In the middle of the night, Kiz suddenly opened her eyes… because she felt a faint, elusive energy fluctuation coming from deep within the forest.
She gently released Elia, stood up, and walked towards the woods.
“Kiz? What’s wrong?” Elia asked.
“There’s something nearby… did you feel it?”
Hearing this, Elia closed her eyes and focused her senses. After a moment, she said, “If you insist… there is a tiny bit… but it’s very weak.”
“I’ll go check,” Kiz said.
“Mhm, let’s go together.”
After walking for about ten minutes, Elia felt the surrounding magical fluctuations becoming clearer.
Ahead was a clearing, and in its center stood a small altar.
What caught the attention of both was a black stone placed upon it, carved with a wolf’s head.
Seeing this, Kiz’s eyes turned cold. “It’s ‘The Wolf.'”
Elia scanned the surrounding scene and said, “This place is a bit crude… doesn’t look like a proper base, more like a marker.”
“A marker?”
“Mhm, could be something they use to mark a location, or… to pass on certain information.”
Kiz then picked up the stone and examined it from all sides. On the back, a line of small characters was carved: “Observation Point No. 15, all normal.”
“Huh? Observation point? What are they observing?” Kiz frowned.
“Maybe… they’re observing us,” Elia whispered.
Upon hearing this, Kiz immediately released her magic power to scan the surroundings, but she didn’t detect anything unusual… perhaps the people from ‘The Wolf’ had already left.
“Those guys know we’d come here. Of course, you could also say they’ve been monitoring this temple all along,” Kiz analyzed, lowering her head.
“Uh, so you mean our movements have been exposed for a while?” Elia shrugged helplessly.
“Let’s head back first. This place isn’t safe anymore.”
As soon as she finished speaking and they turned to leave, Elia suddenly stopped and said, “Wait.”
“What is it?” Kiz looked at her, puzzled.
Elia stared intently into the depths of the forest, her voice low. “There seems to be something over there…”
In the darkness, a pair of green eyes could vaguely be seen.
But the moment Kiz’s gaze fell upon them, the eyes vanished.
“After it!” Kiz threw out the words and immediately gave chase.
Elia followed closely behind.
The two then swiftly navigated through the forest.
But the owner of those eyes was clearly faster. After chasing for over ten minutes, they still hadn’t caught up and had even fallen further behind.
“Dammit… lost it,” Kiz stopped the pursuit.
“So, what was that thing? Even we couldn’t catch up to it.”
“Don’t know. But it’s definitely related to ‘The Wolf.’ Maybe that guy used some magic to boost his movement speed by several hundred times~”
“Heh, they know we’ve found out… but, well, they might still make a move next,” Elia shrugged.
“Mhm.”
Kiz curled her lips into a smile. “What, scared?”
“Scared? I’ve even pulled the Holy Sword. Would I be scared of these guys hiding their heads and tails? Besides, have you forgotten how brave I am? Last time, didn’t you almost get so angry your blood pressure spiked because of it~”
“Who said my blood pressure spiked!” Kiz glared at her fiercely. “I was worried about you then! Worried, understand?!”
“Yes, yes, my little Princess Kiz is always right~”
The two left the area while playfully bickering.
By the time they returned to the camp, dawn was almost breaking.
The guards breathed sighs of relief upon seeing them return.
Kiz and Elia then sat back down under the same tree as before.
“There’s still some time before daybreak. We’ll leave when it’s light. For now, you sleep a bit. I’ll keep watch,” Kiz said softly.
“You sleep. I’m not very sleepy right now,” Elia said.
“You sleep.”
“You sleep.”
And so, the two of them repeated this pointless argument for quite a while.
After some time, they looked at each other for a few seconds and both laughed.
“Then let’s sleep together,” Kiz suggested.
“Okay.”
The two then leaned against each other and closed their eyes.
But neither of them fell asleep.
Suddenly, Elia asked, “Kiz, what the hell do you think that green-eyed thing was?”
“Huh? Oh… might be a magical beast cultivated by the Wolf organization… Of course, it could also be one of their scouts. But whatever it is, they now know we’re investigating them.”
“What do you think they’ll do next?”
“Either hide deeper, or take the initiative and strike.”
“Mhm… and if they take the initiative, what should we do?”
Hearing this, Kiz smiled. “Then we fight~ Perfect, I haven’t stretched my limbs in a while.”
“You look quite eager~”
“Of course. You know, the last time I fought was with you, and you ended up pulling out several strands of my hair.”
As she spoke, Kiz touched her hair again.
“Those few strands took me over a hundred years to grow…”
“Huh? Over a hundred years? Does your hair grow that slowly?”
“Blood Clan hair naturally grows slowly, so those few strands you pulled out are extremely precious,” Kiz said very seriously.
“So there’s that kind of setting… Alright then, I’ll compensate you,” Elia just smiled and suggested.
“Oh? How will you compensate?”
“Let you pull a few strands of my hair too.”
Hearing this, Kiz was stunned for a second, then she also laughed.
“Well, you said it~”
Then, she actually reached out and pulled a strand of Elia’s hair.
“(Vulgar language) That hurts like hell!”
Kiz held the strand of hair up to her eyes, looking at it against the faint morning light. The golden hair shimmered brightly in the rays.
“So pretty,” she murmured.
Then, she carefully tucked the hair into her pocket.
This time, Elia noticed. “Why are you keeping it?”
“As a keepsake. Your hair, of course I need to keep it,” Kiz said matter-of-factly.
“…Weirdo.”
“You too.”
By the time the sun had fully risen, the group set off again.
Inside the carriage, Elia leaned against the window, lost in thought, while Kiz carefully sorted through the documents they had found last night.
“Mhm… These documents say that experiment was divided into many phases, and each phase had a number… from 001 to 100.”
Elia turned her head. “Oh? Then what was my number?”
Kiz flipped through a few pages. “There’s no number for you here… But one document mentions ‘Special Individual S-001,’ possessing the strongest Holy Light Adaptability, listed as the highest secret of this experiment.”
“I suspect S-001 is very likely you.”
Hearing this, Elia lowered her head and fell silent, lost in thought. After a few seconds, she looked up and asked, “Then… what about the other numbers?”
“The others… most failed. Only a few survived, but later they also disappeared without a trace,” Kiz said softly.
Elia’s fingers tightened slightly.
She took a deep breath and continued, “Anything else?”
“There’s another document mentioning a place called the ‘Origin Point.’ It’s said to be the origin of all experimental plans and also the location of the Holy Grail Order’s headquarters.”
“This… So where is the Origin Point?”
“Who the hell knows… The document doesn’t write anything about it, only says something like ‘the Origin Point is located at the boundary of light and shadow.'”
Elia frowned. “What does that mean?”
“It’s probably some kind of metaphor. Of course, it could also be a real place, just one we don’t know about. But either way, we’ll have to find it eventually.”
Elia nodded. “Mhm.”
At noon, the group stopped to rest.
Elia got off the carriage and stretched her limbs by the roadside.
Kiz came to her side and asked, “By the way, did you have any dreams again last night?”
“No, this time I really didn’t,” Elia shook her head.
“That’s good.”
The two stood by the roadside for a while.
Suddenly, the sound of hoofbeats came from the distance, immediately putting the guards on alert.
Soon, a group of riders appeared in view… it was the Vampire Cavalry.
The leading knight dismounted and saluted Kiz. “Your Highness! We finally found you!”
“Oh? What’s the rush?” Kiz raised an eyebrow.
The knight took out a letter and handed it to Kiz. “This is an urgent letter from Elder Selina… There’s an emergency situation in the Royal Capital!”
Hearing this, Kiz quickly took the letter and unfolded it.
After reading it, her expression turned grave.
“What is it?” Elia leaned over to ask.
Kiz handed her the letter.
It read: “Your Highness, recently, a large number of ‘Wolf’ scouts have appeared around the Royal Capital. They seem to be plotting something. At the same time, there is unusual activity from the Holy Grail Order. Please return swiftly.”
After reading the letter, Elia and Kiz exchanged a look. “Seems we can’t wander around outside anymore~”
“We need to get back quickly.”
Kiz then turned to the knight. “Inform the group to proceed at full speed. We must reach the Royal Capital by noon.”
“Yes!”
By evening, the group finally returned to the Royal Capital.
“How is the situation?” Kiz jumped off the carriage, asking Elder Selina who was waiting to greet them at the city gate.
“The number of scouts from the ‘Wolf’ organization has increased severalfold. They are distributed throughout the Royal Capital, monitoring our movements… We’ve already captured a few, but they’re just small fry. We couldn’t get anything out of them,” Selina replied.
“What about the Holy Grail Order?”
“They seem to be preparing a strange ritual. The specific location is currently unknown… But based on the latest intelligence, it might be related to the ‘Origin Point.'”
“Origin Point? You know about it too?”
Hearing this, Selina was visibly taken aback.
“Your Highness knows as well?”
“The documents we found at the temple mentioned the Origin Point.”
Selina nodded. “Mhm, I suspect… that the Origin Point is within our Blood Clan territory.”
“Oh? Where exactly?”
“Currently unknown. But, according to ancient records, the Origin Point is a secret place built by the Blood Clan Progenitor long ago, later abandoned. If the Holy Grail Order has found it, then their ritual…”
She didn’t continue, but the implication was clear.
Kiz clenched her fist. “We must stop them.”
“Yes, I’ve already sent people to investigate. We should have news soon.”
In fact, Kiz and Selina were talking as they walked, soon arriving at the Council Chamber. They planned to convene another meeting with the Elders.
As for Elia, she followed behind without saying a word.
But in her mind, she kept thinking… Origin Point, the boundary of light and shadow… What kind of place is that? And what secrets does it hold?