While everyone else was busy dealing with the series of accidents that had occurred during the operation, one of the primary protagonists of the event had already fallen into a deep slumber.
At this moment, Jeanne was walking through a desolate world. If there were any words to describe the world she saw before her eyes, they would be "deathly silence" and "desolation." Upon the earth, a black, mist-like gas continuously spread in all directions, dyeing the nearby land into a deathly pitch-black.
"Where is this place? Why have I come here?"
If Jeanne hadn't been able to confirm that she was in a dream, she might have thought her life had reached its end and she had arrived in the Hell ruled by Satan. This was because such an utterly bleak landscape was not something the mortal realm should possess. She couldn't even be certain if living creatures still existed here.
There were no landmarks to provide direction, and even the sun was absent. The only reason she could see anything at all was due to a faint, dim light. But she was certain it was not sunlight; it seemed to project vertically from all directions, much like the shadowless lamps in a hospital.
Jeanne had no choice but to pick a direction and press forward. Along the way, there was nothing but barren earth and ruined debris; as far as the eye could see, there wasn't even a single tree. She walked and walked, continuing straight ahead. The place looked as though it had been assaulted by some kind of creature; scenes of destruction were everywhere.
"What on earth is going on? Where have I ended up? Could someone give me a hint!"
Jeanne could only continue trekking through this empty world. Perhaps because it was a dream, hunger, thirst, and fatigue did not plague her. However, what tormented her more was the mental strain. With no one around to communicate with, she could only talk to herself to feel less lonely. Walking aimlessly through an empty world did indeed make her feel a sliver of isolation; had she not possessed a powerful heart, she might have gone mad long ago.
Her questions, however, were answered before long. As she continued forward, the scenery before her began to change, and the ruins became slightly more ornate. After walking for a long time, what appeared before Jeanne was a building that had turned to rubble—a building whose name vaguely surfaced in her mind—
—The Arc de Triomphe!
But at this moment, it had lost its former glory. The current Arc de Triomphe looked like a pile of discarded masonry, and even these bricks were stained black. Despite this, Jeanne was curious why its name surfaced in her mind the moment she saw it, for neither "self" had ever seen this building with their own eyes.
In the next instant, Jeanne suddenly felt a world-spinning sensation of vertigo. The world seemed to shrink before her eyes. Though she hadn't moved an inch, she saw various grand structures.
The Pyramids, the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, the Statue of Liberty, the Great Wall, the Louvre...
The names of each building emerged from her mind, as if a private narrator were standing beside her, explaining them to her. Otherwise, she absolutely would not have recognized so many buildings—especially in their ruined states, so broken that their former grandeur could only be glimpsed through the rubble.
"What happened? Why were these buildings destroyed like this? Did a war capable of destroying a civilization happen here?"
Jeanne witnessed the desolation of the world and couldn't help but mutter to herself. She seemed unable to comprehend what had occurred; why had the world become like this? She knew well that if it were merely a war, no matter how cruel, it wouldn't have turned into this bleak state. There would always be living souls remaining in the cities. But now, in this vast world, there weren't even many plants left. This was clearly a situation that only arose after experiencing some kind of terrifying disaster.
Suddenly, the surrounding environment shifted again. Feeling something, Jeanne looked up at the sky. Though the sky appeared empty, it emitted waves of souls. Jeanne tried to sense the form of those souls, and as a result, the world before her underwent a cataclysmic change. She saw souls gathered in the sky, packed as tightly as the Beijing subway during morning rush hour.
Countless twisted souls were squeezed together like sardines in the sky, devouring one another to strengthen their own spirits. Some of the stronger souls had already begun to take on slight forms. After consuming a vast number of spirits, they gradually produced something akin to a collective consciousness.
Among them was one with the appearance of a bird, yet it looked more like a conglomerate of various avian species. Another had the form of a divine dragon, but certain parts seemed to be a jumble of other creatures. There was one even stranger; it looked like a collective of tiny, sardine-like souls forming a mass similar to ants or bees, yet possessing the appearance of a marine creature and incredibly massive tentacles. In the distance, there were forms resembling underground creatures like moles, and even more blurred soul-aggregates that Jeanne could not identify.
Jeanne could feel that these souls had likely been humans in the distant past. But she didn't know what they had experienced here to become so distorted that they could no longer recognize their own existence. Perhaps one day, through their mutual devouring, they would eventually give birth to intellect again.
However, that scenario would be extremely difficult. Reaching the level where a soul could interfere with reality was something almost exclusively reserved for god-level beings. And to achieve that, even the weakest god would need to undergo an incredibly difficult process.
Yet, Jeanne wasn't worried in the slightest about them evolving into gods. Even if these fellows became her enemies after descending, she wasn't concerned. After all, the "big boss" behind her was more than enough to guarantee her safety. That entity had fought plenty of such gods. Otherwise, where do you think all those demons in Hell came from?
Rumble... rumble, rumble, rumble...
Suddenly, the scene shifted. Jeanne heard a noisy din that sounded like static. Turning her head, she saw a city moving in the distance. However, that moving structure was entirely different from current mobile cities. Not only did it look vastly different, but there was also a translucent dome covering the top of the city. Furthermore, it had four massive mechanical legs on its sides, likely used to assist movement; from a distance, it looked like a giant walking turtle.
Suddenly, the images before Jeanne's eyes became blurred and chaotic. The ruins of famous monuments, the sky filled with twisted souls, and the strange mechanical cities appeared one after another, spinning before her eyes like a kaleidoscope.
Finally, all the scenes vanished.
Following that, Jeanne's consciousness vanished from that space. When she opened her blurry eyes again, she only saw a bright, shining object swinging back and forth in front of her. At first, Jeanne thought it was a desk lamp she had forgotten to turn off, so she reached out and slapped it, intending to shut it down.
The result was that she slapped a smooth head, and the "lightbulb" on top was knocked down by her.
"Eek!"
It seemed Jeanne's sudden attack had startled the other person. The "desk lamp" opposite her suddenly let out a cry, which thoroughly woke Jeanne up. That wasn't a desk lamp she had forgotten to turn off; that was clearly Lemuen's head! And the glaring "bulb" she had perceived earlier was actually the halo above the Sankta's head.
Now completely awake, Jeanne couldn't help but feel a stroke of luck. Fortunately, she had forced herself to correct her old habit of "violently swatting things" when she wasn't yet lucid after waking up; otherwise, the consequences would have been unthinkable. Jeanne still remembered the fate of the alarm clocks Talulah had secretly bought and placed by her bedside—the one that died in the "best" condition was merely smashed into four or five pieces.
If she had used her full strength just now, this angel would have had a mild concussion at the very least. Future rumors in Laterano would probably claim she killed people in her sleep.
"I say, sister, where did you learn this habit of hitting people when you wake up? Teach me sometime if you get the chance. This is great—you sleep for half the day, and the moment you wake up, you give me a smack like that." Sitting at the bedside, Lemuen couldn't help but grumble.