"We must leave immediately, as soon as it gets dark!"
Shu stood up, pacing back and forth uneasily.
The mania on her face almost made Lin cry.
"Alright, Aunt Shu, you rest first. I'll go get some things. We can't forgo today's share of food, or they'll get suspicious."
Ike nodded and walked out of the hut.
Shu barely managed to suppress her inner turmoil, sitting cross-legged.
As she meditated, her breathing gradually calmed. She looked at Lin and suddenly felt that this girl seemed different from usual.
"Lin, come here!"
Shu beckoned.
To her surprise, Lin did not come over but instead stepped back in fear.
Shu stood up and swiftly grabbed Lin, suddenly pulling away her clothes. A black tattoo appeared glaringly on the girl's tender arm.
"This is..."
Shu immediately felt a chill down her spine.
"Waaah..." Lin burst into tears, "Ike told me he would definitely become someone important, and you would be good fuel... Waaah..."
"I was careless..."
Shu's heart was full of regret. She had been absorbed in the study of extraordinary paths lately, completely neglecting how Ike, this half-grown child, was influenced amongst a group of cultists.
"Damn it, he must have gone to snitch."
Shu pulled up the floorboards, shouldered her backpack, grabbed Lin, and ran out of the house.
After leaving the house, her pace quickened until she reached the edge of the small town.
At the edge of the town, there was usually a patrol team led by the Children of the Flame. They were often already at the second stage, possessing the ability to control flames and thus, were opponents Shu did not want to face.
However, if it was a sneak attack, there might still be a chance.
After all, the other side thought she was a fellow cultist and, due to her intention to escape, she had become somewhat familiar with the patrol team.
But this time, Shu's luck was very bad.
She saw the Black Sun Cult members gathered at the town gate, the leader being the High Priest, holding Ike by the hand!
Shu's heart sank, she quickly chanted a mysterious incantation, summoning a seemingly living black wind.
"Are you using the sorcery I taught you to attack me, Shu?"
The High Priest moved his lips, and the black wind vanished instantly.
Shu's heart sank completely.
Alan watched this scene calmly.
He knew that until he found a way to interfere with this world, he was powerless.
In the end, Shu was captured. After all, she was carrying Lin, and any misstep could hurt the girl if they fought.
Moreover, resisting was meaningless against the powerful High Priest.
"Tell me, what does 'fuel' mean?"
Tied up, Shu finally couldn't help but ask.
"You will see."
The High Priest showed a faint smile.
Alan suddenly had a feeling that he was about to get in touch with the core secrets of the Black Sun Cult.
...
Two days later, as day turned into night.
On the town square, Alan saw people tied up as human pillars.
At their feet were intricate and exquisite ritual circles, looking almost like works of art.
"According to the spiritual numbers and divination, now is the best time to please our lord."
The High Priest took off his hood, revealing a head covered with tattoos and incantations: "And you will become my fuel, together experiencing the charm of this high-level ceremony, called—Eclipse!"
Alan suddenly recalled the High Priest's initial sermon—"Darkness is the symbol of destruction and sublimation. It can make us immune to flames. To awaken the spirituality of darkness, we must first burn ourselves, sacrifice our flesh, cross the Three Gates, and complete the Eclipse ceremony. The achiever will be reduced to a skeleton, yet this is a glorious achievement!"
"Looking at it now, the Three Gates refer to the three stages of the Unburned, Children of the Flame, and Seekers of Darkness. Only by reaching the pinnacle of the Seekers of Darkness can one perform the Eclipse ceremony?"
Alan stood among the crowd, silently watching the High Priest flaunting.
The High Priest's face was slightly flushed, clearly extremely excited: "Mortals always have their limits. After completing the ceremony, I will shed my mortal body and gain a new form of life, closer to our lord. I will step into a new stage! Now, the time has come!"
Blazing!
With the command, the Black Sun Cult members chanted incantations in unison on the outer circle.
And amidst the eerie incantation, pitch-black flames suddenly ignited on the ritual circle, consuming one sacrificial victim after another.
Shu even saw Soren, the traitor from the refuge, also becoming 'fuel'!
He screamed, his body melting like a wax figure.
Meanwhile, within the ritual circle, some unknown substance seemed summoned and attracted, converging onto the High Priest.
"Offer everything to the Lord of the Eclipse, sublime in the flames, and gain the favor of the darkness, transforming into the Beast of Darkness!"
The High Priest roared, and he too was engulfed in black flames.
The flames quickly consumed his form, and within the blaze, a new shape seemed to be gestating...
"As expected... The spirituality of darkness among Black Sun Cultists can be stripped and devoured from each other... This explains why the High Priest keeps recruiting, preaching, and even teaching without reservation."
"Their spirituality... is all 'fuel', all sacrificial offerings, all nourishment for the growth of the Beast of Darkness!"
Alan watched coldly.
To the Black Sun Cult members, this seemed commonplace, and several Children of the Flame even had looks of longing in their eyes.
"I see..."
Alan murmured, at this moment, the Black Sun Cult had no more secrets for him.
Or rather, he had understood the highest covert transmissions of the Black Sun Cult!
"Aunt Shu!"
Outside the field, Lin cried out, but was tightly held and had her mouth covered by Ike.
"Aunt Shu has gone to a higher realm of light, she has moved a step closer to the Black Sun."
Ike murmured in Lin's ear, comforting yet hypnotizing.
When the sun set, all the fuel in the ceremony had been completely burned out, and the black flames gradually died down.
Blazing!
Suddenly, a monster with a dog's body and a human head, burning with pitch-black flames, leaped out of the ashes.
It was the High Priest!
He successfully executed the Eclipse ceremony, transforming his form of life, and became the Beast of Darkness!
...
At night.
The Black Sun Cult members either reveled or fell asleep in their euphoria.
In Ike's hut, the door creaked open.
Lin looked up, gazing at the bright night sky: "Aunt Shu... sniff... I miss you so much, I'm sorry..."
She looked at the crimson moon, recalling the legends of her homeland.
The souls of the deceased would ascend to the moon, watching over everyone in the mortal world.
And tonight, the moon seemed especially round...
"Mom..."
Lin suddenly thought of her mother, and tears welled up in her eyes.
She couldn't tell if it was an illusion, but through her teary eyes, it seemed like she saw a giant tree made entirely of intertwined flesh and blood on the moon...