Purification

Seeing that Ryan not only did not flee, but instead blocked the Tower entrance with the "Dawn Sword," the woman in the Gray-White Long Dress immediately had a bad feeling.

She quickly turned the huge scissors, clamped them around her neck, and gently made a cut.

Bright red blood immediately flowed out, accompanied by her sharp cry, as if it had come to life, rapidly flowing up, down, left, and right, covering her entire body.

It was as if the woman had donned a full suit of Blood-Colored Full-Body Armor.

As she did these things, Ryan gripped the "Dawn Sword" upside down with both hands and knelt down on one knee.

With a soft "thud," he plunged the two-handed greatsword formed from condensed light into the stone floor in front of him.

The giant sword then disintegrated, turning into countless points of light like the Dawn.

They were densely packed and countless, forming a shimmering and violent Hurricane that swept forward.

Wherever this Storm of Light passed, the Stone Slab slabs were shaved thin, some steps were smoothed out, and some developed exaggerated cracks. The woman had no time to dodge and was completely swallowed up.

Her Blood-Colored armor held for a second before shattering completely and dissolving into the light.

This time, she left the special environment on the Third Floor and found herself in a place full of life. She could no longer use those pale and transparent faces to move around, and could only watch helplessly as small, Blood-Colored cracks appeared on her body.

The crack expanded rapidly, instantly transforming into a gruesome wound that Cutting open the woman.

As her screams echoed, her body tore into pieces, turning into chunks of flesh. Those chunks of flesh and her spirit continued to be ravaged by the Storm of light until the Hurricane subsided, one becoming even more fragmented, and the other vanishing completely.

Although Ryan tried his best to prevent the "Storm of Light" from affecting other directions, his all-out attack was still insufficient, and he damaged a lot of the side walls and the stairs behind. If Lumian, Lya and Valentine had not found cover in advance as he had instructed, they would all be injured to some extent.

Wow! Wow! Wow!

The children, startled by the bird claws climbing the wall, burst into tears.

This made Lumian and the others' ears ring, as if they were being attacked by noise.

"Go!" Ryan turned around and slammed into the most damaged wall nearby.

With a crash, the wall broke open, and a large number of stones fell down.

There, a large hole appeared that could be crawled Past.

When Valentine and Lumian ran over, Ryan grabbed one of them with each hand, lifted them by the shoulders, and jumped from a height of more than ten meters to a tree outside the Castle.

Bang! While in mid-air, he kicked off a tree, changing his straight descent to a sideways flight, landing far away from the Castle.

Lya jumped out on her own and, using the protrusions on the outer wall of the Castle, quickly descended layer by layer, landing on the ground in just a breath or two.

Amidst the violent shaking of the trees, Ryan, Lumian, and Valentine waited a few seconds for Lya before reuniting with her and running towards the back of the hill, leaving the area the same way they had come before the rest of the servants could catch up.

Less than a minute later, at the Tower entrance, next to the large hole in the hole.

Madame Pualis, dressed in a long, puffy gray-blue Long Dress, stood there expressionless, surveying her surroundings.

The children climbing the wall cried out urgently for their mothers, denouncing the barbarity and brutality of the Outsider.

Madame Pualis remained silent, her face ashen.

In the woods on the side of the Cordou Village.

Lumian and the others stopped and looked back at the Castle.

Just as Lya was about to speak, she suddenly frowned.

"I heard a baby crying, very close!" She turned to Ryan and the others, asking, "Did you hear it?"

Lumian was startled and quickly began to listen carefully.

He could faintly hear the cries of a baby, but it wasn't as close as Lya had described; it seemed quite distant.

"I heard a little," Ryan said truthfully.

Valentine's expression Change slightly, as if he had just thought of something.

Almost simultaneously, a look of Pain appeared on Lya's face, and one hand instinctively pressed against her lower abdomen—where there was obvious bloating and writhing.

Valentine quickly Past, stretched out a hand, and placed it on Lya's head.

Then, in a deep voice, he uttered an Ancient Hermetic Vocabulary Lumian had only recently learned:

"Sun!"

Drops of Golden, translucent liquid materialized out of thin air and sprinkled onto Lya.

Puffs of illusory black smoke rose from Lya's body, her expression shifting between Distortion and normal.

Finally, her lower abdomen shrank back to its original state and stopped moving.

"Phew..." Lya breathed a sigh of relief, "I almost became the Monster's adoptive mother, thankfully it was dealt with in time, before it could take root."

She wore a slight smile, showing no fear or unease despite having just experienced such a bizarre and terrifying event.

After sighing, Lya turned to Lumian, Ryan, and Valentine:

"Would you like to purify yourselves with Holy Water too? I'm afraid you might unknowingly become mothers as well."

"Okay!" Lumian agreed without hesitation.

But Valentine didn't go to him immediately. Instead, he went to Ryan's side and placed his hand on Ryan's head.

"Sun!"

It was that same Ancient Hermetic Vocabulary, and drops of Golden liquid began to condense once more.

As the Holy Water was poured, Ryan showed no abnormalities whatsoever.

Valentine purified himself again, and once again no illusory black smoke evaporated.

After dealing with his companion, he walked over to Lumian and reached out to press down on the "Hunter's" head.

"Sun"!

As the Ancient Hermetic Vocabulary and as drops of translucent liquid fell, Lumian suddenly felt Pain.

The Pain came from his heart, as if a snake were wriggling inside, trying to escape.

Each drill caused Lumian's heart to either race or stall, making him extremely uncomfortable.

The next second, he faintly heard that mysterious voice again, which seemed to come from infinite distance yet also seemed to be right next to him.

Fortunately, it wasn't as vivid as in the dream, preventing Lumian from directly entering Near-Death state.

Just as Lumian was about to reach his limit, Valentine stopped the purification and nodded coldly:

"You're fine too."

Huff... Lumian quietly exhaled, feeling as if he had danced on the edge of death and been pulled back.

At this moment, he roughly understood what had just happened:

According to That One mysterious Lady, he was someone who had been severely Corruption a Concealment Evil God, and was only able to maintain his normal state thanks to the timely sealing by That One Great Ones.

For him to accept the purification of Holy Water in this state is like Demon Undead embracing Holy Light; something bad is bound to happen.

Simply put, he himself is a kind of Evil God Corruption that needs to be purified!

Thank goodness, thank goodness. If Valentine had held on a little longer or been a little stronger, even with That One Great Ones's seal, I would have revealed my abnormality... I could no longer undergo purification, and I couldn't even have someone exorcise me. I am the one who needs to be exorcised... Lumian felt a surge of relief and didn't let the lingering Pain show on his face.

Seeing that his companions had all undergone purification and the hidden dangers had been eliminated, Ryan immediately said, "Let's go to the edge of the village now, to the place where the Loop will be triggered."

"If Madame Pualis finds a clue and catches up with us, and we can't defeat her, we'll try to escape and Reboot the Loop."

Seeing Valentine's obvious confusion, Ryan added, "I'm worried that if you die once in the Loop, there might be some problems after breaking out of the Loop, so it's best to avoid dying if possible."

"Okay," Lya agreed before Valentine could launch into his fervent remarks.

Seeing that his two companions had made the same decision, Valentine could only nod.

At this moment, Lumian glanced at them, waved his hand, and said, "You can go now, I'm going home!"

"Aren't you worried that Madame Pualis will come looking for you?" Ryan asked, frowning in confusion.

Lumian smiled:

"Unlike you, after I entered the Tower, I kept avoiding the sight of those Monster children and wasn't seen by them. The midwife who saw me was completely killed by you, and it seems she can't even communicate with spirits anymore. How could Madame Pualis possibly guess that such a high-level and powerful infiltration team had an ordinary person like me?"

"Think about it, before you came to Cordu, no one tried to sneak into the Castle. As soon as you arrived, something happened. Who else would we suspect if not you?"

"If I run away with you, I'll only get dragged down with me!"

Ryan, Lya, and Valentine were speechless for a moment.

It was clearly this kid who planned the operation, so why does it seem like he has nothing to do with it in the end?

Were we really going to be burdened with all the "crimes" just like that?

"Goodbye! If Madame Pualis doesn't dare deal with you Official Beyonder and the Loop doesn't Reboot, then we'll meet at the Old Tavern tomorrow!" Lumian waved, reminding them as he ran towards the edge of the woods, "Take care, my cabbages!"

Once out of the woods, Lumian's expression immediately turned serious.

His reason for not escaping with Ryan and the others wasn't solely based on the one I just mentioned; that was more of an excuse.

His main objective was to get home immediately and reunite with Aurora.

As soon as Aurora invited Madame Pualis to afternoon tea, someone infiltrated the Castle and was an easily identifiable suspect.

Lumian needed to tell her Older Sister quickly that if Madame Pualis came to question and silence them, they shouldn't put up a fight. Instead, they should betray the Three Foreigners and accept Madame Pualis's Imprisonment. They should find a valuable secret to lure her away for a while, preventing her from killing anyone on the spot.

As long as you're alive, there's hope!

Even within Loop, one should not easily declare defeat, lest a major problem arise after the Loop is broken!

If Madame Pualis catches up with Lya and the others and wins, one of the three— Ryan, and her companions—will be able to trigger the Loop and "erase" their memories. If she loses, then what is there to worry about?

With a series of thuds, Lumian endured the pain in his calves, crossed the village roads, and ran back home.

Seeing Aurora peering out the door, alive and well, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

Are you alright?

Are you alright?

The siblings asked each other in unison.