Chapter 19: Must the Path to a Bright Future Be Fraught with Obstacles?

“I’m going out for a while.” Amanesis regained her usual calm and elegance. Her eyes, deep and dark as shadows, raised a hand and concealed the entire residence from the hidden realm of the Demon Wolf Kingdom. She instructed, “No one except the ‘King’ may enter here of their own accord. I have also left enough food; do not leave the residence and wait for my return.”

Hermia noticed that Amanesis never uttered the honored title “Demon Wolf King,” clearly trying to avoid drawing his attention. This revealed her wariness toward him.

“After all, he is the ancient god who governs both darkness and folly, arguably the strongest among the old gods. Were it not for his conflicting and incomplete nature, even Yuan Tai’s arrival would have been futile...”

“But Yuan Tai is far too distant. Let’s not consider that powerful ally now. The goddess of the household is still the priority. Before leaving on a journey, one must first secure the safety of home.”

“Hmm... Could it be that Amanesis has gone to reclaim the hybrid traits of the two-headed Demon Wolf?”

Watching Amanesis’s figure fade away, Hermia speculated deeply, though she lacked the ability to intervene in matters of such high order.

The Demon Wolf Kingdom was unsuitable for her rapid growth. If she had landed in the Fifth Era, knowing the main story, she could have mingled with her brother, Zhou Mingrui, and in half a year, she might have stepped into the demigod realm... The environment would have been much safer.

Alas... she hoped Amanesis would resolve her own issues smoothly and soon ascend as a true deity. Then, relying on her current favor, she might at least become an angel under her command.

By then, with “Amanesis” on my lips and “Grisha” (Yuan Tai’s true name) on the other, wouldn’t that be more domineering than my brother Zhou Mingrui?

The future is bright; this is but the darkness before dawn.

With such wishes, Hermia left her room and returned to the study, intending to continue her research on the extraordinary languages belonging to humanity.

But the sight of Urolius inside the study startled her.

The silver-haired, gaunt Urolius knelt dazedly before a pile of unfinished square tablets. Two dried tear-streaks of blood marred his cheeks.

“What’s wrong, Urolius?” Seeing the child’s bullied appearance, Hermia hurriedly asked.

“Sister Hermia...” Urolius seemed stunned, only regaining composure after calling out.

His eyes were dull as he looked toward Hermia, his tone calm but clearly suppressing fear.

“I just saw a powerful presence lurking outside. I saw feathers stained with grease, lifeless eyes, and the intense malice within those eyes...”

An unknown, powerful enemy?

Hermia frowned. According to Urolius’s information, this had happened precisely during Amanesis’s slumber.

This was no coincidence... a powerful being had sensed Amanesis’s trouble, and that being was filled with malice!

Who could it be?

As Hermia pondered, she fetched some clean silk cloth for Urolius, though the bloodstains on his face had dried hard and were difficult to wipe.

This child’s appearance pained her deeply; she sighed gently, “Urolius, you must go wash up in the corner washroom.”

Watching Urolius obediently leave, Hermia, who had felt the future to be bright, suddenly sensed an impending storm.

She sighed softly, planning to inform Amanesis of the malicious spying once she returned.

“Nothing had happened for months before, but now, with Urolius here, good and bad events come flooding in...” Hermia truly felt the guiding hand of fortune and the power to summon calamity.

But she couldn’t just cast the adorable Urolius out, especially when the child had journeyed here with the heart to save her.

She could only hope Amanesis was making progress...

Hermia sighed lightly.

Yet—

Things rarely unfold as hoped.

More than twenty days passed, and Amanesis did not return. The food in the residence dwindled day by day. Hermia crouched at the door, gazing into the thick fog outside, like a waiting stone.

“Sister Hermia, let me go out and investigate,” Urolius offered, willing to share her burden.

“Get lost. It’s not your concern yet.” Hermia ruffled the child’s soft silver hair firmly, relieving stress as she sent him back to the study to organize the tablets.

Just then, a heavy thud echoed in the hall!

At the same time, the thick fog outside began to dissipate, as if the entire residence was returning to the mortal realm.

Was Amanesis back?

Before joy could bloom—

“It’s Lady ‘Doom’!” Urolius shouted from another room, but his cry abruptly ended.

Hermia’s heart skipped a beat. A dreadful premonition surged as she rushed toward the hall.

Standing there was the imposing figure of Amanesis, faintly revealing her mythic form! She had returned bearing the hybrid traits of the two-headed Demon Wolf!

But her condition was visibly poor—

A mass of tangled traits, too ghastly to look upon directly, lay crashed on the floor.

Amanesis, nearly three meters tall, stood with chaotic aura. Arms repeatedly tore forth from her ribs, growing from blood and flesh only to wither and break.

Countless tiny worms wriggled in and out of the bloody wounds on her sides.

Seeing this, Urolius fainted immediately—the protective mechanism Amanesis had granted.

Hermia, witnessing this scene, felt unbearable headache and the sensation of ants crawling all over her, yet she somehow maintained her composure.

She was the only conscious one in the residence.

Amanesis wouldn’t have ignored advice and devoured the hybrid traits of the two-headed Demon Wolf, would she? That didn’t fit her nature.

“Amanesis! Lady ‘Doom’!” Hermia called out anxiously and loudly, but there was no response.

Beneath an illusory black veil, her face was contorted in pain, reminiscent of when she was trapped in a nightmare.

Hermia guessed the source of Amanesis’s abnormality was that mass of traits she didn’t even dare to look at directly.

She tried desperately to see where the tangled traits lay, their condition, whether they bore marks of being gnawed... but her body, driven by survival instinct, uncontrollably twisted her neck in the opposite direction with a sickening crack.

Hermia strained with all her might, exerting enough force to break her neck, yet she could not turn toward that mass of traits!

It was as if some great terror lurked in that direction!

“Do you need help, my lady...”

At that moment, a tall, slender figure clad in gray appeared not far ahead of Hermia. Androgynous in appearance, the figure’s voice was ethereal yet kind.

But Hermia noticed the cluster of white feathers stained with disgusting grease around the figure’s skeletal eye sockets!