When the morning light streamed through the stained glass, Liang Lai had already spent her seventh sleepless night in the study.
Her second pair of golden pupils shimmered with an unusual glow in the dawn, while the blood-colored crystallization forming at her fingertips shone with a pearly luster.
This was the “Netherseed” she had created, fusing seven days of morning dew with her own blood, just as recorded in the Ancient Parchment.
“Mom~”
Delucia suddenly pushed open the door, her Six-Pointed Star Pupils fixed intently on the crystallization.
Liang Lai quickly hid the crystallization up her sleeve, but she couldn’t help noticing that her Left Pinky had already become completely crystallized, now taking on a translucent appearance.
“This is a little gift that’ll help you two sleep well.”
Liang Lai forced a smile, a faint sting flaring at the edge of her eyelids—that was the sign that her Third Layer Pupil was about to awaken.
As dusk fell, Liang Lai set up the Shadow Ritual in the Twin Bedroom.
Seven Silver Candles were arranged according to the Star Chart, their wicks soaked in her own Blood Crystal Powder.
Asterys sat in the center of the ritual, clutching her one-eyed teddy bear, her shadow so dense it seemed almost solid.
“It might hurt a bit.”
Liang Lai pressed the Blood Crystal to Asterys’s brow, and a sudden wave of dizziness washed over her.
At that instant, her Third Layer Pupil fully manifested, the nearly transparent Third Layer Iris casting a veil-like filter over her vision.
Through this veil, she could clearly see a figure wearing a pointed hat curled up inside Asterys’s shadow.
As she chanted the incantation, Liang Lai felt her own power being frantically drawn out.
The Blood Crystal unraveled into countless golden-red threads, burrowing into Asterys’s shadow like living things.
The shadow began to churn violently, emitting a piercing, shrill screech.
Delucia suddenly lunged forward, hugging Liang Lai around the waist.
At some point, the Inverse Cross Brooch had pierced her own palm, and Black Blood dripped onto the edge of the ritual, producing a strange resonance with Liang Lai’s power.
“Mom, I—it hurts…”
Asterys’s voice was tinged with sobs, the golden cracks in her pale green pupils multiplying.
Liang Lai bit through her tongue, spraying a mouthful of Crimson Mist onto the crystallization.
She knew that the blood of a Saintess could ignite Darkspawn.
As the golden light surged, she saw the shadowy humanoid figure being forcibly torn out, vanishing into black smoke with a scream.
However, she knew all this was only temporary. It could only bring a fleeting peace. They would surely return again.
Though she didn’t know exactly what Claudious was plotting, she suspected it was related to the Papal throne.
Well, that was just her guess.
After all, she wasn’t a villain herself; she couldn’t possibly know what went on in a villain’s mind. But in all the books, weren’t villains usually driven by power or revenge?
By the end of the ritual, Liang Lai was nearly spent.
Her Third Layer Pupil slowly faded away, leaving only a faint burning sensation at her eyelids.
Asterys collapsed to the floor, her shadow returning to its normal shade.
“Mom, you’re amazing!”
Delucia dove into Liang Lai’s arms, her Six-Pointed Star Pupils flickering with a sickly fanaticism.
Asterys also struggled to get up, tugging at the teddy bear in her arms.
“Mom is… our Salvation…!”
Liang Lai barely managed to support herself, her face as pale as paper.
Though she had succeeded in expelling the foreign entity from the shadow, she could sense that this was only the beginning.
What was even more frightening was that in the final moments of the ritual, she distinctly saw a strange smile curling at the corner of Delucia’s lips.
As if she had foreseen everything that would happen.
Maybe… it was just a hallucination brought on by exhaustion.
Delucia’s hands clutched Liang Lai’s collar tightly, her knuckles turning white from the force.
Her breathing grew rapid, the Six-Pointed Star Pupils dilating until they nearly filled her eye sockets, flickering with an unnatural, ghostly green light.
“Mom, Mom!”
She kept repeating the word, her voice so sweet it bordered on twisted.
Her small nose rubbed back and forth against the hollow of Liang Lai’s neck, like a greedy little beast marking its territory.
“Only Liang Lai Mama protects us like this, only Mama… has ever protected us like this! Only Mama…”
Asterys’s state grew even more unhinged.
She crawled on her knees to Liang Lai’s feet, her once delicate features now contorted with manic joy.
Her pale green pupils were now completely veined with cracks, her mouth stretching to an unnatural width.
“We saw it!” she cried.
Hearing this, Delucia jerked her head up, her slender fingers trembling as she brushed Liang Lai’s eyelids.
“It’s true, it’s true!”
Her voice suddenly dropped, carrying a bone-chilling reverence.
“Mom is the one we’ve been waiting for… the one who can be with us forever!”
The two girls suddenly lunged at her, one from each side, hugging Liang Lai tightly.
Liang Lai could feel their heartbeats pounding far too quickly, their skin burning with unnatural heat.
Delucia’s nails dug deep into her arm, drawing tiny beads of blood.
“Forever, never leave us…” Asterys’s voice was thick with sobs, yet laced with a strange smile.
She began to gently nibble on Liang Lai’s fingertips, as if enacting some bizarre ritual.
Delucia was even more direct—she suddenly tore open her own collar, pressing her upper body tightly against Liang Lai’s soft form.
“Look, Mama, we’re one…”
Liang Lai tried to break free, but they clung to her with all their might.
The two girls’ body temperatures grew ever higher, their breath hot and feverish.
Asterys suddenly grabbed the battered teddy bear, pressing its ruined left eye to her chest.
“This way, Mama will stay inside us forever…” Her voice gradually lost its humanity, echoing with a metallic resonance.
Delucia echoed her with a peal of giggles, her Six-Pointed Star Pupils shrinking to razor-thin slits.
At that chaotic moment, the Third Layer Pupil beneath Liang Lai’s eyelid suddenly manifested on its own, sending an invisible wave that gently pushed the twins away.
The two girls fell to the ground, yet still gazed up at her with that fanatical look, as if worshipping a deity.
“Mom, you’re so amazing, you protected us…”
Asterys and Delucia clasped their hands together over their chests, like nuns in prayer.
Liang Lai was stunned by the scene before her.
She knew that Asterys and Delucia had never shown such expressions or uttered such crazed words before—so why now…? Could it be the ritual failed?
Liang Lai even blamed herself for everything, never once suspecting that all the twins’ previous obedience and kindness had been a façade.
When Liang Lai’s stunned gaze fell upon them, Asterys was the first to react.
She slowly turned her head toward her sister, then said in her heart:
“Looks like we were too hasty. Look at Mama’s expression. We can’t do this, Delucia, we can’t let Mama suspect us, can’t let her hate us… We can’t lose Mama, so…”