Within the ritual array of Chalice and Shadow, Luer sat on a chair, staring at the mystical book before him. It detailed an advancement ritual—the very ritual he was about to conduct.
The core of this ritual lay in the seven "lambs." In ancient times, this term held a different meaning, but in this book, it referred to seven children trained to sing the Song of the Lamb. Gathering these seven children had taken him years.
First, he had to find children with sufficient aptitude who met the requirements to practice the song. To this end, he simplified and adapted the Song of the Lamb, using charity shows as a cover to teach it to orphans. The children would then perform a chorus before an audience, allowing him to screen out those with the highest talent based on the condensed version of the song.
Over the years, while gathering the spirituality and supplementary materials necessary for his advancement, Luer continuously filtered his "lambs" from the orphans at the Charity Orphanage, refining them into obedient followers through training. Now, his spirituality was fully amassed, the final "lamb" was in place, and all preparations were complete. The advancement ritual was about to begin.
Luer sat in his chair, awaiting the arrival of the sacred hour, while Bill and Fetch stood silently beside him. Above, within the shadows of the third floor of the grand chapel, two gazes quietly observed the scene below.
"Miss Dorothy, w-when should we make our move…?"
Behind a curtain along the third-floor corridor overlooking the chapel, Vania clutched a long rifle, whispering nervously to Dorothy. Dorothy, who was attentively surveying the situation below, responded in a hushed tone.
"Wait until the ritual starts. Moving too soon would be premature. Just follow my signal."
After speaking, she refocused on their target. Scanning the surroundings, her brows furrowed, and she turned to Vania.
"Hmm… I think so. I heard about it in the church. Every advancement ritual needs a guide, or else they must use a powerful mystical artifact as a substitute—or even pray for divine attention…" Vania pondered aloud.
"But…" Dorothy mused, "I don’t see any higher ranked Beyonder here. Nor have they taken out any powerful artifacts. Could he be trying to seek the attention of his so-called Wolf God?"
Her tone carried a note of doubt. Vania shook her head.
"Divine attention…? That’s unlikely. Gaining a god’s notice is extremely difficult. Even archbishops in the church struggle to do so. From what the deacons say, of the three possible guiding methods for advancement, divine attention is the rarest and hardest to achieve."
"So divine attention is the most difficult guiding method? If that’s not it, then what does this guy plan to use?" Dorothy muttered, puzzled.
After a moment of contemplation, Vania added, "Hmm… Maybe they just haven’t revealed their artifact yet. But I still think they’re relying on a higher rank Beyonder. Even if there’s no one physically present, guidance doesn’t always require proximity—there are many ways to provide remote guidance. Dreams, for example, are one of the most common methods."
"Remote guidance… so there’s a method like that?"
Dorothy absorbed Vania’s words, scanning her surroundings once more, carefully analyzing the situation.
"There’s still some time. Let’s find a better ambush spot."
The tension in the air remained palpable. After a while, Luer, seated at the center of the ritual array, checked the watch on his wrist before closing the open tome.
"The sacred hour has arrived. Start the ritual."
He tossed the book aside and solemnly surveyed the room before turning to the children gathered around him. Raising a hand, he commanded in a powerful voice.
"Sing, my lambs! Offer me your voices! Offer me your flesh and blood!"
All the children replied in unison—except for Anna. They had long been deeply corrupted by the Chalice and the cognitive poison, reduced to mere instruments of Luer’s will.
Encircling him within the ritual array, the children—dressed in pure white—began to sing in eerie unison.
"Lambs… oh, lambs… we are lambs… tender lambs…"
"Nurture us, and we shall be grateful. Love us, and we shall repay you."
"Feed us grass… and we shall offer our flesh."
"Offer us water… and we shall return it as blood."
"Caress us… and we shall clothe you in our wool."
"Lambs… oh, lambs… we are lambs… the lambs of God… the lambs of the Wolf…"
A bizarre chant, sung in the innocent voices of children, echoed throughout the chapel. Under its influence, Anna—who had fiercely resisted—suddenly found her mind wavering. The voices of her companions felt like needles piercing her brain, compelling her to open her mouth and join in.
The forbidden hymn reverberated, rising upward, reaching Dorothy’s ears. Moments later, a system notification sounded in her mind.
"Mystical Knowledge The Song of the Lamb has been fully acquired."
"So this… is the complete version of the Song of the Lamb. It’s short, but its cognitive poison seems incredibly potent…" Dorothy thought. Without hesitation, she extracted the song’s spirituality, converting it into 2 points of Chalice and 1 point of Revelation.
Just then, she heard a disturbance beside her. Turning her head, she saw Vania clutching her forehead, her brows tightly knit in pain.
"Huff… huff… This is… the full version of the song…? This cognitive poison is… ugh…"
Vania muttered in discomfort. A sharp pain pulsed through her consciousness, accompanied by an overwhelming hunger deep within her soul. Seeing this, Dorothy’s heart sank.
"Damn… Vania’s been affected by the song’s cognitive poison…"
Among those present, Luer, Bill, and Fetch had clearly studied the Song of the Lamb beforehand. As for Dorothy herself, she was immune to cognitive poison. But Vania… she was directly subjected to the song’s corruption.
This couldn’t go on. She had to find a way to help.
"Hey, system, can you help someone linked to me resist cognitive poison?"
"Direct immunity is not possible. However, by using the Spirituality Extraction function, you can accelerate the conversion of accumulated cognitive poison into spirituality."
Dorothy’s eyes widened.
So the system’s spirituality extraction could be used on others too?
That meant she could help Vania quickly process the cognitive poison—converting it into her own spiritual accumulation!
With this realization, Dorothy gently patted the trembling nun’s shoulder and whispered reassuringly,
"Don’t panic, Vania… Steady yourself and pray. They will grant you relief from the poison’s agony."
Vania’s dazed eyes flickered with understanding. She placed her rifle aside, clasped her hands before her chest, and knelt, assuming the standard prayer posture of the Radiance Church.
"O Lord… I beseech You… Grant me Your mercy… Bestow upon me Your sacred grace… Shield me from the poison of heresy…"
Vania prayed earnestly. Upon hearing the plea, Dorothy swiftly acted. Through the information channel, she extracted the Song of the Lamb that had forcibly seeped into Vania, converting its accumulated cognitive poison into spirituality.