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墨書 Inktalez
Moonlight seeped through the gaps in the lace curtains, casting fragmented light spots on the sleeping Lucius, cradled in Aelia's arms.
Luna gazed at the diamond patterns refracted by the crystal paperweight on the bedside, drawing the sixth incomplete astrological symbol with her fingertip, stained with contract ashes, on the inside of the swaddling.
As the last arc aligned with a crack in the West Tower that was seeping water, a faint whimper escaped from the infant's throat.
"Madam, the black cat brought a bell..." Qin Si's trembling exclamation startled Aelia awake.
The maid held a muddy Yin Ling, with violet Youguang seeping from inside the bell, leaving an imprint of entwined figures of Lucius on the surface of the dressing mirror.
Three strands of silver hair suddenly snapped between Aelia and Shu Chi.
She recognized the flame birthmark on the back of the man's neck in the interplay of light and shadow—it was precisely where Leonard had been touched by her hand last night while changing clothes.
The grooming table, crystallized in ice, reflected the tremor of its mistress's pupils, as Ailya's white nails, embedded with star moon stones, dug deep into the velvet chair's back.
"Prepare to verify the contract with evening primrose juice." Aelia's voice was like a blade tempered in ice, slicing through the room filled with Xunxiang.
Luna timely giggled, slapping her small hand, sticky with saliva and ashes, against the surface of the bell. Dark red patterns suddenly bloomed into a pair of black roses on the silverware—an exclusive loyalty contract mark of the Leonard family.
As the seventh petal of the contract's manifested black rose turned ink-black, a crisp sound echoed through the study as a crystal cup fell to the ground.
Leonard stumbled back, knocking over an astrolabe; sparks flew from the metal bracket scraping against the ground. "This must be a scheme from Frost Fortress!"
"Does this scheme require you to use your poison curse cocoon hidden beneath the Oath Tree?" Aelia flung out a blood-stained laurel branch. Suddenly, Luna's chewed crystal paperweight projected an image of the West Tower's cellar.
Three poisonous cocoons wrapped in spider webs pulsed within the contract array, each entwined dark purple thread refracting different women's faces.
Leonard's fire emblem on his cuff suddenly ignited, burning his flesh and mingling with his panicked defense: "Those were mistakes made in my youth..." Before he could finish speaking, a sound echoed down the corridor—the grinding noise of a wheelchair crushing moonlight.
Brother Pale's fingers gripped the door frame, the crystallized scar formed by the Magic Backlash spreading from his neck to his eyes. "So while I was being consumed by Dark Magic, you were feeding power to these filthy cocoons?"
The wheelchair collided with the Poisonous Cocoon's projection of Shan Na, causing Luna to suddenly cough violently.
The ashes expelled by the infant coalesced in the air into the residual shadow of the First Generation Fortress Master, the bottom of the scepter perfectly overlapping with the crack in the cellar.
Aelia's guardian necklace shattered with a sound, and the vow Leonard had tied around Ailia's neck on their wedding night twenty years ago turned to ash.
"Mother, the Confession Room in the West Tower..." Brother San's voice echoed from the spiral staircase, carrying a unique resonance of magic.
Seizing the opportunity, Luna grabbed Aelia's scattered silver hair and wiped the last bit of saliva on the remaining Star Trail Ke Hen.
The entire castle suddenly let out a roar like a dragon turning over, as eighteen hidden Contract Chains burst forth from the walls.
Leonard attempted to grasp his wife's skirt but was thwarted by the suddenly awakened Defensive Formation and Ailina's Burn.
Brother turned his wheelchair to block the exit, his crystallized right eye reflecting Father's disheveled appearance. "Do you remember what I said on the night my twin legs crystallized?"
"Honor is responsibility"—now it seems your honor has fed the spiders in the cellar."
"No!" Lord screamed as he tore open his shirt, a twisted Symbiotic Contract pattern emerging from his heart. "These cocoons sustain the castle's Defensive Formation..." His defense was abruptly cut off by Luna's loud cry.
The Xing Mang swirling in the infant's eyes synchronized with the Rainbow Light emanating from the Confession Room, as dark red liquid seeped from the walls, gradually coalescing into an image of magical backlash—clearly depicting Leonard entwined with different women beneath the Oath Tree during Leonard's Last Night.
Aelia staggered as she supported Qin Si, pearls from her laurel crown falling to the ground and bouncing in a rhythm of despair.
When she looked up again, Leonard's long-standing gentle facade had shattered into sharp ice spikes. "Dissolve all Contracts immediately."
"Doing so now would cost Father his life." A flippant male voice came from the chandelier. Third Young Master Lucius hung upside down from the Crystal Chandelier, his fingertips entwined with silk stolen from the cellar. "These beautiful little spiders are pets that Father has fed with half his soul."
Luna suddenly reached out and grasped the floating Contract Ashes in the air. The blood from her infant gums dripped onto the Silk, instantly igniting the Azure Blue Flame.
Leonard screamed and fell to his knees as the Heart's Contract Pattern began to Reverse Rotation.
At that moment, Second Brother burst in, supporting himself against the leaking wall. The Ashes color in his newly formed Pupil abruptly turned blood red. "Father is at the Oath Tree..."
His unfinished words were swallowed by the black mist surging from the Confession Room.
Luna curled into a defensive posture in Aelia's arms, her Milk Tooth biting down hard on a half-drawn Star Chart pulled from the swaddling. The tooth marks left on the edge of the chart perfectly matched the gap in the Contract Scroll that Second Brother had been deceived out of by a close friend three years ago.
Second Brother's knuckles turned white as he slammed his fist heavily against the leaking Wall Tile, sending Ice Shards flying that cut through his newly formed Pupil.
Floating within the black mist from the Confession Room were Memory Fragments from that rainy night three years prior—when his friend had shoved a poisoned Contract Scroll into his Palm, the light from Father's Study flickered clearly behind the curtains.
"At that time, you said there was a flaw in the Projection Defense Array..." The Lava rolling in his throat rendered his voice hoarse, while Ashes-colored Iris reflected the twisted face of a woman within the Poisonous Cocoon Projection.
Those moments he once thought were merely misjudgments leading to a Magic Backlash now revealed themselves in the Contract Ashes, showing the burn marks of Father's sleeve Fire Emblem.
Luna's Loud Cry suddenly shifted to a brief Leonard's Sword Suddenly Emitted a Hum.
The Magic Ripple radiating from the infant shattered the Ice Spike hanging from the Dome, and the splintered Crystal before Second Brother pieced together a long-lost truth—when he was wailing in his bedroom, covered in cursed ice crystals, Leonard was in the Cellar infusing magic into the Poisonous Cocoon using the Family Crest Ring.
Brother San seemed startled awake by the erupting ice crystals, taking half a step back as the Magic Pattern Compendium he held fell to the ground with a thud.
An Iris Bookmark drifting between Yellowed Pages suddenly ignited, flames revealing scenes from his twelfth birthday.
Leonard stroked his head with a Palm still carrying the resin scent of the Oath Tree. "Your Elemental Affinity is rare, you need not toil like your brothers..."
At this moment, that lie shattered into Powder amidst the clashing sounds of Contract Chains filling the room.
Brother San stared down at his palm, adorned with the Star Moon Totem. The so-called "divine gifts" of Magic Energy and Magic Circuit flickered in sync with the frequency of Castle Zhen Chan.
Suddenly, he stumbled and caught himself on the overturned Astrolabe, the Astrological Symbols flowing on the Metal Bracket transforming into mocking smiles.
"Madam, watch out!" Qin Si dashed forward to block the Fire Spider falling from the chandelier, his skirt embroidered with a Wisteria Pattern instantly scorched.
The Maid shielded Aelia behind her, her right hand, long accustomed to holding a comb, traced a Defensive Barrier in the air. The Yin Zhan in her hair quivered with anger as she drew forth Leng Guang: "If the master had even an ounce of shame left, he would jump into the flames of the Confession Room himself!"
Leonard's Heart twisted as the Contract Pattern surged violently; Black Veins resembling a Spider Web crawled up the stone column toward the Dome.
Luna suddenly grabbed Aelia's Pearl Earrings, her baby teeth biting into the surface of a fallen pearl, leaving behind Xing Mang and Ke Hen.
The pearl, tainted with the essence of Mother Body, rolled into the Earth Rift's Shan Na, and simultaneously, eighteen Contract Chains emitted a dying dragon's wail.
"No!" The Lord's scream erupted alongside the sound of the Wall crumbling.
The eldest brother turned his Wheelchair, crushing moonlight scattered across the floor. His crystallized Fingertip jabbed into Father’s Heart's Contract Pattern: "Feeding these filthy things with the suffering of your offspring—can't you hear Yuan Hun’s cries from within the Defensive Formation at night?"
Third Young Master Lucius suddenly flipped from the hanging Crystal Chandelier and landed on the ground. The Silk wrapped around his Fingertip wove cold ripples amidst the chaos.
He kicked aside a Poisonous Cocoon Projection that had rolled to his feet, precisely stepping on the weakest link of a chain with his Deerskin Boots embroidered with Gold Thread: "Perhaps Father should explain why the Icefield Wolf King Fang I hunted last year was found by Leonard's Concubine?"
The entire castle fell into an eerie silence.
Black mist surged from the Confession Room, coalescing in mid-air into a giant hourglass. What fell from its bottom was not Sandy Gravel but Memory Fragments glowing with Purple Light.
Second Brother's newly formed Pupil turned from ash gray to blood red. His trembling Fingertip touched a shard shimmering with Ice Blue Glimmer—it was exactly how much the curtains in Father's Study swayed three years ago on that rainy night.
Luna suddenly emitted a cry reminiscent of a Night Owl, and an explosive Magic Ripple emanated from her baby form, knocking everyone to the ground.
Aelia's scattered silver hair was twisted into a cocoon by the gusts of wind, the stardust floating among her locks resonating with the First Generation Fortress Lord Statue that broke through the earth.
As the Moonlight Gem atop the statue's scepter turned toward the West Tower, Leonard's Fire Emblem suddenly detached from the fabric of his sleeve, transforming into a Fire Serpent that coiled around his throat.
"Mother, look!" Brother San suddenly pointed at his palm.
The once-praised Magic Patterns revealed their sinister nature under the moonlight—deep within each shimmering Magic Circuit lay curled tiny Black Curse Marks, as small as Spider Eggs.
His frantic rubbing of his palms startled the dazed Qin Si. The Maid suddenly yanked the Yin Zhan from her hair, slicing her fingertip and sending a Blood Pearl soaring toward the floating Contract Chain.
The chain, tainted with maiden's blood, abruptly tightened, oozing a thick Dark Red Liquid from its gaps.
Lucius quickly leaped back to avoid the dripping venom but saw Second Brother suddenly lunge at one of the chains. A blood-red beam erupted from his newly formed pupil, scorching away the disguise on the chain's surface—revealing a dense Family Crest that belonged to Mama. Each devoured Emblem corresponded to a significant Calamity in their offspring's history.
Aelia's remaining Guardian Necklace unexpectedly floated in mid-air, the diamond-shaped Jade Pendant reflecting Leonard's expressions during each injury suffered by the Children over the past twenty years.
The worries and anxieties captured in those Memory Fragments twisted into a satisfied smile akin to that of a Poison Spider laying eggs when illuminated by the truth of the Contract.
As the last Memory Fragment fell, Luna's bitten tongue finally stained the entire Star Chart red with blood.
The infant's action of slapping the Blueprint against the ground triggered a chain reaction; a roar echoed from the West Tower as its structural integrity shifted, causing all hidden Contract Arrays to begin operating in reverse.
Leonard's cries for mercy, muffled by the Fire Serpent’s constriction, were torn apart by the wails of Yuan Hun surging from the Confession Room.
Lucius retreated into the shadows of the spiral staircase, his fingertips absentmindedly stroking the Icefield Wolf King Fang inside his dark bag.
The remains of a chandelier cast distorted shadows at his feet, resembling the moment when the spire of a Magic Castle broke in a storm.
Lucius's deerskin boots crushed a fragment of crystal chandelier remains, producing a hissing sound like a serpent flicking its tongue as his heel scraped against the glass.
He retreated into the shadows of the spiral staircase, his fingertips brushing against the Icefield Wolf King Fang in the dark bag at his side.
The chandelier cast distorted shadows at his feet, the shapes reminiscent of the Magic Castle Spire breaking in a storm.
The sound of shifting architecture from the West Tower startled the night owl sheltered under the eaves, its dark silhouette flapping away and shattering the Yue Lun.
Lucius gazed at the swirling black mist towards the Confession Room, suddenly recalling last year's hunt for the Icefield Wolf King. The beast's dying eyes had reflected the Magic Castle Spire—what he had thought was an illusion of ice cracks was now clearly visible under the moonlight.
"Third Young Master Lucius!" A panicked shout from a servant echoed from deep within the Emerald Corridor, followed by a dull thud as a heavy object fell to the ground.
Lucius swiftly slipped into the shadow of a relief, witnessing two servants carrying a Celestial Chart being knocked to the ground by a suddenly activated Gargoyle.
The sheepskin scroll rolled open, revealing a star map that had originally marked defensive formations and nodes, now seeping with spiderweb-like dark red patterns.
He lifted a shard of broken mirror with his boot tip, using its reflection to see his collar's family crest flickering and fading.
This emblem, which had been as red as blood just last night, now curled and darkened like a moth-eaten maple leaf.
When a second roar of collapsing architecture echoed from underground, Lucius suddenly became aware that the Icefield Wolf King Fang in his palm was growing hot—this trophy that should have belonged to him from his Rite of Passage was now mirroring a cursed Ke Hen beside Leonard's Concubine.
A magical fluctuation erupted from the attic, startling the ancestors in his image to tear off their blindfolds.
Luna's loud cry pierced through three layers of stone walls. The Dwarf Artisans repairing an oak barrel in the cellar suddenly knelt collectively; their long-dormant Magic Measuring Device pointed towards the nursery, its glass dial shattering into crystalline powder under overload.
"The defensive formation in the West Wing Corridor has failed!" The butler's hoarse scream mingled with the sound of clashing armor as it swept across the courtyard.
A maid pruning roses suddenly lost her grip on her scissors, which precisely severed twenty-one buds about to bloom—this number matched exactly with the poisonous cocoons hidden beneath the Oath Tree by Leonard.
As the silver scissors stained with flower juice fell to the ground, what poured from the broken flower stems was not blue blood fern juice but a dark red black slime that smelled faintly sweet.
Aelia's scattered silver hair was swept up by the night wind, the stardust flowing between her strands resonating with the scepter of the First Generation Fortress Lord Statue.
As the Moonlight Gem atop the statue's scepter turned towards the Nursery, Luna suddenly released her grip on the Star Chart. Her saliva-coated fingers traced incomplete runes on the surface of the Pearl Earrings.
The pearl that had rolled down from the Earth Rift burst open, and the splattering essence of the Mother Body awakened the guardian spirit sleeping within the Wall Tile.
The entire East Wall suddenly emerged with a relief depicting the childbirth of the First Generation Castle Lord's Lady, and the infant in the stone sculpture opened her eyes.
Lucius stumbled backward, knocking over a Bronze Candlestick, watching as the flowing wax formed an Iris resembling a Prophecy Poem on the ground: "When the fruits of lies nurtured come to maturity, the fledgling bearing starlight shall become a beak that pierces through darkness."
Suddenly, chaotic footsteps echoed from below the spiral staircase.
Brother San rushed into the courtyard, clutching a fading Palm. The once-proud Magic Patterns of their family were peeling away with the collapse of the Contract Chain.
He staggered and collided with a Marble Angel by the Fountain Pool. The Holy Water Bottle cradled in the statue's palm tilted unexpectedly, and as Holy Water splashed onto his Hand Back, it erupted into black smoke with a burnt odor.
"Third Young Master!" The gardener's startled cry was shattered in his throat by an unexpected hailstorm.
The weather, which should have been regulated by the Defensive Formation, spiraled out of control, with hailstones as large as pigeon eggs, each marked with a miniature Family Crest.
A maid hiding behind a Pillar suddenly caught a hailstone—upon melting in her Palm, it revealed a Residual Shadow of Leonard kissing Leonard's Concubine beneath the Oath Tree.
Luna stiffened in Aelia's arms, her infant pupils narrowing into two vertical slits.
Her fingers, coated in Contract Ashes, grasped Aelia's cascading silver hair. The magic flowing between her strands suddenly materialized into a translucent Astrolabe.
As the third Virtual Star representing the Defensive Array Core fell into the hail cloud, all magical creatures within the castle let out a mournful wail.
In the Stable, a Unicorn broke through its enclosure; as its spiraled horn unleashed Purifying Light, it turned murky dark purple upon touching the shadow of the West Tower.
The Fire Sprites raised in the kitchen collectively jumped into the water tank, and from the rising Water Mist emerged a scene from Thirty Years Ago on a Stormy Night—Young Leonard buried the first Poisonous Cocoon in the Cellar as a meteor streaked across the night sky, trailing an ominous green tail.
Lucius finally found the mechanism for the secret door in the library, but as he turned the Bronze Serpent Head, he was suddenly met with the awakening of the protective spell, Ailina's Burn, at his Fingertip.
He watched as bloodied fingerprints formed an unfamiliar Star-Moon Formation on the door. Suddenly, he became aware that this castle, where he had lived for Twenty Years, with its Carved Armrests adorned with Vine Patterns and Colored Glass pieced together in a Family History Painting, might be part of some vast Contract Array.
When a thunderous crash echoed from the direction of the Confession Room, signaling the collapse of the First Generation Fortress Lord Statue, Luna suddenly reached out to grasp a fragment of emptiness in the air.
The infant's Palm glowed with Xing Mang, piercing through the black mist to reveal Contract Fragments floating above everyone's heads—each reflecting a different future of the Magic Castle across various Timelines: the Castle Spire broken in violent Wind and Snow, consumed by vines, or submerged in Lava...
Aelia's remaining Guardian Necklace suddenly levitated, and the diamond-shaped Jade Pendant cracked in two under the moonlight.
Seizing the moment, Luna pressed her saliva- and blood-stained fingers against the fissure. The Blood Pearl seeping from the infant's gums silently flowed along the Star Chart's patterns, quietly penetrating deep into an ancient Prophecy Slot within the Jade Pendant.
A sudden sound of shattering crystal echoed from the Observation Platform atop the East Tower; the terrified cries of the Night Watch Astrologer were torn apart by a raging wind.
No one noticed that within Luna's Swaddling, the Astrological Symbol was reconfiguring. The patterns drawn with Contract Ashes were slowly aligning with a Remnant Page from an ancient tome in her past life memory.
As the last Hail shattered the Colored Glass of the Rose Window, a Liuli Fragment marked with a Laurel Pattern began to emit a unique pale golden glow between the curled fingers of the infant.
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