"A mystical text, huh…" At night in Glamorne, inside a certain apartment, the corpse marionette Ed was communicating with the priest Kaiba. After hearing some intel from Kaiba, Dorothy—hidden at a distance—couldn't help but feel a stir of curiosity in her heart. "What kind of mystical text are they looking for? Can you ask them?" Dorothy had Ed ask Kaiba directly, and Kaiba answered without hesitation. "Hm… from what I recall, they're not looking for the text itself, but rather clues about it—people who've come into contact with it. If I'm not mistaken… it's a Chalice mystical text, and most of its writing is in incomprehensible ancient script…" Kaiba said steadily, and Dorothy's brow furrowed slightly the more she listened. "Is the mystical text they mentioned called The Crimson Holy Mother?" After hearing enough of a description, Dorothy had Ed ask Kaiba directly, and Kaiba immediately nodded in recognition. "Ah, yes, that's the one—The Crimson Holy Mother. Just the name alone sounds like something created by a heretical cult, probably a pseudo-scripture." Kaiba said so, and upon his confirmation, Dorothy's expression grew more serious. "The Church is investigating The Crimson Holy Mother all the way out here? Starting from a small local mysticism circle like this—did they catch wind of something useful?" Dorothy thought to herself. From Kaiba's earlier description, it had already sounded familiar to her, and she wondered if the mystical text the Court of Secrets had mentioned was The Crimson Holy Mother. Confirming it now left no doubt. Dorothy was no stranger to The Crimson Holy Mother. The Wolfblood Society had poured considerable effort into acquiring this mystical text from the Tivian Diocese. They'd tried corrupting the Historical Scripture Department, and later even had a Crimson-rank werewolf force their way in and die for it. The price they paid for it alone made its importance abundantly clear. The Wolfblood Society's focus on The Crimson Holy Mother also raised a question: why would a Chalice mystical text so important to the Afterbirth Cult be found in the archives of a local Pritt church? And why did the Church seem unaware of its significance, simply sealing it away like any other text? If they had known, they would have retrieved it to Holy Mount long ago. Thus, from the beginning, there were two layers of secrets surrounding The Crimson Holy Mother. First, its contents—what secrets does it hold? Second, how did such an important mystical text end up in a Pritt local church's archive in the first place? Once the Church realized its value, they must have begun investigating both fronts. The Court of Secrets's inquiry in Glamorne was clearly aimed at the second secret. "So... did the investigation into The Crimson Holy Mother lead them to Glamorne? Interesting. This little place is already hiding Shadow secrets—now there's a Chalice one too?" Stroking her chin, Dorothy thought with growing intrigue, then had Ed ask Kaiba again. "So, do you know what the Court of Secrets found? Did they uncover anything in Glamorne?" Ed posed the question, and Kaiba shook his head. "No idea… When the Court of Secrets is conducting an investigation, outsiders generally aren't entitled to know their findings. What I know is just publicly known among the mysticism circles. What's certain is that the Court of Secrets agents left after about a week of investigating. I don't know if they found anything concrete." Kaiba responded, and after a moment's pause, Dorothy asked again. "Then… are there still Court of Secrets agents in Glamorne?" "Yes, some members stayed behind to assist us in research and security. They'd likely know more than I do." Kaiba earnestly shared what he knew, and upon hearing this, Dorothy immediately had Ed continue. "Then… can you tell me more about those Court of Secrets agents?" … After asking Kaiba for the names and information on the remaining Court of Secrets personnel in Glamorne, Dorothy acted quickly. Under cover of night, she released small corpse marionettes to track these individuals. With her formidable intelligence-gathering ability, she swiftly locked onto her targets. After some filtering, Dorothy confirmed two Black Earth-rank members among them and used their personal documents to conduct psychological profiling. From this, she successfully learned more about the Court of Secrets' investigation into The Crimson Holy Mother. It turned out that the Court of Secrets hadn't found direct clues about The Crimson Holy Mother in Glamorne. Instead, they were conducting a widespread net-cast style investigation—searching mysticism circles in all major cities across Pritt to find anyone who might recognize or have encountered the text. Glamorne was just one city among many. "So the Court of Secrets isn't following a clear trail—they're just sweeping through all the mysticism circles across Pritt, assuming The Crimson Holy Mother entered the Church through informal, grassroots channels. That means the only way to find its origins is to comb through these networks widely…" "It's a carpet-bombing kind of investigation. Only an organization as massive as the Church could muster enough Beyonders to pull this off… I wonder if they found anything useful." Having hit a wall on guessing what results the Court of Secrets had gotten, Dorothy instead turned her attention to why such a wide-scale investigation had been launched in the first place. "That would mean The Crimson Holy Mother entered the Church's archive from the civilian world, through some unknown channel. That's why the Church is now investigating all of Pritt's major cities… not just Glamorne—there must be agents scattered across many cities now." "If this is happening in every mysticism circle in every major city, then that would include…" Suddenly, Dorothy thought of an especially critical place—her hometown, the capital of Igwynt County: Igwynt! If the Church was investigating every city, then Igwynt was definitely among them. Whether The Crimson Holy Mother had ties to Igwynt was unclear, but Dorothy certainly did. "The Crimson Holy Mother is a Chalice mystical text highly valued by the Afterbirth Cult. Two years ago, the Crimson Eucharist—also a Chalice-aligned heretical sect—was wiped out in Igwynt. If the Court of Secrets investigates Igwynt, there's no way they'll miss that case. The Serenity Bureau called it a cold case due to their limited resources, but the Court of Secrets is another matter entirely. They might dig up something…" "My handling of the Crimson Eucharist incident wasn't flawless. If the Court of Secrets digs too deeply, it's entirely possible they'll find their way back to me—especially with Anna in the picture…" Dorothy thought gravely, frowning. Her former student, Anna, knew Dorothy's identity and that something was off. If the Court of Secrets found Anna, they could easily trace back to her. "And besides… who's to say Igwynt doesn't actually have ties to The Crimson Holy Mother? The Crimson Eucharist's leader, Luer, may have seemed like just another small-time Black Earth-rank cult head, but the resources he had were absurd—richer than most White Ash-rank figures. There's no way he didn't have some powerful backer. It's not impossible he was linked to The Crimson Holy Mother…" Hidden in the nighttime shadows of Glamorne, sitting in a carriage, Dorothy pondered as she reviewed the intel. The more she analyzed it, the more she suspected that something might happen in Igwynt. "No matter… just in case, I need to set up a failsafe." Thinking this, Dorothy retrieved her Literary Sea Logbook from her magic box and flipped to a rarely-used page. After pondering for a moment, she took up her pen and wrote. "Anna, are you free right now?" After writing the message, she waited briefly, and soon, a neat line of handwriting appeared on the page. "I am, Teacher Mayschoss. I just returned from a banquet." Seeing the response, Dorothy's expression relaxed, and she quickly replied. "Good. I have something very important to tell you…" … Since leaving Igwynt, nearly two years had passed for Dorothy, and during that time, she had not been entirely out of contact with Anna. Back when she left, Dorothy had given Anna one of her Literary Sea Logbook contact volumes, allowing Anna to conveniently reach her should anything urgent arise. At first, Anna would contact Dorothy about everyday academic difficulties or matters she was unsure about. Later, as Anna began to show remarkable maturity and composure—gaining direct control over part of the Field family's wealth and beginning to step into high society as the new generation of Viscount Field—she started consulting Dorothy on matters ranging from finance, etiquette, and social affairs to law. A girl barely ten years old inheriting a noble title and a vast estate—this, in the eyes of countless people, was a fat piece of meat. Among them were not only distant Field relatives hoping to assassinate Anna and seize her inheritance, but also all sorts of con artists. Though the local head of the Serenity Bureau, Smith, could offer some protection, it was far from sufficient. Thanks to Dorothy's guidance and her own intelligence, Anna grew rapidly. Amidst all the prying eyes, she gradually began to truly take control of the wealth and status that had once only existed in name. Evading countless scams and traps, she eventually became, in the eyes of many astonished onlookers, the real Viscount Field. "So… what you're saying, teacher, is… there may be powerful figures coming to Igwynt to investigate you? And I need to deal with them?" "That's right. They're from the mystical world too—but far more professional and powerful than Igwynt's local Serenity Bureau. I'll help you deal with them. To fool others, you must first fool yourself—so I'll have you forget about me for now…" Dorothy explained this to Anna in the following communication. She didn't intend to coach Anna directly on what to say or avoid saying. No matter how well she prepared her, Anna might not withstand the pressure from the Court of Secrets' interrogation. It would be safer to use her profiling ability to alter Anna's memory directly, protecting her from the Court of Secrets' various techniques. Once she had finished profiling Anna, Dorothy split off part of her perception to stay with her through the communication channel, keeping watch on Anna's situation in real-time. Multitasking at this level was effortless for Dorothy now. Having put the preventive measures in place, Dorothy began preparing to leave Glamorne and return to Tivian. But to her surprise, before she could even depart the next day, she sensed something unusual from Anna's side. She realized Anna had been hypnotized—and her intuition was right. Someone had indeed traced things back to Anna. Just as Dorothy expected, while she calmly proceeded with her plan to mislead the Court of Secrets agents, an entirely unforeseen presence suddenly appeared. … That night, by the edge of Lake Starbind in Glamorne, Dorothy sat on the grass with a grave expression, remotely observing the scene in distant Igwynt. Through Anna's eyes, she could see the vast hall of the Field estate, where astonished Court of Secrets agents stood—and, standing before them, a black-haired girl with an expression of cold composure. "Saint… Saint… Artcheli… is that… Saint Artcheli?!" "She said Saint Artcheli? What kind of joke is this? How could one of our Court of Secrets' Saints be just a little girl?!" "You there! What nonsense are you spewing?! Do you realize you're blaspheming a Saint?!" As "Anna" uttered the name Artcheli, every Court of Secrets agent present showed expressions of disbelief, then began shouting in agitation. Some agents believed that "Anna" was claiming the girl who had just entered the room was one of Holy Mount's Seven Living Saints—their direct superior. Many thought this was sacrilege, and were ready to throw out the intruding girl and teach "Anna" a lesson for her outrageous claim. "Everyone—stand down!!" Seeing the reaction from his subordinates, the overseeing officer, Bohweit, broke into a cold sweat and loudly shouted again to stop them. While the agents looked to Bohweit in confusion, the black-haired girl—Artcheli—stared at "Anna" and finally spoke. "Oh? So you know who I am?" "It was more of an educated guess… The method I use to resist your detection is highly subtle. I was confident that no one below the Gold rank could see through it. And as luck would have it—here stands Gold in person… "All these people are Court of Secrets priests, and the only Gold-rank individual in the Church tied to the Court of Secrets… would be the Secrets Cardinal, Saint Artcheli. I didn't expect… that you, one of the Seven Living Saints, would humble yourself to personally investigate a small place like this. It seems something major must have happened inside your Church…" Controlling Anna's body from afar, Dorothy spoke directly to Artcheli. Even she couldn't help but feel mixed emotions. She had anticipated that the Church would investigate Anna—but never imagined that one of the Seven Living Saints would personally show up. Artcheli's presence was a complete surprise. "So it's true… there must be a deep connection between Igwynt and The Crimson Holy Mother. The Church must've received clear intel confirming the link, which is why Artcheli herself came. With Unina's recent resurgence, the Church has elevated the priority of investigating The Crimson Holy Mother… Even deploying a Gold-rank Saint is not out of the question…" "Then… is it really possible that the Crimson Eucharist was connected to The Crimson Holy Mother? Could a small local heretical cult truly be tied to the Afterbirth Cult's core? Who exactly was Luer?" Dorothy was stunned. She also regretted having killed Luer so cleanly—perhaps if she'd let him monologue a bit more, she could've extracted valuable information. Given the current situation, Dorothy no longer had the luxury to analyze The Crimson Holy Mother's connection to Luer. Dealing with Artcheli was now the most pressing matter. "Judging from your tone… you sound quite confident that even Crimson-rank individuals would be mere toys in your hands. Looks like I came to the right place after all," Artcheli said coolly, listening to "Anna's" words. Then, in a heavier, more serious voice, she continued. "Now, explain yourself properly—who exactly are you? What's your relationship with that former leader of the Crimson Eucharist, Luer, who controlled the former Viscount Field? You'd better be honest. Don't make me resort to special methods. And don't assume that just because you're remotely controlling a pawn, you can just abandon her and escape—I have ways of finding where you are." Artcheli questioned "Anna" sternly. Dorothy, having her suspicions about a connection to Luer confirmed, had Anna respond directly. "So you believe I'm connected to the Crimson Eucharist… to the Afterbirth Cult? Then it seems you've misunderstood. Not only are we unaffiliated with them—we're their enemies. The Crimson Eucharist entrenched here… it was we who destroyed them." "You destroyed them, huh… so does that make you people part of the Rose Cross Order? Then explain yourselves. What is your organization's objective? And what do you know about that mystical text called The Crimson Holy Mother?" Artcheli continued questioning "Anna" with stern intensity, and "Anna" responded again. "I'm afraid… I won't be able to give you a satisfying answer to those questions. I know your main target is Luer, the Crimson Eucharist's leader. But the truth is, we didn't have much of a connection with him. The reason we destroyed the Crimson Eucharist was due to… a series of accidents. If you're looking to uncover the secrets behind Luer, we can't offer much help. We have a grudge against the Afterbirth Cult, but we also don't want to become enemies with the Church. So… could you perhaps let this go and call off your investigation into us? If we come across any intel about the Afterbirth Cult in the future, we'll hand it over to you willingly. What do you say?" Through Anna, Dorothy attempted to negotiate with Artcheli, hoping to be left alone—but it was clear Artcheli would not so easily comply. "No connection? Hmph… you think I'm going to believe that?" Artcheli's voice carried a trace of menace. The moment Dorothy heard that, she knew there was no point continuing the negotiation—this girl wouldn't be talked down. If she dragged things out any longer, Anna would likely be completely restrained and captured. "What a pity… it seems our mutual trust is a little too thin." Dorothy muttered through Anna. Meanwhile, in Glamorne, Dorothy's true body had come to a halt. She was standing on a stretch of gravel-covered terrain. Before her lay a long iron railway, fixed in place with wooden sleepers. Crouching down, Dorothy touched the thick iron rail with her hand. At the very moment negotiations in Igwynt failed, her body erupted with a flash of white brilliance. In the next instant, her entire body dissolved into electricity and vanished, channeling directly into the rail. Dorothy transformed her whole body into a stream of electricity and used the railway as a conductor, racing forward along the tracks. In an instant, the electrified Dorothy traversed dozens—nearly hundreds—of kilometers, traveling from Glamorne to the outskirts of Igwynt in a single surge along the railway. As the current overflowed and converged beside the tracks, Dorothy emerged from the flash of light. Lightning Elementalization—this was a Crimson-rank ability of the Heaven Decree Envoy. Just like elementalists of other paths, Dorothy could transform her body into lightning. At the Crimson rank, Dorothy's elemental form became a glowing ball of plasma capable of flight. She lost her physical form and could continuously discharge electricity in all directions. In this form, she closely resembled ball lightning. While highly destructive and resistant to physical attacks, her maneuverability was lacking—like a floating orb, she could fly, but not fast. To gain high-speed movement while elementalized, she would need to reach a higher rank and incorporate divinity. Just like in her previous battle with Unina in Busalet, with the support of Viagetta's buff, Dorothy had once transformed into lightning that pierced the air—traveling at true lightning speed across great distances. At that speed, she could nearly reach any point in the world instantly. Although her current Crimson-rank elementalization couldn't grant her that kind of velocity freely, she found she could still travel quickly under the right conditions. After some experimentation, Dorothy discovered that if she had a decent conductor, her elemental form could move rapidly by conducting through it. After careful consideration, she realized that, in this era where electrical wires weren't yet widespread, railway tracks were the best conductors available to her. Tracks spanned long distances and were laid across industrial nations—perfect for travel. After ending her conductive journey, Dorothy reappeared beside a railway in Igwynt's outskirts. Gazing at the city lights in the dark distance, she began taking action again, having abandoned negotiation as an option. Back at the now-tense standoff, Dorothy immediately activated one of her abilities. In an instant, the previously restrained and silent Court of Secrets agents—held back earlier by Bohweit—suddenly all changed expressions. Their faces grew savage as they turned toward Artcheli, roaring and drawing their weapons. "Seize the one who dares blaspheme a Saint!" "What the hell… what are you people doing?!" With a lead agent's rallying cry and Bohweit's shocked outburst, the agents in the room suddenly charged Artcheli with murderous intensity. These Court of Secrets agents—Dorothy had, through Anna, already profiled most of them during their prior questioning. Some who hadn't questioned Anna directly were nevertheless pulled into the profiling network through their conversations with those already profiled. By using Elementalization, Dorothy had rushed to the outskirts of Igwynt, bringing Anna's location into her ability's effective range. She activated a psychic rewrite, compelling the Court of Secrets agents to attack Artcheli. If Dorothy didn't use a direct link via the information channel, her profiling ability was still limited by range. Without that connection, she could only accumulate profiling progress—not trigger its effects. In short, most of Dorothy's abilities still required her physical body to be present in the region to be effective. To protect Anna from Artcheli, she chose to arrive in person. "Still a bit greedy… If only I had pulled Anna out of Igwynt the moment I sensed trouble... I really didn't expect an actual Saint from Holy Mount to come investigate this case herself…" Faced with her subordinates' ambush, Bohweit was terrified. Artcheli, on the other hand, remained expressionless. In the next instant, after a flash of afterimages and a rush of wind through the wide hall, the Black Earth–rank agents who had rushed her all collapsed to the ground, unconscious, as if they'd never moved her at all. Artcheli stood exactly where she had been. Having dealt with the agents, Artcheli looked around at the bodies on the floor before focusing her gaze on the spot where Anna had been. But now, only a lone chair remained. It was completely empty. "Milady… that one escaped during the chaos! We should go after her immediately!" Bohweit cried out anxiously upon seeing this. But Artcheli didn't move. She stood still, unmoved by his words. Though Bohweit was bewildered, he dared not press her further. Silently, Artcheli's pupils began to shimmer faintly with golden light. Though she had not taken a single step, her gaze pierced through countless walls and obstructions, scanning in 360 degrees and expanding rapidly outward past the entirety of Igwynt. With her flawless x-ray and farsight vision, vast swathes of territory were laid bare before her. She could clearly see where Anna had fled to—sprinting at inhuman speed toward the outskirts beyond Igwynt. Even then, Artcheli didn't move. She simply waited in silence under Bohweit's uneasy stare, watching until Anna crossed the border out of Igwynt, ran into the suburban wilds, and even deeper into the mountainous region beyond. "She's not trying to contact any allies…" Artcheli murmured softly as she watched. Then, from her garments, she produced a small enchanted box, from which she retrieved two items. A one-handed cross-shaped sword, and a finely engraved revolver. Both the sword and the gun were connected by small chains, and the ends of those chains held a single pendant. That pendant depicted a double-faced divine icon: on one side, a handsome man with arms outstretched and chest lifted proudly, a radiant sun halo behind his head; on the other side, a hooded woman, face bowed and hidden as she hugged herself, with a pale moon halo behind her. Holding the sword in her right hand and the gun in her left, Artcheli's expression sharpened. She aimed the gun at the wall ahead—but her target wasn't in the room. She was aiming at Anna, who by now had run more than ten kilometers away into the mountains outside Igwynt. BANG! With a single shot, the revolver blazed with golden light, firing a brilliant beam that pierced the wall and streaked forward at incredible speed, tearing through every obstacle in its path—wall after wall, tree after tree—until it reached Anna. The golden ray struck her leg, punching a hole straight through it and sending blood spraying. The wound caused her to stumble. But just as she was about to fall, the injury on her leg vanished completely, as if it had never existed. "Accelerated regeneration… definitely related to Chalice…" Artcheli whispered again, having observed everything from her position miles away. Then, narrowing her eyes, she fired a second shot. Another golden bullet streaked forth from her revolver, once again tearing through every barrier on its path toward Anna. But this time, the bullet wasn't aimed directly at her—it shot past her side. As it passed, the light from the bullet was even brighter than the first. It blazed through the night, illuminating Anna and casting a long shadow behind her. As that shadow appeared, Artcheli tightened her grip on her sword and softly recited: "May the Saintess grant her blessing…" With those words, Artcheli's body dissolved into shadow and vanished. At that exact moment, more than ten kilometers away, from the long shadow cast behind the illuminated Anna, a silhouette surged upward—as if rising from the surface of a pitch-black lake. It was Artcheli. Artcheli's sudden emergence from the shadow was so fast that even Dorothy couldn't react in time. That speed… was beyond even what a Crimson-rank Shadow could achieve! Artcheli was thrusting a sword toward Anna at extreme close range with such velocity that the motion was completely undetectable by biological sight. Not even afterimages remained for Dorothy to catch—Artcheli was aiming to pin Anna directly into the ground. This speed exceeded the limits of biological sensory response. With perception alone, Dorothy couldn't form an image of anything moving that fast. No matter how powerful her cognitive processing, it was useless without sensory data to process. In that instant—less than a tenth of a second, in a moment of absolute crisis that Dorothy herself couldn't respond to—Anna moved of her own accord. Before Dorothy could intervene, she acted on instinct, responding with a speed no less than Artcheli's. With ghostlike swiftness, she evaded Artcheli's sword, and with a flick of her hand at close range, released several wind blades that slashed toward Artcheli out of thin air. "What…" Artcheli's eyes widened at the sight. She instantly struck down the wind blades with several high-speed slashes, retreating two steps to open up distance. Her movements finally slowed down—just enough that Dorothy could perceive what was happening again. Only now did she realize that Artcheli had "teleported" next to Anna in the blink of an eye. "When did she get here…?" Seeing Artcheli suddenly appear, Dorothy was taken aback but quickly composed herself. Then, through Anna, she spoke to Artcheli. "Lady Artcheli, it seems you're still unwilling to let me go... I thought you were giving up when you let me run this far." Hearing "Anna's" response, Artcheli paused briefly, then replied with a serious expression. "I let you run this far mainly because if a fight were to break out, I didn't want it happening inside the city. I'm convinced your strength is above Crimson-rank. Any collateral from a fight between us would cause significant damage to the world of mortals. Cleaning up after that would be troublesome..." With that, her expression turned sharper as she continued with a stern tone. "And you… Are you actually someone from the Storm Path? In this world, is there really another Crimson-rank Storm Path Beyonder besides Despenser? "Just who are you?! At your age, to wield such potent storm powers… and possess the speed to escape even me…" Artcheli interrogated Anna with intensity. At her words, Anna paused slightly, then took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and reopened them. This time, her expression changed. Gone was the puppet-like blankness—what returned was the genuine spark of life, emotion, and identity: the real Anna. "I am… Anna Field. By the decree of King Baldric the Rightful Successor, I am the Guardian of Igwynt, and the Twelfth Viscountess of the Field family." Anna spoke with composure and gravity. Artcheli, upon hearing this, couldn't help but show a flicker of displeasure on her face. "Are you trying to brush me off?" With a dissatisfied mutter, she surged forward again, attacking with sword speed faster than the eye could follow. But Anna responded in kind—just as fast. From within her nightgown, she pulled out an object and thrust it forward, blocking Artcheli's blade. With a crisp clang, Artcheli glanced at what had stopped her sword: a small, broken scepter—almost nothing left but the headpiece. "This is…" "This is the scepter of Yarlin Field, founder of the House of Field—and the symbol of my rightful succession." Using the scepter to block the strike, Anna spoke solemnly. As Artcheli looked on in confusion, the air around them suddenly began to stir violently. Sensing danger, Artcheli swiftly backed away again, creating distance. Then, amid the howling winds and rising dust, Anna's figure was swept up by a gust and disappeared. Moments later, as the dust settled, Anna reappeared—completely transformed. The small blonde girl's nightgown had vanished, replaced by a set of luminous, close-fitting metal armor. Skirted greaves, armored boots, gauntlets, breastplate, cloak, winged helm… Anna now stood as a radiant warrior maiden clad in majestic, noble armor. The broken scepter in her hand had turned into a long, gleaming spear, from which hung a banner bearing the early flag of the Kingdom of Pritt. "Divine enchantment… annecdotal body manifestation… heroic spirit armament…" From afar, Dorothy murmured. At this moment, she was channeling the divine power of Heaven's Arbiter, empowering the manifestation of legends—not just drawing strength from myths, but using historical and legal authority as a source of power, and manifesting that law into physical form. Though she had lost the support of Viagetta's buff, Dorothy's body still housed a fragment of divinity. With her special physique, she wasn't entirely unable to use divine power. Though restricted, she could still invoke a portion of it. It was this divine strength that gave Dorothy the confidence to appear before a Gold-rank Saint while still being only Crimson-rank…