Blood Moon and New Moon

"The lost gate shall finally open. When the stars fall into the cradle of flesh, may Your kingdom swallow this false light—"

Atop the Sacred Tree, the ritual had reached its climax. The Driders slaughtered one another, and the victors raised their blood-soaked hands, offering fervent prayers.

Those prayers were filled with fanaticism and devotion. Every word was cried with all their strength, as though they wished to tear out their hearts, hold them high, and offer them to the loving Mother Goddess.

Some even tore open their own throats, risking death on the spot as they desperately shouted until their blood ran dry.

At last, Seron sounded the final horn. Spreading his eight grotesque limbs, he cried out:

"Great Eight-Armed Mother Goddess, Weaver of Chaos! Decay is the sacred mark You have bestowed upon us, slaughter is Your most devout prayer. In the name of the Blood Moon, I beseech Your descent—"

"We shall walk toward immortality beneath Your gaze!"

As the Driders cried out, that cruel female laughter grew clearer and clearer, like a whisper breathed beside everyone's ears.

The full moon in the sky became ever more crimson. Blood-colored moonlight cast an eerie glow over the entire world, making it seem like a bizarre new world stained red with blood.

Accompanied by incomparable pressure, the enormous spider shadow upon the Blood Moon began to move slowly. At last, it transformed into a streak of black light and shot toward the ground.

No, more precisely—

It shot into Fariti's corpse, hanging from the top of the Sacred Tree.

"No—"

"Gods, what is this?"

"Why do I have the urge to kill my comrades and sacrifice them to the gods? This feeling... could it be that an Evil God has descended?"

People gradually came to their senses, only to