1,304 years later,

  A being heard whispers,

  "R-Rei… A-Are you sure about this?"

  "Yes! You see, I got injured last month and wipe my blood here in the statue. Guess what? The stone cracked and I saw a skin!" Rei replied with a confident remark.

  From their childlike voice, the being within the statue thought that they were children. Moreover, it had been months since the being regained consciousness. Perhaps, the awakening started when the child accidentally wiped his blood on the statue.

  "Eh? Is it dead? How can there be someone in the statue?"

  "I don't know but we'll find out."

  "I…I don't like this Rei. What if the butcher smells the blood? He's gonna kill us!"

  "But we're pretty far from the village Xei. This place is an abandoned villa. No demons come in places where no one lives."

  Rei turned the statue face up, it had been lying on the ground when he discovered it.

  "But still! What if it's another demon?" Xei’s voice was filled with anxiety.

  "It can't be! Look here. This is too white to be a demon!" Rei replied thinking that every demon he saw so far had been red-skinned.

  On the other hand, the being within the statue felt its skin being touched. However, it was helpless and unable to move.

  "Ahhh… I don't know anymore. Let's just pour the blood and get out of here. Umh… how many do we use?"

  "I got one blood vial. It's my own blood."

  The Blood Vial was special crystal storage that preserved the fresh blood within. The crystal that was used to make these vials was called the Bloodcite, a unique abundant crystal mined in the demon realm. Moreover, the most special about the Bloodcite was that it prevented the blood from drying or clotting. It preserved the best quality of blood for the demons to consume.

  Throughout the centuries, the blood vial became a common item within the world ruled by demons. They were heated, shaped, and exquisitely formed by both demon and human craftsmen. These blood vials were distributed for none other than, the blood tribute. A process where non-demons cut themselves and stored their blood by pouring it inside the blood vial. It was a painful but necessary process for them to live a little longer.

  "I got one too."

  "I'll use mine first."

  "Okay"

  Having decided, Rei poured the 300ml blood vial into the statue.

  For over a month, Rei had been saving his own blood for this sole purpose and his reason was… To satisfy his curiosity.

  What is the statue?

  What is within?

  It only took a few moments before the statue absorbed all the blood. The following second, the whole statue completely cracked.

  Crumbles! The sound of the stones breaking into pieces was heard.

  At that moment, a naked woman was revealed. She had long black hair and pale white skin.

  The holy knight armor that she wore had deteriorated along with the stones.

  Free from her shell, the woman slowly opened her eyes.

  Noticing her red eyes and pupil similar to a reptile, the children's thoughts came into one.

  Demon!!

  "D-don't kill us please!" One of the children begged.

  Furia sat up and glanced at the children she never saw before.

  The two children were hugging each other, they looked about 10 years of age.

  Their body was slim as if they haven't eaten for a while, and their eyes were closed while trembling in fear.

  Furthermore, one of them had ears and a tail similar to a wolf, and the other was similar to a cat.

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  ‘This was unexpected’ The woman thought.

  A month since she had gained consciousness, the woman thought that her own Blood Art was able to take over the saintess body. However, in reality, she had fused together with the saintess thoughts, emotions, motivation, rage, belief, and courage.

  In a way, they both became one body and soul.

  There was a bit of confusion, however, the woman felt the saintess's desire to kill the demons remained within her. Furthermore, her name and origin became confusing too. Nevertheless, she decided to name herself Furia. A person who lived a life of a demon and a life of a pure saint.

  Having settled on these thoughts, Furia looked at the saintess hiltless sword in her hand, it didn’t deteriorate, unlike the armor she wore. With the memory of both the saintess and the demon, Furia knew that the sword was made out of mithril.

  Looking at the sword, another thought came into Furia’s mind.

  ‘Maybe with this, I can cut the demon tree.’

  The demon tree was a unique tree that grows in the demon realm. It was where demons were born. Just like her demon self, the demon tree spawns different kinds of demons. Furthermore, there was a huge force that blocked the demons from harming the tree. Once the newborn demon passed the 1-meter mark, they wouldn’t be able to touch the tree ever again.

  However, what if it was another race?

  With the saintess overwhelming desire to end the demons, Furia thought that she could end the demon slaughter once and for all.

  To do that, she had to get back to the demon realm first.

  Looking at the two trembling children, Furia noticed the remaining blood vial nearby.

  Furia moved based on her instinct, she decided to ignore the children. She picked up the blood vial and drank it with haste.

  'A perfect sweetness' A familiar taste filled Furia’s tongue. The unique vial kept the blood fresh.

  Feeling the satisfaction, it seemed Furia's new body inherited the demon's senses along with its thirst for blood.

  Nevertheless, Furia turned her palm to face the sky.

  Blood Arts: Scripture: Weave

  Activating her blood art, she created a red cloak that covered her naked body.

  With this, Furia confirmed she still had her demon blood art.

  However, could she use divinity?

  A question filled Furia’s mind.

  Within the Saintess’s memory, the Saintess had been born into a family of the ‘Lightbringers’. A family that had three seekers for three generations. They were hailed in the human world as a family of faith and light. Since she was a child, the Saintess had been taught and preserved the ways of the holy knight. A job dedicated to fending off the demon invasion. Moreover, she had been blessed by her Seeker mother who was chosen by the goddess of light.

  Seekers couldn’t use divine power, however, they could grant blessings or the goddess mark to their chosen apostles.

  The seeker’s blessing allowed apostle candidates to pledge their pure faith and pure belief to the goddess of light. Those who were successful were able to use divinity without difficulty.

  Furia had the memories, emotions, and thoughts of the Saintess. Furthermore, she also had the vessel that was blessed by the seeker.

  There was only one way to find out,

  Using the Saintess Sword ‘Dawnbreaker’, Furia made a knight praying stance.

  She invoked the first passage of the goddess of light, Pure Belief.

  ‘Goddess of light, through my heart, grant me strength’

  On the night of the full moon, The Saintess offered her belief to the goddess, it was ‘her love for demons’.

  It wasn’t a romantic love, however, it was a love to eradicate them.

  An enjoyment in demon slaying. A powerful belief that made the Saintess one of a kind.

  Even now, Furia felt this selfless love.

  At this moment, Furia felt her body become light as a feather. Furthermore, her eyes turned golden signifying that she became divine.

  However, Furia wasn’t surprised. Having the saintess memories, it felt natural.

  Nevertheless, Furia invoked the second passage, Pure Faith.

  ‘Goddess of light, with you, grant me strength’

  In this case, the demon side of Furia didn’t believe in any gods. The blessing of the blood god didn’t come from faith but from their natural desire for blood. This means, with the Saintess's belief, Furia’s faith remained in the goddess of light.

  Immediately, her hair turned white signifying that she activated the second passage. The heavy mithril ‘Dawnbringer’ sword felt weightless to her.

  Furia continued with the third passage, Pure Body.

  ‘Goddess of light, with my body, grant me strength.’

  Furia’s body was now the body of the Saintess. It was untainted, and virgin.

  Naturally, the third passage went through and Furia’s hair turned golden.

  More divinity flowed within her.

  Now, onto the fourth passage, Pure Mind.

  ‘Goddess of light, with my mind, grant me strength.’

  Unexpectedly, while invoking the fourth passage, Furia envisioned a massacre that she did with her demon part.

  A bloody gruesome slaughter, she ate the flesh and drank the blood of her victims.

  In the following scene, a tribulation occurred as she was hit by lightning within her vision.

  However, within her, the lightning strike felt real!

  Furia was unable to breathe and her mind felt as if it was splitting apart.

  With great pain, Furia fell to the ground and her body trembled uncontrollably.

  The young catkin Xei heard the falling sound and opened her eyes,

  “W-what’s happening!?”

  “Xei, run!”

  The two children who noticed Furia’s trembling body took the opportunity.

  They both ran away without looking back.

  It lasted a few more minutes before the pain slowly subsided.

  Furia forced herself to use her demon power.

  Blood Arts: Scripture: Painkiller

  Furia’s blood art consumed blood to activate. Using it two times in a row with a slightly empty blood pool, Furia was greatly weakened.

  In her weakened state, Furia felt her body become heavy. However, the pain was gone and she was able to breathe properly.

  ‘Fuck!’ Furia cursed as she tried to get up. The Saintess never felt a divine tribulation in her 29 years lifetime, she didn’t believe the stories of how painful and traumatizing it was.

  However, experiencing the heavenly tribulation for the first time, Furia thought the stories weren’t exaggerating at all.

  With this, her experimentation was finished, and Furia confirmed that she could use both blood art and a few divinities. This should be enough to slay weaker demons.

  ‘I forgot to ask the children where the village was and the butcher demon.’ Furia thought while picking up the Dawnbringer sword.

  Looking around, Furia noticed the children's foot trail.

  Without hesitation and with the desire to kill a demon, Furia decided to follow them.