"Of course not."
Fran lightly set down her own sandwich, then took out a handkerchief and carefully wiped the dust off a wooden chest in the room.
"There's a saying, 'There's always a resupply before a big battle.' The final missing piece I need is right here."
Fran casually opened the chest and, with the joy of finally collecting all five pieces of Exodia, retrieved her missing torso.
"I thought it would be in the Secrets-Hunter headquarters, but it turns out just reaching the inner city area is enough. Hmm~ Important items are often hidden in corners. That's the fine tradition of the Souls-like worldview..."
She murmured wistfully, her fingers lightly moving as she untied the astrologer's silk robe embroidered with moth patterns and began meticulously reattaching her limbs along the black suture lines.
After completing the reattachment of all limbs, Fran patted her hands contentedly.
Considering she was currently wearing nothing under the robe... to restore her doctor's demeanor, she took her own white doctor's coat and inner suit from the medical case and put them on swiftly.
Haida remained quiet and silent, raising a hand to lightly cover her eyes.
Although Fran probably wouldn't mind, staring at someone changing clothes isn't very polite... Adhering to the Secrets-Hunter commandment of cautious speech and vision, she suppressed her curiosity.
"No need to worry, Sister Haida. There is not a single part of my body that I am ashamed to show. Opportunities to directly observe such modular body design are rare, you know?"
Fran smiled faintly, donning her signature white coat and deftly tying the tie of her small suit.
She pinched her neck and, with saliva, coughed up a few strands of deep red, thick blood.
"Wait until I do a little debugging before meeting the patient for this house call. The joints of the limbs have been separated for too long; they're a bit uncoordinated now."
Fran stretched her waist quite comfortably, making a couple of crisp cracking sounds from her bones.
---
Secrets-Hunter Headquarters.
Haida stepped through the thick dust and entered this place she was once so familiar with.
The originally spacious and orderly corridors were now filled with weathered bullet holes and huge gashes from cuts. Even the diamond-shaped Secrets-Hunter holy emblem at the entrance was decayed and broken, incomplete.
"Hmm... Still didn't prepare comprehensively enough. Next time, I need to have a pair of shoes in the medical case. What a shame. Miss Dorothy doesn't seem to have the habit of wearing shoes."
Fran lifted her skirt, stepping on the gray marks in the corridor, her tone carrying a hint of regret.
Although Haida still maintained caution and vigilance, hearing Fran's casual complaints inexplicably eased her tense spirits somewhat...
The pollution around grew thicker; even the air was floating with deep black particles like ash.
This place should have become a nest for evil spawn to gather and revel, but for some reason, it was a still, oppressive dead silence.
The two arrived at the main hall of the Secrets-Hunter headquarters. The scene here was far more horrifying than the outer areas...
Countless mutated, aberrant evil spawn corpses were piled high, nearly filling the vast hall.
Haida's breath hitched slightly.
She realized these highly aberrant evil spawn were all wearing Secrets-Hunter uniforms...
Perhaps the leather hunting gear of Outrider Hunters, perhaps the form-fitting robes of Burial Attendants, perhaps the trench coats of Confidential Division agents.
Additionally, these corpses had one thing in common... they had all lost their heads.
Looking at the wall piled high with the corpses of her colleagues, Haida's gaze was complex, concealing a trace of sorrow. But at the same time, she felt a strange familiarity from the clean, neat cuts on their necks...
"Traces of the Decapitation Throne... Father?"
"These wounds were indeed left by that relic scythe."
After a simple visual inspection, Fran went to the corpse of an Outrider Hunter, put on sterile gloves, and began a detailed examination.
"The patient's skin is covered in spiral growths and scales, indicating an extremely rapid rate of mutation. But all abnormal proliferation of flesh ceased the moment the head was severed."
Haida's brow furrowed tightly as she asked, "What kind of pollution could even nullify the 'Pure Land' of the headquarters?"
Fran thought for a moment, then showed a reminiscent expression.
"Pollution? To be precise, it's a plague. The characteristics of this disease are similar to Norlington's 'Divine Pestilence' from twenty years ago, but much more dangerous... Perhaps the transmitter improved the formula."
"Let's go deeper following the direction of the corpse pile. The newest cuts here don't even have dust on them, probably from about two months ago. The target of our house call is nearby."
Haida nodded silently.
Following the neatly stacked headless corpses along the corridor, the two gradually moved towards the center of the Burial Court.
They encountered no attacks or obstacles during this process, though a few familiar dead faces were particularly striking.
For instance, Supervisor Alwin—even without a head, his robust, tall frame was instantly recognizable.
Finally, Haida and Fran arrived before the door to the Burial Primus's room.
Considering the Sister's mental state wasn't very stable, Fran took the initiative to push open the door. The scene inside was immediately laid bare.
The spacious room contained only a wooden square chair. A man wearing winter hunting attire and a French tricorne sat upright upon it.
His features and expression were hidden in the shadow of the hat brim. A cold, severe aura surrounded him, like an icy abyss.
"Father..." Haida's hazel pupils contracted slightly. At this moment, she had no spare energy to conceal her shock.
On Ahern's neck was a huge, savage gash. His own head was held in his palm. Those sharp, hawk-like hazel eyes were permanently closed.
"Stay focused. The 'patient' for this time is in this room."
Haida felt Fran grasp her hand.
Relying on this tangible touch, she was pulled back to reality from her chaotic, dazed thoughts.
"My apologies, I lost my composure."
She let out a soft sigh, gathering all unnecessary emotions. Then, she drew the power sword "Nirvana" from her back, assuming an extremely standard two-handed sword stance.
"However, Dr. Fran, I think I understand why you didn't tell me who this patient was in advance..."
The crisp sound of leather boots stepping on stairs came rhythmically, but there were no stairs in this room.
Haida looked with mixed emotions towards the source of the sound... it came from Ahern's shadow under the cold moonlight.
A nun in a form-fitting robe walked out elegantly and slowly from the Chief Hunter's shadow.
She held an alien and savage, ominous scythe blade in a reverse grip. Its edge was forged from pure shadow, merging with the night, indistinguishable from it...
"I never thought 'I' would also be fortunate enough to become a survivor of the apocalypse."
Haida, looking at this other self holding the Decapitation Throne, felt a momentary sense of reflection.
Now she knew why that dragon-type Sacred Spawn wandering the inner ring of Norlington felt fear upon seeing her...
The nun holding the shadow scythe opened her eyes. Within her sockets was only deep black shadow.
"I am the last 'Burial Primus,' Haida Moira."
"You who have come here... even if you have not yet realized it, you too have already contracted the foul disease of the Divine Pestilence. To prevent the plague from spreading to a world where hope still remains, please slumber here forever... I shall grant you eternal rest."
Fran pinched her chin, examining this nun's condition and illness with interest.
"She still retains language ability, but doesn't seem very communicative... That's typical of paranoid personality disorder. But she's quite polite, no signs of hysteria."
Just as Fran was about to add another comment, Haida suddenly grabbed the back of her neck in a cat-picking-up motion and pulled her back.
The scythe blade grazed past her neck, taking a few strands of pale, frost-like hair.
"Oh, I almost forgot that scythe can emerge from my shadow..."
Fran's tone was light and pleasant, not showing any fear from nearly being decapitated. On the contrary, a faint flush of excitement had appeared on her cheeks at some point.
As the nun holding the Decapitation Throne prepared to sink into the shadows again, she found her arms and body had already been firmly bound by the black tendrils of [Far Caress].
"I was teasing you. Actually, I didn't forget. I guessed you, like Ahern, enjoy randomly entering people's shadows, so I specially prepared a welcome gift. Do you like it?"
Fran turned to look at the nun trapped and unable to move in her own shadow.
"Heretics, plague, and its carriers. All of it, all of it... must be purified..."
"The Divine Pestilence no longer exists in Norlington. You succeeded long ago."
Fran crossed her fingers and, surprisingly, sat down cross-legged facing the nun directly.
The nun, who had been almost completely unresponsive to everything outside, abruptly froze, then began to laugh as if stimulated. Black shadow flowed from her eye sockets like bloody tears.
"Succeeded? Hah... The ruins are crowded full of evil spawn crawling like cockroaches. Even dragons have been defiled and turned into puppets. How dare you say the foul disease has been eradicated?"
The nun let out a few low laughs, sorrowful and despairing.
Her form dissolved into Fran's shadow like ink, thereby breaking free from the root-like net of [Far Caress].
"Being able to shadow-shift your body too... You and the Decapitation Throne have fused to a very dangerous degree..."
Fran raised her hand, and the extended [Far Caress] instantly retracted into her wrist.
The nun stood up again from Ahern's shadow. She slowly raised the massive scythe blade, gripped the handle and gave it a slight spin... then hurled it towards Fran.
"Dr. Fran, be careful."
Haida held the power sword "Nirvana" horizontally in front of her in a guard. The constantly humming blade met the shadow scythe, but the expected metallic clang of impact never came...
She didn't feel any physical collision!
That scythe blade passed through the straight sword in her hand like some illusion.
The speed of shifting between tangible and intangible is almost as fast as Father's... Haida clicked her tongue softly and was about to grab Fran behind her and roll to dodge when, looking back, she saw Fran was already smiling and putting on a helmet.
The helmet had the cold, black color of steel, with a dark purple "I"-shaped visor standing vertically in the center.
"Gangway."
---
[Type I Visor (Maker: Fran Herschel)]
[Quality: Ordinary]
[Effect: Can use its visor to fire 'Gangway'. Requires solar energy charging after a single use.]
[Note: "The deep darkness of the Abyss is of no concern to you, for you shine brilliantly."]
Dozens of dazzling, brilliant light beams refracted and scattered wildly. After piercing through Haida's body, they struck the scythe blade of the Decapitation Throne head-on.
"The scent of light... so long since I've smelled it..."
The scythe in the nun's hand shattered the tangled beams of light, but they then reflected and bounced off the room's walls, piercing through her torso, causing her nun's robe to catch fire.
Haida looked down at her chest, pierced by the light beams, and found they had caused her no harm.
This light burned her, but didn't hurt me?
"Don't be surprised. It's friendly fire. I turned off friendly fire."
Fran was wearing the helmet, so her originally leisurely female voice took on a magnetic, muffled quality.
Taking advantage of the nun being briefly constrained by the light, Haida closed in, pushing the hilt with one hand to thrust the tip of the power sword into the chest of this other self.
Fran lightly clapped her hands, gradually approaching the fallen nun. Her amber eyes were bright and captivating.
"The exact center of the chest, hmm... a good spot. Not completely lethal, but effectively immobilizes the patient."
"Patient, your mind is completely saturated with obsession. After attempts, superficial guidance like hypnosis has been confirmed ineffective. I'll need to adopt a more direct method to listen to your thoughts... What do you think about open-chest surgery?"
Fran withdrew an old, exquisite brass pocket watch into her sleeve and began searching her medical case for her beloved small circular saw.
Haida slightly closed her eyes, trying to recall... but couldn't remember when exactly she had taken out the pocket watch.
The nun pierced through the chest by the power sword did not speak, but neither did she struggle. She just used those abyss-like pitch-black eyes to stare hauntingly at Fran.
Fran, however, completely ignored this rather unnerving gaze, casually lifting the bra under the nun's robe to check the condition of the wound made by the sword.
"No blood loss. No diaphragm or organs visible in the wound. Hmm, dear Sister, you have completely transcended the human category. But the good news is a physical body still exists... You're just one step away from fully degenerating into a pure shadow creature."
The nun lying on the ground let out a heavy sigh, hanging her head, dejected and exhausted.
"My body and soul have soaked in the shadows for too long, already overgrown with rust. Whether it's hunting skills or the rites of burial... I have almost forgotten them all."
"But I still maintain this city on the brink of falling into the abyss. I cannot simply fall into eternal sleep. Even if it means discarding the human body, discarding the Secrets-Hunter's commandments and pride, burning away all memories of being human..."
---
Her muttering was rapid and brief, disordered like the ramblings of a dream.
It was like pressing the button of a bedside lamp—the cold moonlight in the room vanished in an instant.
All light disappeared, turning into lightless darkness. Everything visible transformed into pure black, yet everyone could clearly see each other.
+++
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