A Letter from Green Kitty.

They don't even have vocal organs, so how could they possibly make a sound?

Now that things had come to this, Maria could finally stop what she was doing.

She put down the deformed Threaded Cane in her hand... Even though it embodied the materials and technological advancements of a century later, it still seemed somewhat pale and useless in Maria's hands.

She gazed into the distance.

"May we meet again in the future..."

Maria lowered her hat brim slightly and turned away in silence.

"Call..."

When Maria opened her eyes again, she was back in the Hunter's Cabin.

She sat peacefully in her favorite chair, leaning against the warm fireplace, breathing slowly...

Beside it, a small Lantern swayed slightly.

She was resurrected once...

Everything was so peaceful... as if nothing had ever happened.

There were two chairs next to her.

"Doll."

Maria called softly, her voice calm.

The Doll, which had been lurking in the shadows, slowly emerged and nodded slightly to Maria.

"How's it going?"

Ignoring personal opinions, Maria's first question was about the situation.

Once Maria realized that the system's existence was, in a sense, a means for Maria to travel back in time, Maria had been thinking about one thing.

Since I can travel through time, theoretically, shouldn't my familiars, who are part of my flesh and blood, and my own Yharnam, come with me?

So during this time travel, she Doll try to devour the system, and then borrowed the authority of the foolish spider Rom who manipulated time, to try to return to the past together.

And as it turns out, this idea is feasible.

"Very successful, clever Hunter, your plan has been successfully completed."

The Doll answered quietly from the side, its voice light and gentle.

But when she opened her eyes and looked up again, she found Maria staring blankly at her hands.

And in my hands...

There's also a uniquely crafted ring...

"..."

"..."

"Are you... missing that person?"

The Doll's voice was calm, but its words carried a hint of hesitation.

Maria, however, was awakened by the other person's call and looked at her fingers with some hesitation.

"... Yes."

"You gave a small amount of your blood to the other person; perhaps, in this era, you can still see them."

"I know, the Doll..."

Maria spoke softly, but after a moment, she sighed helplessly.

"Perhaps I really have changed, Doll."

She became somewhat indecisive.

But... she doesn't hate this change in herself.

"..."

Don't you like it?

Maria looked up at the Doll.

Although the Doll didn't say anything, their understanding of each other transcended words. Without any words, they could both perceive the subtle differences between each other.

Maria could sense that the Doll didn't like the ring... not because of its craftsmanship, but because of the deeper meaning it carried...

The Doll didn't deny that the more she looked at the ring, the more uncomfortable she felt.

But...

She cared more about Maria than her own thoughts.

"Wouldn't you be even more unhappy if I actually made you remove the seal?"

The Doll spoke gently.

She hoped Maria would be happier than herself.

"..."

"..."

"Thanks."

Maria stood up and gently gave the other person a hug.

This is one of the rare times she has taken the initiative to make an intimate gesture.

Not for any ulterior motive, but simply out of genuine feeling, she made her choice.

The two breathed, exchanging breaths slowly...

The hug ended, and then he turned and left.

The Doll, caught off guard by the sudden attack, stared in astonishment at Maria's departing figure. After a moment of silence, she gently curved her lips into a smile and bowed slightly in the direction Maria had gone...

"If you're shy... you don't have to force yourself, you clumsy Hunter."

"..."

Maria paused slightly, but then walked away stiffly.

Footsteps clattered in the darkness...

290

Chapter 290: A Letter from Green Cat

Maria wasn't always a cold-blooded superhero.

In fact, she was no different from most people at first. In her vague childhood memories, she was still the kind of girl who would be dressed in clothes she didn't like by those who were supposed to be her family, and taken to meet those old people full of arrogance and class consciousness.

Although Maria later realized that this might be a memory she had woven for herself from other people's stories, there was one thing Maria was certain of.

She was probably no different from a normal person.

She can laugh, she can cry, she can understand other people's sadness, and she can empathize with other people's stories.

However, her time in Yharnam changed many things about her.

So-called goodness, so-called evil, so-called madness, are gradually eroded in each cycle of reincarnation... Maria herself sometimes even feels angry, wondering why she is one of the few Hunter who can retain her memories through reincarnation?

She gradually became repressed and silent... She began to dislike speaking and expressing herself.

Life seems to consist of nothing more than killing with eyes open and taking a short nap with eyes closed.

And all of this changed when Yharnam's nightmares disappeared.

The impact of her contact with Lamaline was neither accidental nor special... it was simply an outburst of accumulated emotions after her return to human society.

Rather than saying that Maria learned about emotions, it would be more accurate to say that through repeated encounters, Maria rediscovered just how precious these emotions truly are.

Finally, all the pent-up emotions erupted under Lamaline's direct attack.

Only...

"Lamaline..."

Maria stood in the garden outside the Hunter's Cabin, silently gazing into the distance.

Directly in front of her, at the very center of Yharnam, the towering black spire stood like a sentinel.

Maria's side achieved a complete victory in the battle against the Great Beast Gordan!

After knocking out Gordan's eyeball, Maria pulled it directly into Yharnam and then completely burned and devoured it.

The lighthouse, which was originally just a beacon and a manifestation of Maria's own authority and power, is now burning with intense flames.

The flames burning atop the spire were even enough to illuminate the entirety of Yharnam!

Maria's power has increased dramatically!

However, it wouldn't be accurate to say that Maria's side won a complete victory.

In fact, Maria also paid a price for facing Gordan.

At this moment, the enormous moon was slowly closing in the sky above Yharnam.

The flames atop the lighthouse stretched out golden, silken ribbons of light toward the moon, slowly replenishing its energy.

In this battle, Yharnam's Moon also suffered heavy losses.

However, compared to Gordan directly relinquished part of his power and chose to leave, Maria, who accepted everything, gained significantly more substantial power.

It's only temporary; she's unable to launch another major attack.

"It will take at least three weeks to fully repair the damage, and it will also take some time to completely absorb the opponent's power..."

Looking at the scene before her, Maria shook her head slightly, then turned around.

It seems she'll have to keep quiet for a while.

Of course, the "quieting down" only applies to a large extent.

If it's just some small things...

Maria turned her head.

Behind her, Wendigo, standing silently in the flowerbed, covered in blood and still not cleaned, remained motionless.

"Is there something Bocscar?"

"... Your Highness."

Gazing at the increasingly clear figure before him, Bocscar wanted to say something, but didn't know what to say.

Once upon a time, when he was executing the traitor Skullshatterer at Lungmen, he saw Maria and was awestruck.

Because at that time he truly never imagined that he would see this Sarkaz legend again before he died from Oripathy.

But then he discovered that Maria didn't actually remember him at all... This puzzled him, but he also felt that the fierce battle might have caused her to lose her memory.

It wasn't until yesterday, when he returned to his former battlefield and when his current actions overlapped with his past memories, that he gradually began to understand what was really going on with Maria.

Logically speaking, a person's life is a straight line parallel to history.

From the moment a person is born, their growth is anchored in history.

When and what happens are fixed.

But Maria was clearly different.

Her life, in the history of Terra, is a strange, zigzag line.

In his eyes, Maria had already become the leader of the Sarkaz army hundreds of years ago.

But in Maria's eyes, this happened only yesterday...

Furthermore, there were many things that had happened in the past that Maria still had time to do...

This wondrous ability left him completely at a loss for words to describe it.

He hadn't even figured out what he wanted to say to Maria in this hasty visit.