Relying on the extraordinary physique granted by the Chalice path, Bill and Fetch swiftly vaulted onto the third-floor railing corridor, completely bypassing the staircase. Following Luer’s orders, their mission was to eliminate the sniper positioned above—Vania.
As the enemies rapidly ascended using the pillars and railings, Vania, though internally flustered, did not let it affect her actions. She chambered the next round, raised her rifle, aimed, and pulled the trigger once more. With another gunshot ringing out, Fetch, who was gripping a pillar, was struck in his right hand, blood spurting from the wound. Losing his balance, he let out a scream as he plummeted downward, landing headfirst on the tiled floor, where he remained motionless.
Although Vania, a nun serving in an administrative role, had little battlefield experience, the spiritual focus provided by the Lantern path allowed her to barely suppress her panic and maintain composure at this critical moment.
She had managed to take down one opponent, but this meant that the other was left unchecked. Using Fetch as a foothold, Bill successfully climbed onto the third-floor corridor, landing merely five meters away from Vania. Seeing this, Vania, who had just begun pulling the bolt to reload, could no longer conceal the panic on her face.
"He’s up here!"
Noticing Vania’s distressed expression, Bill felt a surge of confidence. He understood the characteristics of the Lantern path within the Church—engaging in a long-range firefight from below would have been a losing battle. But now that he had closed the distance, the situation was entirely different. In close combat, the Chalice Beyonder far outclassed the Lantern path.
"You’re finished, Church lapdog…"
As he spoke, Bill drew a short sword from his waist and charged at Vania. In desperation, Vania threw her rifle—still in the process of reloading—directly at him. Bill deflected the rifle with his sword, but in that brief moment, Vania pressed a piece of parchment against her forehead.
"O Lord, forgive me for invoking this heretical power…"
As the parchment swiftly burned away, a faint Chalice insignia appeared on Vania’s forehead—this was the Devouring Sigil!Dorothy had given it to her not long ago. After Dorothy had extracted the cognitive poison from the Song of the Lambinto spirituality, Vania had gained a reserve of Chalice spirituality, allowing her to activate the sigil.
After knocking aside the rifle, Bill slashed at Vania with his sword. Now physically enhanced, Vania swiftly retreated two steps to evade the attack and kicked open a long box beside her. She turned, pulling out a rapier—another weapon she had prepared in advance, just like the rifle.
Gripping the sword, Vania’s expression turned resolute. Seizing the moment when Bill was resetting his stance, she lunged forward with an arcing step, slashing at him. Alarmed, Bill hastily raised his sword to block, barely fending off the strike.
"Such speed! Wait… aren’t Radiance Church members mostly gunners? What’s with this swordsmanship?!"
Barely managing to parry, Bill was stunned. But Vania’s assault did not relent. Following her first strike, she adjusted her angle and lunged again. This time, Bill dodged at the cost of a minor wound. Yet it was far from over—Vania’s strikes poured down like a torrential storm. Bill was utterly overwhelmed, unable to properly counter or evade, his defenses crumbling.
At this moment, their raw physical strength was evenly matched, but Vania’s swordsmanship vastly outclassed Bill’s crude skills, giving her a clear advantage.
The corridor rang with the crisp clashes of steel. Bill, slashed and pierced from countless directions, was soon drenched in blood. Under Vania’s relentless offensive, he could neither counterattack nor properly defend himself—he was only managing to protect his vital points. Were he not a Chalice Beyonder, he would have collapsed already.
However, even such desperate defense could not last much longer under this suffocating assault.
Just as Vania dominated the duel with her superior swordsmanship, an abrupt anomaly occurred. In an instant, every light source around them vanished. The surroundings were swallowed by darkness.
…
A short while earlier, inside the chapel, the beastman Luer was locked in a brutal clash with the numerous corpse marionettes controlled by Dorothy.
Despite the enhancement of Devouring Sigil, the corpse marionettes struggled to resist Luer. The fusion of the Chalice path’s strength and the Shadow path’s sharpened attacks allowed Luer to effortlessly tear apart a marionette with a single swipe. Though the marionettes’ attacks could leave wounds on his beastly body, they were all superficial. As a Black-rank Chalice Beyonder, Luer’s vitality had reached a level where he could completely disregard such injuries.
In just two to three minutes, Dorothy had already lost half of her corpse marionettes. The chapel was littered with dismembered bodies, the floor awash with blood.
"Is this guy even human?!"
Peering through the drapes of a third-floor room, Dorothy grumbled in frustration as she observed Luer’s overwhelming speed in dispatching her marionettes. Just as she was estimating how much longer her remaining forces could hold, an unexpected change unfolded.
After tearing apart another marionette, the beastly Luer suddenly leaped back, momentarily disengaging from the battle. Then, using his bloodstained claws, he fished out a small object from the tattered remains of his clothing. It was a black candle.
Through her passive appraisal ability, Dorothy immediately recognized it as a mystical artifact—an item of the Shadow path.
"A mystical artifact? What’s its function?" Dorothy wondered, but she didn’t pause her actions. She promptly summoned five more corpse marionettes to charge at Luer.
"At this point, there’s no need to conserve spirituality… let’s end this quickly."
With that thought, Luer began channeling his Shadow spirituality into the candle. Soon, an eerie silver flame flickered to life atop the black wax.
Then, Luer brought the "burning" candle to his lips—and with a single breath, he blew it out.
The moment the candle was extinguished, every single light source in the mansion vanished alongside it.
Through this bizarre artifact, Luer had snuffed out all illumination within a vast area, plunging the entire Field Manor into absolute darkness. Only faint moonlight flickered weakly through the windows.
Melding into the shadows, Luer disappeared from view. Dorothy’s corpse marionettes lunged at where he had been, but their attacks struck nothing but empty air. At that moment, Dorothy realized that her marionettes could no longer perceive Luer’s presence at all.
"He’s… merged with the darkness using the power of Shadow?! He’s completely undetectable!"
Dorothy’s expression darkened. She relied on her corpse marionettes’ vision to gather battlefield information, but now—surrounded by pitch-black darkness—she was effectively blind.
If they couldn’t see the enemy, they couldn’t attack. Yet within this darkness, the enemy could see them.
Swish…
A faint, eerie noise whispered through the void—followed by the dull thud of something hitting the floor. Dorothy sensed that one of her marionettes had been incapacitated.
Swish, swish, swish…
The sounds continued in rapid succession. One by one, her corpse marionettes were torn apart by unseen attacks from the shadows. In mere moments, all of her controlled undead had been annihilated.
Hidden in the darkness, Luer licked the blood from his claws and turned his gaze toward the third floor.
"The marionettes have been purged. Now… it’s time to hunt the marionettist."