Aphra’s gaze did not linger on Lord Ulysses throughout. From start to finish, she stared fixedly at the display screen and at the flesh-colored embryo floating in a cultivation dish in the center of the laboratory.

 

Without a doubt, this was what she referred to as the 【Seed of Blasphemy】.

 

Violet sensed a somewhat familiar aura emanating from this thing.

 

Wait, isn’t this the giant cocoon from the world in the mirror earlier?

 

The Seed of Blasphemy… a juvenile form?

 

From the suggestive term used and the power of inverse laws exhibited by the opponent during the battle, the priestess began to vaguely understand something.

 

“Cough… Aphra, listen to me. We don’t have time and leeway to slowly analyze the power of the seed bit by bit.”

 

Lord Ulysses struggled to climb up from the ground. He didn’t become angry at the girl’s rough actions but earnestly and urgently explained to her.

 

“You know, they have already found you. Even with the Glory City as a backing, it’s not something humans can easily resist. I must… get the power to protect you before things get out of control!”

 

“You are playing with fire! If the power of blasphemy goes out of control, it will cause a disaster far beyond your imagination! This is not a territory that belongs to humans, and even our vampire kind can’t fully control it. Do you understand?!”

 

Aphra roared in anger, her voice crisp and melodious, like a young beast cornered and forced into desperation.

 

But she still suppressed her rationality and refrained from punching the man in front of her—shattering the protective suit might cause infection, Violet speculated in a rather unromantic way.

 

“That’s why I stole the 【Mirror of Reflection】 that seals it and the ‘Temple’ from those lunatics. Now it seems cooperating with you humans was a mistake. You’re all the same greedy bunch!”

 

“Ulysses, remember this: never attempt to touch the power of the divine recklessly, it will only bring destruction to everyone.”

 

With these words, Aphra was about to operate the instruments beside her. However, this time, Ulysses appeared in front of the vampire girl at an unimaginable speed, blocking her way.

 

Undoubtedly, this man was also a legendary-level powerhouse.

 

“What are you trying to do, Aphra!?”

 

“Get out of my way, I have to take it away from here. You’ve gone mad!”

 

“You can’t do this! Without the power of the Glory City and the 【Seed of Blasphemy】, you won’t be able to resist the pursuit of the vampires. You will die!”

 

Ulysses earnestly and urgently tried to persuade her, but the girl seemed to no longer be listening.

 

“Don’t give me grand excuses! You make me sick, human!!”

 

Aphra raised her hand, and blood-red magic surged and lingered in her palm. However, she seemed to be cautious and did not directly engage in a fight in this place, in front of the 【Seed of Blasphemy】.

 

At the moment of the standoff, the entire laboratory suddenly shook violently. Aphra and Ulysses both changed their expressions, looking simultaneously at the entrance to the mirrored world.

 

“This feeling… it’s them! How could they arrive so quickly?”

 

“Do you see it, Aphra? There’s no choice left. We must use the power of blasphemy to resist the Six Princes….”

 

Feeling the intensifying shaking of the room, Ulysses’s urgent expression gradually calmed down.

 

“Superiors are not something humans or ordinary vampires can compare to. Although you are a grand duke, you are still far behind the true second-generation vampires. Regardless, I won’t let you die like this.”

 

As soon as he finished speaking, the last lord of the glorious city suddenly pointed to a concealed safety button beside him. By the time Aphra, whose attention was drawn by the attack, realized it, it was too late.

 

The earth shook, and a strange power filled the air.

 

“You…!!”

 

Sizzle, sizzle.

 

The scene before their eyes blurred, like a damaged tape skipping over large segments. When the surroundings became clear again, the scene had changed entirely.

 

It seemed that intense battles or other reasons had caused damage to the memories stored in the brooch worn by Aphra.

 

Here, it was the ruined lord’s mansion.

 

No, there were no human bodies. This place was… the mirrored world!

 

Judging from what was seen earlier, the mirror door standing at the center of the Forgotten Land was originally meant to store the laboratory and the 【Seed of Blasphemy】. Given its limited size, there’s no reason it could reflect the entire vast Glory City.

 

It seems that the truth is closely related to the lost battle records and the so-called power of blasphemy.

 

The memories continue to play, but this time, it’s no longer from Aphra’s perspective. It has transformed into a god-like perspective, akin to an aerial view. In other words, the bat brooch storing the memories has now appeared.

 

Finally, Violet can see the face of this grand duke-level vampire girl.

 

Indeed, she is the one sealed inside the cocoon in the mirrored world, the original form of the mirrored puppet—a beautiful girl with long, silver hair, and a cute and lovely appearance of about fifteen or sixteen years old.

 

Of course, as a vampire, her real age is certainly not just this. Vampires do not age, grow, or reproduce, maintaining the appearance they had when first turned until death.

 

However, now this endlessly beautiful girl with eternal life has become a lifeless shell.

 

She is dead.

 

Lord Ulysses kneels on the ground, holding her, his expression lifeless, as if the intense grief has shattered his spirit. His tattered protective suit is long gone, and a broken sword lies next to him, indicating he went through a fierce battle earlier.

 

Aphra has no visible wounds, but Violet can sense that her cause of death is likely related to the so-called inverse law—the power of blasphemy. Similar to the countless undead in the Forgotten Land, her state of being was reversed from life to death by the power of blasphemy. However, the force that Aphra endured seems stronger than the laws that would envelop the entire mirrored world three hundred years later. Therefore, even a legendary grand duke vampire cannot avoid being reversed.

 

Vampires don’t transform into undead; instead, they fall into eternal slumber.

 

Not far from her lie three young men and women with various appearances, each with bat wings behind them. They too have lost their vitality, indicating that both sides, for some reason, met their demise together.

 

“Aphra….”

 

Ulysses moves his cracked lips in a daze. His voice, no longer gentle and magnetic as before, now sounds like the scraping of an iron saw on a charred tree trunk—hoarse.

 

“Why are you so foolish? Clearly… I should have done it. It was the power of blasphemy I triggered, and I should have borne the consequences. And without you, what’s the point of me doing all this…”

 

However, the girl who would previously argue with him, even jump up to hit him, can no longer offer any response.

 

“I won’t let you die, even if it means betraying my family duty, betraying the Glory City, betraying humanity, even if I’m condemned by millions, sacrificing countless lives… I will make you live again!!!”

 

“Aphra, I love you.”

 

Uttering a tender confession destined to go unheard, the last lord makes the final and most insane decision of his life.

 

From his embrace, he takes out the crystal vial containing the embryo known as the 【Seed of Blasphemy】. Ulysses shatters the vial and swallows the flesh cocoon whole.

 

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!”

 

As the flesh bud grows, the man’s body expands and distorts. Thunder roars, clouds churn, and under the dominance of obsession, a twisted pseudo-god is born.

 

Sizzle, sizzle.

 

The surroundings gradually blur, and Violet returns from the memories of three hundred years ago to reality.