After hanging the finely crafted single-wing pendant around her neck and carefully hiding it under her collar, the priestess sitting across from the angel sisters briefly inquired about how they felt.

Once she confirmed that the connection had indeed been established, she finally felt relieved.

Equipment at the Sacred Artifact level and above needs to be bound to the user. Even if it is temporarily taken away, others would find it difficult to fully unleash its power because it’s already bound to the previous user.

With this pair of 【Wings of Compassion】, their combat effectiveness, particularly their survival ability, should be significantly enhanced.

“Alright then, use this for now. I’ll prepare other equipment for you depending on the situation later. Also, the captain of the 【Reaper’s Scythe】 from Demon Suppression City appeared in Bright Light City and had a confrontation with that mask… Are you sure it was him? And why was Mr. Dead Soul the only one there? Where were the other team members?”

Leila and Rene had seen the entire 【Reaper’s Scythe】 team before and had heard the priestess mention their unique ability to strengthen each other. Naturally, they understood what Violet was referring to, and they nodded in response.

“It should be him. There was only Mr. Dead Soul. Besides his appearance and attire, he had his seven signature swords with him. We don’t know where his teammates went.”

“Hah… That kid sure has guts, chasing after something that strange all by himself. But how did he know the exact location…?”

After a brief thought, the priestess nodded again and sat up.

“Alright, that’s it for today. We’ll talk more tomorrow. You’ve done well, so go get some rest. I’m going to check on Theresa.”

“Yes, Lady Violet. You should rest early too.”

“Mm-hmm~”

The two sisters exchanged a knowing glance before getting up and quickly leaving the priestess’s room.

After watching the two winged, or rather, angel girls leave, Violet slightly turned her head, casually glancing at the pitch-black night sky outside the curtains. Then, she put on the 【Dominion of the Fox Mask】, which had been placed beside her, transforming into her 【Fox Spirit Shrine Maiden】 persona, and stepped out.

Actually, earlier this morning, before setting off for the Spirit Veil Merchant Guild, Violet had already assigned tasks to four of her idle companions. Leila and Rene, for instance, were sent to the 【Star Bear】 district, where the priestess had picked up some clues, to investigate a possible 【Eternal Throne】 outpost.

The reason they were able to track down the approximate location was quite simple. Some of these guys had secretly infiltrated the auction held by the Spirit Veil Merchant Guild last night.

Or, to be more precise, the priestess had vaguely detected a faint, corpse-like stench, similar to that of the undead.

Of course, since even Violet’s god-like heightened senses could only pick up on this faintly, ordinary people would likely have had a hard time noticing it even if they were standing right beside it. The enemy must have used some method to conceal their presence.

As a result, the priestess wasn’t exactly sure where they were hiding and wasn’t particularly interested in hunting down these rats in the shadows. Since Leila and Rene had just broken through and were eager to prove themselves, she let them go check it out.

The reason for suspecting their hideout was in the 【Star Bear】 district was even simpler: the faint stench seemed to be coming from the eastern part of the crowd. The Summerfield family’s castle had a total of eight entrances, divided according to the Western Capital regions.

If someone were to come via the main road from the 【Star Bear】 district, they would most likely end up seated in the eastern part of the venue upon entering the castle.

Although one could deliberately take a longer route and enter through another entrance, it was unlikely anyone would go out of their way to do so. Ultimately, Violet was just guessing. After all, there was no penalty for being wrong, right?

As for Theresa and the dragon girl, they were sent off on a different task: to search for clues about “demons.”

Throughout the priestess’s journey, she had encountered various hints and signs that not only in the embattled eastern part of the Holy Empire, but also in the vast western territories centered around Bright Light City, there were already traces of demonic activity spreading.

The succubus Chloe’s solitary appearance might not mean much on its own, but the rumors circulating in the streets of Sacred Star City, along with the so-called “demonized” girl the priestess encountered, seemed to lend some credibility to this information.

Whether there are demons in the western part of the Holy Empire, where these rumors originated, or the internal issues within the Church mentioned by Holy Knight Bowen’s soul, it’s difficult not to pay attention to these matters.

The key question is this: who spread the rumor about “demonic rampage and corruption within the Church”, and what was their motive?

Even though it was just a casual decision to let them pass the time, not expecting to find anything significant, what was surprising was that they actually made an incredible discovery.

When Theresa and her group returned, they brought someone back with them.

To be precise, it was a little girl.

“How is she?”

“Ah, Miss Dawn…!”

Upon seeing Miss White Fox gently push the door open, the green-haired girl sitting by the bed, wiping the sweat from the girl’s face with a damp towel, quickly turned her head.

Meanwhile, the dragon girl, who had been leaning against the wall with her arms crossed and looking impatient, perked up and approached to give a brief report.

“Master, she’s dying.”

“Has her condition deteriorated that quickly…?”

Seeing that the girl looked significantly different from before, Violet quickly realized the seriousness of the situation. She closed the door, walked straight to the bedside, and patted Theresa on the shoulder.

“Come, let me take a look.”

“I’m sorry for troubling Miss Dawn again. It’s my fault… Even though I have some life energy abilities, I…”

Theresa’s unexpected apology made Violet pause for a moment. Then, she understood what Theresa meant and smiled, removing the mask from her face, returning to her true form.

Seeing that the girl on the bed was completely unconscious, Violet realized there was no need for any pretense.

“Trouble? There’s no trouble at all. The only reason I decided to help was that I recognized the value of this girl. Alright, now let me take a look at her.”

After swapping places with Theresa, Miss White Fox sat down by the bed but didn’t immediately take any action. Instead, she gently brushed aside the girl’s bangs and carefully observed her face.

Earlier that evening, when the two brought her back to the hotel, Violet had already seen this girl once, but at that time, the girl was still conscious, and the changes in her body had not yet become this pronounced.

Otherwise, in the environment of this Holy Empire, it’s likely that before Theresa and the dragon girl encountered her, she would have already…

Because this girl was undergoing demonization.

Dark purple markings had spread from the collar of her shirt up to her neck and even onto her face, glowing faintly with an ominous and unnatural light. Two short, curved horns were beginning to protrude from either side of her head—unmistakable traits of a demon.

However, despite the visible changes in her body, the girl’s vital signs, or rather her bodily functions, were rapidly deteriorating.

If Violet remembered correctly, the demonized girl she encountered on the streets of Sacred Star City also had highly unstable vital signs and remained in a semi-conscious state the entire time. Even when Clatius and Holy Knight Bowen took her away, she didn’t offer any resistance.

Demonization… What exactly is happening here?

With this lingering question, the priestess gently placed her hand on the girl’s forehead, where the strange markings were glowing.