Sharn glanced at Selim and Sophia, hesitating slightly, but in the end she spoke up: “Humans, especially nobles, are not to be trusted. They’ve gone completely mad!”
Selim, who found herself inexplicably caught in the crossfire, frowned, feeling innocent—after all, she was the epitome of pure-hearted innocence.
“Bart, do you remember?” Sharn turned to her husband, her voice heavy with grief. “We came here searching for our missing kin. Every clue pointed toward the humans, especially the nobles…”
Bart nodded solemnly. “I remember. We agreed to split up and investigate, but soon after, I lost track of you.”
“I also questioned many human nobles trying to find your whereabouts, but in the end, I discovered nothing, until…”
Bart looked at Selim, eyes brimming with gratitude.
“Until I met the kind and beautiful Miss Selim and Miss Sophia. Only then did I get the chance to see you again, Sharn…”
“If only all humans could be like Miss Selim.” Sharn agreed with Bart’s words, nodding kindly to Selim.
“We can save the gratitude for later,” Selim gently interjected, steering the conversation back to the core issue. “You mean, human nobles kidnapped your people?”
“That’s right!” Sharn’s eyes burned with searing hatred. “They use living people for sacrifices! Not just my kin, even your fellow humans!”
Her hand unconsciously brushed her flat belly, tears shimmering in her eyes, her tone laden with an unshakable sorrow. “My poor child… He never even got to see this world.”
Once more, Sharn was drowned by overwhelming grief.
Selim gazed at her shattered heart and sighed in silence.
[Well, what can I do? I have a soft heart. I’ll craft you a gentle lie.]
She floated lightly to Sharn’s side, cradling Sharn’s cold hands in her own and squeezing gently.
“Miss Sharn…” She wiped the tears from the corners of Sharn’s eyes, then spoke: “That was only a false memory forced upon you by the Nightmare. You never truly bore a child.”
Selim was lying to her.
What the Order of the Blood Players had said was true—when Sharn was captured, there had indeed been an unformed embryo within her.
It was from that nascent form the monster took shape, seducing Sharn to release motherly love within her subconscious dream, turning her into nourishment for the monster’s Soul Fusion.
But the truth was too cruel. At this point, what good would it do to dwell on it? Tearing open this cruel reality would only rub salt in the wound.
“Is that true?” Before Sharn could reply, Bart jumped in.
If Sharn was the one in the most pain here, then Bart was surely the next.
“I’ve never lied to anyone. I always treat people with honesty—that’s the virtue I hold dearest.”
Selim blinked; as she spoke these words, she sounded perfectly upright, without the slightest pang of guilt.
“Someone once told me something.”
‘You don’t understand true loss. Only those who love another more than themselves can feel it.’
“I think that kind of pain must be hard to bear.” Selim pressed Sharn’s hands to her own face, gently nestling them together.
She gazed into Sharn’s tear-filled eyes, her voice soothing and full of comfort. “But we have to keep moving forward. Otherwise, we’ll stay trapped in place forever.”
“Thank you for comforting me, my little Sel—Miss Selim.” Sharn’s voice choked up; in her eyes, as she looked at Selim, was a touch of motherly love. She had never yearned so deeply for a daughter like Selim.
“No, this isn’t just comfort.” Selim shook her head, her eyes clear and firm. “Your true child is still waiting for you somewhere in the future. Don’t let this false dream chain you for the rest of your life.”
“Yes, I understand.” Sharn took a deep breath, working hard to steady her churning emotions.
Though Selim knew the broad course of the game’s plot and even many weaknesses of the NPCs and monsters, she was limited by her own perspective—she could only see one side of the coin, while the other remained blind to her.
She was the Prophet, not omniscient.
What’s more, her accidental fluttering—like a butterfly’s wingbeat—had probably long since knocked the world off its intended track.
Selim had saved Sharn, who was supposed to have died, in the blood-soaked cavern where only a few monsters should have remained.
This was already a deviation—a ripple of chaos.
She needed to keep gathering new information to correct her understanding of the world.
Seeing Sharn gradually calm down and realizing her strategy had worked, Selim continued her questioning: “Why does the Order of the Blood Players capture High Goth or humans?”
Glancing around at their surroundings, Selim pressed on, “Is it really just for flesh and blood? If so, why not use animal meat instead?”
“That’s hard to explain right now. Please, come with me.” Sharn stood, leading the group in a particular direction.
They followed her back to the area where the Blood Cocoons clustered thickly.
The cocoons, which had been filled with the sound of wailing, had fallen completely silent under Selim’s destruction.
Pointing at the dense mass of Blood Cocoons, Sharn explained, “All these people are bound by the Blood Cocoon, living in symbiosis with it.”
“So, their aim is to breed monsters and build an army?”
“If this is all the strength they have…”
Sophia spoke up first. As a demon hunter, she was quick to form a judgment.
“Then I think it would be more efficient to keep their minds intact and train them as soldiers.”
Sharn shook her head, about to explain further.
Selim answered before she could.
“The key is the souls of intelligent beings.”
“Don’t forget, the sect’s god is the Mother of Lustful Souls. She not only manipulates flesh, but plays with souls as well.”
“After all, what must be fused isn’t just the flesh—it’s everyone’s soul.”
“Miss Selim is right, it’s the souls that matter!” Sharn confirmed, her gaze laced with inextinguishable sorrow. “The sole purpose of these Blood Cocoons is to torment and grind the souls of intelligent beings, until they surrender and give up resistance—becoming… material.”
“Sickening. Not even for profit—just for some twisted, intangible evil faith, they’d commit such atrocities.”
“Humans are truly damned!” Bart gnashed his teeth, then realized something and scratched his head awkwardly, forcing a laugh. “Humans like Miss Selim and Miss Sophia, of course, are exceptions.”
“There is, in fact, a benefit.” Sharn corrected Bart, walking toward a stone pedestal at the center.
She lifted its lid, revealing a pile of fine sand glittering with blue specks.
“This is what those human nobles covet.”
“The flesh goes to the Order of the Blood Players. The souls are split fifty-fifty between the nobles and the cult.”
“The blasphemous substance refined from the souls of intelligent beings!”
“Zerlo?” Selim blurted out, recognizing what it was instantly.
“You know this?” Sophia quickly stepped forward, touching a pinch of the Zerlo powder and moving it toward her nose.
“Don’t!” Selim shouted, but Sophia’s actions were faster than her voice.
A trace of the blue sand was already inhaled into Sophia’s nose.
“Mmm~” Sophia’s body tensed, a muffled moan escaping her lips. Her cheeks flushed an unnatural red, her legs going weak—she could barely stand.
But Sophia forced herself upright with pure willpower, using her sword’s scabbard to brace herself against the wall.
“Evil… foul stuff.” Sophia panted, preparing to raise her sword and destroy all the Zerlo powder.
“Stop! Sophia, get over here!” Selim stopped Sophia from burning the Zerlo powder with magic. “Do you want everyone here—except me—to…”
“Ascend↑ to heaven↑”
“Is that what you want?”