A Powerful Martial Artist Reincarnates as a Nun Knight

Though engulfed in eerie darkness, Sophia’s eyes could perceive her surroundings as clearly as daylight. The estate’s appearance proved breathtakingly magnificent – its overall structure, decorative elements and intricate details exuded an exquisite harmony of opulence and antiquity befitting the regent’s residence. Even to Sophia, familiar with the Seventh Prince’s manor, this edifice radiated architectural grandeur.

All corridor lanterns remained unlit. Even for a regent, illuminating every passage lamp throughout the night proved impractical.

Recalling the rough layout from Joseph Hiltmann’s provided maps, Sophia proceeded cautiously and unhurriedly. Then, from an intersecting hallway:

“Aargh, I really hate night patrol duty…”

Faint footsteps accompanied the muted grumbling as a lantern’s glow emerged from the perpendicular corridor bend. As the flickering illumination neared, a maidservant rounded the corner.

“The elite lords have it easy, spared such graveyard shifts. Had I been born into nobility, I could have served as a proper lady’s maid instead of this menial role.”

Though grumbling aloud, the maid failed to detect the ceiling-adhered Sophia utilizing concealment techniques. As her fading footsteps receded, Sophia felt a pang of regret.

Tonight’s inevitable incident at the regent’s estate would likely implicate this unsuspecting maid, preventing her from avoiding responsibility.

Yet the necessary deeds could not be averted. Clicking her tongue, Sophia quickened her pace.

Several more night patrols appeared, reflecting the estate’s sheer scale necessitating multiple roving shifts.

The regent’s concubines occupied the second floor’s eastern wing. Locating the third door at that wing’s end, Sophia unhesitatingly approached her destination.

Pausing before the door, she discreetly extended her spiritual senses to probe within – detecting only a single presence. The concubine seemed to have dismissed any attendants to their own quarters.

At first glance, the sensed aura resembled that of an ordinary Alb woman.

As seafaring nomads, the Albs had once infamously scoured the Mediterranean and North Seas as pirates before the Church’s civilizing outreach gradually integrated them. Yet their unique auras still evoked briny ocean zephyrs.

While this room’s presence did exude such maritime airs, Sophia detected an underlying dissonance:

‘Something feels excessively artificial about it.’

More precisely, it projected an overly stereotypical Alb aura.

Though Albs shared oceanic essences, their individual temperaments naturally varied like the Mediterranean’s breezes differing from the North Sea’s gales, fluctuating with terrain and climate patterns.

Much less could a monolithic archetype encapsulate an entire race’s distinctive personae.

Yet the sensed aura closely approximated that very ‘unnaturally uniform’ archetype – raising Sophia’s suspicions enough to validate her assumptions through empirical testing.

For Sophia, that meant initiating unannounced assaults as verification procedures.

The moment she forced open the door, a golden-opalescent radiance erupted from Sophia, its brilliance extending like a luminous lance from her outstretched palm to envelop the room’s occupant.

“Kyaaaaaah!!”

The initially voiced scream transitioned into a psychic shriek, prompting Sophia’s fanged grin:

“So you reveal your true nature!”

Shedding the ordinary Alb woman’s guise, the aberrant demonic presence unleashed its malign energies – including the meticulously refined miasma Sophia could now detect, evidently utilized to conceal its diabolical aura from the Church’s scrutiny.

But that miasmic veil disintegrated under Sophia’s Immovable Bright King Technique’s revelation.

‘So this miasma enabled you to elude the Church’s detection until now.’

Resolving to apprise the cardinals later, Sophia initiated her radiant assault.

By superimposing the Permeating Insight and Crushing Mountain techniques while extending her spiritual senses outwards, she could strike airborne targets from afar – the “Void Strike” method alternatively termed “Martial Regulation” for harmoniously governing two disparate elemental disciplines.

Layering Void Strikes enabled not just attacking Lines and Planes, but ultimately dominating spherical spatial zones through the “Void Domain” – the “Cosmic Dominion” martial art deriving its nomenclature from Taoist cosmological principles of primordial chaos.

An all-encompassing crushing force manifested, ensnaring the demonic presence as it fully materialized.

Bound mid-air by Cosmic Dominion, the demon’s grotesque appearance exemplified its monstrous nature – a female human torso with four arms and dual heads fused to a serpentine naga lower body, its craniums and spine covered in wicked dorsal spines.

Sophia showed no hesitation assaulting this fiend. Before it could react, her unsheathed longsword pierced its chest the moment it materialized fully within her Cosmic Dominion’s grip.

A belated screech resounded as the demon perished with its spirit core obliterated before even comprehending its assailant.

This preemptive strike transcending visible processes embodied the Sword of Epiphany’s essence. Unless capable of perceiving Sophia’s very intent itself, no opponent could evade her space-rending swordplay.

Confirming the demon’s demise, Sophia reached ethereally to seize its remnant:

{Aaagh! Release me, monster!}

Grasping its diminutive spirit form, though its physical vessel perished, this demonic soul could eventually revive unlike common witches or cultists. Or worse, possess a fresh corpse or unborn fetus, drastically complicating matters.

So Sophia remained disinclined to release this soul instantly. But first, some interrogation seemed prudent.

“Cease your racket and remain silent.”

A thunderous crackling emanated from Sophia’s palm as her Thunder Sage’s neural discipline manifested. Accompanying that bzzt, the demon’s raucous shrieks transitioned into agonized wails as Sophia precisely modulated the discipline’s intensity – imparting sufficient subduing force without inadvertently obliterating the soul through shock.

Once the now docile spirit form fell respectfully mute, Sophia issued her ultimatum:

“Answer truthfully, and I shall grant you a painless dissolution.”
{Insolence! I am a proud demon – you shall extract no confessions from me!}

The demon’s defiance proved inevitable given Sophia’s stark choices. Yet its declarations only invited further ruthless persuasion:

{You would break me through torture?!}

The dispassionate, relentless neural discipline provided its sole response. Soon, the demonic soul found itself compelled to divulge everything it knew, in excruciating detail.