Chapter 15: Shackles

The air in the room seemed to solidify, with only the echo of Lilith’s words and the sound of Bai Jin’s pounding heart remaining.

In the silent atmosphere was Lilith’s bone-deep despair, a pain that had been suppressed for hundreds of years.

“So,”
Bai Jin’s voice was a little dry.
“You spread the name of the Holy Blood in this small town, but you’ve never fulfilled the duties of a Saintess, have you?”

Bai Jin recalled Lilith’s perfunctory attitude when presiding over the church service and her disdain for the Royal Court’s laws.

Lilith let out a sneer, as if she had heard a ridiculous joke.
“The duties of a Saintess?”

She had no reverence for the gods whatsoever.
“The Holy Blood never wanted my duties. Even my faith is not necessary. All it wants is for me to be alive!”

“As long as this vessel, which carries the contract of the God of Death, still exists, its lingering instinct is satisfied.”

“As for what I do? The Holy Blood doesn’t care at all, and it can’t control me either!”

Lilith’s tone was rebellious, yet tinged with a hint of fatigue.

“Leaving that disgusting holy temple and coming to this remote town is my way of fighting against the Holy Blood.”

Bai Jin listened silently to Lilith’s account.
At this moment, Lilith seemed to have shed all her disguises.

Her protection of the town was real, not out of piety to the Holy Blood.

She was protecting a pure goodness in her own way.

“I’ve had enough,”
Lilith’s voice dropped.
“I’ve had enough of the Holy Blood’s hypocritical immortality.”

Lilith’s gaze focused on Bai Jin again.
“The only thing that can truly end this contract is Sister’s power.”

Bai Jin’s heart tightened.
“Is it the contract between us?”

“Yes.”
Lilith’s answer was exceptionally crisp.
“As long as you can continuously produce death energy…”

She paused, her eyes glinting with a dangerous light.
“Theoretically, there is hope of wearing down the Holy Blood’s contract bit by bit.”

Bai Jin’s hair stood on end from the eagerness and madness in her eyes.
She recalled the madness of last night.
She really didn’t want to go through that again!

“So… what exactly do you think of me?”
Bai Jin’s voice trembled almost imperceptibly.

She looked directly into Lilith’s eyes.
“Lilith, no matter who this body once belonged to, no matter whose power I inherited…”

“The Bai Jin standing before you now is a complete person with an independent will!”

Bai Jin straightened her back, pouring out all the grievances and demands in her heart.
“I am not your sister’s substitute, and certainly not your tool for release!”

The smile on Lilith’s face faded.
There was not a single ripple in her azure eyes, like a frozen lake in deep winter, reflecting Bai Jin’s figure.

“What do I think of you?”
She repeated Bai Jin’s question.
“Since you occupy my sister’s body, it is an objective fact.”

“And the soul-summoning spell I exhausted myself to cast, ultimately anchored and brought back you.”

“This can only mean that there is some deep connection between you and my sister.”

“Whether it’s fate or coincidence, you appeared here and inherited her power. This is reality.”

She took a step closer, her small body exuding a terrifying aura.
“I cannot treat you as my sister. That extravagant hope was completely shattered after you appeared.”

“Bai Jin, understand your identity. You are now just my ‘attendant nun’.”
Her words were decisive and allowed no argument.

“This is illegal imprisonment! It’s coercion!”
Bai Jin was enraged by her domineering attitude, her suppressed emotions bursting forth.

“I have no obligation to provide you with death energy! And certainly no obligation to live in your shadow for the sake of your release!”

“Illegal?”
Lilith tilted her head slightly, golden strands of hair slipping from her shoulder, revealing an almost innocent cruelty.
“Bai Jin, it seems you haven’t fully grasped the situation.”

“Here, this is my territory! The Twilight Church, this town, the rules are set by me!”

She extended her index finger, with an arrogance of controlling everything, and gently tapped Bai Jin’s chest, a faint stinging pain spreading from it.

“As for obligation?”
Lilith’s voice carried a demonic temptation and a naked threat.
“Think carefully. Helping me find release is also helping yourself break free from this damned contract!”

“Otherwise, we’ll just torture and depend on each other like this, until the Holy Blood is completely revived, or the world is destroyed?”

Bai Jin’s heart sank to the bottom.

‘Escape?’
In front of this Saintess who wielded the power of contracts and was far stronger than her, it was nothing short of a fool’s dream.

‘So, can I only be like fish on a chopping block, letting her drain me time and time again, waiting for that ethereal release in endless pain?’

“It seems you need a little help to face reality, my attendant nun~”
Lilith’s voice interrupted Bai Jin’s chaotic thoughts.

The fanaticism and excitement in that tone made Bai Jin realize something was wrong.

Without warning, Lilith’s fingers suddenly clenched, and she made a fierce grasping motion at Bai Jin from a distance!

“Ugh!”

The cross-shaped chains wrapped around her body were instantly activated, tightening deeply into her flesh.

Each cross was like a branding iron, reminding her of her current situation as an out-and-out prisoner.

Intense pain swept through every cell of Bai Jin like a tsunami.
Cold sweat broke out instantly.
Her legs gave way, and she knelt heavily on the ground.

Her forehead hit the floor hard with a dull thud.
Her vision was filled with black and red spots, and the sweet, rusty taste of iron welled up in her throat.

“It hurts, doesn’t it?”
Lilith slowly walked over to Bai Jin, looking down at her trembling body.

“But this is not enough…”
Lilith squatted down, her cold fingertips lifting Bai Jin’s sweaty chin, forcing her to look into her own eyes, which were burning with a crazed obsession.

“This little bit of pain is not enough to produce enough death energy. I need more, purer pain!”

Lilith’s fingertips traced the deep red marks outlined by the chains, the movement almost as gentle as a caress.

But then, her nails suddenly pressed down hard, viciously pinching the fragile flesh!

“Ah—!”
Bai Jin’s scream finally broke out uncontrollably from her throat, sharp and shrill.

The intense stinging pain, mixed with the burning sensation of old wounds, was like hot oil being poured on a wound, piercing straight to her brain.

She could clearly feel this intense pain being forcibly reversed into a familiar power by the authority in her mind.

As soon as this new death energy appeared, it frantically surged into the nearby Lilith’s body, following the rules.

Lilith let out a satisfied sigh, as if she had drunk ambrosia.
A blush appeared on her fair cheeks, and the Holy Blood crest on her forehead flickered slightly, resisting the death energy in her body.

She could clearly taste the erosion of the death energy on the Holy Blood contract.
Although it was weak, it was really happening.

As the death energy was worn down by the power of the Holy Blood, she fell into a moment of emptiness.

“Not enough… I want more…”

Lilith’s voice trembled with excitement.
Her other hand also caressed Bai Jin’s arm, her nails like knives, viciously slashing across it!

Bai Jin felt like a sponge being repeatedly kneaded and squeezed, just to extract fresh death energy.

Her consciousness rose and fell in the tide of intense pain.
Every breath pulled at the tearing pain throughout her body.

Sweat soaked her nun’s habit.
Her messy silver hair stuck to her pale cheeks.
Tears mixed with the blood trickling from the corner of her mouth.

Just as Bai Jin’s consciousness was about to be completely submerged by the endless pain, and her vision was completely occupied by darkness.

“Thump! Thump! Thump!”

A rapid and dull knocking sound on the door instantly broke Lilith’s morbid immersion.

“Who is it?!”
Lilith looked up abruptly, the madness in her azure eyes receding like a tide.

Director Emma’s anxious voice came from outside the door, “Your Holiness! It’s not good! Vera… that child Vera is missing!”