After realizing something was wrong with Vania, Dorothy immediately began controlling the miniature corpse marionettes scattered across the train, sending them flying into optimal positions to observe Vania, who was waiting to disembark. From a third-person perspective, there didn’t appear to be anything abnormal about Vania—but when Dorothy opened her spiritual vision, she discovered something strange.
“Vania is… possessed by a spirit? When did this happen? How could she be possessed without any resistance at all?”
Noticing the unusual spiritual phenomenon surrounding Vania, Dorothy quickly deduced the situation: some other spiritual entity was currently inhabiting Vania’s body and controlling her actions. The Vania standing there wasn’t acting under her own will. Realizing this, Dorothy’s expression turned grim—this was a serious matter.
“Someone is now in control of Vania’s body. They must have used some method to temporarily knock her unconscious, and then used spiritual possession to manipulate her behavior… Is this a power from the Body Possession Path?
“It’s clear now—someone has seized control of her at this critical juncture. Their aim must be to do something during the welcome ceremony. I don’t know their exact goal, but it’s definitely malicious. I must stop them…”
Still in her compartment, Dorothy quickly pulled on her coat while analyzing the situation. She had originally wanted to use her marionettes to scan the entire train and surrounding area to see if there were other anomalies or if the controller was lurking somewhere nearby. But with the train about to stop and Vania seconds away from stepping out to attend the welcome ceremony, she realized she didn’t have time. She had to act immediately.
Elsewhere, the possessed Vania stood silently before the train door, waiting for the train to come to a full stop. As the scenery outside the window slowed, the train finally halted. A train attendant stepped forward and opened the door. Outside, a carpet had already been rolled out, with rows of welcoming citizens on either side. At the far end of the carpet, Robert and other high-ranking figures from Kankdal were waiting.
As the door opened, Robert smiled and led his entourage forward. Among them was the distracted and aimless Prince Mazarr.
Inside the train, seeing Robert and the others approaching, “Vania” smiled faintly, stepped forward onto the carpet, and slowly walked toward them amid the cheers of the crowd. As she walked, her hand slipped into a small pouch at her waist, gripping something tightly inside.
From the tactile sensation coming from “Vania’s” hand, Dorothy immediately knew what she was holding—a handgun. Realizing they had reached the critical moment, Dorothy decided to act at once.On the carpet in front of the train, just as “Vania” was about to pull out the gun and open fire on the crowd ahead, her body suddenly seized up—completely unable to move.
Frozen in place, the possessing spirit within Vania’s body suddenly found herself unable to control the nun’s body. A foreign force had taken hold, and no matter how she tried, she couldn’t move Vania.
“Move, move—damn it, MOVE! Why isn’t the body responding?!”
The spirit was filled with panic. Everything was going according to plan until the very last second—now the possessed body wouldn’t budge, and she had no idea what to do. On the platform, many in the crowd and among Robert’s entourage were visibly confused by Vania’s sudden pause.
At that moment, from behind an open train window, a shadowy figure hidden behind the curtain tossed out two tiny projectiles toward Vania. Upon closer inspection, they were two crumpled pieces of paper—exorcism sigils!
The paper sigils ignited mid-air without warning, burning just behind Vania out of the sight of most of the crowd. Only Robert and a few nearby individuals noticed the thrown objects. But by the time any of them had a chance to react, the paper had already finished burning, and a wave of invisible spirituality erupted from the remains.
They were exorcism sigils—part of a cache of trophies obtained by Dorothy after she had remotely directed Gregor and Adèle to take down the North Ufiga tomb raiders’ leader, Atif. After Gregor and Adèle divided the loot, the remaining items were shipped to Adria and ended up in Dorothy’s hands back when she was still in Ivengard. Among them were these powerful Spirit-Expelling Sigils.
The sigils released an invisible pulse that ordinary people couldn’t perceive—but which wreaked havoc on possessing spirits. Against such entities, the effect was strong enough to banish even a crowd of wandering souls. Dorothy feared one wouldn’t be enough for the extraordinary spirit possessing Vania, so she used two at once.
“Ugh… exorcism!”
Sure enough, after being hit by the talismans, the spirit inside Vania felt her form unraveling. Her spiritual state became extremely unstable, and an intense wave of discomfort surged through her. She wanted to abandon Vania’s body immediately.
But she wasn’t just any ghost—she was the spirit of a full-fledged Beyonder. Even with two sigils working against her, she gritted her teeth and endured. She wasn’t expelled outright, but her control over Vania’s body weakened significantly.
Seizing the opportunity, Dorothy launched another assault. Through her Living Marionette technique, she began to forcibly take control of Vania’s body.
Previously, Dorothy’s marionette control could only inhibit the spirit’s actions, preventing her from drawing the gun. But now, with the spirit weakened, Dorothy quickly gained the upper hand. While full control was still limited, it was enough.
Under Dorothy’s guidance, the seemingly frozen Vania slowly opened her mouth. Her lips moved, whispering words so soft that only she could hear them.
“The birthing mother is holy; akin to the Mother of Chalice symbolizes a birthing mother,
I came forth from the womb of the birthing mother, just as I came forth from the womb of the Mother of Chalice,
The birthing mother nurtures me with devotion, just as the Holy Mother nurtures me with devotion,
Thus, the Mother of Chalice is the Holy Mother; the Holy Mother birthed me, the Mother of Chalice taught me…”
Blasphemous and taboo words spilled from Vania’s lips in a threadlike whisper. Even those nearest to her couldn’t hear them—but the possessing spirit could. And as Dorothy had predicted, the moment the spirit heard these words, she reacted violently.
“Ugh—ahhh!”
The cognitive poison embedded in the blasphemous incantation pierced the possessing spirit’s mind, sending tremors and spasms coursing violently through her entire being. An indescribable pain, sharp and searing, stabbed at every sensory thread of her form. In her vision, a wash of vivid crimson bled outward, and her spirit fell instantly into a state of agonized turmoil.
“No… This won’t do, I can’t hold on like this!”
Realizing that continuing to possess Vania would be too dangerous, the spirit chose to withdraw. The invisible entity, unseen by ordinary eyes, shot out from within Vania’s body, writhing and twisting as it fled rapidly into the distance. As the spirit vacated, Vania’s entire body slackened, nearly collapsing—thankfully, Dorothy still had a grip on her movement and steadied her just in time to reduce the collapse to a mere stumble.
“What’s wrong with the little nun?”
The spectators nearby looked on in concern and curiosity at the sudden change in Vania. Not far from Robert, Mazarr furrowed his brow in confusion at her strange behavior. Robert himself wore an expression of worry, but deep within his eyes was a flash of something far more serious.
With the spirit expelled, Vania’s consciousness began to return. The drug that had induced her deep sleep had worn off over the latter half of the night, but until now, the spirit’s suppression had prevented her from waking. Now freed, her awareness started to recover, and when she realized the scene in front of her, she froze.
“Eh…? What’s going on? Why are there so many people?”
“Careful. Someone tried to use your body for a public assassination. The people behind it might still be nearby!”
Dorothy’s voice came through the info-link with urgency. Hearing it, Vania immediately tensed and began scanning her surroundings.
Behind her, several train attendants, upon seeing Vania regain composure, exchanged dark glances. One of them flicked a glance toward a train window. From it, a figure suddenly leapt—wrist wrapped in bandages. It was Cidd, a cleric of the envoy guard!
In Dorothy’s eyes, Cidd was also possessed.
“Damn! There’s more than one of them!”
“Right rear, heads up! That guy Cidd is about to attack the ceremony VIPs!”
The moment Dorothy gave the warning, Vania spun around. She saw Cidd push his way past the crowd and step onto the red carpet. With a cold stare aimed at the front, he pulled a handgun and shouted.
“Holy is the Lord!”
With his cry, Cidd aimed to fire—but Vania rushed him in an instant. With swift and practiced motion, she struck the weapon from his hands, grabbed his arm, swept his legs, and brought him down with decisive force. She pinned and subdued him efficiently, drawing an eruption of cheers from the astonished onlookers.
The moment Cidd was brought down, a faint shadow crossed Robert’s carefully composed expression. His gaze flicked—just for an instant—toward the attendants behind Vania. They saw it. And moved.
While the crowd’s attention remained fixed on Vania and Cidd, one of the uniformed train attendants at the carriage doorway calmly pulled a pistol from his clothes. He also shouted.
“Holy is the Lord!”
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Shots rang out. A nearly invisible figure—previously ignored by the crowd and showing no signs of possession even to Dorothy—fired into the procession at the end of the carpet without hesitation. Gunfire thundered as the bullets tore through the air and found their marks.
Amid a wave of screams, the portly Mazarr—likely because of his size—was struck twice and collapsed with a howl. At the very front, Robert took a shot to the chest. Blood spread across his shirt as he crumpled, grimacing in pain. Another stray bullet hit a noble lady, and another struck a gentleman. All fell to the ground before the stunned eyes of the crowd.
“Seize the assassin! Protect the dignitaries!”
The city guard captain who had been maintaining order shouted at once. His troops sprang into action, dividing quickly: some rushed to form a shield around the nobles, others charged toward the train to apprehend the shooter.
Elsewhere inside the train, Dorothy watched the chaotic scene unfold, her brow tightly furrowed. She muttered to herself.
“They really don’t care about the consequences, huh…”