The Darkness Temple was pitch-black, so dark you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. Erin took out her bone staff and waved it. Bone insects shimmering with white light flapped their wings and flew around, illuminating the area for her.

The space the bone insects could light up was limited. Erin squinted for a long time before realizing she was surrounded by many statues, much like the Darkness Temple she had visited before.

The only difference was that names were carved into the bases of the statues.

“God of Fire, Beast God, God of Wind…” Erin looked at them one by one, then shook her head, uninterested. She pulled Little Fur Ball along, searching for the location of the two statues from her memory.

The Dark Key in her hand and the one Noah had were both found in the same place. Erin was curious about who the two statues depicted.

She led Little Fur Ball out through a side door behind the throne. Whether five thousand years ago or five thousand years later, the Darkness Temple hadn’t changed at all. Relying on her memory, Erin made several twists and turns before finally finding the place.

Unlike the statues of gods displayed in the main hall, these two were much smaller, and their placement indicated they did not hold the same status as the “gods.”

Back in the forbidden area of Witch City, Erin had felt that these two statues were different from those of the gods. But Noah and the other red-robed witches had been too agitated, giving her no time to think, single-mindedly focused on obtaining the Dark Key.

Erin let go of Little Fur Ball’s hand and walked toward the nearest statue. She bent down to observe it carefully, her hand tracing the carved name as she thoughtfully read it aloud, “Blood Demon…”

She frowned, then turned to the other one, stroking her chin as she read, “Wolf Fang…”

“These don’t sound like the names of gods,” Erin said, tilting her head back. In the faint light of the bone insects, the entire statue of Wolf Fang, clad in a gray robe, came into view. She froze for a moment, then subconsciously turned to look at Little Fur Ball.

Little Fur Ball was standing right behind Erin, also looking up at the statue. Sensing Erin’s gaze, she lowered her head and stared back at her blankly.

Erin glanced at the statue, then at Little Fur Ball. She reached out and pulled the hood up over Little Fur Ball’s head, her eyes widening bit by bit. “You… you look just like the statue!”

Except for the hands, there was almost no difference.

Little Fur Ball looked down at Erin’s hand pointing at her, then reached out, grabbed it, and enveloped it in her palm. She opened her mouth, signaling that she wanted to eat an E Leaf.

Erin: “…”

Forget it. Even if she looks like the statue, it just means Little Fur Ball might have a name, Wolf Fang. She’s too dazed and clumsy to communicate with anyway.

Erin sighed in resignation, took out a handful of E Leaves, and gave them to Little Fur Ball to eat. Then she went back to studying the two statues.

Wolf Fang, who had been observing Erin from behind, saw that she had finally noticed the connection between the statue and Little Fur Ball. She straightened up slightly, wanting to hear Erin’s thoughts. However, to her surprise, Erin was only astonished for a second before casting the thought aside and starting to study something else.

Wolf Fang: “…”

She remained silent for a moment, then expressionlessly walked over to Little Fur Ball, snatched the E Leaves from her hand, and gathered a ball of gray energy in her palm. Wolf Fang tried to probe Little Fur Ball’s memories.

This was the other half of her soul. Unless absolutely necessary, Wolf Fang was unwilling to use this method to probe memories; a mistake could easily injure the soul-form.

With her E Leaves snatched away, Little Fur Ball froze for a second, then her expression darkened. She raised a hand and seized Wolf Fang’s wrist, her gray eyes staring straight at her, now less vacant and more profound.

Wolf Fang was stunned for an instant. Then, a flood of memories poured into her mind, every single one featuring the little witch beside them. Feelings of closeness, dependence, and affection forced their way into her heart, making her pull her hand back as if electrocuted.

Little Fur Ball was only lucid for a few seconds. After Wolf Fang pulled her hand back, she returned to her dazed state.

“Huh, this array…” Erin crouched down, looking at the familiar patterns carved on the floor, and muttered to herself, “So this array already existed back then.”

“But it’s already incomplete now…”

Erin’s voice snapped Wolf Fang back to her senses. She appeared behind Erin in a flash. The thought that her own soul-form held this person in such high regard filled her with incredibly complex emotions.

Wolf Fang’s gaze passed over Erin’s head to the incomplete array on the floor. Perhaps Little Fur Ball had a deep impression of this array, because Wolf Fang easily found the related memories.

She quickly scanned through them, her eyes widening slightly, showing a strong emotional fluctuation for the first time.

…This person can actually repair this array? Wolf Fang tilted her head, her hand emerging from her gray robe and reaching for Erin’s shoulder.

However, before her hand could touch Erin’s shoulder, the surrounding darkness was suddenly replaced by green flames. A cage emanating black energy descended from above, heading straight for Erin.

Erin’s heart jumped when she saw the flames. She scrambled to her feet and dodged to the side. The cage above seemed to have a mind of its own, pursuing her, but when it was a meter away, Wolf Fang raised a hand and crushed it.

Little Fur Ball’s premonition for danger was quite strong. The moment the flames appeared, she was already in front of Erin, shielding her.

Figures emerged from the flames, nearly a thousand of them, densely surrounding the small area. They silently raised their bone staffs and began to chant soundlessly.

The power of darkness stirred, and the green flames began to leap arrogantly, like a ferocious beast staring intently at Erin, wanting to swallow her whole.

A red mist floated in the air, smugly observing the scene below. The gods had never bothered to cultivate followers. She was a general of the Dark God, but in the age of gods, she had always been the one taking the hits. Commanding a group like this to do her bidding was an experience she’d never had. No wonder the God Race descendants developed believers under the banner of the Light Goddess; this feeling of holding power was exceptionally wonderful.

With thousands of Black Witches chanting in unison, Erin’s face instantly turned pale. She gripped Little Fur Ball’s sleeve tightly, bit her lip, and whispered, “Don’t worry about me. You should run.”

“We can’t beat them…”

Little Fur Ball remained blankly unresponsive. Wolf Fang’s eyes flickered. She tilted her head to stare at Erin for a moment, then slightly raised her palm. A fierce gust of wind extinguished the flames, sending the chanting Black Witches stumbling and forcing them to stop.

A blood moon suddenly appeared overhead, illuminating the darkness. Gray mist began to rise from the exotic beasts carved on the stone pillars to either side.

The beasts slowly opened their eyes. They leaped from the stone pillars, stretched their bodies, and stared intently at the Black Witches with their gray eyes.

The Black Witches grew restless at this strange development but quickly regained their composure, turning their bone staffs from Erin to the beasts.

“Damn it, damn it.” The red mist slowly condensed into a human form. She stomped her feet in the air at Wolf Fang below. “Are you insane, Wolf Fang?”

“Who gave you permission to awaken the temple’s guardian beasts?”

Wolf Fang floated in the air, facing Blood Demon. Her voice was cold and tinged with displeasure. “What are you doing?”

“I’m going to kill that witch, not your soul-form,” Blood Demon glared at her angrily. “Why are you stopping me?”

“Why do you want to kill her?”

“Do I need a reason to kill a lowly human?”

“Of course you need a reason,” Wolf Fang said expressionlessly, crossing her arms. “Because you know that witch is from the future, and that one day in the future, she will release the other half of my soul.”

Little Fur Ball’s memories weren’t extensive, but they were enough for Wolf Fang to deduce that they didn’t belong here.

And judging by Blood Demon’s reaction, her analysis was definitely correct.

Blood Demon was jealous by nature. Knowing that Wolf Fang’s seal would one day be broken, she would surely do anything to stop it.

“So what if I do?” Blood Demon sneered. “As long as I kill her now, she can forget about taking your soul-form back with her, and you can give up on ever breaking your seal.”

She took a step forward, a long spear appearing in her palm. “I’ve sacrificed so much to break my seal. Why do you get to have someone break yours for you without paying any price?”

“My soul-form is about to dissipate anyway, so what’s there left for me to lose?” The moment Blood Demon finished speaking, she had already thrown the spear in her hand, which shot toward Erin like a bolt of lightning.

Wolf Fang’s figure vanished. A gray mist coiled around the spear and tossed it into the air. The Black Witches were focused on dealing with the beasts, and they couldn’t see the figures of Wolf Fang and Blood Demon fighting in the sky.

None of the scrolls on her could be used. Erin hid behind Little Fur Ball, waving her bone staff to summon a few skeletons, but they were quickly burned to ash by the flames. Her meager dark magic was no match for the Black Witches of five thousand years ago.

The Black Witches remembered that their target was Erin. After a portion of them engaged the beasts, the rest continued their assault on Erin and Little Fur Ball.

A cold, bony hand suddenly grabbed her ankle. Startled, Erin looked down and swung her bone staff. Wisps of black energy wrapped around the hand, but they couldn’t crush it.

The ground beneath her feet began to soften. Erin struggled, but it only made her sink deeper. Little Fur Ball sensed Erin’s anxiety and turned to help her, but someone else was faster.

A petite, black-robed witch appeared out of thin air beside Erin. She first surveyed the surroundings, then waved her bone staff to help Erin break free from the bony hand in the ground.

“You’re Erin Anderson?” Chelsea looked Erin up and down and asked coolly.

Erin nodded blankly. “You… how do you know my name?”

“Grace sent me to save you.” Realizing she had found the right person, Chelsea took out a prepared scroll, unfurling it as she muttered, “…What madness have the Garcia witches gotten into now.”

Once the scroll was unfurled, a black vortex appeared before them. Chelsea pulled Erin into it. Though petite, she was surprisingly strong. Erin was forced into the vortex, and she quickly turned to grab the rushing Little Fur Ball, pulling her in as well. The three of them vanished in an instant.

Stepping out of the vortex, the cacophony immediately vanished. The silence was so abrupt that Erin found it unsettling. She tightened her grip on Little Fur Ball’s hand and turned to look for Chelsea.

“I’m over here,” Chelsea said, appearing out of nowhere on Erin’s right. She spoke while sizing up Little Fur Ball.

Chelsea didn’t seem like a Garcia witch. Remembering what she had just said, Erin asked nervously, “You just said Grace…”

“Your companion is waiting for you in the Blood Domain.” The more Chelsea looked at Little Fur Ball, the more familiar she seemed. She frowned, pointed at Little Fur Ball, and asked, “Is this your companion too?”

“Grace only told me to save you. She didn’t mention a second person.”

“She’s not… ah, no…” Erin scratched her head, finding Little Fur Ball’s identity difficult to explain. “She’s my pet, but she didn’t look like this before.”

Chelsea had been to the Darkness Temple before and had seen the statues of Blood Demon and Wolf Fang. After staring at Little Fur Ball for a moment, she spoke slowly, “Wolf Fang.”

Her tone was one of certainty, not a question.

Unaware that Chelsea had successfully rescued Erin, Tang Qiu, Cynthia, and the others were still outside the Blood Domain, attacking its barrier with light magic.

The Blood Domain’s barrier was extraordinarily strong; even God’s Light couldn’t shatter it. Round after round of light magic was hurled at the Blood Domain, causing the ground to tremble even outside, yet no vampires came out to investigate.

However, this gave Tang Qiu the perfect opportunity to practice God’s Light.

God’s Light was a “Forbidden Technique” that only the Pope could learn in later eras. Setting aside its power, its incantation alone was several times longer than that of ordinary spells.

Tang Qiu’s memory was quite good, but she still found herself faltering while trying to chant the spell.

Fortunately, Cynthia was by her side. She had created all these light spells, so no one understood their core principles better than she did.

“You should try to control the power of light with your will, not with incantations.” Cynthia took the staff from Tang Qiu’s hand and tapped it lightly. A golden light shot from the tip of the staff toward the Blood Domain, triggering another tremor.

“This can save a lot of time,” Cynthia said, returning the staff to Tang Qiu.

Tang Qiu stroked the staff, pondered for a moment, then shook her head with a smile. “Controlling it with will requires too much time to comprehend.”

She had just observed that several of the priests with Cynthia didn’t use incantations either.

This method had long since disappeared in later eras.

“I can teach you.” Cynthia gave Tang Qiu a gentle smile and said softly, “You’re so clever, you’ll surely understand it quickly.”

As she spoke, she reached out and grasped the middle of the staff, guiding Tang Qiu to feel the surrounding light elements. A faint golden glow enveloped them, creating a small sacred space in this gloomy, dark place.

Tang Qiu was naturally gifted. After Cynthia guided her through the process once, she slowly began to get the hang of it. She lowered her gaze to the Light Crystal on the staff, trying to cast a mid-level light spell without an incantation, when a sudden gust of wind broke her concentration.

The wind came abruptly. Except for Cynthia, Tang Qiu, and the white wolf, everyone else was blown back several steps.

Tang Qiu froze for a moment and turned her head slightly. The withered trees on both sides began to turn green, vines sprouted from the ground and coiled around them, and clusters of small flowers bloomed. The wind blew the petals off, covering the ground in layers.

A pale green figure appeared at the other end of the vines. She was tall and curvaceous, with a slender waist and long legs. Her slightly curled, pale green hair swayed below her hips as she walked. Olivia strode across the carpet of flowers, her pale green eyes sweeping over Cynthia and the others before finally resting on Tang Qiu. She looked her up and down. “What are you doing?”

Cynthia subtly withdrew her hand from the staff. Seeing Olivia, the smile on her face became much more genuine. She said softly, “What brings you here?”

“The Light Crystal was gone, so I followed its aura here.” Olivia glanced at the staff in Tang Qiu’s hand, her tone icy. “I was wondering which bold thief had stolen it. Turns out Pope Cynthia took it back just to give it to someone else.”

Tang Qiu twirled the staff in her hand, her gaze shifting between Cynthia and Olivia. Just as she was wondering whether to help Cynthia explain, the white wolf, which had been sleeping nearby, quietly came up behind her, tugged at the hem of her clothes, and began dragging her aside, whispering, “Let’s go, quickly. Be careful you don’t get caught in the crossfire if they start fighting.”

Tang Qiu: “…”

The legendary Elf Queen Olivia wasn’t supposed to have such a bad temper, was she?