advice to you." The man licked his lips, then unbuttoned his shirt. Turns out he wasn't a solid, muscular guy at all.He wore a vest that resembled an orthopedic corset.It's just that real orthopedic bras don't have wires tangled up in them. "One kilogram bomb. The switch is held in my 'hand of death'," the man held up his left hand. "I want this little ball, and all the weird magic gadgets I find on these people," he kicked an Other lying on the ground, "and what's in your pockets. Got it Yet?" "How can you not understand," said Edgar. "I've expected it to turn out like this. I chose you rightly." I suddenly realized that Gennady was not with us. "This will save you a series of moral troubles." Edgar turned around while talking. Suddenly, the man's belt containing explosives broke into pieces and flew in all directions.This wasn't an explosion, it was like an invisible hand with sharp claws swaying at an unusual speed... This huge force seemed to come from the Twilight Realm.The man let go of his left hand in panic.A small switch fell from his hand, and a weird thread was exposed on the switch.he didn't lie... Immediately afterwards the man yelled, I couldn't bear to watch it any longer, so I turned my back. "A rare scumbag," Edgar said. "How dare he do it, even though his own daughter is beside him. However, we got the necessary blood without killing innocent people indiscriminately, otherwise Arina would be very painful." "You're no better than him," I said. "I didn't intend to be better than him." Edgar shrugged. "Let's go. It's not the first time we've come to Twilight together, is it?" He even held my hand.I did not refuse.I found my shadow on the floor and walked in.We braved the biting cold wind and entered the long-awaited but freezing dusk world... The first layer of the twilight realm. We didn't stop there, we just kept going.The second layer of the twilight realm.The space we live in is seething.It may be disturbed by blood, or it may be because Merlin once opened up a new world of the universe here. Edgar and Alina remained close to me as before.They are highly concentrated and look extremely nervous.After a while Gennady appeared, still licking his bloodstained lips.On the second level of Twilight I barely recognized him—Gennady Shoshkin's face was distorted with bitter hatred and loss of sanity. The third layer of the twilight realm.The residual heat of the energy vortex is still there. Not long ago, it blocked the way to the depths of the Twilight Realm.Edgar looked around cautiously, then said: "Someone was following us... and the marking worked." "No problem?" Alina's mouth came out of mist. "I don't know. Go on to the depths!" The fourth layer of the twilight world.Here we see rose-colored skies and colorful sands.I struggled to break free from Edgar's hand. "We agreed! I will never fight a clay monster!" "Nobody forced you." Edgar grinned. "Don't be afraid, then you stand far away. Go forward!" I'm going to start a dispute right here.In this way, you can delay time and wait for an opportunity to escape; if all goes well, you can send the last guardian to a meaningless fight with the clay monster, then you can stay. But something seemed to be pushing me forward.It was as if the magic that controlled Alina, Edgar, and Gennady also controlled me.I must infiltrate the fifth floor... must! It's also good for letting their guard down... "Okay, but I don't want to lose my head because of you!" I yelled.Edgar looked at me vigilantly, and under his gaze, I walked towards the fifth floor. Edgar and Alina arrived at the fifth floor of the Twilight Realm almost at the same time as me.They clearly mustered a considerable amount of energy.Only Gennady was a little slower, and it seemed that it took him two tries to get through the barrier and into the fifth floor. It's much more pleasant here than the first few levels in the Dusk!Cool, still a bit chilly, but without the cold wind that drains your vital energy.Besides, the colors here are close to nature... I looked around for the clay monster, and found it two hundred meters away.Two snake heads peeked out of the tall grass, spinning like a submarine's periscope.The clay monster spotted us too, its head trembling and stretched higher.There was a "hissing" sound, very much like the sound made by a snake in motion. Immediately, the basilisk slid over, and cunningly still exposed its two heads above the grass. "Head and tail," Alina said doubtfully. "I don't know, I don't know...Edgar, release King Kong quickly." When Edgar took out a small jade statue from his pocket, I understood what Arina was referring to.The statue is a gibbon with horns on its head.The Inquisitor blew on the statue, carefully unscrewed the monkey's head—it turned out that the inside of the statue was hollow—and very carefully placed the unscrewed vial into the grass.After a while, the bottle emitted green smoke, and in a blink of an eye, the smoke turned into a monster, scaring us to step aside. The monster that hunted down Alisher in Samarkand bears no resemblance to King Kong.Generally speaking, King Kong is not tall, about three meters at most.But its mouth full of fangs, powerful claws, hard dark green fur, and orange eyes gleaming with anger are far more shocking than the tender behemoths in the movies. King Kong may not have such a pungent and offensive smell.It is made of powerful energies gathered together and pre-placed in magical vessels.How could a gigantic monster that wasn't made of flesh or even clay smell?I am not sure.It may have been an appendage formed by accident, or it may have been a joke made by the monster maker. "Go and kill it!" Edgar yelled, pointing at the basilisk.King Kong roared, jumped, and rushed towards the basilisk.He didn't have the slightest fear of King Kong's attacking basilisk, on the contrary, meeting his opponent at the same time boosted his spirits.I saw it slid towards King Kong quickly.The ground beneath his feet shook, and the thunderous roar of the ape and the deafening roar of the basilisk merged into an earth-shattering roar. The time has come!At this moment, they are all eagerly looking forward to the fight. I turned around, stunned.Standing behind him was an old man in white. He was not tall and had a long beard.For a moment he looked like a real mortal, every gray beard could be counted, and his wrinkled and tired face could be seen clearly; Grass and sky can be seen. The old man slowly pointed to his feet, and then repeated the action again. He wants me to sneak into the sixth floor of the Twilight Realm? I gestured downward with my hand.The old man nodded, with a relaxed look on his face. Then, he gradually disappeared in the air. There is no time to hesitate.One of the Last Guardians could turn around at any moment, and he'd know in a second that I was going to run. My body is full of energy!I was able to sneak into the sixth layer of the twilight world. My shadow walks with me!It will always be with me. I should do it!I can definitely do it. A gust of cold wind hits the face. As I passed through the barrier of the sixth floor, I heard Alina's voice: "There is a situation behind us..." The sound stopped abruptly, disappearing beyond the boundary of the sixth layer of the Twilight Realm. "Thank you for being here," said the old man, and smiled. I looked around before responding to the old man. It's a sunny day.There are white clouds floating in the blue sky.The grass in the glade was green.Birds sang happily on the branches. In front of me stood a white-haired old man.His clothes were not actually white—the gray sackcloth seemed at first glance to be just as white as snow.He's barefoot... except it's not idyllic, or close to nature.He was barefoot because he thought there was no need to waste time making shoes. "Hello, Archmage," I bowed my head. "Please accept my tribute to Archmage Merlin." The old man looked at my face curiously.It seems that this is not the first time he has seen me, but only now has the opportunity to take a closer look. "Honor? Do you know my life, Lightbringer?" "Know some." I shrugged. "I've heard something about a boatload of children." "Do you still want to pay me 'tribute'?" "I think you have paid the price for this. Besides, for thousands of ordinary people, you are the guardian of kindness and justice. From this point of view, you are also worthy of respect." "There are only nine of them..." Merlin muttered. "Rumours... rumors are always exaggerated. Whether negative or positive..." "But these things do happen." "It happened," Merlin said. "Why do you think I've paid the price? Don't you like the paradise that the Other will enter after death?" Instead of answering, I bent down, picked a blade of grass, put it in my mouth, and began to chew.The juice is bitter...just slightly bitter.I squinted and looked at the sun.The sun in the sky is shining brightly, but the light is not dazzling.I took a deep breath, the air was very clean...but something was missing after all.What was left was a faint musty smell, a bit like the smell of Shoshkin's abandoned residence. "Everything here seems a little unreal," I said. "Lack of energy." "Good job." Merlin nodded. "A lot of people don't realize it right away. A lot of people have to live here for decades, hundreds of years before they understand that they've been deluded by illusions." "Can't adapt to life here?" Merlin smiled. "No. No one can adapt." "Remember the joke about the toys that decorate the Christmas tree, Anton?" someone asked behind me.I turn around. Xiaohu stood five steps away from me. There are many others around.They stood by and listened to my conversation with Merlin.Igor Deplov and Alyssa Donnikova stood hand in hand, but there was no gleam of happiness on their faces.Galia, the shapeshifting girl, avoided my sight.Murat of the Samarkand patrol waved me shyly.The dark emissary who I killed and fell from the Ostankino TV tower also looked at me, but at this moment there was no anger or hatred in his eyes. There are many others.The trees obscured my view, preventing me from seeing their actual number.If there were no trees, their ranks would stretch as far as the horizon.Standing in front of me are all others I am familiar with. "Remember, Xiaohu." I said. There is no more fear and anger in my heart.I am only accompanied by sorrow, a touch of sorrow, but it is exhausting. "They look the same as the real ones," Xiaohu laughed. "But they're not happy." "You look good." I muttered, thinking I should say something. Xiaohu looked at the tiger-skin cloak he was wearing, and said: "For this meeting, I have put in some effort." "Hello, Igor!" I said. "Hi, Alyssa!" They both nodded, and Alyssa said: "You are really amazing. You are a strong man. But don't be too self-righteous, Lightbringer! You must know that it was Merlin who helped you personally." I looked at the old man. "I just help out occasionally," Merlin said mildly. "Well... once by that weird tower of yours. Another time when you and a shapeshifter were fighting in the woods... not many times." I stopped listening to the old man very much and started looking around for someone whose words meant the most to me. Kostya pushed away the other standing in front of him and walked up to me.Of all the Others present, he probably looked the best, and at the same time the weirdest.He was still wearing a torn spacesuit. The original white clothes had turned black, and holes had been burned in several places. "Hello, my neighbor," he said. "Hello, Kostya," I replied. "I...I wanted to say to you a long time ago, I'm sorry." He frowned. "Don't act like the Lightbringer anymore... What is there to forgive... We fought fairly, and you won fair and square. Everything is reasonable. I should have thought, you didn't use the protective shield because you were afraid..." "I have to tell you anyway," I said. "You know, I hate my job. I've become a mechanical guy who doesn't know forgiveness or mercy." "What else can people like us do?" Kostya suddenly laughed. "Stop talking...you...forgive my father if you can. He wasn't like this before." I nod. "I'll try my best and try." "You tell him that my mother and I are waiting for him." Kostya paused and added: "Wait for him here." "I'll tell you," I said, finding Polina in the crowd and watching her agree to Kostya's request. Kostya took a sudden step forward, shook my hand awkwardly, then backed away. The moment our palms touched, I felt warmth in his cold palms, blood turned to his skin, and a gleam of light flashed in his eyes.Kostya was a little unsteady, and he stared at his palm. An icy chill stung my palm. The ranks of the Others stir up.Slowly and involuntarily they approached me.Everyone's eyes are full of longing and envy——Xiaohu, Igor, and Murat are all like this. "Stop!" Merlin yelled.He came quickly, stood between me and the dead Other, raised his hands.I noticed that he tried to avoid me and avoid contact with me. "Stop, have you lost your mind? Life...is not what we hope for, nor is it what we expect!" They stopped.Looking at each other embarrassedly, they backed away.But there was still hunger in their eyes. "You go, Anton," Merlin said. "You understand everything, you know what to do. Let's go!" "I can't get out, the last guardian is still there," I said. "If your clay trolls can't stop them..." Merlin looked through me and let out a long breath: "The clay monster is dead. Both ends are dead. It's a pity...I sometimes go to the fifth floor to play with the basilisk for a while. But it's also very melancholy." "Can you take me?" I asked. Merlin shook his head. "Only a few others among us can enter the fifth floor. Only a very few others can reach the first floor, and we are alone there, helpless and helpless." "I can't walk past them," I said. "I can't go directly to the seventh floor either," I smiled at Merlin. "You'll be helped," Merlin said. "But you can't make any mistakes." I nod. I don't know if it will work.I can only do my best. After a while, the air around me began to vibrate, as if something was boiling with abundant energy, and it broke through the barrier of the twilight world.No matter what kind of obstacles, no matter how far away, what are they worth in the face of such powerful energy? Najushka stepped onto the grass.She waved her little hand, staggered, and fell on her buttocks with a snap. "Get up," I said sternly. "The ground is wet." Nadya jumped up, patted the flannel jumpsuit, and went on talking like popping beans. "Mommy taught me to walk into my own shadow! That's the first thing. A monkey and a snake fight and they both beat each other! That's the second thing. Two uncles and an aunt against the snake It’s because you swear a lot of bad words! This is the third thing. Mom asked me to take you home for dinner immediately! This is the fourth thing!” She suddenly got up and found a large group of people standing around.She lowered her eyes in embarrassment, and muttered politely: "Hello..." "Hello." Merlin knelt down in front of her. "You are Nadezhda?" "Yes." Nadya said proudly. "Nice to meet you," Merlin said. "Take Dad home. But instead of going home right away, you have to step back, get back to the general population, and then go home." "Backward is forward, right?" said Nadya. "right." "You look like a magician in a cartoon," Nadya said uncertainly.She stepped back to me and grabbed my hand just in case, a gesture that obviously boosted her confidence. "I am indeed a magician," said Merlin. "Good or bad?" "Both." He smiled wryly. "Go home, Nadezhda." Nadya looked at Merlin warily and asked me: "Shall we go, Dad?" "Let's go." I said. I turned and nodded to all the others, who watched us silently.Parting is always full of worries and expectations.Xiaohu raised his hand first, followed by Alyssa.In the end all the Others raised their hands behind us and waved goodbye to us... forever. When my daughter, a newly inspired "absolute magician," took her first step forward, I followed her.I hold my daughter's hand so as not to get lost in the whirlwind of seething energy.The cyclone flew and returned to our world. The Twilight Realm is endless, just like any circle is endless. The warm friendship and cold hatred of human beings, the running of animals and the flight of birds, the flapping of butterflies' wings and the germination of seeds will all leave their imprints.The energy of the world is constantly flowing, and parasites such as moss and others are greedily absorbing nutrients from this surging energy, so energy will never disappear without a trace, and it will return to the world waiting for new life. We all live on the seventh level of the twilight world.

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