Chapter 2: Yalan Diye
In the darkness, Diye seemed to hear Cerise’s soul-piercing laughter. Half-asleep, in a daze, she saw Cerise straddle her now delicate shoulders with her shapely legs.
Although Yedi’s shoulders weren’t broad in the past, they contained boundless strength. Now, however, they exuded a disheartening feminine smoothness and delicacy.
Perhaps it was in her stupor, but the pressure of Cerise’s heels didn’t feel so painful. Indeed, this woman didn’t intend to kill her. To Cerise, humiliating her, humiliating her like a woman, brought true satisfaction.
“You won’t succeed, even if… I won’t yield, won’t…” Diye could no longer distinguish whether she had actually cried out or if it was just a dream.
“Hehehehe? Yield? Wouldn’t that be too disappointing? Do you think this is all? My revenge has just begun. I will take away, bit by bit, what you cherish most, in every way…”
Cerise’s voice lingered around her ears, making Diye clench her teeth in hatred, yet her body trembled from the very breath of it. The voice drifted into the distance, as if merging into the abyss behind the scenes.
For a long time, there was boundless silence…
In the darkness, a figure gradually appeared, clad in armor radiating a holy, ethereal light. Though fully covered without a hint of exposure, it still revealed a goddess-like form. She knelt, hands bound behind her back, night-black hair cascading down.
Slowly, she raised her head, her eyes like the deep night sky, revealing a pious yet tragic expression.
“Qingruo… Qingruo!”
Diye jolted awake from her dark dream. She found two figures, one supporting her, the other trying to shake her awake.
“You’re awake?” A girl with short blonde hair, backlit by a torch, looked down at her. Beside her was another girl with brown hair, braided down her back.
“I… Where is this? What did I just say?” Diye felt a thin layer of sweat all over her body as she sat up on the cold dungeon floor.
The two girls exchanged glances. Their hands, not forceful, supported Diye’s exceptionally delicate inner arms. The blonde girl’s small hands seemed particularly soft.
“You seemed to be having a nightmare, murmuring something we couldn’t understand,” the blonde girl said with a hint of concern.
Diye breathed a slight sigh of relief. Right, what she just saw, at least that scene, must have been a dream. Qingruo Reid**, her will was incredibly strong, her holy power no less than her own. Within the Holy Academy, Cerise couldn’t shake her.
“Excuse me, are you Miss Yalan Diye?” the blonde girl interrupted Diye’s worries.
“Miss? Of course not! I…” Diye’s chest heaved. Remembering her reflection in the mirror, feeling her hips sit on the stone slab without any discomfort, as if full of elasticity and tolerance, thinking about how she appeared in the eyes of these two girls, she couldn’t help but lower her head dejectedly. “How do you know my name?”
“Master Diluowei was guided by the Moonstone. A witch named Yalan Diye was attacked by monsters and trapped in the deepest dungeon. Our teacher ordered us to rescue you,” the brown-haired girl said.
“Don’t worry, there are no monsters nearby. We’ve already searched,” the blonde girl added.
Rescued? Though Diye’s heart was filled with despair, she continued to think. How could these two girls possibly rescue her from the succubus? Surely, the succubus left on her own. Where did she go? What was she planning next? Diye had a feeling she was still lurking somewhere, watching her.
“Are you injured?” the blonde girl asked.
Diye shook her head.
The two girls helped Diye to her feet. Unexpectedly, Diye was still quite tall even after becoming a girl, about the same as before, around 1.70 meters, a head taller than the two girls, especially the short blonde one. However, the prominence beneath the white fabric of her chest was even more conspicuous against her height and slender waist.
“Wow…” The blonde girl, whose robe revealed no noticeable curves, let out a voice of envy. “You’re so beautiful.”
“Don’t say anything unnecessary, it’s not safe here. Let’s take her up quickly,” the brown-haired girl said, her shoulder supporting Diye’s armpit, inevitably coming into contact with Diye’s body. Her words were stern, but her face flushed, and for some reason, she deliberately took a deeper breath.
“You… where are you taking me?” Diye consciously felt, for the first time, the sensation of arms pressing against her chest from both sides. He had fantasized about this feeling as a boy, but never imagined his first experience would be from someone else’s arms…
This weakened the force of Diye’s question, but thankfully, both were girls.
“Of course we’re rescuing you!” the brown-haired girl said inexplicably.
“Master Diluowei wants us to take you to her,” the blonde girl added.
“Ah… I can walk by myself…” Yedi used to be introverted, but his speech was fluent. Now, Diye really didn’t know what to say.
Following the two robed girls out of the cell, the dim wall torches flickered, illuminating the tunnel made of rough rocks. Diye followed them through the passage with empty cells, ascending the old, spiral stone staircase.
So, when girls walk, the front dips and the back rises… This was completely different from how Diye walked as a man. Surely real girls were used to this and wouldn’t notice the difference, right?
This difference, however, seemed to strip away Diye’s confidence with each step. This gait might be fitting for a healthy, graceful girl, but what masculinity was left in it?
At the top of the stairs, the two girls pushed open the heavy, iron-bound wooden door together. Diye followed them into an old, towering church.
This looked like the church’s atrium, with statues on both sides. Directly ahead, a dark golden door, inlaid with agate and magic crystals in arcane carvings, shimmered with an otherworldly light.
Diye had some impression of these arcane carvings. They seemed to represent some ancient deity, but definitely not one of the gods worshipped by the Holy Church.
“What is this place?” Diye asked. For her, who had undergone such a drastic change, even a heathen temple held no fear.
“This is the Underground Witch Church. Many hunted witches are rescued and sheltered here by Master Diluowei…” the brown-haired witch said.
“Ah… has the ritual begun?” The blonde witch looked at the closed door, from which came the sounds of women’s prayers.
“What should we do?”
The two robed girls seemed a bit at a loss, looking at Diye again.
“Um, Miss Diye, please wait here for a moment,” the blonde girl said.
She exchanged a look with the brown-haired girl, nodded, and they walked quickly but gracefully towards a side door behind a pillar next to the main door, pushing it open and entering.
Diye was left alone again.
She wasn’t too concerned about the two girls leaving her alone. Perhaps this brief silence was even a relief.
In the dim, silent atrium, Diye couldn’t help but hug herself.
“What should I do…”
She, the former Temple Knight, the strongest in the Empire after the Age of Exploration, who lived a carefree and secluded life.
The glory and freedom of the past… overnight, it had become like this, even with a Witch’s Mark appearing between her thighs.
Did anything else matter?
What did it have to do with her anymore!
No… no way…
She couldn’t just fall apart like this.
“Pull yourself together, you’re Yedi, you have to pull yourself together!” Diye covered her face and said to herself.
However, the softness and heaviness of her chest seemed to remind her: “No, you are not Yedi, you are Diye, a fallen woman whose name alone evokes reverie, a witch.”
“I’m not!”
“I’m not a woman!”
“Who am I? I am myself… no matter what I become, that’s still me!”
Diye’s mental fortitude was already extraordinary, but this sudden blow was simply too much.
But she never thought of resigning herself to fate. She had experienced setbacks before, faced even greater dangers. Otherwise, how could she have reached the peak of the Empire?
It was just that, before today, she had never been abandoned by the gods, never experienced this kind of self-negation and shame that emanated from her very being.
In the dimness, Diye trembled.
From within the old, dark golden door, through the cracks, came the immersive sounds of women’s prayers, seeming to carry soul-stirring waves.
“It’s been so long, what kind of ritual is going on in there?” Diye looked at the door with curiosity.
She looked around, noticing stairs on both sides leading to the second-floor corridor supported by arches.
Diye hesitated slightly, then carefully walked up the steps. Halfway up, she stopped. The lingering tremor from her hips, far larger than she remembered, prompted her to continue, as if making a firm decision.
Under the dim stone arch of the second floor, there was an inconspicuous small door leading to the other side.
Diye walked over and gently pushed. It wasn’t locked. The crack opened slightly, and an unusual, dark, and feminine aura wafted out.
Diye carefully pushed the door open a bit wider and squeezed inside.
This seemed to be a dim, old cathedral.
Diye stood in the shadow of a stone pillar. Looking down through the second-floor stone railing, she saw many robed women kneeling below. Rows of rose windows in the distance cast faint, multicolored light.
Although it was clearly a heretical church, for some reason, Diye felt a strange sense of holiness. Perhaps it was just her current body being too sentimental.
“Are we hiding here just to lick each other’s wounds in the shadows?”
“The Empire hunts us, monsters see us as prey…”
“Are we destined to be abandoned by the world?”
Ahead, a series of high-pitched female voices, filled with soul-piercing power, rang out.
“That voice…” Diye’s eyes narrowed.
She carefully moved under the cover of shadows to behind a thick stone pillar, peering towards the front of the church, using the pillar and railing as cover.
She saw many women kneeling in neat rows, at least a hundred at a glance. In front of them knelt two unusual women, one petite with black clothes and silver hair, the other with a voluptuous figure, wearing a large witch’s hat, a black animal seemingly perched on her shoulder.
Before them, on the dark orange-red altar, stood a large, night-colored crystal like a sacrificial offering.
Beside the crystal stood a woman in a large hood and a moon-colored mask. Though her entire body was wrapped in a black robe, it couldn’t conceal her figure, which exuded an alluring aura.
“Cerise!”
Diye would recognize that female demon who turned her into a witch even if she were reduced to ashes!
The succubus Cerise was actually here.
“Servant of the Goddess of the Night, please convey the goddess’s will and guide us,” the silver-haired girl kneeling at the very front said solemnly.
“What Servant of the Goddess of the Night? Cerise, she’s deceiving these witches again! Cerise, what is she trying to do?” Diye suppressed her emotions with all her might, her delicate hand gripping the stone pillar so tightly that her knuckles turned white.
She had to control herself. Now, she had lost her holy power, and her body, transformed into a woman’s, had likely lost much of its strength. Though she probably retained some martial arts and swordsmanship, she was no match for a succubus, let alone with so many witches present, especially the one with the… black cat on her shoulder, who seemed quite unusual.
Diye tried her best to suppress the heaving of her chest, afraid that her gasps would attract the succubus’s attention. Cerise knew a woman’s panting all too well!
“The Goddess of the Night is incredibly powerful, but she is not omniscient and omnipotent. She cannot guide those who dare not open their eyes in the darkness…”
“Truth would rather gaze at the blood flowing on a dagger than heed the helpless screams in the flames! She guides you to use the magic you have discovered yourselves, not relying on divine grace and mercy. Pick up anything you can wield that can harm those who have hurt you.”
“The Night of Revenge begins today.”
Whoosh!
The “Goddess’s Servant” in the moon-colored mask spread her arms, igniting purple flames within the large, night-colored crystal.
Within the flames, the figure of a handsome, young Temple Knight in silver armor gradually appeared.
“Yalan Yedi! The greatest threat our witches have ever faced—” Cerise’s voice rang out.
“What…” Diye, hiding behind the stone pillar, looked at the heroic young man reflected in the crystal, as if from a past life. “Me?”
Calling him a young man was just due to the cultivation slowing his aging significantly. He was actually in his twenties, which Diye knew better than anyone, because that was her just yesterday.
Such a heroic and vigorous man, yet now she had become a shy and delicate woman, even appearing more mature. Who could understand this disparity?
“But now, this person is no longer a threat,” Cerise said calmly to the witches, but her words were like a sharp knife piercing Diye’s heart.
The Goddess’s Servant in the moon-colored mask looked at the witch with the black cat on her shoulder and nodded.
The tall witch in a dark purple high-slit robe stood up and said to the witches, “Every one of you, whether you survived the flames, were rescued from torture, or fled from the ubiquitous witch hunts, came to this Underground Witch Church to receive shelter and training, all for this plan.”
“Diluowei and I have been wanted by the Empire and can no longer operate in the sunlight. As for you, in a few months, we will select the most outstanding witch among you to carry out this plan.” The witch with the black cat looked at the kneeling witches below. The black cat, with its gold and purple eyes, turned its head, following her gaze.
Yedi’s figure gradually disappeared from the large, night-colored crystal, and more intense purple flames ignited within.
As the flames gradually dissipated, amidst the lingering sparks…
A female Temple Knight, clad in armor shimmering with the light of dawn, yet with night-black hair and a face as clear as morning dew, appeared in the crystal.
“Qingruo Reid**.”
“The new generation’s genius girl of humanity, the nemesis of witches, the future leader of the Temple Knights…” Cerise’s voice echoed through the ancient church, resonating in the ears of every kneeling witch.
“She is your true target!”
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