Chapter 29: Breaking the Cocoon

The farce in the refectory came to a hasty end under Bai Jin’s incredible ability.

Abraham and Cain gave Bai Jin a deep look, then left with heavy hearts.

The pervasive smell of blood and the oppressive atmosphere had not completely dissipated, but at least, the writhing, dripping flesh and blood were gone.

The nuns, like startled birds, finally returned to their seats and could finally eat their normal food.

Bai Jin no longer had the appetite to eat.
Her gaze fell on Maria with a complex expression.

Maria was still bent over, covering her mouth, her body trembling slightly.

“Maria, how do you feel…”
Bai Jin walked over and reached out to pat her shoulder.

“Don’t touch me!”
Maria slapped Bai Jin’s hand away forcefully.
She looked up, glared at Bai Jin, then turned and ran out of the refectory.

Bai Jin froze in place, her hand still suspended in mid-air.
Finally, she sighed helplessly.

She had just absorbed the life force and was now feeling a bit bloated.

Activating recovery again did not improve her condition, and using Blood Evasion or Blood Blade would cover her in blood.

Now that things had quieted down, she had time to think about what had driven her authority.

Bai Jin sank her mind into the sea of her consciousness.
A gray scroll floated in the center.
That was her Contract of Fate.

And around the scroll was a ribbon shimmering with starlight.
‘Didn’t I bring this out from my dream this morning?’

‘What is this?’
Bai Jin focused her attention on this ribbon.

Instantly, those desperate and painful memories of Lilith resurfaced, piercing Bai Jin’s consciousness.

She let out a muffled groan and withdrew from the state of concentration.
Although she was caught off guard, the experience in her dream allowed her to accept this pain.

Bai Jin couldn’t help but frown.
‘Did I bring out the product of the reversal in my dream? Then could the things in the dream be real…’

‘If Lilith is really that important to the Holy Blood, then those scenes in the dream…’

‘The Holy Blood tried to drag Lilith into the depths of the sea of consciousness, to imprison her eternally.’

‘Is it trying to take this opportunity to completely control Lilith’s personal freedom?’

‘No, I have to go see what Lilith’s situation is now.’

Thinking of this, Bai Jin could no longer sit still and walked towards the quiet room where Lilith’s cocoon was placed.

At the entrance of the quiet room, a heart-pounding aura came through.

The air was mixed with a bloody smell carrying a majestic life energy, seeping out from the cracks of the heavy wooden door.

This energy was more than ten times stronger than in the refectory, carrying a fishy smell like fermentation in the depths of a biological chamber.

Bai Jin suppressed the discomfort in her heart and pushed open the door directly.
The scene in the center of the quiet room made Bai Jin’s pupils shrink.

The huge, dark-red cocoon was still throbbing, like a heart.

On its surface, those faint, dark-red runes formed a net of blood-red thorn vines, a ferocious web of flesh and blood.

Through the translucent membrane, one could clearly see the small silhouette of Lilith’s body tightly entangled by those writhing runes.

“Our Lord’s power is strengthening the brand of the contract, eliminating those strange powers of the God-Burying Society.”

Abraham’s cold voice sounded at the door, as if explaining to Bai Jin.

“This is the deepest grace and protection of the Holy Blood for its believers. When the ritual is complete, Her Highness will obtain a true eternal new life!”

“You call this a new life?”
Bai Jin’s voice suddenly rose, filled with a suppressed anger.

“Imprisoning her without her will, and even calling it a grace!”
Bai Jin didn’t know why, but seeing the scene before her, a surge of anger welled up in her heart.

“How can the will of mortals understand the great work of the gods? The will of the Holy Blood is the truth.”

Abraham glanced at Bai Jin faintly, his tone fanatical.

“Her Holiness the Saintess will eventually obtain the supreme…”

“Shut up!”
Bai Jin interrupted sharply.
All her reason and scruples were burned to ashes by the raging fire of anger at this moment.

She rushed directly to the throbbing cocoon and roared at the depths entangled by the thorny runes, “Lilith! Hold on! I’m here!”

“What are you doing?!”
Abraham questioned, taking a few steps forward and grabbing Bai Jin’s shoulder directly.

Bai Jin shook him off, freeing herself from Abraham’s hand.
Then, without a single hesitation, her right hand, with a resolute force, pressed heavily on the surface of the cocoon.

Deep within her soul, the dormant authority 『Reversal』 was ignited by an unprecedented will!

Target: The flesh-and-blood cage contract before her!

Buzz—!

The throbbing cocoon, as if being tightly squeezed by a force, its dark-red flesh and blood gradually dissolved.

And the deeper, dark-red runes, as if encountering their absolute natural enemy, their light instantly dimmed.

The writhing, blood-red thorns broke inch by inch, like burnt paper, eventually dissipating into a thick blood mist in the quiet room.

This was the purest life force, the power coveted by countless Holy Blood believers, and it just dissipated into the air.

“Crack! Crackle!”

The cocoon, having lost the support of life force and runes, disintegrated physically, emitting a sound of being overwhelmed, and cracked open from where Bai Jin’s palm was pressing.

Viscous, dark-red tissue fluid gushed out like filthy blood.
The cracks spread rapidly, like a broken eggshell.

Abraham’s face was grim.
When he saw Bai Jin use this power again, he realized it was too late.

Bai Jin reached directly into the cracked gap and grabbed a hand covered in slimy mucus.

Bai Jin’s consciousness was forcibly dragged in.
Before her was a roiling ocean of blood plasma.

Countless glowing tentacles, condensed from the faith of fervent believers, like the deadly poisonous tentacles of a deep-sea monster, were frantically transmitting something into the depths of Lilith’s soul!

The ends of the tentacles were like suction cups, greedily sucking her various negative emotions, and using them as nutrients, dragging her into the abyss of damnation disguised by a twisted holy hymn!

“Get lost!”
Bai Jin’s consciousness let out a sharp cry in the void.

She turned into a silver meteor, going against the current in the blood-red ocean, and crashed into that net without a second thought.

With Bai Jin’s will, all the faith tentacles twisted and withered crazily, turning into a pure source of power.

Bai Jin broke through layer after layer of obstacles and finally touched Lilith’s soul.

In the center of the sea of flowers, Lilith opened her eyes in a daze.
The scene before her left her stunned for a moment.

Even more unbelievably, the space in the distance shattered out of thin air, and a figure rushed out from it!

Lilith’s eyes widened, tears streaming out, and she rushed towards that figure.

‘It can’t be wrong. The soul carrying deep pain, the contract that links them…’

‘That figure is her sister!’

Bai Jin’s consciousness opened its formless arms, with an unprecedented firmness, and held Lilith tightly in her embrace.

Her whisper penetrated the clamor of the Holy Blood’s will and the noise of the believers’ hymns, “It’s alright… I’m here… I’ll take you away…”

Roar—!!!

The will of the Holy Blood let out a roar of being completely enraged!
The remaining crimson light in the entire consciousness space drilled out from the shattered void!

With an irresistible destructive power, it tried to completely crush Bai Jin and drag her back into the eternal sea of blood.

“Don’t even think about it!”

All the ribbons surrounding 『Reversal』 were absorbed, and a power sufficient to subvert everything was released from it!

All the power belonging to the Holy Blood in the consciousness space was dispelled.
Only the Contract of Fate embedded in Lilith’s soul could not be shaken.

“Pfft—”

With a viscous, tearing sound, the small, naked body, wrapped in a dark-red tissue like a broken afterbirth, was completely pulled out from the filthy, foul-smelling cocoon by Bai Jin.

The cold, slimy, and intensely bloody body fell into her arms, not too heavy, like a soft feather.

Lilith’s golden eyelashes trembled violently, stained with a few drops of turbid liquid.
After struggling a few times, she finally slowly opened them.

A faint light struggled to condense in the depths of her unfocused pupils, finally locking firmly on the face right in front of her.

The two of them looked at each other, speechless.

“…So dirty.”
Lilith’s voice was muffled, her tone awkward, even with a hint of disgust.

But the arms she wrapped around Bai Jin’s neck tightened slightly.

Like a drowning person who had long given up hope, at the last moment of sinking, she had grasped the only hope, and would never let go again, even in death.