Helen glanced at her: "...It's not impossible."

She became unusually serious and said, "If you rely on your... ability to reincarnate souls, then you can make them lose their lives in an instant."

Ai Cao laughed: "I can only make men have children, but how do I know if they are boys or girls?" She said, "My abilities are also limited."

Helen glanced at her: "I thought you were some kind of monster with unlimited abilities." She mocked Ai Cao, then asked Lillian, "Do you know what those vampires who still exist in this world look like?"

Lillian whispered, "I'll try."

She closed her eyes, her long eyelashes trembling. An invisible wave of energy emanated from her body, spreading outwards. After a few seconds, she opened her eyes, hesitated, and shook her head.

Lillian said, "I can't find them... They know nothing."

Helen reached out and touched the top of her head: "It's not your fault. They're all old fogies. Naturally, the ones you're trying to communicate with don't know them. Try contacting those from even further back in time."

How long will it take?

“At least a thousand years,” Helen said. She raised her hand, cut off a lock of hair, gathered it together, and then pinched it into two pointed wings. The hair flapped its wings in her palm and fluttered into the air.

“I’ll ask my acquaintances too,” Helen said, frowning. “We can’t let those old fogies continue to be a menace.”

Her hair swayed as it passed through the transparent ripples of water in mid-air and disappeared before their eyes.

Artemisia said, "Can't we just go directly to where they live? Go in, and they will become the raw materials for new life."

Helen chuckled. "Even the most impolite person shouldn't trespass on someone else's property." Her initial goodwill towards Artemisia vanished. "Without permission, even I can't enter their land."

"...But you were born inside your brother's body?" Ai Cao didn't quite understand, so she simply asked Helen, "Were you allowed by your brother to enter that land?"

Helen sneered: "You said it yourself—that's 'my' brother. I'm also a newly born vampire, and I have no relation to those old guys."

Artemisia understood. Regardless of whether Helen identified herself as a vampire or a human, she couldn't escape her identity as "the younger sister." This had nothing to do with how far she had traveled, but only with her own birth.

This land will only see the most basic facts, those that are not obscured by anything new.

Lillian opened her eyes again. She temporarily severed her connection with those souls and wearily rubbed her head. She said, "Shall we go ask the Pope?"

She had been tracing the origins of this land for thousands of years, but still hadn't found a single soul that could guide her. At this rate, she might as well just ask the angels and other deities beside God.

Helen interrupted her abruptly: "No." Her expression was tense. "We can't let God intervene so soon."

Helen lowered her voice and said, "The progenitor of the vampires still roams this land. The power of the gods is only enough to deal with him."

Lillian listened intently. The other two unconsciously held their breath. Artemisia heard nothing, but Helen heard a faint, distant sound—the rustling of wings against each other.

Lillian said nervously, "The Pope said that the First Ancestor has arrived."

Artemisia also heard the sound of wings rubbing against each other. She turned her head to look at the source of the sound and saw endless black clouds drifting from the edge of the sky.

That's a swarm of bats.

Lillian's breath hitched. Her tense voice suddenly softened: "Don't worry, my children. I will protect the people and the city. Go ahead and do your best."

Her pale blue eyes looked gently at Artemisia and Helen.

Helen clicked her tongue: "Is this divine power...?"

“Lillian” smiled peacefully and said, “No, my children. This is your wish, which is why I am here. The message has been conveyed, and I should now attend to matters with Her Majesty the Queen.”

Lillian's body went limp, and Ai Cao and Helen rushed forward to help her up. Lillian slowly opened her eyes in their arms and coughed up blood.

The blood fell into her palm.

Before she could speak again, Lillian straightened up and took off the pendant from her neck, placing it on the blood. The pendant emitted a faint light, as if it were changing in intensity.

Lillian moved the pendant away. The blood in her palm had completely disappeared.

“The Pope just came by,” she said quickly. “I used her power to temporarily fight against the progenitor of the vampires—but we can’t kill him. He’s been rooted in this land for too long; even the gods can’t do anything to him.”

“Artemisia, only you can do this.” She stared calmly at Artemisia. “Please help us.”

“...You’re the one who needs help, not me,” Helen muttered to herself, crossing her arms and taking two steps to the side.

Ai Cao raised the corners of her mouth and smiled as she ruffled Lillian's hair.

“I need enough souls willing to be reborn from their bodies.” She turned to look at the darkening sky and asked, “Helen, can you help me distinguish which ones are men?”

Helen reluctantly agreed.

“Alright. Leave those female vampires to me. I’ll kill them properly,” Helen said. “If they have blood on their hands.”

Mugwort said yes.

Lillian tore off two broken crystals tied to the hem of her skirt. She focused intently on drawing intricate lines on the crystals, then handed them to Artemisia and Helen respectively. Helen chuckled and condescended to gently touch Artemisia's brow.

When Ai Cao looked at the bats again, a dense flood of information appeared before her eyes. Ai Cao felt as if her head was about to burst, but the limitations imposed upon her as a human kept her true self.

The system screamed as it helped her filter the information.

Artemisia finally caught her breath. Now, all she could see were the genders of the vampires. She opened her skill screen and switched her skill to [Good Pregnancy].

There was no declaration of war in this battle. The lower-ranking vampires didn't even qualify as cannon fodder; they were crushed and broken apart in the aftershocks of the attacks, turning into piles of white ash.

Standing in the palace, the Pope smiled and said to the Queen, "We shall begin now, my child."

The young queen smiled and nodded. They had been studying what they were about to do for a long time—though she hadn't understood why then, those questions were now answered.

One order after another was issued.

A massive power machine began to operate.

The Pope glanced at the swirling white dust outside the window and said calmly, "This will be a victory for mankind."

“Of course,” the Queen said.