Royal Crown University, King’s Campus.
In the dead of night, deep within the Scholarly Society of Mystical Knowledge beneath King’s Campus, four or five armed men stand guard in front of a corridor draped with spider silk, vigilantly watching their surroundings.
These men are lackeys of the Eight-Spired Nest, tasked with guarding this critical location during the ritual. Following Claudius’ orders, they are determined not to let even a single fly pass through.
The ritual has already begun in the ruins below, and the guards are fully focused on their duty, prepared for any unexpected situations. They are confident that, with the various mystical security measures in place, they can handle anything without fail.
However, just as the guards are concentrating on their watch, something unexpected happens. From behind them, in the direction leading to the ruins, gunfire erupts, accompanied by piercing screams.
Hearing the commotion from behind, the guards, who had been intently watching the front, are momentarily stunned. They all turn to look back, their faces filled with disbelief.
"What’s happening back there?"
"Gunfire? Is it an enemy attack?"
"That’s impossible! We’ve been guarding this place tightly. No one could have gotten past us!"
"Never mind that! Let’s go check it out!"After a brief exchange, the startled guards immediately turn and rush toward the source of the noise. However, as they turn around, two male figures emerge from a corner in the corridor ahead, aiming pistols at the guards’ backs.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The two men pull the triggers, and a series of gunshots ring out. The guards, who were about to go back and provide support, are shot in the back and fall to the ground. Some try to turn and fight back, but it’s already too late.
Soon, after dealing with all the enemies in front of them, the two corpse marionette gunmen walk toward the spider silk corridor. Meanwhile, somewhere on the campus above, Nephthys sits in a chair, controlling everything that just happened.
"Is this... Miss Dorothy’s power?"
Looking at the Corpse Marionette Ring on her finger, which Dorothy had lent her, Nephthys murmurs to herself. The emotions of using mystical powers for the first time and killing enemies for the first time surge within her.
To slightly reduce the mental burden and focus entirely on dealing with Claudius, Dorothy had temporarily lent the Corpse Marionette Ring to Nephthys, allowing her to control two corpse marionettes and attack the guards stationed at the front. This would prevent them from reinforcing the ritual site.
"Phew... At least I can be of some help."
Murmuring to herself, Nephthys controls the two corpse marionettes as they advance deeper into the spider silk corridor. She can already hear footsteps approaching—guards from the other end of the corridor are rushing over. Nephthys will continue to use Dorothy’s corpse marionettes to fight, sharing Dorothy’s mental burden and applying pressure to the Eight-Spired Nest from the front.
…
Second Level of the Ruins, Ritual Site.
A violent explosion erupts from the fallen corpses. Hidden within the coats of the corpse marionettes are numerous gas canisters, which are detonated in a chain reaction by a preset mechanism. High-temperature flames burst forth, engulfing the six corpse marionette gunmen and the bats feasting on their flesh.
In an instant, all the attacking bats are wiped out. Watching this from the shadows, Dorothy can’t help but mutter.
"Nice..."
During her first exploration of the ruins, Dorothy had witnessed Claudius’ ability to transform into bats. To counter this, she had purchased a large number of oil and gas canisters in the city. These are commonly used to fuel gas lamps and are easy to acquire.
Against small, agile flying units, widespread flames are the perfect countermeasure. To deal with the swarm of black bats, Dorothy had prepared a group of explosive corpse marionettes.
Watching the bats screech as they are consumed by the flames, Dorothy feels a sense of satisfaction. However, she doesn’t let her guard down. She knows that killing a White Ash rank Beyonder with just this is far from enough. Claudius would never commit all his bats to a single attack.
Sure enough, after the main swarm of bats is incinerated, the remaining bats that didn’t participate in the attack regroup. Soon, Claudius’ body reappears from the shadows formed by the gathering bats. However, his reappearance is accompanied by severe burns covering large areas of his skin. The charred skin smokes faintly, clearly a result of the damage inflicted on his bats reflecting back onto his main body.
"Again... flesh puppets..."
Gritting his teeth and glaring, Claudius trembles as he pulls out another syringe filled with blood, preparing to inject himself once more.
Seeing this, Dorothy immediately controls the second wave of six corpse marionettes to enter the ritual site. They draw their guns and fire at Claudius, who is in the middle of injecting himself.
Having only injected a small amount of blood and not yet fully recovered, Claudius is interrupted by the gunfire. He yanks out the syringe and transforms into a shadowy blur, dodging the bullets and charging straight at the new group of corpse marionettes.
In the blink of an eye, Claudius reaches the marionettes. With his sharp, elongated claws, he tears one marionette in half at the waist. Then, like a shadow, he darts between the marionettes, tearing them into large chunks in an instant. The marionettes are destroyed before Dorothy can even activate their explosive mechanisms.
“So fast.”
Dorothy is slightly shocked as she watches this scene unfold. Claudius’ speed is so exaggerated that he can easily dodge bullets and tear apart six corpse marionettes in seconds, rendering them completely incapacitated. Dorothy doesn’t even have time to activate the explosive devices on the marionettes before they are destroyed.
After swiftly dealing with the six gunman marionettes, Claudius stands in a pool of blood, his body still severely burned. He pulls out another syringe, intending to heal his wounds. However, Dorothy has no intention of letting him succeed. She turns to Vania beside her and says.
"Don’t let him recover. Stop him!"
"Understood..."
Murmuring, Vania presses a sigil she had been holding in her hand onto her forehead. As the sigil burns, a crimson Chalice mark appears on her forehead. This mark is similar to the one that appears when using the Devouring Sigil, but it is larger and more intricate.
"Lord, please protect me..."
Praying, Vania’s expression hardens. She draws a steel sword from her waist and, with a powerful step, bursts out of the shadows, charging at Claudius in the ritual site at high speed. Knowing that Claudius can easily dodge bullets, Vania opts for close combat this time, wielding her sword.
In an instant, the masked Vania reaches Claudius, who has just inserted the syringe into his body. She swings her sword at him with incredible speed.
"A nun?"
Seeing the sword coming at him, Claudius immediately dodges and counters with a swipe of his claws. Vania successfully blocks the attack with her sword. When the claws and sword collide, a sharp metallic clang echoes through the space, and cracks begin to form on the blade.
Vania has successfully blocked Claudius’ high-speed attack! Not only that, but she also holds her ground in the clash of strength, even gaining a slight advantage. This surprises Claudius, and he begins to take the mysterious nun more seriously.
Unlike the other weak flesh puppets, this one is a formidable opponent! Perhaps a Black Earth rank or higher Beyonder of the Chalice or Shadow paths!
Making this judgment, Claudius becomes even more cautious. He swings his claws at Vania like a whirlwind, his movements so fast that his arms become a blur.
Facing Claudius’ relentless assault, Vania blocks with her sword, successfully parrying his high-speed claw attacks from all directions. The sound of steel clashing against steel fills the underground space.
As an Apprentice, Vania is able to withstand the frontal assault of a White Ash rank Beyonder, largely thanks to the sigil she used before the battle.
This sigil is not the Devouring Sigil she often uses, but the Feast Sigil! One of the two Feast Sigils Dorothy had collected from Buck Mansion and Field Manor!
The Feast Sigil is an advanced version of the Devouring Sigil. Like the Devouring Sigil, it greatly enhances physical abilities by consuming Chalice spirituality, but the scale of consumption and enhancement is much larger.
The Devouring Sigil consumes 1 point of Chalice to enhance an ordinary person’s body to the level of a Craver. The Feast Sigil, on the other hand, consumes 5 points of Chalice to temporarily enhance an ordinary person’s body to a level surpassing that of a Black Earth rank Chalice Beyonder.
After reading The Voodoo Forest Expedition Log and The Wolf Ritual, Vania had accumulated around 10 points of Chalice. She had used 1 point during her fight with Thorn Velvet, and now, to confront Claudius, she uses 5 points at once, boosting her physical abilities to a level beyond that of an ordinary Black Earth rank Chalice Beyonder. This allows her to overpower Claudius, who is only an auxiliary Chalice Beyonder.
But that’s not all. Before the battle, Dorothy had placed a Marionette Mark on Vania, connecting her to Vania with a spiritual thread. However, Dorothy doesn’t use this thread to control Vania directly. Instead, she uses it to transfer buffs.
From behind the scenes, Dorothy uses the Lightness Sigil she obtained from Mossance, consuming 1 point of Shadow to increase her own speed. She then transfers this buff effect to Vania through the spiritual thread.
In an instant, Vania not only possesses physical strength surpassing that of a Black Earth rank Chalice Beyonder but also gains the speed of an Apprentice rank Shadow Beyonder. Combined with her exceptional swordsmanship and Insight, Vania is able to hold her own against a severely injured White Ash rank Beyonder for a short time.
With all these buffs, Vania has the capability to face Claudius head-on. However, as a vampire, Claudius has another trait—his Shadow enchantment, which can corrode armor and shatter blades!
Claudius’ claws, enhanced by the Shadow spirituality attached to them, continuously erode Vania’s steel sword. Finally, after repeated clashes, the once-sturdy blade shatters into pieces.
However, having fought Thorn Velvet before, Vania seems to have anticipated this. As the sword shatters, she takes a step back, creating distance between herself and Claudius. At the same time, she pulls the black cloth covering the fan-shaped object on her back, revealing a row of new steel swords arranged in a fan shape. These are the highest-quality swords Dorothy could buy in the city.
These high-quality steel swords, along with the numerous oil and gas canisters on the corpse marionettes, cost Dorothy a significant amount of money—over 70 pounds—adding to her expenses.
Drawing a new sword from her back, Vania re-engages Claudius in battle. Claudius, who had initially been pleased to see her sword shatter, prepares to press his advantage and finish her off. However, he is frustrated to see that Vania has prepared so many backup swords. Determined to end the fight, he decides to use another method to defeat her.
Finally, after a brief exchange, Vania’s sword shatters once more. Seizing the opportunity while Vania is switching swords, Claudius pulls out a sigil, sticks it to his body, takes a deep breath, and exhales a thick cloud of purple-red poisonous gas at Vania. In an instant, Vania is completely enveloped by the toxic fumes.
“Got her.”
Seeing Vania swallowed by the poisonous gas, Claudius can’t help but smile. This gas, activated by the sigil and infused with his spirituality, can incapacitate anyone who inhales even a single breath, and it takes effect almost instantly. With Vania completely engulfed, she is surely done for.
However, Claudius’ joy is short-lived. Vania bursts out of the gas cloud, charging at him with incredible speed, showing no signs of being affected by the poison. Having taken the antidote while passing through the gas-filled corridor earlier, Vania is completely immune to Claudius’ toxic attack.
"What...?"
Seeing this, Claudius is momentarily stunned, but his body reacts without hesitation. He swiftly dodges Vania’s sharp thrust, though his right arm is grazed in the process.
“How can this nun... be immune to my poison?”
Claudius is shocked, but Vania doesn’t give him time to think. Switching from defense to offense, she continues to press her attack with her sword, forcing Claudius to focus entirely on defending himself.
“If poison doesn’t work on you, then how about this…”
Thinking this, Claudius’ expression hardens. With a flick of his wrist, a circular pendant slips from his sleeve into his hand.
As Vania’s sword shatters once more and she steps back to switch weapons, Claudius extends his hand, letting the white circular pendant dangle from his fingers. He begins to swing it gently. When Vania, now armed with a new sword, charges at him again, she notices a faint glimmer in Claudius’ eyes.
"You are feeling very sleepy..."
Locking eyes with Vania, Claudius murmurs in a low voice. Instantly, Vania, who had been charging at him, suddenly stopped in her tracks. She stands still, her sword hanging limply in her hand, her mouth slightly open as she stares blankly at Claudius. Her body sways unsteadily, her eyes filled with drowsiness, as if she might collapse at any moment.
In this moment, Claudius seizes the opportunity to hypnotize Vania on the battlefield. Although her physical abilities and speed have been greatly enhanced, her mental strength remains at the Apprentice rank, making her unable to resist the mental influence of a White Ash rank Beyonder.
"Drop your defenses. Let go of your sword. You are not allowed to attack me."
Claudius continues to hypnotize Vania. Under his influence, Vania’s hand loosens, and her sword clatters to the ground. Seeing this, Claudius smiles.
“I should have used this earlier…”
Thinking this, Claudius quickly approaches Vania. He plans to disable her limbs first, rendering her immobile so he can capture her alive.
However, just as Claudius reaches Vania, her previously dazed and drowsy expression suddenly changes. Her eyes turn cold and sharp, and she sidesteps Claudius’ claw strike with ease. Before Claudius can react, she draws another sword from her back and thrusts it straight at him.
Vania’s actions completely catch Claudius off guard. In his panic, he is struck in the chest and abdomen. He looks at Vania with shock and confusion.
“Wasn’t she hypnotized?”
This is the biggest question in Claudius’ mind. And the truth is, Vania was indeed hypnotized by Claudius—but Dorothy was not.
The moment Vania fell under Claudius’ hypnosis, Dorothy immediately activated the spiritual thread connected to Vania. Bypassing Vania’s drowsy and confused consciousness, Dorothy directly controls her body, using her as a living marionette to counterattack Claudius.
"Sorry, but marionettes don’t need rest or sleep, Mr. Vampire."
Watching this scene unfold through multiple perspectives, Dorothy murmurs from the shadows.