And so, at this moment, he finally had the time. It was as if he wanted to pour out everything that had happened to him over all these years.

After all, bottling things up for too long could truly drive a person mad.

His current deranged state was a textbook symptom.

Gaine remained silent. He had, in fact, already guessed part of the truth.

Even the men around him had picked up on the subtext in Joyce’s words. In that instant, many of the Blood Hunters were on the verge of an emotional breakdown.

"No! Impossible!!!"

"How could the Empire...!!!"

"Right, this is all a lie! You can’t trust the words of the Blood Race!"

"..."

Joyce took in the expressions of the Blood Hunters, then looked up wistfully at the massive, holy phantom.

He gazed at it all with a look of envy, extreme greed, and longing. Without looking back at them, he began to mutter to himself.

"This world has the Thirteen Blood Moon Kingdoms. Their existence symbolizes the Thirteen Blood Ancestors."

"So, have you ever wondered? What about the Blood God from the legends of the Blood Race? Where did He go? And what has He done?"

"Everyone, including the vast majority of the Blood Race themselves, believed the Blood God had long since transcended the mortal world and no longer concerned Himself with its affairs."

"But they were wrong. And so were we!"

"This entire world, everything in it, everyone—including the Blood Race—we are all nothing more than the Blood God’s playthings!"

"So, now that it has come to this, what do you think the existence of our Adams Empire symbolizes?"

As Joyce spoke, the color drained from the faces of many Blood Hunters. Some even broke down, violently clapping their hands over their ears.

Gaine’s face, too, had become deathly pale.

But Joyce continued in a relaxed, unhurried tone:

"Oh, and it’s worth mentioning that many people, even the Blood Race themselves, don’t know the Blood God’s true name."

"But we of the Empire are fortunate. At the very least, we know the Blood God’s true name. And that name most certainly includes the prefix ’Adams’."

"So you see, the Empire is nothing more than a slightly larger farm for the Blood Race. No different from the other Blood Moon Kingdoms, really."

"Do you understand now that I’ve put it that way?"

"And I, Joyce Waters... well, my family, the branch of Prince Waters, as an offshoot of the royal Bloodline... we were a family that has worshipped the Blood God from the very beginning!"

"Oh, and a little family tradition of ours... all descendants, after marrying and producing an heir, gain the right to be turned into one of the Blood Race. At the same time, they also gain the right to know the truth of it all."

"Of course, I did have the right to refuse it all at first."

"But, unfortunately for me, I happen to be terrified of dying~"

"I, Joyce, am just a coward, after all~" 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

"But there’s no use saying all this now, my dear comrades, my dear subordinates."

Joyce’s derangement had reached its peak.

The very instant his last word fell, the dark clouds that had begun to dissipate over Damian City were instantly swallowed by a blood-red moon!

At the same time, day seemed to turn to night in the blink of an eye.

Simultaneously, the dense SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK of innumerable bats filled the air.

In that moment, a horrifying scene appeared.

That’s right.

Beneath the dark, blood-red light, the entirety of Damian City was now completely surrounded by a sea of bats and members of the Blood Race!

And right before the giant figure of holy light, two more terrifying silhouettes had appeared in a flash!

And these two figures were, without a doubt, members of the Blood Race whose power had reached the Saint Tier Peak.

In fact, in He’an’s eyes, the word ’Sealed’ that should have been displayed in the Tier column of their data panels was now gone.