"¡What are you doing here, you old traitor!?" Rose spoke with her usual tone, devoid of humor, turning what should have been a question into a reprimand.
"Oh, leave that, Rose. Years have passed and you still don't understand how I owe myself to Lilystone..."
"And that could be respected! But enlisting in that colonizing religion for a bit of status! Now you owe yourself to them, not to Lilystone! You betrayed everything to serve the sect of a selfish god..."
"Sanctum is a merciful god who accepts everyone equally! At the time, I considered becoming a Guardian of the Faith the best option to care for the village and give its people spiritual solace. And I don't regret it!"
"Spiritual solace? Rubbish! You abandoned the spirit of nature for an idol and a position!"
"I wasn't the one who isolated myself from the world to live selfishly enjoying the forest, Rose! I wasn't the one who abandoned any intention of passing on my wisdom to others! It's very easy to speak from your position..."
"I remind you that those of us considered witches are hunted and disappeared, old coward! Not only by Leopold's order but also by your idol's mandate that 'accepts everyone equally'. You know what? Leave! I don't know when I agreed to the deal with the girl and let you in..."
"...In the moment you understood the gravity of the situation," Robben finally said, lowering his tone, with a concerned expression. "If I'm here, it's to ask for your advice and... cooperation. The forest will suffer as much as Lily Summit if the vision of young Antorique..."
"I know! I know!" the witch interrupted, slapping her forehead with the palm of her hand. "That's why I faced that monster before you even knew of its existence, saving your damn village."
"The vagabond said something similar... I appreciate it, Rose..."
"I don't need your gratitude!" the witch barked again.
"Uhm... the priest is worried... even if the mage is calm... We don't know when that demon will assault Lilystone..." Jasmine emerged through the gap left by the sliding branches from the room where Caterina Bellini still lay. The sun began to beat down on Rose's refuge.
The witch let out something akin to a roar, annoyed.
"Months, I still don't know exactly... but... months," she said, indicating a small altar located at the center of the natural space. Carved in stone on it were two octagons composed of eight trigrams each. These trigrams were formed by continuous lines and others broken by a space in between, in different orders from top to bottom achieving all possible combinations. Both diagrams, formed by the same eight trigrams, varied between them in the order in which they were located within each octagon. The "Ba Gua" of the Former Heaven and the Later Heaven served as a divinatory method stemming from an ancient Fengnian tradition.
"The Lady also consulted with the runes. Both oracles speak of months... however, neither provides a specific answer," Jasmine contributed to the explanation.
"Rose... What's your personal opinion?" Robben asked, curious and eager, but trying to sound as amiable as possible.
"I tell you I don't know!" the witch interjected frustratedly.
"The Lady was pretty sure the idiotic vagabond would die, and that would give her the chance to later eliminate the weakened demon, using the strength of the forest," Jasmine commented, sparing Rose from having to acknowledge her prediction error in front of Robben.
"So that means... it's my fault. It's my fault for asking the vagabond to prioritize survivors..." the religious man thought, questioning how hasty and visceral his response to Tori's question before the battle with Castellanos might have been.
"...I understand, then... it's my responsibility..." the Guardian began, guilt weighing heavily on him.
"Silence, old man! Don't give yourself importance you don't have... I have a theory that, for some reason unknown to me, that vagabond can transcend predetermined scenarios... And... it's not just him... There's another..." the witch said the latter with concern on her face.
"Castellanos?" "No... Another one. One who is beginning to move his pieces."
Carlino Castellanos, still missing much of his body due to Tori's last devastating attack, struggled to regenerate in a way that his new anatomy would be even stronger than the original. At the same time, the definitive transformation of the most promising bodies among his victims was beginning, a process he had already started with Marco de Luca and Luca Moretti before the vagabond managed to escape with Caterina. He strove to keep his spiritual barrier impeccably closed to prevent a second attack from Antorique, Rose, or another enemy. As a result of all this process, he felt the size of his dome slowly shrinking. Focused on these tasks, and confident in the infallibility of his defense, he did not notice the intrusion of the unexpected visitor, who, with little effort, had created his own entrance into the territory, just as Tori had done the day before. His surprise was immense when he heard the thin voice behind him.
"Oh dear, do you need help, poor demon?" the intruder asked with a colloquial tone, which the demon knew concealed something sinister.
