Malediction of the Depth – Silence in Judgement

Lea opened her eyes, feeling slightly refreshed with more than half of her mental strength restored. The dark spirits came, looking worried.

"I'm fine...", she brushed their worries off, gave them a comforting smile, "Now, did you find anything?"

The spirits gave a negative answer.

"Come back in for now."

They all came back inside her. Lea stood up, wiggling her body to dust off the condensation from the mist.

There is no pattern to this maze, so Lea began to walk toward the direction where she sensed the most thoughts. Morphing into her Faceless Twilight persona, she trekked forward.

Every time she entered a new zone, the presence would change.

Twists and turns, Lea traveled silently. Her mind took note of everything to see if she would return to the same location.

Apparently not, this forest is so vast that every step led to a wildly different location.

"Just where am I going?"

Ideation had pieced together that this place is the Fog Wall, from what Sinclair said and... the abnormal amount of fog. She was here to witness the new era. To be a bystander, that doesn't sit well with Lea.

After what seemed to be an hour of walking. Finally, Lea felt something close to her.

What could it be? She wondered, looking to her left.

Flame erupted in front of her, burning down the forest like a wave. And walking through the flame were the Temple of Fire monks, in their orange robes decorated with prayer beads and flame. She could feel hundreds of them, as if the major force of The Sacred Flame is here.

Lea remembered one thing Charlotte said in one of the meetings, when asked about which Path is the strongest.

Although the definition of 'Strongest' can be interpreted in different ways. There is one Path that stood above the rest in power, utility, meaning, and spirituality.

The Material counterpart to Judgement and Retribution.

"Fire...", Lea muttered.

Fire was Charlotte's answer.

"Who might you be, Dark One?", one of the older monks, a bald master with a sagely gaze, came forward.

Lea realized it was the right time to start her Sixth Step ritual.

"I am The Faceless Twilight, executioner of the wicked."

The Sixth Step of Unconscious is 'To have your name known far and wide, in whisper or announce in glory. But forever remain elusive to the masses.'

It also ties into her form of immortality. She will revive as long as someone knows about her.

This was why Lea tensed up when Sinclair declared that she would murder everyone who knew of Lea... her existence and life are directly tied to people's knowledge about her. And the harm that it would cause for the people she knew.

"Faceless Twilight... ah, the curse maker and assassin in Lacrosa.", the old monk reached his hand out for a handshake, "This foolish one is Robert Zysen, may the Everflame bless you."

Being sensitive to malice, Lea felt no such thing coming from Robert. But she didn't shake his hand.

"My body is entirely made of curses; I will refrain from hindering your operation.", she responded, taking a step back.

"Then how about we advance through this forest together?", he gave her an offer.

Seeing how the monks are just destroying everything in front of them, it is better than wandering aimlessly.

Plus, Lea could trust the monks; being a Renlou citizen, she knows about the doctrines of the Temple. They fight for peace and freedom, although politically they clash a lot with the nobility's ideas of expansion. They are well respected, only taking donations and nothing more.

The God of Fire and Justice is on their side, after all.

"Then... I apologize for bothering you.", she gave them a bow.

"May the Everflame bless you.", Robert laughed, not caring about Lea's monstrous form.

"May the Everflame bless you as well.", she placed her right hand on her chest.

After a bit of reorganizing, with Lea being at the back since she is pretty much useless in this scenario. Here to eliminate what the Temple dubbed Hollows.

From what Lea could gather, they are what happens when people stay in this forest for too long; it drains them of their sense of self, their identity, their everything. Only those above the Fourth Step or is a demigod can survive the decay.

To deal with this, the Temple opted to burn a path to the outside world. A single Fire Pathstrider is not enough, so all the Fire Path monks above the Third Step are here, burning away the Fog Wall and creating an entrance to the outside.

Brute forcing it. Lea was amazed that such a dignified religion could do something like this.

From her knowledge, at least three religions had joined the fight. The Church of Sacrifice with their expedition, the Church of the Blood God due to her manipulation, and now the Temple of Fire.

Not to mention, Charlotte's faction...

Just how much manpower is here? She questioned inwardly.

She almost felt bad for the Ruler of the North. Almost.

But there is another thing that concerned her. Where does the Church of the Three Rings fit into all of this?

Would The Three Rings stand by when the battle deciding the fate of the world is ongoing?

She doesn't know. When equilibrium is being thrown into chaos like that, The Three Rings must do something.

=0=0=

Jim noticed that the chalk world had stopped, and the battle of the gods continued on. Not sure if he needed to be on guard or not, he snapped off a branch and threw it into the white world... it didn't change.

Now he could relax and wait for the chance to obtain the Divine Domain... but someone was just so happen to be bored.

"This isn't a battle between good and evil.", Charlotte's clear and serene voice came from behind.

"Wha—", he jumped back, staring at Charlotte.

"As you can see.", she pointed at The Maker, standing in the back supporting the other two gods.

He turned to them, His smile still stretched beyond normality. Jim felt he was just about to go mad. Then The Maker tipped His hat, a gesture of greeting.

"Quite the creepy guy.", she shrugged, "Let's see..."

"Curiosity.", she pointed at the Light Seeker.

"Destruction.", then at the Blood God.

"Entropy.", and The Maker.

"And if you count Sularao, Sentience.", she was referring to the Goddess of Madness.

"Two of them lean toward evil and chaos, the other two are more neutral. As I said, this isn't a battle of good and evil.", she leaned against a tree, summoning the book bearing the Great Tree on its cover, "The Three Rings won't interfere. Their area of Equilibrium is the balance between good and evil."

"As well as the God of Water, that One Radiant Thing's goal is completely unknown, even to me and the universe at large."

Jim was just staring at her without a single noise. He didn't sense her at all; no, looking at the strings around her, none truly touched her. Her own strings are connected elsewhere.

More importantly.

"Why did you say all of that?", Jim asked.

"I like hearing myself speaking, plus lore-dumping is fun.", she shrugged, "Anyway, reinforcement should come soon."

He almost forgot how whimsical Charlotte is... then her perk up at what she just said.

"Reinforcement?"

"The Giant of Light.", she smiled, flipping the book to a mural of just that, a giant of light.

"Fire, Retribution, and Judgement. The Divinity of Action, or the Conscious."

The exact opposite of Lea's Unconscious.