Clang, clang, clang...
The footsteps of the surviving Church Knights gradually faded into the distance.
The corpse of the Church Knight he had brutally beaten to death remained pressed heavily upon Norton's charred body.
That wooden stake must have been driven deep indeed, causing fresh blood to continuously well up and spill from the Church Knight's eye socket.
The slightly viscous blood dripped inside the steel helmet, then trickled out through the gaps in the armor.
Drip, drip, drip...
The Church Knight had fallen precisely with his head positioned over Norton's chest.
Drop by drop, blood seeped through the helmet's crevices, falling onto Norton's charcoal-like chest.
Strand by strand, the blood trickled along the wooden stake embedded in Norton's chest, slowly penetrating deep into the fissures within his flesh.
Yet at his back, where the stake protruded through the wound, not a single drop of blood showed any sign of leaking out.The Mass Burial Ground returned to complete silence, with no sound whatsoever except for the two corpses lying atop the garbage heap.
But before long.
Sizzle...
A faint, almost imperceptible sound resembling flesh squirming emerged, so quiet it was nearly undetectable. Yet if one had sound detection equipment on site, the source would be clearly identifiable.
It came from the two corpses on the ground.
If one looked closely enough, subtle abnormalities became apparent.
The two corpses seemed to be trembling slightly.
No, not both corpses - rather, the desiccated body beneath the Church Knight's corpse. Norton.
The stake pierced through Norton's chest was pressed firmly down by the weight of the Church Knight, yet the source of vibration was coming from this very stake.
Within Norton's charcoal-like corpse, there seemed to be an outward pushing force, causing the stake embedded in his chest to tremble slightly as it tried to expel itself.
But because of the combined weight of the Church Knight and his steel armor pressing down, the stake couldn't be pushed out, resulting in this subtle trembling state.
If this were an ordinary vampire, the failed transformation might have resulted in permanent death.
But Norton was no ordinary case - Norton was the man who had been burned to charcoal!
As the trembling of the stake intensified, Norton's charred flesh - baked too brittle - began crumbling away from his back in continuous flakes.
Crack!
With a crisp sound, a fissure split open across Norton's back, completely widening the gap around the stake.
This caused the stake embedded in his chest to shift from vertical to diagonal, until it finally lay completely horizontal within his flesh.
This also made the Church Knight's body sink down further, causing more blood from within the steel helmet to flow into the gaping wound in Norton's chest.
And more blood seemed to grant Norton greater strength.
As the blood dripped down, his internal organs - long since burned to charcoal - gradually began restoring their soft, moist appearance.
The flesh around the chest wound also seemed to be gradually regaining its softness.
This resulted in an increasingly powerful expulsion force from his flesh, even pressing the stake within his chest downward until it was completely forced out from his chest cavity.
The blood's nourishment seemed to make Norton's body more pliable. Although his severed left arm remained unrepaired, his shrunken, charcoal-like right arm and legs clearly began to gradually swell.
Hsss!
Norton's lips, which had been fused together by the burning, suddenly tore open, emitting from his mouth a terrifying sound reminiscent of a zombie awakening.
His right arm - now only half the size of a normal person's - finally showed some movement.
Crack, crack...
Norton's right arm trembled slightly, then gradually bent upward.
His charcoal-like skin continuously flaked away with his movements, revealing somewhat tender muscle texture beneath.
Without any conscious control, Norton's right hand slowly embraced the Church Knight pressing down on him, then exerted force to lift the heavy body upward.
Snap... The excessive strain caused three of his still-fragile fingers to break off completely.
The ground became littered with charcoal-like skin fragments.
But at least he managed to lift the Church Knight's head up to his mouth.
The corpse's movement caused fresh, already thickening blood to seep from the Church Knight's wound.
Strand by strand, blood dripped through the helmet's gaps into Norton's gaping, charcoal mouth.
Drip, drip...
As if attracted by the scent of blood, Norton's desiccated head trembled slightly, then pushed upward despite flesh flaking away, pressing closer to the Church Knight's helmet.
He even began unconsciously gnawing at the helmet.
If dogs are earth-bound creatures that can survive by touching soil, then vampires are undoubtedly blood-bound beings that revive through contact with blood.
Though only nourished by a small amount of blood, the parched flesh within Norton's mouth clearly began to gradually improve.
The effect spread widely - even his eyelids began regaining their moisture.
Finally.
Norton opened his somewhat clouded eyes.
His blurred vision didn't seem to trouble him visually. His right arm - nearly restored to its original thickness - already gripped the missionary's steel helmet.
Creak...
As Norton's right hand exerted force, bone-cracking sounds emerged from the Church Knight's neck.
Then.
Thump!
A helmeted head was torn away and tossed aside.
......
A desiccated corpse with a charcoal-like appearance pushed aside the headless body weighing him down.
With his movements, skin fragments continuously flaked off his body in showers.
This desiccated corpse seemed still unconscious. After pushing the body off himself, he stood up in an unnatural, bizarre posture.
His broken parts were slowly repairing themselves, the newly grown flesh contrasting sharply with the surrounding dried skin.
The presence of desiccated flesh also made his standing posture somewhat unsteady and peculiar.
Norton only felt like he had been trapped in a dream that was neither long nor short.
Within the dream was complete darkness, nothingness - he couldn't even think, possibly without consciousness. Yet it wasn't uncomfortable, nor pleasant - he didn't even have any sense of time.
As his consciousness gradually coalesced again, he discovered he was already standing in a Mass Burial Ground filled with human skeletons.
The newly awakened Norton felt somewhat confused, but gradually, memories from before flooded back.
"Father!"
Norton spread his arms wide, emitting a hoarse, low roar from his throat, as if praising God's holy name.
His memories continuously surged back into his mind.
The final moment of being impaled by the great sword emerged in his thoughts.
Combined with Father Mia's words that had left such a deep impression on him.
Norton finally had an epiphany.
Right, I must have been fucking burned to charcoal!