Border of Red Pine City, open plains.
Over a hundred people dressed in white robes sat cross-legged, each guarding a ceramic furnace.
Their seating was arranged with such precision that it formed a massive formation.
They continuously waved fans in their hands, fanning the furnace. The furnace itself was strange—its entire body covered with countless blurry human faces, all of which bore expressions of despair.
Under the white-robed crowd’s fanning, thick white mist continuously poured out from the holes on the furnace’s lid.
The mist slowly descended to the ground, as if pulled by invisible hands, extending all the way to the very center.
There stood a peculiar figure…
He too wore a white robe, but unlike the others, his robe resembled an inverted lily, standing over two meters tall, with a pointed, elongated head and no sleeves.
A slit ran down the middle of the robe, revealing complete darkness inside, making it impossible to tell whether it concealed a person or some strange entity.
In this form, he looked nothing like a human; instead, he resembled a wooden frame draped with curtains.
One of the white-robed men approached the tall figure at the center—the core of the formation—and respectfully, with a trembling voice, said,
“Bishop, there are no… souls incoming.”
The Bishop of the Mist Lord Faith, Tulius.
That tall white-robed figure was Tulius.
He turned to look at the Mist Faithful beside him but said nothing, simply staring quietly.
The speaker couldn’t help but raise his head, his gaze falling precisely into the black slit on Tulius’s white robe that resembled an abyssal fissure.
In an instant, the man vanished, and from within Tulius’s robe came the sound of chewing.
Tulius turned toward the direction of Red Pine City—or rather, its sky.
Enya lightly lifted her skirt.
Though she was in midair, she descended a transparent staircase as if walking on solid ground, step by step.
With each crisp click of her small leather boots’ heels, everything above Red Pine City gradually came to a halt.
She folded her hands over the white ring on her chest.
The scenes of destruction and death played backward in her mind’s eye, transforming into nightmare after nightmare.
The pain and sorrow dissolved into black bubbles that drifted away.
When these bubbles burst, they turned into colorful moths with wings, flying into the sky, toward the elegant black nun above.
Enya gazed at Tulius and smiled.
“Thank you very much.”
Every soul the white mist claimed became one more “Nightmare” that Enya could reclaim.
Previously, she couldn’t use these, but after absorbing the Mask Fragment, she could now wield these nightmares.
She crossed her hands over her chest again and softly uttered,
“Nightmare!”
The pure black night slowly descended.
One by one, Nightmare Knights rode black Pegasus galloping down, and wherever they passed, the white mist shattered, dissolving into a pitch-black world.
Tulius’s figure trembled.
Black and white collided.
The white mist shattered upon contact, retreating rapidly as if trying to escape, but how could Enya let it get away?
If she guessed correctly, this white mist was part of Tulius—
Or rather, his soul!
He had projected his soul outward, attempting to devour the souls of Red Pine City.
Unfortunately for him, he was only devouring projections of the Dream World, incapable of harming a single flower or tree in Red Pine City’s territory.
Enya could easily restore everything with magic; those killed only felt they had a nightmare, which they forgot by morning.
“This should be the Godrealm Prototype,” Pandrake explained inside Enya’s mind.
“No, more accurately, it’s a Godrealm Fragment. That’s why your Nightmare just now scared him so much.”
Nightmare is a domain-type ability that plunges the entire world into darkness and forcibly instills terror in people. It also summons knights formed from nightmares.
The demon Enya met at the start had used this ability against her, but because she was immune to mental and spiritual attacks, she quickly defeated it. Now, this power had come to Enya through the Mask Fragment.
Nightmare perfectly countered the white mist. It was a form of devouring. Tulius feared it like a ball of cotton meeting fire.
That was why he hurriedly tried to recall the white mist.
But could Enya let him succeed?
No way!
Under the Black Mask, Enya smiled wickedly.
She raised her hand, pointed a finger to the sky.
Above, purple stars twinkled, and thousands of beams of magical light shot past the heavens, striking directly at the core of the Mist Lord Faith’s formation.
Tulius did not move.
White mist surged, blocking the pure magical bombardment.
Enya was borrowing the magic within Red Pine City’s territory, but it was limited.
She did not want to destroy the outskirts, so she refrained from a full-on assault, opting instead for a slow simmer.
Darkness continued swallowing the white mist.
Tulius’s white robe quivered as if enraged.
He hadn’t expected such a person to emerge, one who so effectively restrained him from afar, never letting him cast spells at close range.
If Tulius recalled the mist that had spread too deeply now, it would be like amputating a limb to survive—below the neck!
Within the white mist formation, the white-robed men stopped fanning and instead stomped on pedals furiously, forcing the furnace’s holes to suck in smoke.
Tulius sensed another large patch of mist dissipate under the onslaught of the Nightmare Knights.
His fury sent his white robe billowing.
Enya watched this amusing scene from afar, waiting for the right moment to claim Tulius’s life as well.
Meanwhile, everyone in the city only felt that darkness had fallen—the sky darkening from the east first. This made perfect sense!
Just as Tulius was recalling all the mist he could and preparing to flee, Enya appeared at the border of the territory, ready to strike him down with a sword.
But before she could draw her blade, an elderly man in a gray robe with white hair and glasses stepped out to block her way.
“Lady Lilith, please do not kill him~”
The old man smiled kindly, but Enya sensed he was no ordinary figure—otherwise, he wouldn’t dare block her here.
Enya sneered.
“Hmph, and who might you be? You say ‘don’t kill,’ so we just don’t kill? What a big deal you’ve got!”
“Hahaha, Lady Lilith is jesting.”
“Hmph!”
“Lady Lilith, this old man is Linguistic Scholar Doran.”
Linguistic Scholar Doran?
What’s your relationship with that Historical Scholar?
Enya remembered well that in Lilith’s memories, the Historical Scholar was the root of all evil.
So what kind of guy was this Linguistic Scholar?
Her instinct told her the Historical Scholar was very dangerous—dangerous enough that even at her peak she would be cautious.
But this Linguistic Scholar didn’t pose as great a threat.
Given her current state, she could even fight him.
If she wielded her scythe, she should be able to kill him without issue.
Members of the Scholars of Dawn… Hmph, finally showing their faces.
At first, Enya intended to use Lilith’s identity to prevent other cults from infiltrating.
Later, Antiros had sent her an undercover mission within the Scholars Society. She had not forgotten this.
After a brief moment of thought, she gave the Linguistic Scholar a slight nod.
“So you’re Mr. Doran of the Scholars. Pleasure to meet you.”
“It’s the old man’s honor to meet Lady Lilith as well.”
Doran looked at Enya’s face, now hollow beneath the mask, and immediately stopped praising her appearance.
At this moment, Tulius approached. His white robe fluttering wildly, he was clearly displeased to see Enya disguised as Lilith.
He had suffered a great loss in their previous clash.
And this loss was because the Scholars had sworn to him that Lilith was dead, that the Divine Fragment was lost and abandoned, so he could search without worry.
But none of this information was true.
Tulius even suspected the Scholars and Lilith had set a trap for him. However, Doran’s high-level spell of “No Passage” had forced him to retreat.
Enya turned to the old scholar Doran, puzzled.
“Mr. Doran, what is this about?”
Doran smiled at Enya, then turned to Tulius.
“Bishop Tulius, you have been far too reckless. How could you disturb Lady Lilith’s rest? You owe her an apology.”
Tulius: “…”
Enya cleared her throat and said,
“No need for apologies. Just pay up. As long as the money’s good, I can let it go.”
“A lady with a broad heart!”
Doran laughed heartily, then cast a look at Tulius.
The meaning in his cloudy eyes was clear: You, Tulius, acted out of greed, but it was the Scholars stoking the flames behind the scenes. You’d better watch what you say so as not to damage the relationship between the Scholars and Lady Lilith.
Tulius’s fluttering robe settled. In a hoarse voice, he asked,
“How much does Lady Lilith want?”
“Six figures…”
“Deal!”
“Six figures aren’t enough, make it seven.”
“Good, I hope Lady Lilith will forgive and forget—we are neighbors after all.”
Tulius’s voice was thick with the pain of gritting his teeth.
“Naturally, naturally~”
Enya’s eyes lit up. Hearing that it was really seven figures almost made her burst out laughing.
She bit her lip hard to keep from smiling, grateful that her mask concealed her face.
If not for wanting to maintain the elegant black nun image she had created for Lady Lilith, she would have laughed right in Tulius’s face.
Tulius spoke to Doran.
“Mr. Doran, I shall take my leave.”
“Safe travels, Bishop Tulius. Don’t forget to attend the next meeting.”
Doran nodded with a smile.
Seeing Tulius, who had clearly been badly tricked but still forced a smile and didn’t dare make waves,
Enya couldn’t help but click her tongue in admiration.
Such patience!
After seeing Tulius off, Doran looked at Enya and said,
“Please, come with me for a word.”
The two of them soon arrived at a beautiful garden courtyard, sitting before a stone table laden with assorted fruits and pastries.
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