Somewhere on the other side of the mountain lay a chaotic battlefield, where black flames were consuming much of the vegetation and the ground.
Corpses lay scattered across the ground, in some places piled high like small hills.
They all shared a common trait: they were either charred black—resembling the rough bark of a dead tree—or reduced to nothingness.
And standing amidst that chaos was a young woman with flaming red hair and a pair of long black horns upon her forehead; her eyes were entirely black—even the whites.
She exuded a malevolent black aura so intense it felt capable of suffocating those around her; one hand, with sharp black claws, was strangling a cloaked agent from the Ancient Church, while the other held a black flame poised to incinerate him.
"Do you intend to kill people just to capture Qiye and me?" Lin Xi Chen's voice was slightly lower than usual, and overlaid with it was a man's voice—far deeper and more menacing—that made the agent tremble in her grasp.
Anger flashed in Lin Xi Chen's eyes, and her slender brows furrowed as she realized the man would do nothing but tremble in fear. The flames on her other hand vanished as she tightened her grip around the agent's throat.
Hands with sharp, withered claws burst forth from the ground and began to swarm over the agent—crawling across his limbs and face—before dragging him down into the earth. His screams tore through the stormy night, piercing the howling wind.
He vanished without a trace into the earth; the fissure disappeared, leaving behind only a black cloak as the sole evidence of his existence.
"Ngh..."
Lin Xi Chen glanced around to check if anyone else was nearby, but suddenly she collapsed to the ground, coughing up blood incessantly as a splitting headache seized her. Blood began to stream continuously from her eyes, nose, and mouth, staining her face crimson.
"You will never be able to save others with half-hearted ambitions like that."
"Give in to it... Give in..."
Her mind was filled with the screaming and cursing of faces she had never seen before, intermingled with whispers tempting her to give in and surrender control of her body to Lucifer.
The honeyed whispers were so insidiously seductive that Lin Xi Chen nearly surrendered willingly, only to snap out of it by plunging a knife into her own thigh.
Using that pain to momentarily break free from the temptation and control, she felt cold sweat trickling down her forehead and spine, as if she had just endured a nightmare spanning a thousand years within the span of mere minutes.
That was too dangerous... Just because she couldn't keep her emotions in check for a split second, she nearly turned into Cao Yuan 2.0.
She was initially unaware of this power and had no intention of using it, but a momentary lapse in vigilance nearly cost her her life.
Agents appeared from all sides, stabbing her in places that were not life-threatening but sufficient to render her unable to move. She had inadvertently tapped into the power of Lucifer—hidden deep within her subconscious—and triggered this state.
It was a strange sensation that made her never want to resort to it again; despite the immense power it granted, it drained a vast amount of mental energy and required tremendous restraint to avoid succumbing to its corruption.
For her, it was the worst feeling—as if someone had dissected her entire body, stuffed an ill-fitting form inside, and then heated it all up with the searing intensity of the sun.
Lin Xi Chen could feel her organs churning chaotically, and it seemed as though she might vomit them up at any moment.
BANG—!
In a split second, an aura flared in her eyes, and Lin Xi Chen instantly caught the bullet aimed straight at her head. A rifle made of black flames materialized in her hands, and she fired back at the hidden agent.
The bullet, forged from black flames that incinerated everything in its path, struck the Agent squarely in the skull despite his attempt to dodge; it embedded itself deep in his head, killing him instantly, while the flames consumed his entire body.
"Cough... Cough..." Lin Xi Chen coughed up blood repeatedly before collapsing heavily to the ground. Her eyelids grew heavy, threatening to close at any moment.
She couldn't afford to pass out here and risk losing control—potentially harming her allies—especially since her friends needed help too.
She lay sprawled on the ground amidst the ruins, the black flames barely making her flinch.
Lin Xi Chen gazed up at the sky, looking at the moon shining brightly and illuminating the darkness around her.
There was a rainstorm, a forest, and a battered body—much like the state she was in when she first received power from Lucifer.
Yet, strangely enough, it felt comforting. Lin Xi Chen slowly closed her eyes, feeling her consciousness begin to drift away. She steadied her breathing, settled into a comfortable position to calm her mind, and entered a brief state of meditation.
Lin Xi Chen could hear the shouts of those protecting the civilians at the makeshift camp, the sound of the rain weeping for the victims lost to the mudslide, and the rumbling of the earthquake...
Wait... The sound of an earthquake?
Lin Xi Chen lay on her side and listened in silence; she certainly wasn't being paranoid. She could feel a tremor beneath the ground—only a very faint one for now.
She clicked her tongue and bolted upright, causing her vision to blur; Lin Xi Chen felt as though she were on the verge of collapsing again—until a pair of cool arms held her tightly before she fell down to the ground, accompanied by a voice that soothed away the malicious whispers echoing in her mind. "My child.... Hemera...."
"Mother...?" Through her blurred vision, Lin Xi Chen vaguely made out the figure of a dark-haired woman cradling her head. She soon realized it was Nyx; Nyx's face was etched with concern as she slowly sat down and let Lin Xi Chen rest against her lap.
"Shh... Hemera, get some rest; your brother will take care of the rest." Nyx gently rubbed Lin Xi Chen's cheeks and pressed her forehead against the girl's, channeling a portion of her divine power into Lin Xi Chen to help her suppress her own power.
Lin Xi Chen slowly closed her eyes and drifted into sleep; her breathing steadied, and her Divine Ruin ceased its volatile flaring.
However, the horns—or other features of her new state—did not vanish. At the very least, she had stabilized, and golden markings akin to Nyx's began to appear on her body. Her hair gradually turned black, shimmering like a starry sky, while distinctive lines appeared around her eyes...
Even so, the chaotic energy and malevolent aura had not yet dissipated, causing Nyx to frown as she felt Lin Xi Chen's body still burning hot like fire.
If things are left as they are, sooner or later Lin Xi Chen will be corrupted by her own Divine Ruin...
Nyx fell silent for a long moment before softly humming a lullaby, her hands gently stroking Lin Xi Chen's hair.
The space around them gradually plunged into darkness, filling with a multitude of tiny stars; these stars drifted in time with Nyx's melody before slowly descending onto Lin Xi Chen's body, as Nyx had chosen to share her Divine Soul with her to completely suppress the dark nature of her power.
By the time the lullaby ended, Nyx had finished splitting her soul for Lin Xi Chen, and the child had fully absorbed it without much trouble.
It was strange that the divine soul elicited barely any reaction from Lin Xi Chen, a fact that deepened Nyx's suspicions. Her gaze was filled with affection, mingled with confusion and doubt, yet she chose not to press the matter.
At the very least, Lin Xi Chen was much more stable than before; Nyx held her for a long while before letting her lean against the base of a tree.
"I will teach you how to control [Night] soon enough; for now, just focus on resting, my dear child Hemera." Nyx rested her forehead against Lin Xi Chen's for a long moment before her body dissolved and returned to the mental asylum inside Lin Qiye's mind.