But then her vision blurred, and a ghostly image of a nun appeared, talking about embracing her true self. Annie, who was already an emotional wreck, drowned in tears.
Over there, Liping had fallen onto the lounging sofa as if he were a hero returning from battle. He was in his own mind too, just enjoying the taste of adventure a little bit.
Elizabeth came in. Annie took one look at her and declared that she remembered everything.
Elizabeth began a grand tale. Annie's ancestors had pledged eternal loyalty to her, and with Annie's bloodline awakened, that promise was back on the table.
Annie's jaw dropped. She connected the dots. Elizabeth is the Demon Queen. She looked over to the side to confirm whether that made Liping the legendary hero, and then her imagination took off. She made up her own story, that Elizabeth and Liping had fought each other for supremacy for a whole month, then fallen madly in love, and gone away together for the sequel, five centuries long.
Elizabeth felt it was almost accurate. But Liping feared that Elizabeth's words would drive Annie mad, so he started trying to silence her.
Elizabeth then focused on Annie. When Annie's bloodline was awakened, it went out of control, and she wiped out everyone in the orphanage. And instead of taking responsibility for that, she had convinced herself that she was waiting for a nun to come back.
Elizabeth did not stop there. She went deeper and told her that Annie's so-called siblings were actually enchanted dolls that were running on her magic. This was the reason why she could not move forward above the magician level.
The truth was that Annie had tried to save her loved ones from the apostles. But losing control, she had killed everyone.
All of this came down on Annie like a truck. She had a severe headache, like memories crashing back into her all at once. Elizabeth made her unconscious before she came loose. Liping moved just in time and caught her.
Elizabeth assured him that Annie was just sleeping, and that this was the only way to stop her from accidentally killing and destroying everything. Liping understood that now the responsibility was his.
There was a quilt in the church. There was just the low sound of sewing. Annie's bed was swaying like a swing, and Liping was rocking it.
Then Annie woke up and began to apologize to Liping. She only brought trouble. She remembered now that she was the cause of the harm.
Liping corrected her. He proved to her that she was not a cold-blooded killer. She had only tried to protect her siblings. Annie still kept blaming herself.
Liping turned the conversation away from Annie's personal pity party and towards the dolls. He pointed out that the details on them were impressive, but that Annie had tied too many knots to keep the cotton from escaping. He told her that this takes away the spirit of the doll, but that maybe they could fix it together.
Annie was still lost in dark thoughts. Liping gave her a quote. He said, do not stay stuck in the rainy season of life. Look ahead, the sky will be clear. Chin up, and find the strength to face the truth.
Then he gave the doll to Annie, the one she had made for him. A cute little angel named Raphael. The hope was that maybe her emotional scars would heal a little, or that there would at least be fewer distractions.
Annie took the doll and held it, and as she held it she felt the presence of her siblings. She finally gathered her courage and said goodbye to them. She promised to protect the church.
Liping thanked the system's books in his mind for the psychotherapy lessons. But he knew he would have to keep an eye on Annie. Everything cannot be fixed in one go.
Meanwhile, Amelia was flying through the muddy skies of the Demon Realm, over the dark swarm of death, looking at the mess below. Seeing her master's land so destroyed, she felt as if someone had been practising how to do the maximum possible wastage.
As soon as she landed, some ugly creatures looked at her like she was their next meal. Amelia dealt with some of them, and the rest ran away.
Then a voice came, and a dark witch figure appeared. Kurad, a five-star demon ancestor, one of the six pillars of the Dark Guild. He stated clearly that he was not happy to see Amelia.
There in the dark guild hall, millions of strange eggs were kept, full of ape-like creatures, like a trophy collection. The six pillars of the Dark Guild stood there, and it felt as though something strong were singing.
Farazdak Samavi, a one-star demon sovereign, suggested that perhaps the invader had come seeking revenge, because a sword saint's army had been wiped out while attacking one of their guilds.
Ruth, a two-star demon ancestor, thought it better to make a deal. Experiment No. 24, another one-star demon sovereign, suggested that William, a three-star demon ancestor, should have some fun with the invader. William was not interested.
Diego Cthulhu, four-star demon sovereign and the vice president of the Dark Guild, declared that the invader, no matter how tough, would not come back alive.
And sitting at the top was Malfoi, the Dark Guild president, a one-star demon sovereign.
Back with Kurad, he was burning with confusion. His magic suddenly was not working. His magic tools were becoming useless too. In a last-ditch effort he tried to teleport to the guild hall. But Amelia crushed him with a dragon claw and turned him to ash.
After Kurad's departure, the remaining great apostles saw the empty spot among the pillars and started planning how to take Amelia down. Amelia did not even care. To her they were all trash. In a row, the golden dragon dusted them off, and she just kept going as if nothing had happened.
At the gate of the dark guild hall she found the monstrous creature that was guarding it. It asked Amelia to answer questions, and threatened her with death otherwise. Amelia kicked it aside and went inside.
Finally, Malfoi. What at first had seemed decent had now changed into a twisted next version. The price had already been paid. Amelia did not find him a threat. Actually, he seemed like a joke. Amelia knocked Malfoi out with a single hit.
His demon pillars remained standing there, stunned. But surprisingly, Malfoi was not actually dead. He regenerated himself and started praising Amelia's strength. He was also curious about how she had suddenly woken up, and guessed that she must have met Elizabeth.
But before Amelia could answer, tentacles came out of the ground and grabbed her. Diego had arrived. He was under the delusion that by taking out Amelia he would become the new lord of demons.
Amelia was not impressed. She started biting the tentacles. Diego felt it was a waste of time. Amelia did not care about his opinion. She kept swallowing them one by one, along with Diego, who was still boosting his size and power. He went from bragging to begging in seconds. But Amelia was very hungry. She finished him off and let it go.
Then came Ruth. She was clever. She pretended to surrender, and then tried to use a seductive kiss attack to make Amelia her puppet. Nice try. Amelia played along for a second. Then she got bored and threw her aside.