Spirit Hall was bathed in white.
Holy light poured down from the cathedral dome, illuminating murals of angels and fallen beasts—stories rewritten by the victors. At the very center, upon the throne of judgment, Bibi Dong stood motionless.
Her hand pressed against her chest.
The strange sensation hadn't faded.
It pulsed—soft, distant, yet unmistakably real.
"…That aura," she murmured.
Not hostile.
Not unfamiliar.
It was old.
An elder approached cautiously. "Your Holiness?"
Bibi Dong didn't answer.
Her mind had already drifted backward—far beyond the throne, beyond Spirit Hall, beyond even hatred.
To a time when she was not Pope.
To a time when she was prey.
Darkness closed in around her vision.
A memory surfaced.
A forest drenched in blood and moonlight.
A woman standing between Spirit Hall and something precious—her robes torn, her aura shaking the heavens themselves. Red eyes blazing with fury and grief.
A hundred-thousand-year spirit beast.
"No…" Bibi Dong whispered.
Her fingers tightened.
"That can't be possible."
The elder stiffened. "Your Holiness?"
Bibi Dong opened her eyes.
They were cold.
But beneath that cold—something cracked.
"Bring me all sealed records," she ordered. "Anything involving the Star Dou Forest. Anything erased. Anything labeled impossible."
The elder hesitated. "Those records were destroyed under the previous—"
"—Then retrieve what survived," Bibi Dong snapped.
The pressure in the hall spiked violently.
"I want names," she said. "I want bloodlines. And I want the truth."
The elder bowed deeply and fled.
Bibi Dong turned slowly toward the massive angelic statue behind the throne.
Once, she had prayed there.
Once, she had believed.
Her lips curved into a bitter smile.
"So you survived," she murmured softly. "Or rather… your legacy did."
Her thoughts shifted.
To Shrek Academy.
To the calm boy who carried an abyss behind his eyes.
He stood between the forest and the child, she realized.Not as a shield… but as an equal.
A soft laugh escaped her.
"Lin Chen," she said aloud, tasting the name.
"You didn't just touch fate," she continued quietly."You put your hand on something I failed to kill."
Her expression darkened—not with rage, but resolve.
At that moment, the cathedral doors opened.
An elder rushed in, face pale.
"Your Holiness," he said urgently. "The sealed archive… one fragment responded."
Bibi Dong turned sharply. "Responded?"
The elder swallowed. "A soul imprint activated. A name surfaced."
He handed her a crystal shard.
The moment Bibi Dong touched it—
A whisper echoed in her mind.
Protect Wu'er.
Her breath caught.
The crystal shattered into dust.
Bibi Dong stood frozen.
"…Ah," she said softly.
So soft it was almost gentle.
"So that's where you hid her."
Her gaze lifted, piercing through stone, distance, and fate itself—toward Shrek Academy, toward a laughing girl who didn't remember her mother's face.
Toward a boy who did.
"Do you know what you've done?" Bibi Dong whispered.
Then she straightened.
The Pope returned.
"Prepare an envoy," she ordered calmly. "Not an assassin. Not an army."
The elders listened in silence.
"A gift," she continued. "And an invitation."
Her lips curved into a smile that held no warmth.
"If he chooses to stand with her," Bibi Dong said,"Then sooner or later…"
"…he will stand against me."
Far away, under the same moon—
Lin Chen opened his eyes.
The system interface glowed ominously.
[Major Fate Convergence Detected][Entity: Bibi Dong — Direct Awareness Confirmed]
Lin Chen exhaled slowly.
"…So you remembered," he murmured.
And for the first time—
The game was no longer distant.
It was personal.