Whenever she had a spare moment, Cynthia would use the Power of Light to help restore Olivia’s body. Olivia, who had previously suffered from severe mental exhaustion, had now recovered significantly, and the power of her spells had returned to its proper level.

The sea of fire raged with a ferocity that threatened to burn everything to ash, and even the surrounding air seemed to ignite. But Avira and Kate, who had been engulfed, had vanished at some point. A cold, sinister Power of Darkness crept in silently, and in an instant, the sea of fire was blanketed by darkness. The flames disappeared, and the surroundings were once again plunged into blackness.

But soon, the darkness was dispelled by specks of golden light, revealing the master of the dark power to Cynthia. Cynthia stroked the Light Crystal in her hand, her golden eyes fixed on Avira. She raised an eyebrow and said with a smile, “Is Elder Avira preparing to tear up our alliance agreement?”

“You never mentioned there was a Second Generation elder from the Gangrel clan here before we came to Tallas.”

As she spoke, her gaze shifted slightly to the white cat perched on Avira’s shoulder, licking its fur. The cat sensed Cynthia’s stare, looked up, and deliberately licked its fangs at her.

“A misunderstanding.” Avira reached up and swept the white cat off her shoulder, then proactively withdrew her Power of Darkness. “I didn’t expect her to be here either.”

She paused for a moment before continuing, “Pay her no mind. She won’t help the Lasombra destroy the temple.”

The white cat did a roll on the ground before leaping back onto Avira’s shoulder. Its crimson eyes darted between Cynthia and Avira. “You’re allied with the God Race?” it asked in a strange tone.

She knew Avira had left the Blood Domain to deal with the Lasombra and Tzimisce rebellion, but she didn’t know she had been consorting with Cynthia all this time.

“You expect me to handle the traitors of two clans by myself? Don’t I need a helper?” Avira glanced at Kate, secretly exchanging a look with her.

Kate narrowed her eyes, turned, and lay down on Avira’s shoulder, as docile as a real cat.

Olivia had only ever believed a fraction of what Avira said, and now that a Second Generation Gangrel was with her, that fraction had just been cut in half. Olivia snorted coldly, her pale green eyes looking even colder than the night. “If this happens again, there’s no need to speak of an alliance.”

This vampire was taking advantage of their concern for the Sitatul Continent’s safety, using them to clean up her own clan’s traitors.

Once the Lasombra and Tzimisce were driven back to the Blood Domain, her sights would once again fall upon the God Race, the Elves, or the Wolf Race. The moment she felt threatened, she would absolutely turn on them and attack.

Vampires were cold and ruthless even to their own kind; how could they possibly be expected to honor something like integrity with other races?

“It would be better to have fewer of these ‘misunderstandings’.” Cynthia looked down, fiddling with her Light Crystal. She subtly leaned toward Olivia, gently bumping her shoulder. When Olivia turned to look, Cynthia pretended she had done nothing, raised her head to face Avira, and said in a deadpan tone, “The God Race doesn’t have the formidable physique of the Vampires. Being approached by a Second Generation Vampire gave me quite a scare.”

Cynthia’s words left Kate, who had been idly playing with her paws, utterly speechless.

It was indeed a terrifying thing for a member of the God Race to be approached by a Second Generation Vampire, but that definitely did not include Cynthia. On the contrary, it was Kate who had gotten the bigger scare by getting close to her.

How could this God Race member say such a thing with a straight face? Kate’s gaze remained fixed on Cynthia’s face, a new flicker of interest in this God Race member kindling within her.

Having dealt with Cynthia for some time, Avira understood her personality quite well and almost instantly grasped the meaning behind her words. She was silent for a moment, then pursed her lips, unfastened the chain from the white cat, and tossed it to Cynthia. “My apologies for frightening you,” she said with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “This is a gift to make amends.”

Cynthia caught the chain and examined it with a slight smile. “Thank you,” she said softly. “This gift has done a wonderful job of soothing my frightened heart.”

“It seems our alliance can remain stable for a while longer.”

Edeli had released Kate, even at the cost of enduring Cynthia’s Light Magic attacks, because he wanted her to deal with Cynthia and the Elf Queen. Even if she couldn’t kill them, she was at least supposed to drive them out of Tallas. But the great battle he had anticipated never happened. The moment Kate’s Blood Domain vanished, the expression on his face froze.

The Light Fire trapping him clashed with the Power of Darkness he released. Ultimately, without reinforcement, the former slowly weakened. The instant the Light Fire died down, Edeli darted out. Without even glancing toward the golden light erupting where Kate was, he grabbed several nearby vampires to block the incoming arrows and began to retreat from the battlefield, attempting to escape.

But his plan was ultimately foiled. An invisible domain suddenly descended, enveloping him. Giant white wolves rushed in from all directions, surrounding him. The wolf pack stared at him intently, their sky-blue eyes burning with fury as they let out threatening growls.

Edeli’s body stiffened, and he slowly came to a halt, his deathly pale face growing even uglier.

A tall, slender figure emerged from among the white wolves. She looked small compared to the giant beasts, and though her face was pale, she looked much better than Edeli. Flanked by the white wolves, Helen walked up to Edeli. The white gauze covering her eyes seemed to hide all her emotions. She faced him, the corners of her lips turning up slightly, as if in reminiscence. “I told you that one day, you would fall into my hands.”

When the Wolf Race was at the height of its power under her leadership, she had been ambushed, and Edeli had been one of the participants. She had uttered that threat back then with rage and hatred, her voice hoarse and hysterical.

Now, she spoke the words with perfect calm, but… the hatred had not diminished one bit.

Helen raised a hand and patted the neck of a white wolf beside her. The wolf let out a low growl, and upon receiving the command, the pack surrounding Edeli pounced ferociously.

Helen stepped back with a blank expression, lightly stroking the white gauze over her eyes. Her emotions stirred for a moment before quickly calming down.

A figure ran out from the darkness. A Wolf Race warrior, who had been sent to scout the surrounding area, came to Helen’s side and reported respectfully, “We found many bodies of Sethite wizards in a valley not far from Tallas.”

“Bodies?” Helen was taken aback. She frowned and asked, “Can you tell who did it from the wounds?”

The wolf warrior thought for a moment before replying uncertainly, “The bodies mostly have knife wounds, and there’s a lingering dark aura in the valley.”

But the Sethite wizards also used the Power of Darkness, and there were no traces of spells in the valley, so it was difficult to determine who the lingering dark aura belonged to. The knife wounds, however, were definitely not related to the Vampires.

Helen pondered for a moment, then said in a low voice, “Go see what’s happening with Cynthia and Olivia. If they’re finished, tell them about the Sethite wizards.”

The wolf warrior nodded and replied softly, “Yes.”

Knife wounds… Helen only knew that the human knights used longswords as weapons, but Cynthia hadn’t brought the knight squadrons with them when they left the Slade Sea Region.

These Sethite wizards had clearly fled from Tallas, yet they had been killed without causing any commotion… Who could the perpetrators be?

Avira’s appearance had “prevented” a major battle. After seeing Avira, Kate obediently clung to her, completely ignoring the Lasombra vampires being killed or captured.

Even when the chain that suppressed her Power of Darkness was used on Edeli, she merely shook her head in disgust, showing no intention of saving him.

Betrayal always came at a price. There were many clans among the Vampires, and each clan had no shortage of Second Generation members. The death of a few was of no consequence. If it had been Talia who was captured here, they would certainly have intervened to save her, but the other vampires weren’t so lucky.

After all, even though they were all Second Generation Vampires, there were still class distinctions among them. It was clear that Edeli’s status wasn’t high enough; whether he lived or died made little difference.

“Let’s take Edeli back to the God Race. There are some things I want to ask him,” Cynthia said to Helen, glancing at the half-dead Edeli.

The God Race’s innate abilities would allow them to learn many things from Edeli’s mind, such as… the matter with Joanna. With Edeli’s memories as evidence, Joanna would be unable to argue her way out of it, no matter how composed she was.

Helen knew what Cynthia meant, but she surprisingly declined. “I need to take Edeli back to the Wolf Race first to handle some matters. Once I’m done, I’ll have him sent to the God Race.”

It seemed Helen didn’t want outsiders involved in Joanna’s affair. Cynthia turned and exchanged a look with Olivia, then slowly nodded. “Since Clan Leader Helen has need of him, then take Edeli back to the Wolf Race. We can learn some things from Avira, so there’s no need to trouble you with sending Edeli to the God Race.”

Helen faced Cynthia’s direction and smiled, nodding her head.

“If he’s not going to the God Race, then send him to the Elf Territory,” Olivia said expressionlessly. “I still haven’t found the person who coveted the Tree of Life during the attack on the elves.”

She was closer to Helen, so she didn’t need to use the same platitudes as Cynthia. Although whether Joanna had colluded with the Vampires was an internal matter for the Wolf Race, it concerned the Tree of Life, and Olivia could not let it go.

Perhaps having anticipated Olivia’s reaction, Helen’s smile was a bit helpless. “Rest assured, I will give you a satisfactory explanation.” She reached out and patted Olivia’s shoulder reassuringly. “Let me handle it first, alright?”

Olivia glanced at her, pursed her lips, but said nothing more.

“Let’s go see what the situation is with those Sethite wizards,” Helen said, naturally changing the subject when she saw Olivia’s attitude soften. “Their deaths are a bit strange.”

“The bodies are almost all covered in knife wounds, and there are no traces of spells in the valley.” Helen turned, gesturing for Cynthia and Olivia to follow her, and repeated the suspicious points. She frowned. “These Sethite wizards haven’t been dead for long. At that time, we were in the temple dealing with the dark magic formation and didn’t sense any fluctuations from a battle.”

“Knife wounds…” Cynthia’s brow slowly furrowed as she thought of something. “Were they daggers?”

Helen turned to face her. “Daggers?” she asked.

“There’s a family of witches that likes to use daggers.” Cynthia thought of the Anderson Family witches, and the smile on her face faded slightly. “During the time the Elf Territory was attacked, the witches were also attacked by the Sethite wizards and suffered heavy casualties.”

“If their casualties were that heavy, then it couldn’t have been the witches,” Helen said. Although she didn’t know as much about the witches as Cynthia, she had a general idea of their strength. “A large number of Sethite wizards were killed. It’s impossible for the witches to have killed them in such a short time and left without a single trace.”

The witches didn’t have that kind of power.