I stirred my divine power, bracing for whatever penalties my interference might bring. Yet part of me still searched for alternatives, for a way to tip the scale without stepping onto it myself.

What about Aria? If I blessed her and raised her to Platinum, could that work?

The cost alone would require over 1200 Divinity Points, and even then, I would have to trust that the sudden strength would be enough to face a mage of this caliber. Power without mastery was a dull blade. And even if she stood a chance, I'd still need to restore her mana first.

Theoretically, it could be done. If I could elevate one's rank, I should be able to replenish their mana as well. But that process would not be quick. And the portal before me was already stabilizing.

Akrion approached it, shoulders drawn tight. Every line on his face, every slow movement, radiated suppressed fury. He had been humiliated too many times today, stripped of command and pride alike. Now, he was treated like a pawn - a disposable figure on a broad board, meant only to move when told.

It burned him, that much was clear. Yet beneath the rage, I recognized the same calculating restraint I'd seen before. Akrion, despite his brute strength and temper, knew when to bend rather than break. He had shown that with Eralon, and again when dealing with other tribes' Vaels.

So now he obeyed, grudgingly, but without open defiance.

The woman ignored his quiet rebellion. Her focus was elsewhere, hand weaving one sigil after another, fingers leaving trails of red that colored the snow. Layer upon layer, the runes sank into the ground, pulsing light and bleeding dark.

A chill ran through me. Whatever she was constructing, it was not a simple summoning.

And that unsettled me.

Guidance.

[Guidance Advanced Feature – 10 Divinity Points]

Death Magic - the most powerful form of human sorcery, attainable only by sacrificing what one holds most dear. Each subsequent use demands the offering of a mortal life and a fragment of the caster's soul, eroding their essence with every invocation, until one becomes #@$!#!#. The strength it grants is immense, equally overwhelming and destructive.

The Inquisitor of the God of Night & Moons is attempting to summon $#$@'s Paladin - a creature without Rank or will of its own, capable of bypassing the restriction placed upon the forest.

From the wording alone, I could tell the system did not want her to finish that spell, but there was no time to question why. Summoning a paladin bound to some unknown god? Death magic? A ritual of sacrifice? Every aspect of it reeked of danger.

I can't allow her more time.

I drew on my divine power, the space around me vibrating as I narrowed the Window on her. Through gritted teeth she chanted, the words foreign, something that I couldn't understand.

I didn't go for spectacle this time. I gathered the energy into a single point and hurled it downward - a ray of divine power.

The sky tore open. A crimson thread carved through the clouds, descending in a straight, merciless line toward the mage and Akrion, who now stood beside the swirling portal. The air screamed as it fell, searing through wind and distance alike.

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But just before impact, shadows erupted. A sheet of black enveloped them both, swelling outward in a pulse before hardening into a dome. My power struck it head-on.

The explosion tore through the forest like a thunderclap. Crimson light crashed against the spreading darkness, fragments of divine energy scattering in every direction. Snow hissed as it melted, the rising steam twisting into pale columns that blurred the trees. The barrier held firm, its surface rippled like black oil under the pressure, refusing to yield.

Not too far from it, the basilisk stirred. Its scales, split and cracked moments before, began to knit back together, pale veins of light running through the wounds as if molten metal flowed beneath its hide. The beasts clinging to it faltered, their jaws locked mid-bite. For a single heartbeat they stood motionless, then ruptured all at once - flesh, bone, and shadow bursting into fragments that vanished before touching the ground.

The mage still stood within the barrier. Unharmed. Motionless. Watching.

[Warning!]

Although the domain in which you are using divine power is currently neutral, and the targeted mortal has been penalized after violating $@$!#!'s law, you may not disrupt the domain's balance by exceeding the permitted divinity threshold.

Scattered Divinity Limit: 50/100… 51/100… 52/100...

Even as the unsettling warning flashed before me, I pressed on. There was no turning back now. I drew deeper from my divinity, forcing the current to bend to my will. If darkness shielded her, then light would be my answer.

A new crimson beam descended, brighter than before, splitting the clouds with a hiss. The forest flared under its glow, remaining snow reflecting and amplifying the light as it struck the dome below.

The mage shouted something to Akrion, but her voice broke under the roar of the light. The barrier trembled, its oily surface shuddering as thin cracks raced across it. The amulet at her throat began to fracture, each pulse of divine energy carving a new fissure through the carving.

The darkness wavered. My light pressed harder, eating through it in expanding ripples. For a moment, I thought it might break cleanly, but the strain came with a cost. I could feel my divinity bleeding away, the flow draining faster than I had anticipated.

Inside, the woman's composure cracked. She realized what I already knew - her shield would not hold. The artifact around her neck was failing, its last threads unraveling. Shadows seeped from the stitches across her eyes.

Then she moved. A sphere of darkness formed beside Akrion, pulsing once before she shoved it into him. The force pivoted his body toward the portal, still lingering under the barrier's protection.

Shit, they're going to escape.

I pushed more power through the beam, but the divine and the profane clashed unevenly. The God of Night and Moons had left his mark well; his protection resisted my will far longer than I had expected.

Still, the inevitable came. Akrion vanished into the portal, his form swallowed whole just as the barrier fractured completely. The dome collapsed in on itself, the portal snapped shut, and my light struck.

The impact was instantaneous. Her hands came up on reflex, but they disintegrated before the blow even finished. Flesh and shadow burst apart, fading into the air. I severed the flow of power at once; no mortal frame could endure what I had already unleashed.

When the air cleared, she lay twisted in the crater, blood pooling beneath her, dark and steaming against the cold ground.

The stitches across her eyes were gone. Only raw skin remained where the thread had once sealed her lids. The medallion had left a black scorch across her chest, the mark still smoking faintly. She lay on her back, face tilted toward the sky as if straining to see something above her. Her mouth trembled, muscles working with effort.

"E…everything…" The word hissed out of her, the grimace tugging at her lips until it bent into a faint, brittle smile. "Everything happened as you wished, Father…"

Her final breath left her on a sigh. The twisted smile lingered even as the color drained from her lips.

Everything happened according to the Night God's will?

Her words deeply unsettled me. I tried to understand it, but before I could, something inside my mind shifted. One of the sealed fragments, one of the Goddess's memories I had locked behind my power, had unraveled. It had become accessible as though some hidden key had turned.

Why now? Why when I've just killed another god's servant?

But since I expected no backlash from the new memories, I chose to see them at once.

Perhaps within the Goddess's memory lay the answers I needed.

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