Luna followed Snow down a hidden path the scouts discovered while here. Underneath the cathedral was a strange door that was forced open a long time ago. The door was made of stone of course. And judging from the scribblings on its surface, Luna could tell it was once a magical entrance.

With his strength, Snow easily pulled the door open and revealed another passage that led to a flight of red stairs that spiraled down into the living darkness.

There was no shred of light here, making the air more tense and colder. Now that she knew of the Servant of Light, Luna didn’t know what to think about this darkness.

Nevertheless, deities were not to be trusted.

‘So I will stay on high alert.’ She thought to herself as she followed Snow as he led the way to this supposed shrine they discovered in this cathedral.

On the way, Snow explained the few things he had uncovered after spending a week in this city. He spoke of the strange monster he and the scouts had encountered and fought and the discoveries he had made till now.

Just like Luna, he was often curious. And that, just like Luna, got him into trouble most of the time.

Most of the discoveries were things she had already uncovered on her own while some of them were new to her like the piece of the sun domain was probably put in here by Everlight after the death of the Sun god.

This was an important bit of information, so Luna made a mental note to get back to it later.

***

They made it to the end of the staircase after what felt like ten minutes of walking through eternity. They relied on their suits since the darkness didn't react to unnatural light.

Luna halted her steady movement and let Snow step forward and interact with what he claimed to be the entrance to a shrine.

The red wall was still intact with intricate writings imbued on the surface. The twisted writings were obviously runes engraved to keep whatever was inside hidden from intruders.

The magic system of this world was a mystery to them, but Luna believed that it wasn’t so different from the one on Earth. Magic opposed nature and that’s exactly what zenshi could do with ascenders.

“These runes are a protection enchantment that was placed here to hide the place and keep the shrine intact.” Snow explained as he placed a bare hand on the wall and closed his eyes.

He murmured out something and bluish flames exploded from underneath his palm.

Suddenly the darkness was forced to retreat as a blinding light of Snow’s zenshi spread from the ascender and through the runes at a threatening speed. The blue light turned white as the runes immediately came to life and recognized the foreign power.

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Snow paled as it viscously siphoned his zenshi, till all the runes were fully glowing white.

Once he pulled his hand away, the wall vanished and the pair was hit by a powerful feeling of a barrier being lifted.

Luna staggered a little, overcome by the feeling of vertigo. While Snow ended up throwing up everything he had eaten before coming here.

‘Humans like us are not supposed to be here.’ Luna noted as she tried to resist the presence in the air.

The sinister presence was so intense that the air itself trembled as she already felt something beyond the threshold. Her sword hand quickly found itself on the hilt of her katana, ready to draw it from its scabbard should the need to fight come.

“There’s no need to fight. The presence belongs to a statue.” Snow immediately grasped her arm and faced her with tired eyes.

“A statue?” Luna raised an eyebrow, confused by what he said.

“You’ll understand when you see it yourself.”

Carefully, he made the first step past the entrance’s threshold and Luna followed with her hand still on the sword. She was too paranoid to trust Snow’s words.

You can’t blame her though. Ever since she joined this mission, every day felt like it was going to be her last.

‘I even died once.’ She argued with herself, remembering her fight with the servant of corruption and the abyss she was in before waking up.

Anyway, the first thing she noticed about the room was that it wasn’t a red color like everything else in this desert. Instead, the shrine’s walls and floor were pitch black.

She freed her sword hand and looked around with perplexed wonder.

There was a small sacrificial altar at the front that was constructed right in front of a statue that almost sucked the air out of her lungs when her eyes landed on it.

Instinctively, Luna took a few steps back with her eyes still glued to the statue of the Servant of Light. Now, Luna knew where the sinister presence was coming from.

‘Gods…’

Standing ominously was an obsidian statue of a tall veiled woman with two pairs of large black wings stretching out of her back and casting no shadow despite the floating orbs of light Snow had activated.

Even with its eyes covered, Luna could feel its eyes piercing directly into her soul like sharpened mythical swords. At that moment, she felt like the deity itself was looking at her…waiting to see what she would do next in a moment like this one.

She quivered slightly, her heart gaining pace as the statue of the deity pressed her down. She was about to call out the deity's name when Snow’s voice reached her ears and recovered her from the trance.

“Don’t mind her gaze. This is just a statue,” he said while avoiding the presence. It had taken a couple to get used to, but he had. “What we’re here for is over there.” He pointed at the sacrificial altar.

They carefully took a few steps forward and made it to the black altar without anything going wrong.

Once there, Luna got a better look at the altar while trying to resist the overwhelming presence coming from the statue.

On the surface, aside from the ancient design and the obsidian color, the altar looked normal. But, when she looked at it more, Luna noticed the small writings on the surface.

‘Pushing my curiosity, I see.’

Luna snickered in her mind when she immediately recognized the texts. The writings couldn’t translated by Snow, he wasn’t very familiar with the extinct languages like someone born within a Great House such as herself and Len.

Yes. Snow was a legacy too, but he became one after his clan was absorbed into The Feng clan when Mao Feng married Zheng and he became a Feng.

And since he’s not a pure-blooded Feng, he doesn’t have full access to all of their knowledge. Luna herself too didn’t have that much access.

But that’s because she wasn’t worthy, yet.

“Can you translate that?” he whispered.

Luna easily recognized the characters and smiled within. However, before responding to his question, she asked:

“Is that statue going to attack me?” there was genuine concern in her voice. “I know it's a statue…but anything is possible with magic. I haven’t done many things in life, you know.”

“I thought you already made it in life, Professor Luna.” Snow shot her wicked smile after saying that.

“I am a great professor by the way. I’ll become even more great when I conquer this damn thing.”

She thought about the number of credits she would be earning after her professor rank increased. They’d probably move her to a bigger suite with food delivery and other privileges she wasn’t aware of yet.

“Can you translate them or not?” Snow asked again, sounding a bit impatient.

“I can," she responded as she continued studying the characters. She touched the rock and started tracing the characters to see where she remembered them from.

And immediately, she was taken aback by the small discovery. She now understood why she recognized these characters so easily. Before giving them a better look, she assumed her blood her triggered it like how it did back at the temple.

‘No…This can’t be.’

Noticing her silence, Snow stared at the writings.

“What does it say?” he asked.

But an answer never came. Luna’s gaze was stuck on the inscriptions. The characters were familiar because they were written an ancient mortal language that House Feng seemed to have not forgotten…

‘Ancient Mandarin…this is Ancient Mandarin. I’m sure of it.’

Behind the characters, they translated into a message of only three words:

“You will die.”