The Situation

Rhine City, Holy Fire Cathedral.

This was a complex of Gothic architecture, named for the sculpture of a roaring torch that crowned the cathedral's roof.

Rhine City was the most important diocese of the Church of the Lord of Flame in the Faruk Kingdom, and the man in charge of cathedral affairs was Cardinal Flandre McLean.

Flandre was currently speaking in the conference room, with the bishops of the surrounding dioceses seated on either side of him.

His tone was heavy: "When the stars align, R'lyeh shall rise from the seabed, and the Great Old Ones will return to the world. Though we may be loath to admit it, the words of the cultists speak a truth."

"One hundred and sixty-three years ago, the Red Moon reappeared. With the subsequent surge in the world's Spirit Plane, gray, dense fog began to permeate the center of the Endless Sea. Even with the scorching sun overhead, visibility remained poor. When night fell, this fog became pervasive, spreading outward without cease."

"The Pope has sent word that gray fog has begun to fill the Aegean Sea as well. It is winter now, and the winds blow south; otherwise, the fog would have reached the Northern Continent by the Month of Sprouting. Even so, our situation is far from optimistic. We have less than half a year to prepare."

"The situation is dire. The Sanctuary Project is officially initiated."

"We must notify every church before the gray fog spreads completely. Bishops, do you have any other questions?"

Seeing that no one spoke, Flandre waved his hand: "Return and prepare, everyone. May the Lord of Flame be with us."

"May the Lord of Flame be with us."

Once all the bishops had departed, Flandre allowed a look of exhaustion to show.

The more one knew, the more one understood the kind of monsters they were currently facing.

The secret scriptures of the Church recorded the reality of the previous epoch.

Those Great Old Ones were evil gods who sowed fear and madness, the most famous among them being Cthulhu, who lurked in the city of R'lyeh.

These evil gods spread terror through dreams, twisting the souls of men; the more spiritually sensitive a creature was, the more they could perceive that insanity.

Currently, one only felt those evil dreams during the night of the Red Moon, but once the gray fog fully permeated the world, one would have to face that despair every single day.

Once the evil gods fully awakened, mortals would fall into madness and be transformed into evil thralls the moment they laid eyes on their true forms. Even transcendents could not remain exposed within the gray fog.

The scriptures recorded that the evil gods were defeated and sealed by the gods, but much of that was embellishment; only a small portion had actually been sealed.

After the Red Moon departed, the concentration of spirituality in the world receded. Such an environment lowered the biological activity of the evil gods, causing them to fall into a deep slumber, much like frogs hibernating through the winter.

They had not been defeated; they had simply found a place to sleep.

R'lyeh was the largest city built by the Great Old Ones, and other small cities of the evil gods were scattered across the world.

As the concentration of spirituality in the world continued to rise, these cities would all reappear in the mortal realm, and an indescribable terror was about to descend in full.

If not for the fact that the various churches had cooperated fully after the arrival of the Red Moon to develop methods to combat the gray fog, humanity would likely be shivering in various sanctuaries, praying in despair, just as they had in the previous epoch.

Andes Mountains, Sunset Peak.

This was the second-highest peak in the mountain range, situated at the westernmost edge of the cluster. Further west lay a cliff thousands of feet high.

If one were to look down from above, they would see the snow on the peak gradually melting away, revealing a fortress built of massive green stones.

The architecture here was bizarre, entirely inconsistent with human aesthetics, and the spatial structures and dimensions displayed evoked a sense of intense revulsion.

Icy, howling winds whipped through the fortress, but upon entering a certain perimeter, the gale became as docile as a tamed steed, turning gentle.

When the sun reached its zenith, wisps of gray fog rose from the tallest building in the fortress.

Riding the gentle wind, the gray fog flew out of the castle.

The wind grew stronger, the gray fog grew thinner, and finally, it dissipated completely into the air, leaving not a trace behind.

Kraun sat in his chair with his eyes closed, his consciousness drifting into that wondrous space he had named the Sea of Consciousness.

In the conical flask of the Time Hourglass, the Time Sand had accumulated to half its volume.

Inside the crystal ball, the silver Moon Dew was nearly overflowing, and the golden Sunfire Liquid had accumulated to one-third capacity. These were the materials for crafting Heart-Clearing Talismans and Golden Light Talismans.

As his consciousness returned to his body, Kraun pondered that it was time to put the crafting of Daoist talismans on his schedule.

If the Sunfire Liquid and Moon Dew overflowed, his visualization would no longer produce new materials, which would be a waste.

The paper for the talismans required special preparation: eggshells had to be washed clean with distilled water, then dried and ground into a fine powder.

He took the white, clean parts of straw and ground them into powder as well.

Using egg whites, he kneaded the eggshell powder and straw powder together, placed the mixture into a prepared mold, spread it to a thickness of about one millimeter, and then clamped the mold shut, weighing it down for three days.

Once the talisman paper was ready, it had to be dried under the sun and moonlight, respectively.

The paper dried under the sun was used for Golden Light Talismans, while the paper dried under the moonlight was used for Heart-Clearing Talismans.

Because he had been diligently grinding his proficiency in the Golden Light Incantation, he had no need for Daoist talismans and had not wasted time crafting them.

Now that the Moon Dew in the Sea of Consciousness was overflowing, he had no choice but to craft some.

The materials for the talisman paper were common, and he soon had everything prepared, crafting a sheet of paper about one square meter in size.

After finishing the paper, Kraun hurried toward the cathedral.

At the cathedral, Nick's room had gained a guest.

"Old friend, the church you're in charge of is a bit too humble, isn't it?" A priest with fair skin and gentle eyes surveyed the room's furnishings, shaking his head slightly.

"Hamfa, even in the most arduous places, our kind must hold fast to the glory of the Lord of Flame."

"Spare me that, old friend. There's no need to give me that official jargon. We've known each other since we were selected as Exorcist Priest apprentices; I know you better than that."

Nick swept his gaze toward the window for a moment and shook his head. "I've been an Exorcist Priest for seven or eight years now, and it's been nearly four years since I became the priest of this church. When I first arrived in this desolate little place, of course, there was resentment."

"But now, I'm thirty, and I've let it go. The Bishop has his arrangements. If he keeps delaying in assigning me an assistant, then I'll train one myself. It's better to rely on oneself than to beg others."

Hamfa stared at the wisps of gray hair on his old friend's forehead and his resolute gaze, a sense of injustice flashing through his heart.

His old friend had been one of the top students in their class of Exorcist Priests upon graduation, yet he had been assigned to the worst possible location and denied a Crusader Order assistant for years. These years must have been incredibly difficult for him.

"What kind of look is that? Pity?" Nick laughed heartily. "You have the identity and promotion materials I requested for Kraun, don't you?"

"I do," Hamfa nodded. "Have you been training this young man since the moment you arrived here? It must have cost you quite a bit of effort and money."