"Aren't you going to use it yet? Not that sword on your back? Not going to try and summon the false sun to burn me to ashes?"
"You mean the sword on my back?"
Haida now understood why the other party had chosen her as the target of the attack.
It was indeed quite suspicious that she had suddenly started carrying a sword after the Sun-Forgers Cult incident, easily leading to related conjectures.
Beyond that, he was clearly aware that Sigrid could transform into a sword form. But this information was likely known only within the Secrets-Hunter Cult and the Sun-Forgers Cult.
Could this vampire before her truly be from the Sun-Forgers' main temple? How to put it... a sun-worshipping cult actually having a vampire, no matter how you thought about it, felt somewhat incongruous...
Since this guy dared her to draw her sword, he probably possessed a means to counter Sigrid. Otherwise, according to the constitution of a normal vampire, just seeing her eyes would cause him to burst into flames.
"A vampire unafraid of sunlight, and additionally modified through unknown alchemy... If that's the case, it should be sufficient to test Dr. Fran's sword."
Haida drew the power sword "Nirvana" from its leather scabbard, let out a soft sigh, and pointed its gleaming, ice-cold blade towards Byers.
"Hmm?"
Seeing a blade completely different from what he had imagined, Byers revealed a stunned expression. Simultaneously, he felt a thread of profound and deep, chilling intent firmly locking onto him.
"Sister, that sword you had in the scabbard... it's not the 'False Sun'?"
Byers took a step back, as if wanting to retreat into the shadows.
"It seems I may have been somewhat rash. Erm, can we... settle this?"
"You are quite humorous."
Haida brought two fingers together, lightly wiping the mirror-like blade of the power sword "Nirvana".
If Byers had not harmed those vagrants, then everything might still have had room for negotiation and maneuver. Both the Secrets-Hunter Cult and the Sun-Forgers were among the Four Major Orthodox Cults within the sequence; she could tolerate a certain degree of transgression from the other party.
But preying on the residents within Norlington City undoubtedly crossed her bottom line. This was a trampling and desecration of the Secrets-Hunter's commandments.
Let alone an unknown-strength vampire before her, even if it were one of the three Corona Riders, she would not hesitate to draw her sword against them.
"Left hand."
Haida slightly closed her eyes, and with a movement of her lips, a single word was softly and slowly uttered.
Just as Byers was pondering its meaning, he saw the cross-section of his own left arm from the shoulder blade to the armpit.
The entire arm separated from his body almost instantaneously. And Haida's form was now close enough to feel her breath.
"Right hand."
The swing of the power sword carried a crackling sound of splitting air. Haida wielded the heavy straight sword with a rhythmic, almost dance-like movement, as if stepping to an invisible, silent drumbeat.
Byers's entire right arm slid off in response, the cut seemingly frozen for a moment before blood gushed out.
The heavy and massive power sword felt as light as a bird's feather in Haida's hands, as if it could be lifted with just two fingers. Although she maintained a two-handed sword posture, she could switch to a one-handed grip at any time, the transitions seamless.
Another fatal flash of light, invisible to the eye, swept past, severing Byers's left leg.
"Hey! Why no warning this time?"
Along with Byers's grumble of dissatisfaction, his final right leg also parted from his body.
In just a moment of engagement, this vampire had been reduced to a human stump.
Although his physical prowess could crush ordinary humans, before Haida he seemed as weak as an infant, almost completely powerless to fight back.
"Although not as dazzling as the 'False Sun', the sword in your hand can also be considered a masterpiece... Even the blades of the Corona Riders cannot compare."
Even reduced to just a torso and head, Byers still did not stop speaking. His body began to split apart again, as bats woven from shadows and blood emerged.
Haida's gaze remained cool and clear, as if she had anticipated this.
Just as she was about to thrust with her sword, Byers's body did not transform into a swarm of bats. Instead, it all melted, collapsing into a puddle of viscous, pitch-black blood.
The Byers-turned-blood quickly fled backwards from Haida, diving headlong into the gap of a street corner sewer without a backward glance.
"...Did he sense it?"
Haida narrowed her eyes, gave the sword a slight shake to clear any dust, and sheathed it again.
"Vivian, let's go back. Let's bring along the spoils from this encounter as well."
"Mhm, okay."
Vivian agreed with Haida, then watched as the sister picked up one of the arms left lying on the ground.
In his haste, Byers had failed to transform and take one arm with him.
...
Reformed into human shape, Byers moved slowly and weakly through the sewers, supporting himself against the wall with his only remaining arm.
"That sword's aura is unusually restrained, even the prayer inscriptions are all hidden internally. Yet it carries a certain influence... as if it's craving life."
Byers's bandaged hand trembled slightly. After being struck four times in succession by her sword, his regenerative ability and vitality had both weakened.
His skin and bones had been replaced with composite metal inscribed with Sun-Forgers' prayers, and even the fluid flowing in his vessels was liquid transformed from a Philosopher's Stone.
This gave his flesh extraordinary resilience and immunity to direct sunlight.
At the same time, he could still use the racial talents and related secret arts of a vampire. Namely, the earlier [Bat Transformation] and the later used [Blood Transformation].
"And that sister, that look in her eyes... Is she really not a Supervisor? No, even a Supervisor might not have her level of presence..."
Byers snatched up a plump gray rat from a crevice in the floor, quickly severed its head, aligned the stump with his mouth beneath the bandages, and squeezed the contents entirely into his throat.
The reason he didn't attempt to transform into bats again was that he noticed the movement of Haida's pupils.
Those hazel eyes moved three times in an instant, each time locking onto his heart as he repeatedly tried to conceal it.
In that moment, a cold premonition enveloped Byers, like the icy breath of Death itself whispering in his ear.
How many years had it been since he last felt this? The feeling even surprised himself. What made him think a Mistress of Attendants from the Burial Court could accurately hit the one bat formed from his heart amidst a sky full of them?
But at the last moment, Byers obeyed his instinct.
He forcibly terminated the bat transformation and used [Blood Transformation] to escape. Dissolving his entire body without preparation left him very weak, and he also lost an arm.
"Hah, though, this trip wasn't entirely without gains. At least I know Sigrid isn't with Haida. But the relic Tiyel gave me showed no reaction at all... where is she then?"
---
The entire month of September in Norlington City was calm and uneventful, displaying a certain facade of peaceful tranquility.
The astral oscillations triggered by the descent of the "Cup's Servant" through a first-category ritual heralded a terrifying trend, and its silent demise was even more chilling...
This caused numerous secret cults to enter a state of dormancy. Clearly, no one wanted to be caught up in the schemes and disputes between deities.
…
North District 13, Fog Street Clinic.
Inside Fran's personal operating room. Haida, though still wearing the nun's robes of a Burial Attendant, had a white, standard-issue medical coat over them.
Before her lay Fran's small medical case, neatly arrayed with various oddly-shaped surgical instruments and vials containing unknown solutions.
"Instrument 07, Philosopher's Stone lancet. Fitted with a rose-colored circular blade."
"Okay."
Fran extended her hand, and Haida steadily and deftly placed the specified instrument into it.
"Compound 103, yes, the one with the floating green leaf. It maintains the chemical stability of the alchemical system..."
Generally, due to the existence of [Drive Away Dust and Filth], Fran didn't need to follow ordinary operating room rules during surgery. The area covered by the faint light was nearly sterile and dust-free, eliminating concerns about infection.
The reason for the stricter requirements this time was primarily to instruct Haida.
After all, her Head Nurse couldn't be completely ignorant in medical matters while excelling in battlefield mobility... Even a perfunctory understanding was better than nothing.
"Are you feeling any burning, tearing, delirium, mental haziness, or any other discomfort?"
Fran inquired with concern towards Sigrid on the operating table.
She was currently lying face down, covered by a thin sterile sheet, revealing the pale skin of her back and the delicate, interlocking shoulder blades.
"Currently, I feel very stable internally, with no signs of losing control."
Sigrid's body, while maintaining a human form, possessed the full range of physiological sensations of a normal person, but that was a product of alchemical program simulation... she could adjust the intensity herself.
Now, she needed to amplify this simulated sensation to the highest degree to keenly perceive subtle changes within her body.
"Oh, that's good. No pain indicates the fissures within your body are gradually healing. We can proceed to the final treatment phase."
Fran brought her hands together slightly, her tone carrying a note of eager joy.
Forging, shaping, quenching, tempering—any mistake in these steps could create internal flaws in a blade.
And Sigrid's alchemical program was fraught with numerous twists and turns, which ultimately resulted in her being imperfect and unstable when transformed into a sword.
If Fran hadn't brought her back to Fog Street Clinic, and if the Sun-Forgers Cult hadn't managed to retrieve her... then she would likely have self-destructed within a few years. After completely releasing all her energy, she would have reverted to a shard of the "Primordial Sun".
"Don't we need to study the operating principles of the body structure and alchemical organs anymore?"
Although lying almost completely exposed on the operating table made Sigrid somewhat bashful, she was also quite interested in her current state.
And since it was Dr. Fran, she didn't feel violated by the research and thus didn't resist...
"Not for now, dear Sigrid, believe me... right now, I understand your body better than you do."
"Then what is the subject of the 'final treatment phase'?"
"Hmm... it's the 'backdoor' in your body."
Fran pondered for a moment, then gave the answer.
"...What is that?"
Sigrid didn't immediately understand what Fran meant, but for some reason, she felt a surge of heat in her cheeks.
(T/N: Heh.)
"It's the 'command module' used to control you. It's inscribed within the alchemical program that constitutes your body, allowing it to bypass your thoughts and consciousness to directly manipulate your physique."
Fran took out the rose-colored scalpel carved from Philosopher's Stone crystal and made a light, precise cut through the biological tissue covering Sigrid's spine.
From the skin down to the periosteum, until the entire spine was fully exposed.
"Remember at the Sun-Forging Spire? When Anderson used a certain secret art, you uncontrollably transformed into your sword form. I had a suspicion then... the one who forged you probably possessed a means to forcibly control you."
"And now, I need to remove this rather unfriendly backdoor program."
Fran clearly already knew the location of the "command module" within Sigrid's body and proceeded without the slightest hesitation.
Under the brutal yet precise cutting of a circular saw, she extracted... a single vertebra from the intact spine.
This vertebra appeared completely normal, its color and texture perfectly integrated into the overall spinal structure. But upon careful scrutiny, one would find it densely inscribed with indistinguishable, colorless prayer text...
Haida's expression became somewhat subtle. Although she wasn't the one undergoing surgery, she still felt a strange phantom pain in her own back.
"Dr. Fran, I'm feeling... not very good."
Sigrid tightly bit her lip. She had blocked pain perception, but she could feel her body rapidly losing stability.
Her heart beat erratically and violently, as if trying to leap from her chest.
Her chest glowed red-hot like forged metal, like a reactor with failed temperature control, uncontrollably heading towards meltdown.
"A clever yet insidious design. Forcibly removing this module would disrupt the overall stability, causing an internal-to-external collapse..."
Fran's moist lips curled into a smile, excited and unrestrained.
"Sister Haida, give me Solid Preparation 081. Yes, that glowing vertebra."
As Haida handed over the vertebra emitting a clear, faint light, Fran precisely fitted it into the gap in the spine.
Sigrid then let out a long sigh of relief, the temperature and glow in her chest cooling down.
"Fortunately, you don't have the neural network or capillaries of a normal human. Otherwise, reattachment would be another major procedure."
[Your Parsing Rate has changed: Forbidden Alchemy (24% → 28%)]
Seeing the increase in the relevant parsing rate, a look of satisfaction appeared in Fran's amber eyes, and she began the suturing and finishing work.
"Dr. Fran, what you just used... was it made from the previous Abyssal ingredient 'Luminous Staircase'?"
Sigrid, having recovered, found what Fran used somewhat familiar.
"Correct. I performed bone-type carving on it and did some processing using living metal technology."
Fran gently stroked the rather gruesome-looking suture marks on the skin of Sigrid's back. They then began to fade and close at a slow but visible pace.
+++
T/N: Hey readers~! New Translator here! Before I say anything, I'd first like to thank the original author for creating this wonderful story. Without them, I wouldn't have the chance to share this adventure with you. I hope my translation does justice to their work, and that together, we can enjoy this story.
With that said, I'm happy to let you know I'll be uploading daily chapters. And for those who wish to support my work and gain early access, I've set up a Patreon where advanced chapters will be available.
[email protected]/PeakTL