"Blot (stain)?! Stain... where's the stain?!" Loki anxiously fumbled around the wall bricks. Upon spotting the black brick, he pounded on it hard but found it didn't budge a bit.
He took a few deep breaths, forcing himself to calm down. Not only was he completely unaware of the pain in his collarbone, but his brain was also racing. He leaned in closer and grabbed the nearby torch. As the flame passed over the wall brick, a heavy sound emanated from the rotating door.
Swoosh—Boom!
"Oh... ptoo... ptoo ptoo ptoo..."
A soaking wet Thor lay on the ground spitting out water. Loki was nearly losing his mind with anger. Waving the torch, he roared, "You damned bastard! How dare you!!"
Thor lay there on the ground, looking up at Loki with a smile. Loki tossed the torch aside, dragged him up from the ground, and clutched his neck fiercely, saying, "If you dare throw me in alone again, I'll kill you!!! Bastard!!!!"
"Cough cough... cough cough cough..." Thor easily broke free, gasped for air, looked at him through his wet hair, and said with a grin, "I told you, your memory isn't great. You've said that a thousand times, yet here I am, still alive."
Loki, fuming, glanced around before picking up another torch and swinging it at Thor. Thor quickly raised both hands to stop him, "No no no, you're just a regular human now, don't burn yourself!"
Clearly overwhelmed with anger, Loki had forgotten how to speak English, spouting a string of curses in Ancient Norwegian.
"Alright, alright," Thor quickly consoled him, giving Loki a bear hug, ignoring his struggle, and patted his black hair, "Don't be like that, Loki. I only threw you in because I knew you'd definitely figure it out."
"You always do this!! Every time!!!" Loki's roar had completely cracked, "Last time you fell into an ice lake, and the time before that, the cannibal flower swept you away, and before even that..."
Thor grabbed his head and gave his forehead a hard kiss, saying, "But I never broke my promise, didn't I, my dear brother? I always came back, right?"
Loki was so infuriated that he was trembling all over and practically at a loss for words. He shoved Thor away, forgetting about his injured collarbone, and leaned hard against the nearby wall, letting out a cry of pain.
Thor darted forward to support him, "Sometimes I really don't understand you, Loki. You've taken tactical lessons, but you never understand what teamwork means. Of course, the vanguard charges ahead, and strategists and magicians are the ones to be protected. It's not because you're weak, but because it's been the best strategy for thousands of years; it's classic and it works."
"I..." Loki panted heavily, his Adam's apple bobbing, and then weakly said, "I'm not... like you, who can't help but jump around angrily when he can't show off... you bastard..."
"I get it, you're not mad because you have to stay behind but because I'm the one charging ahead. But you've tricked me into traps several times."
"I just wanted... wanted you to see that your reckless stupidity would have... ugh..."
"Alright, alright, stop talking," Thor said, helping him sit down.
"Take me over there," Loki grumbled, "I need to look at the words on the wall... see what's on the wall..."
Thor had no choice but to support him over to the door, positioning him to face the wall with the torches. He then picked up the torch from the ground and inserted it. This torch was incredibly resilient, remaining lit despite being wielded several times and having fallen onto wet ground.
"Take that one... off..." Loki directed him.
So Thor went over to remove one torch, followed by another. Using the previous pattern, Loki pieced together a word: "'Font'? What's font?"
"'Font' (meaning font or Holy Water font)?" Shiller held up the torch, staring at the word on the wall, "In religious terms, it specifically refers to a stone font that contains Holy Water for baptisms. Of course, in old English poetry or hymns, it also means 'spring'..."
"I get it, a spring is just where water comes from, right? We've got to go back," Bruce said, turning towards the door with the torch, looking enlightened. He waved the torch over that stained brick, and the previously closed door promptly opened.
Shiller also grabbed a torch, and they passed through the door again, heading back through the corridor to the original two rooms, reaching the room containing the Water Prison, where they saw the collapsed ceiling. There was a hole in the center of the ceiling, but part of the surrounding area hadn't collapsed.
Bruce turned again to look at the wall that had been knocked down. He handed the torch to Shiller, then moved some bricks to step on. With the torch regained, he threw it on top, stepped onto the bricks, seized the edge of the ceiling with both hands, leaped up, did a pull-up, and flipped onto the top.
Taking a deep breath, he said, "Too long since I've been Batman; I nearly couldn't make it up. Hold on, Professor, I'll see if there's any rope or something."
He waved the torch around above, and soon brought over a ladder. Once placed down, Shiller climbed up from the ladder, joining him on the second floor.
The place was pitch-black, akin to being blind without a torch. Next to the big hole was a somewhat spacious room where the two began their search.
"See, you underestimated me," Lucifer boasted, jingling a key, "Had I not discovered something wrong with the key, you might have fallen into the trap."
"Alright, alright, you're impressive, now are you satisfied?" Anatoli reached out for the key, but Lucifer quickly pulled his hand back.
"No way, this was my puzzle to solve; I want to unlock it myself." With that, Lucifer took the key to the door, carefully gripping its wooden part, and inserted the key into the lock.
With a gentle twist, the door began to rotate. Lucifer was stunned by this mysterious way of opening the door, but soon his eyes were drawn to the unknown world behind it, and he turned sideways to walk inside.
"Wait..."
Swoosh swoosh!
"Ahhhhhhh!!!!"
Lucifer screamed miserably, half-kneeling on the ground, blood flowing down from the right side of his wing. Anatoli stepped forward to hold him, turning to look at Lucifer's right wing, where a chilling steel needle was embedded.
Lucifer flapped uncontrollably in pain. It wouldn't be so bad if he only had human limbs, but the problem was that he had a pair of enormous wings. As he started flapping, Anatoli was directly knocked to the ground.
"Lucifer!" Yet he firmly held onto Lucifer's wings, "Stop moving! We have to take that thing out!"
"Ugh... ah..."
Lucifer couldn't hear at all, his large wings constantly flapping, with several feathers already falling off. His entire being was as wild as a Beast caught in an Animal trap, futilely trying to break free from the source of their pain.
Anatoli was not surprised; he just felt helpless, muttering in Russian, "Compared to divinity, I am always more aware of your beastly nature, Angel."
Saying this, he directly flipped over onto Lucifer, forcing Lucifer to lie on the ground unable to move. Anatoli pressed one arm against Lucifer's nape and another across the base of his wing.
But Lucifer didn't stop struggling, continuously trying to push him off. Anatoli had no choice but to retract the hand pressing against his nape, then loop it around from the front, suddenly constricting.
"Ugh!!!!"
Lucifer let out a dying growl, his wings first contracting sharply, violently flapping and trembling, then unfolding weakly like a dying swan.
But Anatoli did not release his grip. Only when Lucifer's breathing started to weaken did he slowly relax his arm, standing up while asking, "Better now?"
Lucifer was only panting heavily and could not answer. At this moment, Anatoli came to his side, starting to remove the steel needle from his wing.
Anatoli fumbled through the feathers and found the steel needle, the whole wing trembled suddenly, but he could feel Lucifer trying hard to control it from moving. At the moment Anatoli pulled the steel needle out, Lucifer screamed again, his wing flapped fiercely. He rolled over, wrapping himself tightly with his wings.
Anatoli took the steel needle and examined it, then checked the door panel, immediately understanding the purpose of this mechanism. Unfortunately, it was designed for humanoid beings, and the designers of the obstacle did not seem to consider the situation of wings reaching out first.
All that could be said was it was fortunate Lucifer had wings. If he had entered directly without them, he might have been pierced through his lungs by now, making death very painful.
Anatoli lowered his eyelids, rubbed the steel needle with his thumb, and silently put it into his pocket.
He walked over, knelt in front of Lucifer, and tapped on his shell. Lucifer turned over, lying on his back, his eyes somewhat blankly looking at the ceiling. Anatoli knelt in front of his head, reaching out to cradle it.
"Wake up, Lucifer. Now is not the time to die, wake up..." He continued urging incessantly until Lucifer regained his senses.
"When a person dies, they see Satan. Who would Satan see when he dies?" Lucifer said weakly, "...Of course, it's you, you bastard!"
"I wanted to stop you," Anatoli said, "but your movements were too fast, I didn't even have time to stop you. Promise me, next time even if there's a door to cross, don't lead with your wings, okay?"
Lucifer seemed to realize his reaction was a bit extreme, slowly rising from the ground as he said, "My wings have never been injured, never!"
"Didn't the time I plucked your feathers count?"
Lucifer just rolled his eyes at him.
But standing in front of the door again, Lucifer was clearly apprehensive. Anatoli had already turned sideways and passed through, but Lucifer hesitated, not daring to enter. He moved from left to right, then from right to left, seemingly trying to find an angle where his wings wouldn't have to go inside.
"Come on," Anatoli said, "We've already delayed for a long time. I'm afraid..."
Boom!!!!
Crash——
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