107: Please lower your eyes.

The puppet threw the supernatural polymer onto the bronze conference table with a calm expression, and then began to chant the prayer:

"Moon hanging high above the earth, Ruler of the crimson and the night, Empress who protects the peace of dreams,

Your most loyal believer, Time,

Today, I respectfully ask You to cast Your gaze downward. I swear here,

that after our cooperation is complete, I will never take action against Locke Galahad. Please, be a witness."

After finishing the prayer, the puppet closed its eyes and began to form hand seals.

Locke observed every move of the puppet with full concentration, memorizing every word of the prayer he chanted.

"Moon, crimson, night, dreams—is this the authority of the Goddess?"

When he noticed the hand gestures the puppet was making, he felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity.

"Why does this look like a hand gesture from some shonen anime? Can this really work for prayer?"

However, just as he was questioning it, the moonlight outside the window suddenly grew brighter.

Then, the pure white radiance somehow refracted through the glass and shone onto the Sequence 9 supernatural polymer.

Immediately after, Locke felt the supernatural aura on the crystal instantly vanish.

As if it had been sated, the moonlight returned to its original state and left the room.

The next second, the supernatural polymer completely crumbled into a pile of powder, devoid of any mysterious aura.

The energy within it must have departed along with the receding moonlight.

"That was just..." Seeing this, Locke couldn't help but swallow hard, his eyes filled with shock as he stared at the powdered remains of the supernatural polymer.

"I couldn't have been wrong about that..."

The reason he, usually so composed, reacted this way wasn't because Locke was afraid of the Goddess of the Night.

After all, having the energy of a sacrifice taken away so mysteriously was not enough to make his heart race or his pupils dilate in shock.

It was mainly because something truly extraordinary had just occurred.

Locke felt that, aside from awakening his system, this was definitely the most bizarre event since he had transmigrated.

Just as the moonlight arrived, he had felt as if he were being glanced at by some entity.

If that had been all, it might have been fine, but in that instant, Locke's consciousness felt as if it were enveloped by an endless night, and he saw eyes as black as ink that seemed to fill the entire sky.

In that moment, he felt his breath hitch and his ability to think cease entirely.

Fortunately, the sensation was fleeting, but even after coming back to his senses, he couldn't suppress the astonishment in his heart.

Furthermore, one point of relief was that Locke felt no malice from those eyes, only an intense curiosity.

The gaze felt as if it had discovered something interesting and couldn't help but want to take a closer look.

"It must be because the gap in strength between me and the owner of those eyes is too vast that I reacted like that from a single glance..."

After all, a single glance had nearly sent him into a void; other than a massive disparity in strength, he couldn't find any other explanation.

It couldn't have just been a hallucination; Locke refused to believe that.

Meanwhile, Emilia, standing behind him, was so excited upon seeing the moonlight descend that it was as if she had witnessed a miracle; she knelt down with a look of ecstasy.

It was understandable, after all, the Goddess of the Night was the deity that both the Vampire Clan and the Werewolf Clan had worshipped for centuries.

The sight of the deity manifesting had naturally made it impossible for Emilia, a devout believer, to remain standing.

The Goddess of the Night was as important to the Vampires as Jesus was to Christianity.

In the subconscious of the Vampires, they believed that their longevity was entirely a gift from the Goddess of the Night.

Meanwhile, the Vampire puppet, having just completed the sacrificial ritual, also felt an indescribable pressure radiating from the moonlight; its experience was identical to Locke's.

The moment the moonlight fell, it too had inexplicably sensed that it was being glanced at by a highly exalted entity. This immediately sent its spirituality into a state of alarm. Since its strength was greater than Locke's, it had perceived far more than he had.

Consequently, its expression was no longer as calm and composed as before; it immediately became solemn.

This experience was completely different from any in the past. Previously, when performing similar sacrifices, at most the energy of the offering would be taken, and perhaps, at the deepest level, it would feel as refreshing as a spring breeze. Never before had there been this sensation of being watched.

In particular, it had vaguely sensed a note of warning within that gaze.

This sudden change caused the person behind the scenes, sitting in a secret room behind the puppet, to open their eyes and mutter to themselves:

"What was that just now... Did She manifest? How is this possible? It was just a simple oath; could it actually attract the Goddess's attention? This..."

Thinking of this, the puppet lifted its gaze with a solemn expression and took a deep look at Locke, whose face had already returned to normal. A storm of shock rose in its heart, and it couldn't help but wonder:

"Could this anomaly be related to this little guy across from me?"

Once this thought appeared, it couldn't be quelled. Although he appreciated Locke, this young and cautious junior, it was simply too strange for him to be the focus of such attention from the Goddess.

There was no other way; even though Time found it hard to believe, through a process of elimination and the guidance of his spirituality, he could only reach this conclusion. The only difference from past sacrifices was Locke, this seemingly unreliable kid.

Thinking of this, Time couldn't help but pout, and he felt an inexplicable surge of jealousy toward this kid, Locke. I was here first!

"The ritual was successful, right?"

"Yes." Time's mood was somewhat low, and his voice sounded dejected.

After calming himself, Locke saw that the puppet's expression was no longer cold and asked, "Can you teach me this sacrificial ritual? I'd like to try it myself sometime."

This wasn't because he was a believer of the Goddess of the Night planning to pray to Her in the future, but rather because he was quite interested in this magical ritual. After all, a mysterious ritual like this might come in handy one day when exorcising.

"Is this your condition?"

"One of them." Locke held up a single finger.

Time let out a deep sigh, turned his face away, and tossed a small booklet over.

The booklet was wrapped in greasy parchment. The pages inside had yellowed, and there were many creases and signs of wear on them. It exuded an antique aura, looking as though it had been around for quite some Time.

Of course, most importantly, Locke sensed a trace of a mysterious aura on it—it was exactly...