Chapter 18: Nightmare

“Clearly… all you needed to do was abduct the Saintess… why harm the innocent?”

“Hehehe… Vera, you’re still too naive. The power from outside the world isn’t so easily wielded.”

“You should know this well…”

The twisted voice carried a bewitching tone, drifting with the wind, revealing no information about its owner.

“Don’t forget what the Holy Blood truly is! Don’t show these ants any unnecessary pity!”

“They are nothing but blood-food raised by the Holy Blood! Sooner or later, they will return to that rotting mountain of flesh!”

“Everyone… everyone is actually a good person… I won’t allow you to harm them!”

“Fine… fine… as long as you obey, the next operation will take place in the uninhabited wilderness. You just need to lure her there…”

“What… what do I do?”

Cold, dark, viscous despair… like falling into a sea abyss.

Vera’s consciousness drifted in chaos, with only scattered memories flashing by.

A piercing crimson light tore through the darkness!

Soaring flames licked at the houses, dyeing the night the orange-red of purgatory.

Thick smoke billowed, mixed with the crackling sound of burning wood.

A piercing, inhuman laughter echoed in the firelight. It was not from monsters, but from people!

They were Holy Blood Knights in metal armor! They wielded blood-dripping maces, their faces bearing cruel smiles hotter than the flames.

They were Royal Court Shepherds in blood-stained white robes! They stood in a circle, holding high chalices filled with fresh blood, chanting blasphemous prayers, their voices twisted and crazed.

They were Sin-Blood Hunters, their bodies covered in blood! They were like skinned giant hounds, crazily pouncing on the scattering villagers, tearing with their claws, gnawing with their sharp teeth.

Little Vera ran desperately through the burning ruins and flowing pools of blood. She didn’t dare to look back!

Behind her was her mother’s shrill scream, her father’s desperate roar, and more so, a past she could never face.

Fear, like a venomous snake in the darkness, coiled around her heart, making it almost impossible for her to breathe.

She just wanted to escape, to escape this hell on earth!

Endless darkness swallowed her. All sounds disappeared, and all terrifying memories faded away.

She felt as if she had fallen into a void, her consciousness submerged in boundless despair and bone-deep hatred.

“Why…”

Just as her consciousness was about to completely sink into the dark void, wisps of power, carrying a warm and peaceful aura, quietly seeped into this emptiness.

They gently wrapped around Vera’s shattered consciousness, slowly lifting her from the boundless despair…

Behind a large boulder at the edge of the basin, Bai Jin was tightly holding Vera, her body as taut as a fully drawn bow.

Her breathing was rapid and disordered, fine beads of sweat trickling down her temples. The body under her nun’s habit was constantly convulsing from the backlash of the Blood Contract.

The side effects of Blood Evasion had already appeared on Bai Jin. Her muscle fibers felt as if they were being torn inch by inch, and intense pain surged back.

Bai Jin let out a muffled groan, her body twitching uncontrollably. This strong physical pain was, without surprise, captured by the authority of 『Reversal』.

A wisp of pure death energy, like a drop of ink in water, quietly grew within Bai Jin’s body.

However, this time, it did not follow the previous rules.

This wisp of death energy had no time to linger in Bai Jin’s body, nor was it drawn away by the contract. The moment it was born, it seemed to be attracted by something even stronger.

Bai Jin clearly felt that wisp of death energy being drawn away as if by an invisible straw, intercepted within her contract with Lilith, and disappearing into Vera’s body!

“…Ugh!”
Vera suddenly gasped, like a drowning person finally breaking the surface of the water. Her eyes snapped open.

Her pupils, after a brief moment of being unfocused, focused on the pale face right in front of her.

Silver hair fell on her cheek, bringing a slight tickle. It was that strange nun sister.

“You’re… awake?”
Bai Jin’s voice was extremely hoarse, tight with suppressed pain.

Bai Jin looked down at the little girl in her arms, her eyes filled with undisguised fatigue and confusion.

“Mmm…”
Vera let out a satisfied hum. Her large eyes, which had just regained their spirit, were instantly covered with a layer of gray mist.

This gray mist flashed and disappeared, so fast that Bai Jin almost thought it was an illusion.

And Vera’s small face, which had turned pale from the nightmare, now regained its rosy color.
‘Did the death energy bring Vera vitality?’

“This?!”
Bai Jin was completely stunned.
Ignoring the intense pain and weakness in her body, she stared at Vera’s face in disbelief.

Lilith needed her death energy because of the strange contract between them, and the shackles of the Holy Blood in Lilith’s body needed death energy to wear down.

‘Then what about Vera?’

This child, who she originally thought was unremarkable, yet could inexplicably purify the death energy of the God-Burying Society, why could she also absorb her own death energy?

And the way she absorbed it was so direct, so domineering, even able to intercept the power of the contract?
This completely subverted Bai Jin’s newly established understanding of the rules of contracts.

She clearly had no contractual power on her. How on earth did she do it?

“Boom!”

The continuous explosions from the center of the basin interrupted Bai Jin’s thoughts.
She peeked her head out from behind the boulder to observe the battle.

Lilith’s figure stood steadily amidst the intertwining purple light and blood flames.
The violent blood-red thorns, like madly dancing vipers, brought a sharp whistle that tore through the air with every swing.

It forced the two already seriously injured members of the God-Burying Society into a sorry state, retreating in haste.

The throwing knives attacked again, but were slapped away by the blood-red thorns.
The assassin who charged low to the ground tried to repeat his old trick, but Lilith seemed to have eyes in the back of her head.

With a backhand sweep of a blood blade as solid as substance, she forced the opponent to roll away, leaving only a gash on the ground.

“Damn Holy Blood! The Royal Court’s running dog!”
The one who threw the knives let out a roar like a cornered beast.

He violently tore open his tattered gray robe, plunged his intact arm directly into his chest, and pulled out a piece of flesh emitting an ominous purple light, slamming it hard onto the ground!

“With flesh and blood as the guide, I summon the touch of the Void Abyss!”

「Void-Reality Contract · Void Abyss Touch」

The ground of the basin trembled violently.
Several huge tentacles composed of pure purple-black energy burst out of the ground, devouring the strange piece of flesh.

Then, like demonic claws from the abyss, carrying a destructive aura, they crazily coiled towards Lilith!

For a moment, the blood-red thorns and the purple-black tentacles intertwined, each collision producing a huge sound.

The corner of Lilith’s mouth curled up, as if she were watching a little mouse, after struggling in vain, finally showing its true skills.
“Now this is interesting~”

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The huge sounds of energy collisions exploded in the wilderness.
Blood light and purple light continuously eroded and annihilated each other, making a teeth-grinding hissing sound.

The entire basin seemed to have turned into a boiling energy furnace!

Bai Jin held Vera tightly, feeling the vibration of the earth beneath her feet and the shockwaves of the energy impact rushing towards her.

She quickly pulled her head back, her heart filled with shock.
‘Is this a battle between contractors? So powerful, so destructive!’

The thorns around Lilith’s body danced so densely that they were impenetrable, while she sank her mind into a more complex chant.