As he continued his descent down the mountain, Shade realized where he was.
This was the woodland where he and Mia had hidden on the night the Church of the True Gods launched its campaign to wipe out the [Truth Society]. And if his current guess was correct, the destination should be that once-frozen ice lake—Lake Bena.
Passing through the white-misted woods, following the blood-colored light and shadows of the two girls, he actually arrived once again at the shallow shores of the lake.
The edge of the woods was very close to the water. On the somewhat narrow tidal flats, hundreds of figures clad in black robes were currently prostrate on the ground. Slender wooden stakes stood along the lakeshore, with desiccated corpses of various sizes impaled upon them. On the stake closest to the center, the corpse clutched eight relics; the Blood-Thorn Scepter in Shade's hand was the ninth.
Grace and Helen stood by the shores of Lake Bena, supporting each other, looking in the direction where the black-robed figures were kneeling. It was the direction of the lake. The water, which should have been crystal clear in the mist, turned completely blood-red in the blink of an eye. Blinking again, it returned to its normal color.
In the center of the lake floated something whose form was unclear. But looking closer, it was clearly a coffin—the coffin that Mr. Bernhart had purchased at the auction.
Above the heads of the prostrate people hovered the pattern of a small bat; every single person was praying in low voices, praying to the blood and the Blood Moon.
There were still ten minutes remaining until midnight. Although the thick fog obscured the night sky, looking up carefully, one could faintly see that massive red full moon appearing and disappearing within the white mist.
Stepping out of the jungle and onto the lakeshore, all surrounding sounds vanished. The lakeside was unnaturally quiet and solemn; even the omnipresent undead had disappeared, leaving only the overlapping murmurs and prayers echoing and intertwining.
The splashing sound of the lake water served as the accompaniment to it all. The air smelled not only of fresh blood but also of the fragrance of wine.
The space here felt as if it were completely isolated from Mount Sicar.
Suddenly, a crisp cry broke the silence, and the birdcall instantly spread across the entire Mount Sicar region. Amidst the tremors of the earth and the roaring of the mountain, the mouth of Mount Sicar, which had begun erupting earlier, once again belched rolling black smoke. From within that black smoke, a brilliant, fiery-red Phoenix spread its wings and flew toward the giant cocoon above the city.
"The Phoenix has come to help too. It seems the end has truly arrived... Grace, Helen!"
Shade ran over hurriedly
"Come with me!"
The prostrate vampires did not stop Shade, allowing him to cross the tidal flats and grasp the cold hands of the two girls.
They looked at the lake before them with vacant expressions, staring at the coffin in the center of the water, unmoved by Shade's pull
"Sir... please leave quickly. We know our fate."
Together, they looked at the calm surface of the lake; with every blink, the color of the water shifted between normal and blood-red. The surrounding white mist was being dyed blood-red more rapidly, and the Blood Moon within the mist grew clearer.
Shade felt a certain terrifying gaze cast upon the shores of Lake Bena; if he didn't leave now, he truly wouldn't be able to.
"You cannot defeat Him. The problem of our In-Between is about to be resolved, and our mission is over... This is the ending, isn't it?"
Grace, in her white dress, asked softly.
"This is the ending, sister. It has been over five thousand years. Finally, it is ending," Helen, in her black dress, said with tears streaming down her face.
Shade could not believe that the girls, who had once sworn to be together forever, would give up hope for life and willingly become bait for an Evil God. Looking closely, their eyes were wine-red, as if reflecting the full Red Moon
"This is not the ending. Girls, I could save you thousands of years ago, and I can do it now."
Kissing the ring on his finger, the [Yellow Moon] spirit rune flashed with light
"At least, at least let me try. If the Red Moon can bewitch you, then the Yellow Moon can too—Confusion!"
The moonstone ring flashed an ambiguous, warm yellow light. Grace and Helen were momentarily stunned, but immediately afterward, the surrounding blood-mist transformed into crimson shackles, binding them tightly.
"I knew it would work—Moonlight Greatsword!"
No matter how terrible his current state was, Shade endured his fatigue and the emptiness of his soul, letting the silver moonlight slash down, shattering the crimson shackles. However, blood-red traces still clung to the two of them. It wasn't that a mortal's ritual had easily restricted an Angel-level relic, but rather that from the very beginning—from that party—the deity had left a mark upon them.
"Quickly, go!"
Shade grabbed Helen's and Grace's hands with his left and right respectively. Without time to speak to them now that they had regained consciousness, he turned to leave.
However, some would not let the three depart.
The prostrate vampires continued to pray in low voices, awaiting the arrival of midnight. From the dense forest, two high-circle vampires stepped out expressionlessly
"Sir, the matters here have nothing to do with you. Please leave."
After temporarily letting go of Helen, the greatsword appearing in Shade's right hand represented his attitude. Having come this far, he had to gamble regardless. Helen and Grace were currently unable to use their powers, and Shade knew he couldn't defeat high-circle sorcerers, but he had to buy some time at least
"Girls, you go first."
The high-circle vampires spoke no more; their eleventh-circle and tenth-circle life-rings shone brilliantly within the blood-mist.
The blood-colored traces on the black and white dresses grew clearer. Grace and Helen knew what it meant for Shade to stay behind. They grabbed Shade's shoulders; since the man before them had already done so much for them, even if their souls shattered this instant, they would give him their remaining strength
"Sir, meeting you was the most... of our lives..."
But before Grace could finish, a golden light flared from the side. Within the light, the familiar voice of a middle-aged woman appeared
"Giving up already? All of you leave together; I will deal with them."
Emerging from the woods was a woman in a deep blue gown. Although she looked to be in her forties or fifties, she remained a proud woman of timeless elegance.
Shade was stunned; it felt as if time had returned to the final party many years ago. The twins looked at that figure, and with heartache, sorrow, and grief, all the grievances of this lifetime were contained in a single cry
"Teacher!"
Meeting after two eras, tears unconsciously slid down their cheeks.
The soul that appeared now was the middle-aged witch from the God's Banquet; after the banquet, she had become the teacher of the twins. She had also participated in the Great Battle of Mount Sicar during the Fifth Era when the Twin Gods descended.
According to Miss Samuel of the Zaras Academy, she had been taken in by the academy after that battle.
Shade never imagined she would appear here.
"My students."
The witch's glowing soul looked at them with a gentle expression; her soul was incredibly powerful
"I am glad to awaken from the long slumber of the In-Between and see you again. Leave with this gentleman. Although the road ahead will be dangerous, I hope you can make it through."
She picked up a tree branch, brushed it lightly, and tossed it to Shade. When Shade caught the branch, it actually transformed into a glowing treasure sword, with power nearly comparable to the Night Watchman in its normal state.
In the Fifth Era, she had participated in the banquet for the sake of power. After that, she truly touched the highest achievement of the Witch system.
"Sir, please protect my students. Let the butterflies fly freely."
"Lady, use this."
Shade tossed the Blood-Thorn Scepter to the middle-aged witch, who then faced the two high-circle vampires.
Despite their extreme reluctance, the weeping Helen was pulled by her sister Grace, following Shade into the dense forest.
"Did your teacher eventually die on Mount Sicar?" Shade asked.
The black-dressed Helen nodded
"After the Great Battle of Sicar, Teacher was taken in by the Zaras Academy. After recovering from her injuries, through the introduction of the academy's witch, Miss Samuel, she officially joined the academy. In the following century, she helped establish the prototype of the Zaras Liberal Arts College. But by then, we had already become calamities wandering the world and could not see her. Before she died, Teacher came here and saw me and my sister one last time... She died before our eyes."
She choked up
"Since then, except for every time I reunited with my sister, I can't remember how long it's been since I last cried."
Grace gently embraced her sister. Shade nodded silently and led them through the mountain forest
"We'll talk about other things later. Now, we go to the Nature Cathedral in the city. The Church of Nature has prepared the God-Summoning; as long as we enter the cathedral, even if He truly comes, you will be safe."
With a thunderous boom, something seemed to erupt from the smoking mouth of Mount Sicar. Simultaneously, the surrounding mountain forest, blanketed in white mist, turned into a forest of withered trees in an instant, only to return to normal the next moment, as if reality and the In-Between had completely overlapped for a split second.
"The In-Between is making its final resistance," Grace said. The girl in the white dress held Shade's left hand, her sorrowful expression carrying a hint of determination: "Sir, the road ahead will be very difficult to walk."
Countless streams of white mist drifted from the city and the mountains toward the giant cocoon above Midhill Fort, like chains. On the surface of that giant cocoon, a massive crack finally appeared. Amidst an eerie roar that only circle sorcerers could hear, a pitch-black giant hand smashed through the crack and extended from the cocoon.
Professor Pigman and the Phoenix immediately launched attacks and easily suppressed the hand, but this was merely the most primitive strength before the cocoon hatched.
Spiritual light flashed simultaneously in the city and the mountains; the [Mark of the Holy Tree] ritual had reached its final stage. Once this giant cocoon was resolved, the ritual would be a success. Countless streaks of light flew from the mountain peak, slopes, and base toward the sky above the city. The ritual of the In-Between was basically complete, and the main force was returning to reality to jointly defeat the final undead aggregate.
Perhaps Iluna was among those streaks of light, but unfortunately, Shade could not participate in this final battle
"It's okay, it will be okay soon."
He comforted the increasingly weakened girls. Although they were far from the ritual site, the blood-red color spread from the lakeshore across the earth in the direction of their escape. Blood-mist followed closely, and within the mist, large swarms of bats chased the three fugitives.
Profane silver spiritual light flickered in the air; the blood-red color even corroded the power of the In-Between. The Life-Death In-Between was a Grade 0 relic, but the eerie ritual taking place by the lake was a genuine God-Summoning ritual.
The vampires were calling upon the Evil God—the God of Vampirism.
Even from within the dense forest, one could observe more limbs extending from the giant cocoon above the city. Not just human limbs, but those of animals, xenos, and even indescribable, terrifying creatures. The cocoon was rupturing; nearly half of the whisper-elements of the In-Between were being continuously transported to the cocoon through these white mists.
The hatching of the cocoon was now inevitable. Once born, it could be viewed directly as a sub-spatial evil entity transcending the thirteenth circle.
The light of the Five-God Cathedral turned into chains, winding around the surface of the cocoon to slow its hatching process. Countless attacks bombarded the cocoon to weaken its power before its birth.
Not only the Church's circle sorcerers, but even witches, the Phoenix, and Sister Daphne participated in the battle—Shade recognized the fireball in the sky. The power of the Fifth Era and the fires of the mountains bloomed with a brilliance that should not have appeared in this age, fighting the final enemy alongside mortals.
Sister Daphne flew in the air, her right hand still clutching the flame-clad [Ashes], while her left hand held a black scythe derived from the power of the Death Chosen. Iluna, wielding the [Night Watchman], flew through the air on a translucent spirit horse, the bone whistle hanging from her neck.
The life-ring behind the back of St. Byron's principal, the "Silver Warden" Professor Pigman, transformed into a silver hue. The high-circle oddity [Silver Key] opened a forbidden space, and an invisible giant hand extending from the void crushed the greenish-blue rotting corpse tentacles emerging from the cocoon.
But he was not fighting with his full heart; instead, he was subtly observing the city and the mountains, as if expecting something.
Inside and outside the In-Between, inside and outside the city, atop and below the mountains—at this moment, fire seemed to ignite in every corner, and the spiritual light of the four elements illuminated the Midhill Fort diocese. The time was nearly midnight; the battle had finally reached its most intense and final moment.
(End of Chapter)