Errenia and her team sat inside a guest room, waiting for approval to use the transportation portal. If they didn't take it, the journey towards the Sinking Dark Forest would take at least seven days on carriages. Though not everyone could use the portal, the scroll from the Church had proven to be effective.

"Why are we still waiting here? We should have been at the Sinking Dark Forest by now," Errenia said. She leant back on the soft sofa and placed her right arm on the handle. It depressed into the fluff.

As she moved away from the table, a maid walked came in and refilled the empty glasses with more grape wine. She playfully tilted the bottle and let the wine splashed on the side and tickled down like a waterfall.

After the maid filled the glasses, Lamont thanked her then took up his glass. He prayed to the Seven Goddesses before drinking it in one big gulp. Due to his physique and ability as a paladin, he remained unflustered even after the sixth glass.

"Please be patient, Errenria. The Church wishes for us to bring another person," he said, smiling. "She is a potential candidate of the next seat of the Holy Maidens. She should be coming here very soon."

Vinesta turned to Lamont, surprised. She eyed everyone else in the room to confirm their expression. Aside from Lamont, no one knew about the change of plan.

"Why would a Holy Maiden candidate come to the Sinking Dark Forest? The Church prohibits all important figures from going in," she said.

"I too don't know the reason. We'll have to ask the person herself. The Church probably has a greater design for this trip."

Bored, the group chatted with each other as Errenia occasionally complained to the maid, who calmly eased her temper by asking about her favourite subjects, the art of spear combat and fire magic.

Though Errenia wasn't a mage like Vinesta, she had an affinity with the fire element, which complimented her art of spear. She was a battlemage, whose genius combined the fire element with her fiery spear play. Her spells were mostly instinctive, unlike Vinesta, who had to channel her mana to cast multitudes of magic.

"Miss Errenia, I'm so envious of your talent," the maid said just as an idea came to her. "May I ask why you were here, instead of training with your exalted family?"

Errenia sighed. "Father wanted me to learn management and administration, but it isn't what I wanted, so I complained until he yielded and gave me five years to become a Master Knight."

By Monster Girl standard, a Knight was the Metamorphosis Phase. A Master Knight could defeat the Fully Metamorphosed Monster Girl and fight to a standstill against the second stage of the Monster Girl Evolution, Transformation Phase.

"I trust that Miss would become a Master Knight soon."

Errenia smiled with pride and complimented the maid's sweet tongue. Despite her age, Errenia was the second strongest member of the team, slightly behind Lamont, who would become a Master Paladin sooner or later.

The conversation only stopped when a series of footsteps echoed outside the guest room. The door creaked open, revealing a maiden in her pale white cloak, whose golden outline glittered with the holy power. She walked towards Errenia, gently took her hand, bent down, and kissed its back.

"Miss Errenia, it is my pleasure to meet you, Fated One." She raised her head and stared at Errenia. Her moon-like yellow pupils shone as if moonlight were emitting from them.

"Fated One?" Vinesta repeated. "Lady Filiavera, may I ask for the reason for your sudden visit? I doubt the Church would send a Holy Maiden Candidate just for a Fated One."

As a rogue mage, Vinesta had a rocky relationship with the Church, whose ideology restricted her lifestyle. They, especially the fanatic believers, preached about their superiority and powerful blessings, rubbing it against her who did not wish to serve any deity.

"Vinesta, do you still hold the grudge? It's been almost ten years since I got admitted to the Church," Filiavera, who came from the same orphanage as Vinesta, teased. She was Vinesta's closest childhood friend, though they gradually drifted apart as their belief separated.

"Hold the grudge? No, why should I? I would die of boredom under that rigid lifestyle. I'm not you, Filia."

"If you accept the divine blessings, you would have been a magnificent Holy Maiden Candidate. I sometimes wish for you to join me, like during our youth."

"How about you study magic with me? The holy magic is but one of the infinite branches of knowledge."

Vinesta bickered with Filiavera, who gladly played the game. For a moment, they reverted to their youth, where their bonds resonated with one another. Their juvenile argument slowly shifted towards reminiscence and heart-to-heart talk, with Vinesta complaining and Filiavera consoling.

Errenia audibly groaned. She turned to Lamont, who revealed a wry smile. He was a paladin, a few ranks lower than a Holy Maiden Candidate. It was improper for him to interrupt her conversation. Unable to get help, Errenia faked coughing.

"Lady Filiavera, what do you mean I'm a Fated One? I don't remember having any of the divine blessings on me," she said.

"A Fated One isn't just someone who receives the divine blessings, but someone whose fate ties with the great changes."

"And what great changes am I getting myself into?" Errenia raised her hand to cover her smile. A chill coursed through her spine, bringing excitement throughout her body. "Is it fortune, or calamity?"

"Both are the two sides of the same whole." Filiavera removed her ceremonial hood then held her hands upwards, slightly tilting her head down.

From her fingertips, soft light flashed and weaved into countless strings, which twitched according to her movement. They spun around her body and outshone the candles and lanterns within the room. Everyone blocked their eyes from her, who glowed as if she had transformed into an angel.

She pulled and tugged a few strings, which resonated with other strings. Their noises whispered the faintest hint of the future, according to the flow of fate. Though she couldn't influence the great changes, she could peer and alter slight changes.

As Vinesta watched, a hint of jealousy sparked in her heart. Unlike the believers backed by the deities, she must explore the world of magic herself. To even get a chance to glimpse fate, she had to step into the realm whispered in the legend and the myth.

"Filia, what did you see?" she asked. Her heart filled with a mix of jealousy and admiration. "I hope our success will be smooth."

The light died down as Filiavera exited her angelic mode. She frowned and shifted her gaze between her palm and the ceiling, sighing as she hesitated.

"My premonition blessing warned me of danger ahead, which means that the smooth-sailing success won't happen. Everyone, we might encounter a Fully Metamorphosed Monster Girl."

Nelox, who hadn’t minded the conversation, stopped fiddling his dagger. Everyone held their breath. The room temperature dropped towards ice-cold as a haunting silhouette of a Monster Girl plagued their mind.

Though not abundant like the Wild Beasts, the Monster Girls were the most wicked enemies. By their nature, they absorbed the Pure Races' life force and turned the female into Monster Girls while the male withered into a husk.

While they retained their memory and personality, their soul became corrupted, that they would choose to live carefreely like a Monster Girl instead of hating their twisted self.

"Though a battle against the Monster Girls is tempting, it's too risky for our team to go in without any support," Vinesta said. "Unlike the Wild Beasts, these Monster Girls, or shall I say, the Corrupted Races, are even more sinister than the Demons."

"There is no need to worry, Vinest," Filiavera said. "With the premonition blessing and my support, we will be victorious. Your team composition, especially Miss Errenia, will do great in the upcoming battle."

She took out a crystal and blew her breath into it. It faintly quivered and released a hint of strange magic, which twisted the space surrounding it.

"What are you planning, Filia? I know that the price for that crystal is far too high for an investigation mission like this. If we don't get the full pictures, we won't be leaving for the Sinking Dark Forest."

Filiavera eyed everyone in the room and put her slim finger on her cherry-red lips. The candles and lanterns dimmed as the curtains magically moved to conceal the light from the outside. Aside from the breathing and the heartbeats, everything silently waited for the answer.

"Please keep everything I said here a secret. The surrounding nations have prepared a crusade to stop the Sinking. To ensure its success, the Church dispatches me to take care of an unfinished business as well as to oversee that nothing strange would arise."

"What kind of unfinished business wantons a dispatch of a Holy Maiden Candidate?" Errenia, picking up the implication, said. "Is this the fortune and calamity you mentioned?"

"It is a disgrace of our church, but a Holy Maiden once defected and hid inside the Sinking Dark Forest. If she is left unchecked, her involvement will be disastrous.”

"Forgive me, but if the target is a Holy Maiden, even ten of us will still die by a wave of her hand." As a daughter of a Warrior Family, Errenia had more extensive knowledge than most people. The position of the Holy Maiden signified ultimate power.

"By staying inside the Sinking Dark Forest, the Corruption Power will slowly corrode her holy power. At most, she would be equal to a strong Second Circle Mage."

"A Second Circle Mage? Oh, how the mighty have fallen," Vinesta said, lamenting at the loss of great power.

Errenia stood up and kicked the spear which lay on the ground beside her then caught it with her hand. A blazing smile manifested on her face as she urged everyone to get going. The upcoming battle would be the first time she had ever fought against the Monster Girls, which considerably excited her.

...

At the heart of the heart of the Sinking Dark Forest, a maiden, cloaked in pure corruption materialized as a thin purple dress, raised her head towards a particular direction, where a sinister aura manifested for an instant before dispersing into nothingness.

With the binding chains around her hands and feet, she remained sealed inside the sea of darkness. Her eyes moved between the void where countless divine formations and engravements powered the prison which confined her.

Inside each formation, divine wills resided and kept their watchful eyes on her. Should she escape her confinement, all the deities would instantly know. Nevertheless, none dared to send anyone to guard the prison, fearful of her foreign bewitchment.

Since time immemorial, she finally smiled.

"At long last, a familiar scent," she said, though her mouth remained sealed shut. Her voice soundlessly lingered, echoing only for herself and the uncaring void from which she came.

The chains binding her trembled under her faintest movement, threatening to collapse the cage of time and space around her. Though feeble, a shockwave rippled across the infinite void and pierced through the barrier of dimension. It endlessly mirrored the vibration throughout the physical world.

She, a Foreign Existence, finally found another of her kind.