Indeed, the sinshadow knew a great deal.
Just by asking for information incidentally, Shiki learned another piece of intelligence: Khaenri'ah had existed for a very long time.
At the very least, it was comparable to Byakuyakoku, or Enkanomiya, a nation that had existed for thousands of years.
However, Enkanomiya had Orobas, who fled after being defeated during the Archon War, while Khaenri'ah was a godless nation.
'The loss of 'before sun and moon' is related to Khaenri'ah's envoy delegation. Did they start paying attention to this book back then?'
'By the way, could it be that Enjou was the one who stole the book?'
However, in reality, Shiki was completely overthinking things.
When she arrived at Serpent's Heart, she found the bird patterns, and then followed the patterns to the edge of the island.
That's right, Shiki didn't look for the fragments of the reins of resurrection first, but rather 'before sun and moon'.
After all, having come this far, wouldn't it be a shame not to retrieve it for him?
The clues left by Anzhen ended here, but Anzhen's sinshadow was not seen, which meant this was not the true location.
Then there was only one possibility: the small floating island in the distance.
To the north of Serpent's Heart, there was a Nameless small island, but it wasn't one of the three not marked on the map.
This small island was quite close, so it was probably directly counted as part of Serpent's Heart.
After flying to this small island, Shiki, with her superhuman Vision, saw a sinshadow next to a camp.
"You are..."
Anzhen looked at the extraordinarily beautiful girl in front of him and couldn't help but feel a little confused. Was there such a beautiful person among the Byakuyakoku officials?
"You are Anzhen, right?"
"That's right, it's me, but I feel... a little strange..."
"I remember I was chasing those guys from Khaenri'ah, and then I tore off a robot's core and left it in the camp. After that, I was seriously injured and felt sleepy, so I fell asleep."
"Now that I'm awake and see you all, I suddenly feel quite energetic. Is this a final surge of energy before I die?"
"But that's not important. Are you here to take me back? I've already proven my innocence. The ones who stole the book were that group from Khaenri'ah."
"I was just the one who received them, and I wouldn't collude with them. So I tracked them all the way here and then defeated them all."
"To stop that huge robot, I fought with it for a long time, but in the end, I was superior and tore off its core, but I was also seriously injured as a result."
"The robot, having lost power, was pressing on the book, and I no longer had the strength to retrieve it."
"You are very impressive. To be able to dismantle a Ruin Guard with just your mortal body, honestly, I couldn't do that."
Shiki admired this Byakuyakoku official candidate very much. This was truly dismantling a Gundam with bare hands. Without elemental power and Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, Shiki would not be able to dismantle an Automaton.
"Isn't this the standard for Byakuyakoku officials? If you can't do it, how did you become one?"
"Ah, I'm a little different from you guys. I rely on this."
As Shiki spoke, she condensed several electric arcs in her hand. The latter saw this and suddenly understood: "So that's it, a Vision, right?"
"According to the Inazuma people, with a Vision granted by the Archons, one can use elemental power. But we are not people of the Seven Nations, can we also obtain a Vision?"
"...Of course you can, as long as you are under the gaze of a Archon."
"Heh heh, then it seems I haven't been gazed upon by a Archon."
"But it doesn't matter. My injustice has been cleared. The book is under the robot's backside. If you don't believe me, you can move the robot and see!"
"Mhm."
Shiki nodded, then looked around, and finally found an Automaton slumped on the ground to the east.
'That must be it.'
Thunder condensed on her lower leg. A moment later, Shiki extended her leg and kicked!
Bang!
The Automaton flew directly away, stopping only after flying five or six meters.
She looked down at her feet, and a grayish-white book appeared in her sight.
"before sun and moon... Finally found it."
However, as soon as she opened it, an awkward problem presented itself to her.
"Oh damn! The writing is different!"
Looking at the characters that resembled oracle bone script, Shiki's head swelled. How could she have forgotten about this!
The changes Chinese characters underwent over thousands of years of development could make her mother unable to recognize them, let alone a place like Enkanomiya, which was isolated from the world?
Now she only hoped that those sinshadows could help her translate it, but this thing was listed as a forbidden book by Orobas. Would they really dare to look at it?
With a try-it-out mentality, Shiki decided to go find Anzhen first to sound him out.
"Anzhen, I found 'before sun and moon.'"
"Didn't I tell you? This way, I can clear the injustice of us three!"
"I want to ask, is an unjust conviction judged by Byakuyakoku still a sin?" Anzhen asked.
"Of course not! You didn't do it!" Shiki answered subconsciously.
"The charge of stealing books against you was originally groundless. Now that the book has been found and the evidence is conclusive, the charge naturally collapses."
"You are innocent!"
"Innocent... Heh heh, good, good! I am innocent!"
Anzhen laughed loudly, but his spirit body also became increasingly dim. sinshadows appear precisely because they believe themselves to be guilty.
Now that he believed he was not guilty, his disappearance was inevitable.
"Sigh..."
Shiki's expression was complex. This event happened two thousand years ago, and she couldn't change anything about it.
Although revealing the truth was her unintentional act, for Anzhen's sinshadow, wasn't it also a form of liberation?
Anzhen should not have had a sinshadow. His sinshadow appeared because his injustice could not be cleared.
Two thousand years ago, Anzhen died after dismantling this Automaton, exhausted, and never waited for anyone to come.
Similarly, two thousand years ago, no Byakuyakoku officials went to the sky prison at all. Oshima and the other two starved to death there.
The truth is always cruel. Every sinshadow means that they had unfulfilled wishes in their lives.
"So the next question is, who should I find to translate this 'before sun and moon?'"
Shiki looked at the incomprehensible script with a worried expression. Given how much the residents of Enkanomiya feared sin, asking a sinshadow to translate 'before sun and moon' for her was impossible.
And telling them the truth about sinshadows, which would make them no longer worry about committing crimes, would also cause them to dissipate. This was completely a dead end.
'Oh, right, that guy should be able to do it!'
Shiki thought of Enjou. Since Khaenri'ah and Enkanomiya had established diplomatic relations, they should know each other's writing.
She quickly lit up the anchor point and teleported back to Mikoshi. Looking at the empty sun-moon wheel, Shiki punched and shattered a nearby stone pillar in anger.
"Damn it! You're playing dirty with me, aren't you? Don't let me catch you!"
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