Truth Mastery

The voice in her mind brought Yu Lingye's unfocused gaze back into focus, the confusion in her eyes replaced by bone-chilling malice.

She abruptly lowered her head and saw a dark red stitch of flesh and blood appear around her wrist.

The stitch crawled upward across her skin like a living thing, like steel needles brutally tearing open the identity that belonged to "Yu Lingye."

The pure white world began to peel away and fade in great swaths.

Yu Lingye lowered her head, her ink-black hair falling to her waist as an almost demonic crimson bloodlust surged bit by bit from the depths of her eyes.

The surrounding threads wove a black, exquisite gown around her, and she became the witch Isolde once more.

She slowly raised her head. The corners of her lips stretched exaggeratedly outward across her pale, delicate face, forming an utterly unhinged, terrifying smile.

The pure white, sacred Unicorn before her began to develop countless spiderweb-like cracks across its body as the core of the illusion was forcibly torn apart by the witch's will.

Its golden eyes flickered incessantly as a mechanical sound, like jammed gears, came from its mouth:

"...Th-this is impossible... No one can reject... Heaven's... redemption..."

"Redemption?"

Isolde murmured, curling the fingers of her right hand in an empty grasp as countless silver threads gathered and twisted around her hand.

In the blink of an eye, they condensed into a sharp spear formed from Soul Threads in her palm.

Heavy killing intent and an obsession that would never be extinguished thundered along the spear.

She stared at the Unicorn, white to the point of falsehood, and gripped the spear in reverse.

"Pain will never submit to hypocritical redemption. Only revenge is the sole truth of blood and fire!"

[You have comprehended the exclusive skill: Truth Mastery]

[Skill Description: You can condense Soul Threads into any weapon, dealing both soul-level and physical damage to targets. The weapon's form is influenced by personal will.]

[At last, you understand that truth never waits for mercy. It rests only in the hands of those with enough courage to use their wounds to expose evil.]

As her words fell, the spear tore through the air.

A dazzling streak of silver light violently pierced the Unicorn's sacred illusion.

The world's mirage was ripped apart, and gentle prayers shattered into screams.

The faces of her companions split open one by one. Black, filthy matter surged into the sky, while the clean grassland collapsed, exposing layer upon layer of beast bones.

Amid this world-ending scene of destruction, a sharp pain shot through Isolde's palm.

The mark that had originally belonged to Unicorn's Last Wish reappeared, even clearer than before.

A lonely blue light burst from her palm.

Then, a Moon-Crowned Unicorn, its entire body in ruins and carrying the mournful cry of wind and snow, appeared before her.

It looked utterly bedraggled. Its horn was broken, its coat stained with blood, and red fluid flowed from every wound on its body.

The Unicorn let out a mournful whimper and lowered its shattered back before Isolde.

Without the slightest disgust, Isolde reached out and pressed her palm to its forehead. As the world shook around them, she said,

"Don't lower your head. You are not a sacrifice upon the Holy Court's altar, nor are you some sacred beast that willingly offered itself up in their stories."

"Your pain is real. Your hatred is real too. No one has the right to forgive anyone on your behalf."

"You only need to remember the pain those sins brought you. We'll collect the rest of the debt together."

The Unicorn's body shuddered violently. Then, it raised its head with extreme slowness, yet absolute resolve.

In those hollow blue eyes, countless blood-red shadows seemed to turn and surge wildly in that instant.

Everything around them had completely become ruins. Endless black tides roared in from every direction, trying to drown the woman and beast in the depths of this unknown underground place.

Without hesitation, Isolde vaulted onto the Unicorn's bloodstained back.

The Unicorn reared up and raised its head, unleashing an enraged neigh that resounded through the soul at the false sky.

"Go! Let's crush them!"

The ruined Unicorn shot forward, turning into blue light as it tore and rammed wildly through the cracks left by the collapsing illusion.

Wherever the surging blue light passed, the incoming black tide was forced back for a moment.

Yet those black, filthy things seemed to be living creatures. In the blink of an eye, they lunged from both sides again, trying to use the most malicious force possible to stitch the collapsing illusion back together.

Isolde lowered her body, gripping the Unicorn's mane with one hand while releasing silver threads with the other to shred the black shadows rushing at them.

In the depths of the darkness, blurred human faces began to emerge in twisted forms.

Among them were priests in sacred robes wearing compassionate smiles, as well as those sanctimonious players she had seen in memories of her past life.

All of them had been dyed a filthy ink-black, yet their mouths opened wide in exaggerated unison. Hundreds upon hundreds of voices overlapped, rumbling endlessly like a curse:

"Stop."

"Let go of your hatred."

"Turn back."

"You've already done enough."

The final sentence was even spoken in her own voice.

"You dare disgust me with my own voice?"

Her wrist flicked, and silver threads slashed horizontally. Several black shadows ahead were instantly cut in half at the waist.

Yet after splitting apart, the shadows did not disperse. Instead, as if enraged, more slender arms reached out from their tears, densely grasping toward the Unicorn and her.

"Strangulation!"

The silver threads suddenly tightened, ripping off those black hands all at once.

But even more black shadows had already blocked the way ahead, layered atop one another like a writhing wall, sealing off their only escape route.

The black tide had caught up from behind, while the bone-covered ground on both sides was collapsing. If they failed to break through now, she and the Unicorn would both be swallowed by this void.

Isolde stared at the wall of black shadows rising ever higher before her and suddenly sensed that something was wrong.

Those shadows were not simply blocking their path. They were protecting something.

She suddenly looked up. High above the shadows, there was a faintly visible translucent arc, like an enormous barrier suspended at the end of the entire illusion.

Isolde's breathing deepened. Her fingers abruptly clenched, and every silver Soul Thread scattered through the void reeled back at once, twisting and reforming in her palm.

Her blood boiled, and her obsession burned.

Those formerly fragile silver-white Soul Threads condensed once more into the shape of a spear.

The Unicorn seemed to sense her intent. It drove its broken horn into the black shadows charging at them and accelerated into another fierce rush.

Isolde straightened up, her long black hair whipping chaotically in the gale raised by the black tide.

She fixed her gaze on the barrier high above, magic power swirling around [Truth Mastery], and hurled it with all her strength.

"Break for me—!"

The moonlit spear in her hand, carrying the weight of an entire world, violently stabbed toward the lofty illusion barrier.