I Have No Choice but to Step In

"Are there survivors besides me? Really?!!"

At once, Isaiah became concerned, staring at the girl with immense excitement in his eyes. He was very nervous.

He had thought he was the only survivor of the Holy Sword Project. He had never expected that other companions had survived. This was wonderful news.

"That should be right."

If the plot had not changed completely, then aside from Isaiah, another girl had survived the Holy Sword Project.

"Human, you need not worry either. I will investigate it. If she is still alive, I will rescue her."

She comforted the boy, though she could not be completely certain before confirming it.

"Then I'll leave it to you."

He bowed deeply to the girl.

This time, Isaiah did not refuse the girl's help again, because he knew he did not have the strength to rescue his companion. His only hope was this vampire big sister before him.

It just meant that he owed the girl even more now.

"It's nothing."

She waved her hand. As for the Church... as long as she did not provoke any important figures, she had nothing to worry about now.

"Human, rest easy. It's already so late. I'm a vampire, and nighttime is when I'm active. Don't imitate me."

"Or are you going to become a vampire too?"

Noticing the boy's eyelids drooping, looking extremely sleepy yet still forcing himself to stay awake, Miss Moonlit advised him. He must not have rested at all during his escape.

Hearing Miss Moonlit's words, Isaiah thanked her again before finally lying down beside the fire and falling asleep.

He had not dared to rest before. Now that Miss Moonlit was beside him, he trusted this vampire he had only known for a short while and could finally sleep peacefully.

Once Isaiah had fallen asleep, Miss Moonlit took out his Sacred Gear and began studying it curiously.

Had to Make a Move

Near the church.

The people around the area were somewhat irritated. For some reason, many bats had recently appeared around the Church, and no matter how they cleaned them up, they could not get rid of them all.

And it was not just this church. The same thing was happening in many places.

At first, some people had guessed that vampires or something similar were behind it, but they soon discovered that they were merely ordinary bats.

What they did not notice was that, not far from the church, a group of bats gathered together before transforming into a beautiful girl.

It was Miss Moonlit, Theresa.

"Looks like it's the church ahead. I finally found it!"

Miss Moonlit's beautiful crimson eyes stared at the church beneath the moonlight, revealing a trace of contemplation.

She had promised Isaiah that she would rescue the other Holy Sword Project Survivor, and naturally, Miss Moonlit would not go back on her word. However, it had not been easy. The place where the Holy Sword Project had previously been conducted had long since been destroyed by the Church, and she had found nothing there.

Only after conducting inquiries through various channels did Miss Moonlit learn that, shortly after Isaiah and his companions had been executed, the Holy Sword Project had been exposed within the Church. Then, Archbishop Balpa Galileo, the leader of the Holy Sword Project, had fallen from power and directly defected to the Fallen Angels.

Of course, that did not mean the others in the Church were righteous. They still enjoyed the fruits of the Holy Sword Project and had even gone to great lengths to conceal its truth.

As for why Archbishop Balpa Galileo, the project's leader, had defected, it was naturally because the Church had abandoned him, among other reasons...

According to what Miss Moonlit had learned, the Holy Sword Project had not been a complete failure. It had still achieved certain results. Balpa had extracted all the compatibility factors from the bodies of those sacrificed in the Holy Sword Project.

He had also successfully crystallized them, using them to supplement the compatibility factors of individuals unable to wield Holy Swords, allowing them to meet the required standard.

The Church had obtained those results, then discarded Balpa without the slightest hesitation. How amusing.

However, none of that had anything to do with Miss Moonlit. She was simply interested in Holy Swords. Still, she seemed not to possess the compatibility factors for Holy Swords, so she should not be able to use one.

Then again, it was hard to say. She possessed Kallen's genes. Judging from that Saint, Saint Kallen, she would definitely be able to wield a Holy Sword!

Though the systems of their worlds were not the same!

Besides that information, Miss Moonlit had spent several months and paid a certain price before finally discovering where that survivor was being held.

Several months had now passed since she met Isaiah.

Isaiah's Sacred Gear, Demon Sword Creation, was extremely valuable. Its resale value was as high as 2,990 Crystals, equivalent to a top-tier S-Rank Bounty.

Yet after hesitating for a moment, Miss Moonlit gave up on selling it immediately. Even for her current self, this Sacred Gear was an exceptionally useful transitional weapon.

The Sacred Gear Demon Sword Creation was capable of creating all kinds of demon swords at will, each possessing different attributes to deal with different enemies.

For example, the Light Devouring Sword developed by Kiba Yuto in the original work, which devoured attacks with light attributes; the ice-attributed Flame Ice Sword; the Wind Halting Sword, which calmed hurricanes; the Sword of Flame; and especially heavy greatswords.

With the Red Dragon Emperor's Gift amplification, it could also create a large number of demon swords, filling the entire battlefield and causing widespread damage.

It became even more powerful after reaching Balance Breaker.

Balance Breaker, Twin Tyrant Holy Demon Sword: a special Balance Breaker that could only appear in this world, where the God and previous Demon Kings had died and the holy and demonic elements had fallen out of balance. It was a sword that possessed both holy and demonic power.

Balance Breaker, Holy Dragon Knight Order: the Balance Breaker of Holy Sword Creation brought about by the holy demon swords, capable of creating knightly clones clad in dragon-shaped armor.

Those were all abilities developed by Kiba Yuto. In different hands, the powers developed would be completely different. In Miss Moonlit's hands, they might not necessarily become those same powers.

In any case, the Sacred Gear was on her body. She could sell it whenever she wanted, so there was no need to rush.

Before that, she would make good use of it!

Miss Moonlit also remembered that there was another Sacred Gear opposite to Demon Sword Creation: Holy Sword Creation. If she could wield both Sacred Gears and develop them to their limits, it might be possible for them to evolve into a Sacred Gear.

If it could reach the level of a Sacred Gear, it would be even less worth selling.

Miss Moonlit waved her hand, and in the next second, a great number of demon swords appeared out of thin air around her. Some floated in the air, while others were embedded in the ground. There were no fewer than a hundred!

Yet Miss Moonlit was still dissatisfied.

"Still, my compatibility with this Sacred Gear isn't very high. Even now, I haven't comprehended a Balance Breaker for Demon Sword Creation that belongs to me."

Retracting the demon swords, Miss Moonlit felt somewhat disappointed. Over the past few months, she had developed Demon Sword Creation to a very high level.

Yet she could easily achieve Balance Breaker with even Sacred Gears such as Sephiroths Cup and the Evil Eye of World Stoppage, while this Sacred Gear, which was not even a Sacred Gear, had stubbornly refused to do so.

This definitely was not a matter of talent. Was it because her compatibility with the Sacred Gear was insufficient?

"Perhaps my approach is wrong. I don't necessarily have to develop its Balance Breaker in Kiba Yuto's direction, do I?"

After remaining silent for several seconds, Miss Moonlit roughly guessed where her problem lay. Kiba Yuto's Balance Breaker was related to holy demon swords because he had originally been an experiment subject of the Holy Sword Project.

He possessed compatibility factors to a certain degree, but not enough to bear a Holy Sword.

The girl was completely different from Kiba Yuto. Holy demon swords were not necessarily the direction she should develop toward.

"Demon Sword Creation... If I develop it in the direction of Myriad Swords Returning to Origin or something similar... could I achieve a Balance Breaker unique to me?"

Thinking that, Miss Moonlit felt that the possibility was quite high. She could certainly give it a try.

But now was not the time. She should first rescue the target from the church ahead. Isaiah was still waiting for good news from her.

Concealing her aura, Miss Moonlit did not intend to create unnecessary trouble, so she transformed into a bat and flew over while the moon was obscured by clouds.

The church's defenses were not actually very strict, but when she approached, she still discovered a defensive barrier blocking her path.

"What a nuisance! Do I have to destroy it by force?"

Looking at the barrier before her, it was nothing much to her, but once she destroyed it, it would immediately attract the attention of those inside the church, would it not?

If that happened, she would have no choice but to engage in a slaughter.

Just as Miss Moonlit was preparing to destroy the barrier and fight her way inside, she suddenly thought of something... Most church barriers were aimed at foreign races such as Yokai and demons. If one possessed holy power, there should be no obstruction at all.

Then she could try using the Sephiroths Cup's abilities.

Sephiroths Cup was one of the three true Holy Relics and had once contained the blood of God.

Could the Church's barrier possibly reject even their Lord?

With that thought in mind, Miss Moonlit allowed the holy aura within the cup to cover her entire body before reaching out to touch the barrier. Sure enough, there was not the slightest resistance, and she entered with ease.

"Success."

After entering the church, Miss Moonlit transformed back into human form.

In her bat form, many abilities were inconvenient to use.

After taking only a few steps, two nuns suddenly appeared before Miss Moonlit. Just as she was about to be discovered, a dim light flashed through Miss Moonlit's eyes.

Everything around her came to a halt. Only after Miss Moonlit left did the area return to normal.

The nuns instinctively felt that something was strange. They looked around several times, but seeing nothing unusual, they did not think further about it.

Without anyone noticing that someone had infiltrated the church, Miss Moonlit relied on the Sephiroths Cup's holy aura and the Evil Eye's power to stop everything, strolling through the church as though it were uninhabited while searching.

She did not know how much time had passed. Miss Moonlit had nearly searched the entire church before finally finding that survivor in a hidden secret chamber.

She was a girl around the same age as Isaiah, perhaps twelve or thirteen years old.

The girl had white hair like Miss Moonlit's, but her entire body was covered by a spherical barrier. Her eyes were lightly closed, and she appeared to have fallen asleep.

According to the information Miss Moonlit had obtained, this girl seemed to possess some kind of barrier-type Sacred Gear.

When Archbishop Balpa's subordinates had been clearing them out, the girl had activated her Sacred Gear's power. Even while in a state of suspended animation, the barrier could not be removed.

After Balpa fell from power, the Church's people found the girl in a facility. However, since they were also unable to dispel the Sacred Gear's power and could not allow the Holy Sword Project to be exposed to the public, they transferred her here.

"Wake up, human."

"Wake up..."

Standing beside the girl, Miss Moonlit called to her softly.

However, the girl within the barrier showed no sign of waking up. Seeing this, Miss Moonlit could only reach out and touch the barrier, but it still had no effect.

"Do I have no choice but to destroy the barrier by force?"

But would that create too much of a disturbance?

After pondering for a few seconds, Miss Moonlit gave up on the idea of forcibly destroying the barrier here. She should move the girl out first!

Perhaps because the girl before her was connected to the Church's scandal, the Church would never allow her to leave so easily. That was likely why there were far more Pastors and nuns here than at other churches.

Fortunately, the girl's barrier was not large and only covered her body. Otherwise, Miss Moonlit really would have had trouble moving her.

Taking a person with her, especially one surrounded by a barrier... made leaving the church inconvenient. Still, relying on her skilled use of the Evil Eye, she reached the church entrance without incident.

However, just as Miss Moonlit was about to leave the church with the girl, a pastor immediately noticed something!

"Who goes there!"

Along with the pastor's shout, the other members of the church were instantly alerted and immediately rushed over.

"Tsk, I was still discovered."

Miss Moonlit felt a little helpless. Carrying such a huge burden really was troublesome. If the barrier around her had disappeared, it would have been fine, but with the barrier still there, she could not even move her properly.

"Stop. World."

Without the slightest hesitation, Miss Moonlit directly activated the Evil Eye's power. In an instant, a terrifying force halted everything within a radius of several thousand meters.

Only then did Miss Moonlit continue carrying the girl away.

Before long, everything that had been frozen returned to normal.

However, the church personnel did not give up. Upon discovering that the Holy Sword Project Survivor had disappeared, they immediately dispatched everyone to pursue her from all directions.

Meanwhile, Miss Moonlit had not gone very far with her burden before she was caught up by more than a dozen Pastors and Church knights.

"Stop!"

"Surrender immediately!"

"Hand over the girl in your hands."

The Pastors and knights shouted stern warnings while attacking the girl without hesitation.

Several pure white beams of light instantly reached Miss Moonlit, but in the next second... a great number of demon swords appeared from thin air around Miss Moonlit, successfully blocking those attacks.