Deep Sea Embers

Chapter 172 “Vanna’s Discovery”

Vanna stood quietly in front of the stairs leading to the underground sanctuary, her eyes locked onto the black door that had just been restored before everyone’s eyes.

Three hours earlier, she had led the team to the deserted chapel and examined the interior. It was business as usual. Warm with bright lights, a silently praying nun, and a clean and tidy pulpit.

Two hours ago, she got rid of the nun who was obviously abnormal before leading the guardians to the underground sanctuary here. After prying open the black door, that’s when she saw the truth—a dark underground space, a sword-wielding nun who seemed to have died in battle not long ago, traces of combat all over the walls and floors, and the missing intruders.

Two minutes earlier, she had completed a detailed investigation of the underground chapel, and together with her subordinates, they had taken the deceased nun out of the underground chapel and prepared to send the corpse for autopsy and burial at the main cathedral. However, right as the body had left the chapel grounds, it crumbled into dust in plain view. In addition, the basement door, which had been violently broken two hours earlier, returned to its original state as if mocking the explorers still standing at the staircase.

“Inquisitor…” a bearded guardian approached Vanna from the side, “there seems to be some kind of space-time closed loop here…”

Vanna nodded lightly and said nothing.

What came to her mind then wasn’t how freaky the chapel was, but rather the words she heard from the terrifying “Captain Duncan” who invaded her dream last night.

If you really care about the safety of the city, then why not go to the sixth block and check the chapel out…

I’m looking forward to what you will find there…

Is this what that “Captain Duncan” wanted me to see? A locked space-time loop, a chapel polluted and isolated by some unknown force, a nun who fought to the death against a mysterious invader? And what does everything mean here?

The frown on Vanna’s face had deepened. When she set out this morning, she only had the Vanished and its ghost captain in mind, but now, she’s starting to doubt her own judgement at being so wrong.

Could it be… is that ghost captain really just trying to give me a clue? Like an enthusiastic passerby… reporting heresy when found?

The thought was meant to be as a joke with Bishop Valentine before, yet she couldn’t shake off this notion that it might be true.

In the next second, the young inquisitor shuddered as her expression froze in horror. It finally dawned on her how ludicrous the idea was in the first place. As a nun of the Storm Church, such an idea should never have even crossed her mindset.

“Inquisitor?” The subordinate’s voice came from the side again, waking Vanna from her distraction, “You are… did you hear or see something?”

“…… No, I’m sane.” Vanna shook her head and said to the seemingly reliable subordinate. She knew that this subordinate had been in contact with Bishop Valentine before departure, and most likely charged with supervising herself during these trying times. Naturally, the lady didn’t have any complaint about the arrangement. In fact, if she was to be shackled during the operation, it would still be normal in her eye.

“The time and space here have been reset, shall we go down and take a look again?” The subordinate asked again.

Vanna faintly sighed and shook her head: “What is the situation with the fake nun inside the main hall?”

“She’s still praying,” said a guardian who had just returned from the main hall, “as if any of our activities outside is unrelated.”

“I see,” Vanna nodded slightly, her gaze falling onto the black door leading to the underground sanctuary. “We’ll go take another look.”

She led the guardians to the entrance again, stepped forward and once again felt the familiar resistance from the black door—the body of the nun was barricading it from the opposite side.

Last time, she had to order her subordinates to pry it open with a crowbar.

This time though, she intends to do things a little bit different. First pressing her hand against the door panel, she takes a gentle breath before clenching her hand and starting knocking rapidly.

Within a hundredth of a second, the entire door vibrated at a speed imperceptible to the human senses. Next thing they knew, the solid barricade had crumbled into a pile of dust like its magic. This was the easiest and quickest method of removing the obstacle without damaging the nun’s body on the other side, which did the job as the nun fell over from the lack of support.

Only after all this was done and finished did the guardians hear the hum of the vibration. a sound that penetrated into their brain and dissipated in a flash. This drew a series of reverent glances from the guardians present here because it’s not easy to perform such a skill.

Not minding the worship coming her way, Vanna unsheathed the broadsword from her back and strode forward with the lamp in hand. The glow of the lantern once again illuminated the dark underground space, and the scene was exactly the same as when they remembered. As expected, time and space here have returned to the original point.

After another meticulous investigation, Vanna and the guardians returned to the dead nun lying next to the doorway.

Not long ago, Vanna had tried to take the nun out of the underground sanctuary, but now she had realized that the body might have become part of the “circular loop”. The nun could no longer leave this place…

Quietly gazing at the nun’s blood-stained face, Vanna didn’t know how long she had been pondering before she suddenly whispered, “Are you still fighting in this cycle…”

A brief silence fell over the underground sanctuary over her words, that was until the voice of one of the guardians suddenly broke the silence: “Inquisitor, what do you think… she was fighting against?”

Vanna contemplated the possibilities, and after a long while, she raised her head and analyzed the existing information one by one:

“The underground sanctuary is a perfect sealing environment, and when the gate is closed, it becomes the perfect cage.”

“The whereabouts of the church’s guardians are unknown, but it is clear that they did not participate in the battle in the underground church.”

“The nun locked herself here and came in with a weapon, which shows that she foresaw a battle before entering.”

“There are no traces of the intruders left here. Considering that the space-time here is a closed structure, the intruders should also be constantly looping along with the nun. If this is true, the intruders should’ve been inside when we entered regardless of their speed…”

The guardians next to her listened to the analysis before one of them suddenly reacted: “Only under one circumstance will the priesthood take the initiative to block themselves off and prepare for the ‘final battle’ like this…”

“Yes, there is only one situation that can warrant such drastic measures,” Vanna said softly. Slowly standing up, her expression turned grim: “When the priesthood discovers that a subspatial door is about to open from within their soul.”

“Subspace invasion!” Another guardian exclaimed in a low voice, “She’s here… to fight the shadow from within?! Bu-But how is this possible? This is a church, and…”

“And no one has ever received an alarm from this branch,” Vanna finished the sentence for her subordinate. Of course, she knew how wrong that sounded, “The priesthood who is completely polluted by subspace will become a carrier and open the door for evil to use; however, there is usually a process, especially in an environment like the church. Even if the matter is urgent, the watchman here should have had the opportunity to sound the alarm to those outside. However, it appears the contamination progressed so rapidly that it… she couldn’t do anything else aside from grabbing a sword to lock herself away…”

Speaking of this, she paused and added another theory that just cropped up: “… It may also be that the alarm was issued, but due to the interference of subspace, the alarm never reached the main cathedral outside.”

“…… But this is not a sailing ship out on the sea,” the guardian next to her muttered in disbelief, “This is land, and the church is under extensive protection. How can the power of subspace corrupt a priest so quickly and cut off external communication of the entire region?”

“You’re right, something terrible occurred here. I can sense this the second I entered…” Vanna glanced around the underground room by using the lantern’s light. Even from her distance, the walls and pillars making up the space was oozing with sinister secrets that she couldn’t fathom, “If subspace did pollute this chapel at some point, where did it all go now?”