A Powerful Martial Artist Reincarnates as a Nun Knight

Conra opened his eyes. The first thing to enter his vision was an unfamiliar wooden ceiling. He slowly sat up, feeling the feather blanket that had covered him slide off with a soft rustle. He blinked dazedly.

“Conra, you’re finally awake?”

At the gentle voice in his ear, Conra slowly turned his gaze. It was a familiar voice. As expected, looking in that direction revealed his revered master.

Despite over a decade passing since they first met, his master remained beautiful. Rather, the mature charm of her thirties complemented her innate graceful dignity, making her even more alluring.

“Hmm, it’s unlike you to sleep in so late. It seems yesterday’s training was quite arduous. Shall we adjust today’s schedule a bit?”

“No need, Master. If I cannot regulate my condition to this degree, I cannot dare call myself your disciple.”

The ‘youth’ Conra thumped his chest as he spoke firmly. And so, that day and the next continued like any other.

Under the holy spirit Jibreel’s guidance, they aided the weak and innocent while vanquishing evil. They thwarted demonic schemes and explored all manners of dungeons. Of course, Conra underwent daily training and tempering, while also enjoying sweet reprieves in between.

For another five years, Conra traveled this way alongside Sophia once more.
Leaving many great deeds in his wake, epic tales praising him and his master resounded across the world.

Before long, Conra’s spearmanship had ripened to peerless mastery second only to his master’s own skill. Bearing such hard-earned pride, yet he never boasted, simply single-mindedly treading the path of cultivation. For he had yet to surpass his master – satisfaction and complacency were impermissible.

One day, Sophia asked Conra:
“Have you never met a young lady who captured your heart during our travels, or one you fancied yourself? I’m starting to worry you’ll become a confirmed bachelor at this rate.”

At Sophia’s question, Conra pondered briefly. Come to think of it, at twenty-five years old, he was rather late for marriage. Those of his generation who had already married likely had children around the age Conra was when he first set out with Sophia.

However, Conra shook his head at Sophia’s query. He had never harbored feelings for anyone throughout their journeys. And there was a clear reason for this:

“If I marry and settle down, I can no longer travel with you anymore, can I Master?”

As he spoke, Conra glanced at his master, wondering if she would show a touched expression. But what awaited him was not his master’s usual gentle smile, but rather…

[Tsk tsk, what insolent drivel.]
Thwack!

It was an all too familiar thwacking sensation. The ‘youth’ Conra’s vision was instantly filled with a blinding starburst.

+++++

Hildegard’s childhood was an affluent one, envied by others. Though from a declassed noble family, her father had overcome hardship through astute farm and merchant management to become a self-made success.

Near the city housing her family’s trading company headquarters, the House of Wolfstein was treated as nobility. And in the village where their estate lay, Hildegard was very much the precious young lady of the manor.

Still, being a lively child by nature, Hildegard spent her days frolicking in the mountains and fields with the village children. Despite her noble beauty distinguishing her, her innate vigor and somewhat brusque personality led the young Hildegard to become the village kids’ ringleader from an early age.

On this day too, as she pondered what mischief to get into with the children, her father, who had been in the city on business, returned to the village. Spotting her father’s face after so long, Hildegard immediately dashed over barefoot to leap into his embrace.

“Daddy!”
“Oh my, our little princess! Did you miss your father that much?”
“Yes, I missed you so much!”

As the reunited father and daughter headed home amidst such conversation, Hildegard’s mother eyed her sternly and remarked:

“Hilde, didn’t I tell you not to run around barefoot?”
“……You did tell me not to.”
“Honestly, how can a blossoming young lady behave like such a tomboy?”
“Now now, no need to be so harsh. Our princess is simply a bit lively, it’s no surprise she might run about from time to time.”
“You be quiet! It’s because you keep doting on her that she has become so unrefined!”

Even those moments of being scolded by her mother were precious, happy times for the young Hildegard.

Viewing the scene of little Hildegard’s idyllic family life from a third-person perspective, the nun knight Hildegard silently stood there, a complex mix of gentle fondness, wistfulness, melancholy, resignation, yet lingering attachment flickering across her expression.

However, little Hildegard’s blissful daily life was not to last.

Amidst the village’s engulfing flames, the young Hildegard trembled in hiding within the cellar. A malicious calamity had befallen the village, which lacked the strength to withstand such evil and ruin.

The burning village. Monsters slaughtering the villagers. And at the center, a being that resembled yet was distinctly inhuman, with an eerie countenance, savoring the entire scene with a chilling smile as its vile power surged forth – a demon dragging the village into a pit of calamity.

Witnessing this, a blaze of hatred like black flames and bestial bloodlust began roiling from within Hildegard. Despite being events long past, mere memories, why did these scenes still shake her so?

Just as the urge to grab her halberd and charge the demon before her very eyes became overwhelming, a voice echoed in Hildegard’s mind:

{Why hold back? Is the enemy not hateful to you?}
“You…you’re the one showing me this accursed sight.”
{Then what will you do about it?}
“Just a moment ago, I was thinking that if I ever encountered the wretch showing me such visions, I would tear them to shreds and feed them to the dogs.”
{Fuhah, you? Do you even know where you are right now?}
“Well, I’d wager it’s some dreamspace or something of the sort? Even we Paladins all undergo lucid dreaming training, after all.”

As Hildegard said, all Paladin monk knights and nun knights were trained to handle lucid dream states. This was to counter demons who might attack through dreams while one slept.

Particularly when sentient beings slumbered, their consciousness would live another life in the dream world, forgetting their waking reality. No matter how powerful a monk knight or nun knight was while awake, they became extremely vulnerable in such a state. Lucid dreaming training prevented this, allowing one to maintain self-awareness even within dreams.

{True, your ability to not fully assimilate with your childhood self despite my Dream Illusion spell is likely thanks to that training. But you’re still far from the truth. You seem to think this is somewhere in the dream world, but that is incorrect.}
“What?”
{Kuku, explaining would be tedious. Let me summarize the gist of it.}

Before Hildegard could react, an inexplicable pressure akin to being cut by shears bound her movements. Immediately after, the scene of her idyllic childhood unfolded before Hildegard’s eyes once more.

Time passed, and eventually the village burned again, revealing her hated enemy. Then the memories of her joyful past replayed, only for the village to be consumed by flames yet again. And repeat. Replaying endlessly.

“Stop it, damn you, stop! Enough already!”

No matter how Hildegard screamed with a voice cracking from rage, her words fell on deaf ears as the scenes looped relentlessly. The whites of her bulging, reddened eyes were practically bleeding.

“You bastard! Scum only fit to be dog food! Damn you, I’ll kill you! I’ll definitely kill you!”

{Oho, still defiant? You’ve got quite the tenacity. But I wonder how long you can endure?}
“As long as it takes! You asked if the enemy wasn’t hateful? They’re hateful! Hatefully, sickeningly hateful! That’s why I swore it!”

That she would leave not a single trace of wretched demons and witch-spawned ilk who feed on the blood and sorrow of the innocent upon this earth.

In an instant, luminous force began surging across Hildegard’s entire body. A violent radiance like agonizing thorns, born of focused, righteous fury unswayed from its purpose.

“Ariel! You’re watching, aren’t you?! Come to me right now!”
{Useless. This is my realm, neither the real world nor the dream world. No matter what you do, you cannot escape by your own strength.}

Despite Hildegard shining with unprecedented brilliance, causing a hint of unease in the voice still asserting its superiority, another voice interjected:

[Is that so? What if I were to lend my aid?]
{What!?}
“That voice…!”

Recognizing the familiar voice, Hildegard’s eyes scanned her surroundings. But there was nothing to be seen.

[Do not search with your eyes. I have not manifested a physical form perceptible to the five senses. For now, focus solely on your inner senses. Ariel has just taken shelter within your body, so I shall guide you to sense that connection.]

Following Sophia’s words, Hildegard mentally nodded and closed her eyes, concentrating on her inner senses as instructed. Shortly after, sensing the familiar connection, a fierce smile crept across Hildegard’s lips.

“Heh, you witch. You’ve toyed with people as you pleased up until now. But this time, I’ll show you what’s what.”

Soon, Hildegard’s vision too was engulfed in radiant light.

+++++

Within the darkness, Sophia clicked her tongue.

[I’ll admit it, you’re quite skilled.]

Her applause echoed through the empty blackness, as if commending some unseen prowess. Then the disembodied voice of the doubtful witch responded:

{…Just what is going on here? My Dream Illusion spell hijacks the path to the dream world to recreate the dream realm. No ordinary human should be able to escape it. How are you maintaining your original consciousness without succumbing to the dream?}

[Oh? Curious about that, are you?]

Formless within the darkness, Sophia curved her invisible lips into a smile.

[That all is impermanent and nothing is eternal. That neither I nor others nor form nor emptiness truly exist. Have you heard of such principles?]

Suddenly, Sophia addressed the witch Phaerellyna with these words. Like an examiner grading a student, or a professor quizzing before imparting a lesson – her peculiar intonation carried such nuances. Yet Phaerellyna could not comprehend Sophia’s meaning. Not that she had any intention of understanding in the first place.

More importantly, what mattered was that Sophia, currently conversing with Phaerellyna within this Dream Illusion realm, was not being perceived at all. Present, yet not present – an anomaly that should not occur for Phaerellyna, the spell’s caster and host.

This Dream Illusion realm was created and maintained through Phaerellyna’s magic, her own world. Nothing, no existence or event, should elude her awareness within it.

{Just what nonsense are you spewing…?}
[Hmm. You don’t know, do you? I had thought perhaps you might comprehend if I employed an obscure counter-illusion technique to interfere with the dream world connection. But it seems you are unaware of even that.]
{What?}

Abruptly, a stream of golden radiance bloomed within this space of darkness.

[This heart technique that can only manifest from the true emptiness home where neither being nor non-being exists, free of the suffering and attachments of birth, aging, sickness and death.]

Keening…

Phaerellyna sensed it instinctively. That light was dangerous. She could not allow it to fully manifest. Without doubt, that radiance was the true form of Sophia, currently eluding her perception. And at this very moment, it was transcending Phaerellyna, now a demonic subordinate, and the Dream Illusion boundary she had erected.

[Admittedly, after awakening the luminous force in this life, the abilities of this heart technique seem to have shifted in a different direction. But its fundamental principles remain entirely unchanged.]

Yet even realizing this, there was nothing Phaerellyna could do but watch, utterly helpless.

Shattering all curses and illusions like mere clay pots, banishing evil and vain existences back to their proper place – the supreme truth encompassing the esoteric traditions of Taoism and Zen Buddhism. This heart technique bearing the title of the Immovable Bright King Vajra (Acalanātha Vidāraṇā) rendered all curses and illusions powerless before its radiance.

The golden light illuminated the interior of the veil of darkness. Piercing the gloom, severing delusion, shattering the dream’s bindings, it cleaved through the entire spell-woven world.

Gradually, the realm beyond the veil came into view. And simultaneously, Conra, Hildegard and Sophia opened their eyes to find the demonized witch Phaerellyna sprawled on the ground, pathetically scrabbling to flee their gazes.