Camilla had no idea how long she knelt there in that false world with her back to the light, repeating the same thing over and over again without end. All she knew was how Kagriss’s remains were getting a bit stronger every time she fed it. Feeling the tiny increases in strength was like an addiction and she found herself looking forward to each increase. It was like she was watching Kagriss grow up.

As the moment of panic passed and Camilla could think again, she realized that Kagriss had said something about orbs before—orbs and cores.

The little orb was the center of Kagriss’s being. Unlike Camilla who was a zombie knight, Kagriss was a lich. Her entire existence was confined into a single tiny orb whereas Camilla’s existence stretched over her entire body.

According to Kagriss, there were pros and cons to both. As a zombie knight, Camilla quickly recovered from any damage to her body, and it was more effective for her to strengthen her body and gain resistance to incoming damage.

A lich was much more fragile, since their bodies were mere shells that contained their orb.

On the other hand, a lich could produce much more powerful magic, and even if their whole body were destroyed, they could still come back as long as their orb was intact. In a sense, a lich’s body was their armor for their orb. That orb was the very same one that Camilla protected with her body.

The initial burst of holy mana wrecked Kagriss’s body beyond repair instantly, but the body did its job, defending the orb until Camilla got to Kagriss, before finally disappearing. If Camilla hadn’t gotten there in time…

Camilla didn’t even want to think about it. She hadn’t paid enough attention to what Kagriss had taught her about undead physiology, but at the last moment, it saved Kagriss.

“It will all be fine…” she muttered to herself as she swallowed another painful sliver of holy mana from her surroundings and turned it into more food for Kagriss. She was drawing power from the very thing that almost killed Kagriss, and then using that power to help Kagriss recover. The irony of it all did not escape her and she laughed at herself.

Once the orb was strong enough that the power within no longer threatened to extinguish at the slightest blow, Camilla relaxed just slightly to turn her attention elsewhere, like that torrent of holy energy that endlessly spilled over her.

Was it truly endless? Or was the mana used to form that devastating ray recaptured and reused? The whole world was fake, so it wouldn’t be strange if this throne room were actually one big formation made to optimize a single spell and power it forever.

Camilla couldn’t tell, because she couldn’t sense anything past the wall of holy mana that covered her on all sides. She gave up and focused on helping Kagriss recover, praying that Kagriss will still be Kagriss once she came back.

She didn’t know what it was that she was praying to, but it was not the Gods of the humans. Maybe her prayers were just something she chanted to help her focus on the task of gathering mana, or maybe it was a distraction for her to stop thinking about the worst-case scenario. Whatever her prayer was meant to accomplish, she prayed.

The words repeating in her mind must have roused some ancient spirit, because a voice boomed through her mind a moment later. She recognized it as the same ancient, sexless voice that had spoken to them outside of the inner gate—the one that sounded like a dozen lesser voices melded together.

“What are you praying about, little one?” the voice asked. There was one lesser voice that dominated the others, standing out from the masses. It was a woman’s voice, gentle and full of honey.

Camilla started at the sound but settled back immediately, not bothering to answer immediately.

The next time the voice spoke, it sounded displeased. There was an edge to it, like a parent scolding a misbehaving child. Camilla could almost hear it frown and tut at all. “Little one, why are you ignoring us?”

“Hmph. It would be more polite to introduce yourself before asking questions, wouldn’t it?” she snapped. “What did you bring us here for anyway? What child of the feathers? What things to claim? It was all just a lie!”

“We do not lie!” the voice said, shocked that she would suggest such a thing. ‘You are a child of the feathers. However, you brought along something foul with you, so we must cleanse her from these grounds first.”

The holy power intensified, and Camilla gritted her teeth from the pain as some of the rampaging holy mana slipped past the barrier. She forced herself to pump more mana into her barrier to keep up.

The voice spoke away, full of curiosity and, at the same time, reprimand. “Why are you protecting that foul creature? Step away. We do not want to hurt you.”

“No!”

“Child, do as we say so that you may claim the key.”

The key. What key? Camilla thought back to the feather ornaments in Victoria’s box. What locks did they open if they were indeed keys?

Although she wanted to see what the key was, there was no way that she would abandon Kagriss for anything. “No way,” she repeated. “You’ll get to her over my dead body. Besides, what makes her any fouler than me?”

“A pointless question. It seems that without being taught a lesson, you will not know your limits and learn to respect your elders,” the voice growled, all traces of gentleness gone and replaced by frigid coldness full of murderous intent. “Since you wish to protect that creature so badly, it will be necessary for you to have a taste of the cost for such brazen behavior.”

This time, Camilla was prepared ahead of time and she empowered her shield seconds before the voice increased the strength of the holy magic once more. Compared to the initial intensity, the power of the spell now was like comparing a river to a stream.

If she did not have that holy affinity to protect her, she might have already turned to ashes. The power was strong enough to kill any of those skeleton knights she once fought in seconds and leave nothing left. As it was, there was enough power breaking through her barrier that she almost thought that she was being burnt alive.

If even her durable, resistant body felt like that, then how must Kagriss feel in her fragile orb?

Camilla tore her chest open and ripped out a handful of flesh before putting Kagriss’s orb in and then healing the wound shut. Deep within her body, no light can reach Kagriss. Until her entire body was reduced to ash, Kagriss would be safe.

“Child, what are you doing?! Why are you using that dark power?”

But after that…

Camilla ignored the voice. It never said anything useful anyway. “I can’t go on like this. I can’t die,” she muttered. “I need more… more…”

She closed her eyes and forced herself to take in ever more amounts of holy mana, capturing it for her own use even as it threatened to burn her from the inside out. Little things like that didn’t matter as long as she could survive for just a minute longer. Every minute that she lives, Kagriss would live.

Was her life hers? It was not. Her life was dedicated to Kagriss’s and every moment she lived from now on, she lived for Kagriss.

Amidst the torrential surge of holy magic, power grew within Camilla without her noticing. For every bit of power that she took in to fuel the barrier and to help Kagriss grow, a little bit more was siphoned off to dissolve the ceiling that had hung over her head, blocking her progress.

The invisible, metaphysical ceiling broke apart at last, letting a tiny bit of power go through, and like a river that found its way through a leak in a dam, the mana within Camilla shattered the rest of the ceiling. Deep within her body, that black orb nestled next to Camilla’s heart began to fiercely pulse fiercely, matching Camilla’s heartbeat.

It was almost like Kagriss was right beside her. Camilla thought she felt her touch, but she reached for Kagriss’s hand, she felt only air. She curled her fingers into a tight fist. “I will protect Kagriss no matter what it takes. I cannot die.”

That moment, the throne room darkened. The light no longer shined as brightly. The torrential holy magic thinned to a small stream, suppressed by the raging undead mana that suddenly filled the room without warning.

The undead mana began to spiral around Camilla, weaving a cocoon around her and forming an impregnable shell layered with holy barriers that simply split the incoming holy magic in two like a boulder in the middle of a stream.

Inside the cocoon, a dense web of mana reached out from Camilla’s unconscious body and attached to the sides of the wall, stringing Camilla up and suspending her in midair. Strands of mana extended from the web and reached back into her body.

At first, there was no movement from Camilla, but Camilla did not remain still for long. Her body…changed.

Her bones lengthened and became harder. Her legs grew longer, as did her hair. The softness of her face gave way to sharper features. New curves that had not existed on her before made her voluptuous and seductive. Her eyes opened, and although they were empty and unseeing, they were sharp nonetheless.

When no more changes came, in place of the tiny girlish figure was a woman almost as tall as Kagriss was, and with a figure almost as sensuous. The webby tendrils retreated back into her and the remaining power within the cocoon poured into the orb next to Camilla’s heart.

The obsidian orb turned a shade of violet the same color as Kagriss’s eyes. A strand of mana reached out from its surface, hovering over Camilla. Almost like something materializing from Camilla’s blood bond, the strand of mana expanded and grew bigger until it formed the shape of a person that was a bit taller than Camilla’s new body.

The wispy darkness solidified and gained color, becoming a woman with violet eyes and long black hair—none other than Kagriss.

She looked around at the cocoon around her and smiled before reaching down and cupping Camilla’s face and bowing down to tasting Camilla’s fuller lips.

“I’m sorry for making you worry,” she whispered, ”and I’m sorry for making you go through all this alone. I should’ve been on my guard…” She trailed off, pursing her mouth in guilt. “But… at least we got something out of it, right? The power to protect each other. Thank you for protecting me.”

She sat down next to Camilla and began to investigate the cocoon that isolated whatever was inside from the outside world. It was the first time that she’d ever seen a cocoon from the inside.

An evolution usually only happens once in an undead’s lifetime, so naturally, the undead would do everything within its power to succeed, even tapping into latent power.

Could Camilla make such a formidable barrier normally? Of course not.

But her body naturally did all it could to ensure a safe environment to evolve. The result was an ephemeral piece of art that stood at the apex of magic. The abnormally powerful barrier bought time for the undead inside to finish evolving and stabilize.

If Kagriss had evolved normally, she’d have her own cocoon and be unconscious. However, while she was sleeping within her core, a sudden influx of power woke her up.  Since her core had been so close when Camilla evolved, she gained a chance to evolve as well. She took it, as well as walking a different path that she just realized existed—one that tied her life to Camilla’s.

As powerful as the cocoon was, nothing was truly indestructible. Eventually, she felt the holy power even through the walls, but before the holy power managed to break through, Camilla stirred, and her eyes opened again.

They focused on Kagriss immediately and widened in shock. As Kagriss worked up a smile, Camilla sat up and lunged toward her, crushing her in a hug, with her mouth opened in a soundless cry.