Within the Temple of the Goddess of Beauty, during the Audience Banquet, music flowed and dances surged with passion. In this grand traditional Falano court celebration, the confrontation between Adèle and Sandrina was still ongoing, and the entire banquet had now reached its climax amid the dancers’ rhythmic movements.
Under the dazed and enraptured gazes of countless spectators, Adèle and Sandrina each danced atop their respective stages. The distance between them was only a single Dome Hall, allowing both to lock eyes and see the deep enmity in one another’s gaze.
Since ascending the second stage—formed by the pattern of the fountain’s water formation—Adèle, now strengthened by the stage’s amplification, had reached power equal to Sandrina’s. As Beyonders of the Desire Path, their powers spread invisibly through the space, affecting all present. The desires previously dominated by Sandrina were now challenged by Adèle, causing those she once controlled to become frozen in place—beyond her grasp.
The situation fell into deadlock. Sandrina could no longer influence the entire crowd with impunity. Dorothy, seizing the moment, acted decisively: controlling her corpse marionettes, she had them quickly converge on the edge of the viewing platform and raise their handguns toward the dancing Sandrina.
With most of Sandrina’s power suppressed by Adèle, she could no longer rely on manipulating the guests to defend herself. But Sandrina was not unprepared. In this moment, several dark-skinned guards surrounding the stage stepped forward. Their expressions were vacant, revealing that they too were puppets under someone’s control.
“Bang!”
A thunderous gunshot rang out. One of Dorothy’s corpse marionettes had pulled the trigger, and the bullet flew at high speed toward Sandrina. But the blank-eyed guards leapt up on cue and used their bodies to shield her, blocking the bullet with their flesh.
After taking the hit, they eerily stood back up, turned their eyes toward the corpse marionettes on the platform, and opened their mouths wide—releasing a swarm of insects in a single breath. The dense buzzing swarm surged toward Dorothy’s corpse marionettes and Adèle, who was dancing atop the fountain stage. After disgorging the insects, the guards collapsed to their knees and fell motionless, appearing lifeless and visibly withered.
Faced with the swarming insects, Dorothy’s corpse marionettes were caught off guard. With no immediate way to counter them, they could only struggle as the insects crawled into their eyes, ears, mouths, and noses. Seeing this, Dorothy simply waited until the insects had covered the bodies—then activated the Flowing Current Form and discharged electricity through both the marionettes and Adèle.
A crisp series of snap-snap-snap crackles filled the air—like an electric bug zapper swatting mosquitoes, but louder and more intense. The insects crawling over the corpse marionettes and those trying to cling to Adèle were instantly charred and fell to the ground. The air filled with the acrid stench of burnt chitin.
Realizing that their direct assault had failed, the surviving insects retreated. Some flew back into the guards’ mouths, reviving them. Others began circling protectively around Sandrina. A third wave directly assaulted Samson atop the main guest platform.
“Puppets controlled by parasites… Just as I expected. So the Filth Coven has made their move too…”
Dorothy thought grimly. She quickly commanded her corpse marionettes to shield the main platform, driving off the insects with their bodies. Some of the parasitized guards also scrambled up to the platform, engaging Dorothy’s marionettes in close combat.
The sudden appearance of insects threw the scene into chaos—but it did not interrupt Adèle and Sandrina’s duel. Their silent clash continued, uninterrupted.
In truth, the struggle between Adèle and Sandrina was not perfectly balanced. Both were White Ash-rank Beyonders of the Desire Path, each bolstered by a stage. In theory, their strength should have been equal. However, Adèle was no ordinary White Ash. She carried the spiritual inheritance of her teacher, Darlene, making her stronger than typical Beyonders of her rank. Hers was an enhanced White Ash plus stage setup—giving her a distinct advantage.
This edge, though small, tipped the balance subtly in Adèle’s favor. While her power marginally surpassed Sandrina’s, it wasn’t yet enough to become decisive. But it was close.
All Adèle needed was one final push—one last straw to break the camel’s back. If her power grew just a bit more, the entire battlefield would tilt in her favor.
Sandrina, meanwhile, though at a disadvantage, was not panicking. She knew that among the three stages hidden in the Temple of the Goddess of Beauty, hers—the first stage—was the most important. It was more significant than Adèle’s second stage.
Based on their long-standing research into the temple and records from King Charles’s time, Sandrina knew the first stage experienced a massive power boost during dusk at the Audience Banquet. When that moment came, the amplification from the first stage would surpass that of any other. That was why King Charles had chosen this hour for the Audience Banquet in the first place.
And now, it was dusk. That pivotal moment was drawing very near. Once it arrived, her first stage would overpower Adèle’s second. She would then defeat Adèle and regain control over the entire scene.
“Come… come… the moment of the Splendor King’s dominion… Come to me… Let me become the true master of this Temple of the Goddess of Beauty…!”
Gazing at the golden twilight spilling through the opened doors, Sandrina whispered her hopes internally. And those hopes were swiftly answered. As the sun dipped lower toward the horizon, a massive prismatic projection slowly crept forward from the back of the stage. Finally, it settled over the round mosaic platform, as the once-chaotic colors merged into an orderly pattern.
From a high vantage point, one could now see a faintly glowing seven-petaled lotus shimmering in multicolored light, projected atop the stage. It aligned perfectly with the engraved seven-petaled lotus on the platform itself. As real and illusory merged, Sandrina suddenly felt her Desire power surge upward, rising at an astounding rate. She was swiftly catching up to Adèle—and poised to surpass her.
“It’s here!”
As Sandrina reveled in the moment’s arrival, far away, Dorothy gazed at the sky above the Temple of the Goddess of Beauty. Watching the evening light glinting off the glass dome of the Dome Hall, she murmured.
“If the three hidden stages left behind by the Ceremonial King in the Temple of the Goddess of Beauty are these: the first is the Stage of Fracture, the second the Stage of Water-Shift… then the third… must be the Stage of Luminous Refraction…
“The Third Stage… the stage of light and shadow. And the light that creates it—produced by the sun—can only align in this exact way once a year. That’s why the Audience Banquet only takes place once annually…”
Dorothy whispered these words, fully aware of the third stage’s true location: it lay hidden within the Dome Hall itself—concealed above, among the elaborate, dazzling, and intricate panels of the glass dome.
The stained-glass dome of the Dome Hall was composed of countless pieces of colored glass. At first glance, their arrangement appeared chaotic and random, casting dazzling projections of multicolored light onto the chamber below. But would the Splendor King—so meticulous in aesthetics—have allowed such visual chaos in a design of his own? Of course not. That apparent disorder had a purpose.
At a specific time each year, the sun’s position in the sky would align perfectly with the dome’s design. Its rays would pass through the colored glass at carefully calculated angles and project onto a specific spot. Though the glass seemed fragmented, if the sunlight entered at the right angle, those scattered shards would cast a complete image—a fully formed Seven-Step Blooming Lotus.
Due to the sun’s seasonal movement, the angle of its light on the earth constantly changes. This “predestined moment” was at dusk during the annual Audience Banquet. At this time of year, the setting sun’s rays would strike the dome from the west at a precise angle and project eastward—falling directly into the Opera Hall and overlapping almost perfectly with the stage. The Luminous Lotus and the Fractured Lotus would coincide.
Thus, in that moment, the first stage and the third stage effectively merged, doubling the stage’s amplification. As a result, Sandrina—dancing upon the first stage—experienced a sudden, explosive surge in power, rapidly surpassing the previously dominant Adèle.
“Look, Adèle! This is the true legacy of the Splendor King—the real power of the Flower Temple!”
Standing on stage, her power surging, Sandrina shouted manically at Adèle. Her strength now exceeding Adèle’s, she focused her force to influence her opponent and end things once and for all.
But just as she believed her victory was assured, she didn’t know that, far off in another part of the Temple of the Goddess of Beauty, a silver-haired girl had already raised her hand toward the darkening sky.
“The shadow of the sun… transformed into the Blooming Lotus... Typically, the sun is the most radiant object in the sky—outshining stars and moon alike… except, during certain rare moments…”
Gazing up at the dimming sky, Dorothy thought this to herself. Then, she brought her raised arm down in a sweeping motion. A vast, long-prepared power, stored in the heavens, erupted at her command.
BOOM!!
Thunder! A massive, jagged bolt of lightning tore through the veil between sky and earth, cleaving from the heavens to the mortal realm. It ripped open the canvas of the sky, bathing the area around the Temple of the Goddess of Beauty in blinding white light.
Dorothy had summoned a pre-arranged lightning strike—not to destroy, but to challenge the sun’s brilliance.
By this time, the setting sun had lost its midday glory. When the searing white thunderbolt fell, it instantly outshone the dying amber light of dusk. In that moment, the dominant light over this space was no longer the sun—but the thunderlight.
The lightning struck an uninhabited field on the eastern edge of the temple—not the building itself. This bolt wasn’t meant to harm, but to rewrite the shadows.
Having eclipsed the sun, the lightning changed the light pattern. The colored dome of the Dome Hall, now receiving intense light from the east, cast a new set of projections westward. Dorothy’s thunderlight passed through the multicolored glass and became a new Luminous Refraction, cast across the open grand archway and onto the Fountain of Dawn, where it merged with the water lotus stage. Thus, a new luminous lotus was born.
As the thunderbolt struck, outshining the sunlight, the glow on the first stage where Sandrina danced suddenly dimmed—almost vanishing entirely. The stage reverted to its normal form, and her third-stage-enhanced power vanished. Meanwhile, Adèle’s second stage, now struck by the gift of thunderlight, momentarily merged with the redirected third stage—giving her two stages.
The lightning lasted only a second—but that second was enough for Adèle.
Originally, she was already close to overpowering Sandrina, needing just a little more force to tip the scale. That fleeting third-stage amplification gave her exactly what she needed. Sandrina, meanwhile, had just lost her edge.
“The battle is decided!”
“Wha—?!”
Seizing the opportunity, Adèle unleashed the full force of her power onto Sandrina. In an instant, Sandrina was overwhelmed by the tremendous force of Adèle’s Desire Path. Empowered by two stages and the legacy of Darlene, Adèle smashed through Sandrina’s mental defenses and seized full control over her desires.
“Adèle… I’m going to kill you!!”
In that moment, Adèle ignited and amplified the murderous desire buried in Sandrina’s heart. The sudden surge shattered her reason. Her eyes widened, veins pulsed with madness, and she roared toward Adèle, intent on tearing her limb from limb.
Driven by rage and madness, Sandrina leapt from her stage and charged toward the fountain stage like a berserk beast, seeking to destroy Adèle by brute force.
But Adèle, calm in the face of this frenzy, elegantly waved her hand mid-dance—and rewrote the target of Sandrina’s desire, redirecting it inward.
Although the thunderlight had passed and Adèle no longer had the third-stage amplification, Sandrina—now without any stage—stood no chance.
Her target rewritten, Sandrina abruptly stopped in her tracks, frozen at the center of the Dome Hall. Her eyes bulged as she slowly raised trembling hands and grasped her own head. Though her gaze still brimmed with madness, a trace of rationality revealed flickers of fear.
And then, with a twisted smile and a voice trembling with insanity, she uttered one final plea.
“No… don’t… save me… Matron… my Matron…”
With that final cry, Sandrina twisted her hands— crack —and snapped her own neck. Her body slumped and collapsed onto the tiled floor of the Dome Hall.
At last, with her enemy vanquished, Adèle gently brought her dance to a halt. Her expression was complex as she gazed toward Sandrina’s lifeless body, murmuring.
“Matron… Does the upper echelon of the Afterbirth Cult… use that title?”