Southwest outskirts of Tivian, north of Shield Hill, Duke Barrett’s mansion.
The scent of blood permeates the vast building, and the mansion where the tragedy occurred remains in a state of disarray.
The sudden gunshot from the third floor of the mansion earlier shattered the oppressive silence. The Eight-Spired Nest assassins, who had been searching the mansion, were immediately drawn to the source of the gunfire. Many of them rushed to the scene as soon as they heard the sound.
On the third floor of the mansion, by a corridor window, the leader of the assassins, Kenk, stood with a stern expression, gazing at the blood-splattered corridor littered with several corpses.
"What was that gunshot just now? Did any of you see anyone else?"
Turning his head, Kenk spoke in a serious tone to the assassins before him. One of the assassins who had arrived first responded.
"No, sir. When we got here, there was no one except the corpses. We don’t know where the gunshot came from... Maybe a gun went off by accident?"
"Hmph... Guns don’t just go off on their own. Someone must have snuck in, or... maybe someone here isn’t completely dead yet..."
As Kenk spoke, he glanced at the corpses in the corridor. With a flick of his wrist, two bats flew out from his sleeve and began biting at the surrounding corpses. Through the bats, Kenk confirmed that the corpses were indeed dead.
"They’re really dead... So someone must have snuck in. Why would they suddenly fire a gun here? It couldn’t really have been an accident, could it..."After confirming that the corpses were truly dead, Kenk furrowed his brow in thought. The sudden gunshot had left him puzzled, but his confusion didn’t last long. He turned to a pair of subordinates behind him and spoke in a stern voice.
"What are you all crowding here for!? Get back to searching! Search more carefully! Even if you’ve already searched an area, go over it again! And check all the corpses to make sure they’re really dead! If you find anyone who’s snuck in, signal everyone immediately!”
"Oh, and... if you hear another gunshot, those of you who are far away shouldn’t rush over. Stay where you are and keep doing what you’re supposed to do."
"Yes, sir."
After briefly acknowledging Kenk’s orders, the assassins scattered, returning to various corners of the mansion to continue searching for traces of the hidden room. Once everyone had left, Kenk frowned and gazed out the window into the darkness, a faint trace of unease visible in his expression.
Even this hint of unease in his expression was now being observed by a certain pair of eyes.
…
Several kilometers away from the mansion, on a dark road, inside a carriage.
Wrapped in a blanket, Dorothy sat inside the carriage, observing Kenk’s expression through the eyes of the dead.
“To sneak into the hidden room under these guys’ noses, masking the sound of the secret mechanism is crucial. Right now, nothing works better than a gunshot to cover the noise. But a gunshot out of nowhere is bound to raise suspicions—that’s unavoidable... The key is to make sure they can’t find any clues even after they start suspecting something.”
“When it comes to concealment... it’s all thanks to the combination of Spiritual Thread Mystical Conduction and the Concealment Ring. Otherwise, ordinary corpse marionettes wouldn’t be able to fool a Vampire’s eyes…”
While using the corpses in the mansion to conduct her reconnaissance, Dorothy thought to herself.
Aside from the fact that Shadow spirituality cannot sense Shadow spirituality that is actively being used for concealment, all White Ash rank Beyonders possess spiritual perception related to their own spirituality. Without the protection of the Concealment Ring, Vampires would easily sense the active Chalice spirituality on the corpse marionettes. This is why Kenk’s judgment about the source of the gunshot only considered the possibility of an intruder or a not-quite-dead corpse, without suspecting the corpse marionettes.
“Good, even though this guy is suspicious, with their current abilities, they won’t find any clues anytime soon. Now that my marionette has successfully entered the hidden room, all that’s left is to secure the holy symbol.”
With this thought, Dorothy shifted her focus back to the hidden room, where she reactivated the corpse marionette.
…
Inside Barrett’s underground research chamber.
Dorothy controlled the male servant marionette to begin searching. According to Barrett’s ghost, the holy symbol was in the drawer of the main desk in the research chamber. Dorothy had the marionette scan the room, looking for the so-called main desk. It didn’t take long for her to find the target.
In front of a row of bookshelves on one side of the room stood a large brown desk. The desk was piled high with stacks of books and a small mystical text observation device. This desk was noticeably larger than the others in the lab, and its accompanying chair was more luxurious and comfortable, complete with a cabinet.
Dorothy directed the male servant marionette to walk straight to the brown desk. Ignoring the piles of books and documents on the desk, she had the marionette open the top-right drawer and begin searching through its contents. Soon, the marionette pulled out a wooden box.
Dorothy had the marionette place the box on the desk and slowly open it. Inside, she found a row of small objects.
Most of these objects were small metal artifacts, with labels indicating they had been excavated from various ruins. Many of the metal items were damaged, making it impossible to discern their original forms. Among the few intact items, one caught Dorothy’s attention.
It was a small emblem, simple in design—a crescent moon with basic patterns. Due to the passage of time, the patterns on the crescent moon emblem had faded, and its edges were worn. Below the emblem was a label, presumably written by Barrett.
"Suspected Holy Symbol of the Mirror Moon Goddess, excavated from Ruin No. 3 in the Razor Mountains, Priest’s Burial Pit, excavation date: November 25, 1359."
“Excavated from the ruins in the Razor Mountains... Exactly as Barrett’s ghost said. This is it!”
Seeing the holy symbol, Dorothy’s eyes lit up. She had the marionette take the emblem out of the box and examine it closely. She noticed that while the Shadow holy symbol was somewhat worn from age, it was largely intact, unlike the other metal items in the box, which were severely damaged or missing parts. It should be suitable for the ritual.
As she observed the emblem through the marionette’s vision, Dorothy felt a faint sense of familiarity. However, she didn’t dwell on it, as crescent moon symbols often appeared in Shadow-related items, mystical texts, and sigils. She had seen many similar symbols before, so she didn’t pay much attention to this fleeting sense of recognition.
"Phew... Finally, after all this effort, I’ve got my hands on this thing."
Inside the carriage, Dorothy let out a long sigh of relief as she looked at the holy symbol in the marionette’s hand. Now that the emblem was secured, the next task was to get it out of the mansion.
For Dorothy, reactivating the mechanism to open the hidden room’s exit and send the emblem out wasn’t a good option. The sound of the mechanism needed to be masked by gunfire, but Dorothy had already fired a round of blank shots in the mansion earlier. Kenk was now on high alert and had specifically ordered his subordinates not to move if they heard gunfire. Trying the same trick again would be too risky.
Fortunately, Dorothy now had another way to get the emblem out besides the secret mechanism.
Holding the emblem, Dorothy had the male servant marionette look up at the ceiling of the hidden room, where there was a small ventilation shaft covered by a grate made of thin iron bars.
It was impossible for an underground workspace like this to not have a ventilation system. The ventilation shaft in this research lab was likely independent of the mansion’s main ventilation system, leading to an exit somewhere outside.
Looking at the ventilation shaft several meters above, Dorothy had the male servant marionette pull something out of its pocket. When she opened its hand, she saw that it was the corpse of a black crow.
This was Dorothy’s bird-shaped marionette, brought in by one of the Eight-Spired Nest lackey marionettes as cover and handed over to the male servant marionette to facilitate the removal of the holy symbol.
Using her abilities, Dorothy reactivated the crow marionette. The crow picked up the emblem in its beak and flew toward the ventilation shaft’s iron grate.
Dorothy then applied a Devouring Sigil to herself and transferred its effects to the crow marionette. With its strength enhanced, the crow marionette used its claws to bend the thin iron bars of the grate, trying to create an opening to squeeze through. The thin iron bars began to creak and bend under the crow’s powerful claws.
If a human enhanced with a Devouring Sigil had been doing this, they could have bent the thin iron bars in a few tries. But with a crow, it would take some time.
Of course, Dorothy wasn’t going to waste this time. Right in front of her was Barrett’s research chamber, filled with his studies on the Mirror Moon Goddess faith. Since she was here, she might as well look around and see if she could find any of his research findings.
“The Eight-Spired Nest went to such lengths to destroy Barrett’s research on the Mirror Moon Goddess. The truth behind it must be something they fear greatly. I wonder how much Barrett actually uncovered about this truth…”
With this thought, Dorothy directed the male servant marionette to search the chamber for anything valuable. First, she turned her attention to the most prominent object in the chamber—the warrior statue standing in the corner.
Dorothy had the male servant marionette approach the statue and examine it closely, focusing on the translated label on its base.
According to the translation, the statue depicted a man named "Arthur Despenser", one of the Four Knights of the Moonlight. This name was not unfamiliar to Dorothy—or, for that matter, to any Pritt-folk.
Arthur Despenser was a legendary hero in Pritt folklore, the protector of the three Pritt Isles, and the ancestor claimed by the current Pritt royal family. He was a figure known to every Pritt-folk.
Every Pritt-fol could tell stories about Arthur, and Dorothy had heard many of them since childhood. Most of these tales were heroic epics about slaying monsters, driving out remnants of evil gods, and saving the world.
According to legend, the Radiant Savior descended from the palace of the sun to the mortal world, defeated numerous evil gods, and saved the world. However, the defeat of the evil gods did not mean that evil was eradicated. Many monsters created by the evil gods still lurked in the world, hiding in the shadows under the Radiant Savior’s light, only to reemerge and wreak havoc after the Savior’s departure. Arthur was a Pritt hero who rose to prominence in this era.
In the stories Dorothy had heard as a child, Arthur was born in the ancient Land of Pritt, a land ravaged by the remnants of evil gods. At the time, the Land of Pritt was overrun by terrifying monsters, and its people lived in constant fear.
Amid this chaos, an old, down-and-out swordsman appeared, carrying a stone sword. He traveled across the Land of Pritt, seeking disciples. However, because he demanded that his disciples train with the heavy stone sword, most people thought he was insane and ignored him. Even those who trained under him for a time eventually gave up due to the sword’s weight.
Only Arthur, with his incredible perseverance, completed the training with the heavy stone sword. When the old swordsman saw that Arthur had succeeded, he laughed and transformed into a radiant warrior, ascending to the heavens. It turned out that he was the Holy Son, and he had used this method to select the hero who would save the Land of Pritt. In the end, Arthur wielded the stone sword, which was actually a divine artifact, and slew many of the monsters plaguing the Pritt Isles.
This was the beginning of the story of Arthur Despenser that Dorothy had heard as a child—a standard, Radiance Church-flavored heroic legend. After this opening, the tales followed Arthur as he used his strength and wisdom, under the Holy Son’s guidance, to slay the monsters of Pritt one by one, eventually becoming the first king of Pritt Kingdom.
At the end of these stories, Arthur faced his most formidable foe—a monster with black wings, countless mouths, a thirst for blood, and the ability to soar freely through the sky. Arthur fought this bloodthirsty monster eight times. Each time the monster was defeated, it would flee, and Arthur, guided by the Holy Son, would pursue it. After chasing it down and defeating it eight times, Arthur finally killed the monster for good. After this final battle, the Holy Son took Arthur to heaven, and his legend came to an end.
Through the male servant marionette’s eyes, Dorothy gazed at the warrior statue and recalled the stories she had heard as a child. She still remembered how captivating Arthur’s tales had been for young boys like Gregor. When children played together, they would all vie to play the role of Arthur.
“The Holy Son’s messenger, the great hero Arthur... Many Pritt-folks have heard his stories, but this is the first time I’ve seen a statue dedicated to him…”
“But then again, in none of the Arthur stories I’ve heard does he have a title like ‘Knight of the Moonlight’. Why does this statue have that title?”
Dorothy pondered this as she looked at the base of the statue. The inscription, written in ancient Pritt language with clear Old Imperial influences, was something Dorothy couldn’t read. What she saw was Barrett’s translation.
Dorothy continued to examine the statue through the marionette’s eyes. Suddenly, she noticed a notebook on the table next to the statue. Dorothy thought it might be Barrett’s research notes.
Dorothy had the marionette pick up the notebook and open it, but to her surprise, the notebook was blank. Aside from a few yellowed pages tucked inside, there was nothing else.
Dorothy had the marionette take out the pages and examine them closely. The pages were written in Pritt Common, and upon closer inspection, Dorothy realized they contained a version of Arthur’s legend that was different from the one she had heard.
The pages in Dorothy’s hands recounted the story of Arthur’s battle with his most formidable enemy, the bloodthirsty monster. In this version, the monster had a name—Anglo.
The story of Arthur’s fight with Anglo on these pages was vastly different from the version Dorothy knew. In this tale, Anglo was still a bloodthirsty monster. After its first encounter with Arthur, it transformed into a crimson mist and fled. Arthur, weakened by years of battle, couldn’t catch up to Anglo and couldn’t deliver a fatal blow. He grew increasingly desperate.
From this point onward, the story diverged from what Dorothy had heard. In the version she knew, Arthur, guided by the Holy Son, pursued Anglo and continued to fight it. But in this version, the Holy Son didn’t appear. Instead, Arthur was approached by a witch—a witch with eight eyes crammed into her sockets and only eight fingers.
This witch claimed that her eyes could see Anglo’s location. If Arthur ate one of her eyes, he would be able to see Anglo as well.
The witch then plucked out one of her eyes and gave it to Arthur, along with a dagger made from one of her fingers. She claimed that this dagger could deliver a fatal blow to Anglo. Arthur believed her, ate the eye, and took the dagger to hunt down Anglo.
In the end, Arthur found Anglo. After stabbing the witch’s dagger into Anglo, the monster fled once more. The witch appeared before Arthur again, offering him another eye and another dagger. Arthur swallowed the second eye and continued his pursuit. This time, Anglo was stabbed with a second dagger but still managed to escape.
This cycle repeated itself eight times. After being stabbed with eight daggers, Anglo finally died. However, Arthur, having swallowed all eight of the witch’s eyes, also succumbed to poisoning.
In the end, the blind witch fell into the sea of blood that flowed from Anglo’s corpse, drenched in the monster’s blood.