[Vol. 7] Chapter 107: The Judge
Qionghua shook her head, still keeping her head down. The wide brim of her mage hat hid her expression, leaving only her slender silhouette flickering slightly in the firelight.
"I can’t see anything. The stars here aren’t reversed, but they feel chaotic and disordered, like something is interfering with them. I can’t read any information from them at all. If Instructor Priscilla were here, maybe…"
Dionysis, also known as [Tree Branch], blinked in surprise before shaking his head with a quiet chuckle.
"I see. Well, it can’t be helped. The enemy we’re facing is bizarre enough to create something as unheard of as the Shadow Realm. Compared to that, the stars being disturbed doesn’t seem all that surprising. Don’t blame yourself too much."
Qionghua didn’t respond. She simply lifted her head for a moment, watching him as if waiting for something. But when she saw that the scholar-like man made no further moves, she lowered her gaze once more in silence.
"It’s getting late."
"Yeah… it really is."
[Tree Branch] didn't mind the girl's quiet muttering, even if he didn’t fully understand what she meant. He knew she had always been a quiet person, so he didn’t question it. Instead, he simply continued tending the fire, occasionally adding more wood to keep the flames steady and warm.
They had no idea how long the battle inside the Shadow Realm would last. Tonight, the two of them would likely have to take turns keeping watch, staying alert for any enemies that might appear.
…………………………………
As soon as they stepped into the Shadow Realm, the group was immediately taken aback by what they saw.
The Shadow Realm mirrored the real one in structure. Physically, it looked identical to the outside world. If not for the noticeable differences in lighting and atmosphere, they might have still believed they were standing in the courtyard outside the manor. The only thing that made it clear they had entered another realm was the eerie, unnatural change in their surroundings.
The temporary camp they had set up in the real world had not been copied into the Shadow Realm. Instead, the vast courtyard here was riddled with deep, curved craters. As if some immense force had trampled through, leaving behind these brutal indentations.
Many of these craters were "embedded" with twisted figures, cultists clad in ceremonial robes and metal masks. The sharp, metallic scent of blood filled the air, making it clear that a fierce battle had just taken place.
"W-Whoa… What the hell happened here?!"
Le Qiaoqiao nearly jumped in fright when she accidentally kicked the body of a fallen cultist, whose condition was uncertain. As someone with a mild aversion to blood, she was probably the least suited to deal with this horrific sight.
"They must have been the guards here… but they were completely slaughtered by something, no, by someone far stronger than them. This is terrifying…"
Enrique's face grew solemn as he examined one of the cultists. The unfortunate soul had been smashed so violently into the wall that their body was now an unrecognizable mess of blood and flesh.
Cultist or not, these were still human lives.
At first, he wanted to call whatever had done this a "monster." But as he suddenly realized something, he hesitated and quickly changed his wording. His gaze, filled with shock and a hint of awe, then shifted toward the small, golden-haired girl standing beside Violet.
Despite her harmless appearance, barely over 1.2 meters tall, with her tiny hand held by Violet, there was something about her that made Enrique uneasy.
"Miss Light… Don’t tell me… you did all this?"
The little dragon girl’s expression remained cold as she stared at the treefolk man, who now looked hesitant and uneasy. There was an unmistakable pressure radiating from her, a natural authority that sent a shiver down the spine.
"Are you afraid?" Her voice was calm, almost indifferent. "Or are you… sympathizing with the enemy?"
Even though Enrique was a seasoned adult and a legendary adventurer, he found himself unable to hold the golden-haired girl’s piercing gaze for long. Her slit-pupiled, golden eyes were impossible to look at directly. After just a moment, he turned his eyes away.
"I just think… maybe not all of them deserved to die. Every life has a spirit, and unless absolutely necessary, there’s no need to wipe them all out. Even if they must be judged for their crimes, shouldn’t that be done through proper authorities, with a fair and just trial…?"
"A fair and just trial? Oh, there is one."
The golden-haired girl cut him off without hesitation, her expression calm as she pointed to herself.
"It's right here."
With that, she paid no more attention to the varied expressions of shock around her. Instead, she simply took the hand of the black-haired girl beside her, who was watching with an amused smile, and started walking toward the edge of the estate.
"Sister, this way."
"Alright, alright~"
This farmland, which the Church of Truth had taken as their stronghold, was located near the outskirts of the nearest city. To the east and south lay vast, unbroken stretches of primeval forest, part of a much larger woodland expanse. If one kept traveling south, they would eventually reach the [Eternal Night Forest], a place where daylight never touched.
Though the actual border of that shadowy land was still some distance away, there were already signs of scattered wildlife in the area. It was a remote enough location that it would take time for the city's official military to arrive. One of the reasons the cult had chosen this place for their ritual magic.
The site of their ritual was in a forest clearing south of the estate.
But before they could reach their destination, the group ran into a bit of "trouble."
"Huh? Hmm… don’t these guys look kind of strange? Feels different from what happened with Marcelo."
As a dozen Church of Truth followers slowly emerged from the shadows of the trees, growling and snarling like beasts, Violet casually remarked without any real tension in her voice.
"Not as strong as that half-bear guy, but… their 'completion' is much higher."
Under normal circumstances, the cultists in this Shadow Realm only borrowed a portion of some kind of blessing. But these ones had completely fused with that power, transforming into an entirely new kind of being.
Their limbs were no longer flesh and bone but had turned into forms made purely of ash-like smoke. Only the robes and masks covering them hinted at their original humanoid shape. It was unclear whether this change was an evolution or a horrifying mutation.
Xiao Guang, who had been secretly investigating this place for a long time, understood exactly what was happening. She swept an indifferent, almost scornful gaze over the cultists and explained in a quiet voice.
"This is the ultimate goal of the Church of Truth. In this mirrored world, they keep absorbing the power granted by that 'being', growing stronger and becoming more twisted, until they completely transform into these ‘devotee creatures’ and achieve what they call ‘eternal life.’"
She then turned to her sister and continued,
"The small shadow realms you encountered before, the so-called missing person cases, were probably just hunting traps, cages set up to capture sacrifices. They use the divine power they receive to drain the souls trapped inside, offering them to their god in exchange for so-called ‘blessings.’"
"Anyone who has reached this state has already sacrificed a living soul with their own hands. The higher their rank in the cult, the more they must have done it. In fact, I’ve personally witnessed several of these small-scale rituals in the past few days."
Though Xiao Guang wasn’t explaining this to everyone directly, with Enrique and the others' strength being at least Earth-level or higher, they could undoubtedly hear her undisguised voice. A heavy silence settled over the group as they exchanged uneasy glances, their expressions darkening.
If what she said was true, then every single Church of Truth follower here was a butcher with blood on their hands.
To call them irredeemable monsters would be an understatement.