Chapter 1918

At this moment, the clouds and mist shrouding the island had completely dispersed, revealing a brilliant starry sky and three bright moons.

The continuous earthquakes finally stopped at this moment, leaving only the monsters, which were constantly fighting the outsiders, still charging violently toward these normal living people.

On the surface of the island—in the town cemetery, in the woods, in the town, on the docks, and in the hills—one small red tree after another suddenly burst open at this moment. Blood mist drifted into the surroundings, causing more and more red vegetation to cover the island's surface.

Blood trees grew continuously in every corner of the island, and the grass and flowers were all dyed red. The water plants beneath the lake surface, which had been churning due to the intense fighting, also turned red. This process could not be stopped; even the Ringed Shushis on the hundreds of ships that had just broken into these waters noticed a layer of red fungal mat appearing on the decks.

At the top of the giant tree's canopy, a bright red light enveloped "Edwards." That light grew brighter and brighter, while the light of the stars and moons grew weaker and weaker.

Originally, not everyone had looked back at the top of the canopy, but those who discovered at this moment that the light of the entire world seemed to be fading finally looked up and saw that the mass of light at the top of the canopy had become the only light upon this land.

The world turned dark, and only that mass of light seemed to have become the only light eternally shining upon this land.

Several Thirteen-Ring Shushis flew from the ground toward the giant tree, only to find that they could not reach that position no matter what. The darkness was devouring everything; those locations not illuminated by the massive red light seemed to have fallen into eternal silence.

Suddenly, points of light flickered into existence. The Ringed Shushis distributed across the island and the lake surface still managed to ignite the faintest light within this darkness.

At this moment, at the roots of the giant tree, the Edwards' old house had not been destroyed by the growth of the tree. The old house leaned against the giant tree that had grown from behind it. Sister Daifulin nodded to Luweiya and the Red Butterfly girls, then walked alone toward the hills in the darkness in the south of the island.

Neither Luweiya, Grace, nor Helen ignited light in this oppressive darkness, but the red butterflies fluttering around them had already illuminated everything in the vicinity.

"Although this is already the best choice at the moment."

Purple eyes, suffused with that light that fascinated Xia De to the point of madness:

"Grace, Helen, if you are unwilling to do this, Xia De should still have ways to let others become the Chosen. Do you really want to do this? Do you really want to be dragged back into the vortex of fate?"

The girls in white and black dresses, holding hands, nodded gently, the smiles on their faces undiminished:

"What we need to do now is wait—wait for Xia De to take the initiative to make a choice. Since we are his butterflies, we must do things for him; we are not decorations in a cage."

This was a rare instance of them actively addressing Xia De by name. Luweiya nodded, assumed a listening posture, and then pointed to the side:

"Priest Priest Ao Gu Si seems to need help. Let's go; we need to help contain an Angel-level relic... Strange, why do I feel that the power of that relic is so familiar?"

Grace and Helen looked in another direction. After a moment of hesitation, Helen in the black dress whispered:

"Are they here?"

"It doesn't matter."

The older sister in the white dress, Grace, comforted her:

"Someone will go to help them."

In Green Lake Town, Miss Dannisite, who was resisting the darkness alongside several other professors from the three major academies, suddenly discovered a red butterfly flying out of the darkness before her, yet others were unable to see it.

She remembered her promise to that pair of Angel-level humanoid relic sisters, so she said a word to the other professors and followed the red butterfly alone into the deep darkness.

At the Green Lake Hotel, the darkness had left only a faint glow from the three campfires Xia De had left behind. The girls gathered together, jointly casting miracles to maintain the light, but their light was only slightly stronger than the warm glow from Little Mia, who was being held by Ajielina.

Except for Grandma Cassandra, the other four Great Witches had already set off toward the giant tree before the darkness descended. Fortunately, the Great Witch of the darkness was enough to protect everyone here.

Princess Lei Qianya and Dorothy were also standing in the crowd, and both noticed the unnatural red light outside the window. However, the old witch told everyone not to look at that kind of light:

"That is the spiritual and fleshly power belonging to an Evil Thing; it will contaminate spiritual power. Watch the flames Xia De left behind, and no one turn around."

But even while following the instructions to watch the flames, Princess Lei Qianya and Dorothy's perception was still inexplicably able to touch the red light blocked outside the hotel.

They were clearly not members of the Edwards family, nor were they like Xia De and Yiluna, who had acquired part of the power of the "Edwards' Ascension Ritual" by participating in the ritual. Yet, they were able to understand the essence of those red lights, and even perceived the power of "bringing many into one" and "severing and bridging" more clearly than Xia De.

The instincts in their souls were trembling, and it just so happened that today was the "Day of the Red Butterfly" when they could touch each other. As that red light interfered more and more deeply with their souls, Princess Lei Qianya and Dorothy only felt that the soul of the girl beside them was like the opposite pole of a magnet, firmly attracting them.

In their two pairs of emerald eyes, red light appeared at some unknown time. They left the crowd unconsciously, and the surrounding space fluctuated unstably.

Ajielina, who had been following Xia De's arrangements and keeping an eye on her sister, was the first to notice that something was wrong with them after hearing the cat suddenly "meow":

"Sister! Where are you going?"

She shouted hurriedly while holding the cat. Because she was short and thin, it was easy for her to squeeze out of the crowd and reach their side. Subsequently, in a twist of light and shadow, the three people and one cat disappeared together.

Beneath the giant tree, underground, in a study filled with bookshelves behind the wooden archway that had transformed from the blood-colored gate, the figures of the three appeared together.

The banquet hall at the other end of the study had been lifted toward the sky when the giant tree rose, but the bookshelves in the study outside the banquet hall had not been destroyed. Blood-red tree roots covered the walls and ceiling, wriggling like animals, but they did not attack the three people and the cat that had appeared here abruptly.

On the ground, the traces of the massive "Sun, Moon, and Stars" ritual that Xia De and Miss Dannisite had been investigating were blooming with dazzling light. A miniature blood-red gate, thirteen keys, personal items representing the 20 family members, ritual items, relics, and the old boundary stone of Green Lake Town—a series of ritual symbols—were placed in the massive ritual array.

Among them were even the scales, sickle, and holy grail representing the Chosen, as well as the skull representing the demon and the halo representing the angel.

But Ajielina had no mind to look at what was here. At this moment, the soulless Princess Lei Qianya and Dorothy were holding hands, trying to walk toward the core of the ritual that was shining with light. In the very center of the circular array, a golden cube was floating.

The "sisters" stumbled in their steps. As they walked, two five-ring destiny rings had already appeared behind each of them, and they were vaguely merging together:

"Sister!"

The little princess called out anxiously, wanting to follow and pull them back, but as soon as she stepped into the ritual array, the excruciating pain caused to her body by the elements and spirits forced her to retreat.

"If I want to obtain everything, how can I not even be able to protect my sister?"

This was the only thought in the innocent princess's heart at this moment. As the uncertain voice whispered the 【King】 in her ear, she lifted her skirt with one hand and summoned her courage, wanting to endure the pain and rush forward again, but the cat she was holding suddenly let out a cry:

"Meow~"

The cat's cry was clearly not loud, yet it rang out directly in the deepest parts of the two muddled souls. As if the sun had dispelled the darkness and the sunlight had driven away the shadows, Dorothy and Princess Lei Qianya, who had been walking hand-in-hand, instantly woke up.

The two looked around in surprise and immediately understood what had happened here.

They turned to retreat from the ritual array, but even though they were awake, the impulse from the bottom of their hearts to merge with the soul beside them remained stronger than ever before.

Even on that night a few months ago when they had used the "Ghost Iron Coin" for an out-of-body experience and almost merged, the impulse to become one with another soul had not been this strong. This desire and impulse were stronger than any other feeling, so much so that even though they knew it was wrong, the two still took another small step forward.

"Cat, kitty, Little Mia, meow again!"

Ajielina patted the cat anxiously, but Little Mia pushed her hand away with its paw. The orange and white kitten just widened its eyes, looking at them in the light with bright, spirited eyes.

So Ajielina thought about throwing the cat directly at her sister, but after thinking about it, she knew it would be useless. So, she put the cat on her head, lifted her skirt, and prepared to sprint.

Her body trembled with fear, but she still gritted her teeth and prepared to rush forward.

Fortunately, Princess Lei Qianya and Dorothy, who had taken a small step after waking up, actually stopped slowly with trembling bodies, and then turned around together:

"Absolutely not!"

"We already promised Xia De!"

"The mistake from last time—we promised him we wouldn't make it again!"

"We clearly agreed that the three of us would be together!"

If not for that attempt a few months ago and the lesson Xia De had given them, they really couldn't say whether they could still endure this impulse at this moment.

The light of the ritual had already permeated their destiny rings. As they turned around, Dorothy and Princess Lei Qianya, who were originally still preparing to advance, actually went directly from the fifth ring to the sixth ring without performing any ritual, relying solely on the power they were absorbing at this moment and their powerful spiritual strength.