In the end, Feng Ye refused Coco’s request no matter how much she rolled around on the sofa acting cute. He shooed her off to the bedroom to sleep.

Of course, he also confiscated the juice from the little girl’s hands. Poor Rollroll, sleeping on the carpet in Coco’s room, became her punching bag. She kneaded and pinched it fiercely until sleep finally overtook her.

Outside, in the night.

A tiny figure walked alone on the street. Haven City’s nights were still bustling, bathed in bright lights with many pedestrians—but most staggered drunkenly.

Some noticed the petite silver-haired girl walking alone at this hour. Their faces showed faint surprise.

A few drunkards, emboldened by alcohol, even grinned as they approached her. “Where’s your guardian, little one?” one teased. “Wanna spend the night at Uncle’s place?”

The girl’s delicate face showed no shame or anger. Instead, she gazed at the man with curious, slightly puzzled eyes. His sour alcohol breath made her uneasy.

“Hey, are you mute?” the man sneered. Seeing her tilt her head cutely, his lust overcame him. He reached out to touch her pale cheek.

The next second, he regretted it. He screamed, clutching his hand as he stumbled back. His laughing friends rushed over—only to freeze in shock. His palm was frozen solid into an ice block.

“She’s an Awakened!” someone realized. Faces paled. They dragged their wailing companion away. Ordinary people had no courage to challenge an Awakened.

Watching them flee in panic, the girl felt puzzled. She touched her own cheek. Why had that man acted so strangely? Didn’t he know the basic rule—that unrecorded lifeforms touching her would trigger her defensive magic?

She shook her head and continued wandering aimlessly down the street.

Then, the darkness thickened. The air grew colder. From shadows untouched by streetlights, something blurry rushed closer.

Whoosh.

A shadow darted across the ground. A figure twisted out of it, slowly taking solid form.

“All those shadow outposts I planted across this city weren’t wasted,” the man mused. He studied the girl like a priceless artwork—her beauty almost painful to behold. “Noble Lady Elphis, I believe this is our first meeting.” He smiled, eyes burning with fanatic devotion. “I am Falos, White Robe Magistrate of the Holy Land. Last year’s Grand Ceremony… I glimpsed your radiant form beneath the Hall of Ten Thousand Laws.”

Elphis listened silently. Her ice-blue pupils grew slightly colder as she stared at him.

“You… are the Holy Land’s enemy,” she said softly after a pause. Her voice stayed childlike, yet utterly emotionless.

Falos blinked, then sighed regretfully. “So my magical engravings have faded? The Holy Land must hide methods I never knew. I was exposed only after smuggling you out… yet you still mark me as an enemy.” He grinned excitedly. “No one labeled your enemy survives, Lady Elphis. To become one myself… If I live through this, I must be your destined one!”

The silver-haired girl showed no reaction. But the frog perched on her hat brim flipped over, glaring at the loli-obsessed fanatic with utter disdain.

Moments later, Elphis floated gently off the ground. An ice-blue grimoire materialized before her from a magic circle. Instantly, frost spread visibly across the pavement beneath her feet, forming an icy path that raced toward Falos.

To her, all enemies must be erased. She ignored his words—partly because she couldn’t understand them, partly because Falos was already dead in her eyes.

“The Tome of Icy Binding of the Ten Thousand Laws,” Falos breathed, eyes alight with fervor. “This is the power you wield, Lady Elphis.”

His body dissolved into shadow just as a massive ice spike erupted where he’d stood. A fraction slower, and he’d have been impaled.

“Useless,” Falos declared. “You hold power to annihilate angel legions, Lady Elphis—but only at Stage One. Without breaking all your seals, you can’t match me.”

His form shattered into countless shadow whips. They lashed through the air with ear-splitting cracks, each carrying enough force to shatter boulders.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The whips shattered against an ice shield conjured before the girl. Ice shards scattered as the shadows recoiled.

Six magic circles then bloomed in the air. A storm of ice spears shot out like machine-gun fire, blanketing the area.

But they pierced only shadows. The spears slammed into the street, blasting craters amid explosions. Bystanders had long fled when the fight began, leaving the battlefield empty.

The shredded shadows reformed into Falos—unscathed.

“Lady Elphis,” he said earnestly, “this fight is pointless. Your current power can’t threaten me. The Holy Land shackled you with too many seals. Do you truly wish to live as their puppet? Come with me. Join the Black Soul Organization. The Holy Land’s threats will mean nothing. You’ll gain true freedom.”

His answer was a colossal ice fist bursting from a magic circle. Six circles flashed—forming a Frost Giant’s head, limbs, and torso.

The punch struck Falos squarely. He dissolved into shadow again, reappearing far from the girl. His eyes now held complex emotions: struggle, hatred, pity. Hatred for the Holy Land. Pity for this emotionless child. Finally, resolve hardened his gaze. “Forgive my rudeness, Lady Elphis. But I must take you back.”

Thick shadows surged from his body, coalescing into a giant serpent. Its eyes swirled with negative emotions—rage, greed, lust. A single glance could trap ordinary minds in hallucinatory spirals.

But the mental assault meant nothing to Elphis. She landed on the Frost Giant’s shoulder, commanding it to attack. Its massive fist slammed down, coated in frost.

“Shadow Prison Bind,” Falos whispered. The serpent shot forward like lightning, coiling around the giant. It squeezed relentlessly. Ice armor cracked under the pressure, spiderwebbing with fissures.

Elphis leaped off just as the serpent’s jaws snapped at her. But Falos appeared along her flight path. A shadow spear shot from his hand.

Frost instantly formed an ice wall around her. Yet the spear pierced it effortlessly. To Elphis’s puzzled gaze, it stabbed through her abdomen…

Pain flashed in Falos’s eyes. He gritted his teeth, lunging to grab her.

At the last moment, the frog on her hat puffed up its belly. *Croak!*

Space twisted. Elphis vanished right before Falos’s eyes.