C135: Body Snatching

Let’s return a little earlier in time, before Jack went out to meet Florence.

At the edge of the village, beneath the cover of darkness and the midnight wind, five figures stood silently together.

Jack. Arnold. Arriet. And the corpses of Glen and Rudolph.

The forest behind them rustled beneath the cold wind, while ahead of them the village remained quiet and dim beneath the moonlight. Thin smoke still drifted from a few chimneys, but most homes had already gone dark.

Izzy had mobilized every available piece for tonight’s plan.

For this operation, Arnold would serve as Isa’s vessel. To avoid ruining the expensive noble attire he normally wore, they had dressed him in a rough brown shirt, plain trousers, and worn boots suitable for physical work instead.

As for Jack, his role tonight required a proper appearance.

Since he would be meeting Florence directly, Izzy intentionally dressed him in a fitted black suit to leave a stronger first impression.

Or rather to satisfy a small sense of revenge.

That maid had killed Jack during the second iteration. So naturally, she wanted Jack to look presentable when meeting her again.

As for Arriet, she would act as both a distraction and a faux leader if anyone approached their group. Or, acting as Glen’s daughter, A spoiled young lady to lead any curious eyes away.

After all, Arnold’s appearance was too eye-catching. A young boy with a bandaged head wandering around at night would naturally attract questions.

Arriet would be the one to draw attention, a role she would likely never have to perform in the village again.

The girl currently wore a plain black dress beneath a small straw bonnet while holding a black umbrella despite the lack of rain. The combination made her resemble an arrogant little noble child pretending to imitate adults.

Izzy had copied the style from a certain girl she met earlier this morning while mapping the village. What was her name again? Vine?

Of course, to prevent any complications, Arriet had to maintain a distance from Jack and Arnold. It would be disastrous if the strange attraction between vessels suddenly caused the two men to throw themselves at her, resulting in an explicit scene.

Now that Izzy thought about it, What exactly would happen if it really occurred?

Izzy found herself strangely curious.

What would Izzy feel?

What would Isa feel?

‘Izzy…’

‘Ahem.’

Izzy coughed awkwardly inside the mindscape.

Thankfully, there was still one saving grace in this ridiculous situation:the strange attraction did not affect marionettes.

That meant Arriet could stand near Glen and Rudolph without issue.

Perhaps it was because they were already dead, and thus, incapable of desire.

As a collective, they turned their gaze toward the sleeping village.

Jack exhaled slowly, white vapor pluming from his mouth into the night air. He raised an eyebrow and tapped his chin thoughtfully.

“It’s very empty right now.”

Compared to daytime, the village at night felt almost abandoned. It was rare for any villagers to wander outside.

Only darkness remained between the houses.

‘The violet-eyed monster that roams around in the dark.’ Izzy recalled. That was the warning provided by the Black Monument during their first iteration.

And during the second iteration, they had already confirmed it.

Vampires.

‘The church shelters vampires… so it makes sense why they suddenly disappeared once Victor arrived.’

Victor had hidden their traces extremely well. Everything in this village was part of a much larger, more complex scheme, one that even Izzy still could not fully see.

“Mister Jack!” The sudden call broke Izzy's concentration.

Jack snapped back to attention and looked toward the bandaged boy nearby.

Arnold raised his fist enthusiastically toward him.

“Let us do our best!”

“...”

Jack winced slightly and stared at Arnold with visible confusion.

Inside the mindscape, Izzy sat in one of the crimson theater seats while staring sideways at Isa, who sat beside her happily sipping soda.

The young mind had even conjured a pair of oversized red-and-blue 3D glasses onto her face.

“What is the meaning of this?” Izzy asked flatly.

Isa looked back at her with sparkling eyes and giggled.

“It looks fun :3!”

“Whatever.”

Izzy rolled her eyes, crossed her arms, and leaned deeper into the velvet theater seat.

Honestly, she still failed to see what was supposedly fun about this entire act.

She found the entire charade absurd. What was the point of pretending to be two completely separate people while controlling vessels when their real selves were literally sitting beside each other here in the mindscape?

They could simply communicate normally.

Yet Isa always behaved as though they were actors performing on some grand stage, as though an invisible audience was constantly watching them.

And this wasn’t the first time either.

Izzy had often observed Isa speaking to the empty air, as if addressing a crowd of invisible spectators.

‘Does the girl have autism?’ Izzy wondered.

She contemplated whether such a diagnosis might have applied to her in her past lives.

Perhaps she really did in her previous life. In some strange way, it would explain a lot.

Isa often played alone inside the amusement park of their mindscape for hours. At the same time, she displayed bizarre intelligence whenever puzzles or patterns appeared.

It was a logical possibility.

Izzy shook her head and returned her focus toward Jack, who still stared at Arnold with a puzzled expression.

“Yeah, sure.”

Jack finally gave up trying to understand Isa’s behavior and lazily raised his hand for a fist bump.

“Yay!”

Arnold beamed, raising his hand as if he had just been bestowed with the most precious treasure in existence.

“...” Jack let out a weary sigh. “Very well, let us split up. You know your instructions.”

“Okay, Izz— I mean,” Arnold coughed, correcting himself. “Right, Mister Jack. You must be careful as well!”

“...” Jack turned his head silently and watched Arnold depart. Nearby, Arriet and the marionettes walked hand-in-hand, playing the part of a family.

'Well, it is time to adopt Jack’s personality.' Jack ran a finger along his mouth, and a slow, unsettlingly predatory smile spread across his features.

—-

Isa controlled Arnold as he hopped lightly along the road toward the Southwest side of the village. He swayed from side to side, occasionally spinning once on his heel.

Trailing behind him was the rest of the group. With Izzy’s assistance, Glen and Rudolph marionettes moved with precision, their faces devoid of any emotion.

Together, they held the reins of the horse and guided the wooden cart forward. This was the same cart Glen’s band had previously brought to the mansion.

The two dead men walked stiffly beside the cart, with Arriet resting on it. Under the darkness of night, few people would notice them.

To ensure their passage remained undetected, they had meticulously prepared the horses, wrapping their hooves in thick rags to muffle the sound of impact against cobblestone and dirt roads.

Even the cart itself had been modified; they had taken bundles of coarse cloth and wound them tightly around the iron rims of the wheels to dampen the grinding noise.

As the cart progressed, the expected, sharp rattling of metal against stone was entirely absent. Instead, there was only a soft muffled crunching sound as the weighted wheels rolled over the earth.

'Hmm, it seems Izzy has already encountered them.'

Arnold glanced sideways briefly toward Arriet.

Arriet remained mostly expressionless because Izzy was currently dedicating the majority of her focus toward controlling Jack elsewhere.

To ensure they had enough energy for tonight’s operation, Izzy had already absorbed the bone finger.

The reserve of green energy inside them had increased greatly.

“It’s on us now! Let’s do our best!”

Arnold enthusiastically punched a fist into the air before continuing toward the church.

Soon, the group split into positions.

Arnold and the marionettes quietly slipped into the cemetery while Arriet walked openly toward the churchyard.

As Arriet approached the church perimeter, Izzy expanded her Field Vision and observed the inside through the windows.

“...”

There was no movement.

Perhaps Victor had already occupied himself beneath the church inside the hidden study room.

“Good job, Miss Arriet!”

Arriet furrowed her brows and glanced briefly toward Arnold. However, she said nothing.

Instead, she stood near the back entrance of the church, next to the cemetery gate, resting her umbrella on her shoulder.

This allowed her to keep an eye on the church while simultaneously acting as a sentry against any villagers who might stumble upon their location.

As for the umbrella, it was purely for cosmetic purposes.

In the meantime, the marionettes moved to join Arnold in the dark.

Arnold stood among the rows of tombstones as the dead of night pressed in around him. The cloying scent of damp earth, dead leaves, mold, and decay drifted heavily through the cemetery. Yet, he felt no revulsion.

“Let’s steal some corpses!” Arnold declared enthusiastically.

Working in unison, he and the marionettes of Glen and Rudolph produced wooden shovels and began to dig into the earth.

The work was organized by Izzy, operated by Isa.

Two of them dug furiously with shovels while the third hauled away dirt using stretched canvas tarps, so the displaced soil would not form suspicious mounds beside the graves.

The tarps also muffled the sound of falling dirt, making the operation quieter while allowing them to refill the graves later much faster.

Chunks of hardened soil lifted themselves. To further expedite the process, they utilized their psychokinesis to lift and move the heavier loads of soil.

Some tombstones still had wilting flowers resting against them. Others had funeral wreaths that remained relatively fresh.

Those usually suggested recent burials.

This was a detail Izzy had specifically taught Isa to look for.

‘Uhh… did Izzy really dig graves in our previous life?’ Isa wondered while directing the operation.

‘How did she know all this?’

Isa had checked through the book of memories before, but no actual memory of grave robbing ever surfaced.

It was possible that Izzy had intentionally hidden these memories, leaving behind only the specialized knowledge of how to perform that act.

The coffins were not buried particularly deep, but the winter soil was a difficult medium; it was dry, hard, and crusty. Luckily, Furthermore, recent rains had softened portions of the graves enough that the marionettes could still manage the work.

Arnold sweated heavily. White breath continuously escaped his mouth while dirt stained his clothing and hands.

They created a medium-sized hole near the head of the coffin. The coffins here were cheap and flimsy, made from thin pine wood, with poor craftsmanship.

They used iron hooks to pry the lid upward. Once the wood splintered, they looped thick ropes around the shoulders and armpits of the corpse, dragging the body slowly out of the grave.

The night stretched onward while cold wind swept endlessly through the cemetery.

“This corpse can still be useful.”

Once they had successfully hauled a body onto the cart, they lifted the corners of the canvas tarps and slid the loose dirt back into the grave.

Then, they moved to the next grave to repeat the cycle.

Some corpses had already rotted beyond usefulness. Others were little more than skeletons wrapped in decayed flesh.

Those they ignored.

However, those that still possessed intact muscle and flesh, likely had perished within the last week or two, were taken. They only needed functional corpses.

One after another, the three figures dug through the darkness. According to Izzy's calculations, they could only recover about five suitable corpses within four hours before transporting everything back to the mansion.

These bodies were to be used in the upcoming battle against the Herald.

After some time passed, before Jack could return to regroup with them—

Two unexpected guests arrived.

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