Countless shackles pinned the ruined body in place, like a martyr nailed upon an altar. As the machinery whirred and carved, a feeder line dripped cleansing fluid over the incision, keeping the cut through the holy silver stark and gleaming.
Maxwell pulled up the data from his earlier examinations and explained it to Nikola piece by piece.
"Denser muscle fibers. Reinforced skeletal structure. All signs point to that mysterious Secret Blood… You could say they're an optimized version of ordinary humans."
"Like some damned super-soldier program?"
There was nothing divine about it. Nikola chose the most grounded language he knew to describe a witch hunter's power.
Maxwell considered that, then nodded. "That's not inaccurate. Based on what we know, Secret Blood is refined from demons, processed through something akin to alchemy. If we're making lateral comparisons… it's basically a kind of super-soldier serum."
"But clearly far more potent than anything we've ever engineered."
Nikola ran his fingers lightly across the surface of the holy silver. The binding silver spike inside Ed had completely melted down after he exceeded his critical threshold. Molten holy silver had scorched his organs, and in the end, the metal reformed into a coffin of silver that sealed the Secret Blood inside his corpse forever.
"Where did this holy silver come from?"
Nikola had noticed the metal seemed to extend outward directly from Ed's body, as if liquid silver had once been poured straight down his throat.
"From inside him."
"Inside?"
"Yes. According to the scavengers' report, when they recovered the witch hunter's corpse, the holy silver was still in a liquid state—still seeping out from his flesh."
Maxwell placed the report beside the operating platform.
"Holy silver and Secret Blood coexisted in the same body. Our current hypothesis is that it's a restraint mechanism—similar to our Old-Era Divine Armor. Witch hunters can lose control. When they do, this system activates and destroys them from within."
Maxwell studied the unrecognizable remains. He could almost reconstruct the horror of the man's final moments.
Molten holy silver erupting from inside the body, incinerating everything in its path—while the unnatural vitality granted by Secret Blood kept him alive just long enough to suffer. Unable to live, unable to die, he would have lingered in agony until the end finally took him.
Nikola hadn't expected that. He had assumed the hunter was killed by a weapon forged of holy silver, not by something triggered within himself.
"Were you able to extract any Secret Blood?"
"The holy silver cast his organs into solid metal. Any remaining blood is likely fused with it."
Maxwell spoke calmly, stating his deduction.
"This is probably the Church's failsafe. The molten silver annihilates a hunter's insides. Even if Secret Blood remains, it's mixed into the metal. They must have a specialized extraction method to separate it—but we don't."
"I see…"
Nikola felt a dull headache forming. The Purge Authority had tried for years to replicate Secret Blood technology, all ending in failure. Now they finally had a witch hunter's corpse—yet no key to unlock the treasure within.
The cutting rig descended. Its spinning blade shrieked as it bit into the holy silver. A dark seam widened, like the slow opening of an ill-omened door. Something strange stirred within the gap.
"Report Geiger levels."
Nikola watched closely. They needed a sample—something to refine, to analyze, to attempt a replication of Secret Blood.
"Geiger levels stable."
The control room answered at once.
In a sense, they were dissecting a demon. A very dangerous one.
A slab of holy silver finally fell away, revealing a cross-section that looked gnawed by insects. Tiny pores riddled the surface. From them dripped a thick black fluid.
It was not human blood.
It radiated wrongness. Simply looking at it stirred an instinctive revulsion deep in the gut.
Then every indicator light in the lab snapped to crimson. A piercing alarm blared inside their protective suits.
"Geiger levels fluctuating—rising! All personnel evacuate the lab!"
Voices shouted from the control room. The researchers around the table dropped their tools and began withdrawing in orderly lines.
Nikola did not move.
He stared at the dripping liquid, suppressing the crawling dread in his chest. He grabbed a test tube, trying to collect a sample—
Maxwell seized his arm.
"Evacuate, Nikola! That thing is contaminating!"
Before he could protest, freezing vapor roared through the ventilation ducts. Soldiers outside the reinforced glass raised their weapons, ready.
Nikola said nothing. He gave Ed's corpse one last long look, then retreated with Maxwell. Moments later, Laboratory Three was sealed in full lockdown.
Time passed.
The body did not change.
"Looks like we've answered another question," Maxwell said at last, removing his heavy helmet. His gaze was cold as he looked at the operating table now buried beneath frost.
"What question?"
Nikola's expertise lay elsewhere. Maxwell understood demons far better.
"Why Geiger counters can't detect witch hunters. Secret Blood flows in their veins—by all logic, detection tech should expose them instantly. But that hunter named Lloyd? The counters never reacted."
Maxwell folded his arms.
"I think they carry something that suppresses the contaminating properties of Secret Blood—keeps it confined within their bodies. That something is probably the holy silver. Geiger readings stayed stable until we cut it open. Once exposed, the… substance reacted. The levels rose."
"Holy silver isolates contamination," Nikola concluded.
"Seems that way. But we'll need more tests." Maxwell watched the readings slowly stabilize. Once they did, work could resume—though this time, every one of them had truly been exposed.
After a while, Maxwell spoke again.
"You know… our progress could be much faster."
Nikola frowned. "What do you mean?"
A corpse like this was already a rare prize. But then something occurred to him, and his expression shifted.
"I doubt Arthur would agree. The Purge Authority has been negotiating with that witch hunter lately."
"With the right incentives, I believe he'll help us," Maxwell said, supremely confident.
"And beyond that—we need him. Development on the Old-Era Divine Armor has hit a wall. Six test pilots have been admitted to neural rehabilitation in just the past two weeks."
He smiled faintly.
They needed Secret Blood technology. They needed obscure knowledge. They needed someone who could withstand corruption long enough to complete a test run.
In truth, all those problems could be solved by a single person.
There was no need to obsess over this corpse—
Because somewhere in the corners of Old Dunling, a very lively witch hunter was still walking around.
Lloyd stretched and woke in bed, staring at the ceiling plastered with restaurant posters. He decided he'd try the first dish he saw that morning.
"Stargazy pie? What kind of thing is that…"
He sneezed, glanced at the frost crusting the windowpane, and muttered to himself.
Winter had arrived.