The Reef of Eternal Night is shrouded in darkness, sunlight unable to penetrate the Black Tide that covers its dome, with ruins drifting all around.
The Temple of Yore, now buried in the underworld, has been seized by priests who, with the aid of the Evil Deity, wield their half-living, half-dead bodies to command this place, driving countless Drowned Thralls in endless reconstruction of the shrine.
But today, piercing screams echoed from within the Temple of Yore, terrifying the thralls on the outskirts, making them tremble with fear.
“Damn heretic! Heretic! Heretic! Aaaaaah!”
The one screaming was the Serpent Priest who had ambushed yesterday.
Her venomous hair was mostly burned away, and as she returned here for treatment, the Divine Trace still sizzled with pain.
The other two God-bestowed Priests did not mock her, but instead fell into deep thought.
“Why didn’t the Divine One see her?”
The Barbed Priest whispered, “That golden-haired girl.” Holy and Light—those two attributes restrain them the most.
The Fish Priest pondered, “She only has support abilities and defensive powers for self-preservation, but no offensive strength… that’s probably why we weren’t warned about her…”
That made sense.
It couldn’t be that their God failed to notice. Impossible—their Divine One was omniscient.
“What do we do next? If they keep guarding the golden-haired girl, we’ll never get a chance to strike.”
“It doesn’t matter. They’ll never find this place. As long as the ritual proceeds smoothly, no one can stop His descent.”
At that moment, the Serpent Priest shrieked, “Someone’s alone! Someone’s alone! Hahahaha!”
In Harbor City, where gloomy winds and rain linger all year round, Sirens blend into every corner, with their spies everywhere.
The Fish Priest remained calm.
“If it’s that Assassin, forget it. Her power is too extreme. The Divine One warned us to be wary of her…”
“No, it’s not her. It’s the other one—the pink-haired girl.”
The Divine One hadn’t even marked her, which meant what?
It meant she was an easy target!
The Serpent Priest’s wounds hadn’t fully healed, but she was already impatient.
“What are you waiting for?”
She grabbed the Fish Priest’s fin. “Let me go! I want to tear her apart myself!”
“No, send the Desecrator first.”
“Coward!”
Late at night in the real world, in a mysterious alley of Harbor City.
A girl in tight-fitting clothes visited once more.
“Senpai, please let me try.”
Kagasha, rising from bed, didn’t ask anything.
She simply lit a few candles in the room, softly woke the others, arranged the place, and re-prepared the saltwater.
Zero lay down once again.
Those buried memories resurfaced before her eyes.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t want to either… I’m sorry.”
“You… how could you…”
“She’s a monster! She’ll kill us all! Unless we kill her first—together!”
“Ah!!”
The Succession Plan of the Silent Sanctuary was to last seven years, halving the number of people each year until only one remained to inherit the title of Zero.
But they never expected that slaughter would burn like a raging fire. Once the first spark of betrayal was struck, everything spiraled out of control.
Three years—only three years—and the girl brought this bloody carnage to an end.
The grass was stained crimson, yet the blood brought no nourishment.
Instead, it soaked the land with Deathly Aura, Withering of All Herbs.
Zero walked forward, merging with her memories, overlapping with herself from half a year ago, stepping through a field of corpses to the side of a girl by the haystack.
The other had taken a fatal stab—by her own hand.
This was once her closest friend, and the last opponent she killed.
“You won.”
Xiaohua spat out a mouthful of blood, a look of relief on her pale face.
“From now on, they’ll call you by your new name—Zero.”
You’ve brought the entire Silent Sanctuary to Reset.
The one who walks out in the end is you.
“Why are you called Xiaohua?”
“Because when I was captured, I wore a Little Flower on my head. My mom gave it to me, or maybe my dad.”
“What’s a flower?”
“It’s something beautiful. People give it to those they like, and to important people. When you get out, you’ll meet someone like that too.”
“What does it mean to like someone?”
“Like is a feeling. When you meet her, you’ll understand… Oh right!”
After saying this, Xiaohua’s face suddenly flushed, her voice trembling with excitement:
“Listen to me, Zero. After you leave, forget this place. Forget everything here. You have a long, long Real Life ahead of you, so don’t let us trap you in memories. The outside world is wonderful.”
“You don’t have to worry about people around you killing you, nor will anyone force you to kill them. You’ll meet so many people, make friends—not because you’re locked up together, but because you choose to. Forget everything here, because only after you leave will your Real Life truly begin.”
Half a year ago, this was the last thing her dearest friend told her before dying.
Back then, she was confused. But as days passed outside, it became clear.
Zero really did meet that person—in a place not so nice, in not such a good state, with nothing on her body, not even clothes, but she was truly beautiful.
If, upon waking from a nightmare, the first thing you saw was a smile as warm as sunlight, your mood would definitely improve.
If you gave her a beautiful flower, would she be happy?
If only…
That night, when she hugged the girl from behind, Zero finally understood.
Her own Real Life truly began at that moment.
Time in her memories began to flow again.
She reached out, meeting her friend’s gaze, and placed something from her palm into the other’s hair.
It was a small pink flower.
“I will leave this place and start my real life,” she said.
“But I won’t forget here. I won’t forget you all—never.”
The scenes of memory collapsed thunderously, the revolving lantern melted away like ice and snow.
Zero did not awaken.
Instead, she felt weightless, and from above, she could see her own body lying in the water vat.
She had succeeded—Necromantic Form.
***
Ella walked toward the Daytime Workshop, swaggering openly, not hiding at all, as if to say, “Come on, do your worst.”
And then, something truly strange appeared.
The ambush happened as she passed the Dock.
Under the black night, the sea was as dark as a basin of ink, and countless grotesque creatures crawled out from that darkness.
Their appearance was a patchwork of all kinds of Sirens—Frogman limbs, Fishman mouths and fins, Naga tails, sharp Coral Reef growing on their heads, and short Tentacles wriggling inside coral holes.
Ugly, as if their very existence was a desecration of beauty.
They didn’t screech as monsters usually do.
Instead, their voices were Profane Murmurs.
For most people, listening too long would break their will and drive them mad.
But Ella felt nothing.
When she was practicing Necromancy, she used to mutter things far more bizarre than this.