Six hundred and seventeenth replacement.
During the night hours, in the central part of Tivyán, on a vast plain.
Under the dark sky with howling winds, the boundless pitch-black plain was desolate and quiet. The lush wheat fields swayed gently under the evening breeze, everything was peaceful and tranquil until the sharp whistle from afar shattered this serenity.
The steel wheels rapidly rolled on the tracks, carrying the long train forward at high speed. The roaring locomotive spewed thick smoke as it pulled the heavy carriages towards the distant horizon.
The train from afar sped through the night wheat fields. Most of the carriages on the train were already darkened, and the passengers in second and third-class cabins slowly fell asleep amidst the congestion. However, there were still some lights flickering in the windows of the first-class cabin.
In the first-class cabin of the train, a nun with short brown hair dressed in church attire sat on the sofa inside, reading an ancient book by the light of a fire on the table. Her expression was very focused.
As time passed, the night deepened, and the nun studying the book couldn’t help but show signs of drowsiness. After checking her pocket watch to confirm the time, she closed the book and placed it back into the opened suitcase beside her. Then she got up, returned to her bed, turned off the gas lamp on the table, and quietly fell asleep.
After the nun fell asleep, the clock’s hands continued to move forward. Unbeknownst to her, it had reached late night. Almost all the lights on the entire train had gone out, and except for a few carriages, most passengers had fallen into a deep sleep.
The nun slept peacefully in her cabin, but an intangible aura slowly seeped in through the ventilation duct, gradually spreading throughout the cabin. In this intangible fog, the nun’s sleep seemed even deeper.
Time continued to pass, and just as the nun in the cabin had fallen into a deep slumber, a faint sound emerged from the ventilation duct. A small black bat then emerged and flew toward the sleeping nun. It finally landed on her neck, opening its fangs filled with sharp teeth, biting into her throat.
Under the bat’s bite, the nun’s face gradually lost its color, and she eventually stopped breathing in her sleep.
After the nun stopped breathing, the small bat flew up again, hovering in the cabin. More faint sounds came from behind the ventilation duct, and more small bats emerged. These bats gathered together in the cabin and eventually formed a human figure. When the shadows on the figure dissipated, a young man in a long trench coat with a pale and gloomy face appeared. He gazed at the nun lying on the bed, now lifeless, with eyes full of coldness and lack of compassion.
Then, the trench coat man focused his gaze on the door of the cabin. After pulling it open, he stepped out into the dimly lit corridor of the carriage. As he glanced to one side, he saw another figure in the corridor. It was a middle-aged man carrying a large suitcase and wearing a black suit. Upon seeing the trench coat man emerge, he softly spoke:
“Done?”
“Yeah, how’s it going on your end?” the trench coat man nodded and asked in return. The suited man immediately replied:
“It’s all taken care of. They were just a bunch of amateurs; there was no reason to fail…”
As the suited man spoke, he walked toward the open cabin door. Passing by the trench coat man, he entered the cabin and saw the nun lying on the bed, pale and lifeless. After a brief confirmation, he opened the large suitcase he was holding.
At that moment, the trench coat man also retreated back into the cabin. He stared at the nun on the bed, and his face began to change. After significant writhing, it transformed into the nun’s appearance, and his body also changed to female form.
Seeing his companion finish changing appearance, the suited man walked to the bed, pulled down the nun’s body, and then took out a sigil, sticking it onto the nun. The nun’s body quickly vaporized, and soon all the flesh turned into green smoke, leaving only clothes and bones behind.
Looking at the remains, the suited man remained silent. He picked up each bone and placed them into his suitcase. The fake nun who had finished changing her face spoke:
“Isn’t it fine if we don’t deal with the soul? What if someone tries to communicate with the spirit?”
“The spirits will only be contacted if the church knows the person is dead. You and the others will replace these people in Gramorn. As long as you play your roles well, no one will know the real advance team is gone.”
The suited man quietly said, picking up all the nun’s bones and standing up with his suitcase. He continued:
“In fact, the most cautious approach would be to prepare sealing methods, but this task was too rushed. We didn’t have time to contact the spirit guardians or prepare for soul handling. But given the current situation, it won’t make much difference…”
“Yeah, that’s true. The church won’t know they’re dead anytime soon.”
The disguised nun nodded and added, watching the suited man leave the cabin and close the door behind him.
For a while, in the dark cabin, only the fake nun silently looked at the nun’s robe lying on the floor.
…
On the fast-moving train in the night, a series of dark murders took place. The church team from Tivyán was quickly eliminated by the bloodthirsty assassins lurking in the shadows and replaced silently.
This dark conspiracy was completed in silence. The bloodthirsty killers thought they had done everything perfectly, but in reality, things were far from what they imagined.
Meanwhile, in a cabin far away from the killings, Nephnis sat on a sofa in the darkness, meditating intently and connecting with something distant.
“Dorothy, they’ve taken care of everything. All five flesh puppets have been eliminated. They’ve been completely replaced.”
Nephnis continued to report to Dorothy through a communication channel during her meditation. Soon, she received a reply.
“All of them replaced? Good. What about the spirits embedded in those flesh puppets? Were they captured?”
“No, it seems these people didn’t prepare properly to handle souls. My spirits didn’t work. I’ve retrieved them all now and will perform a ceremony to send them back to Mr. Uta later.”
Neph responded, and Dorothy pondered for a moment before continuing.
“They didn’t have time to prepare to capture souls. That’s understandable… The schedule I gave them was tight. They needed to act immediately to catch up. It makes sense they wouldn’t have time for such preparations. After all, Eight-pointed isn’t like ‘Silence.’ If their plan goes smoothly, they wouldn’t need to capture souls. Handling them is just a precaution…
“You did well, Neph. Now we just need to return the essences. I’ll thank Mr. Uta later, even though we didn’t directly help.”
“Yes, understood. I’ll return to Gramorn soon…”
After ending the communication with Dorothy, Neph relaxed slightly and began controlling the spirits lingering on the train to complete the cleanup.
…
Far away in Gramorn, Dorothy sat in a hotel suite, relieved after hearing Neph’s report.
“Neph’s actions have finally come to an end. Now, the real advance team is imprisoned, and the fake one has been replaced as Eight-pointed wished. To them, it seems everything is according to their plan…”
Dorothy thought to herself. She had sent Neph back to Tivyán earlier to assist Gregor and Adele in capturing the real advance team.
Then, Dorothy instructed Neph to use her corpse puppet ring and the corpse pin obtained from werewolf Alex to control four corpse puppets. Adding Neph’s own soul possession, a total of five puppets were created. They were disguised as the advance team and set off from Tivyán station, equipped with stolen gear from the real team.
During this process, Dorothy controlled Neph’s soulless body and provided her with powerful external computational support through the communication channel, allowing Neph to manage the complex calculations required to control five bodies simultaneously. This way, Neph could manipulate the five bodies flawlessly, making them appear as lively as living beings.
These puppets were specifically prepared for Eight-pointed to eliminate and replace. To make them more convincing, Dorothy even summoned spirits from the New World through Uta, embedding them in the puppets to prevent Eight-pointed from detecting and capturing the souls. Although these spirits were similar to undead, they had distinct differences. Using the usual methods to capture souls wouldn’t work effectively on them. Therefore, Uta could easily recall them as needed, but this measure wasn’t necessary since Eight-pointed wasn’t “Silence.”
This strategy could fool Eight-pointed’s lower-level extraordinary beings, but it wouldn’t deceive the higher-level ones. However, for the two high-ranking members of Eight-pointed, they had to continuously monitor the Mirror Moon Church and couldn’t act rashly. They believed the high-ranking member from Prith was plotting against the church, so they wouldn’t leave Gramorn lightly. The replacement operation had to be left to subordinates. Indeed, if either of them left Gramorn, Dorothy would risk all her resources to perform the ritual.
“The release of the real advance team must wait for the right moment. Now, the fake advance team might be replaced again. Let’s see how they perform…”
Gazing at the bright moon outside, Dorothy thought to herself. Her current task was to wait patiently.
…
Time passed quickly, and soon the “advance team” from the Tivyán church arrived in Gramorn. At Gramorn Station, when the five members of the “advance team” in clerical attire stepped off the train, they were met by representatives from the Gramorn church. Of course, Vania, the leader of the pilgrimage group, was present.
After the meeting, they had a small gathering, introducing each other’s situations. The Gramorn church suggested that the advance team rest before inspecting the temple. The advance team agreed to conduct a preliminary inspection at the temple.
Finally, under Vania’s lead, the “advance team” crossed the wide Twinkling Star Lake, arriving at the center of the lake where the church stood. In this uniquely styled church, the “advance team” began their investigation.
Then, in Vania’s and her guard’s view, the five members of the “advance team” scattered around the church, carefully observing every detail. After thorough checks, a brown-haired nun approached Vania and said:
“Vania, we have a preliminary understanding of this church.”
“Hmm… You… Are you called Sister Gray? Can you tell me what you’ve discovered?” Vania recalled the nun’s name from her introduction and asked. The so-called “Sister Gray” responded immediately.
“This church is a temple dedicated to an Other God. It belongs to a faith in Prith that worships lakes and the moon. The Prith church had almost sanctified this Other God’s relics centuries ago. Who would have thought such a grand church would reappear here.”
“An Other God’s faith… Unexpectedly, a church so similar to the Holy Church belongs to a different sect… I thought it was one of the heretical branches…”
Listening to the nun’s words, Vania couldn’t help but respond thoughtfully. At this moment, “Sister Gray” spoke again.
“Although this church is large, there isn’t anything particularly important inside. Vania, you don’t need to waste too much time here. You can hand over the church to us and continue your pilgrimage. We will investigate while waiting for reinforcements from Tivyán.”
“Sister Gray” said to Vania, who immediately replied:
“Hand over the church to you now… No, no, Sister Gray. There are only five of you. Is it really enough to protect such a large church? It would be better if we continue guarding it for a while until reinforcements from Tivyán arrive. We don’t lack this time. Safety comes first. Once the reinforcements arrive, we can continue our pilgrimage.
“After all, ensuring the sanctification ceremony proceeds safely and bringing this magnificent temple under the glory of the Lord is the most important thing now. Nothing should go wrong. For this, the pilgrimage can be temporarily put aside.”
Vania stated matter-of-factly to “Sister Gray.” Hearing Vania’s words, “Sister Gray” paused, unsure how to respond, and finally said slowly:
“Thank you for your consideration, Vania…”
“Sister Gray” replied, her eyes turning slightly as if recalling something, and then she continued:
“Oh, Vania, from your words, it seems you are quite interested in the sanctification ceremony…”
