Chapter 113: A crack in the sky

Thank you [Nolanch01] for your gift – A Car

Thank you [Even_Gods_Can_Die] for your gifts – A Capsule and a Pizza

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No one laughed.

Meira lowered her eyes slightly. Elowen pressed her lips together. Laviana lay quietly in Erik’s arms for a few more seconds before speaking softly.

"Because everyone is used to it."

Erik looked at her.

Laviana continued, "Used to fighting. Used to giving. Used to thinking that if they aren’t useful enough, they’ll be left behind."

Her voice was very soft. "Over time, even the Succubi themselves start to feel that this kind of life is normal."

Erik did not answer immediately.

The image of the female Succubus handing him a Rank B crystal just to trade for five seconds of a hug appeared in his mind again.

A hug.

In his old world, it would not even have been worth calling a reward. Yet here, it had made a woman who dared stand before a giant monster without crying shed tears.

Erik was about to speak when...

Boom!

An incredibly deep sound suddenly rang out.

It did not sound like thunder. Nor did it sound like an explosion. It was so deep that it seemed to pass directly through the ground and the vehicle’s frame.

All the windows shook. The vehicle immediately swayed slightly.

Laviana sprang out of Erik’s arms. Meira stood up almost at the same time.

"Stop the car!"

The vehicle quickly slowed down. Elowen looked outside, and her expression changed at once.

"The sky!"

Erik turned his head.

At first, he saw nothing.

But only a few seconds later, the distant sky suddenly lit up.

A massive membrane that had been completely transparent gradually appeared beneath the moonlight. It covered the sky like a dome with no visible end, countless white and golden streams of magic power flowing across its surface.

Erik had seen the protective dome from afar before, but never this clearly.

The problem was that there was a crack on its surface.

Crack!

A streak of white light stretching for dozens of kilometers slowly opened up. It looked like a fracture in glass. At first, it was no thicker than a strand of hair, but it quickly split into countless smaller branches that spread to both sides.

Elowen instinctively grabbed Erik’s hand. "Again..."

Erik immediately turned to her. "Again?"

Before anyone could answer, a boom echoed from very far away.

Part of a mountainside suddenly collapsed. Dust and soil rose into a massive cloud, while rows of trees were swept away along with the earth and rocks, vanishing from sight.

Meira watched the scene, her expression turning completely cold. Elements automatically gathered around her body, clearly showing that her body was reacting to danger.

But nothing attacked.

There was only the protective dome.

The crack in the sky remained for a few dozen seconds before slowly fading away. The white lines gradually vanished, and the enormous membrane returned to its invisible state as though it had never appeared.

But no one in the vehicle felt relieved.

Erik looked toward the mountain that had just collapsed. "What just happened?"

Laviana was still standing by the window. The smile on her face had vanished completely. She stared at the sky for a long time before slowly answering.

"The protective dome is weakening."

Erik frowned. "I thought that had been happening for years?"

"Yes." Laviana nodded. "But it’s getting faster."

Meira looked in the direction of Silver Moon. "It only appeared a few times last year."

Elowen continued, her voice carrying a trace of worry. "It’s happened more often this year."

Erik looked at the three of them. "The reason?"

No one answered immediately.

Laviana slowly turned around, her red eyes settling on Erik.

"Eight years."

He frowned slightly. "Eight years?"

Laviana nodded. "It has been eight years since the last time... the [Heart] was lit."

Erik looked at her. "The [Heart]?"

Laviana did not answer right away.

The vehicle stood still in the middle of the dark road. In the distance, a few rocks from the collapsed mountainside were still slowly falling. The sky above had returned to normal.

But from that moment on, Erik knew very clearly.

Something in this world was beginning to break.

Erik continued looking at the white crack stretching across the sky. It had appeared for less than a minute before gradually fading along with the dome’s light, but the sight of a distant mountainside collapsing had made the atmosphere inside the vehicle heavy.

Even after the vehicle began moving again, he did not take his eyes off the window.

"Eight years?" Erik turned to Laviana. "You mean no one has lit this thing called the [Heart] for eight years?"

Laviana was still sitting in his lap. After the sound from earlier, the teasing expression on her face had disappeared, and her long tongue had obediently withdrawn. One arm was around Erik’s waist, while the other rested against the window. Her red eyes watched the sky as it returned to normal, and she nodded lightly.

"Yes. More precisely, eight years and three months."

Erik frowned slightly.

Meira, seated across from him, no longer looked lazy either. She leaned back in her seat with her legs crossed, her eyes still fixed on the distance, while Elowen beside her gently tightened her hands in her lap.

Seeing the reactions of the three women, Erik asked, "I know the protective dome is maintained by the power of the Succubus Goddess. Even the introductory books given to newcomers in the safe zones mention that. But I’ve never read anything about needing to hold a festival to maintain it."

"Because those records have been revised many times." Laviana answered, the corners of her lips lifting into a slightly mocking smile. "More precisely, some things no longer fit the image the Council wants everyone to believe in, so fewer and fewer people mention them as time goes on."

Erik immediately understood who she was referring to. "The Men’s Council?"

"Who else?"

Laviana let out a soft breath and moved away from Erik, but she did not return to her original seat. Instead, she remained pressed close beside him.

One of her hands was still holding Erik’s arm, as though the warmth he had given her earlier made her unwilling to move too far away.

"The protective dome you just saw was never created from magic power alone. The Primal Succubus Goddess used her own power to weave it over the first safe zones. Within every major region, there is also an anchor point that receives and sustains her blessing."

Laviana raised a finger and slowly drew the shape of a heart in the air.

"We call it the [Heart]."

Erik listened in silence.

The name involuntarily reminded him of the black-and-white space and the giant woman who had once appeared before him.

I don’t want the world I created to eventually become a dead land.

I want it to become a field of flowers.

The words spoken by the Primal Succubus appeared in Erik’s mind again, but he did not reveal any expression.

Until now, he had never told anyone that he had met her directly. Even Meira and Elowen only knew that he had received some special opportunities within the Trial Gate.

Laviana continued explaining, "In the past, every major region held the Festival of Happiness once a year. The Succubi and Partners considered the happiest would gather at the [Heart] area, dance beneath the moonlight, and then pour their emotions into the Beacon."

Erik raised an eyebrow slightly. "Emotions?"

Meira spoke at last.

She looked at Erik and nodded lightly, her voice far calmer than Laviana’s. "Yes. Not magic power, and not energy crystals."

She raised a hand. A green point of light appeared in her palm, but quickly dissipated.

"No matter how much energy you use, it’s useless. The [Heart] only responds to genuine emotions, especially happiness, love, fulfillment, and the feeling of looking forward to the future."

Erik fell silent.

The final piece almost automatically clicked into place.

The Primal Succubus had told him the same thing. Emotions could influence the strength, bloodline, and potential of Succubi. The more a race lost its ability to feel happiness, the weaker it became, while the monsters outside continued evolving without end.

It turned out that this was also directly tied to the protective dome.

Laviana saw Erik’s expression and continued, "When enough emotions are sent into the [Heart], the Beacon will be lit. Its light spreads to the protective dome, reinforcing the areas that have worn down. During the best periods, the borders of the safe zone could even expand."

Erik rested an elbow on the armrest. "Then why did it stop?"

It was a very simple question.

But no one answered immediately.

Elowen lowered her eyes. Meira’s face turned cold. Only Laviana let out a quiet laugh, but there was no happiness in it at all.

"Because a group of people believed that festival was not noble enough."

Erik looked at her.

Laviana rested her head lightly on his shoulder, her voice slowing.

"At first, the Council did not oppose the Festival of Happiness. On the contrary, they liked it very much, because the festival chose the couples considered the happiest. And to those men, being chosen meant status."

Her lips curled with disdain.

"So they began to interfere."