A Powerful Martial Artist Reincarnates as a Nun Knight

‘Hilde must be stressing over Priest Ezio by now.’
Recalling Hildegard’s departure to deliver a cloak and robe to the jailed Priest Ezio, Sophia clicked her tongue in distaste.
The circumstances were straightforward enough. Someone had to go, but being well-acquainted with Ezio’s temperament, Sophia wished to avoid needlessly provoking his ire herself. So Hildegard obliviously took the metaphorical bomb instead.

Well, it felt somewhat guilty to foist that burden onto her, but it couldn’t be helped. One couldn’t control everything in this world lived alone.
As Sophia rationalized thus, an odd gaze drew her attention. Its source was none other than Conra, staring at her with the accusatory eyes of a rabbit detective who just caught someone stealing a young girl’s panties. Sophia remarked:
“Your eyes betray impure thoughts. When will you learn to curb that gaze?”
“Rich words from someone who knocked out her disciple with a single thwack for a minor offence. Forgive me if I don’t listen intently.”
Unable to counter Conra’s point-blank retort, Sophia furrowed her brow as no rebuttal came to mind. Lacking any cogent response, she resorted to her signature direct approach:
“Care to lose consciousness again?”

Gulk!
Conra involuntarily gulped at Sophia’s chilling tone. That was his limit, his instincts warned. Yet as a young man, he could hardly back down so easily despite the clear threat of Sophia’s fist. While further provocation would undoubtedly earn him another thrashing, subtly skirting boundaries without overtly crossing them remained an option.

“Speaking of which, you knowingly sent Sister Wolfstein, didn’t you?”
Though having barely interacted with Priest Ezio Emmanuele, Conra had gleaned enough about his uncompromising disposition. And Sophia clearly understood Ezio’s nature well too, suggesting prior dealings between them.
From that context, Sophia essentially deployed Hildegard as deliberate collateral damage.
Implying as much through feigned innocence, Conra’s defiant streak earned him Sophia’s immediate, matter-of-fact retaliation:

Squish!
Sophia’s iron grip clamped down on Conra’s skull. Though her trained disciple’s cranium could withstand her full might without cracking like a tomato, excruciating torment still engulfed him as she methodically compressed his bones like a vise.

“Khhh–Aaargh!”
The juvenile torture inflicted upon her unruly disciple swiftly reduced Conra to a groaning heap. Discarding him in a corner, Sophia reflected upon her recent battles.

Until now, she had fought and vanquished foes as she pleased. But this momentary lapse resulting in such dire consequences proved untenable. In hindsight, more efficient and prudent approaches existed amidst those clashes.

Tracing her footsteps, Sophia could not deny growing complacent as she regained her past life’s abilities.
Previously the underdog challenging vastly superior threats who could kill her, she had meticulously prepared contingencies for virtually every scenario. But as her past life’s might gradually resurfaced alongside her self-assurance, she had relatively neglected such hungry desperation.

Facing the dread drake, she should have prepared thus; against the witch, prestored countermeasure spells for potential situations; in that dungeon against the bronze giant, overconfidence led her to be batted away, had she not let her guard down.

‘I cannot afford such carelessness against that foe.’
The archfiend who plunged the continent into chaos resurfaced in her mind – the “Domain Horizon” he mentioned. The various domains ancient gods employed during creation, one of which he willingly immersed himself into for demonic ambitions, requiring tracing the current’s source to that conceptual horizon.

While Sophia had studied the continent’s magic system since reincarnating here, she knew reaching the true domain beyond that horizon granted absolute dominion over its inherent concepts and properties.

Even without breaching the true domain, merely crossing the horizon still unlocked vast spell knowledge and power over that conceptual realm – likely how the archfiend could project his malign miasma across such distances.

‘One certainty is that he has yet to reach the true domain itself. Perhaps that glimmer of hope remains?’
For had he truly attained it, he would wield godlike abilities.

Yet the fact that his single miasma outbreak destabilized the entire continent already posed an excessive threat. From his residual aura during that manifestation, Sophia sensed he had expended his maximum potential output in that moment.

Influencing reality from beyond the domain horizon proved considerably arduous. Without his witch contracts providing a conduit, he could neither gather information nor exert influence upon this reality.

Which ultimately posed no grave issue.

While the miasma’s aftermath across the continent indeed proved bizarre, Sophia could still neutralize most of it in that moment.
That the remnants could forge the dread drake and scatter further miasma to cause such devastation seemed mildly horrifying – not due to the archfiend’s projected power itself, but the miasma’s inherently tenacious, insidious nature.

Still, Sophia could not relax. His declaration of war signaled his absolute confidence in breaching the true domain. Moreover, an unvoiced harbinger of his ability to subsequently return from that true domain to this reality.

{‘Returning from beyond the domain horizon is unheard of. No, the very notion of a corporeal being crossing that conceptual threshold was unprecedented until now. Only the most extraordinary among us could barely approach that boundary – how did he accomplish this?’}

Esras-Hermes muttered in disbelieving dismay, still struggling to accept this reality. But Sophia remained pragmatic. If the situation revealed such truths, she must acknowledge and formulate countermeasures accordingly.

If the archfiend reached the true domain before returning to ultimately invade the human continent from the demonic homelands, could current humanity, could Sophia herself, repel such an invasion?

‘Not as I am now.’
She had to admit it. The archfiend had overpowered her once already. To face him further transcended? Presently, she stood no chance. Yet Sophia harbored calculated hopes:

‘Not now, but perhaps in time.’

While the full extent of a true domain mystic’s abilities remained unknown, Sophia’s previous incarnation as Yibum-seok had rocked both mortal and underworld realms as an infamous problem child.
Devas, elementals, angels and spirits across lands could not refuse his demands. On auspicious days, the Directional Deities heeded his summons; after his lifespan ended, grim reapers pursued him relentlessly only to be thrashed while accruing obstruction charges.
Ultimately failing to cross that final threshold led him to choose reincarnation, his current predicament. But in this life, Sophia felt assured of surpassing that last hurdle.

Though she had yet to fully regain her past life’s state, Sophia considered it a matter of time.

‘However, I now need to hasten that recovery process.’

Ultimately, it became a race against time. Whether the archfiend could reach the true domain and return to this reality first, or if Sophia could reattain her past life’s heights and finally overcome that remaining barrier.

Moreover, her solely growing stronger proved insufficient. Even if she defeated the archfiend, allowing demonic forces to ravage human civilization and society would still constitute a strategic defeat despite tactical victory.

‘We must all grow stronger, accumulating greater preparations.’

She needed to construct specialized training regimens. Despite resource expenditures, developing detection and countermeasure rituals to meticulously counter the enemy’s means became imperative. More clergy capable of wielding the luminous force must be nurtured, some even taught Sophia’s Immovable Bright King Heart Technique.

For those preparing war, forge weapons and build fortresses. The Church would be humanity’s weapon against demonic forces, our civilizations and societal systems our ramparts.

The Church must proactively, dynamically ready for conflict. Humanity’s disparate, haphazard power structures required streamlining into more concise yet intricate, stable reorganization – minimizing gaps in the net where shadows lingered beyond luminous reach.

The key would be navigating this forthcoming Council’s proceedings. Biting her lower lip, Sophia silently steeled her determination.