"There are only us now, Overseer," Iris said. "What do you want to tell me?"
Iris sighed and grasped onto her Cloak of Destiny Obscurity, pulling up the hood. The short blue dress strapped to her silhouette morphed into a long, flowy cloak. Her air gained a hint of mystery in them.
Looking at Iris, the Overseer pointed at the gate Iris just came through. It collapsed into streaks of electricity. The Safe Zone returned to silence while the Overseer and Iris stood in front of each other.
They observed the other, and while doing so, letting the other observe them.
"Iris, it is time for you to answer my question," the Overseer said. "What are they to you?"
"What will do you if I’m their successor?" Iris smiled. “Who do you think is the puppeteer?”
The Overseer trembled as the realisation drowned his mind. He looked at Iris, but this time, his eyes weren't as confident as before. Within the depth of his mechanical dullness, terror emerged. It was the terror beyond comprehension, one which rivalled the downfall of the civilization.
"Are you an Otherworlder, an immature Foreign Existence?" Overseer frowned. "Impossible. How can such a young Foreign Existence exist? How did you avoid the detection of Fate?"
Iris remained still, but her mind was racing. It was one of the rare chances of gaining knowledge of those behind the curtain of the world. Though the Overseer barely qualified as a participant, it was good enough for Iris, an insignificant Transformation Phase Monster Girl.
This much won't do. He must know more than this.
"Why is it impossible? Is this body not the proof that I’ve gained Lilith's grace, that she was the one who concealed my existence?" Iris raised her hands. Her slime body glowed in dark purple light. Her Corruption Power surged around the Shadow Heart Core. "Many said that I, a Monster Girl, am the bane of the Divine, for my nature corrupts absolutely. Still, the Faith in my soul does not lie."
Aside from the dark purple light, holy radiance manifested around her fingertips, coiling along with her hands. The air of corruption and holiness mixed and separated, crashing, annihilating, adapting. They gradually stabilised into another kind of air, an otherworldly, inconceivable air.
The Overseer didn't say anything, but his hands faintly shook.
"This Faith, it's strange," he said. "It's powerful, unimaginably powerful, yet it's also weak, diluted. Who is the originator of such Faith?"
"Who do you think?"
Light flashed, and before Iris could react, the Overseer had already moved to stand in front of her, leaning forwards, looking at the ray of holiness closely. His massive silhouette towered over Iris. Though she didn't need to breathe, the pressure still suffocated her.
"My database has the information of all Ancient Deities who roamed the world during our era, yet I found no matching presences." The Overseer touched the holy radiance. "It is unlikely that there will be new emergences of the Ancient Deities. Either this is an artificial Faith, or it is from a hidden one."
"Is the answer to that question really necessary? I'll ask you again, Overseer. What will you do now that you know my origin?"
The Overseer drew back his hand and stepped away from Iris. Though Iris was weak, her background was not. Unlike his civilisation, the Divine had placed their very best effort to annihilate the Foreign Existences, yet no attempt had succeeded.
Until this day, the influence of the Foreign Existences enveloped the world.
He, the Overseer, was falling, yet the Foreign Existences, even older than his civilisations, would continue to exist.
Is that the definition of perpetuity, the true peak of this world?
"I must complete my mission, even if you're a Foreign Existence." The Overseer placed his hands on his chest. "The continuation of my civilisation is at stake. I cannot let this last chance slip away. Your identity won’t change anything.”
Above Iris, streaks of lightning fell. They merged into a cage of electricity. As the electricity closed in, Iris stabbed her core, but the Overseer was faster and restrained her movement.
The dagger in her hands crumbled as the electricity infested Iris, shocking her mind, numbing her body. She could not move nor shapeshift. Even thinking became difficult as the electricity destroyed her thoughts.
"What . . . is your plan?" Iris murmured. "Do you think that this weak body and this tainted soul will help you achieve your goal?"
"What did you do to Lady Quasi?" The Overseer raised his hands. The Safe Zone split open, revealing an endless depth. The two started to descend. "Why did she betray us? Why did she choose to help you instead of the imperial family, which saved her!"
Iris wanted to say that she also didn't know the truth, but she had to keep her calm. Now is not the time.
"Because your plan is destined for failure. As the last Destiny Devourer, she is most proud of her ability to peer into the future, to look at Destiny in the eye and steal its secrets." Iris sneered. "Your civilisation has delayed the inevitable for far too long. It’s time to rest."
"Impossible." The Overseer laughed. "If we try hard enough, if we never give up, we will eventually stand at the top of the world. What Destiny? What Fate? They are merely constraints put on us by the Divine!"
"If it were that easy, how could you fall to this extend?" Iris snickered. "Even the imperial family at its peak failed to defy Fate; what makes you think that this time it will be different?"
"This time, we'll have the body unshackled by Destiny, untouched by Fate."
Iris reflected on the conversation. The Overseer also stopped talking. The two descended down the blackness of the void until they arrived at the deepest part of the Puppeteer Legacy Ground.
Passing through a rift in space, they landed in the throne room, where the mystical necklace floated inside, supplying the emergency energy to sustain the Legacy Ground.
"This is where everything will end," the Overseer said. "Though Lady Quasi erased the Mark of the Imperium off of your body, you are still the best vessel for his resurrection."
The throne room trembled as countless complex formations manifested around Iris. The electricity and milky white energy from the necklace gathered, condensed, and flowed into the formations.
Floating atop the throne, Iris looked around. Her gaze landed on herself, then on the Overseer, and the necklace. She didn't speak, but her mind was still marching, waiting. Despite the pain, she remained quiet.
...
Even inside Carefree Reflection Chamber, Undrila could not contend against the Golden Cardinal of Virtue. The power of the ocean surged around her, creating torrents of water that covered the sky. It created a rainstorm around her, but it could not harm the Golden Cardinal.
With a book and a quill in his hands, the Golden Cardinal lightly gestured, tracing the black ink on the air, creating a few characters. They glowed and exuded rays of holy light, turning into the brilliant stars atop the sky.
The two powers crashed. The ocean could not compare to the vastness of the sky. The magical stars radiated endless heat and vapourised the torrents into mists. No matter what Undrila did, the Golden Cardinal could effortlessly draw a few more characters and nullify her advantage.
For reasons unknown, the Golden Cardinal rarely take on the offence and let Undrila attack him ceaselessly. He was waiting for something. It was the same for her too; she had to hold on until Corane and the other Monster Girls returned.
"Golden Cardinal, why did you come here?" Undrila said, panting. “Can the force in the Abyssal Plane hold on without you?”
Beneath the material plane existed the Abyssal Plane, where the Demons and the Fallen roamed. Before the Monster Girls existed, the Demons were the archenemy of the Pure Races. Even after the Monster Girls came into being, the Pure Races and the Demons never ceased their endless battles.
The Golden Cardinal was one of the Cardinals who supervised the stronghold within the Abyssal Plane.
"My Goddesses have decreed that I shall participate in the Crusade.” The Golden Cardinal opened his book. A few sentences of the holy scripture floated out of the pages and compressed into a silhouette covered in golden light. "The battles against the Demons can wait, but the Shadow Heart Fragment in your hand cannot."
Undrila bit her lips. I have to keep him here as long as possible. If he knows Corane has the Fragment, he'll hunt her!
Under Undrila’s command, Carefree Reflection Chamber glowed. Its golden, pretty appearance exuded an invisible aura, which filled her with clarity, healing her fatigue, boosting her Corruption Power. If not for it, she would have already exhausted herself.
The difference between their power was too vast. The Golden Cardinal was merely a silver away from the Solidification Phase, while Undrila was still at the early stage of the Condensation Phase.
The figure covered in holy light shot towards Carefree Reflection Chamber, creating sonic booms that toppled the trees below it. In its hands, blazing flames congregated into a pair of swords, which flung towards the Chamber, sending tremor throughout its structure.
Undrila could feel the vibration that threatened to collapse the Chamber. She waved her hand. The Chamber turned translucent and dazzling. On its mirror-like surface, an image of the holy silhouette emerged. It moved in the same manner as the real one and struck the real one, generating the same attack back at its originator.
The silhouette tried to block, but a ray of light shot from Undrila and pierced it, occupying its thoughts, dulling its senses.
The blade sliced through the silhouette, splitting it in half.
"Your Artefact House is commendable, Undrila," the Golden Cardinal said. "If you were with Corane, I wouldn’t be able to dominate the fight."
"Then why are you stalling? Do you want to fight all of us at once?"
"I'm waiting for this moment." The Golden Cardinal pointed at the Labyrinth of Love. "I haven't once fought against the Broken Empire, so I wish to see how strong they truly are."
"What—" A terrible premonition erupted as Undrila rushed forwards, but countless symbols manifested around her and blocked her path.
The Golden Cardinal finally used his full power. The quill in his hand stabbed through the air, creating a perfect dot. It moved through space towards the depth of the Labyrinth, into the Main City Layer, where the teleportation formation was.
At the same time, Iris's clone shuddered as she was about to step into teleportation formation. She turned around and saw a tiny, insignificant dot of light moving towards her.
Despite the distance between them, Iris still saw it. Despite the weak appearance it had, she still sensed it. Despite never seeing it before, she still knew its objective.
She was going to die.
