Approaching Illusion

Birmingham, St. Paul's Cathedral.

The spacious hall where the faithful had once gathered for worship had been cleared out. Gentle winter sunlight streamed through the stained-glass windows, scattering colorful shadows across the tables and floor and projecting the Church of the Sun's round cross emblem onto the walls. It lent the whole scene a sacred air.

But the people gathered in the solemn church hall, faintly scented with incense, were by no means all devout.

A middle-aged priest in a clerical robe with two gold stripes embroidered on the cuffs sat at the head of the table. His eyes were half-closed, his hands were clasped on the tabletop, and he bowed his head reverently as he murmured a prayer.

"Light is like an ever-burning wheel, sweeping away our sins. Others pass swiftly and are forgotten, like a waking dream fading on the day it begins..."

"...Wherever Your radiance flows, Your grace reaches. Your servant, Larry Levendan, prays to You here."

A soft, milky-white glow spread from the Glowstone Necklace at Levendan's chest, rippling over him in waves. Before their eyes, the pallor brought on by his repeated purification blessings faded, and his back straightened.

"Levendan, everyone's almost here. You must've invited every big shot in Birmingham. What exactly are you planning?"

A burly brown-haired man with a thick beard leaned back in a high-backed chair that was spacious for most people but cramped for him. He folded his arms over his chest and asked, puzzled.

"This is about the Blood Cup Cult, Ralph. The recent cases of Blood-Thirst Syndrome have caused the Prevention and Suppression Bureau's local branch plenty of trouble. Don't assume everyone lives as carefree a life as you do."

"Besides, Granny Kelly couldn't make it. Comforting the dead has always been the Children of Silence's work. With so many new corpses dying such horrible deaths, she might be overwhelmed."

A young woman dressed like a scribe, in a white blouse and a black straight-cut skirt, had her flaxen hair neatly tied back. She kept scribbling in her notebook, but spared a moment to tilt her head and answer the burly man's question at breakneck speed.

"Tch. I know that, no need to remind me, Sophia Ford."

Ralph clicked his tongue in irritation, shifted the cushion beneath him, and grumbled inwardly.

Seriously, why was this chair uncomfortable no matter how he sat? How did those people from the Church of the Sun manage to sit in these things?

Across from him, Ralph sat restlessly, unaware that his cushion was upside down. Olive Borlaug, clad in a voluminous alchemist's robe, held back a smile and swung her legs, which dangled above the floor. She was once again struck by the sheer variety of beings among the supernatural.

Ah, better to think about her apprentice far away.

She hoped the little genius she'd just taken on would live up to her promise. Then she could show her off at the competition.

And she could tell those stingy asses in the Endeavor Society who wouldn't approve funding that Olive had an apprentice now, too!

"That is not the case."

Perhaps awakened by the earlier argument, a Spotted Forest Falcon nearly twice the size of its kind raised its black beak on the lectern at the front of the church hall. It blinked its orange-yellow cere as if it had just woken up.

An old voice came from the falcon's beak, its rhythmic cadence vibrating through the air. Its hoarse timbre was as rough as the buttercup linen beneath its feet.

"I apologize. Sacred Heart Hospital has been overwhelmed with work, and I could not get away. With no other choice, I have come to meet you all in this form."

"It was not Father Levendan who invited you. I, Frank Mills, acting head of the Prevention and Suppression Bureau's Birmingham branch, have asked you here."

"Everyone, the Blood Cup Cult's threat has grown too severe to ignore. Judging by its scale, this is a ritual by a Grail worshipper seeking to advance to the Third Mark of Omniscience."

"After investigating these past few days, I've found the hub. It's inside an illegal pharmaceutical company in the Lower District. But a cure for Blood-Thirst Syndrome is still being developed, and I simply can't be everywhere at once. In the name of the Prevention and Suppression Bureau, I ask you to lend a hand."

"On behalf of the Prevention and Suppression Bureau, I will pay you at the emergency rate and open up all the rituals, books, and curios within my authority for you to choose from."

Through a ritual, an Apprentice on the Path of the Heart could transform part of their body into a simulacrum and walk the world in a form that was neither wholly themselves nor wholly someone else. In some situations, this form could even be more persuasive than the person appearing in person.

After delivering his message, the Spotted Forest Falcon that Mills had become closed its eyes again and fell silent, leaving the people in the spacious hall to ponder.

"Hey, why didn't you let me know about the meeting, Deputy Director Mills? I'm only just hearing about it now."

A voice suddenly rang out from above, and the crowd stared upward in shock. The Spotted Forest Falcon, whose eyes had been closed, abruptly opened them. Its feather-covered face even looked faintly incredulous.

"When did this young lady arrive?"

Defying gravity, the golden-haired girl walked along the religious paintings on the ceiling as if they were level ground, then came down the wall and lightly settled into a chair at the far end of the church vestibule.

"There's always a chair in a familiar spot 'for latecomers, unbelievers, and the troubled.' That's an old tradition of your invincible Church of the Sun, isn't it? It's been twenty years, and this chair still squeaks just as badly."

Ignoring the varied looks the others gave her, Veronica crossed her legs. A loose strand of golden hair dangled beside her sunglasses, swaying with her movements.

"Since this is about the Blood Cup Cult, why not fill me in, too? I'm a consultant for the Prevention and Suppression Bureau, after all."

"What do you say, Deputy Director?"

"Haah... Haah... Give me more. That feels so good."

A gentle touch came from behind him, sending a tingling rush through his body.

Lying comfortably in a slightly raised hospital bed, his head nestled in soft pillows, Horn felt the fatigue and dull aches he'd accumulated gently melt away beneath the nurse's slender, moist fingers. His mind tingled, waves of pleasure washing over him one after another.

Breaths escaped his lips despite himself.

It felt so good he could hardly think.

Behind him, a nurse with wine-red hair pinned up and a white uniform was applying ointment to his bare back. She gently covered the broad, purplish-red abrasions with crimson ointment, filling the room with the scent of roses.

From beginning to end of the battle at the Hound Bar, Horn had lost count of how many times he'd used Flame of Destiny to forcibly seal his wounds. It had kept him from passing out from blood loss and let him maintain just enough strength to fight through the whole thing, earning a hundred percent participation rate.

But torn muscles, ruptured capillaries, and overburdened internal organs were all waiting for Horn. The symptoms had only been delayed; they wouldn't disappear just because he couldn't see them for a while.

In that sense, Flame of Destiny had merely postponed the inevitable. Like every gift of fate, it came with a price.

Now, Horn had come to pay.

Holding a bandage between her lips, the nurse freed both hands and gently smoothed the muscles on his back, helping them relax. Then, with practiced care, she wound the bandage around him again and again, passing it beneath his raised armpit until most of his upper body was covered in its pale whiteness.

"All right, Mr. Lancaster. I've applied the medicine. Please don't remove the bandages until your injuries have improved."

The nurse blinked her eyes, the same color as her hair, and whispered in a soft, damp voice beside Horn's ear. At some point, he had closed his eyes and fallen fast asleep.

"Oh, you were already asleep? Then sweet dreams, little Horn."

"When you wake up, there's something else I'll have to trouble you with~"