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The moment Ian transformed into a black shadow and surged towards the temple, a black-robed figure quietly emerged from the shadows of a collapsed bell tower in the city's northern district.
It was none other than the mysterious Black-Robed Woman. During the Ghost Bride's initial appearance, she had discreetly withdrawn, neither hiding with the other members of the Twilight Hermits Society nor being caught in the initial massacre. Now, she stood at the edge of the ruins, watching Ian's receding figure. A complex mix of emotions flickered in her eyes: awe, concern, and a faint glimmer of relief.
"Priest Karina, the number of injured in the northern district has exceeded two hundred." A young priest hurried over, his linen robes stained with blood and dust. "Our Holy Oil is nearly depleted."
Karina watched her veil flutter gently in the morning breeze as Ian's figure disappeared into the dust and smoke rising from the temple. She stood motionless for a moment, only withdrawing her gaze when she heard a child sobbing behind her.
Karina didn't respond immediately. She knelt down and gently stroked the hair of a weeping little girl. The child's mother lay nearby with a deep wound exposing her bone.
"Use this," Karina said, drawing an exquisite blue glass bottle from her robes. A silvery liquid swirled within it. "One drop diluted in ten bowls of clean water will suffice for five hundred people."
The young priest's eyes widened. 'This is the Temple's last Holy Oil.'
"Now it belongs to the people as their holy relic," Karina interrupted, her voice calm yet resolute. She turned to the twelve white-robed priests lined up behind her, followers she had secretly protected, each bearing an expression of exhaustion yet with unwavering resolve.
"Amon, you're in charge of the wounded in the western district. Take three people with you." Karina assigned the tasks with lightning speed. "Horus, take two people to rescue survivors from under the collapsed buildings. The rest of you, come with me to the granary to distribute bread and clean water."
The group immediately dispersed. Karina hurried towards the makeshift aid station in the central square. The scenes along the way were heartbreaking: collapsed buildings lay scattered like toys crushed by giants; uncollected corpses littered the streets; and the air reeked of a sickening mix of blood and smoke.
"Lord Priest!" An elderly woman, her face covered in ash, lunged forward and grabbed the hem of Karina's robe. "Please, my granddaughter is still trapped in the house in the eastern district!"
Karina helped the woman to her feet and exchanged a meaningful glance with the priest beside her.
The young man immediately understood, took two burly men with him, and sprinted towards the eastern district. Karina continued forward, pausing frequently to check on the injured or comfort frightened children.
Though the city had regained its outward calm, its people remained deeply traumatised.
"It's time we fulfill the duties we've neglected," Karina declared, raising her hand. Her fingertip traced through the air, conjuring a crimson rune that hovered in the void like a signal flare. Moments later, dozens of Black Shadows silently converged from across the city, all clad in grey-black robes embroidered with the hidden silver hourglass emblem on their chests. These were the secret Temple adherents that Karina had pre-emptively evacuated and organized.
"We've surveyed the northern district," A follower reported. "At least three hundred are injured, over fifty are missing, and more than sixty buildings have collapsed... Though the Ghost Bride has vanished, the aftermath of the disaster is only just beginning."
Karina nodded, her gaze as cold as ice. "I know. Fear, hunger, and suffering are the true plagues. We must act immediately."
Her assessment was accurate for this ancient era.
The black-robed priest raised her hand and waved it, issuing rapid orders.
"First team, proceed to Central Square and set up temporary medical tents. Use the 'Purifying Blood Spell' and 'Bone Healing Art' to treat the wounded, prioritizing those with internal bleeding and soul-rending injuries."
"Second team, open the 'Food Storage Vault' and distribute pre-stocked rations, purified water and blankets to each district, registering allocations by family."
"Third team, organize search and rescue squads to enter collapsed buildings and search for survivors, using the "Life Resonance Art" to detect faint signs of life."
"Fourth team, seal off a three-mile radius around the temple and establish a perimeter. No one is to approach; violators will be considered hostile." The woman's orders were clear and decisive.
The followers moved swiftly, as if they had rehearsed these drills a thousand times. Karina personally led her team to the city's worst-hit area, the Eastern District slums. This area had once been the Ghost Bride's favorite hunting ground. Now it was reduced to rows of collapsed houses and streets littered with shattered furniture and bloodstains. Many survivors huddled in corners, their eyes hollow and glazed over, clearly suffering from severe soul shock.
Karina crouched down, gently lifted a trembling little girl, and whispered, "Are you alright? What's your name?"
The girl trembled, barely able to speak. Karina raised her hand, and a gentle silver light formed in her palm. She pressed it softly against the girl's forehead. The light seeped in, and the girl's breathing gradually steadied, and her eyes regained clarity.
"This is the 'Soul-Soothing Art,'" Karina explained to the young priest beside her. "It stabilizes soul fluctuations. People often don't die from physical injuries, but rather because the Ghost Bride's 'Gaze of Death' shatters their spiritual anchors. We must first stabilise their sense of self; otherwise, they'll gradually forget who they are and become living corpses."
The young priest nodded and took notes before asking, "Lord Priest, why were we able to evacuate in advance? Why didn't the other branches receive any warning?"
Karina rose to her feet and gazed towards the temple. In a lowered voice, she replied, "Because I saw fragments of the future."
She raised her hand, and a wisp of dark mist coalesced at her fingertips. Within the mist, images materialized: the Ghost Bride dragging her coffin, priests committing suicide, the city engulfed in flames, and Ian standing atop the bell tower, his silver Cleansweep bathing the entire city in light.
"Seven days ago, I entered the Well of Foresight and glimpsed these disasters. I knew it would happen, but I couldn't determine the time, scale, or source. All I could do was evacuate core members, stockpile supplies, and set up an emergency network." She paused, a flicker of pain in her eyes.
"But I couldn't warn everyone. If we issued a large-scale alert, the Temple's Faith Monitoring System would detect it immediately, accelerating the Embryo's awakening."
"I had to choose silence. I had to sacrifice some in order to save more." Karina sighed heavily.
The young priest stared in shock.
"So... we were 'abandoned'?"
His reading comprehension skills were clearly lacking.
"No," Karina shook her head. "You were 'protected.' The real sacrifices were those who couldn't escape in time. Our mission is to ensure that their sacrifices were not in vain."
Just then, a member of the rescue team rushed in. "Lord Karina! We've found over twenty survivors in the basement of the church in the west district! But they're trapped, and the walls could collapse at any moment!"
"Lead the way," Karina ordered immediately.
The group rushed to the church. The basement entrance was blocked by a huge boulder, and faint cries for help could be heard from inside.
Karina raised her hand and tapped the ground lightly with her wand as she murmured, 'Earth Vein Perception.'
Her consciousness instantly extended beneath the surface, sensing the weak points in the wall's structure. She swiftly sketched a diagram showing a safe passage and handed it to the engineering priest.
"Use the Lightweighting Spell to reduce the pressure above, then carefully remove the stones using the Rock Layer Separation Technique. Move slowly; we can't risk triggering a chain reaction collapse."
The priests followed her instructions meticulously. After three hours, the passage was finally cleared. Karina entered the passageway herself and carried the weakened civilians out one by one. Ignoring her own dwindling magic power, she cast physical recovery and mind-soothing spells continuously until the last survivor was rescued. Temporary bonfires and magic lamps lit up the city.
Members of the Twilight Hermits Society who had survived also joined the rescue efforts.
They seemed very familiar with Karina, the Black-Robed Woman, and worked seamlessly alongside her.
Inside the medical tent, the injured received treatment. At the distribution point, people lined up in an orderly fashion to receive food. Meanwhile, the search and rescue teams continued their operations, searching for the last survivors.
"You knew this would happen all along?" A raspy voice asked from behind. Karina turned to see Cam from the Twilight Hermits Society supporting a companion with a leg injury.
Karina's veil fluttered slightly.
"I know far more than you realize, young man," She said, gesturing for her attendants to take the injured man away. "For example, your Hermits' Society's underground stronghold in the north of the city should now be half-collapsed."
The implication was clear.
The Temple's higher-ups had always been aware of the Twilight Hermits' existence; perhaps even the society's own leaders knew this. But Cam's expression still shifted, unaware of this detail.
Before he could ask any more questions, a commotion erupted in the distance. Several burly men rushed into the plaza carrying a door on which lay a bloodied and mangled figure, the fishmonger from the market who was notorious for shortchanging customers.
"Make way! Let Lord Priest examine him!'
The crowd parted automatically to form a path. Karina strode forward and lightly touched the fishmonger's forehead with her fingertip. Dark purple runes glowed faintly beneath her skin, forming a diagnostic pattern.
"Three broken ribs, a punctured lung, and a ruptured liver," She assessed calmly. "Prepare Holy Oil and sutures. I need a quiet place."
Her attendants swiftly cleared out a tent. Karina knelt on a straw mat and drew a delicate silver knife from her waistband. As the blade sliced across the fishmonger's chest, no blood flowed. Instead, a soft blue light emanated from the wound and caused it to heal within the glow.
"This is..." Cam watched in astonishment as the wound closed before his eyes.
"Ancient healing arts," Karina said without looking up. "Far older than even the history of your Hermit's Society."
Outside the tent, the rescue effort continued methodically. Members of the Twilight Hermits Society and Karina's priests worked together seamlessly, a rare sight. Some reinforced damaged structures with magic, some distributed herbal soups, and some organized children into safe zones. Gradually, the panic-stricken cries transformed into hushed conversations.
Occasionally, the sound of comforting laughter could be heard.
The women gathered around makeshift stoves and simmered the last of their meager grain into thin porridge. Children darted through the rubble, searching for usable pottery shards, while a few elderly craftsmen had already started to repair damaged carts. This ordinary scene almost created the illusion that the terrifying events of the previous night had been nothing more than a nightmare.
Most people believed the disaster was over, and aside from those who had lost family members, most felt joy at having survived. Yet Karina stood outside her tent, her knuckles unconsciously rubbing against the scarab amulet at her waist. Her gaze towards the temple was heavy; the sky above it had taken on a sickly hue.
While the common folk thought the crisis had ended, only the wizards and priests knew that the danger had barely begun. The clouds swirled into ominous vortexes, occasionally flashing with malevolent blue-black lightning. Even more unsettling was the complete absence of the sun, which should have been high in the sky. Only a faint, flickering light clung to the horizon.
It was as if some immense power were suppressing it by force.
The sun should have risen by now, but it hadn't; that was the greatest terror of all.
"Lord Priest, the wounded from the West District have all been settled."
Karina nodded slightly without turning around. She could smell the young priest's heavy herbal scent mingling with the metallic tang of blood and hear the fear suppressed in his weary breathing. Everyone maintained a facade of calm, acting as if nothing were wrong, like birds desperately repairing their nests before a storm.
In the distance, Cam knelt before a row of newly dug earthen pits. Seven white-sheeted corpses lay neatly arranged, the insignia of the Twilight Hermits Society resting silently on each chest.
"Dig deeper," Karina said softly, having materialized behind him. "At least three meters. Sprinkle salt and sulfur."
Cam jerked his head up, the grief in his eyes instantly replaced by alertness. "Do you know what these are?"
"I know more than you realize." Karina produced a small cloth pouch from her sleeve. "Use this. Treat each body."
As Cam untied the pouch, his pupils contracted sharply when he saw the blue powder glowing inside. "This is... the Eye of Ra."
"Tear Powder," Karina interrupted. "It can purify corrupted spirit bodies. We need to move fast; we don't have much time."
They both turned to look at the temple. The sky there was even darker, and a massive shadow was vaguely visible, forming at the center of the swirling clouds.
Cam suddenly noticed that his palm was glowing; the blue powder clinging to his skin was resonating with the strange phenomenon in the sky.
"The Sun," he murmured. "If it never rises again..."
"Then it means he has succeeded," Karina replied, her runes glowing faintly in the dim light. "It means all life will become extensions of Him, just like..." Her gaze swept across the golden dots on the foreheads of the corpses.
An icy chill crawled up Cam's spine. He suddenly understood the deeper meaning behind the Black-Robed Woman's words: those Ghost Brides and Mummy Priests were merely transitional forms.
When the true 'Unifier' arrived, even death itself would be absorbed.
"Lord Priest!" A young priest rushed over, his face flushed with an unnatural crimson. "Three more injured individuals with golden dots on their foreheads have been found in the northern district. They... they're saying strange things."
Karina closed her eyes briefly. When she opened them again, all traces of worry and exhaustion had been concealed behind a mask of composure. "Isolate them immediately. Apply the Holy Oil I provided to their entire bodies. Remember: do not look them directly in the eyes."
The young priest bowed and hurried away. As he left, Cam noticed Karina tracing an ancient symbol across her chest with her fingers.
"You foresaw all this, didn't you?" Cam couldn't help but ask. "The stockpiled medicine, food, and evacuation plans, you clearly had everything prepared a long time ago."
He had harbored this suspicion before, but Karina still offered no direct answer. She gazed up at the increasingly darkening sky, a hint of concern in her eyes. Suddenly, her body stiffened slightly; in the distant darkness, a blue-gold light pierced the swirling vortex like a sharp sword!
"Lord Priest," The elderly priest approached slowly, leaning heavily on his cane. His voice rasped as he cautiously inquired, "Can you see if we still have hope for tomorrow?"
This was a veiled question. In Ancient Egyptian, 'tomorrow' and 'sunrise' shared the same root, so he was effectively asking whether the sun's radiance would be lost forever.
A word for a word.
Karina gently traced the fading rune on her cheek.
Ever since the grey-eyed boy had intruded into her prophetic visions, all her future visions had become blurred and indistinct. He was like a stone thrown into the River of Fate, creating unpredictable ripples.
"I no longer know," She murmured, gazing at the blue-gold light that had erupted in the distance once more.
The weight of her words was palpable, freezing the old priest's expression. But the second half of her sentence made everyone who heard it look up:
"Therefore, we can only hope that he is our man."
As if in response to her words, the blue-gold light towards the Temple suddenly flared with renewed intensity, piercing the enveloping gloom of the world like the dawn of a new day.
(End of Chapter)