It's so hard being a hero!

The bricks and stones beneath our feet have been eroded beyond recognition by the dark energy, turning the grayish-white bricks into a charred black.

The slime began to evaporate the moment she stepped on it, making a sizzling sound and turning into wisps of blue smoke that drifted away.

She continued walking forward.

The city gate tower has collapsed more than halfway, leaving only half a section of the wall standing there stubbornly, its surface covered with spiderweb-like cracks.

The city gate was pitch black, but the darkness was utterly powerless against the golden light, retreating step by step like night meeting dawn.

Beatrice walked through the city gate and into the inner city.

Most of the buildings on both sides of the street have been reduced to ruins, with dark purple fragments scattered among the broken walls—the remnants left behind after the demon soldiers' corpses were purified.

Several demons, not yet completely gone, huddled in the corner, desperately trying to shrink into the shadows, like drowning people clinging to the last piece of driftwood.

But those shadows were also fading, growing thinner and fainter under the golden light, until they disappeared completely.

The bodies of those demons turned to ashes as the shadow disappeared, without even having time to scream.

She traversed the entire Demon-Suppressing Pass and arrived at the ruins of the city wall in the west of the city.

The remaining wall here is about two or three meters high, with a few broken battlements remaining on top, like a mouth missing teeth.

She peered over the crumbling wall.

Before me lay even greater darkness.

It was no longer fog, but a black curtain stretching across the land, extending from the ground into the depths of the sky, swallowing the entire horizon.

The edges of the curtain continued to tumble, as if alive, every inch exuding an aura that instinctively made people want to retreat.

Beatrice stood atop the crumbling wall, quietly gazing at the black curtain.

"They've kept it well hidden."

She said it in a low voice.

Then she took a deep breath and spoke towards the darkness.

"Elaze!"

Her voice wasn't loud, yet it pierced through the entire plain, through the dark veil, and carried into the farthest depths of the demon realm.

"An old friend is here, won't you come out and say hello?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the churning of the dark curtain suddenly stopped for a moment.

Then, the curtain began to split open to both sides from the center.

The crack was very neat, as if someone had cut it in half with a knife. The dark energy on both sides retreated, revealing a narrow passage in the middle.

Footsteps approached from the end of the passage. They were light and steady, one step at a time, growing closer as they came.

A figure emerged from the depths of the passage.

She wore a long black dress, the hem of which trailed on the ground, yet not a speck of dust touched it.

Long, black hair cascaded down his back like a waterfall, the ends almost touching the ground.

Her skin was so white it was almost transparent, reflecting the pure darkness behind her like a moon hanging in the midnight sky.

What is most striking are those deep purple eyes, like two polished amethysts, containing some kind of ancient emotion that is hard to describe.

She stood at the entrance of the passage, not moving any further, looking at the woman radiating golden light atop the crumbling wall from a distance of several dozen steps.

Their gazes met across the vast ruins.

There was a brief silence.

The woman in black tilted her head slightly, a cryptic smile playing on her lips.

"Beateles".

Her voice was soft, yet it possessed a soul-piercing quality, like the whisper of the night.

"Ten thousand years have passed. I thought you had died somewhere in the Holy Land."

Beatrice crossed her arms over her chest, a faint, ambiguous smile playing on her lips.

"You're still alive, how could I be dead?"

Elaze chuckled softly, but the smile vanished in an instant.

Her gaze passed over Beatrice's shoulder and landed on the ruins behind her, which were being relit by golden light.

"You ran away from the Holy Land."

She said that her tone revealed no emotion.

"Is this an attempt to help the Starfall Continent and make them an enemy of our Demon Realm?"

She paused, her voice even lower than before.

"To be an enemy of the God of Darkness?"

Beatrice's smile faded slightly when she heard that name.

Her gaze lingered on Elaze's face for a moment, then she looked up at the bottomless curtain of darkness behind her.

Chapter 138 Intimidating the Demon Race

When Beatrice heard the words "God of Darkness," her expression did indeed soften slightly.

She admitted that those important figures in the divine realm were not people she could easily provoke, but it wasn't in her nature to just back down like that.

"You're right, I really can't afford to offend your man, but Elaze, have you ever thought about this?"

Beatrice tilted her head, her tone unhurried.

"Although the God of Light doesn't interfere, he's not blind. Your demon race has caused such a huge commotion, do you really think the other gods will just pretend not to see it? The God of Darkness isn't the only one in the divine realm."

Elaze chuckled softly upon hearing this.

The laughter sounded particularly crisp in the black mist, like the echo of a stream hitting pebbles at night.

"Beatrice, are you really unaware, or are you pretending not to know?"

Elaze took two steps forward, leaving a shallow mark on the ruins from her dark purple skirt.

"If those gods really cared about the life and death of Starfall Continent, how could the Witch of Desire, Lilith, have entrenched herself there for so many years without any god intervening? She wasn't originally an evil god, but she became one because of the competition and positions among the gods. If an excessive faith in a world leads to the birth of a god, then that world must bear the price required for the god's continuation."

These words silenced Beatrice.

Of course she knew all this; she had lived for over ten thousand years and knew the intricacies of the relationships between gods better than anyone else.

But she didn't know what to say, because Elaze was telling the truth.

When Elazer saw that she was silent, he took another step forward, his voice softening as if he were chatting with an old friend rather than confronting her.

"You know better than anyone why a world has become like this. Lilith was pushed to that position by the desires of this continent itself. It was because the desires she devoured were too mixed, too numerous, and too chaotic that she lost control and became what she is now. If you have to blame someone, blame the people of the continent for their insatiable greed."

She paused, her tone carrying a deeper meaning.

“We demons are just going down this crack. This war is not what we want to fight. Someone gave us a push from above, and we took a step forward. Getting involved will not benefit you at all.”

After listening, Beatrice remained silent for a long time.

Then she laughed, a casual and carefree laugh, as if she had let go of some airs she never intended to maintain.

"You're right. Anyway, I can't become the new God of Light. Let your gods fight and make a fuss all they want. I can't interfere."

She tucked her hands into her sleeves, like an old lady about to visit someone and prepare to leave.

"However, I came down here this time to save face for a friend. I know the rules, and I won't block your way, but don't go too far. But I won't allow you to cross the line of Heavenly Punishment City on a large scale. If you dare to try, I dare to let you experience the consequences."

Without waiting for Elaze's response, she turned around, transformed into a golden streak of light, and flew in an arc above the ruins of the western city wall towards the direction of Heaven's Wrath City.

Elaze stood there, watching the golden streak of light recede into the distance, his brow furrowing slightly.

"friend?"

She repeated it softly, as if savoring the weight of the word.

"This woman hasn't cared about the Starfall Continent for tens of thousands of years, yet she actually came down here for the sake of a friend. Just who has such a big face?"

She stood on the ruins for a while, seemingly deep in thought.

But in the end, he didn't chase after them; instead, he turned and walked back into the churning curtain of darkness.

Beatrice flew back to Heaven's Wrath City at a rapid pace. She slowed down when she reached the city gate and landed gently.

The soldiers on the city wall and near the city gate all saw the golden light flying from the horizon, and they all looked up in amazement.

When the light faded and a woman in an ancient white robe slowly landed on the ground, a quick-thinking officer ran up to ask her questions, but stopped in his tracks in the face of her aura.

At this moment, the Pope and others arrived with several high-ranking members of the Vatican.

The old pope walked very fast, the hem of his white robe fluttering in the wind.

He spotted Beatrice in the distance, his expression a complex mix of surprise and delight.

He stopped as he approached, bowed slightly to Beatrice, and adopted a very humble posture.

"Senior, your willingness to descend upon the Starfall Continent is a blessing for all humankind."

Beatrice glanced at him, then smiled softly.

"Don't flatter yourself too much. I didn't come here because you came to beg me, it's because of someone else."

The Pope was taken aback upon hearing this.

Beatrice glanced at the crowd that had gathered around her, waved her hand, and said in a rather impolite tone, "Alright, alright, stop staring at me. Let me make this clear: I'm only here to stand up for you, not to fight for you. The demon race has ten demon gods alone. If a real fight breaks out, I can't handle it all by myself, so don't count on me."

After saying that, she didn't even look at the complicated expressions on the faces of the people present before turning into a beam of white light and disappearing.

The next instant, Beatrice was already in the living room of the small courtyard where Sophia and Frey lived.

She plopped down on the wooden chair as if she were in her own home, crossed her legs, and let out a long sigh.

"Ugh, talking to those old folks is exhausting."

Sofia and Frey were waiting for her at their residence.

"I thought you just went straight back to the Sanctuary."

That's what I originally thought.