A translucent green door suddenly appeared overhead.
Aside from him and Allen, neither Ihuarraquax nor the Wild Hunt's legion seemed to notice the door.
No—!
The witcher's azure pupils faintly glimmered with emerald light.
That door, invisible to ordinary eyes, was summoned by him!
What is that?
The girl wanted to ask, but the song stirred within her blood grew urgent.
The song urged her, pressed her—to make a decision quickly…
"What decision?"
As the girl muttered to herself, the song already had its answer. It left her body, rising into the sky, and fell into that translucent green door.
[Warning! Warning! Warning!]
[Detected: fluctuations of Conjunction of the Spheres! Detected: fluctuations of Conjunction of the Sphe…]
Before Allen's eyes, the translucent scarlet banner seemed to suddenly suffer interference, the flickering words freezing mid-flash.
Immediately after, the entire semi-transparent panel of the Witcher's Journal shook and trembled, as if it could no longer bear the strain.
But no—it looked almost like excitement.
[Ding! Detected Elder Power, Conjunction of the Spheres ascending…]
[Ding! Detected Elder Power, Conjunction of the Spheres ascending…]
[Ding! Detected Elder Power, Conjunction of the Spheres ascending…]
Elder Power! Conjunction of the Spheres… ascending?!!
The witcher suddenly realized something, his eyes widening as he looked down.
Ciri's face was now even paler than before, her expression blank as she stared at him.
"You… what did you—"
Before she could finish—
[Ding! Witcher's Journal entering slumber mode. Do not attempt to open the Witcher's Journal!]
[Ding! Conjunction of the Spheres: "Alghoul" ascending into Extradimensional Fusion "Alghoul" Phase One (strikethrough)… Phase Two (strikethrough)… Phase Three.]
[Please select fusion location! (If the host does not choose, a random location will be designated in 30s.)]
"Damn it!"
It had skipped straight past Phase One of Extradimensional Fusion, jumping directly to Phase Three!
When "Drowners" had fused into Phase One of Extradimensional Fusion, it had triggered a Drowner rain over Ban Ard—thousands of Drowners fell across the city.
Then what would Phase Three mean?
And what exactly did it mean for the Witcher's Journal to slumber…?
[Ding! Conjunction of the Spheres: "Alghoul" ascended into Extradimensional Fusion "Alghoul" Phase Three. Please select fusion location! (If the host does not choose, a random location will be designated in 26s.)]
Scarlet text dyed everything in his field of vision.
As the mechanical voice echoed, Allen once again saw that fresh green translucent gate appear before his eyes—only this time, the Gate of Ard Gaeth was clearer, more vivid, more… majestic than ever before.
That gate seemed like a road to the heavens that had existed since time immemorial, its jade-like surface infused with the weight of untold ages.
"Allen, that gate… that gate…"
Ciri, weak in his arms, cried out in shock.
Allen was jolted awake, his gaze darting about in panic.
"Shit!"
"No way I can let it choose a random location! Absolutely not!"
If the Extradimensional Fusion Gate randomly appeared near them, they would likely be torn apart instantly by spatial turbulence.
"Allen, what are you looking at? What is that?" Ciri pressed him.
But Allen had no time to answer.
He looked back.
At the head of the Wild Hunt's legion, the King of the Wild Hunt, though unable to see the phantom of Ard Gaeth's gate, seemed to sense danger all the same—and suddenly quickened his pace.
Allen had considered opening the gate right on the ground between them and the King of the Wild Hunt.
But recalling Ban Ard, the devastating power and reach of Extradimensional Fusion, he chose instead to raise the Gate of Ard Gaeth high into the sky.
Even if the Conjunction of the Spheres had ascended drastically thanks to the Elder Blood's influence, what truly mattered was breaking the cage for Ciri and Ihuarraquax, creating a chance for them to escape alive.
Killing the King of the Wild Hunt, shattering his legion—that wasn't important.
Better not to risk everything for a little cleverness, only to end up like "Glutton" Henselt, perishing in vain.
Resolute, Allen no longer looked back at the skeletal legion. He lifted his gaze to the heavens.
[Ding! Conjunction of the Spheres: "Alghoul" ascended into Extradimensional Fusion "Alghoul" Phase Three. Please select fusion location! (If the host does not choose, a random location will be designated in 14s.)]
With a flicker of mental control, Allen moved the gate toward the distant gray clouds at the edge of his vision.
…4, 3, 2, 1.
"Allen?"
Ciri suddenly felt warmth at her back. At the same time, she was pulled into a tight embrace, her hands gripping the reins now completely enveloped by his rough palms.
Her face flushed red, but she did not resist. Yielding to his strength, she leaned low over the horse's back.
"Get ready! It's coming!" Allen's tense, low voice rasped against her ear.
Ciri instinctively shook her head, about to ask what was coming, what it had to do with that gate just now—
Crack!
A strange sound echoed from the sky, cutting her off in an instant.
The world fell silent.
Allen, Ciri, Ihuarraquax, the King of the Wild Hunt, and the skeletal knights at his side—all seemed to sense it. Subconsciously, they lifted their heads toward the heavens.
The eternally dark, gloomy sky suddenly looked like natural crystal veined with cracks—violet fractures spread across the firmament.
Within the hollow sockets of the King of the Wild Hunt's bare skull, the ashen-blue flames suddenly shrank.
"Child of Elder Blood, what have you done!"
The King of the Wild Hunt's furious howl tore through the heavens, shaking the very fabric of space.
That howl was like the final straw that shattered the cracks spreading across the sky.
Crash!
The violet fissures splintered apart, dissolving into countless feathers of light that drifted down in ethereal beauty. But what followed could no longer be called beautiful.
Boom!
A thunderous roar shook heaven and earth.
Above their heads, at the heart of the clouds, a black void appeared—not a true black hole, but a massive rift splitting apart at incredible speed.
The rift spread wider and wider.
In the blink of an eye, it tore across the sky from north to south, as though cleaving the world itself in two.
The rest of the heavens turned a deep, ominous crimson.
Where there had been no wind, gales suddenly rose, flattening the grass and trees.
"This… this is…"
The King of the Wild Hunt fixed his gaze upon the all-too-familiar phenomenon, prying open the rusted, long-buried memories in his mind.
"The Gate of Ard Gaeth!"
At his cry, uncontrollable commotion erupted within the Wild Hunt's legion.
"What do you mean, the Gate of Ard Gaeth?"
"Ard… is it… could it be the one I think it is?"
"The Gate of Ard Gaeth! I cannot mistake it! The magical surge of the Gate of Ard Gaeth is always this vast, this overwhelming—and yet, so familiar!"
"It's that Dh'oine…"
-----------------------------------
"It can't possibly be Ciri!"
The deep, commanding voice of the King of the Wild Hunt instantly crushed the uproar rising among the skeletal riders.
All eyes of the Wild Hunt fixed on him.
"The child of the Elder Blood—she hasn't even mastered her own power. To traverse time and space, she still needs the help of those one-horned beasts. There's no way she could summon Ard Gaeth, the Gate of the Alder Folk!"
"But…"
The King of the Wild Hunt swung his rusted, dark-red armored arm.
"I never said it isn't Ard Gaeth. I know better than any of you how the Great Gate tears one world after another apart."
The Wild Hunt fell silent.
For the first time, the King's gaze shifted away from the girl on the black horse and landed on the ordinary-looking human male behind her.
At that same moment, on the other side—
That gaze, heavy as steel, made Allen's spine turn ice-cold. The chill seeped from his tailbone all the way to his scalp.
Death! Death! Death!
Every muscle fiber in his body trembled, screaming warnings.
Like a beast meeting its natural predator, Allen's mind went blank from the shock response.
He knew at once: the King of the Wild Hunt had sensed something unusual—and had locked onto him.
But the girl hadn't noticed. She gazed upward at the overwhelming sight in the sky, emerald-clear eyes widening in shock.
"Allen, th-this… this… did you do this?!"
"No!" Allen's eyes stayed fixed on the massive rift above.
"It's the result of both of us. But that doesn't matter now!"
"Ihuarraquax!" He no longer cared about restraint and sent out a terrifying psychic wave through telepathy.
Star-eyes! No—you're not Star-eyes! You're…
Ihuarraquax's mind echoed with startled surprise.
"Don't worry about that! Can you find a way out now?"
Oh, oh! I'll try, I'll…
Ihuarraquax suddenly raised his horse's head high, eyes lighting up as he looked at Ciri, who was still staring blankly at Allen.
Star-eyes! The barrier outside is gone! We can… What's wrong, Star-eyes? We can leave now—aren't you happy?
But Ciri didn't answer him. Instead, she looked up at Allen with deep reluctance.
She knew—the moment of parting had come.
"I will restore the Wolf School from its fate of destruction."
Allen thought she was reminding him, and so he promised solemnly.
Then his eyes lifted to the sky, where the rift now stretched nearly from north to south horizon.
The Phase Three exotic fusion—the Alghoul—was much slower than he'd expected. But once it truly began, it would certainly make far greater turmoil than any previous Conjunction of the Spheres he'd witnessed.
And then—who could say if the spatial tremors of the fusion would interfere with Ciri and Ihuarraquax's escape?
So he leaned close to her ear and whispered, "Go now, while the Wild Hunt hasn't moved further. Leave quickly."
"When will you leave?" she whispered back.
"Soon." Allen lifted his semi-transparent right hand for her to see.
"After I send you off, I'll go too."
He could already answer the summoning now, but he was forcefully holding back that strange pull.
Because here—he still had things left undone.
"You can go first…"
Allen shook his head and interrupted, "Listen, Ciri. Don't miss this chance again."
"Then I'll leave Kelpie with you…"
"You need her more than I do. She's a good, obedient girl. Take care of her."
Ciri lowered her head in silence.
"There's no more time!" Allen urged.
"Will we… meet again?" Ciri looked up at him, reluctant, her emerald eyes shimmering with starlight as they locked onto the sky-blue eyes of someone she had only just come to know.
Allen paused, then his tone softened.
"Of course — since I will save the Wolf School, you will be able to see me."
"Maybe, when you slip back to your world, the first person you see will be me — a witcher older than Geralt."
Ciri, as if thinking of something, let out a little snort of laughter, then looked Allen in the eye seriously. "You promise?"
"I promise," Allen nodded, then urged, "Go, now!"
Without waiting for her answer he kicked Kelpie and was about to leave. At that moment his right hand felt a fleeting soft touch; his palm sank a fraction and his fingers closed, as if grasping something.
"I am the Elder Blood, the ruler of many worlds — don't forget your promise. If you break it, no matter where or when you are, I will… find you!"
The words leapt up into Allen's ear from the girl in midair; she spoke with absolute certainty. He stared at her, astonished, and their green eyes met for an instant.
The next second he dropped lightly to the ground. The girl spurred her black horse and rode east.
"Clop, clop, clop." For a long while Ciri rode until the figure in the distance disappeared, then reluctantly lowered her gaze.
"Ihuarraquax, was what he said true or a lie?"
Star-eyes, he said… the unicorn replied in her mind.
"Never mind. No time to argue — let's go!" She glanced once more at the faint black speck, resolute, then disappeared across the vast plain.
On the other side, Allen landed lightly and watched her go until she was gone. He then turned to look at the Wild Hunt army, which by now had formed its ranks and stood motionless.
"Aren't you going to chase her?" he asked.
He raised his eyes and met the pale, ashen-gray ghost-fire burning behind a rusted helmet.
The roaring wind blew; nearly a thousand skeletal riders clustered motionless around the King of the Wild Hunt, staring at him coldly as if he were already dead. If not for the widening rift in the sky, the grass on the plain would have rolled like tides. Everything seemed frozen.
The King of the Wild Hunt lifted both hands and removed his skull-helmet, revealing a face of a black-haired elf — a raptor-like visage.
"When you shattered Perahhandes' amethyst wall, this hunting game came to an end. No one can catch an unbound swallow at sea anymore."
His voice, at odds with his bird-of-prey appearance, was courteous and soft, like a noble returning from the hunt. He didn't even use Elder Speech or telepathy; he spoke in the Common Tongue.
"And besides, compared to the child of the Elder Blood who will eventually return to the Alder Folk, I am far more curious about you — the current master of Ard Gaeth."
"You don't intend to seize me?" Allen asked, puzzled by the Hunt King's manner.
The Hunt King regarded Allen quietly; those black eyes seemed to pierce through his soul and strip him bare, and after a moment the bone-chilling pressure receded.
"No one can seize someone who is neither in this world nor in this time."
"Moreover, stranger…"
"You are about to leave, aren't you?"
..........
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