Chapter 86: Repair And Fuse

“Hmm...” Brunhild nodded thoughtfully. “What about the Souls of my Soul Orb?”

“Oh! That might work as well!” Freyja nodded with clear enthusiasm. “Sorry for suggesting the use of your levels earlier. I know how hard you worked to earn them.”

“It’s fine,” Brunhild replied with a gentle nod. “We gained plenty of souls from the recent battles anyway, so let’s use as many as we can. Once the process is complete, can the souls still be liberated like with Soul Sacrifice, or is it different this time?”

“The process simply requires the fuel to accelerate what I am trying to achieve, so Soul Sacrifice should work perfectly,” Freyja explained.

“Okay,” Brunhild nodded once more.

Sigrid watched the two of them with open curiosity. She tilted her head, unable to fully understand what was happening, until Brunhild’s aura suddenly exploded outward in a brilliant wave of immense golden light.

Hundreds of ghostly souls manifested around her in an instant. Most of them belonged to their most recent enemies: the fallen Ice Elves, along with the Blood Thralls and Dhampir versions they had defeated. The spectral figures swirled and twisted in the air, their forms glowing with ethereal energy.

“OOOHHHH!”

Their collective roars merged into a haunting, ghostly cacophony. The eerie melody was so intense that it could drive any ordinary listener to the brink of madness.

Brunhild extended her hand toward Freyja and channeled the gathered power through Soul Sacrifice, pouring the spiritual energy directly into the process.

FLUOSH!

Freyja nodded firmly and returned her consciousness to her internal database. She began rapidly reorganizing the corrupted data of the two conflicting professions.

“The only way for them to survive is like this...!”

She carefully moved the data and divine circuits within her own body, guiding the fusion with precise control.

In front of Brunhild, a new system notification suddenly appeared.

“?! ”

She stared in complete shock at what she saw.

[Your Professions have been directly combined to complement each other by the System Administrator.]

[You have changed Professions to Vigilante of the Scarlet Order – Tier 2!]

[All Stats have increased by +3,000!]

[You learned the Profession Skill: Scarlet Veil – Tier 2: Level 1/10!]

[You learned the Profession Skill: Crepuscular Bulwark – Tier 2: Level 1/10!]

“Vigilante of the Scarlet Order?! Both professions actually fused...”

Brunhild felt a deep wave of astonishment wash over her. She marveled at what the System was truly capable of, fixing such a major error on its own. Even more impressively, the glitched and bugged skills had merged, creating something entirely new and powerful.

She wondered whether these new results were simply the sum of their combined components or if they had created something greater. Either way, she could clearly feel the strange, glitching sensation inside her body finally disappear. The awkward and conflicting powers that had troubled her before now unified into a harmonious essence that flowed smoothly and naturally through her veins.

Although she could not obtain all three professions, she had successfully gained two strong ones. It was not a bad outcome at all. She had spent quite a few souls in the process, yet she still possessed a large reserve and plenty of Soul Points accumulated from previous battles.

“I think it’s done...” Freyja sighed heavily before collapsing onto the floor. “Ugh, I’m exhausted... That was a little too much even for little ol’ me!”

“Here, why don’t you eat these?” Brunhild offered her a generous pile of spirit crystals. Freyja’s eyes lit up with immediate hunger.

“W-Well, if you don’t mind!” Freyja replied eagerly and began snacking on them right away.

She was still technically a divine spirit, and consuming these crystals was perfect for her. The energy within them allowed her to recover her strength rapidly.

“I’m glad you’re feeling better,” Brunhild said with a deep sigh of relief. “Now, what exactly do these new skills do?”

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[Scarlet Veil – Tier 2: Level 1/10]

Your blood energy merges with ambient light and shadow, creating a living veil that conceals your presence and dampens your mana signature. In low light, during dawn or dusk, or in areas of twilight, your stealth, agility, evasion, and overall movement become dramatically enhanced. 

You can extend a weaker version of this veil to a small number of allies, masking their presence and providing minor resistance to detection and mental interference while increasing their stealth, agility, evasion, and overall movement. 

The veil also grants improved night vision and a subtle intuitive sense for hidden dangers or ambushes.

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[Crepuscular Bulwark – Tier 2: Level 1/10]

Sacrifice a measured amount of your blood to manifest crimson twilight energy into flexible, adaptive constructs, armor plating, weapons, barriers, or flowing cloaks. These constructs are lighter and more versatile than standard blood manifestations. They can shift shape on command and blend with shadows, granting passive stealth abilities and increasing damage when surprising foes. 

When protecting allies, the bulwark grants them enhanced endurance, minor regeneration, and increased resistance to curses or status effects. You can “mark” enemies with traces of your blood energy, decreasing their movement speed, agility, and reflexes to a certain point, making it easier for you and your allies to strike. 

Moderate blood and stamina consumption. Constructs perform best and last longer in low-light conditions.

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“Very interesting. The effects mixed together but they are not simply the sum of both,” Brunhild analyzed carefully. “Some effects are missing while others have transferred. Scarlet’s Aura passive effect that boosts allies’ strength and regeneration went to Crepuscular Bulwark, while the new Scarlet Veil instead boosts agility, movement, stealth, and similar abilities...”

She paused for a moment, deep in thought. “These two skills are excellent. I definitely could not have figured all of this out on my own. Hm, I think these skills would synergize amazingly with the War Saintess of the Umbral Hunt Skill...”

From her previous experiences using it multiple times, Brunhild already knew that particular skill possessed three major abilities. It enhanced her hunting senses and reflexes, allowed her to create a large shadow construct resembling a bow and shoot powerful shadow explosive arrows, and enabled her to plant a red flag on the ground that created a domain enhancing the physical strength, vitality, endurance, and stamina of herself and her allies. There was also a shadow veil component that improved her stealth.

She had never truly examined the skill in full detail before. Deciding it was time to do so properly, she analyzed its complete description before allowing herself to rest for a couple of hours until her family and friends woke up.

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[War Saintess of the Umbral Hunt – Tier 3: Level 2/10]

A Divine Skill born from the fusion of all your existing Class Abilities into a fitting Skill, and your growing divinity. It embodies the sacred role of a Saintess who leads the hunt through shadow and blood, bringing both salvation and death to the battlefield. 

Available Abilities: 

[Umbral Hunter’s Insight (Passive)]

Sharply enhances all hunting-related senses, reflexes, spatial awareness, and instinct. You can perceive the flow of battle more clearly, predict enemy movements slightly ahead, and identify vital points even in chaotic combat.

Current Synergy: Strongly resonates with Predator’s Instinct (from Blood Hunter), Scarlet Veil, and Huntress Queen branches. 

[Shadow Eclipse Bow (Active)]

Manifest a large composite bow made of condensed shadows and divine energy. Arrows fired from it deal mixed shadow, holy, and explosive damage. Arrows can be charged for greater power or split into multiple homing shots.

Current Synergy: Excellent with Sharpshooting Archery and Phantom Arrow (once purchased). 

[Crimson Hunt Domain (Active – Domain Skill)]

Plant a crimson banner of light and shadow into the ground (or manifest it in the air).

Within the domain:

Allies gain increased Strength, Vitality, Endurance, and Stamina regeneration.

Enemies suffer minor suppression to their speed and recovery abilities.

The domain pulses with umbral energy, strengthening shadow-based abilities and blood constructs.

Duration and size increase with skill level and invested mana or blood. 

[Saintess’ Veil of Dusk (Toggle Passive)]

Wrap yourself in a layer of living shadow that greatly boosts stealth and blends with natural darkness. While active, mana consumption is reduced and you gain minor damage resistance.

Current Synergy: Combines powerfully with Scarlet Veil and Shadow Steps. 

{Additional Effects}:

The skill grows stronger, gaining bonuses to skill proficiency when leading allies in battle or hunting powerful prey.

Divine energy consumption decreases as the skill ranks up.

Hidden potential: At higher tiers, it may awaken new Saintess Authorities tied to your War Demigoddess path and Pureblood talent.

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“Yeah, just as I thought. The Spirit I manifested does not seem to appear in the skill description, so it is not part of the Skill itself but rather a manifestation made possible by my physique,” she thought while rubbing her chin. “Well, alright then. Everything synergizes well... Next time I won’t get beaten down so easily. And I’ll need all this power anyway. Whatever is down there commanding someone as strong as Alistair is sure as hell not weaker than him... Vampires don’t obey weaklings after all. Their leaders are always monstrously powerful...”

Brunhild let out a long sigh and finally allowed herself to relax. She walked back to bed where Sigrid and her two friends were cuddled together, sharing warmth under the blankets in their shared exhaustion.

A few hours passed. Brunhild woke up suddenly, fully alert, as she sensed a strong vampiric presence nearby. She rushed out of her room, assuming more Ghouls had come after her, but stopped short at the sight before her.

“Ah, Brunhild! Good morning,” said her father, his eyes gleaming with a deep crimson glow. “I... uh, I think something’s wrong with me.”

“Dad...?!” Brunhild gasped, her heart tightening with shock as she realized just how much her father had changed.

Something was truly wrong with him.

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