Chapter 452: Armor Sanctification Ritual and the Gospel Ranking

Neon lights stretched across the road in long, blurred streaks. A biting wind howled past as pedestrians rushed by on either side.

Lys leaned heavily against Ashe's shoulder, clinging to him like a little girl clutching her favorite toy. She murmured, "So fast."

It was true. The crowd was moving at such a frantic pace that it felt like being swept along by a rushing current.

In truth, Lys hadn't thought any of this through. She had only realized she needed a chance to be alone with Ashe, which was why she had impulsively ordered him to take her away. But the moment he lifted her, all her worries vanished. Her mood fizzed open like a shaken soda, bubbling over with pure delight. For a child who loved relying on adults, even causing trouble felt entirely justified.

When they finally came to a halt, she heard Ashe say, "Two... oh, alright. Lys, take this!"

Turning around, she realized they were standing in front of an ice cream shop. The clerk had already prepared their order, handing over a plain cone for Ashe and an over-the-top masterpiece piled high with milk, melon, chocolate, vanilla, and pineapple flavors for her. Carefully taking the extravagant treat, she nibbled only at the chocolate scoop.

"Do you want to walk on your own now?" Ashe asked, taking a bite of his plain cone. "Honestly, you're not exactly light..."

"No! I've been walking around Amusement World all day. I'm absolutely exhausted!"

"Alright, alright."

As the sweetness of the chocolate filled her mouth, warmth bloomed in her heart, only to quickly give way to a sinking feeling. Ashe was only being this nice because he was preparing to send her away. Under normal circumstances, even if he didn't outright refuse a request like this, he would have summoned a substitute to carry her instead of doing it himself.

Ashe didn't lead her far. He brought her to a nearby underground river where quite a few ordinary people were strolling about, entirely undisguised. They were likely locals who had grown up in the depths. They might only see the open sky a few times a year, but that didn't seem to matter to them. Not everyone needed to live in the light.

The pair sat on a bench facing the water, quietly eating their ice cream. Though "underground river" might conjure images of a sewer, this place bore no foul odor, nor even a hint of dampness. The air was so crisp and fresh, it felt like a gentle massage to the senses. There was no night sky above, but the vibrant, fluorescent fungi blanketing the ceiling served as a perfect substitute. Their soft glow shimmered across the flowing current, the ripples reflecting the gradually quieting underground city, as if everyone's dreams were drifting along with the tide.

Lys had intended to wait for Ashe to speak first, but he remained lost in thought, staring blankly ahead. She found it hard to break the silence.

They shared the kind of bond where simply sitting together in silence felt comfortable. Ashe might be that way with everyone, but for Lys, he was unique. She only felt this natural sense of ease when she was with him. Pulling her legs up onto the bench, she curled into a crouch and lowered her head to peer into her hand mirror.

Inside, her sisters had been arguing for quite some time.

Black Butler suggested, "What if we just act cute? Ashe seems pretty easy to sway..."

"He's simple-minded, but he's not stupid," White Queen countered. "Acting cute might make him give in on small matters, but it won't shake his resolve when it really counts."

Black Butler insisted. "If we push hard enough, maybe a miracle will happen. Let me try..."

White Queen retorted. "If even I couldn't do it, what makes you think you can? Besides, acting cute is a weak, ingratiating tactic. It's like ice cream... Ah, my vanilla scoop is melting... Under normal circumstances, ice cream can melt his heart, but in the face of danger, his first instinct is always to protect the ice cream! The more we act weak and clingy, the less he'll let us stay!"

Red Death Apostle chimed in, "Then we go the opposite route. Let me handle it. I'll grab him by the collar and say, 'If you dare leave me behind, I'll hate you forever!'"

"Isn't that still just acting cute?!" White Queen snapped.

Secret Princess intervened, "There's no way we can break through Ashe directly. Maybe we should change our approach and target Pankey instead? He definitely won't just stand by and watch Annan put herself in danger. If we can convince him to turn back before the day of the plan, then no matter how unwilling Ashe and Annan are, they'll have no choice but to accept it..."

White Queen questioned, "But wouldn't that make Ashy angry?"

Red Death Apostle agreed. "Yeah, true."

"And Annan could just order us to stay in the underground city anyway," Black Butler added gloomily. "We still wouldn't be able to join the operation."

Secret Princess groaned, "Ugh..."

As her sisters bickered and devoured their ice cream, Lys finally couldn't hold back the question burning in her mind. "Why do we have to join the operation in the first place? It's so dangerous. Shouldn't we be trying to stop Daddy from going instead?"

The mental chatter came to an abrupt halt.

After a heavy silence, Dia replied, "Now that you mention it... We never really told you why we're participating in the Woven Festival or why we need the Divine Lord's wish. Those are stories from before you were born."

***

A long time ago, there were two infant girls. The very first second they opened their eyes inside the incubator, they saw each other. The connection was instantaneous. They needed no time to bond. The moment they were separated, they would cry. The instant they held hands, they would quiet down. Every smile and every frown perfectly mirrored the other. Sharing identical faces, their profound closeness made them look like the last two survivors of an extinct species.

Originally, there had been many children like them. But the rest were never given the chance to be born. The two of them were already so perfect that no replacements were ever needed. By the age of three, they firmly remembered each other's names: Lysdia and Niconala.

Then came a peaceful afternoon. They were playing and chasing each other through the garden as usual when a palace maid approached, announcing she was taking them to new rooms. And so, in their innocent confusion, they were pulled apart, like a single sheet of blank paper torn cleanly in two.

They never saw each other again.

Lysdia was confined to a tall tower on an island in the middle of a lake, while Niconala was imprisoned in the deepest, most secret basement of the imperial palace.

At first, there had been tears, fierce resistance, and tantrums. But the maid assigned to care for Lysdia was also the grandmother who loved her the most. No matter how heartbroken she was, Lysdia remained a kind, well-behaved child by nature, and she still obediently ate and slept. When her grandmother assured her that Princess Nina was doing well, Lysdia never doubted her words. She only lingered by the window, searching the distant gardens for even a fleeting glimpse of Nina.

Perhaps the monotonous days simply blurred together too quickly, or perhaps it was the work of some sort of Miracles, Lysdia soon grew into a graceful young princess. Yet to her, the pain of their separation still felt as fresh as if it had happened only yesterday.

Everything changed the night she hid outside the door and overheard a conversation between her grandmother and the emperor. Staying awake into the late hours, she listened to her grandmother's sorrowful murmurs, finally learning the grim truth about the Armor Sanctification Ritual. In that devastating moment of realization, a Mask spirit was born within her heart. She bid a final farewell to her gentle past and became a sorcerer of the Virtual World.

Later, when she encountered the Bronze Dragon on the Continent of Time, she accepted its perilous trial without a single shred of hesitation, all for a single, precious chance to finally escape the tower.

***

Lys looked up, a trace of sorrow evident on her face. "Why was Sister Nina imprisoned in the basement? It sounds so pitiful... But you and the others being locked in the tower sounds just as tragic, Sister Dia. I suppose I'm lucky I met Daddy the moment I was born."

Dia offered a somber look. "It is because the process of Armor Sanctification Ritual is tied to two separate rankings. One is, of course, the Gospel Rankings. The other is the one you heard about just a few days ago... the Unattached Ranking."

She paused, taking a slow breath. "In truth, what the Isa Imperial Family calls Armor Sanctification Ritual is simply a method of exploiting the power of those rankings to obtain a Divine Spirit."

When Dia had explained Armor Sanctification Ritual to the Watcher and the Swordswoman previously, her description hadn't been false, but she had deliberately omitted its most crucial, harrowing detail. After all, it was not only her deepest secret, but a source of bitterness she could hardly bear to put into words.

Dia went on, "Anyone who claims first place on the Gospel Rankings wins the right to wield the Divine Spirit, Gospel. They might even become its physical incarnation. Even if they can't fully unleash its true power, what they can command is still enough to dominate mortals and turn the tides of history. That's why every dynasty that dared rebel against the Gospel's First fell to ruin, while those who earned its favor endured.

"As for how to claim the top of the Gospel Rankings... aside from temperament, the most critical factor is appearance. Every Empress of Isa throughout history has looked exactly like us. We didn't understand why at first, but after seeing the original Gospel Incarnation on the Continent of Time, I realized it was a loophole. The closer a person resembles the original Gospel, the more likely they are to be chosen as the Gospel's First."

Dia's voice faltered slightly. "But even that isn't enough. Because a mortal vessel simply cannot withstand a Divine Spirit..."

Suddenly, White Queen spoke up. "Let me take it from here."

"No, it has to be me," Dia insisted, her voice tight. "It must be me, because this is my... my original sin."

She turned her gaze back to Lys. "A mortal body cannot wield a Divine Spirit. It corrodes the incarnation's soul with every passing second. In the past, those who became the Gospel's First rarely lived beyond ten years. That is precisely why so many empires ultimately collapsed. Forty years is more than enough time for a dynasty to rise and fall. If one wishes to establish an eternal kingdom, the Gospel's First must rule for at least fifty years, long enough to span the interval between two Woven Festivals. And so, our ancestors devised a brilliant, terrible solution.

"If a single lifespan isn't enough, they reasoned, they would simply add more. Not just lifespans, but every thread of fate itself."

At that moment, the true nature of the Unattached Ranking clicked in Lys's mind. Shock washed over her. "So... Sister Nina was imprisoned just to force her into the Unattached Ranking? So that her lifespan and everything she possessed would be transferred to us?"

"That's right," Dia said, her voice heavy with a grim reality.

Lys shook her head, confusion warring with her horror. "But one plus one is still only two. If wielding the Divine Spirit means we can only live for ten years, then even with Sister Nina's sacrifice, that only buys twenty years! How can that ever be enough?"