A Powerful Martial Artist Reincarnates as a Nun Knight

“This is… problematic.”
With arms folded, scratching her chin with her index finger, Sophia swallowed hard. Unable to conceal her troubled expression, she continually fidgeted with her chin.

“Indeed, this is quite complicated…”
Priestess Clermant shared Sophia’s consternation. Sister Agnès, standing beside her, also failed to hide her dismayed expression, likely due to her upbringing as the heir of a prestigious druid lineage that guided an entire region.

Upon subduing all the criminals in the basement’s hidden second-floor space, what greeted them were iron cages containing children abducted or purchased from various regions across the continent by the organization. Children of different races – human, dwarf, alv, leprechaun, orc, ogre, naga, lizardian, lycan – with varying ages and skin colors were imprisoned and abandoned in the underground cages.

However, their consternation did not stem merely from discovering the caged children. They had anticipated such a discovery and had established general protocols for responding to and handling such situations.

“Normally, we would inform the local city authorities and proceed to locate the children’s parents or guardians, but…”
Clermant trailed off with a troubled expression. Sophia empathized with her sentiment, inwardly lamenting, ‘This makes cooperating with the city authorities difficult.’

There were two reasons they could not follow standard procedures.

The first was due to a certain procedure inflicted upon the children within this Bordeaux hideout.

“Those madmen… Truly madmen…”
Gritting her teeth as she trembled, Clermant gazed at the ritual markings branded upon the children’s bodies. Sophia, too, fell silent with a displeased expression upon seeing the disturbing fire-brand depicting four intertwined orbits surrounding a human silhouette.

“Um, Lady Chagelle.”
“Speak.”
“What is that brand that has Priestess so…”
“Distraught and enraged?”
“Yes.”

With no prior knowledge, Agnès inquired about the brand with a puzzled expression. Sophia then explained its nature to the best of her understanding.

“Do you see the shape of the brand on the children’s bodies?”
At Sophia’s prompting, Agnès carefully observed the intertwined four orbits resembling tentacles, spreading from either side to cross over the human silhouette – a sinister, ominous emblem.

“That scar is called the ‘Sacrificial Brand’ – a curse employed by demon tribes, Sapphygons, and other malign extradimensional entities. No, to be precise, it is closer to a certification than a curse.”

“Certification… you mean? For what, exactly…?”
Trailing off, Agnès seemed to suppress a sickening notion. No, surely not, it couldn’t be – such thoughts briefly flickered through her mind, causing her heart to stir uneasily.

“You seem to have grasped it. Those bearing this brand lose their destiny as individuals and are instead destined to be sacrificed to the deities or malign extradimensional entities they revere. By offering such sacrifices, demons and Sapphygons can receive divine authority, ascend to higher esoteric arts, and acquire alchemy.”

“Their destiny is sealed… You mean!?”
“Yes. Even if one branded as a sacrifice survives the initial ritual, they will be hounded until death by all manner of fiends, evil spirits, and nightmares. To those of demonic nature, the misfortune, suffering, despair, and anguished cries of the branded are delectable nourishment. And when they finally die, their souls cannot reincarnate, instead becoming sustenance for sinister deities.”

“How could they… to these children…”
Agnès’s pupils shook as she stood aghast, mouth agape in shock. Though she had experienced human malice on numerous occasions, she was unfamiliar with the malice of inhuman entities. It was only natural, having never encountered such phenomena.

Yet upon learning of this realm she knew nothing about, Agnès’s psychological shock was immense.

The idea that not only one’s lifetime but even the potential refuge of the afterlife from worldly suffering could be utterly desecrated and mocked – Agnès could scarcely imagine such depravity and atrocity, her spine tingling involuntarily.

“To wholly consume an individual’s life, death, despair, sorrow, anguish, cries, destiny, body, and soul as mere sustenance – their very existence and way of being. For any righteous intelligent being, there can be no sharing the heavens with such entities.”

Some might argue that all things in this world consume each other to survive – to not be consumed is to live, to fail to consume is to die.

Moreover, among the continent’s races, some readily mistreated other animals and stripped them of their dignity for mere culinary indulgence, luxury, or amusement. Some even exploited and preyed upon their own kin, with extreme cases of cannibalism. In that context, one might question why only the consumption of the continent’s races by other entities provoked such outrage.

However, Sophia did not think so.

‘A sin does not become virtuous simply because it is committed openly.’

In Sophia’s view, the natural cycle of life consuming life, including internecine struggles for survival, could be considered an unavoidable original sin of existence. However, if such actions transgressed those bounds, they had to be acknowledged as vices and evil deeds.

‘Where sin is ignored, no redemption can exist.’

Moreover, if the subjects were the intelligent beings coexisting as civilized races on the continent – referred to as ‘people’ – and if their lives, deaths, despair, sorrow, anguish, cries, destinies, bodies, and souls were all consumed solely for the amusement and sustenance of those entities, then as a fellow ‘person’ and intelligent being of the continent, was it not only right to be outraged?

In this context, after hearing Sophia’s explanation of the ‘Sacrificial Brand,’ Agnès’s face paled before flushing with rage, her brow furrowed as wrath filled her expression.

“Those damn… bastards, how could they do this to children…”
‘Was her personality like this…?’

Sophia was slightly taken aback by the harsh language spewing from Agnès, who had previously maintained a demure demeanor. However, Clermant, who had accompanied Agnès, did not seem particularly surprised by her outburst.

‘I suppose she has these occasional fits…’

Sophia briefly pondered this before dismissing the thought. Compared to the grave matter before them, such trivial details were not worth dwelling on.

“Since they bear the Sacrificial Brand, we cannot simply release them without taking measures.”
Liberating the children without any recourse would be irresponsible. Not only would it disregard their plight, but allowing children who had become innately attractive to demonic and malformed entities to disperse across the continent would undoubtedly cause considerable turmoil.

Even within this hideout’s structure, the children’s ‘sacrificial’ markings were concealed. But if these children were exposed to the outside air, evil spirits and fiends drawn by their scent would inevitably gather and lurk nearby.

To ensure the children’s well-being, specialists adept at dealing with such demons and malformed entities would be required.

Ultimately, the Church’s involvement became necessary.

“This has certainly escalated.”
“We have no choice. This, too, is a burden the Church must bear.”

As a Paladin nun knight, Sophia had frequently encountered such situations and promptly knew how to respond. Gathering her aura into her fingertips, she approached one of the children as Clermant inquired, “What are you planning to do?”

“Watch.”
As Sophia neared, the child recoiled in fright, attempting to retreat.

“Stay still.”
However, the child soon felt an unseen force restraining their movements – ether binding, spirit immobilization, or perhaps a paralysis spell. Some unprecedented power had completely bound the child’s actions.

“This will not harm you.”
Now before the child, Sophia raised her luminous, aura-condensed fingertips and touched the Sacrificial Brand on the child’s shoulder.

Suk, susuk. Surrounding the brand, a mandala began taking shape, layered upon itself. At its center was the Matrix Mandala, encircled by the Vajra Mandala on the outer rim, diagramming the pure Dharma Realm where truth endlessly emanates, followed by a simplified symbolic rendition.

As the mandala formed, the ‘Sacrificial Brand’s’ influence over the child’s body became increasingly isolated within its confines. Finally, upon completion, Sophia overlaid the Ten Sephiroth atop the brand.

The three celestial triangles of Ethical, Moral, and Spiritual; the three pillars of Justice, Compassion, and Consciousness; the flow of Creation descending from Kether to Malkuth and the path of Wisdom ascending from Malkuth to Kether; and finally, the twenty-two interconnecting paths between each Sephirah.

Each Sephirah embodied and manifested the primal divine world of Atziluth, the world of Creation and celestial bodies of Briah, the world of Angels of Yetzirah, and the material world of Assiah, without exception. And between these ten Sephiroth were twenty-two pathways.

Converting each path into its corresponding Hebrew letter and numerological value, then summing them from Aleph to Tav, totaled 777 – the number of Creation, legitimate sovereignty, supreme virtue and transcendent truth, and the patriarch capable of single-handedly absolving sinners, restoring servitude, repaying debts, and returning lost fields.

‘The Sacrificial Brand is etched upon the physical form. Carelessly tampering with it could harm the soul, making removal through spirit extraction difficult. The Immovable Sovereign Heart Technique could temporarily erase it, but it would eventually resurface.’

In Sophia’s view, the ideal solution would be for the children to master the Light of Illumination and Immovable Sovereign Heart Technique, healing their souls themselves. However, this method was too challenging, and she could not make clergy out of all these children, so it was rejected. Hence, Sophia chose this approach instead.

‘If it cannot be removed, then imprisoning and withering it will suffice.’

By the time the outer Sephiroth were complete, the brand had already been suppressed by their weight, unable to exert or withdraw any influence. Yet Sophia did not stop there.

‘Left alone, the diagram’s power might eventually wane, allowing the brand to resurface. So I shall seal it.’

The moment the unseen world beyond Kether – the 3rd Realm, the ineffable void of Ain, the infinite nothingness of Ein Sof, and finally, the primal light of Ein Sof Aur – were inscribed, a sacred azure radiance emanated from Ein Sof Aur, imbuing the Sephiroth with inexhaustible vitality.

When the light faded, the unsightly Sacrificial Brand on the child’s shoulder had vanished, imprisoned within the Dharma Realm and neutralized by the Matrix Mandala and Sephiroth.

“Huh, you erased the brand?”
“Not quite. This Sacrificial Brand is too malicious to simply erase.”

Sophia replied wryly, explaining that outright erasure, though possible, would be too taxing for the children to endure.

“So instead, I’ve confined and suppressed its effects through neutralization. A brand is still a form of ritual. Cut off from its host’s nourishment, it will inevitably wither.”

In essence, she had overwhelmed the brand with ‘sanctity,’ withering it to the point of losing functionality and burying it beneath the new inscribed patterns.

It was akin to the phial of Purifying Water she had drawn from Mageka’s tray. By isolating the inner and outer realms through the mandala’s barrier and filling the interior with sanctity, leaving no room for impurities which served as the brand’s fuel, the brand would inevitably wither away.

“Imprisoning, burying, and neutralizing through withering – perhaps that is the only solution against this accursed brand.”
“As long as we safeguard their souls until they enter the river of reincarnation. For this brand’s true terror lies in preventing the souls of the dead from reincarnating, leaving them as sustenance for sinister deities.”

Upon death, a soul would typically enter the river of reincarnation to cleanse the worldly impurities accumulated throughout life, shed unnecessary baggage, and heal any spiritual wounds. Once a soul immersed itself in that river, the process would proceed unimpeded.

The Sacrificial Brand could be considered a form of ‘unnecessary impurity’ and ‘spiritual wound.’ If the soul could successfully merge with the river of reincarnation, there would be no further concerns.

“Fortunately, with Agnès’s aid, I should be able to manage this approach.”
“Even so, this method seems too laborious. An alternative would be preferable.”

Shaking her head in dissatisfaction, Sophia acknowledged Clermant’s point.

“Indeed, manually inscribing the necessary barrier and suppression patterns is troublesome… We should create a talisman tool in stamp form.”
“Do you have a trustworthy source in mind?”
“Hmm? Bordeaux was once my backyard. A place has come to mind. Let’s entrust it there for now.”

Sophia and Agnès agreed to follow Clermant’s suggestion, as neither had significant connections in the Bordeaux region.

“Very well, let’s handle that issue this way.”
However, resolving the first problem did not eliminate the second.

The three frowned, confronted by the remaining dilemma.