"This Shadow World is unexpectedly relaxing. What could possibly be difficult about it?"
Talia asked Lanqi in his mind.
She had never seen a Shadow World where the beginning felt like a completed game.
Back when she was with Hyperion, Talia had already heard that the series of Shadow Worlds Lanqi and Hyperion were going through was the Blood Moon Ruined World from tens of thousands of years ago.
The outcome of each progressive Shadow World carried over to influence the next.
In the first three Shadow Worlds, Lanqi had produced outcomes far beyond all reason.
And while the advantages gained from lower-tier Shadow Worlds would weaken considerably against the broader landscape of higher-tier ones, they still exerted some measure of influence.
"I'm completely in the dark too."
Lanqi felt no clear direction simply by looking at the Shadow World's objective.
In every Shadow World before, even without checking the objective, the situation alone would compel challengers to act.
Yet here he was, standing in the throne room at the pinnacle of the Holy Polant Theocracy.
Looking at the time limit and the Shadow World information, it felt as though he was simply basking in the fruits of victory after a triumphant saga.
Even in South Vantina or the royal capital of Ikerite, one might not feel such a solid sense of security.
A twenty-one-day limit?
Give him a few more months, and he could conquer the entire world without issue.
"Maybe it's a bonus stage? After all, my luck has always been great. Bringing me along was definitely the right choice,"
Talia boasted to Lanqi.
Perhaps she hadn't made the Shadow World harder at all, but had actually lowered its difficulty for him.
"Indeed. You were born for a life of luxury,"
Lanqi conceded.
"...Is there a hidden barb in that?"
Talia sometimes couldn't tell whether Lanqi was being sarcastic.
"Not at all, not at all,"
Lanqi repeatedly denied.
"Hmph, then I'll enjoy my luxury in peace. Your father already agreed to let me visit the Wilfort family estate regularly anyway. When I eat you out of house and home, don't you dare regret it. It was the Goddess of Fate who guided me to your table."
Talia snorted, simply running with Lanqi's words.
She was already planning for what to do after the Shadow World concluded.
"The Goddess of Fate..."
Lanqi shifted his gaze, gradually looking toward the statue within the throne room.
The goddess possessed a compassionate countenance, holding a bright lantern as she looked down upon all living beings.
A long red carpet stretched all the way to the foot of the throne. On the candelabras to either side, holy flames burned quietly, illuminating the murals on the marble walls.
No matter the era, the deities never changed. They coexisted with the world itself, making it difficult to ever doubt their divine power.
Just as Lanqi was immersed in the tranquility, a gentle knock came from the door.
"Enter,"
Lanqi turned his head and spoke toward the main entrance of the throne room.
The depths of the Papal Court were a domain that only the Pope himself could traverse freely.
Anyone else seeking entry required papal permission.
As Lanqi's voice fell, the heavy oak doors swung open, then closed softly behind, shutting out the bustling noise from outside.
Lanqi held his hands casually behind his back, his posture unchanging as he watched the approaching cleric.
Judging by his attire, he appeared to be the Chief Justice of the Holy Court.
He was a cleric near forty years of age. His face bore the weathered marks of time, yet his eyes shone brightly with spirit.
He wore black robes, with the silver scale insignia of the Holy Court pinned to his chest.
A few strands of long hair fell from beneath his mitre, lending him an aura of refined elegance.
Lanqi had seen him before in the Polant Empire.
Back when Lanqi served as prime minister, this young man had been his secretary and his most trusted confidant. Arranging for Xigelei to serve as coachman and establishing his cover identity had all been handled by him. Now, twelve years later, it came as no surprise to Lanqi that he was able to enter the innermost throne room of the Papal Court to continue aiding him.
"Elm, how have you been lately?"
Lanqi did not rush to ask what had brought him here, inquiring after him with genuine care instead.
"..."
Elm was slightly taken aback.
He had no idea what had gotten into His Holiness today, to suddenly greet him with such proactive warmth.
It was strikingly reminiscent of many years ago, when the two of them still worked in the Parliament Building of the Polant Empire.
Then, a flicker of sorrow crossed Elm's eyes.
For the Pope to undergo such a shift, there was only one possibility.
"Milord... is your time drawing near?"
he asked, his voice parched.
"...Perhaps it is,"
Lanqi admitted after a brief hesitation.
Elm clearly knew Lankeluosi's secret.
In the present Holy Polant Theocracy, the general public undoubtedly had no idea that the Pope was already a dying man.
According to the Shadow World's prompt, unless Lankeluosi harbored some extraordinary obsession, he had roughly twenty-odd days left to live.
Afterward, Lankeluosi would drift into heaven amidst this beautiful dream of peace.
"Come now. Birth and death are the natural laws of human life, just like the passing of day and night. There is nothing to grieve over."
Lanqi smiled as he looked at his confidant, Priest Elm.
Such was his outlook on life and death.
Though he was quoting what he had seen the witch say to Lankeluosi in the Shadow Loom Record, he found himself surprisingly in agreement with her perspective.
"Your Holiness,"
Elm bowed, his tone solemn and low.
"Just now, I received a confidential letter at the Holy Court. Its origin is unknown, but both the parchment's texture and its mana fluctuations are highly unusual. I believe it was meant for you."
With that, Elm produced a dark blue envelope from inside his robes and presented it with both hands.
"A letter?"
Lanqi took the envelope, instantly sensing a strange resonance.
He had indeed been waiting for a letter.
According to the Shadow World's description, Caliera had left one for him.
The envelope's surface shimmered with an ocean-blue luster resembling the rippling waves of the deep sea, reminding him of the boundless blue waters around Neclis Island.
Faint murmurs seemed to drift past his ears, like the singing of waves across the demon realm.
This mana...
Without a doubt, it belonged to Caliera.
However, in the aftermath of the war, the Holy Polant Theocracy and the demon realm had drawn a clear line between them.
On one hand, it was to reassure other nations; on the other, humans and demons shared profound cultural divides that could hardly be bridged, and the vast majority of ordinary humans feared the demon race.
Drawing a clear boundary between the Holy Polant Theocracy and the demon realm had been a mutual choice, as well as an inevitable historical trend.
"Have you determined the sender's identity?"
Lanqi frowned slightly, looking up to ask Chief Justice Elm.
"Reporting to Your Holiness: despite extensive investigations by the Holy Court, we have been unable to confirm the sender,"
Elm shook his head, his tone austere.
"Very well, that poses no problem then,"
Lanqi replied with a nod.
He recalled Caliera mentioning that she had planted informants in the Polant Empire to monitor Prime Minister Wilfort.
It was hardly surprising, then, that she had the means to route a letter through her informants to Wilfort's confidant, and ultimately into the hands of the Pope.
"Your Holiness, the Fourth Anniversary Commemoration of the Peaceful Revival of the Land of Sevilla will take place in one month at Oberon, the headquarters of the Iron Fortress in the rear. They have sent a request hoping you can attend and bear witness to the postwar reconstruction along the Horning Empire's border."
Elm introduced the second matter, handing a dossier to the Pope.
"..."
Lanqi glanced at the stone-carved map covering the entire wall, took the dossier, and flipped it open.
Three years ago, when the Polant Empire and the Horning Empire signed the Oberon Treaty, it had taken place right there on the southern border of the Holy Polant Theocracy.
Over a hundred kilometers away, all city defense barriers along the northern border of the Horning Empire had fallen under the regulatory control of the Holy Polant Theocracy—a term imposed on the Horning Empire as the defeated party.
The dossier mostly consisted of reports, including the festival schedule, recent conditions on the border between the two nations, and plans for the next two years.
Everything was thriving and developing in a positive direction.
"I understand,"
he replied to Elm.
This Shadow World lasted only twenty-one days; whatever happened a month from now had nothing to do with him.
In truth, no matter how he answered, it wouldn't alter the outcome.
He was free to do as he pleased.
"So history could actually achieve such a good ending?"
Talia asked in Lanqi's mind.
She was nearly certain that she had no role to play in this seemingly perfect Shadow World.
The dossier also mentioned the current status of the Horning Empire's postwar reconstruction.
The Blood Clan members bearing guilt had been tried and sentenced to long prison terms to atone for their crimes.
The remaining Blood Clan chose coexistence with humanity. A designated territory was set aside for them on the outskirts of Horning's capital, Trik, bound by a covenant that forbade them from interfering in human governance. In return, the Blood Clan began using their magical arts to aid human development.
Peace as exquisite as a dream, much like a fallen land of gentle slumber.
If the historical Lankeluosi had been able to witness this miraculous triumph in the final stretch of his life, he likely would have closed his eyes without regrets.
"After all, no one knows what the ending of that era tens of thousands of years ago truly was. Even if it was named the Blood Moon Ruined World, it surely possessed plenty of possibilities,"
Lanqi sent his thought back.
The traceable history of the present world spanned a few thousand years at most.
Anything earlier consisted only of uncertain conjectures by historians and archaeologists.
The Blood Moon Ruined World was lost history from at least tens of thousands of years ago.
The only ones who truly knew the answers were probably those supreme Blood Clan figures who had been sealed for ten thousand years before breaking free.
"Thank you for your hard work, Elm,"
Lanqi waved a hand, signaling for him to withdraw.
"Milord, if you need anything, call upon me at any time,"
Chief Justice Elm bowed, emphasizing his words with particular gravity before quietly exiting the throne room.
The heavy doors closed once more, leaving only Lanqi and Caliera's mysterious letter in the vast hall.
Lanqi slowly walked back toward the throne. The evening sun, slanting through the stained-glass windows, receded from his white robes and dissolved into the shadows.
Once seated, Lanqi gazed down at the envelope in his hand. The azure ripples looked strikingly bewitching under the pure light of the throne room.
Just as Talia had said, he felt a sense of relief.
He had been rather worried that the Shadow World might exert a kind of restorative pull—forcing him to face enemies far beyond his scale in a worst-case scenario where the changes he had made amounted to nothing, or that upon reaching this final, fourth Shadow World, the advantages accumulated across the first three would be no more than faint sparks, with twelve years of time having nudged everything back onto the original historical track.
From the looks of it, that worst-case scenario hadn't happened!
Even though this timeline felt as beautiful as a dream, everything before his eyes and within his grasp was undeniably real, not at all a phantom illusion born of the Fallen Land of Gentle Slumber. Lanqi was acutely certain of that.
Having walked a hundred and thirty-one steps in the Great Demon Trial, he could distinguish reality from illusion far better than any living creature in the world.
Those bound within the cage of a dream would never realize they might be dreaming, nor could they maintain alert skepticism at all times like he did.
At the very least, Lord of the Fallen Caliera was still alive and well at this moment.
With his most formidable ally, the iron-fisted ruler Caliera, safeguarding and holding down the fort, the demon realm was bound to remain just as it was when he departed in the previous Shadow World.
From this, he deduced that the timeline he currently inhabited had diverged dramatically from the one Lankeluosi had lived through in history.
"Sigh, Lankeluosi the Black Sun Lord certainly never saw such a wonderful worldline where the Blood Clan and humans peacefully coexist,"
Talia mused wistfully.
Ever since watching the preserved memories in Caliera's Shadow Loom Record, she had felt deep sympathy for that ancient compatriot of theirs.
"Lanqi, you aren't planning to run down south to hunt Blood Clan members, are you?"
Talia probed.
Theoretically, if they headed straight south, twenty-one days would be enough to reach the heartland of the southern Horning Empire. Releasing his Nuclear Fusion Wolf there would certainly stir up massive havoc.
However, doing so would utterly destroy this hard-won peace, shattering this dreamlike Shadow World into a nightmarish, scorched battlefield.
"I'm not a terrorist. Why would I want to wipe everyone out at every turn?"
Lanqi was amused by Talia's suspicion.
As it stood, this Tier 8 Shadow World appeared to pose no real danger. Merely weathering it peacefully would ensure that the mortal realm suffered no catastrophic natural disaster from a failed Shadow World.
If he engaged in meddlesome antics that wrecked an otherwise straightforward task, he would end up branded a war criminal back in the mortal realm.
"You humans actually quite enjoy exterminating your enemies to the last..."
Talia muttered.
As a princess of a fallen realm, she always carried regrets.
She held no bitter complaints about the demon realm's fall, but she often wondered whether things might have turned out differently if either side had made a different choice back then.
"That doesn't include me. If I had been in charge of humanity's grand strategy during the holy war back then, I certainly wouldn't have let the demon race be wiped out. Or rather, had I handled the issue, I could have ended the holy war in two weeks,"
Lanqi replied to Talia, making his guarantee with absolute certainty.
"..."
"Sorry, I admit it: you really shouldn't be counted among ordinary humans."
Though Talia had no idea where Lanqi got such confidence or how on earth he could have resolved the holy war in two weeks, she believed this fellow could definitely produce a plan that made both humans and demons miserable yet left them with no choice but to accept it.
Moreover, he truly practiced what he preached, treating demons and humans with equal impartiality.
"Are you praising me or insulting me?"
Judging by her emotional tone, Talia seemed to be praising him.
Yet the words themselves sounded an awful lot like an insult.
"Praising you. This time, I'm genuinely praising you,"
Talia admitted, reluctant yet resigned.
What she appreciated most about Lanqi was that he didn't operate on double standards.
Perhaps it had been when she saw the Shadow World recording where Lanqi told Hyperion, "Don't discriminate against demons," that her opinion of him began to shift, prompting her to try and understand him.
That said, he was thoroughly irritating in almost every other regard.
Talia hastily added that mental footnote to prevent Lanqi from getting the wrong idea.
"To be honest, I've always believed there are good individuals among the Blood Clan too,"
Lanqi added, sharing his genuine thoughts with Talia.
He would never slap a sweeping label on every individual based on race alone; it was just that the Blood Clan members he had encountered so far all suffered from vices they couldn't seem to shake.
Ending the war at an opportune moment, having the Blood Clan and the Horning Empire pay the price for the conflict, and minimizing casualties to the greatest extent possible...
A defeated nation was worth infinitely more than a scorched wasteland.
This could already be considered the ideal ending for the Blood Moon Ruined World.
A relatively perfect conclusion.
Chatting idly with Talia, Lanqi carefully broke the crystal wax seal on Caliera's letter.
The priority in the Shadow World remained reading her message.
Lanqi himself was looking forward to hearing from this old friend after such a long time.
Faint blue mana instantly billowed from the parchment, swirling through the air before coalescing into demon script.
*"—To Lord Nameless,"*
*"My friend, seeing these words is like seeing you in person."*
*"The season of swirling snow has arrived. Have you been well lately?"*
*"You may feel increasingly cold and lonely; please take care not to catch a chill."*
*"As for me, my days have been exceedingly peaceful ever since we parted."*
*"That we were able to repel the Blood Clan and the Horning Empire to secure our present peace was entirely thanks to you and your companions. Allow me to express my heartfelt gratitude here."*
*"I had originally thought to write to you sooner."*
*"Yet sending a letter without urgent business always left me feeling a bit embarrassed."*
*"I did not wish to disturb you."*
*"Please forgive me."*
Caliera's handwriting was even more delicate and graceful than imagined.
Yet the mana infused within it remained as overbearingly potent as ever, distinct to the 9th tier.
"'Lord Nameless'... only Caliera calls me that,"
Lanqi said with fond nostalgia as he turned the page.
Other demons of this era would likely address him as the Black Sun Lord.
Only a truly close old friend would stick to the name used when they first met.
"There is a barrier spell inscribed on this parchment. If anyone other than you had opened it, the writing probably wouldn't have appeared at all,"
Talia observed, analyzing the page.
Just like the first time she touched the gem of Caliera's Shadow Loom Record, she felt an uncanny affinity with this mana, as though it could blend naturally into her own body.
*"I am truly sorry to have let down your expectations. Six years ago, I failed to hold the Demon King's City."*
The very first line on the next page caused Lanqi's hands to freeze slightly.
*"Fortunately, you arrived in time to save that child once again. She remains our final hope of breaching the Blood Moon City."*
*"However, I was defeated by Duke Rasheal, the Third Progenitor of the Blood Clan. My soul was shattered long ago."*
*"The power I bestowed upon you back then was what little remained of my life-soul origin."*
*"For I knew that I was of no further use, while you still had to press forward."*
*"Dragging this failing body along, I spent these years stabilizing the demon realm's overall situation, leaving behind a gift that you may choose whether or not to open."*
Lanqi's breathing grew uneven.
He swiftly flipped past the sheet, looking to the final page.
*"Yet by the time you visit the demon realm, I may have already dissolved into the Fallen Land of Gentle Slumber for the Great Demon Trial."*
*"I bestowed the last of my life-soul origin upon True Night Lord Esmod, so that it might bless her child with a safe birth. If you ever meet the child of Mist Lord and True Night Lord in the future, you may sense one another, for both of you carry my mana."*
*"Should you ever feel lost, pay a visit to the demon realm."*
*"I believe that if it is you, you will surely find your answer."*
*"This brand-new journey shall begin from the very land you protected. I hope you will continue to love the demon realm."*
*"Farewell."*
*"—Caliera of the Fall"*
She brought the letter to a close on a relatively cheerful note.
Lanqi held the letter, unable to put it down for a long time.
As someone from another era, he knew that Caliera's ultimate fate was to become the Fallen Land of Gentle Slumber in the Great Demon Trial.
Yet he had never expected to personally experience this parting in this era.
"Lanqi, this is a Shadow World after all. Caliera's death was destined in the end. Don't be sad,"
Talia consoled him after some thought.
She knew that Lanqi and Caliera shared a bond of friendship and had fought side by side.
Learning of Caliera's passing was bound to weigh heavily on him.
"Destined in the end... Caliera..."
Lanqi repeated Talia's words under his breath.
"Dead...?"
A tremor of hesitation crept into his voice.
If Caliera was gone...
Wouldn't that mean the current demon realm might be entirely different from what he had envisioned?
An eerie, ominous feeling flooded Lanqi's heart.
As if driven by an irresistible force of destiny, he suddenly felt that something was terribly wrong with this timeline.
He drew in a breath of the frigid winter air of Polant's capital, Hersalem.
Even if only for an instant.
In that very split second—
During that fleeting lapse in his mental resolve, a roaring sea of blood surged toward him, threatening to engulf and overflow the entire throne room.
Illusions and blood-red bubbles invaded every inch of space within his field of vision.
When he opened his eyes again—
A howling blizzard tore through the city streets, burying broken walls, severed limbs, and pools of blood beneath a vast expanse of snow.
The heavy roar of the wind and stinging pellets of snow battered his skin.
Was this the Demon King's Palace on Neclis Island?
Outside the palace, darkness and blinding white merged together, punctuated only by a piercing, blood-red scarlet akin to crimson mandalas. Nothing could be seen clearly.
The once-bustling central plaza of Necalis was entirely deserted. The merciless snow buried every shred of evidence, and the anguished screams of the dead faded on the wind, left with no one to mourn them.
"Six years ago?"
Even with his consciousness nearly frozen, Lanqi could roughly deduce the timing of this battle.
The war between the Horning Empire and the Allied Forces should have reached its white-hot zenith at this point.
Even in defeat, the demon realm should have been the very last place the Blood Clan reached.
According to the records of the Holy Polant Theocracy, the northern human nations had been on the verge of collapse at any moment, several beastfolk city-states had been slaughtered by the Blood Clan, the Land of Eternal Night had turned exceedingly perilous, and communications from the demon realm could not reach the human kingdoms at all.
It was pitch-black; he couldn't see his own fingers.
Alarms, wailing cries, and the wet sounds of demons being gutted filled the air. On this night of raging snow, the Demon King's City of Necalis was blanketed in a suffocating shroud of terror.
In the darkness, Lanqi sensed movement ahead.
He had no choice but to step forward, one pace at a time.
Until faint moonlight broke through once more, illuminating the long stone corridor of the Necalis Palace.
Goosebumps erupted across his skin as he stared in shock at the sight before him.
Caliera lay on the ground, drenched in blood, her eyes lifeless.
Before her stood the figure of a youth, watching him with ecstatic delight, his mouth and cheeks smeared with fresh blood.
*"Black Sun Lord, you defeated wretch, do you dare seek me out again?"*
The voice of Duke Rasheal, the Third Progenitor, echoed from all directions, laden with a phantom-like smirk.
The voice grew louder, its buzzing clamor threatening to rupture his eardrums. His surrounding perception accelerated violently, threatening to drag him into a warped void tunnel moving beyond the speed of sound and light—
"..."
A sudden flash of white light burst before Lanqi's eyes, and everything fell silent.
When his vision refocused, only the pure white hall of the throne room remained, along with Talia's angelically concerned face.
"Lanqi, are you alright?"
Sensing something was amiss, Talia had manifested in the throne room and was shaking Lanqi's shoulders.
Lanqi had suddenly frozen motionless just now.
No matter how she called to him, he hadn't responded.
So she had summoned herself out directly.
"Talia..."
Lanqi came to his senses, his breathing steadying into a calm rhythm.
"I'm... I'm fine."
Lanqi answered as if awakening from a dream.
He now understood a bit more of what the objective "Understand Lankeluosi's state of mind" entailed.
Whether in the original timeline or the Shadow World branch he had created, the Third Progenitor Rasheal had inflicted an indelible negative status upon Lankeluosi during their battle.
And throughout this process, he would intermittently glimpse the unhealed trauma that Lankeluosi had never been able to let go.
"Are you really alright?"
Talia brushed aside her hair, stepped closer, pulled off Lanqi's mask, and pressed her forehead against his.
Mental strain induced by illusion-based mental magic could easily trigger a high fever, causing patients to temporarily lose their senses.
"I'm really fine. A mere 9th-tier mental debuff is like sparkling water to me."
Lanqi hastily leaned back, pressing himself against the throne as if evading her.
"Reeeeally?"
Talia drew out the word, placing her hands on her hips to inspect him.
Seeing how energetic Lanqi looked, he truly did seem fine.
Yet he seemed rather dismissive of mental magic.
She refused to believe her mental magic couldn't control him.
"Pfft."
Lanqi, who had been caught off guard by Talia's sudden closeness, couldn't help but chuckle at her inner thoughts.
Talia possessed an inexplicable confidence and sense of humor at times.
"..."
Talia's brow furrowed slightly.
"If I copied my sister and cast charm magic on you, could you really stay unaffected?"
As she spoke, she placed a hand beneath her chin and blew Lanqi a kiss.
Iphatia had assured her this was guaranteed to work.
"..."
Lanqi instantly felt a chill run down his spine, subjected to a full second of hard crowd-control.
His entire body grew awkward and stiff.
"You win,"
he conceded.
Talia's mental magic was indeed effective.
The brief banter helped him regain his composure.
Lanqi tightened his grip on the letter, sensing something more behind it.
He turned past the third page.
As the final word of Caliera's handwriting was deciphered, the mysterious letter floated up from Lanqi's hands, dissolving into specks of starlight.
Azure mana flowed like a gentle stream, curling softly around his wrist to bring a wondrous warmth that briefly chased away the surrounding chill.
A moment later, the mana dissipated, merging into the solemn air of the throne room.
The parchment weathered into silvery-white dust midair, fluttering down onto the red carpet like fresh snow.
Sure enough, behind the letter lay an invitation card.
Upon it was written in bold—
*[Appointment Letter for Principal of Purgatory Pasqual Corridors]*
"Purgatory Corridors Academy?"
Lanqi picked it up, holding it against the throne room's light as he looked at this relic that felt like an old friend reunited after a long parting.
"At the end of the story, am I to return to the very beginning?"
he murmured.
"Corridors, corridors... don't you feel that from the very moment you first set foot in Purgatory Corridors Academy, you were destined to return there one day?"
Talia crossed her arms, leaning against the papal throne as she spoke to him.
In the letter, Caliera had mentioned preparing a gift for Lord Nameless.
This appointment letter likely meant that Caliera had stashed some unmentionable treasure inside the school in Purgatory City Pasqual.
"Can you guess what Caliera might have left behind?"
Lanqi turned his head to look at Talia beside him.
As a genuine native demon, Talia understood the secrets and heritage of the demon race far better.
"I've been curious about that school for a long time,"
Talia said, overlooking his phrasing since he was earnestly asking for guidance.
"In the demon realm, every design related to corridors, inversion, and infinity is connected to the Inverted Lord, Tyberius."
From the moment she first saw the ancient demon realm academy on the screen at Ikerite Academy, she had recognized that the institution employed one of the most classic and ancient architectural styles of the demon race.
"..."
Lanqi nodded in understanding.
The mysterious structure of Purgatory Corridors had no traceable origin even in the demon realm of the Blood Moon Ruined World era. One could not rule out the possibility that it was the handiwork of Tyberius, the master craftsman from hundreds of thousands or even millions of years ago.
That was why the Great Demon Trial on the sixth basement floor of Herrom Prison, the *Inverted Path of Rebirth*, shared a similar corridor aesthetic with Purgatory Corridors Academy.
As Lanqi pondered this, Talia stared at him once more.
"Another status has appeared on you,"
she noted.
This status proved surprisingly easy to identify.
Talia deduced the result at a glance.
*[Final Gentle Slumber]*
*[Category: Buff]*
*[Rarity: Epic]*
*[Attribute: Illusion]*
*[Tier: 9]*
*[Protection bestowed upon you by Caliera.]*
She shared all of this with Lanqi through their mental link.
"..."
Lanqi sat there for a moment, gathered all his resolve, and stood up, making a victory sign that hardly suited a pope's dignified demeanor.
"Alright, time to get to work!"
He walked over to the magical communication device and pressed the summoning crystal.
It seemed this trip to the demon realm was unavoidable. Only by returning there could he unravel many of these questions. Following this guidance, Hyperion was likely in the demon realm right now as well.
This moment mirrored that past moment precisely!
Since he had to journey to the demon realm once more—and in the dead of December winter rather than summer, making the Land of Eternal Night far more treacherous—he had to seek out that person again.
Before long.
Chief Justice Elm knocked on the throne room doors once more and stepped inside with the Pope's permission.
"Your Holiness, you summoned me?"
the Chief Justice asked with a humble bow.
"I need to find Xigelei,"
Lanqi stated succinctly.
Xigelei had been taken in and raised by the Holy Polant Church's orphanage since childhood, making her part of the church by definition.
Elm would certainly know her whereabouts; twelve years ago, it was Secretary Elm who had found Prime Minister Wilfort this outstanding coachman who knew the routes through the Land of Eternal Night so accurately.
"..."
Elm was slightly taken aback, clearly unprepared for the Pope's sudden inquiry regarding Xigelei. Then, his expression softened, tinged with a hint of nostalgia.
"Sister Xigelei... After you brought her back, she has remained at the orphanage on the outskirts of Hersalem. You haven't visited her in a very long time."
Chapter 764