Chapter 1 The Dissipation

The fog was dissipating.

For the first time since the war began, the thick fog that had been entrenched in the Frost Sea area showed signs of clearing. Around the Sea Fog, towards Frost, from the sea surface to the high sky, all the dense fog was receding at a speed visible to the naked eye. The all-encompassing dimness retreated, and the entire sea area gradually became clear.

On the sea surface where the fog had dissipated, burning ships could be seen everywhere, along with the grotesquely shaped counterfeit fleet, and countless fragments of wreckage and burning oil floating on the waves.

Thick smoke billowed, filling the sea where the fog was receding.

The first mate, Aiden, was the first to run to the window, staring with wide eyes at the gradually clearing sea outside. After a long while, he shouted, "The fog is receding! Captain! The fog is receding!"

"I can see," Tirean said, also striding to the window. However, the solemn expression in his one eye did not diminish at all with the dissipation of the fog. "It's receding… is it really receding?"

"Captain, isn't this a good thing?" Aiden immediately noticed the strangeness in Tirean's tone and turned his head in confusion. "The fog is receding, which means the abnormal power entrenched in Frost is also…"

"No… something's wrong," Tirean interrupted the first mate with a serious expression. He stared intently at the distant sea, his eyes becoming even sharper. "The fog has cleared, but the ghost ships are still there, and the appearance of the sea…"

"The sea?" Aiden frowned in confusion, turned his head to look into the distance, and the next second, he finally gasped.

Just as the captain had said, something was wrong – the counterfeit fleet in all directions showed no signs of dissipating. New ghost ships were even emerging from the sea, and in the process, the entire sea area was gradually darkening!

Large patches of darkness were spreading in the sea. Something was expanding in the darkness, and countless shadowy things were approaching the surface of the water. This scene… it was as if something extremely large or a group was rising from the deep sea!

"What the…"

Aiden subconsciously began to mutter, but before he could finish speaking, a series of huge rumbles suddenly broke the extremely brief peace after the fog dissipated.

The nearby sea was cracking open, and countless huge ships were floating to the surface. Some were shaped like wrecks, some were twisted like ghosts, and some looked familiar – in the sea that suddenly turned black, it was as if the entire counterfeit fleet had poured out all at once!

"Attention! Enemy ships appearing! Enemy ships… everywhere!"

A sailor shouted in fear, and the close-in defense guns on the edge of the deck roared simultaneously. The roar of artillery fire almost simultaneously resounded across the sea, shells whistling through the air, and huge columns of water and fireballs from explosions covered the sea again.

Amidst this sudden and chaotic change, Tirean continued to watch the sea, watching the enemies emerging from the sea one after another.

He recognized some of them – his soldiers also recognized them.

"It's the 'Knight'!" The Knight that we sank at the very beginning!"

"The Black Flag Soldier! The Black Flag Soldier that sank fifteen minutes ago! It's back!"

"The Courage! And Prince Joton's ship!"

"Captain!" First Mate Aiden's voice entered Tirean's ears, with a panic he had never heard before. "All the counterfeit fleets… the ones we destroyed… they've all reappeared!"

Tirean opened his mouth, about to say something, but a voice suddenly appeared in his mind: "...this is normal, because the source of the mirror is still there."

"Father?!" Tirean was shocked and subconsciously looked around for something that could produce a mirror. "Are you now…"

"Don't worry, Tirean – the timing is just right."

Tirean quickly calmed down, signaling Aiden to direct the battle while quickly responding in his mind: "What do you need me to do?"

…

At the same time as the sea fog was gradually dissipating, the fog surrounding the Frost City-State was also dissipating – but just like the situation at sea, the dissipation of the fog did not mean the end of the crisis.

The mirror image was still rising, and another, even more terrifying Frost City-State was gradually overlapping with reality.

The city-state guards who were still fighting stubbornly built barricades, resisting countless monsters that seemed to appear out of thin air. The roar of guns and cannons shook the city. The former peace and security had long been completely torn apart. Gunsmoke filled every street, and the dirty mud and gradually cooling blood were soaking the city, while more distorted scenes continued to cover everything.

"Officer, they're everywhere!"

At the intersection of Hearth Street, a city-state guard team that had been trapped in the fog was using the firepower of a steam walker to sweep the monsters that appeared on the street. The soldiers didn't even have time to cheer when the fog dissipated, and they were dragged into a new and fierce battle by more monsters and terrifying phenomena.

"Then open fire everywhere!" The squad commander roared, shooting into the distance while rushing to the foot of the steam walker, to the side of the communications soldier. "Can you contact other squads?" "Squads Seven, Six, and Four are still out of contact!" The communications soldier shouted loudly. "Nearly a quarter of the squads have disappeared in the previous fog, sir!"

"Continue calling until someone responds, or until reinforcements arrive," the commander patted the communications soldier's helmet and turned to look into the distance. "The fog has cleared, hold on, the situation is changing – this may be the final offensive!"

The machine gun turret of the steam walker made a continuous roar, tearing another steam walker in the distance to pieces. At the same time as the huge machine crashed to the ground, a huge amount of dirty mud also spewed out from its mechanical compartment, splashing onto the street like horrible viscera.

The soldiers mustered their courage once again – or just let numbness continue to drive their extremely tired limbs. The commander spoke encouraging words that he himself did not believe, and looked up into the distance again.

He saw the two Silent Cathedrals standing tall on the top of the mountain, the terrain on one side of the city-state rising strangely as if curled up. Huge, continuous, and unfamiliar building complexes were gradually rising from the city, layers of buildings covering the sky above his familiar streets, and twisted, sloping towers spreading out from the buildings in the distance, extending and growing in the sky like hateful bone tissue growing out of a giant's body.

And countless mud was flowing out from the highly raised building complex, flowing down as if to devour the entire city.

"Lord of Death…" In the highest place of the Silent Cathedral, Bishop Ivan looked down at the city-state that was gradually twisting and being swallowed by huge anomalies, and finally couldn't help but speak softly, "Is today the end…"

He looked into the distance, but could only see the huge darkness rising from all directions. The original city hall across the mountain had been covered by a strange thicket of thorns at some point. In the thicket, another Silent Cathedral stood faintly, and at the foot of the mountain, continuous building complexes were piling up and surging shakily, the houses showing a chilling appearance like the limbs of soft creatures.

And outside the city-state, the entire sea was gradually being shrouded in an ominous blackness. The darkness was like a huge mirror, but in the mirror, another Frost was gradually reflected – like observing another world through a curved mirror, that "Frost" looked twisted, chaotic, full of seemingly correct errors everywhere, full of pitch-black wriggling malice everywhere.

The huge mirror city was rising from the deep sea, simultaneously eroding everything from reality and illusion.

"Archbishop!" A high-ranking acolyte ran from the terrace door and ran behind Bishop Ivan. "The last reserve troops have been assembled, and the Silent Monks and Guardians will protect the cathedral until the last moment!"

"Agatha still hasn't returned?"

"We still can't contact Keeper Agatha," the high-ranking acolyte said quickly. "The exploration team that went down the well with her reported that the Keeper had disappeared after entering a strange stone wall – now the mine has been swallowed by darkness, I'm afraid…"

"The Keeper will not fall easily, Agatha will complete her mission… she will definitely complete the mission," Bishop Ivan said calmly.

The high-ranking acolyte hesitated for a moment: "Archbishop, you should take refuge…"

"Take refuge? Hide in some safe sanctuary prayer room? Or escape the city by boat?" Bishop Ivan turned around and slowly shook his head. "I don't need to take refuge, I'll just stay here. You go command the guardian forces at the foot of the mountain, transfer all the civilians who can be transferred to the mountain, and hold on for as long as you can."

The high-ranking acolyte hesitated for a few seconds, and finally nodded vigorously: "Yes! Archbishop!"

The high-ranking acolyte retreated, leaving only the old bishop alone on the terrace again.

He raised his head and looked at the other cathedral shrouded in thorns, like the shadow of the Silent Cathedral.

That cathedral was deathly silent, and there was no figure of any clergyman inside.

It was just a mirror image, but its appearance represented that the "reverse phase" of that mirror Frost had reached the final step.

"Agatha… you should still be somewhere continuing to fulfill your mission…"

Bishop Ivan said softly, as if talking to himself, or as if gently instructing a junior he had lost contact with.

He slowly raised his hand, untied the gorgeous robes symbolizing the authority of the archbishop, and took off his crown, placing it on the railing beside him.

"Then you should also remember that the saints of Bartok never stop before death…"

Under the gorgeous clothes and crown, layers of bandages were revealed. Ivan groped and then untied a knot near his neck little by little.

"We fight against filth with our flesh and blood, and after life ends, we defend our faith with our immortal shells, and when the shells also end…"

The bandages were untied, and the container that had been sealed and suppressed for decades suddenly broke free from its restraints. Under the bandages, there was no broken body – there was no body left.

That…

"We still have burning ashes."

The bandages fell apart, and fluttering bone ashes flew out from the edge of the terrace, turning into fine white smoke, gradually shrouding the sky above Frost.

(End of this chapter)