A Powerful Martial Artist Reincarnates as a Nun Knight

Unable to even steady her trembling body, Phaerellyna fled crawling on the ground as she thought:
‘What is that? What is that? How can a human mind be so transparent, devoid of any reaction to all things?’

How could a human maintain such an utterly unperturbed mind, uninvolved with time, space, life, death, connections – even their own physical vessel and form of consciousness seemed to hold no sway over them.

The Dream Illusion spell functioned by detecting the fluctuations of the human mind. No matter how centered one was, there were always subtle stirrings of the mind.
One whose mind wavered was called human. One whose mind rampaged was deemed insane. Then what did one call an existence that had a mind, yet that mind did not stir?

‘A god…could it be?’

Surely not. Even if they were gods, that should be impossible. Otherwise, the cataclysmic Four Primordial Wars of the Bronze Age would not have occurred. Of course, that referred to the old gods, not the current ones, but Phaerellyna thought it unlikely the modern gods excelled their predecessors in that regard.

Then just what was that radiance, borne of one who had mastered the art of stilling the mind?

Phaerellyna shuddered at the power of that light. Had she known of its existence, she would never have chosen the path of witchcraft. Had she been aware, she would not have mocked the Church and luminous force. Perhaps the truest path to attaining supreme knowledge and wisdom was not the power of demons and outer realms, but…

“That’s enough.”

Sophia appeared before the fleeing Phaerellyna, barring her path.

“Eek!”
“After pulling such insolence, did you think you could simply flee? You truly are a shameless wretch.”
“If I had any shame left, I would never have become a demon.”

Hildegard approached, exuding an ominous aura.

“I said I’d show you what’s what once we broke free of the illusion, but you’re already in this sorry state when we wake up. It seems the backlash from Sophia dispelling the spell was greater than expected?”

“Don’t think this is the end for me!”

Phaerellyna roared erratically, attempting to unleash the remaining spells in her sockets. The greatest boon of becoming a demon was having five times more spell sockets compared to when human. While Phaerellyna originally had seven sockets, as a demon she now possessed thirty-five.

In other words, she could currently cast up to thirty-five spells per day. However, as Phaerellyna tried accessing her sockets, her face turned deathly pale.

“My spells, why…”

Her spells would not activate. Phaerellyna’s remaining sockets had become completely unresponsive to her will. Or rather, they did react, but only with meaningless ripples like malfunctioning circuitry.

Only then did Phaerellyna realize – in addition to the shock of having her Dream Illusion grand spell shattered, her exposure to the Immovable Bright King Heart Technique’s light, the Immovable Holy Radiance transcending even vile existences like her, had temporarily paralyzed all her spell sockets.

Panicked, Phaerellyna cried out desperately:
“The monsters, if you kill me, the monsters will run rampant!”
“Ah, is that it?”

Saying so, Sophia shrugged nonchalantly before stepping aside to show Phaerellyna their surroundings.

The scenes were chilling. First, ethereal monsters like wraiths and spectres had vanished without a trace. As for the undead, chimeras, and all manner of airborne or earthbound monsters – they lay sprawled lifeless on the ground.

Some twitched or spasmed intermittently, not completely dead, but utterly incapacitated beyond any combat ability.

“How is this…possible…?”

At the surreal sight exceeding her imagination, leaving Phaerellyna dumbstruck and trembling uncontrollably, Conra sympathetically provided an explanation:

“Our Master has quite the powerful voice, you see. It seems she let out another roar while dispelling the spell just now?”

While he hadn’t witnessed it directly, Conra’s past experiences lent credibility to his conjecture. Sophia nodded:

“You’re right, Conra. Though your phrasing is a bit awkward.”

As Sophia frowned and raised her hand to deliver a thwack, Conra yelped and hurriedly took cover behind Hildegard. However, Sophia’s strikes transcended physical space, so despite Hildegard’s cover, Conra was inevitably struck with a crisp thwacking sound, clutching his swelling forehead with a wail.

Despite this comical scene, Phaerellyna could not laugh. To her eyes, Sophia’s actions resembled some inhuman entity mimicking human emotions while wearing a human guise. This misconception arose from her ignorance of the Buddha and Laozi’s teachings, but at this moment, it felt undeniably real to Phaerellyna.

As she despaired, trapped with no escape, a faint whisper reached Phaerellyna’s ears:

{……?}

Like the whirring buzz of insects, yet containing clear intent if heeded closely – through her newfound demonic spiritual senses, Phaerellyna instantly comprehended this enigmatic murmur’s meaning:

‘You seem troubled. Shall I lend you aid?…’

Ridiculous. If it intended to help, it should have done so sooner. Yet Phaerellyna could not simply ignore the whisper, so desperate was her plight. She wished to live.

So lend your aid then. I shall surrender everything except my life and self-awareness.

As she assented mentally, a change occurred. Suddenly, Phaerellyna felt the paralysis lifting from one of her frozen spell sockets. Was this the whisper’s doing? Or mere chance?

Conveniently, the spell stored in that reopened socket was the Mist Form illusion – momentarily transforming the body into mist to evade physical attacks. With this, she could surely escape her predicament. Phaerellyna inwardly smirked.

This time, she had been too hasty and unprepared. But if she could extricate herself here, the next stage would differ. Having finally become a demon, she would fully utilize that empowered form to properly prepare and receive her executioners.

Carefully watching for an opening while the party’s attention lapsed, Phaerellyna finally unleashed the Mist Form spell formula.

Fwoosh – her body instantly transformed into mist, and within it, Phaerellyna strained to flee with all her might. Reveling in that fleeting sense of liberation, she almost let out a triumphant roar when…her disembodied head was suddenly grasped by Sophia, dangling helplessly in midair.

“Huh?”

More than dismay at this unbelievable situation, doubt arose first in Phaerellyna as she rolled her eyes frenetically.

“You truly are an incautious wench, attempting to escape by turning into mist amidst all that.”

Held by the head before Sophia, Phaerellyna met her gaze. Sophia’s two eyes shone with azure pupils that seemed to pierce the truth of all things like balefire.

By then, her previously mist-transformed body had fully reverted, the spell dispelled. With her divine eye fixing its true form, Sophia had deftly employed the Grasping Ephemera technique and Dissolution Mantra in time, containing the dissipating mists before infusing them with her own mana to shatter the spell itself.

‘Damn it, you said you’d help. Yet you were no help at all……’

At that moment, crack, Phaerellyna’s head shattered. Coated in a pale golden aura, Sophia’s hand dripped with the demon’s azure blood and violet brain fluids. Without delay, Sophia followed up by severing the head from the body. Hildegard handled dismembering the remainder of the torso.

All that was left was to burn the demonic flesh, steeped in malignant energy, into ash with consecrated holy oil.

It was at that very moment that the upheaval occurred.
The severed head’s upper nasal area disintegrated as the part below the neck levitated inexplicably, opening its mouth to speak:

{You’ve executed my subordinate quite thoroughly. That ruthless skill in leaving no openings – the Church’s dogs still have much to learn from your mastery.}
“The demon Phaerellyna made a pact with, I presume. Lurking in hiding only to finally show yourself now – what an impudent wretch you are.”

Luminous force began surging from Sophia’s body – a lingering golden radiance, the aftershocks of the Immovable Holy Radiance.