Nothing, Hoa has nothing to do today as she skipped css to hunt in the city and performed her daily praying session.

  Ever since the academy temporarily closed for the purpose of reconstruction. A Jury of The Pale Court, like their Eldritch God, does not care about property damage. As long as an obstacle is not a sentient creature, they will destroy it instead of walking around.

  Letting out a sigh, Hoa decided to enter Charlotte's room. The girl was out and about somewhere. Her room was a mess, aside from her computer and her bed.

  Bolts and screws are littered everywhere, there are patches of oil stains on the floor. Her work desk has all of these random trinkets, Hoa would not touch them even if she was allowed to.

  And the smell of the room, she can smell ash and a strange sweet scent, like candy. She knew Charlotte began smoking a few days ago, but the smell was a bit heavy...

  As if she was smoking ten packs a day. It certainly is not good for the body.

  Hoa took a look around, trying to find something interesting... her eyes id on the bck briefcase, containing Quirinus... she would not dare to touch that. As it is something that could hit her even in her fire form.

  The nce in the center of the world, it was something made of all the goodness in Earth's soul. Which compared to the entire pnet of conflict and misery, is not a lot.

  Still, it can kill her instantly with a good hit.

  Better not go near it.

  "Then this thing...", her eyes moved to the blue coat, decorated with silver, hanging on the clothes hanger on the side of Charlotte's bed, "An ominous feeling stems from it."

  She decided to go next to the coat, touching it— and she retracted her finger faster than the eyes could see.

  "Nope, not touching this thing.", Hoa shook her head.

  She heard... heartbeats, multiple heartbeats. Like a chaotic choir, hearts beating at different speeds, screaming different sounds of pain and suffering.

  It was haunting. How can Charlotte use this without going insane—

  "Wait, she's already insane.", she shrugged, examining the coat from afar, and then it suddenly clicked, "A God Syer... this coat is a God Syer. Damn, one is already too many... but three? I know you are the craziest bitch in the world, but this is a little too much."

  Finally, her eyes lit up a golden red glow, looking at the rifle hanging on the wall. Hopping over the bed, she made her way to the Barrel Pointed at God...

  A strange sensation swelled up inside as if the gun was calling out to her. Hoa grabbed it out of the shelf—

  She almost dropped it, feeling how heavy it really was. Hoa was surprised, her heart almost dropped with the prospect of somehow damaging Charlotte's stuff. That girl can be very scary when she is mad...

  Then came the whispers, the craving for justice, for humanity... they infected Hoa's mind...

  But she did not let go, she sat down and hugged the gun. She closed her eyes...

  All of these voices, they all stem from hatred and grief... the desperation towards the futility of life, shing out against the one who was meant to watch over them...

  Hoa— no, Fthaggua can rete to that.

  She remembers her life before becoming a Herald, under the intense heat of the Original Fme. Life was stale, she could not even call it living, just... existing.

  Fire Vampires do not have physical bodies, but psma. They could not even be called alive... but they have consciousness. Living energy...

  The term Undead fits them perfectly. Still, they are not the creation of The Necro Lord, The Third Harbinger of Life.

  But one day, everything changed... when an Eldritch God, The Ivory Throne, descended upon her pnet. It was the first time Fthaggua witnessed such unimaginable power...

  It was also the first time she felt... fear. At that moment, she began to live truly. She ran and ran, desperate to escape the freezing power of another star... she saw those around her die one by one, those she never even knew or acknowledged.

  Yet their loss gave her emotions, sadness, grief, and anger. Something that just barged into her home, destroying everything she knew for no reason...

  To protect her home, The Original Fme sent out one of its own. The Gray Fme, or what that being was called in her world, The Pale Light King.

  The csh of power between the two Eldritch Gods shook the whole pnet. And Fthaggua was in awe, seeing how The Pale Light King dominated a god of a faraway star...

  That was when her people learned of The Original Fme, the first star to ignite and the st to shine...

  Worshipping was an understatement. The little Fire Vampire at that time wanted to serve her star, to become one— to carry out its Will...

  The First Herald of The Original Fme, one that ventured out to countless worlds by the order of her Sun. And in exchange, she was granted power to control all fire, as well as immortality, so long as her Star needs her.

  The people of Babel found the resolution in denying the divine. While Fthaggua revered the one granting her light and life. Is it ironic that both stemmed from desperation?

  Fallen Starlight was made to seek Justice, to create a new world without being bound to the Divine. Fthaggua became a Herald in order to enact the will of her God, seeking to destroy its enemies in every world...

  Faith loss through desperation. Faith gains because of desperation.

  Yet this time, on Earth, things were different. This pnet was churned in the cycle of conflict since the beginning, all life here was designed to kill as efficiently as possible...

  Not to mention under the eternal watch of The Pale Court, First of the Nine Harbingers of Life. The most unhinged and unreasonable of Eldritch God.

  She needed to be careful... which she fumbled the first time she entered Earth. She nded in China, where her power was not reguted, and accidentally burned one-third of China into cinder...

  She remembered panicking, not knowing what to do after alerting her presence to the Will of the World, and The Pale Court...

  She imagined herself being trialed unfairly, having her soul completely extinguished by the power of The Pale Court. Dragons came at her every second as the World itself tried to get rid of something ruining its fun.

  But all of those never happened.

  All because of one man... Quang Trung was his name.

  She remembered running in the dead of night, trying to find somewhere to hide... in fear of what the forces running the show may do— however, she bumped into a man, a Gem Holder who wielded the power of Heaven.

  Instead of attacking... he reached out to her.

  "Are you lost, child?"

  She remembers those words clearly. At that time, she indeed looked like a lost child in ragged clothes, while fireballs flying around her.

  Kindness was something she was not used to. A man who did not know anything about the grander scheme, who did not hesitate to reach out to a person in fear...

  She was used to being feared, infamous as the Regent of Fire Vampires that can wipe out all life with a single snap of the finger. To see someone belonging to the most hostile pnet in the universe being so kind...

  It flipped her over, she had a hard time understanding what was going on.

  In the end, she accepted Quang Trung's offer to help... he took credit for burning down China, pnting a target on his back as someone who should be feared. His cim took the heat off Fthaggua's back, no longer would she have to answer the calling of The Pale Court, nor disrupt the fun as the World found its fun once again.

  Time flew by as she was still thinking and assessing her view of humans. She was adopted by Quang Trung as his adopted daughter, Xích Hoa was the name he gave her, meaning Scarlet Flower.

  However, even if she was his adopted daughter, her name and presence were blurred from the records. Due to some manipution of the records by unknown people.

  She always stayed in the shadow, watching while she waited for her enemy, The Ivory Throne, to make its move.

  And to this day, she still watches humanity, studying and learning from them...

  Hhmm~

  Fallen Starlight awakens, its Runes glow red... resonating with Hoa. It has acknowledged Hoa as its user.

  "So I can wield this one... Charlotte calls you Fallen Starlight, right?", she smiled.

  Click—

  Charlotte entered the room. Her azure eyes snapped to Hoa's position instantly, the eyes of a predator, tracking her movement and calcuting every possible outcome... from the moment she id her eyes upon Hoa, there was no escape.

  "What are you doing?", the girl asked, every step was carefully calcuted...

  "I... uh... I was just bored. And I accidentally took it off the shelves... it resonated with me.", she looked down at the rifle, still glowing with power.

  Charlotte just shrugged and took Fallen Starlight effortlessly, its weight never bothered her. The red glow turned to a soft blue as if it were pacified by her touch.

  "So Fallen Starlight chose you.", she smiled, which did not look very kind. She looks crazy.

  "I didn't mean to— I went with the flow, that's all.", she defended herself.

  "Hmm, this may be a benefit...", Charlotte put her hand on her chin, thinking, "I will let you use Fallen Starlight..."

  Hoa mentally sighed, she knew what was coming up.

  "...on one condition."

  There it is.

  "What do you want?", she frowned.

  "Well~ nothing too difficult, I'll be leaving for a few days, or weeks, I don't know. I could just file absent, students do that all the time~ but I can't miss out on school, and I certainly don't want to repeat csses.", she walked closer, staring down at Hoa with her haunting azure gaze.

  "Get to the point already.", Hoa took hold of her instinct, preventing herself from attacking Charlotte out of sheer terror alone.

  Charlotte, if she really puts her mind to it, can match the strength of a Herald... even then, she is terrifying on her own.

  "I want you to help me take csses when we have to go to the Academy. Just put facetime on your phone or use a ptop. Nothing too bad, right?"

  That was definitely something Hoa could do. But...

  "Could I reject that? I won't touch your gun ever again.", Hoa sighed, not liking this at all...

  "You still owed me a favor.", Charlotte chuckled.

  "Missing a dinner with you doesn't mean I have to go through all of this bullshit, Charlotte.", she still firmly denied.

  "I'll add in five litters of my blood."

  "Deal."

  Charlotte's blood is very addicting.

  "I don't do deals normally, my dear friend.", her grin grew rger, "I deal in absolute."

  Charlotte then hung Fallen Starlight back onto its shelf. She helped Hoa stand up.

  "Since Mitsuki, the one always buying groceries, is gone for now. Do you want to go shopping with me?", Charlotte gave her an offer.

  "Sure, nothing can be as bad as having a fshback.", Hoa shrugged.

  She followed Charlotte, to go shopping.

  Rhaps