Not long after, the door opened. Dorothy outside stared blankly at David walking out safe and sound, finally breathing a sigh of relief.

Julius on the side showed a strange expression. "That's a hunter's advancement ritual? That's divine power? The commotion was way too big... You're not gonna go crazy now, are you, kid?"

David ignored Julius and walked straight to Dorothy's side, patting her head.

The girl's hair and face had long been soaked by rainwater, but more of it was cold sweat from enduring the pain of the prosthetic's energy infusion.

"Thank you for making that run for me. You worked hard."

Dorothy shook her head. She noticed the blood on David's chest and looked down, only to find no wound there at all—it had already healed.

The girl smiled and said, "You saved my life and gave me these legs. From now on, they'll only run for you."

"...I was the one who installed your legs." The alchemical master beside them muttered.

David shook his head. "No, you don't owe me anything. I'll send you wherever you want to go. Tell me, where's your home?"

"I don't have a home..." Dorothy looked up at the man before her. "Don't treat me like a child. I enlisted at seventeen and served in the Dragon Ridge Mountains reconnaissance squad for three full years... I was once a warrior. Now, I only want to become your messenger."

"Young lady, those legs don't actually belong to you. First Prince Charles won't give up on his experimental results." Julius timely poured cold water on the side, making Dorothy's red pupils tremble slightly.

She was scared—scared she'd become a useless person again...

David sneered at the old man, using his gaze to block any more words, then said gravely to the girl, "You've helped me twice. I won't forget that. Those legs will always be yours. No one can take them away again... Whoever dares try, I'll kill them all..."

...

9 Michelin Avenue.

Just as David completed his second-tier ritual, the twin maids at home also received a "gift" from the Shattered Church—parts of the Shattered Scripture personally transcribed by Efnathis.

The package containing the scripture was delivered by Doug.

David had already told the high priest last time to put the transcribed scripture in a hidden place and have Doug retrieve it.

The sly bootlicker had waited two days, confirmed no one had discovered it, then delivered the item to the young master's house.

The two sisters couldn't wait to start researching after obtaining the scripture copy, only to discover that the Shattered Scripture wasn't like they'd imagined—it didn't directly record masses of rituals about the Shattered Gods.

But not directly recording didn't mean there was nothing.

That scripture content that ordinary people couldn't understand at all looked completely different in the twins' eyes. The information previously injected into their minds seemed to exist precisely to decode the scripture.

When they concentrated simultaneously, the light shining from their two entangled souls illuminated that knowledge, letting them not only understand the scripture but also decode at least four supernatural path advancement rituals from it.

Unfortunately, since the scripture Efnathis transcribed wasn't complete, they only found part of the second-tier Fool Angel advancement ritual content, still missing the description of the final ritual material.

Besides that, the advancement rituals for the other two supernatural paths—"Thousand Soul Person" and "Dream Bridge"—were even more incomplete and completely unusable.

Only one path marked as "lower rank" in the Shattered God faith—"Pilgrim"—had complete ritual records reaching up to third-tier.

...

At night, the somewhat nervous twins fell asleep in each other's arms, their minds connected, once again summoning the Shattered Temple in their dreams.

In the days David wasn't around, they hadn't dared enter that place. They weren't sure what state someone summoned by the Shattered Temple would be in reality. If Master David wasn't safe, pulling his soul into the Shattered Temple might kill him...

But judging from the letter received today, the young master should be safe now.

The twins couldn't wait to see him in the dream.

But unexpectedly, David didn't appear behind the gray curtain this time. The only ones who came were Shattered Church High Priest Efnathis and that mysterious gatekeeper from the church.

The sisters sitting on the throne panicked a bit. Why didn't the young master appear?

Before they could think more, Efnathis below started excitedly bootlicking the Shattered Gods, rattling off a stream of praise.

"...Great My Lord, are you satisfied with the scripture?"

Finally, Efnathis looked half expectantly, half nervously at the curtain where gray mist rolled, as if waiting for the Shattered Gods to bestow divine grace.

He was just slightly puzzled: Why hadn't Lord Divine Envoy appeared?

Zoe on the throne covered her face with her hand. What could she do? Give him a thumbs up on the curtain?

No, she wanted more to kick this old man away.

Without "Lord Divine Envoy" present, they really didn't know how to deal with this fanatical high priest.

Yui's eyes rolled beside her, and she suddenly said, "Sister, do you think we could give them that lower-rank ritual?"

"What would we give it to them for?" Zoe looked at her sister in confusion.

"...Um, to keep this old man stable, convenient for fooling them later?" Yui was somewhat uncertain.

Zoe froze. She'd never thought her sister's mind could be so "dark."

But Yui was right. Since they were "playing" the Shattered Twin Gods, if they had no response every day, no miracles, only taking and never giving, they'd be exposed sooner or later.

Thinking of this, Zoe nodded and began controlling the curtain.

Anyway, that whatever "Pilgrim" path had nothing to do with them. They'd use it to respond to this old man and see what happens.

Efnathis below was about to continue kowtowing to the throne when he suddenly saw light and shadow appear on the curtain...

Ritual formations, materials, incantations—they appeared one by one in the light and shadow. That mysterious knowledge deeply imprinted in his pupils.

"This... this is... revelation bestowed by the divine..."

Tears flowed from the old man's eyes as he trembled and buried his head to kiss the temple floor. "You've finally bestowed grace, great Shattered Gods..."

He recognized the structure of those rituals, but this was the first time he'd seen such a complete, clear advancement ritual.

Now he understood why the gods wanted them to collect the Shattered Scripture. No one had ever been able to decode the Shattered Scripture. They'd only been able to research some scattered rituals from the scripture before, unable to truly experience the Shattered Gods' real divine power.

Three hundred years. They'd been hiding in the darkness for a full three hundred years...

Now, they'd finally received the gods' great guidance again. With this blessing, it wouldn't be long before the Shattered Church could birth countless extremely loyal supernatural beings.

The dream quickly ended. High Priest Efnathis awoke on a giant ship on the ocean. He looked toward the dark sea surface, gazing at that huge moon arc far to the south, his excited face trembling slightly in the sea breeze.

Three hundred years ago, the Star of Destruction descended. It crushed the starry sky, shot down the gods all over the heavens, seeming to announce this world's doom.

But those shattered divine powers ultimately held up that massive Star of Destruction at the last moment, preventing it from falling directly.

However, its darkness still corrupted half the world. Countless faiths were twisted, countless gods mutated and rotted after falling.

In the years that followed, people gradually forgot what had helped them hold up the sky. The Light Church that rose afterward even wanted to erase all achievements belonging to the Shattered Gods.

The arrogant Lion-Heart King considered himself the Sun's chosen one. Little did he know, without My Lord, his kingdom couldn't even withstand a shadow of the Star of Destruction...

Efnathis gritted his teeth. The gods had awakened. He would seize back this continent for the gods. Only then could the great Shattered Gods push away that Star of Destruction hanging at the world's southern end.

The first step to seizing back the continent was making the Goliath royal family, already corrupted by darkness, give up everything, making that foolish Light Church pay the price.

The reason Duke Agamemnon rebelled was precisely because he saw this point—all four of the royal family's heirs had already fallen.

First Prince Charles had been corroded into a paranoid by those forbidden objects from Duke Xavier;

Second Prince Raleigh had already fallen into the abyss, obsessed with those giant things in the darkness, completely controlled by that spider's silk... All the Hunter Earl families wanted him dead;

Third Prince Barron was even more laughable—he'd actually made a deal with "Death";

As for the Fourth Prince... he was just a rebellious madman. His eyes only saw the road to power's peak. After that, there was nothing.

The Goliath Empire had no future at all.

...

Late at night, at Dark Valley town's train station, David stood on the platform. Behind him was the girl Dorothy sitting in a wheelchair and Julius pushing it.

He'd just felt the Shattered Temple's summons, but he wasn't in a dream, so he couldn't enter.

Right now he didn't dare relax one bit, because a hunter's figure had appeared across from the station.

The rusty coat on the other party and that rust-covered eyeball made David highly alert.

"Ah ah ah~ A hunter from the Xavier Hunter Earl family. Looks like the First Prince really hasn't given up."

Julius sighed and slowly backed away pulling the wheelchair...

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