Chapter 18: Angel Dust’s Fury and an Unexpected Lift

“Boom—!!!”

A sudden whoosh of air erupted.

Lucia, with a surge of power, slashed all six of her gunblades simultaneously towards the Fallen Nun.

The gunblades sliced through the air, trailing six arcs of silvery white light.

“Ah! H-how is this possible!?”

On the rooftop, the Fallen Nun, who had been attempting to flee, was abruptly slammed against the wall by a powerful impact.

A tearing pain shot through her abdomen, accompanied by an intense burning sensation.

She instinctively shrieked, looking down to find a gunblade impaled through her abdomen, pinning her to the wall.

Swiftly following, the other five gunblades struck, piercing her arms, legs, and chest, utterly nailing her to the stone.

“Argh—!!!”

The burning sensation had now transformed into excruciating agony.

The Fallen Nun felt as though her entire body was being seared by holy flames.

These gunblades, forged from holy silver and imbued with divine blessings, were specifically crafted to combat such abominations.

Pinned by six such weapons, even if the Fallen Nun truly were a blood relative, escape was an impossibility.

“Speak! Who exactly are you? And why did you disguise yourself as a nun to murder my comrades!?”

At some point, Lucia had also ascended to the rooftop.

Conjuring new gunblades into her hands, she aimed a blade’s tip at the Fallen Nun’s head, her voice chillingly cold.

The Fallen Nun’s eyes were wide with nothing but incredulous shock.

How could Lucia, a mere human, and one whose nun’s vocation typically offered meager frontal combat capabilities, possibly overpower her in both speed and strength, especially now that she had become a blood relative?

Yet, the truth was, Lucia was no ordinary nun.

She was not only a Headhunting Nun, specialized in direct combat, but also the fated Angel Dust.

In a one-on-one confrontation, even an Impure-class vampire would struggle to gain an advantage in close quarters against her.

“Uh… don’t be so quick to judge. This one doesn’t seem like a true blood relative.”

Lovelenica climbed onto the rooftop using a ladder propped against the house.

While she could have leaped up like Lucia, not everyone possessed Lucia’s formidable physical prowess.

Moreover, she didn’t outwardly appear to be of the Knight class, and a direct jump might reveal her unusual physical strength to Lucia.

“She hasn’t displayed any vampire abilities from start to finish.”

“If she truly wished to escape, she could have simply transformed into a bat or some other form and fled.”

“In such a state, even if pierced by a gunblade, she wouldn’t be pinned to the wall. And look there.”

Lovelenica pointed towards the Fallen Nun’s shoulder.

“I only used a regular bullet earlier, yet she still hasn’t healed herself.”

As Lovelenica spoke, she approached the Fallen Nun.

“Are you truly a vampire? Unable to even self-heal, you’re at best a ghoul with self-awareness, aren’t you?”

Furthermore, Lovelenica detected a familiar aura emanating from the Fallen Nun.

It wasn’t the scent of her own kind, but something even more intimately familiar, yet utterly ineffable.

“Heh… heh heh.”

The Fallen Nun let out two faint, mocking laughs, her breath barely a whisper.

“Ghouls? Don’t you dare compare those things to me… they are merely a horde of lowly slaves… as for people like you, may you forever live under the Church’s deception…”

“You will never comprehend the vastness of the world… never experience the joy of eternal life, nor taste the exquisite flavor of blood…”

“Thwack—”

The sound of a blade piercing flesh echoed as Lucia, without waiting for the Fallen Nun to finish speaking, plunged her gunblade into the other’s heart.

“Who would ever want to taste such a thing? You, however, may savor torment in hell.”

With these words, Lucia released the hilt, and white holy flames instantly erupted along the gunblade’s length.

The Fallen Nun’s face contorted into a grotesque mask of agony, her entire visage twisting.

She desperately opened her mouth, which had once gnawed on human flesh, struggling to scream, but under the searing holy flames, her efforts were futile.

The pure holy fire obliterated even her voice, leaving not a speck of dust behind, only the gunblades impaled in the wall.

Such vile creatures, even the ashes remaining after their incineration, were a defilement to the world and to the divine.

Naturally, Lucia would permit no trace of such a being to remain.

Gazes at the Fallen Nun, now utterly consumed by holy fire, Lovelenica swallowed hard.

She understood then why Lucia was known as Angel Dust; the holy fire within Lucia could incinerate all evil, a power even she and Liliana, beings at the apex of the blood relatives, almost immortal and indestructible, could not withstand.

“You killed her just like that? Aren’t you going to ask her anything else?”

“No need. I’ve no desire to hear any more of this creature’s nonsense.”

Lucia had already retrieved all the gunblades from the wall, leaving only several deep indentations.

Clearly, Lucia had been provoked by the Fallen Nun’s words, which had spurred her to decisively end her.

However, given her current demeanor, questioning her further would likely prove difficult.

Standing at the edge of the rooftop, Lucia gazed down at the fragmented bodies of the ghouls she had just annihilated.

A profound sadness seemed to weigh upon her.

It appeared no one in the village had survived; those nuns had sacrificed themselves in vain.

How would she explain this to the Bishop when she returned? How would she account for it to her teacher?

Lucia shook her head, temporarily casting these thoughts aside, and turned to Lovelenica beside her.

“Earlier… thank you.”

“Oh, are you talking about me stopping that creature for you just now? No need for thanks. If she had killed you, I certainly wouldn’t have survived either.”

Lovelenica waved her hand dismissively, appearing unconcerned.

In reality, however, Lovelenica’s thoughts diverged from her words.

Firstly, even if Lucia had taken a direct hit from the Fallen Nun, she would most likely have been fine.

Even if injured, she could rapidly self-heal, and a Third-Tier nun’s habit offered considerable defensive properties, surely capable of deflecting a single blow.

Lovelenica simply did not wish to see Lucia harmed, nothing more.

“But seriously, Sister Nun, I never expected you to be so strong, able to directly suppress a blood relative in a head-on confrontation.”

Lovelenica chuckled softly, praising Lucia.

To be honest, aside from her initial moment of stunned surprise, Lovelenica was thoroughly impressed with Lucia’s performance.

Once she entered combat, she immediately became a calm and formidable opponent.

“…Ehh, it’s… it’s not as amazing as you say, little sister…”

“Haha, quite modest, aren’t we?”

Upon hearing Lovelenica’s praise, a faint blush crept onto Lucia’s cheeks.

Growing up, her teacher had rarely offered her praise or recognition, only commending her for the very first time yesterday.

Aside from Imeline and Attestor, few others had ever complimented her.

Yet today, this young girl, whom she had just met, was genuinely praising her recent performance, which made Lucia feel a little shy.

Lucia could sense that the demon hunter little sister’s praise was by no means a mere courtesy, but a sincere acknowledgment of her abilities.

“Alright, I suppose we should get going.”

Lovelenica was about to climb down the ladder when she suddenly felt a sensation of weightlessness.

“Ehh! W-what are you doing!!!”

“Climbing down the ladder seems a bit troublesome, doesn’t it? Let me carry you down.”