So this was the Mother Goddess of Depravity's scheme after all. No wonder he had felt that something was wrong during last night's battle.
Because it had been so late last night, after returning home, he had not gone to the Hall of Stars again to check on Fors' condition.
Tonight also happened to be the full moon. Through Mr. Door's cries, combined with the means the Mother Goddess of Depravity had left on Fors last night, She was able to infiltrate Her power and successfully corrupt Fors.
Although this corruption was far inferior to what Mr. Door had suffered, it was still enough to make Fors endure considerable torment.
Within the Hall of Stars, Hastur calmly watched everything. "Mother Goddess of Depravity, you went to all this trouble just to make me look at you with a little more respect?"
Who couldn't throw out a few sarcastic remarks?
"Stars, I have already seen through your true state. Your current condition is far inferior to mine."
Fors' eyes changed from black and white to completely fallen darkness, like two black abysses hanging high in the air. At the end of those abysses, the Mother Goddess of Depravity's gaze swept across the radiance of the stars.
That fallen and evil gaze was like a predator lurking deep within the darkness.
"The reason you dare not pull me into the Hall of Stars is because you are wary of my level."
"Your inexplicable hostility also comes from your lack of confidence."
"The radiance of the stars will eventually fall completely into the abyss."
Borrowing Fors' body, the Mother Goddess of Depravity spoke to him, Her voice gloomy yet filled with confidence and mockery.
As She spoke, waves of cold wind inexplicably began blowing through the room.
Seeing this, Xio hurriedly hid herself in a secluded corner, looking worriedly at the obviously different Fors.
She could not hear the conversation between the Stars and the Mother Goddess of Depravity, but she could vaguely guess what was happening.
The Stars were fighting against the evil existence parasitizing inside Fors!
Hastur calmly said, "Can your abyss withstand the light of the Sun?"
As his voice rang out, a beam of golden light, pure enough to almost become tangible, suddenly descended, completely covering Fors' body.
The heavily overlapping door behind her was shaken and purified, transforming into wisps of black smoke that dissipated beneath the radiance of the Sun.
Fors' body began trembling violently. She collapsed onto the ground, her eyes gradually returning to their original black-and-white colors.
"Stars, is this your authority?"
Fors stubbornly raised her head, looking up at the starry sky above and the waterfall-like radiance of the Sun. A hint of mockery appeared at the corners of her mouth.
"No, this is the authority of the Eternal Blazing Sun."
Hastur silently added that sentence in his heart.
More precisely, this was the ability of Sequence 7, Solar High Priest, from the Sun pathway: Summoning Holy Light.
When he had originally advanced to Sequence 6, Baron of Corruption, he had already decided that he would borrow a little from the authority of the Eternal Blazing Sun. It was just that he had never used this ability before.
His description was:
"Brilliant golden light is the hope contained within new life, the radiance that dispels the darkness of night, and the opposite of all gloom and corruption.
"He is the vessel of light. He is the incarnation of the Sun walking through the mortal world. He is the purifier among the stars."
That final Chain of Order transformed into a curled-up sun and merged into the center of his brow.
Today could be considered his first time using it, and the result was excellent.
The authority of the Eternal Blazing Sun was extremely compatible with him, as though it had always been meant to be this way.
The Summoning Holy Light he cast through the Hall of Stars was like the Eternal Blazing Sun itself descending upon the world, directly purifying the corruption within Fors in one go.
The Mother Goddess of Depravity's corruption did not even have the strength to struggle before it was completely purified.
Warmth, long-lost warmth, began surging out from every inch of her skin, driving away the coldness and stiffness throughout her body. It was as though she were immersed in a hot spring with water at exactly the right temperature.
This feeling was somewhat like returning to the amniotic fluid of the womb from the beginning of her birth.
Every pore on Fors' body relaxed as she greedily bathed in the radiance of the Sun. Although there were quite a few traces of blood on her face and clothes, under the golden radiance of the Sun, her entire body was as pure as a piece of glass being continuously tempered.
The impurities within her body seemed to be constantly expelled through the breathing of her pores.
Xio, who had long since hidden far away for fear of being caught up in it, stared at the Fors before her and momentarily held her breath. She actually felt somewhat unfamiliar with her.
Kneeling on the ground with her eyes tightly closed and her palms spread upward, Fors looked like one of those blessed recipients depicted in church murals, those who had received blessings from the gods.
If a pair of wings of light grew from her back, she would be an angel! A pure-white angel!
After the golden radiance of the Sun faded away, the starry sky on the ceiling also disappeared.
Fors was still immersed in endless warmth. It was not until Xio gently patted her cheeks several times that she slowly opened her eyes.
"Xio, I feel more energetic than I ever have before," Fors murmured.
Then her eyes reddened and became moist. She turned over, knelt on the ground, and devoutly prayed to the Stars, thanking the Stars for protecting her this time.
While she had been corrupted, she had merely lost control of her body. She could still perceive what was happening outside.
She knew that it was the Stars who had purified her, allowing her to reclaim her body from the terrifying evil god and regain her sanity.
Without the protection of the Stars, even if her body had not been completely occupied tonight, she definitely would not have been able to survive this full-moon madness.
It had been the most helpless night she had experienced since she could remember.
It was the Stars who had lit the hope of life within her!
"Thank you for your protection." Xio also devoutly prayed to the Stars.
After a long while, Fors and Xio finally embraced each other and cried.
"Eh, Fors, has your skin gotten better?"
"Has it?"
"Definitely!"
Xio touched Fors' cheek again. Could skin this smooth and delicate, like that of a eighteen-year-old girl, really belong to Fors?
"It seems like there really has been some change." Fors was somewhat uncertain.
"It's not just some change. It's a huge change. Even the dark circles under your eyes from staying up late writing for years have completely disappeared!"
Xio took the opportunity to pinch Fors' cheek again and lightly patted it several times. The bouncy texture was so pleasant that she could hardly bear to stop touching it.
Among the people she knew, only Miss Audrey possessed such smooth, delicate, and flawless skin.
But how could Fors possibly compare with Miss Audrey? Fors cupped her own cheeks with both hands and rubbed them a few times. She indeed felt different from before.
"Go wash yourself in the bathroom, then look in the mirror!" Xio urged her on, pushing the still-confused Fors into the bathroom.
She actually found herself wishing that she had been the one corrupted and parasitized tonight.
Perhaps under the blessing of the Stars, she might even have had a chance to grow a little taller.
Within the Hall of Stars, Hastur carefully checked Fors and Xio's physical conditions once again. Only after confirming that he could not find anything abnormal did he withdraw his gaze.
The Sun, purifier among the stars.
Its ability to purify corruption was indeed outstanding. He wondered whether it could also work on Mr. Door.
Unfortunately, the star where the Mother Goddess of Depravity resided had already been completely covered by darkness, making it impossible to determine Mr. Door's exact condition.
But that did not mean he had no test subjects. Roselle was also a pretty good experimental subject.
Hastur's gaze fell upon the Mother Goddess of Depravity's star. He did not immediately take any retaliatory action. He still had other important business to attend to tonight.
He would wait until he advanced to Sequence 5, Mentor of Disorder, before attempting it.
He would only make a simple attempt.
As for trying to directly purify Mr. Door and Roselle from the hands of the Mother Goddess of Depravity, even with the assistance of the Hall of Stars, he would need to wait until he became a Sequence 2 Angel, before there was even the slightest chance.
...
The Royal Estate.
By the time Hastur came out of the bathroom, the ball had already ended.
When Greg saw him appear, he left behind a young lady he had been chatting with and walked over to Hastur, asking whether he was feeling unwell.
Hastur could only use the excuse that he had grown accustomed to the rough food of Southville County, and that after returning he had eaten too much of Backlund's refined cuisine, causing him some stomach discomfort, to muddle through.
Greg did not think much of it and simply told him to take good care of himself.
With the end of the ball, the organizer of tonight's banquet, Grand Prince Gawain, stepped onto the elevated platform and began a proper yet lengthy speech.
Halfway through, he turned his gaze toward Hastur and enthusiastically introduced him: "Now, allow me to introduce to everyone a young and promising nobleman, Earl Hastur Campbell."
"At such a young age, he went to Southville to handle affairs concerning the coastal defense line. During his tenure, he repeatedly cooperated with the Church of Storms to suppress pirate groups that had been raiding everywhere."
"He even had those damned pirates hanged one by one on the gallows, sweeping away the dispirited atmosphere that had plagued the navy during this period."
Amid a round of applause, Hastur walked onto the elevated platform. In a setting like this, there was no need for him to say anything particularly moving. All he needed to do was praise the King and praise the Kingdom of Loen.
While giving his speech on the platform, he keenly sensed that someone was watching him.
Without revealing anything, he swept his gaze across the assembled dignitaries, finally landing on an old man standing beside the railing on the second floor.
Hastur recognized this person.
Drinker Augustus, the former Duke of Southville.
He had not expected him to attend tonight's banquet as well. Could it be that he had specifically come because of him?
Within that seemingly casual gaze was deep hostility. Hastur's eyes merely swept past him without deliberately lingering.
After finishing his speech, Hastur came alone to the edge of the garden.
On one side were the nobles elegantly conversing beneath the splendid lights; on the other were temporary couples whispering intimately among the secluded bushes.
At the boundary between order and chaos, Hastur took the Mentor of Disorder's potion he had prepared long ago from his coat pocket and swallowed it in one go.