Perhaps she really was exhausted. Just as Kelly had suggested, Li Yue stayed in her bedroom to rest. This was likely what most people wanted to see. She spent her days with her hair down, waking up tired and falling asleep tired. She couldn't remember how many hours she slept each day lately; she was just perpetually, deeply weary.
Traces of fatigue lingered at the corners of her eyes. Faint dark circles added a touch of sickly pallor to her already pale face.
She began to lose the ability to distinguish between dreams and reality. Sometimes the girl in her arms appeared in what she thought were dreams, only to vanish in reality.
The sensations were ethereal and fleeting, but the warmth they brought was real. Escaping into it felt good. Although her memories remained painful, as long as she didn't think about them for a while, the ache in her heart seemed to lessen.
The sun slowly climbed over the eastern mountains. The early morning light pierced through the thin mist, shining through the polished glass onto Li Yue's slightly open eyes. She woke up quickly and yawned, feeling as though the fatigue was still clinging to her.
She rose slowly and walked barefoot, patting across the floor into the bathroom. After a simple brush of her teeth and a wash of her face, she didn't even change out of her white nightgown. She walked straight back, ignoring her messy white hair, pulled the curtains shut, hugged her pillow, and half-closed her eyes, seemingly about to drift back to sleep.
Thud, thud, thud! There was a knock on Li Yue's door. She slowly crawled out of bed and dragged herself to open it. Kelly stood outside, holding a letter and a roll of newspapers, her face etched with hesitation.
“The newspapers these past few days are all about your attack. The scenes are indeed quite bloody, but fortunately, you didn't leave any clues.” Kelly looked at the exhausted Li Yue with heartache in her eyes, quietly hiding the letter behind her back.
“Those who could get close are dead, and most of those who watched from afar are dead too. Of course there are no clues,” Li Yue said faintly. Her voice was soft and sweet, sounding truly tired, even though the words she spoke were so gruesome.
“Also, what are you hiding behind your back?” Li Yue poked Kelly’s back, and a letter instantly appeared in her hand.
Another letter from Caesar. More trouble. How annoying.
“He sent this yesterday afternoon. I saw you were sleeping, so I didn't give it to you.” Kelly gripped the hem of her clothes, her eyes darting away guiltily.
Li Yue glanced at it and casually tossed it aside.
“He is currently in a standoff with William. He's smart; he printed that magic recording all over the newspapers first to let the whole city know, and then he stepped up as a representative of the public to accuse him. He didn't leave any leverage against himself.” Li Yue stretched. “Truly clever. But William didn't do it; that ritual didn't succeed.”
“What?!” Kelly turned pale with shock.
“His subordinates seem to have noticed as well, so they've invited me again. What a bother.” Li Yue yawned, seemingly completely unconcerned. She felt that fatigue was currently dominating her.
“One last time. I’ll go see him this time.”
“Be careful...”
Li Yue went back into the room to change, took several swords and a few blood crystals, and prepared to head out.
“Are you planning to go out like that?” Kelly stopped Li Yue. “Let me... let me brush your hair.”
Li Yue accepted. She sat obediently in front of the vanity mirror while Kelly stood behind her, slowly smoothing out all her hair.
Her pure white hair draped behind her head like a waterfall, making her look slightly more spirited, though the dark circles under her eyes still betrayed her exhaustion.
“Try this.” Two smears of red appeared at the corners of Li Yue's eyes. Li Yue looked closely; it seemed to be red eyeshadow. She had never studied makeup herself.
She used to be resistant to it, but now it didn't matter. No matter how heavy or light the makeup was, once it was stained with blood, it would still become dull. No matter how red the blush was, it couldn't compare to the redness of fresh blood.
Although it masked her fatigue, it made her look quite a bit more bewitching. Fortunately, Li Yue remained expressionless; if she were to smile even slightly, she might carry an air of seduction.
She examined herself and wasn't too resistant. Seeing Kelly in a good mood made her own mood better. In her memory, there seemed to be someone whose makeup skills were exceptionally good.
Who was it? It seemed to be Clo, but she clearly remembered only spending a short time with Clo, and she didn't even recall seeing Clo demonstrate makeup. There hadn't been time to truly get to know each other, yet she felt a strange sense of familiarity.
Regardless, she had to deal with the matter at hand first.
Li Yue waved a small goodbye to Kelly and stepped into the carriage. She took out a blood crystal and crunched it between her teeth. Her heart gave a heavy thump. She covered her eyes with one hand, the corners of her mouth curling up uncontrollably.
After a moment, her shoulders stopped trembling. She slowly lowered her hand, revealing eyes redder than blood. She exhaled a breath of turbid air, and the fatigue hidden in her eyes vanished without a trace.
In a dim hall, Caesar sat alone backward in a chair, hugging the backrest. In the shadows of the corner, a mask lay quietly. The servants and concubines seemed to have all left. Caesar half-squinted his eyes, a smile on his face.
Unlike her last visit, Li Yue felt a slight chill this time. She wondered if yesterday's rain had made the autumn air feel more pronounced.
That was how autumn was; often after a single rain, the weather would turn cold rapidly.
She pushed open the doors. The chilling aura did not diminish but instead intensified. Li Yue froze for a moment but found it much more comfortable.
“You finally came. Saves me the trouble of making a scene to find you at the demon hunter headquarters.” Caesar stepped out from the shadows.
“It's so deserted...” Li Yue remarked for no particular reason, and the atmosphere fell silent again.
“William didn't do it, did he? I checked his residence,” Li Yue said faintly. “You know this too. So... what is the reason for looking for me?”
“No major reason. I simply found the true mastermind.” Caesar smiled and led Li Yue deeper inside. Li Yue followed with doubt, unable to fathom where Caesar got such confidence.
It seemed the captain was right; he really was a magic user, and not a weak one at that.
“We’ve arrived.” Instead of the living people Li Yue had imagined, it was an enormous basement. Countless sculptures of ancient architectural styles, engravings, and collectibles filled the space. A massive divine statue stood in the center of the room. The sacrificial altar beneath it was empty, but large stains of blood were vaguely visible.
“This is...” Li Yue drew her sword. “Your doing?”
“As you can see.”
“Why show me?”
“So you can die with understanding.”
Li Yue’s brow furrowed. She swung her sword in a heavy strike, but Caesar instantly transformed into bats and fled. He stood on a high platform in the distance and snapped his fingers. A pair of bloody handcuffs appeared on Li Yue’s wrists. The powerful binding force seemed to lock away her magic, and she felt her entire body's blood stagnate for a split second.
Next came a pair of leg irons. An iron ball smashed onto the ground, and with a loud boom, the floor dented inward.
“Did you think I came unprepared?” Caesar drew a longsword. The blood-light beneath his cloak flared up, suppressing Li Yue as she struggled to move.
My movements are so much slower, and my magic isn't flowing smoothly...
The sound of clashing blades echoed. After several heavy exchanges, Li Yue felt her physical strength slightly failing. Various wounds began to appear on her body.
Caesar stood not far away, looking at his slashed sleeve with a frown. It seemed he hadn't practiced swordsmanship in a long time. His magic had paid the price of being temporarily sealed in exchange for summoning those two artifacts.
If this continues, my stamina will run out first. If I want to win, I have to trade injuries for a kill...
My moves are too repetitive. If this continues, she'll find a opening. If I want to win, I have to win now!
End it quickly! (End it quickly!)
The same thought crossed both their minds. Two figures collided heavily on the ground, instantly kicking up a cloud of dust.
A sharp blade pierced through Li Yue's body. She hadn't bothered to defend at all; she thrust with all her might, her blade aiming straight for the heart.
Black “blood” gushed out. Li Yue looked at the black figure slowly melting in front of her, her face filled with disbelief. Caesar’s shadow “stood up” from the ground. He struck the sword out of Li Yue’s hand, pulled out his bloodstained longsword, and grabbed Li Yue by the throat, slamming her toward the ceiling.
A heavy boom echoed from the top of the sculpture. Li Yue was covered in blood, and her flesh showed no signs of regenerating. The chains on her hands and feet rattled, looking as if they were about to shatter.
But Li Yue no longer had the strength to stand. She looked at the mask in the corner and seemed to understand something.
“I absorbed his magic. Though I can only use it a few times, it is enough.” Caesar smiled.
“You are truly cruel...” Li Yue spat out some blood. The artifacts on her body shattered. She tried to get up, but soon a metal chain with sharp spikes constricted around her neck.
Subconsciously, her hands grabbed the chain that felt like serrated blades.
Before she could struggle free, a heavy blow struck her back. Her body fell uncontrollably from the air.
Then, she reached the limit of the chain's length. The sudden stop brought a bone-deep, excruciating pain as the spikes tore through her skin and flesh. Fresh blood flowed from her fair, now-purple neck.
She gripped the chain with both hands, struggling in agony.
She stared at Caesar suspended in mid-air, the whites of her eyes turning blood-red from congestion. There were many ways to kill her, and Caesar had clearly chosen the most sadistic one.
Yet her flesh kept regenerating continuously. She whimpered and roared, coughing up blood foam. She felt the strength in her body slowly draining away.
After five minutes of hell, Caesar seemed to grow bored of watching. He approached Li Yue, staring into her eyes that had gone vacant from pain, and plunged his hand heavily into her chest.
The girl's scream of intense pain and the sound of tearing flesh rang out together.
“Ngh... ah, AHHHH!!!”
The excruciating pain made Li Yue scream out even in her state of extreme oxygen deprivation, though it was laden with hoarseness.
Her body struggled violently a few times before falling into a deep stillness.
A bright red heart appeared in Caesar's hand. He held the beating heart; once upon a time, he had tried everything and could not make this heart resume its beat, until that nun had excitedly told him about the appearance of the vessel.
He swallowed the heart in one gulp, broke through the ground, and flew toward the sky. The red light behind him vanished, and the daylight disappeared along with it. Darkness began to erode the day from the horizon. In an instant, the sun and moon lost their light. A moment later, a blood moon hung high in the pitch-black sky.
Everyone looked up at the sky and fled in all directions in terror.
This was the heart. This was the blood moon. And it was a part of a god.
At this moment, magic seemed to lose its effect. The apprentices on the surface could no longer feel their magic. Apprentices and magicians alike seemed to have become lambs for the slaughter.
However, across the pitch-black earth, the sounds of Blues still rose, melodious and mournful, carrying hatred and anger.
In the dim basement, the girl had stopped struggling. She looked vacantly at the ground, her limbs hanging limply. The blood in her chest had run dry.
After an unknown amount of time, the girl's finger twitched slightly.
Rate on N.U.
