The dream world.
Inside an abandoned city.
Thud!
A humanoid monster with three heads collapsed to the ground. Its flesh melted like flowing water, streaming endlessly in one direction.
In a shadowy corner, Lin raised her hand, dressed in a black trench coat, and began to extract its essence.
At last, great pools of blood condensed into a single drop of Crimson essence and fell into her hand.
When she was done, Lin immediately slipped into the darkness and disappeared.
By then, several mutants had finally arrived...
"The Crimson path is dangerous... No... every path of spiritual awakening is dangerous..."
A dark-red puddle kept moving through the cracks in the corridor.
Lin's thoughts drifted. She thought of the Black Sun Cult, and of Aike, who had grown more and more unfamiliar since joining them.
"The Black Sun Cult is the same... Aike... has that entity corrupted him?"
It had to be said: in recent days, the little girl had truly grown up, and her occult knowledge had continued to expand.
Every path of spirituality had a source!
When mortals traced a path back to its source, they were naturally influenced and tainted by it!
This wasn't even something those sources did intentionally. It was simply the change and transformation they brought about naturally, penetrating body and mind!
"Only the Spirit of Void... can purify this kind of corruption... What... kind of path does that deity follow?"
The crimson form Lin had become seeped through a gap beneath the door and entered a sealed room.
The room seemed to have once been a storage closet. It had now been cleared out, and a permanent altar had been built inside from candles, ritual implements, obsidian...
Rustle!
The crimson surged and took the shape of a little girl.
She looked a little taller than before. Now, she lit the candles with reverence and began to pray:
"Spirit of Unknown Void, who wanders beyond the unknown..."
"Absolute Neutral Entity..."
"Silent Observer..."
"Your believer prays to you, asking you to open the gates of your realm and send down your radiance... I ask you to purify my body and soul, and accept the offering I present to you!"
As she performed the ritual, Lin placed the day's spoils—the drop of Crimson essence—upon the altar.
She had prayed and performed this ritual many times, but not every attempt had earned a response from that being.
This time, however, things were different.
Whoosh!
The candles blazed fiercely, and countless visions emerged.
Sounds beyond mortal comprehension reached Lin's ears. She saw countless balls of light floating in the air, forming a gate at their center.
With a sound that shook her soul, the gate swung open, and boundless light spilled out.
The light enveloped the offering, which vanished in an instant.
"Thank you for accepting my offering," Lin said in delighted surprise. This was the first time the Spirit of Void had accepted one, which meant it was pleased.
"Mm... Your offering is good this time..."
Aaron stood before Lin, speaking calmly.
Since he couldn't receive prayers and rituals from very far away, he had followed Lin for a while and had her establish a fixed altar as a point of contact.
That way, whenever Lin prayed there and he was present, they could connect again.
As for the times when Aaron was logged off or exploring somewhere else?
There really was nothing he could do.
But that was normal. After all, what deity answered every prayer?
It was perfectly normal for a god not to respond to prayers, wasn't it?
By comparison, Aaron was already quite conscientious.
If Lin tried often enough, she'd eventually catch him when he was there.
Now, holding the drop of Crimson essence, he felt a different power flow into his body. His eyes shifted. "Looks like having her try offering spiritual essence last time had some effect..."
"Could the power offered by believers through rituals and sacrifices be useful to me?"
As Aaron savored the item he had received as an offering, comparing it with his own mystical units, his expression suddenly changed. He sensed that this sliver of Crimson spirituality had disappeared.
"No... It hasn't disappeared. It's..."
Aaron could hardly wait to return to reality and see what had changed. His heart was pounding with excitement.
But he forced himself to hold back. His only believer was still praying; if he left now, he'd be out of luck next time.
"My lord... I want to rescue my brother. I beg for your protection and help. I'll do my best to offer you even more sacrifices..."
Below, Lin pleaded.
She knew that rescuing her brother wouldn't be enough. Aike had been corrupted by the Black Sun Cult, just as she had once been. Perhaps his condition was a little better, but not by much.
Only with the Spirit of Void's purification could he regain his reason and his true personality!
And the Black Sun Cult was a formidable enemy, so the rescue had to be approved by her lord.
"Rescue him? How am I supposed to do that?"
Listening to her prayer, Aaron grumbled to himself. "I'm just a nobody of a spirit. Without the connection from the ritual, I can't even affect you... How am I supposed to fight the Black Sun Cult?"
After thinking it over, he followed the ritual's mysterious connection and spoke directly into Lin's mind: "The time has not yet come!"
Well, if there was something he couldn't manage, he could always blame fate.
It wasn't that he wouldn't save him. The time simply hadn't come.
And after a while, Aike might be dead. Then there'd be no need to save him.
"My lord..."
Lin bit her lip, then suddenly said, "I'm too weak..."
She hadn't expected such a great being to personally intervene on behalf of an insignificant mortal, so she blamed herself instead. "My power is still too weak, but I ask you to grant me permission to establish a cult devoted to you!"
She wanted to grow stronger. Besides strengthening herself, she could also bring others in!
'A cult? I don't even know what paths I can open...'
'Still, I can have Lin recruit people. I'll take anyone, no matter their path...'
Aaron was happy to see it happen.
He was still pretty useless, but he did have one ability: he could drive away the corruption of those terrifying entities.
'The extraordinary beings of this world are too easily corrupted and influenced by higher beings... I can help them stay rational... With that advantage, I can bring extraordinary beings from any path into my fold, and get more Secret Lore and knowledge along the way...'
With that in mind, Aaron said simply, "Agreed!"
Then he severed the connection of his own accord, logged off, and returned to the real world to eagerly test a few of his theories.
"All glory to my lord!"
Sensing that her lord had left, Lin ended her prayer and departed respectfully.
To her, this place was her lord's sanctuary—and perhaps the future headquarters of the cult.
"Oh no... I forgot to ask my lord what the new cult should be called... And what image and symbol he prefers..."
Lin grimaced. "But my lord probably doesn't care about such small things... Even the altar is crude, with no statue or special markings..."
After a moment, she made up her mind. "My lord is the only light in the apocalypse. The new cult will be called the Light of Redemption!"
Before you continue