NOVPUBSouthwest Pritt, under the cover of night, the endless fields stretch out as the steam train continues to roar forward. Inside the first-class carriage at the front of the train, an eerie silence has fallen. Almost all the passengers are in a deep, death-like slumber. However, in one particular compartment, the atmosphere is anything but quiet.
At this moment, in Gregor’s compartment, a fierce close-quarters brawl is underway. The assassin disguised as a train conductor had attempted to kill Gregor while he was "asleep." However, Dorothy, using the Marionette Mark she had placed on Gregor, took control of his body and launched a sudden counterattack. Caught off guard, the assassin lost the upper hand and was instead subjected to a brutal beating.
Using the sleepwalking ability of the little fox, Dorothy successfully drew the Marionette Mark on Gregor’s body, allowing her to control his sleeping form. While Dorothy’s corpse marionette control has a range limit of ten kilometers, controlling a living marionette has no such restriction. As long as there is a Marionette Mark to serve as an interface for the spiritual threads, she can manipulate the marionette from any distance.
Dorothy remotely controlled her brother’s body, cornering the assassin in the compartment and relentlessly pummeling him. Thanks to the element of surprise, Gregor landed a devastating blow to the assassin’s groin right at the start. The intense pain threw the assassin off balance, leaving him unable to focus and defend himself. As a result, he was pinned against the wall and subjected to a relentless barrage of punches. Gregor’s fists rained down on the assassin’s body and face, breaking his nose and knocking out teeth.
In the dream world, Gregor’s consciousness, manifested as a black hound, and the little fox sat together, watching the live feed of the brawl through Gregor’s physical perspective. The little fox, excited by the spectacle, wagged her tail furiously.
"Oh~ That punch was solid! Ooh~ Another kick! Hit his face! Hit his face! Beat him! Nice~"
The little fox cheered as she watched the thrilling fight, occasionally extending her front paws to mimic punching motions, like an enthusiastic spectator at a boxing match. If she could stand upright, she would have been clapping and cheering.
In contrast, the expression on the black hound’s face—Gregor’s consciousness—was far more complicated. As the true owner of the body, watching someone else control his form to beat up another person, all while experiencing it in first-person, was an incredibly surreal experience for Gregor.
Of course, this wasn’t the only bizarre aspect of the situation. In this live feed, the face of the person being beaten was identical to Gregor’s own. Seeing his own familiar face, the one he saw every day in the mirror, being bloodied and distorted on the screen, left Gregor at a loss for words to describe his current emotions.
“I... in my own dream, watching someone else use my body to mercilessly beat up my own face... From ancient times to the present, there’s probably no one in the world who has experienced something like this…”
Gregor thought to himself, feeling a mix of emotions. Watching his own face being punched was indeed a unique experience, especially when he saw the assassin, who shared his face, take a devastating blow to the groin. He couldn’t help but feel a phantom pain himself.
“That follower of the divine being Aka... really doesn’t hold back…”
Gregor thought to himself. Meanwhile, the first-person brawl on the screen continued, though it was nearing its end.
The assassin, disguised as a train conductor, was a Shadow Facade, a Black Earth-rank Beyonder with Shadow as his primary path and Chalice as his auxiliary. He possessed Black-rank Shadow and Apprentice-rank Chalice constitution, making him exceptionally skilled in close combat under normal circumstances. Shadow granted him superhuman reflexes and agility, as well as the ability to enhance the sharpness of his blades with Shadow Enchantment. Combined with the physical enhancement from Chalice, he should have been a formidable opponent.
As a Black Earth-rank assassin, he should have easily overpowered Gregor, who is only an Apprentice-rank Shadow. Under normal circumstances, Gregor would have stood no chance in a direct confrontation.
However, the current situation was far from normal. Dorothy had used the Devouring Sigil to enhance Gregor’s physical abilities, effectively giving him an additional Apprentice-rank Chalice boost. This narrowed the gap between Gregor and the assassin to just one rank of Shadow, which primarily affected speed and agility.
But to fully utilize the advantages of speed and agility, one needed sufficient space to maneuver. Unfortunately for the assassin, the cramped compartment left him with no room to dodge or counterattack. Cornered against the wall, his agility was rendered useless. Combined with the initial sneak attack that left him reeling from a devastating blow to the groin, the assassin was left unable to focus and could only endure the beating.
Thus, with the combined advantages of the Devouring Sigil, the sneak attack, and the confined environment, Dorothy used Gregor’s Apprentice-rank body to mercilessly beat down a Black Earth-rank assassin, pinning him against the wall and pummeling him relentlessly.
Finally, Dorothy seized an opportunity. She controlled Gregor’s body to wrestle the dagger from the nearly defenseless assassin’s hand and, after pinning him down, plunged it into his chest, directly into his heart. The assassin, dressed as a train conductor, struggled briefly before falling completely silent, dying at Gregor’s hands.
Afterward, Dorothy had Gregor’s body slowly stand up and look down at the now motionless corpse. The face of the corpse began to shift and change rapidly, eventually settling into the visage of an unfamiliar man.
In the dream, Gregor’s consciousness and the little fox watched this scene unfold through the live feed. The little fox couldn’t help but exclaim in surprise.
"That guy... is dead? And his face changed again... Is this what Grandpa called a Shadow Facade? A Beyonder from the Shadow path who can change their appearance... Hey, black dog, how did you manage to piss off a Shadow Facade?"
The little fox turned to Gregor and asked, while Gregor, relieved, responded.
"Phew... I don’t know. I haven’t provoked anyone like this. They didn’t come after me out of personal vendetta... They wanted my identity..."
With the assassin dead, Gregor felt a wave of relief, but it was quickly followed by contemplation about the assassin’s motives.
Previously, Gregor hadn’t understood why a small-time Apprentice-rank Beyonder like himself, with no classified missions or sensitive cargo, would be targeted. What value did he have that would warrant such an elaborate assassination attempt? Now, it was clear—the assassins were after his identity, specifically his recent promotion from a regional Hunter to a position in the central bureau.
By killing him on the train and using their shape-shifting abilities to assume his identity, they could seamlessly infiltrate the central bureau. As a newcomer with only paperwork to his name, it would be easy for them to blend in without raising suspicion.
This was why the assassins needed to kill him silently—any disturbance would jeopardize their plan.
"Huh? Your identity?"
The little fox asked, puzzled. In response, text appeared in the dream space.
"That’s right... Miss Fox might not know this, but the face this assassin changed into earlier was Hunter Gregor’s. He likely planned to kill Gregor, assume his identity, and infiltrate the Serenity Bureau."
As the text appeared, Gregor in the compartment turned to look at his reflection in the window. The little fox could vaguely make out that the reflection’s face closely resembled the assassin’s before it changed.
"Ah... so that guy was mimicking your face earlier, black dog? Hmm... could you move a bit closer? I can’t see clearly..."
The little fox asked curiously, while Gregor, in his black hound form, spoke solemnly.
"Thank you for your assistance! I won’t forget your help. Although the immediate danger has passed, the drug’s effects are still strong, and I can’t wake up yet. So, could you please hide the body in a cabinet or under the bed? We don’t want anyone on the train to find it and cause a commotion. Once I reach my destination, I’ll notify my colleagues to handle it. Someone will be waiting for me at the station."
Gregor expressed his gratitude to the mysterious follower of Aka, who quickly responded. New text appeared before him.
"Hide the body? Heh... Hunter Gregor, there’s no need for such trouble. This assassin likely prepared a method for disposing of the body, and I bet it’s quite convenient."
"A convenient method for disposing of the body?"
Gregor tilted his head slightly, puzzled. Dorothy then controlled Gregor’s body to crouch down and search the assassin’s corpse.
Before long, Dorothy found what she was looking for—a Chalice sigil. Dorothy had seen this type of sigil before.
Back in Igwynt, when she was still opposing the Eucharist, Dorothy had used a high-interest loan shark named Corey as bait to lure out Clifford, a Crimson Eucharist operative hiding in White Pearl Street. After killing Corey, Clifford’s underlings used a similar sigil to vaporize Corey’s flesh.
"This is... a Flesh-Dissolving Sigil!"
The moment Gregor’s body retrieved the sigil, he exclaimed. The little fox, curious, tilted her head and asked.
"A Flesh-Dissolving Sigil? What’s that?"
"It’s a Chalice sigil that causes the residual Chalice spirituality in a corpse to react, rapidly evaporating the flesh. I’ve dealt with a Blood Feast Method-aligned Chalice before, and they used this sigil to dispose of bodies. The fact that this guy had one on him... he probably planned to use it on my corpse after killing me."
Gregor explained, and the little fox nodded in understanding. Her knowledge of mysticism world came almost entirely from her grandfather, who, while experienced, couldn’t possibly teach her everything.
"Correct, this is a Flesh-Dissolving Sigil... specifically designed to dissolve flesh from corpses. If things had gone slightly differently earlier, this sigil would have been used on Hunter Gregor."
Text continued to appear in the dream space. Seeing this, Gregor spoke again.
"Sir, are you suggesting we use this Flesh-Dissolving Sigil to dispose of the assassin’s body? If so, I don’t think it’s necessary right now. Keeping the body intact might allow my colleagues to find clues and trace the assassin’s origins."
"Clues? Heh... Hunter Gregor, a massive clue is right in front of you, and you haven’t even noticed it yet?"
With a hint of mockery, Dorothy sent a message to Gregor’s dream. Seeing the new text, the black hound’s expression froze.
"A massive clue? Where?"
Frowning, Gregor pondered, wondering if he had missed some detail. But no matter how hard he thought, he couldn’t figure it out. New text then appeared to explain.
"Hunter Gregor, have you considered why the assassins went through so much trouble to drug you before killing you? It was to ensure you couldn’t resist and cause a disturbance. Their goal was to assume your identity, so your death had to be completely silent, with no one noticing.”
"Your death couldn’t be noticed by anyone, and your body couldn’t be discovered afterward. Therefore, disposing of your body on this train became a major challenge."
The text appeared before Gregor and the little fox. After reading it, Gregor nodded in understanding. If Gregor’s death was noticed or his body was found, their plan to assume his identity would fail.
"So, they planned to kill me while I was in a drug-induced deep sleep, then use the Flesh-Dissolving Sigil to dispose of my body?"
Gregor asked, and the text confirmed.
"Exactly. Once their plan succeeded, your body would need to be carefully disposed of. It couldn’t be left on the train for future passengers or staff to discover, nor could it be thrown out the window for passersby to find. For them... the safest method was to use the Flesh-Dissolving Sigil, turning your body into bones, which could then be packed into a suitcase and taken off the train."
The text in the dream space explained, and Dorothy turned Gregor’s gaze toward the compartment door, where a large suitcase stood. The assassin had brought it in when he entered the compartment and left it there. Previously unnoticed, it now drew Gregor and the little fox’s attention.
"I see! That suitcase was meant to hold black dog’s bones!"
The little fox exclaimed, and Gregor nodded in agreement. The suitcase’s purpose was obvious.
"Miss Fox is correct... That suitcase was likely intended to hold Hunter Gregor’s bones. While the Flesh-Dissolving Sigil can dissolve flesh, it can’t destroy bones. So, the bones would need to be handled separately. Fortunately, a pile of bones is much easier to manage than a full corpse. Once disassembled, a suitcase like this would suffice."
Dorothy explained, and Gregor nodded in understanding. However, after a moment of thought, he asked.
"Hmm... Your analysis makes sense, but... where is this clue you mentioned?"
"Still haven’t figured it out? Hunter Gregor, while turning a corpse into bones makes it easier to handle, it still needs to be disposed of. To ensure no traces are left, someone would need to carry that suitcase off the train... But who would perform this task?"
New text appeared in the dream, and Gregor answered without hesitation.
"Naturally, the assassin. After killing me, he could carry an extra suitcase... Wait..."
Suddenly, Gregor seemed to realize something. After a brief pause, he continued.
"Wait... After killing me, the assassin would assume my identity. But as me, he couldn’t carry a suitcase of bones off the train. At the station, colleagues from the central bureau would be waiting to greet me, and my luggage would be handled by them, possibly even inspected. That would risk exposure!”
"Similarly, the suitcase couldn’t simply be thrown out the window or left at a stop along the way. If left unattended, there’s still a risk of someone finding it and reporting it."
Gregor muttered to himself. After multiple hints, he finally understood Dorothy’s point.
"If they wanted to ensure the safe transfer of the bones in the suitcase, the best and safest method would be to have another person on the train—someone other than the assassin. After the assassination, the assassin would hand the suitcase to this person, who would then carry it off the train as an ordinary passenger.”
"This means... there’s another accomplice on this train!"
Gregor concluded, and Dorothy responded with a smile.
"Exactly. Based on the current situation, the probability is high. Hunter Gregor, if handled properly, this accomplice could provide valuable clues. If you don’t mind, I might be able to use your body to find the hidden accomplice."
Dorothy’s words appeared before Gregor, who paused for a moment before speaking seriously.
"Your wisdom is impressive. Thank you for guiding me through this... But for you, hasn’t the apostle assigned task been completed? Why are you still helping me?"
Gregor asked the mysterious follower of Aka with some confusion. The response came quickly.
"Don’t worry, Hunter Gregor. I mean you no harm. The reason I’m continuing to help you find this accomplice is simply because, as a detective, I have a natural interest in solving mysteries..."
"A detective..."
"That follower of Aka... is a detective?"
Seeing the new text, Gregor and the little fox muttered to themselves. After some thought, Gregor made a decision.
"I understand, Detective. Please help me find the assassin’s accomplice..."
Gregor said. In his mind, if this mysterious detective had any ill intentions, there had been countless opportunities to act, especially since they currently controlled his body.
"Thank you for your trust, Hunter Gregor. Let’s begin."
Dorothy sent a new message to Gregor and the little fox, then resumed remotely controlling Gregor’s body in the compartment. She first had Gregor place the Flesh-Dissolving Sigil on the assassin’s body, watching as his flesh rapidly disintegrated into wisps of smoke. To ventilate the compartment, she opened the window slightly.
Soon, the assassin’s flesh had completely evaporated, leaving behind a skeleton. Dorothy then had Gregor retrieve the large suitcase by the door, open it, and place it on the floor. She began carefully placing the assassin’s bones inside, one by one.
