Even the Trandy Family’s forbidden ground—the “Abyss Furnace”—was not a place just anyone was qualified to enter.
One had to obtain Grand Duke Camilla’s handwritten permission, and the barrier could only be opened under the guidance of the Elder Council.
Only core members of the Trandy Family had ever set foot in this place, regarded as the family’s highest secret.
Passing through the Abyssal Chasm carved out by molten lava, a nauseating stench of blood mixed with sulfur rushed toward her face.
Walking down the steep Obsidian Stairs, Annabell finally saw the full view of the furnace.
Above was an extremely narrow platform, so precarious it was like a cliff edge, barely enough for two people to stand side by side.
Below was a bottomless abyss, churning with dark red magma like a volcanic crater.
Seeing that the auspicious hour had arrived, the elders chanted ancient demon royal incantations and worked together to undo the first seal that Grand Duke Camilla herself had placed over the forbidden ground.
Annabell was escorted to the entrance of the High Platform.
And beside her was Xue Lei, like a puppet with its strings cut, forcibly dragged over by two female attendants.
Xue Lei wore a thin white single-layer garment, her head lowered, her pitch-black hair covering her face so that no one could see her expression.
Her eyes were hollow and vacant, her body trembling uncontrollably in the baking heat.
This girl seemed to have completely resigned herself to her miserable fate.
A faint but ominous killing aura was slowly spreading from the furnace at the bottom of the abyss.
To outsiders, this girl—who carried the demon royal bloodline yet was as good as useless—appeared to be shrouded in this baleful energy.
Though scorching magma churned right beneath her feet, Annabell felt a bone-chilling cold.
This so-called abyssal holy artifact, not even fully completed, already possessed such terrifying power!
Standing behind, Third Elder Yin’s face, wrinkled like tree bark, was filled with fervor and anticipation. She seemed to already see the day the holy artifact emerged, the Trandy Family trampling the Royal Family and conquering the human world!
She looked at Annabell with a kindly expression and spoke through an extremely secretive magic telepathy: “Nana, below the abyss, the Grand Duke has personally laid the second seal. The holy artifact cannot escape for now.”
“But next, once the ritual ceremony begins, we elders will gradually activate the furnace’s purgatory magic array from outside. At that moment, the holy artifact will awaken.”
“Once you step onto the High Platform, you will be locked inside by the Grand Duke’s barrier. Only when you successfully make the holy artifact acknowledge you as its master will the barrier open.”
Third Elder’s tone suddenly turned sinister and cruel: “You must be ready at all times. Once the magic array is fully activated, immediately push that useless Blood Sacrifice into the abyss!”
“Then release your purest bloodline power, resonate with the Grand Duke’s seal, and work together to suppress and claim the holy artifact!”
Annabell listened expressionlessly, but inwardly she was sneering.
Why did the one chosen to wield this holy artifact have to be her, Annabell, and no one else?
Not only because Grand Duke Camilla needed to hold the main hall against a surprise attack from the Royal Family, but also because, throughout the entire Trandy Family, only Annabell’s pure silver-bloodline could resonate with the seal Camilla had laid down.
Only she was qualified to withstand the violent impact of the holy artifact’s acknowledgment.
This century-long “sacred relic forging plan” was now just one step away—a single drop of blood to claim it.
That meant pushing Xue Lei down as kindling, and then Annabell…
“Dream on, you old hag. Your plan will absolutely not succeed today!”
Annabell cursed viciously in her heart.
“The ritual ceremony now begins!”
At Third Elder’s command, the outer Elder Council immediately scattered into formation, raising their staffs high.
“The purgatory magic array is now in operation!”
“All mana nodes are in position!”
The Abyss Furnace, like an ancient beast provoked to rage, let out a deafening roar.
Terrifying waves of heat mixed with black flame burst forth from the entrance like a gargantuan abyssal maw. The elders outside were even forced back a step.
Annabell and Xue Lei, propelled by the magic array, were sent through the gate and landed steadily on that perilous cliffside High Platform.
As the two entered, the gate behind them slammed shut, and a crimson seal barrier instantly sealed the entire platform off from the outside world.
Standing on this narrow platform, Annabell felt an indescribable oppression.
This place was literally a living hell.
Below churned the magma, yet it emitted hair-raising wails like ghosts crying and wolves howling.
Around them, the seal barrier was densely covered with roaming demon magic script.
This seal was extremely powerful, personally laid by Camilla, ruthlessly suppressing the demonic energy below that threatened to tear through the heavens.
“This cheap mom of mine really has terrifyingly monstrous strength…”
Annabell clicked her tongue inwardly.
But the priority now was not to marvel at her mother’s combat power.
The original plan was to first find a way to tear an opening in the seal, safely send Xue Lei out, then sneak into the furnace bottom alone and use the system-rewarded item to smash that holy artifact into scrap metal.
Annabell tilted her head slightly, glancing at Xue Lei beside her.
The girl still kept her head lowered, shoulders trembling, her frail frame swaying precariously in the violent heat.
Annabell opened her mouth, wanting to say “Don’t be afraid, I’m here,” but the words caught in her throat and wouldn’t come out.
She must be scared to death right now, right?
Just standing next to her “wicked older sister” had her so terrified she couldn’t even lift her head.
If she suddenly spoke up to comfort her, it would probably only make her think this was the prelude to some twisted torment and send her into a complete collapse, wouldn’t it?
The sins of the original owner had stripped Annabell of even the right to express tenderness.
“Ah…”
Annabell let out a heavy sigh from the depths of her heart, silently making up her mind.
I will definitely get you out of here! Starting with destroying this root of all evil!
She averted her gaze, and her red-and-blue truth magic eye instantly activated to its maximum.
She needed to lock onto her target first, then break the seal.
Soon, an extremely horrifying silhouette appeared in the vision of her truth magic eye.
At the very center of the Magma Vortex, a massive sword shadow—ancient in design but radiating an eerie purple light—was plunged upside down into the Obsidian Altar.
What made Annabell’s scalp crawl the most was that the broad sword blank was densely covered with hundreds of blood-red eyes.
The moment Annabell clearly saw the sword blank, those closed blood-red eyes seemed to sense some call of destiny and snapped open in perfect unison, locking onto Annabell on the High Platform with a deathly stare!
Or rather, it was the demonic sword once used by the Demon King who was defeated by human heroes.
And clearly, this was the “holy artifact” that the descendants of the First Magus King sought to awaken.
As their gazes collided, the entire furnace shook violently!
A powerful surge of mana erupted skyward like a tsunami, flooding the entire forbidden space.
The abyssal holy artifact had awakened!
Annabell immediately deactivated her magic eye, instinctively turned sideways, grabbed Xue Lei—who had been as still as a wooden doll—and yanked her behind her back, trying to shield her from the terrifying demonic pressure with her own body.
But the moment Annabell turned around, a dark force froze her body without any warning.
At that critical moment, Annabell instinctively tried to activate the [Absolute Defense] rewarded by the System.
As long as a thin light barrier rose, any sneak attack would be nullified, and she could instantly regain her freedom of movement.
But when her peripheral vision caught what was behind her, her fingers, ready to release the skill, froze mid-motion.
At some point, Xue Lei had lifted her head.
That face, eight parts similar to Annabell’s own, now held not a shred of cowardice or fear. In its place was extreme madness, twisted distortion, and overwhelming, unstoppable killing intent!
In her hand, she gripped tightly a black dagger radiating the curse of the abyss.
She screamed hysterically, tears streaming down her face like a bursting dam.
Xue Lei’s voice was hoarse and shrill from extreme resentment.
“Annabell! Today is the day you die!”
“You forced me! It was all you who forced me!”
“Why?! Why did you have to treat me like that?!”
“I was waiting all along, suffering in hell, waiting for you to remember the childhood promise!”
“You said you would protect me for life!”
“Why did you forget? Why did you become a monster?!”
“Why did you hate me so much, why did you trample me like garbage?”
“Now… you even want to throw me into the furnace and abandon me completely!”
“Die!!!”
In her desperate accusation, the abyssal curse dagger in Xue Lei’s hand turned into a black bolt of lightning, viciously stabbing toward Annabell’s heart!
Looking at Xue Lei’s despairing face twisted with tears and hatred, the surprise in Annabell’s eyes gradually faded, replaced by a deep, unshakable guilt and pity.
“So… you were waiting all along for me to fulfill that promise… but…”
“I came too late. I made you suffer so much.”
Annabell completely gave up resistance. She dispersed the defensive mana at her fingertips, even removing the protective barrier of her high-grade mage robe, letting the fatal dagger fly toward her.
At the instant the blade tip touched her skin, Annabell looked into Xue Lei’s eyes and spoke in an extremely gentle voice, with unprecedented tenderness:
“I’m sorry.”
Time seemed to stop at that moment.
Xue Lei’s twisted, frenzied face abruptly froze. Her scarlet pupils contracted violently, ripples of disbelief appearing in them.
Why?
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