They had backed the right person, but earned no rits from it. Including Bobo, the ragtag troops from Mudmouth Town all began to grow anxious, worrying that once they settled into Riftscar City, Lady Witch would ruthlessly cast them aside and leave them as nothing more than ordinary foot soldiers among the city’s many rank-and-file troops.
Fortunately, that worry lasted only until the next morning.
In the great hall of the city lord’s manor in Riftscar City, Yvette personally assigned them the task of establishing the first official temple of the Silver Witch. That included everything from selecting the site, clearing it, and preparing its construction to recruiting the first batch of believers, all under their overall responsibility.
Naturally, this was an enormous blessing. The process might be troubleso, but to beco clergy for the grand temple of a place like Riftscar City was already a complete reversal of fate for those country bumpkins from Mudmouth Town. It excited them even more than being rewarded with a “divine weapon.”
After assigning tasks to Bobo and the others in the city lord’s hall, Yvette looked at the fla demon Logro beside her and asked, “Which god does Riftscar City worship?”
It was not a question that should have needed asking, because everyone knew that the Abyssal Continent had only one faith, and that was the Demon God. As for those righteous gods of the Eastern Continent at the divine-realm level, their strength here should only be on par with the Seven Demon Generals.
Still, thinking about that gaze from the sky, Yvette guessed that there might be beings here other than the Demon God who had mastered faith magic, like the Eldritch Gods that lurked in the shadows on the Eastern Continent.
“Of course, the Demon God, Lady Witch,” said Logro.
Then he paused for several seconds, as though suddenly enlightened, and hurriedly added, “Of course, from this day on, all the people of Riftscar City will also devote themselves faithfully to the great Silver Witch. Your will shall be this land’s direction.”
Clearly, Logro had misunderstood Yvette’s aning. Yvette did not explain and instead asked, “Where is the Demon God’s temple in Riftscar City? Take there.”
“Yes. Please co with .”
A little over ten minutes later, under Logro’s guidance, Yvette arrived in front of an old black building within the city.
Its condition looked dreadful. Large sections of the walls had already been damaged, and the gray-black stone surface was covered in the marks of wind and rain. Only through its unusually tall and tiworn facade, where traces of exquisite carvings could still be seen, could one vaguely glimpse that it must once have possessed a remarkably magnificent past.
“This is the Temple of the Demon God? Why is it so rundown?” Yvette asked.
“Because… it isn’t used very often, Lady Witch,” Logro said calmly. “Usually, the residents only co here when soone is getting married or soone has died, so a priest can preside over a ceremony. Under normal circumstances, almost no one cos here specifically to pray or make offerings, so the forr city lord rarely allocated funds for repairs. As long as it didn’t collapse and could still host simple rites, that was enough.”
Riftscar City’s faith is awfully casual… Is it because there are no other religions on the Western Continent?
Yvette nodded and said nothing more. Then she crossed the overgrown weeds with Logro, entered the dim temple, and saw the divine statue at the far end.
This was Yvette’s first ti seeing a statue of the Demon God. It had a humanoid form, but with many arms and legs. The place where its facial features should have been was completely blank and smooth, giving it a strange, inhuman feel.
A thought stirred in her mind, and invisible spiritual fragnts imdiately slipped soundlessly into the interior of the statue. After a careful inspection, she indeed found what appeared to be a device for collecting faith-elent at the statue’s core, with a structure similar to a holy water bottle. But instead of making Yvette feel that things were normal, it made her expression turn strange, because she discovered that this faith-elent collection device, similar to a holy water bottle, had already been damaged. The magic circuits on it were dim and lightless, covered in tiny cracks, and had completely lost their function. The bottle itself was empty as well, with nothing inside.
Judging from the simple traces of residual mana and the degree of material wear, the device had been damaged for at least a hundred years, perhaps even far longer.
What did that an?
The faith collector inside the Demon God’s statue had been broken for so long, and no clergy under the Demon God had co to repair it?
Yvette felt sowhat disappointed. Her original plan had been to co here directly and communicate with the Demon God itself through the statue. If there was anything to say or any cooperation to discuss, she could have handled it remotely and spared herself a great deal of trouble.
But now, with the statue of the Demon God in Riftscar City having been broken for over a hundred years without repair, it was clearly impossible to contact anything through it. Was she supposed to start believing in the Demon God and attract its attention through devout prayer? Though that was indeed one of the most direct thods, in her situation… it was very difficult for her to beco genuinely devout toward the Demon God. And if her devotion was not strong enough, then the odds of drawing the Demon God’s notice would be even lower.
And so, having gained none of what she had hoped for, Yvette left with a trace of regret.
After leaving that abandoned Temple of the Demon God, and with nothing else to do for the mont, Yvette told Logro to return and handle the city’s affairs, while she herself turned alone into a small tavern in the city that looked fairly busy and echoed with noisy chatter.
She found an inconspicuous seat in the corner, cast a spell to hide her form, then relaxed and prepared to see whether there was any information here worth gathering.
Just like middle-aged n everywhere in the world, the demonfolk in the tavern also loved discussing affairs of the world under the influence of alcohol.
So it was not long before she heard many people talking about the three great royal courts currently stirring up the continent’s political winds, and, naturally enough, placing the Abyssal Court in the unanimously acknowledged first position among the three.
That was a perfectly normal trend of public opinion. After the demon angel descended upon Demon King City and announced that the Night Demon King would be stripped of his throne, the Night Demon King and his subordinate, the current Demon Marshal Ignis, vanished together under mysterious circumstances. That left the title of strongest powerhouse on the Western Continent to Surian Sigurd, the First Demon General.
And as it happened, the First Demon General belonged to the Abyssal Court and was the Lord of the Abyss’s greatest supporter, so naturally the people of the Abyssal Court were full of confidence in the future.
Of course, the Burning Blood Court and the White Night Court were not weak either, but they were definitely no match for the Abyssal Court. So at present, the Burning Blood Court and the White Night Court had to cooperate if they wanted any hope of survival.
Why does this sound so much like Romance of the Three Kingdoms… Yvette thought.
Ti passed quickly. By the ti Yvette stepped out of the tavern, the sky had already grown dim. The last afterglow of the setting sun pierced through the pale yellow mist above the canyon and fell across the city’s uneven rooftops, stretching the shadows into long, narrow, razor-sharp black lines.
She headed toward the city lord’s manor, but before she had taken more than two steps, she saw an arrow suddenly shoot toward her position at high speed.
Yvette reached out and caught the arrow, then saw that a letter was tied to it. She opened it and found that it gave only a ti and address, on a certain mountain peak outside the city, with nothing else ntioned.
Yvette did not fully understand what this ant. An invitation? A trap? But to be able to deliver this letter so precisely into the hands of her, just after she had co outside and while she was invisible, ant that the sender’s level and control over the surrounding area were at least at the divine realm. In that case, there was no harm in going to have a look.
Deep at night, the mountain region outside Riftscar City was shrouded in even thicker mist than usual, and visibility was pitifully low.
After leaving the city alone, Yvette arrived at a steep mountain peak. This was the location marked in the letter from that afternoon. The surroundings were silent, and when she looked down, she could see the boundless sea of fog below, making it feel as though she had arrived high above the clouds. Then she noticed that within the shadows at the summit, a gigantic figure clad in armor seed to have been waiting there for quite so ti.
“This junior, Surian Sigurd, greets Senior Silver Witch.”
When he saw Yvette appear, the massive figure turned around, gave her a slight bow, and spoke in a low, clear voice.
“Surian…” Yvette repeated the na, then said in surprise, “You’re that First Demon General?”
The abyss demon, or rather Surian, nodded frankly. “Yes, Senior.”
“What do you want with ?” Yvette asked.
“I have co to apprehend you, Senior,” said Surian.
“Apprehend ?” Yvette froze slightly, not understanding what he ant, especially since this abyss demon looked tall and massively built, yet was unexpectedly respectful toward his elders.
“Your existence will beco an obstacle to our plans, so I am sorry, but I have no choice.”
As soon as he finished speaking, like a sudden violent storm, a low hum and countless berserk streaks of purple lightning spread outward with Surian at the center, extending for at least several kiloters and dyeing the entire world in a hazy, dangerous deep violet.
Clearly, a lightning field of such scale, ford in an instant, could never be achieved through ordinary magic or divine arts. It could only be the manifestation of a divine-realm powerhouse projecting his own divine realm outward and overlaying it onto real space, sothing commonly seen in battles at the divine-realm level.
Yvette blinked, utterly confused about what was going on. Why had he suddenly started fighting her? He had not explained the reason clearly at all.
But since her opponent had already struck first, she naturally had no choice but to fight back. At worst, she could ask questions after the fight was over. Besides, during her sparring sessions with Tertia, she had also created so sub-divine realms specifically ant to assist in combat. This was the perfect ti to test their effects.
Yet just as she was about to project one of her own combat divine realms outward, the subtle sensation of being watched that she had felt yesterday when facing Grus the Nightmare suddenly appeared again.
And this ti, it was hundreds of tis stronger and clearer.
Yvette imdiately raised her head and saw a massive crack split open in the middle of the sky, made bizarre by the reflection of the purple sea of lightning, like an opening eye.
But inside the fissure was not an eyeball. Instead, it was a patchwork of countless strange geographic features woven together, like a fleeting glimpse of another bizarre and motley world.
Then, an enormous pressure from nowhere suddenly descended upon her.
Yvette’s expression imdiately turned serious. She discovered that although this mysterious pressure caused no actual harm, it could suppress the outward projection of her divine realm.
That was equivalent to reducing a divine-realm powerhouse to an Archmage.
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