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墨書 Inktalez
Aelia's skirt still glistened with moisture from Chen Lu, the lingering blood stench on her fingertips softened by the fragrance of Black Rose.
She watched her daughter in the courtyard, bent over and poking at the Magic Circle. The morning light cast a golden hue on Luna's silver braids, while twenty-three crooked runes flickered on the bluestone tiles, exuding a faint blue glow.
"Miss insists on making a tombstone inscription for Jing Tong Ya," Qin Si said, approaching while holding Luna's favorite Lunar Rabbit doll. The doll's ears were still stained with last night's purple flame ashes. "Look at these runes; they seem like they've been torn from Elemental Theory and mixed into mashed potatoes..."
Before he could finish, Luna suddenly jumped up and clapped her hands.
The runes on the bluestone tiles seemed to come alive, twisting and coalescing into a translucent Little Duck apparition that wobbled and knocked over Qin Si's hairpin.
The crisp sound of the silver hairpin hitting the ground startled the dormant Magic Element, and seven or eight glowing orbs darted out from behind the Wisteria Arbor, swirling around Luna's padded boots.
"Yi Ya!" Milk Dumpling stomped her feet to scare off a sprite nibbling on her bow, only to be lifted half a foot off the ground by the glowing orbs.
Aelia watched her daughter roll around in the light rain like a glistening sugar-coated glutinous rice ball, finally revealing her first smile in half a month.
However, that smile froze when it touched the purple magic pattern on Luna's nape—the Time-Space Imprint left by last night's purple flame.
"Madam! A mirage has appeared in West Square!" The Chief Guard burst through the Rose Fence on his two-headed lizard, startling the glowing orbs in Luna's arms into a burst of rainbow fragments.
Little Luna pouted as if about to cry. Qin Si quickly shook the Lunar Rabbit to cheer her up. "Our miss's magic is far more powerful than any mirage, right?"
As Aelia's flying carpet swept past the clock tower, West Square was already packed like a Magic Market.
Just as she was about to land, she caught sight of Leonard's silver hair shimmering atop the Magic Fortress Tower—he was holding Lucius and standing on the Stargazing Platform.
The three-year-old's Silver Robe fluttered in the wind, while Lucius's Palm danced with Golden Runes, a simplified version of the spectacle from last night’s gathering of birds.
“Father, I want to show it to my sister…” The child's clear voice was carried by the wind into Eardrum.
Aelia's Ailya's White Nails dug into the Flying Carpet, and the memory of that day when she caught her husband embracing the Red-Haired Witch flashed before her like Leonard's Last Night.
She turned towards the tower, and the ice crystals unleashed by Zhang Jian sliced through the tails of three messenger birds.
“Mother!” Lucius struggled to leap from Father’s arms.
Leonard frowned as he held his son down; the lingering Iris Fragrance on his collar made Aelia's stomach twist—it was Xunxiang, the favorite scent of Leonard's Concubine.
“I heard that Third Young Master Lucius is going to recreate last night's illusion?” Aelia sneered, looking at her son's crooked Guardian Knight Emblem on his clothing.
That was a silver Button caught during Luna's Hundred Day Feast, which Lucius had begged the Alchemist to turn into a brooch.
Lucius suddenly tightened his little face: “I don’t want to perform an illusion.” He took off the badge and held it in his palm; the Golden Runes extinguished instantly. “I learned this magic by my cradle when my sister woke up crying. I want to keep it to comfort her.”
Leonard’s expression darkened: “The Magic Castle Heir cannot…”
“I’m not the Heir!” The child raised his voice sharply, startling a Night Owl resting in the tower.
When he turned to Mother again, his tone softened, and his Palm glowed with a Red Glow like Xing Zi: “Look, it’s the dancing technique of Light Sprite that my sister taught me.”
Aelia watched those clumsily bouncing Light Spots and recalled how Luna would always have Little One secretly rummaging through ancient books in the Library of Hidden Books after her magic went awry.
At this moment, though Lucius’s magic was still immature, it made her Eye Socket burn with more warmth than her husband’s flashy Secret Techniques.
As twilight deepened, the outer wall of the Magic Castle began to exude a strange phosphorescence.
Lucius insisted on personally fastening the anti-magic cloak around his sister. Aelia watched as her son stood on tiptoe to adjust Luna's hood, suddenly sensing the flow of magic elements around them becoming thick and viscous.
As the wind swept past the Stargazing Platform and the Azure Bronze Beast Head, it carried with it a faint hum reminiscent of Leonard's Sword.
The phosphorescence in the twilight twisted into a bizarre vine pattern along the outer wall of the Magic Castle. Just as Lucius finished fastening the last pearl button for Luna, a series of gasps erupted from the direction of the square.
Little Luna leaned over the railings of the Stargazing Platform, her silver hair spilling from her hood, lifted by the wild wind and crystallizing into tiny ice shards in mid-air.
"Look! The illusion is manifesting!" came a falsetto exclamation from below. Aelia's flying carpet barely grazed the clock tower's spire as she spotted countless fireflies swirling above West Square.
These swarms, wrapped in a magical halo, suddenly coalesced into a giant dragon and then scattered like a river of stars, causing the crowd to stir like a boiling cauldron of magic potion.
Qin Si squeezed to the edge of the flying carpet, lifting her skirt. "Madam, those bugs are gnawing at the clock tower's magical barrier!" No sooner had she spoken than a drunken alchemist stumbled into a crystal ball stall, raising a rainbow wine bottle and shouting, "It's the Elemental Tide! The auspicious sign foretold in the sacred texts!"
This shout ignited like an explosive talisman.
Astrologers wearing hats shaped like castle spires eagerly tossed out divination cards, their surfaces scorched by swarms. The entire square fell into an eerie silence as firefly swarms coalesced into a massive Shu Tong shape, with black substance seeping from their pupils like asphalt.
"This is not an illusion!" Lucius's voice was drowned out by a sudden eruption of sound waves.
Luna suddenly stretched out her chubby little hand, precisely grasping a wisp of the Black Substance floating by.
The viscous mass struggled in her Palm, transforming into a mini version of Leonard. Before it could fully take shape, it was crushed by the Milk Dumpling with a "splat," splattering ink that stained her silver braids.
Aelia's wand traced an Ice Blue Trajectory in the air, ready to freeze the out-of-control Swarm when Leonard suddenly appeared at her side. "Don't use Ice Magic!" he exclaimed, flicking his sleeve to unleash Golden Chains. However, as they touched the black mist, they were corroded, releasing a burnt odor. "These are..."
"Are they the Soul Devouring Butterfly larvae raised by you, Leonard's Concubine?" Aelia interrupted with a cold laugh. The magic Zhang Jian conjured blossomed into an Ice Lotus that instantly froze half of the Swarm.
The frozen insects suddenly self-destructed en masse, sending Ice Shards flying and releasing countless particles of Glow Powder.
In the crowd, a Noblewoman reached out to catch them, but the powder turned into a Blood Curse upon touching Shan Na's skin.
"Mom! My Pearl Necklace is eating the bow!" cried one young lady, her voice piercing through the chaos.
The Magic Pearl around her Neck was frantically devouring the Lace on her gown, twisting the ribbon into a struggling humanoid shape on the surface of the pearl.
Even more absurdly, several Old Mages found their beards automatically weaving into Spider Webs, ensnaring the Crystal Monocles that were flying chaotically around.
Luna suddenly burst into Laughter in Lucius's arms, her ink-stained little hand patting the railing of the Stargazing Platform.
The black mist that had been corroded by Leonard's golden chains abruptly changed direction, flowing like a stream toward the baby's Fingertip.
The Guardian Knight Emblem on Lucius's chest vibrated violently, and the Silver Light that erupted sliced through the black mist into fragmented Light Spots.
"Look up at the sky!" someone shouted, their voice breaking.
The crowd looked up, and the so-called "illusion" began to peel away like a cheap stage curtain.
In the torn cracks of the Magic Turbulence, the dissipating glow revealed its true form—hundreds of incomplete Teleportation Circles, each with a half-burned Amethyst feather stuck in its center.
Aelia's Pupil suddenly constricted.
The patterns on those burning feathers were identical to the Purple Magic Pattern on Ye Lu's nape from yesterday.
She abruptly turned to her husband, only to find that the Gold Thread at Leonard's cuff was seeping Azure Blood, while the usually panicked Lucius was quietly wrapping his bleeding fingers with Luna's silver braid.
As Twilight completely swallowed the last light of day, the fountain in West Square suddenly reversed its flow.
Countless distorted human faces reflected in the suspended Seven-colored Dewdrop, and a phantom adorned with an Iris Flower Brooch flashed past in Lucius' Water Barrier.
Luna suddenly spread her arms toward the fountain, her neck's Magic Pattern emitting a blinding Purple Light, drawing all the Phosphorescence from the entire Magic Castle Outer Wall into a swirling Light Band.
In the twilight, the Crystal Pillar buzzed with a strange energy. Luna clutched Aelia's Pearl Necklace, her grape-purple eyes reflecting the Xing Xu seeping from the cracks in the dome's ice.
The Servants, clutching their Gilded Candelabra, retreated in panic, knocking over a crystal urn filled with blooming Evening Primrose—the magical plants that should have emitted soft light suddenly surged into thorns, ensnaring three maids who couldn't dodge in time, turning them into glowing cocoons.
"Elemental Sprite is at Qian Jiao." Brother San stumbled and fell to his knees, clutching his bleeding earlobe. The Dark Element he had been misguidedly cultivating for years transformed into a Black Snake, biting at his ankle.
Second Brother attempted to freeze the fountain with a Frost Spell, but within the forming ice spikes emerged the mocking face of a betrayed friend from that fateful day, and a curse instantly solidified into a blood clot in his throat.
Suddenly, the Gold Thread at Leonard's cuff came alive, crawling up his neck along with the Azure Blood.
Luna suddenly grabbed her elder brother's flowing silver hair and poked her finger, which was stained with Milk Fragrance, into the rotting wound three inches below his collarbone—an old injury left by a Magic Backlash five years ago, marked by a Curse Mark.
"Moonshadow Vine... winding counterclockwise..." A broken whisper of Dragon Language spilled from the infant's lips, causing her brother to tremble violently.
This old wound, which even the Mage Association could do nothing about, now surged with Silver Blue liquid in her Fingertip and Purple Light.
He instinctively bit his index finger and drew a variant of Luna's Swaddling with Dark Pattern in the air.
The Phosphorescence suspended in the air suddenly coalesced into a funnel shape, sucking the water from the West Square fountain into glowing Dark Purple Threads.
His damaged Right Leg suddenly shimmered with Mother-of-Pearl luster, as the long-dormant Thunder Elemental Sprite joyfully tore apart the Curse Chain, forming a crackling Amethyst compass in his Palm.
"Triple Twilight Star!"
This was the long-lost Purification Spell from the Northern Territory! Lucius suddenly tore away the ribbon entwined in his silver hair, his bleeding fingers tracing a Seal that resonated with his brother.
The black mist corroded by golden chains screeched as it dove into the Earth Rift, but under Luna's Silver Bell's sound, it transformed into countless phosphorescent butterflies, repairing the Burning Amethyst feathers on the Teleportation Circle.
Aelia supported herself against the cracked Rose Window, watching her husband's Gold Thread at his sleeve fade to a pale white during the restoration magic.
The purple markings discovered last night while changing Luna's clothes now eerily overlapped with the Iris on the City Lord's Seal.
When a phantom wearing the same brooch swept past Lucius' Water Barrier again, she finally recognized that person's Ear and Leonard's identical Serpent-Shaped Birthmark.
"Mother... it hurts Fei Fei..." Luna suddenly slapped her small hand, covered in elemental liquid, onto Aelia and Mei Xin. The nightmare fragments that had troubled her for half a month suddenly pieced together in her Mind Sea to reveal Leonard's Last Night—in a secret chamber draped with a Purple Veil, Burning feathers were branding the City Lord's Seal onto an Outsider Woman's Shoulder Blade.
The cracks in the Castle Outer Wall healed as dawn broke, but inexplicably, the Iris Flower Brooch box before Aelia's Dressing Mirror exploded.
As the morning mist enveloped the newly sprouted Moonshadow Vine by the cradle, the crystal ball reflected Leonard kissing a woman with a serpent-shaped birthmark on her ear, adorned with a half-burned Amethyst feather in her hair.
The morning light pierced through the repaired Stained Glass, casting a purple light spot on Aelia's trembling fingertip.
In the shattered Crystal Mirror atop the grooming table, countless husbands' figures overlapped with that of a Strange Woman.
She clenched Luna's Silver Bell in her palm, only to hear the muffled warning of a baby speaking in Dragon Language from within the bell. It was a detail unnoticed by anyone during last night's Magic Turbulence—inside the City Lord's Seal, two intertwined Name Abbreviations were clearly engraved.
Zi Wu formed into a teardrop shape before Aelia's Dressing Mirror, the Crystal Fragment reflecting her pale visage.
Luna emitted a Yiya Sound from the cradle, her tiny hand, slick with elemental fluid, suddenly grasping at the floating purple light spot in the air.
"Madam, please look." Qin Si moved the Magic Candle in front of the mirror, and those refracted lights suddenly pieced together Leonard's Last Night from ten years ago—twenty-year-old Aelia held a Star Pattern staff, drawing a Protective Barrier within the Magic Castle Dome.
In the fragmented memory of Leonard's Last Night, her ear's serpent-shaped birthmark glimmered with a faint golden light.
Suddenly, Luna's Silver Bell flew up on its own; amidst its clear chime, Aelia saw her left hand's ring finger—the same finger she had used to draw charms back then—bearing an Iris Pattern identical to that of the City Lord's Seal.
Memories surged like tides over her nerves as she finally recalled the truth of her Family Legacy: women of the Leonard Family inherently possessed the ability to break Dark Contracts.
"Elemental Resonance!" Lucius's exclamation echoed down the corridor.
Third Young Master Lucius, with silver hair floating around him like a spatial seal, held in his hand a Liujin Grimoire taken from the Library of Hidden Books. "These Ancient Charms perfectly match the patterns of Luna's Swaddling."
Suddenly, Second Brother pressed an Ice Spike against the Grimoire's cover, revealing hidden content of the frozen Curse under the moonlight.
Eldest Brother’s Amethyst compass flew out in response, and a Thunder Elemental Sprite projected an Iris image onto the cracked wall—there it was, Aelia Family’s lost Twilight Pact, documenting the Secret Technique that allowed the City Lord’s wife to harness energy from the Magic Fortress Core.
Luna seized the opportunity to throw the Crystal Pacifier towards the Crystal Chandelier, and the splashing Magic Light Dots formed a dynamic diagram in the air.
Aelia, the Pupil, shrank back as she recognized this structure as the Ancient Magic Circle located on the third underground level of the Magic Castle, where the Core Area was surging with unusual spatial fluctuations.
"Mother, it hurts, Fei Fei..." The infant suddenly articulated a complete sentence, her small hand pointing at Aelia Mei Xin.
Countless Memory Fragments rearranged themselves, and she finally understood the flaw in her husband's Golden Thread Soul Control Technique—whenever the Lunar Phase was incomplete, the Contract Power of the City Lord's Seal would weaken by thirty percent.
Lucius suddenly cut his Fingertip, using his blood to draw a Teleportation Circle in the void. "Please allow me to go to the Starfall Pavilion; it holds the Moonlight Crown of the First Generation Castle Lord's Lady." The Family Crest on his Waist suddenly heated up; this was the first time in thirty years that a male member had triggered a Resonance with an ancestral relic.
As the morning mist turned Light Gold, Aelia stood on the Stargazing Platform holding Luna.
The Iris Pattern on her left ring finger was awakening, resonating with the Core Magic Circle beneath the fountain in West Square.
Brother San manipulated the stabilizing Dark Element, transforming the entire East Wall into a Projection screen—clearly displaying Leonard at that moment, entangling a comatose woman with Gold Thread in a secret chamber.
"The undercurrents of Dawn are most turbulent." Aelia gently kissed Luna's forehead as the Silver Bell around the baby's Neck suddenly absorbed moonlight, leaving strange patterns burned into the back of the Dressing Mirror.
No one noticed that Luna's little hand hidden in her swaddling was quietly gathering Light Element, preparing to execute a small plan that required moonlight for charging.
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