While the Divine Kingdom of a true God was not easily tainted, the Night Clan lived by the creed that anything could happen in the Sin-Domain.

  Driven by anxiety, Irina blurted out the question before Eros could speak: "Has the Ancestor’s fragment been affected?"

  Eros remained silent, standing aside to hear Barbara’s assessment. He, too, doubted a God’s domain would fall so easily, but double-checking was only prudent in a place where logic warped.

  Barbara shook her head, her tone laced with a hint of disdain. "I think I know what happened."

  Eros raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to elaborate. Without further suspense, Barbara organized her thoughts and spoke in her crisp, slightly haughty voice:

  "Generally, Oddities that retain a humanoid form still possess a shred of reason; they can be reasoned with. And from what I observed, the sins carried by that girl hadn't yet pushed her to the brink of true madness."

  "I was puzzled earlier," Barbara continued. "If the weight of her sins hadn't driven her insane, then why did she act like a feral beast? Why was she so utterly maddened that she ignored the lingering aura on your body—the aura of that Great One—and tried to devour your life force and soul?"

  "I only understood why she lost her mind when I saw the marks left upon my Master’s Divine Kingdom fragment."

  "You mean..." Eros's eyes widened. "That eldritch girl was trying to assimilate the Ancestor's fragment?"

  "Correct," Barbara nodded, her lips curling into a scornful smirk. "A mere Transcendent daring to lay hands on a God’s domain? Even a fragment is far beyond what a creature of her caliber can endure."

  "The only reason she didn't instantly mutate into a mindless lump of flesh was likely that one-ten-thousandth share of the Soul Authority within her. That sliver of power bore the brunt of the corruption for her. Even so, she was only days away from total collapse."

  "If she hadn't met you, she would have turned into a twisted, screaming mass of meat in less than five days. But when she encountered you, her maddened instincts drove her to seek your pure, massive vitality to suppress the uncontrollable frenzy within her."

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  "It was actually quite effective; she even managed to regain a spark of sanity. If she hadn't tried to swallow your soul, the life force left in you by the Elven Goddess might have eventually eroded the madness inside her."

  "But there are no 'ifs' in this world. The frenzy only amplified her greed. Knowing full well whose aura you carried, she still tried to devour your soul."

  "And then," Barbara let out a sharp, mocking laugh, "she came face-to-face with Him."

  "I thought her transformation into the ring was because you devoured her spirit," Eros said, looking genuinely surprised.

  Barbara shook her head. "My devouring her spirituality played a part, but it wasn't the decisive blow. What truly broke her was that one direct gaze at the Great One in your soul. If you hadn't accepted her Sacrifice at the final second, she would have detonated into a mist of blood and perished eternally."

  "Sacrifice?"

  "Mhm. Driven by the primal instinct to survive, she offered herself as a sacrifice to you. That feeling you had earlier—the one telling you she could be yours—was the ritual taking hold. Because you accepted the sacrifice, the 'price' for looking at Him was transferred to you, her new master. That is why she survived."

  "However, the madness she accumulated while trying to absorb the fragment hasn't vanished. She’s only quiet now because she’s in a deep, weakened slumber."

  Eros felt a wave of realization. So that strange intuition was a forced sacrificial contract.

  Is looking at 'Tentacle Bro' really that lethal? he wondered. Even a Transcendent-tier Oddity almost died from a single glance. Meanwhile, he stared at that thing almost every day; he’d seen it so much he practically wanted to put a mosaic over his own vision out of boredom. It was creepy at first, but now? He was desensitized.

  Beside him, Irina was hopelessly lost. Whose aura? What sacrifice? Looking at what? She was swimming in a sea of confusion. But she caught the one detail that mattered: the fragment was safe. She let out a tiny, audible sigh of relief.

  Eros didn't miss her little reaction. He hadn't expected his "Fifth Sister" to have such a cute side. Maybe it’s the contrast of her 'Big Sister' figure and her 'Shy Maiden' heart? He shook the stray thoughts away and refocused.

  "How do we reclaim the fragment?" he asked Barbara. To him, the girl's madness was just a side story. The mission was the priority.

  Barbara returned to the matter at hand. "After devouring that Oddity’s spirit, a portion of my power has returned. I don't need an elaborate ritual; I can retrieve my Master’s fragment on my own."

  As she spoke, a deep, devouring shadow began to spread from beneath Barbara’s feet. it raced across the crimson earth, extending all the way to the horizon of Eros’s vision.

  The ground began to tremble. What started as a light quiver escalated into a violent, world-shaking earthquake, as if an ancient titan were waking beneath the crust.

  After ten minutes of upheaval, the shadows retracted, shrinking until they formed a pitch-black cube the size of a fist, floating in the air.

  Is that it? Eros started to ask, but Barbara’s voice cut him off with a sharp cry:

  "Not good! This Sin-Domain is collapsing!"