They are all characters I control.

Claire didn't say anything.

His gaze swept over the pagans behind Dorothy, then over the rooftops and alleyways on either side.

There was no ambush.

At least, there were no ambushes he could see.

"What are you looking at?" Dorothy laughed. "Don't worry, I didn't bring many men. Most of them are out in the mines waiting to ambush your knights. After all, Will is my target."

She paused, her eyes turning playful.

"However, you did give me a pleasant surprise."

Her gaze fell on Mel, who was standing next to Claire.

"And she brought a little girl with her. Tsk tsk tsk..."

Dorothy took two steps forward, her long, dark red hair flying in the wind.

"So, what are your identities?"

She tilted her head, as if she was thinking about something interesting.

“You’re not church knights, are you? At least, you’re not.”

She looked at Claire, a dangerous glint in her scarlet eyes.

“Church knights wouldn’t use that kind of magic. Black smoke, earthquakes, and those strange tentacles… that’s not holy magic, nor is it regular elemental magic.”

She licked her lips.

"What exactly are you? You even know about me? I don't recall any church knights knowing my secrets?"

Claire did not answer.

Magic gathered in his hands as he slowly drew his knight's sword.

"Do you want to fight, or do you want to let us go?"

Claire's tone was as if she were asking about the weather today.

Dorothy tilted her head, seemingly pleased with his reaction.

"Let you go?" She smiled. "Sure."

She held up two fingers.

"But I can only put one in."

Her gaze darted back and forth between Claire and Mel.

“Because one of you knows my secret. And…” Her voice was low, with a dangerous smile, “it might be someone I really hate.”

Claire raised an eyebrow.

He glanced at Mel, who was also looking at Claire.

Seeing the two of them staring at each other, the Scarlet Witch smiled excitedly.

Dorothy continued, "How about I give you some time to make a choice? I'm not completely clueless, you know. Mel's base was destroyed, but it wasn't Will who did it."

She paused, then squinted.

"One of you can stay; I don't care which one it is."

While the Scarlet Witch was speaking, Mel and Claire had already reached a consensus.

Making a choice between Scarlet Witch and the Scarlet Witch would be foolish.

This had already been proven by the previous Knight Commander Will and the church knights, so at this moment, Mel took something out of his pocket and handed it to Claire.

A dark red crystal.

The Philosopher's Stone.

Not the ordinary kind, but the highest quality "Primordial Blood".

"This is what I used to save my life. Now I'm giving it to you. Go and kill this hateful woman. You also owe me a life." Mel pinched Claire hard as he handed her the 'Primal Blood'.

"Hehehe, you give it to me to use, but you don't use it yourself? Stop pretending, if anyone owes you anything, it's you who owes me."

Claire was not morally coerced at all; he took the 'Primal Blood' and put it directly into his mouth.

No more talk, let's get straight to the fight.

Chapter 3 There's something wrong with you!

This wasn't Claire's first time consuming the Philosopher's Stone, although the Primal Blood was of a higher quality.

However, the feeling of Claire consuming the 'Primordial Blood' was not much different from the taste of the 'Philosopher's Stone'.

There was no chewing, no swallowing sensation. The dark red crystal melted instantly upon entering the mouth, like a drop of cold blood sliding down the throat and into the body.

one second.

two seconds.

three seconds.

Nothing happened.

Dorothy the Scarlet Witch stood on the city wall, looking down at her with an expectant smile.

"You ate it?" She tilted her head, admiring the 'Eleanor' before her. "You actually ate the Philosopher's Stone on your own? I thought you would hesitate."

"How interesting. No wonder you chose to go against the path of the other church knights. So you were planning to eat this thing."

"However, while I understand your desire to save your companions, don't you know that not everyone can eat the Philosopher's Stone?"

"Some people who eat it will become blasphemers, some will not die but will age faster, some may become grotesque, what will happen to you, the church's female knight, after eating it? I'm really looking forward to it."

This wasn't the first time Claire had heard such a thing.

In Mel's village, the old village chief said something similar.

It seems that the people in the 'Church of Life' enjoy seeing others fall into their own form, or perhaps they prefer to see the fall of steadfast church knights?

Unfortunately, Claire was not a church knight.

Claire remained silent as she watched Dorothy, the Scarlet Witch, approaching closer to get a better look at her impending 'disgraceful' state.

Let the bullets fly for a while; we need to let things settle down.

He stood there, feeling the coldness spreading through his body.

Unlike the inferior Philosopher's Stone he took in Lin Valley Village last time, the "Primordial Blood" did not bring him a tearing pain, but rather a slow, wandering sensation.

His body began to glow.

It wasn't a dark red, decaying light.

It is a white, holy light.

Divine magic erupted from his body, burning like tangible flames. The light was brighter, purer, and more intense than before, even carrying a faint golden hue.

"This...this is impossible!"

Dorothy's smile froze.

She stared wide-eyed at the holy light emanating from Claire, her eyes filled with disbelief.

"You haven't fallen? You... your divine magic has actually increased?! A chosen one?!"

Claire had no interest in appreciating the shocked expression he'd already seen once; he was more concerned about his own body.

He looked down at his hands, where a pale gold pattern appeared on the back of his hand.

It was not the dark red runes of the Church of Life, nor the uncontrolled blasphemous mark, but a complex pattern composed of countless tiny points of light.

That is a symbol of high-level holy magic.

Are they "stigmata" that only the most devout and powerful church saints possess?

Why? A question arose in Claire's mind.

Aren't those 'sacred marks' only formed when a high-level magical artifact remains on the body? His own body already has several sacred marks formed by the seal of the Holy Cross Sword.

That was a seal, an inescapable seal embedded in Claire's body.

But what about Eleanor? She gained a holy mark simply by consuming the 'Primordial Blood'.

This cannot be said to be due to the 'Primal Blood' having this function; it is more likely a problem with Eleanor's own body.

"What the hell are you? Who are you? How could you absorb the power of the Philosopher's Stone so easily?!"

"This is impossible. Even Knight Commander Will could not ignore the power of the Philosopher's Stone like this. You, a mere church knight, have not only been unaffected by the blasphemy, but have even enhanced your holy magic?"

"Let your sister take a look, let your sister see carefully, and see what's wrong with your body."

Dorothy the Scarlet Witch approached Claire step by step, while releasing wisps of dark red mist around her that enveloped Claire.

The dark red mist would erase and disappear upon contact with the surrounding corpses, and some heretics who touched the dark red mist would immediately turn gray and fall to the ground.

At this moment, Scarlet Witch Dorothy was clearly using her full strength; her poisonous mist was even more terrifying than when she dealt with Knight Commander Will.

As the Scarlet Witch approached, Claire raised her hand, palm facing Dorothy.

There were no complicated incantations, no obvious process of magical energy gathering. He simply moved his mind slightly, and the vast, pure, and refined sacred magical energy within his body responded instantly.

"Holy Light!"

This is the [Holy Nova Impact] that I used on the old village chief before.

Dorothy's pupils contracted sharply.

She instinctively dodged to the side, but the torrent of holy light was too fast and grazed past her left shoulder.

All the poisonous fog along the way was instantly dispersed and disappeared by pure holy magic.

"what--!"

Dorothy let out a scream as the shockwave sent her flying, crashing heavily into the city wall behind her.

Dark red blood gushed from her left shoulder, and the flesh at the wound hissed in the holy light, as if it were being burned.

"you you……"

She struggled to get up from the ground, her left arm hanging limply at her side, her face pale.

Claire didn't give her a chance to catch her breath. Even so, this girl hadn't died. It must have been caused by her so-called 'molting'.

With a step forward, Claire's second beam of holy light was already gathering in her palm.

"Wait!" Dorothy cried, a hint of fear in her voice. "Don't you want to know what's wrong with your body?"

Claire's hand paused for a moment.

Dorothy, panting heavily, leaned against the city wall, pointing at Claire with her right hand.

“There’s something wrong with your body.” Her voice was urgent, as if she were trying to plead for mercy. “You consumed the ‘Primal Blood,’ yet you didn’t fall; instead, your holy light has been strengthened. This is abnormal.”

"You did not fall into depravity, but instead transformed it into your own power. This shows that... your body had long since adapted to the Philosopher's Stone."

Claire frowned.

"adapt?"

“Yes.” Dorothy’s voice deepened. “It’s like someone who has taken the Philosopher’s Stone since childhood. His body has become accustomed to this power; it doesn’t reject it, it doesn’t go out of control.”

Claire glanced at Mel, who was lying silently behind her, and remembered something.

From the very beginning, Mel showed an unusual interest in him—no, in Eleanor.

In Old Grey's stronghold, there were the red potions brought by the village girls, the old village chief's order to capture him alive rather than kill him, and Mel's words, "If you could join us."

Mel and her companions never intended to kill Eleanor; they wanted to capture her alive.

"It seems you've figured something out." Dorothy laughed, a laugh tinged with a morbid pleasure.

Before Claire could attack again, she turned and vanished into a cloud of dark red mist.

Instead, a group of people dressed in civilian clothes and carrying weapons emerged from the surrounding area, indicating that the Scarlet Witch had not simply been begging for mercy.

However, Claire didn't think these people were any different from the Scarlet Witch.