“I still remember the day he brought me that treasure as if it were yesterday.”

Lost in the past, Dietrich ran his hand along the row of experimental journals neatly lined on the shelf.

“In the eternal snows of the Prunig Mountains, the long-lost ancient scripture was found.”

In the northern reaches of Ideana lay the Prunig range. A hunter, having stumbled upon an old book buried deep in the glaciers, presented it to Lord Felix Ideana.

It was the missing continuation of the Desidera Scripture—the part that told of what happened after the sealing of the demon Mephisto.

Felix Ideana read the words written within and was consumed by the promise of power. However, lacking true knowledge of black magic and holy power, he made no real progress in his research.

At last, the count brought the latter half of the Desidera Scripture to Dietrich.

“It was a wise choice to seek me out.”

Even back then, Dietrich was infamous in the monastery for his eccentricity — he was someone who would pursue any obsession to the very end. During his training, he had already published several notable papers on black magic. Felix believed that this brilliant, albeit young, novice priest would provide answers that his own studies could not.

“When he said he wanted to give that power to his daughter, I was a little surprised… but I could understand it.”

Felix Ideana introduced his young daughter to him—a frail girl of barely ten years. Luise Ideana.

“There are times when that happens. When one is born with such overwhelming holy power that the body itself can’t withstand it.”

Dietrich said this under his breath as he looked at the girl, who was standing there motionless like a doll.

When they first met, he was astonished. Even compared to himself, who had been tempered through years of training, her innate holy power equaled his. It was only natural that such a fragile body could not withstand it.

“She was the perfect subject. According to the Desidera Scripture, the stronger the holy power, the greater the chance of success in black magic experiments.”

Holy power and black magic were two sides of the same coin. Strong holy power was the very source from which strong black magic could originate.

This was why the great priest Mephisto could fall and become such a dreadful demon.

“It was fortune. The chance to test every last one of my curiosities.”

Dietrich pull out his latest experimental journal, flipped to a blank page, and muttered to himself as he set pen to paper.

The latter half of the Desidera Scripture, the one Felix had delivered, contained meticulous accounts of the perils of black magic. Far too meticulous—so precise that it served as the perfect foundation for deeper study.

Perhaps, upon realizing the dangers of his own work, Desiderius had sought to eradicate it from the world himself. But he was wrong.

Destroying knowledge out of fear is folly.

This perilous and intoxicating truth was enough to awaken every spark of Dietrich’s insatiable curiosity.

It was the hunger for discovery; the conviction of a scholar bent on unveiling the world’s hidden truths. In its extremity, this pursuit became a kind of purity — more fanatical than any love.

“Back then, I was young and full of energy. Now, with age, I suppose I’ve become more cautious.”

Dietrich rubbed his jaw, a hint of bitterness in the gesture as he seemed to regret the years that had slipped away.

In his fearless youth, his experiments had produced results with astonishing speed.

“But I couldn’t remain in Ideana for long. I was still a novice then, and had to go where I was ordered.”

Soon after, Dietrich was transferred from the Ideana domain to Lester. Having noticed how poorly he fitted in with the other priests, the High Priest of Ideana decided to send him away.

Losing the opportunity to continue his work near his test subject was a bitter blow.

“You can’t imagine how it tore me up inside. The worst thing was that I couldn’t remember the second half of the ‘Desiderata’ scripture.’”

However, thanks to the transfer, Dietrich was able to continue presenting himself as an ordinary priest, unaffected by his research into black magic.

Nevertheless, he would shed his priestly robes and return to Ideana to discreetly monitor Felix’s progress. Lester and Ideana were close by, so the journey was manageable. And no one thought much of it when the eccentric priest disappeared for a few days at a time.

“Felix became increasingly consumed by the research. He sometimes made things worse by meddling on his own, but he was earnest. I mean your grandfather.”

He dipped his pen in ink, scribbling more words in the journal as he muttered to himself.

From the corner of the cell, Eve watched him in terror. The priest’s constant muttering frightened her so much that she clamped her tiny hands over her mouth. Any sound might attract something terrible.

The ground where her mother stood continued to pulse with a menacing red glow.

‘What if Mommy dies? What if the bad man hurts her?’

She had never been this afraid. Not even when she dangled from a tree branch, ready to fall, had she felt this way.

Not even when her ‘villain uncle’ had jumped with her from the cliff edge into the void had her body trembled like this.

And yet, despite not falling or moving, her little hands were shaking so badly that she could see it herself.

“For a while, I left things in Felix’s hands. He wasn’t particularly reliable, but I had little choice. The temple had started to keep a closer watch on me. But then, news of Ideana’s rebellion spread. It was foolish to think that the secret had leaked out.”

Dietrich slammed his pen down, teeth grinding audibly.

“And that damned fool lost control of the most precious test subject and ruined everything!”

Blue eyes burned with an almost incandescent fury.

That was the day Ideana fell.

Upon hearing that the Imperial forces were marching to punish him for treason, Felix made one last desperate move. He tried to use Luise’s power to destroy the Empire’s army.

However, Luise resisted — she opposed war. Felix therefore forced her into submission by brainwashing her and using enchantments intended to strengthen her.

Yet his final spell failed. It was unclear whether this was due to a flaw in the enchantment itself, or whether Luise’s will to resist had simply been too strong.

What was certain was that she had lost control like never before, and Faradel was—

“When I returned here with the holy army, nothing was left but ruin.”

H*ll on earth.

Count Felix Ideana was found to be little more than a blackened corpse. The other test subjects had met the same fate.

Dietrich clenched his teeth at the sight of his grand experiment being utterly destroyed. He led the priests in searching for the cause of the disaster.

Fortunately, the underground research chamber had not collapsed and was still intact.

He diverted the priests’ attention elsewhere and sealed the place with wards to ensure that no one else could see it.

However, one crucial thing was missing.

Luise Ideana is gone.

The completed specimen. The final subject, the one that could never die—vanished without a trace.

“Priest Dietrich. A body has been found over there that appears to be Luise Ideana.”

Upon hearing the report, he rushed to the scene. Like the other corpses, a blackened body lay there. It was wearing Luise Ideana’s clothes and had golden hair scattered across the ground. It was a deliberate imitation, placed there to deceive.

Dietrich knew at once that it was not her.

“The latter half of the Desidera Scripture was also lost in the disaster. No one knows where Felix kept it, but that is irrelevant. I know it by heart, without a single omission. In fact, perhaps it’s better that some of the more trivial parts were erased.”

He pressed his fingers hard against his eyelids, remembering the nuisance of those past days.

Using his authority, he filed the report: the entire Ideana family was dead. After all, Luise could not die—he would find her eventually, if he only kept searching.

“But I never imagined it would take eight years before I saw her again. And that I’d lose her once more, forced to wait another four.”

Dietrich stepped slowly towards her. The red glow of the ritual circle on the floor rose and bathed his face in a ghastly light.

He looked at Luise, who stood silently, and a rapturous smile spread across his face.

“You cannot imagine how happy I was, Luise, to find you again.”

His fingertips brushed against her cheek.

“D-Don’t touch Mommy…!”

Dietrich turned his eyes toward the frightened Eve, looking almost wounded.

‘I haven’t even done anything yet. Why should she fear me?’

On the grand scale of the universe, all of this was for humankind—for them.

“From the beginning, great deeds have always been difficult for the common masses to understand.”

Dietrich composed himself with a long, weary sigh and straightened his posture as though preparing for a sacred rite.

“The time has come to bring the results of this great research into the world.”

His exalted voice rang through the sealed laboratory.