By the evening of the sixth day, the two of them were only half a day’s journey on foot from Moon-glow Fortress.
Jin walked by Xue Yin’s side, half a step closer than he had been yesterday.
He hadn’t even noticed it himself, but Xue Yin said nothing, merely pulling her hood down a little lower.
At the edge of the Red Desert, the sandy soil gradually hardened, and withered grass appeared occasionally.
In the distance, smoke curled from a settlement — Gray Smoke Village, the southernmost vassal farming point of Moon-glow Fortress.
A wooden fence enclosed one hundred households, and the fields were planted with drought-resistant wheat and Source Crystal Companion Grass.
“Bypass it,” Xue Yin said, keeping her hood low.
“Don’t get close.”
Jin nodded, his hand resting on his dagger.
He recognized this village; three years ago, he had served as a field guard here for two days.
His pay had been two pieces of black bread.
But at that moment, three plumes of black smoke rose into the northwestern sky.
This wasn’t cooking smoke.
It was the thick smoke of burning roof beams.
The two crouched on a sand dune, looking down at the village.
The wooden fence at the entrance had already collapsed.
More than thirty orcs brandished bone clubs, herding the villagers toward the square.
Over 100 goblins flooded into the houses like a tide, smashing doors, rifling through chests, and dragging out women.
A goblin leader sat atop a boar-beast, a string of human ears hanging from his waist, using a scimitar to interrogate an old farmer.
In the center of the village, three Servitor Demons hovered in mid-air.
They were small and hunched, their skin a bluish-gray, and their eye sockets were as sunken as those of a skeleton.
As they chanted incantations, the ground cracked open, and several Rock-armored Lizards crawled out.
Their scales shimmered with a purple hue, and their eyes glowed with a green light — they were corrupted magic beasts.
“They are pillaging the Source Crystal Companion Grass,” Jin whispered.
“That grass can refine low-tier source crystals. The Imperial Court collects 30% of it every month.”
“It’s more than that.”
Xue Yin stared at the Servitor Demons.
“They are seizing women. Goblins need to breed, orcs want slaves, and Servitor Demons need living sacrifices to refine puppets.”
As expected, the goblins dragged the young girls to the square, shackling them with iron chains.
One girl struggled and screamed until an orc knocked her unconscious with a single punch.
“Let’s go.”
She turned away.
“We aren’t stepping in.”
Jin didn’t move.
He watched the figure being dragged toward the altar, his Adam’s apple bobbing as if he had swallowed a piece of glowing-red coal.
“I understand,” he finally said, his voice very soft.
He didn’t look at her, only staring at the village amidst the flames.
His gaze was complex, yet contained no reproach.
“I just feel a bit… uncomfortable.”
He twitched the corner of his mouth in a self-mocking way.
“Even though I’m ‘bait’ myself, I still wanted to give someone else a hand.”
Xue Yin remained silent for a moment, then suddenly pulled a small cloth pouch from her pack.
“Take this,” she said, thrusting it at him.
“It has Moon-shadow Moss powder mixed in; it can confuse magical perception. Scatter it upwind to create a false trail and lead them west — the Human Realm Imperial patrol is over there.”
Jin acted immediately.
He climbed to the high point of the dune and precisely scattered the powder into the wind, creating a shroud of blue mist.
The Servitor Demons snapped their heads around.
Their incantations changed, and the Rock-armored Lizards reversed direction, sprinting toward the west.
The orcs and goblins shouted and followed, like a swarm of ants moving their nest.
The commotion in the village subsided.
The villagers took the opportunity to scatter and flee.
Xue Yin breathed a sigh of relief.
“Let’s go, while they’re in disarray —”
Before she could finish, a white figure rushed out from the ruins at the east end of the village, staggering toward the dune where they were hidden!
It was a young nun in clean white clothes with a silver cross around her neck.
Her steps were hurried yet steady.
She had evidently been preaching in the village when the sudden attack occurred and was now using the chaos to break through.
She rushed up the dune, her eyes sweeping over Xue Yin and Jin — their faces were obscured by hoods and their frames were thin, making them look like ordinary travelers.
“My apologies!” she panted.
“I’m just passing through to evade the enemy!”
Xue Yin didn’t answer, simply stepping aside slightly.
But at that moment, a shrill screech echoed behind them!
Two Servitor Demons had turned back to give chase! Three Rock-armored Lizards burst out from the sand, and six goblins flanked them from the side!
“Damn it!” Jin barked.
The nun’s face paled, and she quickly retreated behind a rock.
“I’ve involved you in this!”
Xue Yin grit her teeth.
There was no avoiding it now.
She slammed both hands onto the ground!
Vines grew explosively from the cracks in the rocks, the mycelium coiling like living snakes around the lead lizard!
A pink-gold light surged from her lower abdomen as the Magic Rose mark blazed, sending silver star-dust fluttering through the air.
Simultaneously, her hood slipped off in the surge of magical power.
Silver hair cascaded down, and her ear tips were as sharp as blades, shimmering with a faint silver halo under the moonlight.
Ailia’s pupils constricted.
She had seen many Magical Girls in Moon-glow Fortress.
Some were irritable, some were silent, and some ended up on the casualty list within three days of entering the city.
But a High Elf?
The scriptures called them the God-age Remnants, the first people favored by the gods.
In 100 years, Moon-glow Fortress had only recorded two cases: one was under house arrest by the Imperial Court, and the other had disappeared within the Sin Purge Court.
She said nothing, but quickly took a small bottle of holy water from her sleeve and placed it by the rock.
Then, she took three steps back and pressed her palms together — the gesture of a nun toward ‘one who suffers.’
Jin cut into the enemy ranks like a phantom.
His dagger pierced a lizard’s eye socket with precision, and a fireball spell detonated, the roar shaking the heavens!
Xue Yin controlled the vines and ice blades, sealing off any escape routes.
The battle was efficient and cold.
As one Servitor Demon died, it shrieked, “A High Elf! A living one is worth a fortune!”
Ailia’s brow furrowed — not in anger, but from a deeper kind of sting.
‘Worth a fortune’ again.
It was as if everything could be priced, everything could be bought and sold.
She remembered a slave merchant in the confessional last week who had calmly said, ‘Didn’t God also let us rule over all things? Slaves are part of all things, too.’
At the time, she had been speechless, not knowing how to argue back.
Now, that phrase ‘worth a fortune’ felt like a dull blade, slowly cutting through her heart.
The battle ended, leaving the dune littered with corpses.
Ailia stepped forward, her tone peaceful but tinged with a new layer of caution.
“Are you alright? Excessive mana consumption can damage one’s foundation.”
She handed over a waterskin.
“The Holy Grace Hall has recovery potions. You may come to collect some after entering the city.”
Xue Yin pulled up her hood, hiding her silver hair, though she couldn’t completely mask the silhouette of her pointed ears.
She took the water and said coolly, “Thanks. But don’t tell anyone you saw me.”
Ailia was startled, then nodded.
“I understand. Some lights chosen by God only wish to live in peace.”
She paused, then added, “I keep watch in the third quiet room on the west side of Holy Grace Hall. If you need help, you can find me there.”
Jin whispered, “Is she trustworthy?”
Xue Yin watched Ailia’s retreating figure.
She remained silent for a moment before speaking softly.
“She believes in ‘God’s love for the world’ because she hasn’t seen the blades of the Sin Purge Court yet. When she sees the Magic Rose being peeled off a living body to be made into a holy relic… her choice then will be more reliable than any oath.”
Her fingertips unconsciously brushed the Magic Rose mark on her abdomen.
Over the last three years, those images had surfaced countless times — they weren’t dreams, but knowledge branded into her very blood.
It was as if, when the contract was made, the God had offhandedly shoved one last bit of mercy to this ‘transmigrator’: see the truth, then choose for yourself.
A girl on an altar, her skin stripped away by silver knives, the Magic Rose pulled out along with her flesh and blood; a priest holding that glowing mass of tissue, praying in a low voice, while God never responded.
This wasn’t a story she had heard; it was the truth she ‘knew.’
Because of this, she never believed in the glorious narrative of the ‘God-chosen light.’
Other Magical Girls were the ‘chosen sacrifices,’ but she was the onlooker who had been permitted to see the full scope of the altar.
“After all,” her voice was barely audible, “the gifts of the gods were never presents for us.
They are hunter’s bait.”
The night grew heavy, and the white stone city began to shimmer on the horizon.
And they were about to step into that prison named ‘Glory.’
To witness how so-called divine love turned into a butcher’s blade.