In a certain basement in the west of Bayne City, two young women knelt before a magic circle.
The magic circle appeared crudely drawn, a regular twelve-pointed star sketched with white chalk, a half-burnt candle placed at each of its points.
They looked to be in dire straits: sallow-skinned and emaciated, clad in tattered black robes, presenting a truly wretched sight.
Both girls were young; the older one appeared to be in her early twenties, the younger perhaps seventeen or eighteen.
After chanting the prayer, they cautiously opened their eyes.
The younger girl, who had soft, purple hair, blinked carefully and looked at the magic circle, asking tentatively, "Our summoning… it seems to have failed."
The older, blue-haired woman sighed silently, her beautiful ice-blue eyes filled with pain and despair as she looked at the purple-haired girl.
They were two innocent souls pushed to the brink, branded as sinners. Devout followers of the Tri-Moon Goddesses, in their desperation, they had attempted to summon a deity who could offer them sanctuary – be it a devil or an evil god, they were willing to offer everything they had, so long as it could protect them.
Yet, this final glimmer of hope had also failed.
The older, blue-haired woman said in a low voice, "It's alright. It was just a useless incantation we stumbled upon. We were only trying it out. Since the summoning failed, let's continue our escape."
The purple-haired girl clenched her fists. "Why? Why must we suffer such a fate? What have we done wrong?!"
Hearing this, the blue-haired woman fell silent, saying no more.
She didn't know why either. She only knew that in this world, once branded a "Demoness," it was tantamount to a death sentence.
And they were two such Demonesses.
Just as they were sinking into a profound, deathly silence, the candle flames on the magic circle began to flicker wildly. Then, a large mass of cerulean mist abruptly materialized.
"Sister Helles! Look!" The purple-haired girl noticed the anomaly and cried out urgently.
Meanwhile, elsewhere…
In a disorienting haze, Silas felt his body hurtling through… something. He couldn't describe the passage he was traversing; his mind itself felt unstable.
When he regained his senses, the first thing he perceived was that his body had transformed into a mass of cerulean mist.
This mist was remarkably similar to the one within his own icy heart.
"Great Lord of Storms and Death, please save your pitiful believers!" A voice, filled with supplication and reverence, suddenly rang out.
Silas's thoughts whirled, and he directed his perception downwards.
In a dim, dilapidated, and cramped basement, two young women in black robes, their faces tinged blue from the cold, looked up at him with pleading expressions.
"Lord of Death and Storms?! Are they talking about me?" Silas was stunned, unable to react immediately.
As Silas stood there in a daze, the spear in his hand emanated an intense, frigid aura.
Under the influence of this cold energy, the formless cerulean mist rapidly began to coalesce, as if a supporting framework had suddenly materialized within it.
On the ground, the two young women, witnessing this transformation of the mist, became even more agitated. Heedless of the cold floor, they prostrated themselves, remaining motionless.
Time passed slowly, perhaps five minutes. The anxious young women then heard a grand, distant voice, like the tolling of church bells.
"Rise."
Hearing this, the young women cautiously stood up but did not dare to lift their heads.
"I permit you to look upon my avatar, my faithful believers." The voice came again.
Joy filled the hearts of the two young women. They carefully raised their heads.
In the next instant, their hearts, their thoughts, their very beings were utterly consumed by the majestic figure before them.
The cerulean mist had vanished. Now, their god revealed His true form.
It was a figure of indescribable majesty. He was clad head to toe in silver-grey armor, a towering helm upon his head, his face concealed behind a solemn, divine-demonic mask.
In his left hand, he held a two-meter-long spear; his right hand gripped reins.
Beneath him was a terrifyingly majestic, colossal wolf.
This wolf stood three meters tall at the shoulder and was five meters long. Its jet-black fur was as hard as steel, while the white fur on its legs shimmered as if it were treading on clouds.
Within its fierce eyes, two blue will-o'-the-wisps burned, signifying its power and extraordinary nature.
"This… this is a god!!!" The two young women's hearts were completely conquered by this magnificent presence and divine aura.
Meanwhile, Silas was not feeling as godlike as the two imagined.
At this moment, the eyes beneath his mask were looking at the giant wolf beneath him, and it looked disturbingly familiar.
The moment it raised its head, that comically adoring upward gaze… Silas instantly recognized it. This creature was none other than the Husky from his own home!
"I…" Silas felt an acute wave of shame.
He, the so-called Lord of Death and Storms, had a Husky as his steed?! What happened to the giant wolf?! He wanted a Fenrir-type giant wolf!
Of course, Silas's current mental state was different from normal. He wouldn't do anything unbecoming of a deity due to mere embarrassment or awkwardness.
"This feeling… it's actually quite good." Silas currently felt his thoughts moving like lightning. He felt as if he had become the most intelligent person in the world. Not only could he instantly understand problems that had previously baffled him, but his eyes could also see through many things that ordinary people could neither perceive nor comprehend.
"This body I'm in now… it's undoubtedly the body of some god. And after I entered it, it's like a system with upgraded hardware; its performance has suddenly increased by hundreds of times."
Thoughts like lightning, comprehension bordering on the divine – these were Silas's current sensations.
This feeling was incredible. Silas felt as if he could now see through all the world's secrets, analyze all its truths.
Unfortunately, he could currently only see and speak; he had no control over this "godly" body.
His eyes, looking down through the mask, instantly perceived the true nature of the two young women.
In Silas's current field of vision, the bodies of the two young women were completely analyzed, as if by the Byakugan from Naruto, clear from the inside out.
A large amount of purple aura clung to the two young women, representing mystical power.
And the source of this mystical power was not their brains, but their chests.
There, they possessed an organ that ordinary people lacked, something that could be understood as a small tumor or nodule.
And the origin of that nodule was a strange-looking parasite.
"From the current situation, the parasite is not harming the two of them at all. On the contrary, it's providing them with a significant amount of mystical power to use. I can't say the parasite is completely harmless, but at least for now, or perhaps within the next ten years, it won't cause any problems."