Indeed, the fact that the doctor is sealing a demon is a major issue. The priest will surely suspect that the doctor might be possessed by the demon. While the priest is indeed connected to angels, the power of the Death Angel is extremely dangerous after all, so it’s quite natural for the doctor to suspect the priest as well.

Even if both are willing to share their secrets—which is unlikely—the priest would find it hard to believe that the doctor could constantly control that demon, and the chances of the doctor trusting a priest who holds angelic power are something Shard can guess.

Without Shard, the doctor and the priest would have to constantly search for demon or angel remains by themselves. Combined with the matter of The Chosen One, their relationship would eventually turn completely adversarial. It’s not impossible for situations to arise like, "I’m helping you, Bill, put down your gun," "Priest, why don’t you trust me," and so forth.

"So, how does my involvement make you trust each other?"

"Isn’t it simple? Your strike at the manor and your subsequent actions have already shown that, regardless of what happens, you can control anyone in the group. Moreover, after that, you’ve actively participated in others’ affairs, and everyone has benefited continuously because of you. As long as you’re here, everything is under control, and even I’ve begun to trust myself. Everything is moving in a positive direction, so there’s no need for mutual suspicion anymore."

The doctor spoke with a relaxed tone, as if he were just casually chatting with Shard. But Shard then thought of the Sixth Era without himself, and in those cycles of bygone eras, Long-Haired Luvia was probably the one who came to the end alone.

The doctor and priest at odds, Dorothy and Lecia’s issues unresolved by him, who knows if they could hold on till the end. When Luvia witnessed thirteen Chosen and reached the end, she was probably already alone.

"Meow~"

A distant wildcat’s call reminded Shard of last year’s Year-End Festival when he entered Luvia’s dream and saw Mia with silver eyes:

"Was Mia from the bygone era the one to accompany Luvia to the end?"

If that’s true, then there must be a secret about Mia that Shard has yet to discover. If the dreams Luvia once mentioned truly relate to the "bygone era," then even Sister Delphine and Miss Pawo from the Truth Society couldn’t witness the final scene of the Apocalypse in the bygone era.

"Here you come again."

"She" sighed softly in Shard’s ear, and Shard looked at the moon above, with a smile on his face.

"The chatting ends, I know it won’t be so smooth."

The doctor suddenly said, and Shard nodded, looking around:

"We are stealing from others; if there’s no reaction on the island, that would be strange."

The two swiftly moved towards the priest’s direction from the farmland. At this moment, the giant oak tree was still shrouded in thick gray fog, making it impossible to see what was happening inside.

And when Shard and the doctor returned to the crossroads, a distorted phantom appeared at the edge of the turbulent gray fog. This was not an Illusion Technique but a representation of the spatial anomaly state, which the two chatting just now sensed.

Suddenly, the gray fog expanded outward, engulfing Shard and the doctor. The two stood back-to-back, vigilantly observing their surroundings. Shard had already activated the "Spatial Stabilization Aura", to prevent someone from approaching, and also to prevent being relocated themselves.

The priest’s voice came not far away:

"Don’t worry; although the opponent has discovered my actions, they cannot track us. I am still calling that thing over. Remember, whatever you see later is a half-true, half-false illusion. Do not trust anything."

The priest’s aged voice gradually faded away, and at the same time, the gray fog in front of Shard slowly dispersed. He squinted as the glaring light came from the crystal chandelier above his head. Looking around, he found himself appearing in the old Edwards’ house on the island. Judging by the surroundings, it was evidently the not-so-large dining room on the second floor of the old house.

Unlike the dining room on the first floor with the Edwards family genealogy roots, the second-floor dining room was specifically used for hosting guest banquets. At this moment, the dining room was illuminated with bright light, and the antique and gold-silver decorations made it look splendidly magnificent. The floor was covered with red carpet, and the freshly painted walls were entirely different from that of the old mansion.

Men and women were dancing gracefully to the melodious music coming from an unknown source. And looking out from the window, it was clearly a night scene outside.

"A ball? Is this an illusion now?"

[No signs of spatial transfer, no traces of time travel, it’s an illusion.]

But the illusion was so realistic, it was as if Shard had really come to a banquet held in the Edwards family mansion.

However, he soon perceived a cold feeling from the people dancing, and upon further reflection, he realized that the ones dancing were not living people, but corpses.

Just as Shard realized this, the elegantly dressed and gorgeously attired banquet guests had their once seemingly alive skin starting to decay as they spun around, yet they themselves were oblivious.

The rotten flesh falling to the ground was trampled on by high heels and leather shoes, as the terrifyingly decayed corpses moved, and the pungent stench of decay gradually filled the room.

Yet the crystal chandelier remained bright, the music continued to be lively, and Shard even felt a strange impulse to walk over and dance with them:

"What an odd impulse, I don’t even like dancing."

Shard thought to himself, then saw a familiar figure emerge from those dancing ghastly corpses:

"Would you like to dance?"

The youthful and charming "Lecia" smiled and extended an invitation to Shard. She was already beautiful, but now appeared even more radiant surrounded by those horrifying corpses.

[Illusion.]

"I know."

Shard ignored the invitation before him and gazed more intently at the corpse’s ball. The surrounding walls were unreasonably almost covered with oil paintings, mostly landscapes, and the black spiral emblem of the "Unifier" he had seen before now appeared in the form of an oil painting beside the banquet hall door.

Among the landscape paintings, there were 21 portrait oil paintings in total, the first six were portraits of the Edwards from the first three generations, including Laplace Klein Howard, appearing incredibly ancient;

The middle seven depict the fourth generation of four and besides Megan and Audrey, the three of the fifth generation. By their fresh appearance, Shard learned the true appearance of Maria Edwards, the fourth generation’s youngest daughter. Green siblings had neither a photograph nor portrait of their grandmother.

The last eight paintings were portraits of Megan and Audrey, the Edwards Brothers, Furen Brothers, and Green Siblings. In these paintings, all the figures wore different animal masks, forcing Shard to distinguish them by clothing and physical characteristics.

The Witch Sisters wore cat masks, one red and one green, looking exceedingly bizarre;

The Edwards Brothers wore wild boar masks, identical in color, with one missing the left eye and the other the right, possibly related to each brother being blind in one eye;

The Furen Brothers donned pigeon masks, completely identical but streaked with bloody tears;

The Green Siblings had bunny masks with long ears, their eye portions blood-red, with one’s cheek sporting bushy whiskers and the other’s cheeks blushing red.

"Cat, wild boar, pigeon, rabbit."

Shard silently recited, and when he returned his gaze to "Lecia," who had attempted to invite him, there stood a bespectacled Diviner.

He held a wine glass and shook his head with a smile:

"Sorry, I met Princess Lecia last time, so I used Illusion Technique to become her, wanting to joke with you. You seem somewhat bothered."

Shard disregarded this meaningless topic:

"Your descendants who wear masks are descendants you’ve never interacted with. Why are they adorned with animal masks; it makes them look like sacrifices."

"Indeed, they are my sacrifices."

The Diviner did not deny:

"These people you see dancing, they too are sacrifices. They lived on this island, the townspeople of Green Lake Town. Now I summon them back, hoping they’ll help me complete the ritual. Have you heard the rumor spreading outside about the ’Unifier’?"

"Yes, in the village by the lake there’s a rumor that the world will ultimately converge into a single point, and the Unifier will lead everyone to survive the apocalypse. I have several Unifier emblems in my possession. If I guessed correctly, you’re the one who distributed them."

The Diviner nodded gently:

"Besides my offspring, besides the townsfolk and their descendants, anyone else willing could qualify to join me in completing the ritual and survive the imminent disaster together."

"Your Edwards’ Ascension Technique, is it meant to create a new space to escape the impending disaster?"

Shard couldn’t help but ask, and the Diviner nodded:

"It is indeed, but your explanation is not comprehensive enough."

Shard wanted to speak further, but the Diviner seemed uninterested in continuing the topic:

"Your every action surprises me. I studied that half skull for over two hundred years, barely utilizing some of its power, yet someone you brought could directly control it."

He drank the red wine in his glass, as if it were blood:

"It’s the relic of ancient death, the item closest to the essence of death in the Material World. Although I am not skilled in corpse manipulation, with some minor research, I can create powerful Three-in-One Ghoul Liches. I understand you want to seize this crucial piece before our final battle to prevent facing my undead army."