While Zhao Si was locked in fierce combat with Alecto and Asimi, Godrick and Helena might as well have been on vacation.
The two sneaked into the two-story building. It was called two stories, but the division between the first and second floors was not particularly clear.
A large sphere sat in the very center of the first-floor hall.
Behind the pitch-black sphere was a ramp leading to the second floor. The second floor had been built around the sphere as an open platform, with a stone pedestal in the middle, against the wall and facing the sphere. A Great Rune rested on it.
This time, the cup was about the size of an ordinary wineglass.
Godrick and Helena had only pushed the door open a crack and squeezed through the gap.
They tried not to make any obvious noise, then hid behind a pillar as soon as they entered and secretly observed.
Inside, they could see Nox Monks carrying Flowing Hammers, Nox Swordstresses carrying Flowing Swords, and Night Witches kneeling before the large black sphere.
The Night Witches dressed much like the Nox Swordstresses, in armor paired with white silk. The difference was the Twin Crowns on their heads.
The Twin Crowns had two cones, like upright cat ears, draped in white silk that covered their eyes.
They knelt on the ground with their hands clasped at their chests, heads lowered as they murmured. They seemed quite devout in their prayers.
To still have such steadfast faith in this age, when the starry sky could not be seen and the Goddess of Night had long since departed, was truly rare.
But such faith was meaningless. No matter how many tens of thousands of times they prayed, what did not exist simply did not exist.
Something that did not exist