Deep Sea Embers

“Help me?” The young nun frowned in confusion upon hearing Vanna’s words. Gradually, her eyes fell on the other party’s wardrobe and weapon.

It was indeed the equipment and markings of the Storm Church, but it was not any of the formats she was familiar with, nor had she heard of a high-ranking female nun in the church who fought with such an exaggerated greatsword – the weapon was clearly specially made and by no means available to ordinary guardians.

The unusually tall “Battle Sister” in front of her, who looked as young as herself, came from an era she was not familiar with.

After a moment of silence, the young nun suddenly asked: “… Where are you from?”

“The year 1900.”

“I died today, right?”

“Yes,” Vanna calmly said, “it seems you already know what happened.”

“Ender Missionaries… I don’t know how they did it, but they chiseled a subspatial rift in the chapel here. I sent an alarm to the outside but received no response…”

A subspatial rift was chiseled in the place where the gods sheltered?!

Vanna’s heart shook at the news. It’s an unheard-of situation that definitely left the inquisitor puzzled at how it’s achieved without alerting anyone beforehand.

“Did I succeed today?” The young nun softly spoke again.

“…… At least in this invasion, you blocked it.” Vanna raised her head and peered into the nun’s eyes, “You sealed their invasion in 1885 with your own death.”

“Oh, that’s good,” the nun sighed in relief and slowly raised her sword. At the same time, a low, crackling sound had come from the nearby darkness, which sounded like some slippery and sticky limb was crawling on the floor and coming out of a puddle of sticky liquid. “Then the rest is simple.”

Vanna also raised the broadsword slightly: “This is my field of expertise.”

“By the way,” the nun suddenly turned her head again and asked, “are they ready over on that side?”

“…… We didn’t receive your warning, so there were no extra preparations in place,” Vanna said calmly, allowing her breathing to slowly adjust to her best form, “But… the guardians are always ready.”

A roar came from the depths of the darkness at the signal, and the creepy thing from subspace finally materialized its malicious projection in this closed-off space.

The lantern on Vanna’s waist was instantly stimulated, crackling and bursting like a firework. It’s burning all of its holy fuel to fend off the corruption. At this rate, the light from the lamp would only last for a few minutes before it’s completely depleted.

In return, Vanna finally got her first look at the hideous abomination, which looked like an amorphous mess of sludge with the appearance of the young nun at its core. The hands and feet were deformed and grotesque, and the disgusting tentacles growing out of its back were evidence of its clumsy imitation of humanity.

“Sister, I’ll leave the rest to you,” the young nun’s voice sounded from the side when the wriggling monster was ready to pounce. At the same time she said this, the poor sister had pierced the silvery longsword into her chest, giving off an indescribable flash of baptizing light.

Agonizing screeches roared out of the monster’s mouth in the second the nun’s heart stopped. It wriggled and rolled around ferociously, struggling to cling to life until it went limp in the next.

The battle was over…

Vanna flinched to the side and hadn’t the heart to watch, only muttering a solemn and devoted phrase for her fellow battle sister: “Please bear witness… Your sacrifice won’t be forgotten.”

What appeared in the underground sanctuary was only a projection of the invasion against reality. Still, for this low-level nun who became a host of subspace, her life had already been lost when it merged with the monster. So long as she lives, so does the monster. And now, it’s finally ended.

Unfortunately, to Vanna’s shock and horror, the nun’s body didn’t remain in place as she expected. Everything had reverted back to its original state before her interference. The scars of battles on the walls, the bloodstains, and the shadow lurking in the darkness. The cycle of abomination continued!

“How…” Vanna stood there in stunned disbelief, her face distraught at the futility, “But this is just a polluted…”

Her words did get to finish though. From the corner of her eyes, a flash of green flame had flickered into life, quickly growing and expanding into a huge cyclone to form a doorway. From it, a tall and majestic figure emerged, stepping through the barrier and into this world.

“Because the pollution is too deep, and the culprits have detected your awareness by now. Vanna, what you need to correct isn’t just this chapel and the nun, but the entire city-state.”

“…… Captain Duncan!” Vanna’s eyes widened instantly. She knew that the power of this ghost captain had invaded “this side” when she saw those green flames spreading around like a plague, but she didn’t expect that the other party would appear directly in this place and at this timing. Subconsciously, the lady clenched the broadsword in her hand and almost reflexively jumped for a hit. Thankfully, logic won out in this bout and subdued the impulse. “What do you want?!”

“Take you back to the real world,” Duncan looked at the other party indifferently, “I thought you would behave like the last time and make a somersault slash on my head.”

“…… I know this attack is useless to you, and what’s here is not your main body anyways.” Vanna’s muscles adjusted themselves for combat again, “You said you want to take me back to the real world? What do you mean by that?”

“Is it so hard to understand? Don’t you need help now?” Duncan raised an eyebrow, “Or do you have a way to get out of this world by yourself? Like running across the entire city?”

The corner of Vanna’s eyes twitched unconsciously due to the mockery. She had to admit that going around the entire city was her initial plan, but she won’t say it aloud.

This dangerous natural disaster of the sea… What does he want with me?

Duncan didn’t bother to explain further at this point. Raising his right hand, he summoned up a flickering green flame at his fingertip.

Vanna was taken aback and promptly took a defensive posture: “What are you doing?!”

“Send you back to the real world. What else?” Duncan said casually. “But I haven’t done this before either so let’s give it a try. If it works, then great. If it doesn’t, then we will need to come up with something else.”

“…… Try?” Vanna gawked at the famous ghost captain with a stunned face. For some reason, she always felt that the other party’s actions were extremely inconsistent with the records in the archives. “Stop, otherwise I will…”

“Vanna, your fight lies in the real world where the battle has already begun. A storm is ravaging the city. Don’t waste your time here where the enemy is already aware of your vigilance.” Duncan interrupted the young inquisitor to avoid wasting time. “The battlefield outside needs you more than you acting alone here. Touch this flame, or I will do it for you.”

Vanna stared at the flame in Duncan’s hand, not moving a single step as the bells of danger rang through her head.

To be fair, even if she didn’t know who Duncan was, normal people would definitely not touch something so creepy.

Of course, Duncan himself knew this so the asking was only politeness on his part.

Taking advantage of the lady’s contemplation, he suddenly shot the flame out and wrapped the inquisitor within a firewall. Then in a swoop, Vanna was gone following a roar from her mouth.

“Heret…!” On the streets of Pland, where rain poured down like a waterfall, a tall female figure suddenly emerged out of thin air and swung down with a giant broadsword.

The poor garbage can in place was split in two by Vanna’s chop, leaving a deep gash on the ground as a result.

Caught off guard by the abrupt teleportation, Vanna had to take a second to organize her brain at what had happened. Then with a blank stare, she looked around her surroundings in amazement after realizing she’s back!