The basement of Yarlin's villa.
The Chrysalis of the End and the people from the Red Apple Church had gathered here.
The sofa and table in the center had already been moved away. Complex, profound, irregular patterns had been drawn in blood on the wooden floor. Nine severed fingers had been fixed to the ground on either side of the formation as candles, flames burning on their fingertips.
A vessel cast entirely from skulls was filled with transparent Sunset Chrysanthemum Dew.
It dripped down slowly, pattering onto the prayer formation and mingling with the blood. It looked as though the entire formation was slowly writhing.
They were performing a ritual of the highest order, praying to Lady Dimness.
Three members of the Chrysalis of the End's secret cult, dressed in red, knelt prostrate on the ground, continually chanting Lady Dimness's deeds and honorific names.
An unknown amount of time passed.
An invisible gust extinguished all the finger candles at once.
Wisps of smoke rose as the prayers abruptly stopped, and the surroundings fell deathly silent.
At the very front of the Red Apple Church's contingent stood a tall, slender man, with waist-length red hair and sharply defined features.
It was none other than Grand Bishop Rafa.
He had already completed his avatar's descent into Gallup's body and was calmly watching the formation in the darkness.
Blood began seeping continuously from the patterns on the floor until it filled the entire circular formation.
A blurred female silhouette then slowly emerged from the bubbling pool of blood.
Everyone immediately fell prostrate in unison, including the Red Apple Church's monks.
They lowered their heads, not daring to look directly at the deity.
Only Rafa merely lowered his eyes slightly.
He bowed to the figure in the pool of blood and said in a