Saint Amanda School was built through the donation of a saint from the Radiance Church, so naturally, a chapel was a standard facility.
The school’s chapel was located on a lawn, slightly distanced from the main school buildings. The structure itself was not small, and students would come here daily for prayers. Occasionally, theology teachers would also hold theology lessons on-site.
At this very moment, however, this place of prayer had become a battlefield, with the center of the conflict being Dorothy, who stood before the altar. She was clad in an exquisite ceremonial dress, leaning on a cane, wearing a hat, and donning a gold-thread masquerade mask. Her long white hair was tied into a single ponytail at the back, making it difficult to discern her hair color from the front. Through the mask, her eyes silently overlooked the battlefield before her.
Goffrey, who had just entered the chapel, continuously slashed at Dorothy with his bone blades. However, every strike was intercepted by Vania, who stood guard beside Dorothy. She, too, wore a mask and deflected each attack with her sword. Meanwhile, Dorothy commanded several corpse marionettes, which had been hidden around the chapel, to fire their guns at the attackers. As usual, Oswan defended against the shots using his bone shield.
Gunfire echoed repeatedly within the brightly lit chapel. Dorothy and Vania, Goffrey and Oswan—each side had one person on the offensive and one on the defensive, creating a complex entanglement of attack and defense. The battle had reached a stalemate, and this prolonged deadlock was beginning to frustrate Oswan. He impatiently questioned his companion beside him.
"Is it not over yet? It’s just a kid!"
"It’s not that easy! That nun’s swordsmanship is absurd—it’s nearly impossible to break through!" Goffrey responded.
He attempted to attack Dorothy from various angles with his bone blades, but the sword-wielding nun deflected every strike with a crisp clang . Even when he deliberately maneuvered his blades to attack from the side or rear, Vania’s keen perception ensured that every attack was blocked.
At this moment, Vania, armed with her sharp sword, had become Dorothy’s strongest shield—no bone blade could penetrate her defense.
Vania still had 1 remaining point of Chalice spirituality gained through The Song of the Lamb, just enough for her to use another Devouring Sigil to enhance her physical abilities.While the battle remained at a stalemate, Dorothy observed her surroundings. The moment she confirmed that her enemies had all entered the chapel, she knew the opportunity had arrived.
Without hesitation, Dorothy activated a hidden corpse marionette stationed near the chapel doors. The marionette stood up and pulled a lever nearby. In an instant, the massive chapel doors slammed shut, trapping everyone inside.
"...What?"
Hearing the heavy doors suddenly close behind them, both Goffrey and Oswan felt a sense of unease. At that very moment, Dorothy reached into her small pouch and took out an inconspicuous item—a small candle.
She brought the candle to her lips, and it ignited with a silver flame on its own. She then slightly lifted her mask and blew out the flame.
Along with the extinguished flame, every light source inside the chapel went out as well.
This was the Extinguishing Black Candle, an item Dorothy had obtained from Luer. By infusing it with 1 point of Shadow, she had plunged the entire chapel into total darkness—without a single trace of light.
The vast space was now swallowed by absolute blackness. Not even moonlight seeped in, as Dorothy had already sealed off all the windows beforehand.
With darkness enveloping them, Goffrey and Oswan were rendered completely blind. Their attacks halted in frustration.
"It’s a Shadow artifact! They’re trying to cut off our vision—this is a trap!"
Realizing the situation, Goffrey immediately reached into his pouch and pulled out an item—a crumpled sigil. At the center of this sigil was a golden coin, a Lantern spiritual storage.
"Illuminate for me!"
With that, Goffrey tossed the sigil-wrapped coin into the air. The sigil burned midair, transforming into an orange-yellow light sphere that brightened the surroundings once more.
This was the Illumination Sigil, prepared specifically for emergencies like this.
Dorothy was momentarily stunned upon seeing the glowing sphere, but she quickly infused another point of Shadow into her candle. The candle’s flame reignited, and as she blew it out, the hovering light sphere was extinguished instantly, once again plunging the space into darkness.
Goffrey froze for a moment. They had only prepared a limited number of Illumination Sigils since spiritual storage items and sigils were expensive.
In the mysticism world, accumulating one’s primary and auxiliary spiritualities was already a strenuous task. Few were willing to spend excessive effort stockpiling alternative spiritualities, typically keeping only the necessary reserves to activate sigils and artifacts.
"Damn it! That bastard just used two Shadow artifacts in a row… Isn’t she supposed to be an Beyonder of the Chalice path? Where is she getting so much Shadow spirituality?!" Goffrey thought in irritation, his mind clouded with confusion.
Then, he instinctively nudged his companion.
"Give me the Earth Listener Sigil!"
Without hesitation, Oswan handed it over. Goffrey activated Earth Listener Sigil, pressing his hand to the floor to detect vibrations. He then directed his bone blades to strike at the chapel doors, trying to break them open for an escape.
He allocated half of his bone blades to hacking at the doors, while the other half remained around them, reinforcing the defense of his bone shield.
In this pitch-black environment, Goffrey and Oswan knew the most critical factor was preventing their enemies from launching a sneak attack in the darkness. As long as they could block any surprise assault, they could eventually break through the doors and escape this trap.
"Hmph, they’re probably planning to use this environment to suppress our attacks and ambush us in the dark. But with Earth Listener Sigil, I can sense anything approaching," Goffrey thought.
With Earth Listener Sigil and their defensive formation, they were confident that nothing could get close unnoticed. Once the door was destroyed, they would return to the safety of the moonlit outdoors.
" And besides, in this pitch darkness, you can’t see anything either. Without knowing our exact position, let’s see how you plan to ambush us. "
With that, Goffrey and Oswan subtly shifted their positions within the chapel, preventing Dorothy from memorizing their locations.
In the darkness, Dorothy remained standing before the altar. She moved her fingers slightly, and four corpse marionettes stationed at the edges of the chapel rose to action.
One of the corpse marionettes retrieved a few items from its body—a sigil and two silver coins.
It stacked the silver coins onto the sigil and then slapped them onto its forehead. As the coins lost their luster and the sigil turned to ash, its effect was activated.
The two coins served as storage for Shadow spirituality, while the sigil itself was a Silent Sigil—an item Dorothy had confiscated from Bill. It could erase sound and vibrations, often praised by Aldrich as a thief’s favorite tool.
Under Dorothy’s command, all the corpse marionettes rushed toward Goffrey and Oswan. But how was Dorothy able to pinpoint their location in the darkness?
Because of her Appraisal skill’s passive ability—spiritual vision.
In her spiritual vision, the ghost-infused bone artifacts radiated a faint, eerie glow. These bone artifacts, clustered around their masters for protection, effectively betrayed their locations.
Suddenly, all the corpse marionettes charged at Goffrey and Oswan. Sensing the vibrations, Goffrey quickly swung his bone blades toward the approaching enemies, cutting down three of them before they could get close.
Only one marionette remained—the one enhanced by Silent Sigil and concealed by Shadow, allowing it to silently slip past their defenses.
This marionette reached the wall of bone shields, then pulled a bundle of rods from its clothing.
Eight of them. Explosives.
The very explosives Harold had prepared for a double-crossing his hired gangsters.
The marionette activated a simple delayed detonator, tossed the explosives into the shielded enclosure—
And at that moment, Dorothy grabbed Vania’s hand, pulling her toward the hidden tunnel behind the altar.
Just as Goffrey and Oswan thought the threat had passed, something landed near them with a faint thud .
"...What is this?"
Before they could react—
BOOM!!!
A deafening explosion shook the skies above Saint Amanda School.