Chapter 31: Chapter of Wrath
It was as if a skeletal finger dipped in blood had written them—lines of script spread across Funis’s vision.
She could not shake off those characters; no matter how she rubbed her eyes, when she opened them again, they remained, as if the blood-written words had fused with her, becoming a part of her.
Misty whispers echoed in the distance.
The text began to change.
【Original Codex · Chapter of Wrath】
【Activation Ritual】
【The Fallen Angel Samael is watching you. He is the taker of souls, but you are beloved by the Lord. Do not fear. Do not dread.】
Samael?
The very Archdemon Samael who stood at the end of the Wrath Path?
After identifying the bloody text in her vision, Funis fell into brief confusion—but then she heard a thunderous roar behind her, like waves crashing upon a reef. She instinctively turned around, only to see the void darkness and vast stars torn open by a mist-like substance.
Within the rift was a pitch-black sea, the sun at the horizon burning dim and lightless.
A ladder from the heavens descended—the Seventh Heaven—and upon it stood a colossal shadow. It was a height that would take humans five hundred years to ascend.
From the crown upon His head to the soles of His feet, His body was covered in shining eyes—and now, all those countless eyes shifted their gaze toward Funis, who stood on this side of the rift.
He was watching Funis.
A burning sensation surged in her chest—Funis nearly could not breathe. Clutching her chest, she gasped painfully. The indescribable pressure felt like a hand strangling her throat at the level of her very soul.
【Original Codex · Chapter of Wrath】
【You have been favored and gazed upon by Samael】
【Activation ritual complete. Transferring out of the Garden】
Amid difficult breaths, she saw the words change again—the text's tone was extremely cold, not like it had been written by any living person.
Transfer? Garden?
Funis could not understand the meaning of these words, but she felt that everything she had just experienced must be related to the Witch Codex.
If she understood correctly, the page in her hand was the “Chapter of Wrath,” and Wrath was one of the Fourteen Paths. It corresponded precisely to one of the fourteen pages of the Witch Codex.
Each page was a chapter, representing a Path, and also corresponding to a Seraph or an Archdemon.
But what did this Codex truly represent? Why had the “First Witch” written it?
Funis did not know. She only felt a strange force pulling at her, as though trying to extract and strip her from this place.
She looked back.
Perhaps she never should have turned around.
That eye, older and grander than stars, met her gaze. Countless fragments and images, beyond memory, surged into her mind like a tide—every moment from past to future, all woven into one.
Unspeakable Whisperers sang around that great existence, praising His supremacy.
He was both blind ignorance and all-knowing omnipotence.
【Warning】
Funis had not gone mad. That great being had unintentionally imbued her with the entirety of past and future, only for something else to forcibly erase it at the same time. She still retained her sanity.
Blood-colored script filled her vision.
【Warning】
【Excessive information has been purged】
【Warning】
【Do not gaze upon the Lord directly】
A cascade of warnings occupied all of Funis’s sight. Drenched in cold sweat, she finally lowered her head and averted her eyes.
The strange force grew increasingly strong, and eventually, after a flash of brilliant light, Funis felt herself flung forcefully away.
In a daze, she returned once more to the original theater.
Rows of broken, abandoned old seats. A crystal chandelier lit by candles. Rubble and ruins from the earlier battle. Wez, lifeless under bricks and steel.
And herself, sitting duck-style on the ground, holding the blood-stained parchment.
Funis could not react right away.
She could feel the floor beneath her. The revolver was within reach. The familiar metal casing brought her a sense of reassurance. This was reality—there was no mistake. She had truly returned from that darkness to the grand theater.
Yet she could not be certain that everything she had just witnessed was merely a false dream.
Funis looked down to inspect the parchment. Its contents were now completely stained with blood, illegible.
Suddenly, her palm felt scorching. Flames burst from the center of the parchment. In panic, she let go and flung it away, watching helplessly as that precious fragment of the Codex turned to ash and drifted off on the wind.
“Uh?”
Just like that, it was gone?
Funis stood frozen for a full half-minute. She had no idea where the flame had come from—everything had happened so suddenly.
She had originally planned to deliver this fragment back to the Church. When Chescia had returned it to her, Funis had even felt a bit touched. Now, it had inexplicably turned to ash—she felt that her earlier sentiment had been wasted.
But just as Funis lamented and prepared to rise, a wave of pain and dizziness struck her head.
Bright red blood droplets splattered across her vision, congealing once more into words.
【Original Codex · Chapter of Wrath】
【Ritual recipient: Funis】
【You have been favored and gazed upon by Samael】
【He was once a noble Seraph, leading devout souls to the Lord; betrayal destroyed Him, and in hatred and wrath, He fell, descending into Hell; He will suppress, He will endure, He will lie dormant; He shall ultimately have revenge, and His endless fury shall one day rain upon this land】
【Authority · Vengeful Absorption】
【Level 1】
【Status: Usable Stored charge: 1/1】
【Effect: Nullifies incoming attack damage and retaliates with double force】
【Note: Only nullifies attack damage within the permitted range of the Authority’s level. Raising the Authority level increases retaliation strength and maximum stored charge count】
【Path switch available: Wrath Path, Seventh Sequence, Gravedigger】
【Note: Switching to the Wrath Path allows advancement through potions and rituals. Sequence elevation will correspondingly increase Authority level】
Funis read every word.
Her head was spinning.
So she read it again.
After confirming she had not misread it, Funis lowered her head and fell into deep contemplation.
As a devout and steadfast follower of the Kabbalah Church, she had always believed in the existence of God, that angels governed the world under the Lord, maintaining order.
But today, after she herself had been turned into a Succubus by strange spells and personally witnessed a series of indescribable phenomena, Funis was sure—the worldview she had spent forty years constructing in her mind had collapsed.
More precisely, she felt her worldview was being ruthlessly rubbed into the ground by these blood-red words.
It was so shocking, overwhelming, and subversive that Funis began to think: instead of resisting or questioning, she might as well surrender and accept it all. Once she got used to it, it might even feel reasonable.
The “First Witch” was not an ordinary person. She was probably the first in this world to establish contact with the Whisperers. That her relics contained mysterious power was completely normal.
That page of the fragment had not been burned to ash by fire—it had truly merged with Funis.
She had absorbed the “Chapter of Wrath.”