She was being hunted down, so she became a magical girl.

Xu Ting saw someone.

Through the eyes of fear, I saw a man.

Originally, she should have seen members of the Blackwater Gang under her control, but now she sees a stranger instead.

Her hair was as white as human bones, her eyes were as red as blood, her appearance was cold yet beautiful, and her temperament was evil yet noble.

The man smiled at Xu Ting.

It also revealed its fangs.

"This is the first time I've ever seen the power of a magical girl, and it's so similar to that of the [Lord of Fear]."

"To possess magic driven by fear, you are truly extraordinary."

"How about we give up our magical girl status and become witches, serving the [Nightless Lord] together?"

Xu Ting didn't know what the King of Fear was, but he did know who the Lord of the Nightless Kingdom was.

This man is a follower of the Lord of Never Sleeps, so he is naturally a cultist of the apocalypse... no, an apostle of an evil god.

"Are you a vampire?" Xu Ting asked the man, covering her head.

"Red eyes and fangs, and a flamboyant aristocratic air about him."

The man readily admitted:

"You guessed correctly."

"I am a vampire, a citizen of the Dreamland who never sleeps."

"You may call me Earl Hall, or 'Witness of the Bloodshed'."

"Earl Hall, witness to sin and blood... I knew the Blackwater Gang and the Doomsday Cult were colluding, but I didn't expect them to be so bold as to let you in," Xu Ting said.

"Aren't you afraid that the magical girls from Tianyi Group will beat you into a pulp?"

"What vampire? What Earl Hall? Xu Ting, what's wrong with you?" The crow was unaware of the changes that had occurred within the Eye of Fear magic, and therefore appeared bewildered.

But soon, it realized something from Xu Ting's gesture of covering his head.

"Is an evil god's apostle invading your magic?"

There was a strange schadenfreude in the crow's tone.

"Then he's really asking for trouble."

At this moment, Earl Hall was still using threats and inducements to coerce Xu Ting.

"Of course I'm not afraid of those magical girls. They're too busy fighting amongst themselves to notice the Nightless Citizens."

He spread his hands and shrugged helplessly.

"As for you, once you join our ranks, we won't worry about you betraying us."

"This is a good choice. There is a rebellious girl in the Blackwater Gang who accepted my power, which greatly enhanced her innate magic. She learned to fly before Isshiki Hatake."

"You may not know this, but Tianyi Group has already issued a bounty for the lives of you illegal magical girls."

"They even promised that as long as you bring the magical girl's head to claim the reward, even if the person claiming the reward is a wanted criminal from the Tianyi Group, the reward will still be given."

"If you hadn't met me, you would have perished under the combined attack of various forces and the Tianyi Group."

"But once you become my colleague, the Lord of the Night will bestow upon you a powerful blessing, and may even be able to lead you away from this dangerous city."

Earl Hall lowered his hands and, adopting an affectedly "approachable" tone, said:

"I'll let you in on a little secret: I really admire your innate magic; it's a perfect match for the Lord of Fear."

"If you're willing to join us, I'll immediately report to the Dream Kingdom and make you a true apostle of the evil god."

"This is different from the consumables used by the Doomsday Cult."

"That little girl named Wu Qingshuang is only fit to be my pawn, but you can be my equal."

"So, are you interested?"

Xu Ting outwardly responded to Earl Hall, but in reality, he was conveying a message to the crow:

"You want to recruit me as an apostle of an evil god? What do you think I should do?"

Earl Hall, kept in the dark, replied, "Of course, we should abandon darkness and embrace the light."

The crow knew Xu Ting was asking it a question, and after a cold laugh, it said:

"Ignore him."

"You are my contractor, not some clueless, immature girl."

"He didn't attack your innate magic; he attacked the contract between us."

"The covenant between us is an unbreakable thorn; anyone who tries to cut it will be pricked and bleed profusely."

With the crow's assurance, Xu Ting felt much more at ease.

She firmly rejected Earl Hall's offer of service:

"I have no interest in being an apostle of an evil god."

"The extraterrestrial evil god harbors wolfish ambitions and is the culprit that has turned the world into what it is today. Your Lord of the Night is no better; he's quite adept at creating monsters."

"Only people with mental problems would take on the disgusting profession of being an apostle of an evil god."

"I am a magical girl who represents hope, light, and justice, and I will not associate with people like you."

Earl Hall's smile turned cold.

His lips remained turned up, but his eyes were filled with endless coldness.

"Miss, I think you might not understand your current situation."

"It is my lord's power to manipulate those who are afraid; your innate magic is nothing but a clumsy attempt."

"If you refuse, I can crush you with my bare hands."

"Like killing a chicken."

Xu Ting raised an eyebrow:

"Come on then, let's see if you can kill a chicken."

The "chicken" obviously refers to the crow that made that boastful claim.

Earl Hall stopped laughing completely.

He raised his jet-black hands, and blood gushed from his body, forming scarlet eye-shaped runes on his arms.

The vampire turned his arm toward Xu Ting, and dozens of scarlet eyes on it instantly opened.

An extremely powerful evil force rushed towards Xu Ting, as if a series of calamities were sweeping in.

Faced with such immense evil magic, Xu Ting also retaliated.

She gathered her magic and, through her current connection with Earl Hall, activated the Eye of Fear.

A tiny red glow collided with an immense evil magic power on the way.

Earl Hall gave a mocking smile.

An ant trying to shake a tree is overestimating its own strength.

He watched as his power effortlessly collided with that point of red light.

Then......

They were all met with a backlash.

What?

Count Hall was completely unprepared for this turn of events and caught off guard, receiving all the rebounded magic.

His own attack completely tore his arm apart, severing the hard-won connection with the Eye of Fear.

Count Hall was brought back to reality by this blow.

He looked at his arm in anguish; it slowly turned white and gray, eventually turning to ashes as if it had been exposed to sunlight.

The battles of the spiritual world can also affect the physical body in reality; this is common knowledge among the people who never sleep.

Damn it! Damn it!

He actually lost?

Earl Hall subconsciously felt that he was still in the illusion of the trial to be promoted to a noble rank, and that everything in front of him was a false nightmare that did not exist.

Unfortunately, he soon discovered that this was an undeniable reality.

He was truly defeated by a magical girl in her coloring stage.

In a fit of rage, he used his remaining hand to stab the heart of another person in the room.

That man was the unlucky fellow who was controlled by the Eye of Fear, and who had kindly wanted to pass on information to Xu Ting, but was discovered by Earl Hall.

The unfortunate man had all his blood drained, and he collapsed as a dried-up corpse.

Earl Hall withdrew his arm and found that his wound showed no signs of healing.

The backlash was too severe; it cannot be recovered in a short time.

He took the time to tidy himself up, suppressed the raging anger in his heart, and pushed open the door as if nothing had happened.

The Dead Sea stood outside the door with an unfriendly expression.

"Didn't you say there were no other people in the gang who were being controlled?" Dead Sea demanded an explanation.

"Why was I just attacked again by several suddenly crazed lunatics?"

Count Hall bared his fangs at the Dead Sea:

"Get your bearings straight, you servant! You have no right to question me!"

He deliberately concealed the existence of other targets controlled by the Eye of Fear, intending to use these people to monitor the restless Dead Sea after absorbing Xu Ting.

But after his failure, this naturally became a taboo topic.

"Tell your daughter to kill that magical girl right now," Earl Hall commanded through gritted teeth, his long robe concealing his severed hand.

"Tonight, I will see her blood."