Chapter 26: Soul Echo

“Sister… don’t leave Lilith… please…”

Lilith’s tears had long run dry, leaving only the whimpering of a dying cub.
A silent scream echoed in the black and white, silent space.

Lilith’s small figure lay on the edge of the coffin.
Inside the cold, sacred coffin lay a lifeless, silver-haired girl.

The image froze on Bai Jin’s tightly closed eyes.
That eternal slumber was the beginning of her nightmare…

A huge, writhing mountain of flesh.
This grotesque scene appeared countless times in Lilith’s dreams.
The moment she was forcibly signed into a contract by the Holy Blood was forever engraved deep in her memory.

The influx of majestic life force did not bring the joy of life and power, but the extreme fear of being eternally imprisoned.

A grand yet fragmented will, mixed with the wails of billions of souls, constantly washed over Lilith’s spirit.

She felt like a specimen in formalin, her soul struggling in pain, yet submerged in the torrent of the Holy Blood’s will.

Despair, like viscous asphalt, continuously wrapped her tightly, sinking her into a bottomless abyss…

In the dark dungeon, Lilith maintained her sister’s body day after day.

The skin was warm and moist, even with a hint of color, but those eyes would never open.

A continuous stream of life force flowed from her body, injected into this shell.

Looking at this false vitality, feeling the endless torrent of life force in her body, being a Saintess yet unable to save her sister…

She only felt that the life force brought by the Holy Blood was constantly mocking her incompetence.
An endless sense of nothingness repeatedly washed over her heart.

Layer after layer of shackles tightly bound her soul.
All she could see was deep darkness, a place where not even a trace of light had ever lingered…

The sleeping Bai Jin floated in the ocean of consciousness.
Suddenly, a wave of soul fluctuation, carrying pain and despair, came through.

Like a slight tremor on a spider’s web, it was transmitted from the other end of the contract to Bai Jin’s soul.

Bai Jin’s consciousness was instantly awakened.
She sensed Lilith’s pain through the contract!

On the other side of the contract was the consciousness space dominated by the Holy Blood.
The faith of countless believers condensed into faintly glowing soul tentacles, gently wrapping around Lilith’s soul.

They tried to pull her into the depths of the collective consciousness, into a cradle constructed of holy hymns and life energy.

They attempted to construct a false beauty, to keep Lilith here forever.

Only then did Bai Jin realize that those two visitors from the Royal Court had been quickly spawned by the power of the Holy Blood and had arrived in Twilight Town, alive and kicking.

But Lilith, who had been saved by the divine power of the Holy Blood, was still in the cocoon after a whole night.

‘Could it be that the Holy Blood wants to imprison Lilith forever…’

‘What are you hesitating for…’

‘You are just a visitor from another world. You have no relatives in this world!’

‘Just leave now and enjoy your journey in this different world!’

‘Having obtained the authority of the God of Death, the Blood Contract of the Royal Court, and the Merchant’s Contract of the Alliance, you can definitely make a name for yourself in this world.’

A rational voice continued to echo, trying to pull Bai Jin back on track, to be her “true self” who would do what was truly beneficial for her?

‘No… this is not right!’

‘And that contract…’

‘Are you still thinking about that contract that binds you? If it weren’t for this damned contract, you would have been long gone!’

‘Listen to me, now is a good chance to escape. Find a place to live in seclusion. Isn’t that better than being controlled by Lilith here?’

Bai Jin’s soul also fell into a struggle.
She was confused.
Reason told her that escaping now was the best option.

But…

Bai Jin didn’t do it.
She turned into a silver stream of light, going against the current, along the direction of the contract.

She rushed towards the source of the pain without a care, towards the place where Lilith was, wrapped in tentacles in the collective consciousness of the Holy Blood…

‘What are you doing!! No! Turn back! You will be noticed by the Holy Blood!!’

“Shut up!!”

『Reversal』 was quietly activated, sucking this voice that was constantly tempting Bai Jin into a storm, and transforming it into new death energy.

Bai Jin’s consciousness penetrated all the interference, forcibly entered the Holy Blood’s consciousness space, and finally touched Lilith’s soul, which was constantly struggling in pain.

Buzz!

A cold, pure death energy, like a tired bird returning to its nest, flowed back from the depths of Lilith’s soul and into Bai Jin’s soul!

This was the death energy that had been taken by Lilith, intended to wear down the shackles of the Holy Blood.

However, along with this death energy, something even heavier poured in.

It was Lilith’s pain.

It was the heart-wrenching cries when her closest relative suddenly passed away; it was the bone-deep despair when she was bound by the eternal shackles; it was the endless, suffocating nothingness when she stood guard over the cold corpse!

This pain was not a memory image, but the most primitive, purest emotional imprint, transformed into a flowing stream of memories, engraved deep in Bai Jin’s soul!

These memories constantly exuded the despair and pain of Lilith’s five hundred years, turning into a torrent that submerged her.

The loneliness and fear of losing her only relative; the helplessness and trembling in the face of a twisted existence; the numbness of being unable to seek death, like a walking corpse…

All the negative emotions impacted Bai Jin’s consciousness like a tsunami, making her feel it as if it were her own.

Her soul trembled violently, almost being crushed by this heavy pain.

Fortunately, the authority at the core of her soul, like an enraged guardian, rumbled into operation!
It transformed these negative emotions into a gray mist.

The new death energy, with a gentle softness, soothed Bai Jin’s soul.

But the rules of the contract immediately drew it away, and through the link of the contract, poured it back into Lilith’s soul!

This death energy no longer fought against the Holy Blood’s contract, but instead, with a gentle power, soothed Lilith’s soul, absorbing the pain and despair, turning it into a pitch-black, cold mist, and returning to Bai Jin’s soul again.

And at this moment, a cycle appeared.
The absorbed, cold death energy was continuously transformed into memories, engraved deep in Bai Jin’s soul, bringing Bai Jin pain.

And this pain was in turn reversed into new death energy, which was absorbed by Lilith.

Lilith’s painful emotions then gave birth to cold death energy that returned to Bai Jin’s soul, and so on and so forth…

With each cycle, Bai Jin experienced Lilith’s ordeal more deeply, deeply imprinted in her soul, suffocating her.

But in this almost endless cycle, a strange change was also growing in Bai Jin’s soul.

She was no longer an observer outside the world, but was anchored to this world, and this anchor was Lilith…

This anchor, like a glimmer of light in the darkness, dispelled the fear brought by pure pain and transformed it into the embrace of a contractual bond.

The flowing memories turned into a warm spring, flowing in Bai Jin’s heart, completely understanding her vulnerability, her madness, her despair, her… everything.

“That’s enough… Lilith…”

Bai Jin extended her formless arms and tightly embraced the struggling Lilith in the ocean of the Holy Blood’s consciousness.

“It’s alright… I’m here… I’m here… I will accept everything about you…”

Bai Jin whispered, like the gentlest lullaby, soothing Lilith.

“Sister…?”
Lilith’s consciousness let out a dream-like murmur.
Tears slipped from the corners of her tightly closed eyes, turning into scattered stardust.

The entire dark dream world seemed to be injected with magical colors.

The sky was no longer a oppressive gray-black, but a clear, washed blue, like an unfurled scroll, dotted with fluffy, soft white clouds like cotton candy.

The writhing, flesh-and-blood ground under her feet also turned into a continuous stretch of emerald green fields, covered with colorful and brilliant little flowers.

In the center of the colorful sea of flowers, Lilith was curled up, her consciousness sinking into a truly peaceful dream.

And on the outer layer of this dreamscape, the Holy Blood also noticed the change in Lilith’s dream and angrily drove Bai Jin’s consciousness away.

The sky full of blood light wove into a blood-red cage, enveloping this beautiful dreamscape…