The final incantation was like the trailing note of a finale, and the light abruptly dissipated.
Ifrit had vanished. In the place where he once stood, only a gigantic, crystal-clear coffin remained.
Inside the sarcophagus, there were no longer scorching flames, only a wisp of netherfire frozen in eternity. They emitted a faint, constant halo, no longer carrying any destructive nature, floating quietly within the translucent crystal coffin.
The entire crystal coffin exuded a strange yet cold beauty; it was the absolute stillness of Destruction after being contained by [Eternity].
Freesna slowly lowered her staff, her fingertips trembling slightly. As she looked at the [Eternity Coffin] emitting a gloomy cold light, the gloom surging in her eyes finally settled, transforming into a deep weariness and complexity.
As an [Eternity] Emanator, she granted Ifrit the ending that was most fitting for his aesthetics of destruction and her own Path—not a despicable annihilation, but being personally sealed by [Eternity].
His existence itself turned into a cold monument regarding the [Burning Finale].
The scorching air inside the mansion cooled rapidly. The Ever-Flame seemed to fall completely silent at this moment. Only that crystal coffin stood quietly before the throne, silently recounting the end of a Duke of Fire Demons.
And the answer he chose to heroically confront [Eternity] and [Nihility] with.
Acheron's hand, resting on the sword guard, had quietly loosened at some point. She looked at Freesna, whose profile remained tense, with a gaze full of depth.
The blade, in the end, remained unsheathed.
And the final flame that Ifrit ignited with his life, attempting to illuminate their [Bottomless Dream], had solidified into a grain of cold star sand within the coffin of [Eternity].
...
Several days later, Xianzhou Luofu.
It was Adrian's usual one-hour shop opening time. There was still some time before heading to [Penacony], so HE might as well soak in the milk tea shop, carefree and without worries...
Ah, it seems a special guest has arrived today.
Adrian unhurriedly picked up a cup of milk tea, looking at the Foxian girl in front of him who was trembling with fear, her tail emitting a ghostly green glow.
"Mr... Mr. Adrian, does the method you spoke of, to exorcise evil once and for all, really exist..."
The girl was none other than the Xianzhou Luofu Ten-Lords Commission's famous... uh, Trainee Judge—Huohuo!
Who could have imagined that this Foxian girl, with a cowardly personality, weak and pitiful, afraid of all kinds of strange things, would shoulder the responsibility of capturing demons and evil spirits?
She considered herself incompetent but couldn't muster the courage to resign, so she could only continue to do it silently while being afraid.
And now, she listened to Qingque's recommendation, saying that drinking the milk tea made by the shop owner could drive away bad luck, avoid evil, and cure all diseases—the effect was even better than the [Dragon Lady Healer] of the Alchemy Commission!
Sigh~ These days, shop owners really go through a lot of trouble to increase foot traffic; they even came up with this 'cure-all' gimmick.
Huohuo had heard of this milk tea shop. Whether it was Qingque who wanted to teach her to play [Celestial Jade]... Bailu who took her pulse at the Alchemy Commission, or even Hanya, a fellow Judge of the Ten-Lords Commission, she had heard about it from their mouths.
But... precisely because the decoration style of this shop was too unique (shabby), Huohuo never dared to make up her mind to take this difficult step.
Mainly because Mr. [Tail] would pretend to sleep as soon as he arrived in this vicinity. No matter how she called him, he wouldn't wake up. Those who didn't know better would think he ate all the soothing medicine prescribed to her by the Alchemy Commission.
It was only this morning, when Huohuo met a bearded red-haired outworlder, that the idea of coming to this milk tea shop sprouted in her mind. Those initial impressions vanished like smoke, a very wonderful feeling.
By the time she came to her senses, she was already in front of the milk tea shop.
Since I'm already here... it would be unreasonable to turn around and run away just because I'm scared. And thus, the current scene unfolded.
"Rest assured, Miss Huohuo. If you are not satisfied with the [Milk Tea Therapy], I won't eat you. This shop supports refunds without reason... Mmh, although this therapy is free of charge."
As Adrian spoke, HE walked to the workstation and pretended to operate. While Huohuo wasn't paying attention, HE smeared a handful of cold water on his forehead.
"Eh?!"
Seeing Adrian sweating profusely, Huohuo couldn't help but exclaim in admiration. Does making milk tea consume so much energy?!
Woo... she blamed this shop wrongly.
"Here." After wiping the water droplets from the cup wall, Adrian handed the [Freshly Made] milk tea to Huohuo.
"Miss Huohuo, I might not be able to explain the first part of 'once and for all' clearly, but you asked the right person for the last word."
Adrian is an honest Aeon: " 'Once and for all' (Yi Lao Yong Yi) implies Eternity (Yong Heng). To obtain ease (Yi) in work, nothing is more suitable than opening a milk tea shop."
In Adrian's eyes, Huohuo's age was no different from a child, so rounding up, the [Ten-Lords Commission] employing child labor was a bit atrocious behavior.
In this day and age... Adrian recommended all work units in the universe to learn from the Church of Eternity. They never did such things; all labor was robbed... cough, outsourced through legitimate means!
Of course, the Church also had principles. Even though they could have used the Doomsday Beast of the [Antimatter Legion] as great coolie labor, they would never associate with the spawn of [Destruction]!
Mmh... the people of the [Tavern] are indeed fine. Blake even sent them warmth a few days ago; hope they liked the soap fireworks.
...
Aurum Alley. Stelle received a request from Guinaifen, whom she had met once at the [Interastral Tournament Festival], to explore a supernatural event together.
"Beautiful young girl mistakenly enters abandoned garden, lonely souls and wild ghosts appear, dangers abound! The scene is thrilling and suffocating! Click the link below to watch the earth-shattering secret hidden behind the unmanned desolate garden!"
"...Not suitable for viewing by those under two hundred years old."
Stelle looked speechless. What does that mean... targeting her, right? Looks like she needs some baseball bat education!
Regardless of what education in science, magic, faith, or whatever else she received in the first half of her life, when a third-rate internet celebrity sent Stelle a spam message claiming she encountered supernatural ghosts in some abandoned garden, her reaction was—
Yay, I can get close to her!
What kind of new scam SMS is this? Block and goodbye.
Forget it, let's go take a look.
Of course, no matter what she chose, Stelle secretly made up her mind that no matter how glib the other party was, she would absolutely not spend even fifty credits for this trip. Absolutely not!
Besides, where would she have spare money in her pocket... just over two billion, probably not even a fraction of Asta's pocket change.
"Hello, Fam! You came to find me because you were curious about the supernatural event, right?"
"Fam, do you believe in the existence of ghosts and spirits?" Guinaifen threw out the question first.
"Identified as fake at a glance; don't watch clickbait accounts."
"Hehe, it's difficult now that my Fam doesn't believe me. But the video I'm about to release will prove that the Xianzhou is truly a place full of the supernatural."
"No more idle talk. Look quickly, this is the weird thing that happened during my livestream at [Fyxestroll Garden] yesterday!"