Chapter 172

Chapter 172: Vanna’s Discovery

Vanna stood quietly at the stairs leading down to the underground sanctum, looking at the black door that had just restored itself before everyone’s eyes.

Three hours earlier, she had led her team to this abandoned cathedral. Inside, she saw warm and bright lamplight, a main hall that looked completely normal, a nun quietly at prayer, and a clean and tidy pulpit.

Two hours earlier, she had shaken off that obviously strange “nun”, led the Guardians to find the underground sanctum, and, after opening the sanctum door, finally seen the truth inside—an underground space buried in darkness, a sword-wielding nun who seemed to have fallen in battle only a short time ago, battle marks all over the cellar, and no sign at all of the intruders.

Two minutes earlier, she had finished a careful search of the underground sanctum. Together with her subordinates, she had carried the nun’s body out, planning to send it to the central cathedral for an autopsy and burial.

Then, once the nun’s body was brought outside the sanctum, it turned into ash in front of everyone and scattered on the wind. At the same time, the basement door that had been violently pried open two hours ago returned in a blink to its original state. Now it stood quietly at the end of the stairs, as if mocking the explorers standing on the steps.

“Inquisitor…” A Guardian warrior with a short beard stepped close to Vanna’s side, his voice low. “There seems to be some kind of space-time loop here…”

Vanna nodded lightly and said nothing.

What rose up in her mind instead was last night’s horrifying dream, and Captain Duncan, who had invaded and corrupted that dream.

The ghost captain’s words in the dream echoed in her head: “If you truly care about the safety of the city-state, you might as well go to the Sixth District and take a look at that small cathedral…

“I am very curious what you will find there…”

Was this what that “Captain Duncan” had wanted her to see? A sealed loop of time and space, a small cathedral corrupted and cut off by some unknown power, and a nun who died fighting mysterious intruders? Why did he want her to see these things? What did everything here mean?

Vanna frowned hard. When she set out this morning, her mind had been full of the Vanished and whatever scheme that ghost captain might be hiding. She had wondered if guiding her to this small cathedral was some way to corrupt or attack her as an Inquisitor. But now she suddenly began to doubt that first judgment.

Could it be… that the ghost captain really only wanted to give her a clue? Like some eager passerby… reporting a heretic in the city-state to her?

This thought surfaced in Vanna’s mind. Not long ago, she had said the same thing to Bishop Valentine in a joking tone. But now she could not help running that joke through her mind again, a joke so absurd it reached the level of Subspace.

The next second, the young Inquisitor shivered, and her expression sharpened.

She was actually starting to think about that ghost captain in a “harmless” way. This had to be the effect of his mental corruption! She must not let herself go down that path…

“Inquisitor?” Her subordinate’s voice sounded again beside her, waking Vanna from her daze. The short-bearded Guardian looked quite worried. “Did you… hear or see something?”

“…No. My mind is very clear.” Vanna shook her head and spoke to this rather reliable subordinate. She knew this man had met with Bishop Valentine before they set out, and that he was likely carrying the task of “watching” her, his own commander. She felt no resentment at all about this—after all, she had suffered corruption from Captain Duncan. At a time like this, even going on a mission in chains would have been normal.

“The time and space here have reset. Should we go down and look again?” the subordinate asked.

Vanna thought for a moment, then turned her head and asked: “What is the ‘nun’ in the main hall doing now?”

“She is still at prayer,” a Guardian who had just returned from the main hall answered at once. “It seems nothing we do outside the main hall can draw her attention.”

“Good.” Vanna nodded slightly. Her gaze fell on the door at the end of the stairs. After a long pause, she bit her lip. “We are going down again.”

She led the Guardians back to the entrance of the underground sanctum and pushed the door once more, feeling the familiar resistance. The door was being held from the other side. It was the nun’s body.

Last time, she had told her subordinate to pry the hinges with a crowbar and open a path while damaging the door’s runes as little as possible.

This time, she placed her hand on the door panel, took a soft breath, then suddenly clenched her hand into a fist and knocked once, very fast.

In a hundredth of a second, the whole door trembled in a way no human senses could catch. Then the sturdy door suddenly shattered into endless dust. Wood splinters and metal powder drifted down and were blown aside by the aura swirling around Vanna.

The nun’s body toppled from behind the door. She had no extra damage beyond the wounds she already carried.

Only then did the Guardians at the scene hear a very deep hum. It spread as if it were drilling into their brains, then faded again in a blink.

The warriors turned awed gazes toward the young Inquisitor, but Vanna was used to such looks. With a long sword on her back, she drew the consecrated lantern from her belt with her left hand and stepped forward as soon as the door burst apart.

The glow of the consecrated lantern lit the dark underground space once again. Everything she saw was exactly the same as the first time she had come in. As expected, time and space here had already returned to the starting point.

After another detailed search, Vanna and the warriors returned to the fallen nun’s side.

Not long ago, Vanna had tried to carry this nun’s body out of the underground sanctum. Now she already understood that this body was probably like the warped time and space here. It had become part of the closed loop and could no longer leave this place.

She let her gaze rest quietly on the nun’s bloodstained face. Vanna did not know how long she stayed lost in thought before she suddenly whispered: “You are still fighting in this looping time and space…”

The underground sanctum fell into a brief silence, until a Guardian’s voice suddenly broke it: “Inquisitor, what do you think… she was really fighting against?”

Vanna thought quietly. After a long time, she raised her head with a thoughtful look and began to lay out the information point by point:

“The underground sanctum is an excellent place for a seal. Once the door closes, it becomes a cage.

“The cathedral’s Guardian unit is missing, and it is clear they did not take part in the battle in the underground sanctum.

“The nun locked herself in here and came in carrying a weapon. That means she already foresaw a battle before she entered.

“There are no traces of intruders here. But if time and space here form a closed loop, the intruders should also be trapped in that loop. No matter how fast they ran, in the instant we opened the door, they could not have had time to erase every trace…”

The Guardians beside her listened to each point their commander made. One of them suddenly reacted: “A cleric only seals themself in like that and prepares for a ‘final battle’ in one case…”

“Yes. Only one case.” Vanna spoke softly and slowly stood up. “When a cleric discovers that a gate to Subspace is about to open inside their own soul.”

“Subspace invasion!” a Guardian gasped in a low voice. “What she was fighting here… was her own shadow?! But… but how is that possible? This is a cathedral, and…”

“And no one received any alarm from this cathedral,” Vanna cut in before the subordinate could finish. She knew very well how many things were wrong here. “A cleric who is completely corrupted by Subspace becomes a vessel and opens a gate to Subspace inside their soul. But that process usually takes time. In a place like this cathedral, even if things were urgent, the watchers here should have had a chance to send out an alarm. Yet it seems the corruption that struck this nun advanced very fast… so fast that she only had time to grab a sword and lock herself in here…”

She paused, then went on, thinking aloud: “…It is also possible the alarm was sent, but because of Subspace interference, it never reached beyond the cathedral.”

“…But this is not a ship sailing at sea,” a nearby Guardian warrior muttered in disbelief. “We are on land. The cathedral is under wide protection. How could Subspace power corrupt a priest so quickly and also cut off all contact with the outside for this whole area?”

“You are right. It does not make sense. Nothing here makes sense. But even stranger is this…” Vanna said softly as she looked around the underground sanctum. The light of the consecrated lantern shone over the dark walls and pillars. In the shifting light and shadow, it felt as if countless evil secrets hid there. “If Subspace once corrupted this place, then where did it go?”