Just as Ian's figure transformed into a black shadow and rushed towards the temple, a figure in black robes quietly emerged from the shadow of a collapsed clock tower in the northern part of the city.
She was the mysterious Black-robed woman —she had quietly left when the Ghost Bride first appeared, neither hiding with the other members of the Twilight Hermit Society nor being caught up in the initial massacre. Now, she stood at the edge of the ruins, watching Ian's departing figure, a complex emotion flashing in her eyes.
There was amazement, worry, and a glimmer of almost comforting hope.
"High Priestess Karina, the number of wounded in the North District has exceeded two hundred." A young priestess strode in, her linen robes stained with blood and dust. "Our Holy Oil is almost gone."
Priestess Karina's veil fluttered gently in the morning breeze as she watched Ian's figure disappear into the dust and smoke in the direction of the temple. She stood still for a moment, only turning her gaze away when she heard a child sobbing behind her.
Karina didn't answer immediately. She knelt down and gently stroked the hair of a crying little Girl. The child's mother lay beside her, a deep, bone-revealing wound on her leg.
"Use this." Karina took out a delicate blue glass bottle from her bosom, inside which shimmered a silvery liquid. "One drop mixed with ten bowls of water is enough for five hundred people."
The young priest's eyes widened. "This is... the last saint of the temple!"
"Now it is a sacred object for the people." Karina interrupted him, her voice calm but undeniable. She turned to the twelve White Robe priests lined up behind her—her followers whom she had secretly protected, each with a weary yet resolute expression on their face.
" Amun is in charge of the wounded in the West District. Take three men with you," she assigned tasks quickly. " Horus, take two men to clear the survivors from under the collapsed buildings. The rest of you come with me to the granary to distribute bread and water."
The team immediately split up. Karina hurried toward the makeshift aid station in the central square. The scene along the way was heartbreaking—collapsed houses looked like toys crushed by Giant, corpses were scattered on the Street, and the air was filled with the pungent smell of blood and smoke.
"Priestess!" An old woman with a face covered in soot rushed over and grabbed the hem of her robe. "Please, my granddaughter is still in the east room!"
Karina helped the old man up and gave the priest beside her a wink.
The young man immediately understood and led the two strong men toward the eastern district. She herself continued forward, stopping from time to time to check on the injured or comfort the frightened children.
The city has returned to peace, but the people in it have not.
"It's time for us to fulfill the duties we've failed to perform."
The Black-robed woman Karina, raised her hand, her fingertips tracing the air, and a dark red rune appeared in the void, like a signal. Moments later, dozens of dark figures quietly gathered from all parts of the city—they were all dressed in gray-black robes, with a hidden silver hourglass emblem embroidered on their chests; they were the secret followers of the temple that Karina had evacuated and organized in advance.
"We've taken stock of the North District; at least three hundred people are injured, more than fifty are missing, and over sixty buildings have collapsed... The Ghost Bride may have disappeared, but the consequences of this disaster have only just begun."
A believer spoke up.
Karina nodded, her eyes as calm as ice. "I know. Fear, hunger, and pain are the real plague. We must act immediately."
Her view was not wrong in this ancient timeline.
All I saw was...
The black-robed priest raised his hand and waved his hand, issuing the order swiftly.
"First team, proceed to the central square, set up temporary medical tents, and use ' Blood Purification Charm ' and ' Bone Healing Technique ' to treat the injured, prioritizing internal bleeding and Soul Rend syndrome."
"The second team will open the ' Grain Storage Vault ' and distribute the pre-stored dry food, clean water, and blankets to each neighborhood, registering and distributing them to households."
"Third team, organize a search and rescue squad, enter the collapsed building, search for survivors, and use ' Life Resonance Technique ' to detect any faint signs of life."
"Fourth team, seal off a three-mile perimeter around the temple and establish a cordon. No one is allowed to approach; violators will be considered hostile." The woman's order was clear and decisive.
The troops moved swiftly, as if they had rehearsed it a thousand times. Karina personally led the team towards the worst-hit area in the city—the slums of the East District. This was once the hunting grounds where Ghost Bride were most concentrated. Houses had collapsed in large numbers, and broken furniture and bloodstains were scattered on the Street. Many survivors huddled in corners, their eyes vacant, clearly suffering severe soul trauma.
She knelt down, helped up a shivering little Girl, and asked softly, "Are you alright? What's your name?"
The Girl trembled, barely able to speak. Karina raised her hand, a soft silver light gathering in her palm, and gently pressed it against the Girl's forehead. As the silver light seeped in, the Girl's breathing gradually calmed, and her eyes regained their clarity.
"This is a ' Soul Soothing Technique,' which stabilizes the fluctuations of the soul," Karina explained to the young priest beside her. "Many people don't die from physical injuries, but rather their mental anchors are destroyed by the Ghost Bride's ' Death Gaze.' We must first stabilize their 'sense of existence,' otherwise they will gradually forget who they are and eventually become walking corpses."
The young priest nodded and took notes, then asked, "My lord, why were we able to evacuate ahead of time? Why didn't the other branches receive any warning?"
Karina stood up, looked towards the temple, and said in a low voice, "Because I saw the 'Fragment of the Future'."
She raised her hand, and a dark mist gathered at her fingertips. A scene emerged from the mist: Ghost Bride dragging a coffin, priests committing suicide, the city engulfed in flames, and Ian standing atop the clock tower, silver light Cleansweep the entire city.
"Seven days ago, I entered the ' Well of Foresight ' and saw fragments of this disaster. I knew it would happen, but I couldn't determine the timing, scale, or source. All I could do was evacuate the core members, stockpile supplies, and establish an emergency network." She paused, a hint of pain flashing in her eyes.
"But I can't warn everyone. Because if there's a large-scale warning, the temple's ' Faith Monitoring ' system will immediately detect it, which would actually accelerate the awakening of the embryos."
"I have no choice but to remain silent, to sacrifice some to save more," Karina sighed heavily.
The young priest was shocked.
"So... we were 'abandoned'?"
His comprehension skills are clearly impaired.
"No," Karina shook her head, "You are 'protected.' The real sacrifices are those who didn't have time to escape. And our mission is to ensure their sacrifices are not in vain."
Just then, a rescue team member rushed over. "Lady Karina! We've found more than twenty survivors in the basement of the West Wing church! But they're trapped, and the walls could collapse at any moment!"
"Lead the way," Karina ordered immediately.
The group rushed to the church. The entrance to the basement was blocked by a huge rock, but faint cries for help could be heard from inside.
Karina raised her hand, tapped her wand lightly on the ground, and whispered, " Earth Vein Perception."
Her consciousness instantly extended into the earth, sensing the weak points in the wall structure. She quickly drew a diagram of the safe passage and handed it to the engineering priest.
"Use the ' Lightening Charm ' to reduce the pressure from above, then carefully move the rocks using the ' Rock Layer Stripping Technique.' Be slow and avoid triggering a chain reaction of collapses."
The priests obeyed, and three hours later, the passage was finally cleared. Karina entered herself and carried out the weakened civilians one by one. Ignoring her own depleted Magic Power, she continuously cast " Stamina Restoration Technique " and " Mind Soothing Charm " until the last survivor was rescued. Temporary bonfires and magical lamps lit up throughout the city.
The surviving members of the Twilight Hermit Society also joined the rescue effort.
They seemed very familiar with the Black-robed woman, Karina, and worked together seamlessly.
Inside the medical tents, the injured received treatment; at the distribution point, people received food in an orderly manner; the search and rescue team was still on the move, looking for the last survivors.
"You knew this would happen?" A hoarse voice came from behind. Karina turned around and saw Kam of the Twilight Hermit Society helping a companion with a leg injury.
Karina's veil swayed slightly.
"I know more than you think, young man." She gestured for her attendant to take the wounded. "For example, your Hermit Society's underground stronghold in the north of the city should be half-collapsed by now."
It's obvious.
The temple's higher-ups were aware of the existence of the Twilight Hermit Society, and perhaps the higher-ups of the Twilight Hermit Society were as well, but Kam, who was unaware of this, still had a change in expression.
Before he could ask any further questions, a commotion suddenly arose in the distance. Several burly men carried a door panel into the square, on which lay a mangled figure—the fishmonger from the market who always cheated on the weight of the fish.
"Make way! Let the priest see!"
The crowd parted automatically to make way. Karina strode forward and lightly touched the fishmonger's forehead with her fingertips. The dark purple runes beneath her skin glowed faintly, forming a special pattern used for diagnosis.
"Three broken ribs, a perforated lung, and a ruptured liver," she calmly assessed. "Prepare Holy Oil and sutures; I need a quiet place."
The attendants quickly emptied a tent. Karina knelt on a simple straw mat and took out a fine silver knife from her waist. When the blade sliced across the fishmonger's chest, no blood flowed; instead, it emitted a soft blue light.
"This is..." Kam watched in astonishment as the wound healed itself in the light.
"Ancient medicine," Karina said without looking up, "Preserving a history even longer than your Hermit Society."
Outside the tent, the rescue work continued methodically. Members of the Twilight Hermit Society and Karina's priests cooperated seamlessly, a rare sight: some used magic to reinforce the dilapidated buildings, others distributed herbal soup, and still others organized the children to safety. Gradually, the panicked cries turned into hushed conversations.
Occasionally, you can even hear comforting laughter.
Women sat around a makeshift stove, cooking the last remaining grains into a thin porridge; children darted through the ruins, picking up usable shards of pottery; and several elderly craftsmen began repairing broken carts. This ordinary scene of daily life almost created the illusion that the horror of the previous night was just a nightmare.
People thought the disaster was over, and apart from those who had lost family members, most were filled with the joy of surviving. However, Karina stood outside the tent, her knuckles unconsciously rubbing the Sacred Scarab Amulet at her waist. Her gaze toward the temple was heavy as iron—the sky there had taken on a sickly color.
Although the people thought the disaster was over, only the Wizard and priests knew that the crisis had not even begun. The clouds twisted into vortexes, and occasionally a few ominous blue-black flashes of lightning would appear. Even more unsettling was that the sun, which should have been high in the sky, was nowhere to be seen, and only a faint glimmer of light appeared and disappeared on the horizon.
It was as if it was being forcibly suppressed by some force.
The sun should have risen, but it didn't; that's the greatest terror.
"Priest, the wounded in the West District have all been taken care of."
Karina nodded slightly, without turning around. She could smell the strong scent of herbs mixed with blood on the young priest, and hear the suppressed fear in his tired breathing. Everyone tacitly maintained a facade of calm, like birds desperately repairing their nests before a storm.
In the distance, Kam knelt before a row of newly dug pits. Seven bodies covered with white sheets were neatly arranged, the badges of the Twilight Hermit Society lying quietly on each person's chest.
"Dig deeper." Karina appeared behind him unnoticed, her voice as soft as a sigh. "At least three meters, sprinkle with salt and sulfur."
Kam looked up abruptly, his grief instantly replaced by alertness. "Do you know what this is?"
"I know more than you think." Karina took a small cloth bag from her sleeve. "Use this. Treat every single one."
When Kam untied the bag and saw the powder shimmering with blue light inside, his pupils contracted sharply. "This is... the Eye of Ra."
" Tear Powder," Karina interrupted him, "Can purify corrupted Spirit Body. We need to be quick; we don't have much time."
Both of them looked towards the temple. The sky there had grown even darker, and a huge shadow could be vaguely seen forming at the center of the vortex.
Kam suddenly noticed that his palms were glowing—the blue powder they were stained with was resonating with the strange phenomenon on the horizon.
"The sun," he murmured, "If it never rises again."
"That means He succeeded." Karina's runes glowed faintly in the dim light, "Meaning that all life will become an extension of Him, just like..." Her gaze swept over the golden dots on the foreheads of the corpses.
A chill ran down Kam's spine. He suddenly understood the deeper meaning behind the Black-robed woman's words—those Ghost Bride and Corpse Priest were merely transitional forms.
When the true " The Unifier " arrives, even death will be assimilated.
"My lord!" A young priest rushed in, his face flushed with embarrassment. "Three more wounded men with golden spots on their foreheads have been found in the northern district. They're saying strange things."
Karina closed her eyes briefly. When she opened them again, her worries and exhaustion were hidden beneath a mask of calm. "Isolate yourself, and anoint your entire body with the Holy Oil I gave you. Remember, do not look them in the eye."
The young priest accepted the order and left. Kam noticed that as he left, Karina drew an ancient symbol on her chest with her finger.
"You foresaw all this, didn't you?" Kam couldn't help but ask. "Those stockpiled medicines, food, and evacuation plans—you clearly had them prepared long ago."
He had been puzzled by this before, and now, Karina still hadn't given a definite answer. She looked up at the increasingly dark sky, her gaze filled with worry. Suddenly, her body trembled slightly—in the distance, a blue-gold light pierced the vortex like a sharp sword in the darkness!
"My lord," the elderly high priest approached, leaning on his cane, his voice hoarse. He asked cautiously, "Can you see if we still have hope for tomorrow?"
This is a veiled question. In the Ancient Egypt language system, "tomorrow" and "sunrise" share the same root, meaning the question is whether the sun's rays will be permanently lost.
Match the words.
Karina gently stroked the fading runes on her cheek.
Ever since that gray-eyed boy entered her Prophecy vision, all images of the future have become blurred. He is like a stone thrown into the river of Destiny, creating unpredictable ripples.
"I don't know anymore."
She gazed at the blue-gold light that burst forth once again in the distance.
The woman's tone was heavy, and the old priest's expression froze. But the second half of Karina's sentence made everyone who heard it look up:
Therefore, we can only hope that he is our Savior.
As if in response to her words, a bright blue-gold light suddenly shone brightly in the darkness from the direction of the temple, like a newborn sun piercing through the gloom that shrouded the world.
(End of this chapter)