After several seconds of dazzling light, everything fell silent.
Mu You opened his eyes. The light had long since vanished, and darkness had descended once more. On the ground, the Magic Circle formed from blood and water had also disappeared, leaving only the birdcage in the center.
Golden feathers, shed during the struggle, lay scattered around the cage. Inside, the canary lay motionless on the ground, her wings twisted at an odd angle and her eyes rolled back. She seemed to be dead.
"No way. Did the summoning fail?"
Dumbfounded, Mu You hurried over to check.
He opened the cage, took out the canary, and cradled her in his palm. Only then did he realize that her body had gone cold and stiff. She was clearly dead.
"It really failed?"
Despair washed over Mu You. He simply could not understand it. He had followed every required detail, so how had it failed? What exactly had gone wrong...?
Just as he was puzzling over it, the bird's claws suddenly twitched in his hand.
Mu You hurriedly looked down. The bird's rolled-back eyes quietly turned forward again, and her stiff body softened. After her eyes darted around, she suddenly flapped her wings, flew out of his hand, and landed atop the cage in front of him.
After surveying her surroundings, the canary lowered her head and began preening her disheveled feathers with her beak.
"Uh... are you Vivian?" Mu You asked uncertainly.
"Of course."
A voice rang out in his mind, in a manner very similar to Cola's mental communication.
The canary looked up at him, then flapped over to where the Hexagram had been. She hopped around on the ground, examining it, before speaking noncommittally.
"A potion that barely reached fine grade, and only through a shortcut, forcibly raised to fine