But Sanders had already entered the spatial crevice by then and couldn’t hear him.
Nis quickly turned to Angel: "Angel, tell me, isn’t he being irrational, asking me to cover the expenses?"
However, Angel was also ignoring Nis; he was currently sensing space fluctuations, ready to open the Gate of Void at any moment.
After a tense wait, a few minutes later, Angel finally saw something unusual appear in the sky.
The projections of some items appeared near Kanter.
These projections were indeed the materials needed for the spatial ritual. Sanders had traversed through the Interlayer Space and directly projected the materials for the ritual into reality!
The ceremonial materials were arranged in a highly ritualistic display, encircling Kanter completely.
However, Kanter did not react much, perhaps because he could sense that the projection of the ceremonial track around him did not intend to harm him.
At the moment when the spatial ceremonial track was completed, Angel clearly felt that there were signs of easing at Kanter’s location, and the surging nightfall also became calm.
The spatial fluctuations reached an unprecedented stability at this moment.
The ceremony succeeded!
Without hesitation, Angel opened the Gate of Void, pinpointing mid-air!
After the Gate of Void formed, there was no sign of it shattering, which indicated that space was indeed stable. Angel eagerly stepped forward and pushed open the door.
After the door opened, Angel immediately saw Kanter not far away.
Kanter’s expression was evidently grim at this moment, his eyes faintly red, staring intently at the fruit about to mature atop the waves below.
From Kanter’s demeanor, it was clear that he had indeed been influenced by the fruit, unable to extricate himself.
However, the Observer was right; Kanter retained a shred of sanity. Otherwise, he would not have remained indifferent when the Gate of Void appeared.
The remaining sliver of sanity allowed Kanter to understand that the Gate of Void was not an enemy.
Next, they needed to pull Kanter into the Gate of Void.
Kanter’s strength far exceeded Angel’s; directly forcing would certainly not work. The only way was to let that undiminished sanity of Kanter’s slightly gain the upper hand and not resist too much.
As for the method, it was simple. Angel directly allowed the green patterned domain field passing through the Gate of Void to gradually cover Kanter.
At the moment Kanter was enveloped by the domain field, the red in his eyes noticeably receded a bit, and there was a hint of confusion in his expression.
"Now!" Angel shouted, quickly constructing three Hands of Magic in mid-air.
Nis, having understood the intention, conjured a pure white skeletal chain.
The Hands of Magic and the skeletal chain entered the Gate of Void simultaneously, with the Hands of Magic grasping Kanter’s arm and the skeletal chain binding Kanter’s waist.
The crucial moment arrived: would Kanter resist?
Kanter slowly turned his head, his eyes confused but without any intention to resist.
Angel and Nis were delighted and, without hesitation, exerted force, causing Kanter to fall out of the Gate of Void, appearing beside them.
After completing all this, Angel heaved a big sigh of relief.
Turning to look at Kanter, his eyes still showed a bit of confusion, the redness in their depths not completely faded, indicating some remaining influence from the fruit. However, with the suppression of the domain field and Kanter being far from the fruit’s influence range, Angel believed it wouldn’t be long before Kanter returned to normal.
As Angel exhaled in relief, Sanders also emerged from the crack in space.
Angel exchanged a glance with Sanders, a silent sharing of the good news.
Nis, upon seeing Sanders, immediately prepared to discuss reimbursement issues. But Sanders ignored him, directly approaching Kanter’s side.
As a longtime close friend, Sanders was genuinely concerned about Kanter’s condition.
Under Sanders’ treatment, Kanter’s gaze began to gradually clear, and soon, the red glow in Kanter’s eyes finally faded away.
"I’m fine now, thank you," Kanter did not question Sanders’ sudden appearance, as he had no time to focus on such particulars right now, because the control over the nightfall above had been lost, with signs of backlash already present.
Kanter closed his eyes, slightly smoothing out the flow of spell technique to avoid the backlash.
Nonetheless, Kanter’s condition was much more weakened than initially, mainly due to his significant mental exertion while resisting the fruit’s allure.
"You all..."
Kanter opened his eyes, intending to say something. However, at that moment, Nis suddenly interjected, "Number 03 is coming!"
Everyone looked over, and indeed, amidst the rolling waves in the distant mist, a towering wave approached.
And Number 03 stood atop one of those towering waves.
...
Previously, Number 03 had been in a standoff with Kanter, essentially staying still. Now that Kanter had broken away from the stalemate, Number 03 naturally regained freedom.
"Let’s leave quickly. Number 03 is not hard to deal with, but that fruit—it’s too eerie! We absolutely cannot get close!" Kanter spoke, remarkably revealing a hint of fear in his tone when mentioning the fruit.
This was something Angel had never seen before. It clearly showed how much shock that fruit had given Kanter.
Angel and Nis naturally both agreed with Kanter’s words. Sanders, having just arrived, did not have enough judgment about the fruit but showed some interest in it. However, Sanders was not reckless; his old friend was so afraid of that fruit, there must be a reason for his judgment. Hence, Sanders did not refuse.
"I’ll contact Ferro and let him and X3 stop controlling the Sea Beasts," Nis said. "We’ll withdraw too."
With Number 03 free to move, she was no longer confined by the area’s restrictions and could roam freely, using the fruit’s allure to disrupt X3’s repulsion of the Sea Beasts. Thus, X3’s ability was no longer significant.
As for the Sea Beasts’ rampage causing the fruit to become unstable... perhaps they would have cared before, but now with the Observer here, they wouldn’t have to worry about the consequences with the Observer taking action.
Everyone began preparing to move away from this turbulent surge area.
But before they could retreat, an astonishing scene unfolded before them.
The sky suddenly changed color, the heavily fogged firmament veiling beneath a blanket of nightfall. Simultaneously, the surrounding mist began to rapidly dissipate at a speed visible to the naked eye, with their visible range continuously extending, from hundreds of meters to several kilometers, even tens of nautical miles.
As the mist vanished, the stars in the night sky became particularly dazzling, densely covering the sky, reminiscent of a clear summer night.
"Master Nightfall, did you... did you manipulate the night again?" Nis looked at the suddenly transformed sky, hesitantly asking.
Kanter: "I’m right beside you; can’t you tell if I’m using spell techniques?"
It wasn’t Kanter who changed the sky, so what was going on?
Even the old and seemingly endless mist dissipated in an instant; who could achieve this?
Could it be that the Tzitzit young form had fallen, and the sky and sea were mourning?
Angel turned to the Observer not far away: "My lord, this is..."
The Observer did not look at Angel, quietly gazing at the sky for a long time before slowly saying:
"It has arrived."