343. Joy’s Mark

Captain Hughes’s Residence, Military Housing, Kim City, Kim Island, Kim Dukedom, Ancorna Empire

As the sun fully dipped below the horizon, the night sky began to twinkle with starlight. An exhausted Captain Hughes stumbled through the front door of his home. He closed it with painstaking care, trying to make as little sound as possible so as not to wake Alice or little Mina.

Sighing with relief, he walked into the dim dining room and slowly began stripping out of his heavy military uniform to change into his pajamas.

Just as he slid his shirt off his shoulders, the soft sound of footsteps echoed behind him. He turned around to see a figure stepping out from the bedroom.

“Alice…” Captain Hughes whispered lightly, his breath catching as his eyes locked onto what she was wearing.

She wasn't wearing her spectacles. Instead, she stood before him in an exquisite, obsidian-and-ivory lingerie ensemble that struck a flawless balance between delicate elegance and striking allure. The piece featured a structured, underwired corset bodice crafted from sheer white mesh, meticulously overlaid with intricate black lace in a sweeping floral motif. Slender black straps framed her shoulders, while a dainty silver chain and a miniature padlock charm rested just beneath her bust, catching the dim light of the room.

Hugging her curves seamlessly, the bodice flared into a playful, ruffled lace peplum at her hips, where integrated garter straps extended downward to loop elegant bands around her thighs. Completing the look was a matching, high-cut lace thong and a coordinating black ruffle choker adorned with a tiny silver bell, making her appear every bit a breathtaking, captivating vision.

She slowly walked up to his bare chest and placed her hands against his skin. “Mina is sound asleep... and it’s been far too many days since we've both been home together,” she whispered.

Captain Hughes didn’t hesitate for a single second. Reaching around her, he unhooked the back of the corset bodice with a single, practiced flick, letting the lace top fall away in an instant.

He pulled her close, kissing her neck and collarbone as he guided her down onto the sofa. Alice let out light, pleased sounds as his kisses and groping intensified against her bare skin. But as his hands moved along her ribs, his eyes caught a sudden anomaly. He paused, his thumb brushing against her skin.

“What’s this?”

“Why did you stop...?” Alice asked, pouting slightly as she looked up at him with a playful glare.

“No... look. Did you get a tattoo? There’s a strange mark right here,” Hughes commented, tracing the edge of the skin right next to her breast. The brand rested mostly across her back, but it was just slightly visible from the front.

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He leaned in closer, his military instincts kicking in. “It looks exactly like an Apostle’s mark... but none of the twelve established gods possess a symbol like this.”

Alice frowned slightly, looking down at herself in the dim light, completely unaware of when the brand had appeared.

Meanwhile, Blacksmith Workshop, Advanced Education Academy, Kim City, Kim Island, Kim Dukedom, Ancorna Empire

Across the city, the rhythmic sound of iron striking iron echoed through the empty academy. Nillie continued to hammer away at a piece of scrap metal, trying to refine a new component. Sweating profusely from the heat of the forge, he finally paused and let out a heavy sigh.

“Woah... is it already this late?” he muttered, glancing at the high moon visible through the workshop window.

He unbuttoned his work shirt and pulled it off, taking a deep, exhausting breath. “I sure need to hurry up and implement that electricity thing her highness showed us, if only so we can power some fans to control these room temperatures properly.”

Grabbing a clean rag, he began to wipe the sweat from his torso. As the cloth passed over his midsection, his movements froze. He caught sight of a strange reflection in the polished metal of a nearby shield.

He looked down at the right side of his waist.

“A mark...?” Nillie pondered, rubbing his thumb over the dark, intricate lines etched permanently into his flesh. His eyes widened slightly as his blacksmithing knowledge of divine lore surfaced. “It looks exactly like an Apostle’s mark...”

Underground of Cathedral of Herptian, Kim City, Kim Island, Kim Dukedom, Ancorna Empire

Ravenna turned her gaze back to the nervous Junior Priest Finn. “How exactly does it work? I want to check my own.”

“You just have to stand right there, Your Highness,” Junior Priest Finn replied, gesturing toward the center of the dark obsidian platform.

Ravenna gave a firm, thoughtful nod and began walking up the weathered stone steps of the altar. “So I just need to stand here,”

she thought, her pulse quickening with every step. “If the System is somehow linked to my very soul... whatever this ancient structure means by showing the 'shape of a soul' might finally give me the clues I need to understand the Universal Origin.”

Dame Aisha rested her hand securely on her rifle, her eyes darting over the glowing inscriptions. “Are you absolutely certain this is safe, Your Holiness...?”

“Like I said, several of our own priests and scribes have already tested it without any ill effects,” Junior Priest Finn replied. He stepped toward a heavy, rusted iron mechanism protruding from the floor next to the stone tablet. “This lever will activate the altar.”

With a harsh, grinding screech, Finn threw the lever forward.

The dark, echoing hollow of the subterranean cavern suddenly fractured with light. A pulse of residual divine energy surged through the floorboards of the ancient castle city, causing small, dormant bioluminescent flowers buried in the ruins to bloom all at once, bathing the streets in a spectral glow.

At the very center of the altar, directly opposite where Ravenna stood, a weird, blurry form manifested in the air. The energy began wiggling and distorting violently, a chaotic mass of light that seemed to reject any single shape. Ravenna held her breath, watching the vaporous mass twist until it slowly, agonizingly started to solidify into something deeply familiar.

Her eyes suddenly widened, the air leaving her lungs in a sharp gasp.

The silhouette wasn't a glowing sphere, nor was it a beastly shape like the others had seen. The shifting light had coalesced into the undeniable, crisp figure of a modern woman, wearing clothes that didn't belong to this world, with a posture and face that Ravenna recognized instantly from her reflections in a past life.

“It... it’s Joy...” Ravenna whispered, her voice trembling in the dark.