The girl’s name was Simona.
She had just experienced an utterly outrageous dream.
Her former comrade-in-arms, the Silver-White Sword Empress, and her younger sister Elsa had both been captured by the Demon King, brainwashed into servants, and were now actively begging for the Demon King’s favor.
Gabriella had even become some kind of slave, discarding all dignity and pride, reduced to the Demon King’s exclusive plaything.
This absurd nightmare left Simona utterly baffled.
Her dreams, backed by her immense power, often carried fragments of prophecy.
Pure nightmares like this were exceedingly rare.
…It was true that not long ago she had dispatched Grand Commander Elsa to invade the Demon Domain and probe the Demon King’s forces.
According to reports, Elsa was currently engaged in the first wave of combat against the Demon King’s army.
“Eight years. How could humanity possibly lose to demons this time?”
Simona muttered to herself, flames of determination blazing in her eyes.
Ever since ascending the Holy Queen’s throne, Simona had been preparing for today’s war.
A war to avenge Lady Silver-White Sword Empress.
Just days ago, the prophecy of the Heavenly Hammer Sage had given her the perfect pretext to mobilize the entire Church army.
The more she thought about it, the more incomprehensible the scenes from her dream became.
Lady Silver-White Sword Empress possessed an unbreakable will.
She had once resolved every crisis humanity faced.
Royal feuds, rebellions, demon incursions, natural disasters—nothing had ever been more than a minor inconvenience before her.
The Silver-White Sword Empress had long since become a legend, a hero.
The irony was that Simona, one of the very sinners responsible for that war, had unwittingly inherited all the glory the Silver-White Sword Empress had earned and now sat upon the throne as Holy Queen!
Her own 【Four Saints】 had successively become humanity’s new heroes, the rear waves pushing the history of the Silver-White Sword Empress into the sand, turning her into just one of countless heroic legends on the shore.
Yet Simona firmly believed that Lady Silver-White Sword Empress Gabriella was still alive.
Before the knight orders marched, she had secretly met with Elsa—the younger sister of the Silver-White Sword Empress whom she valued most, the Grand Commander of the Holy Knights—and quickly reached an agreement.
If they encountered Lady Silver-White Sword Empress Gabriella, her safe rescue was to be the absolute highest priority.
They could not fail to save her and end up sacrificing themselves instead, could they?
“How could Lady Silver-White Sword Empress ever fall so low…”
Whether to comfort herself or to reinforce her own logic, Simona muttered again, yet a shadow flickered deep within her golden eyes.
“I too once…”
…She did not finish the sentence.
The sun gradually rose.
Simona changed into a sacred white dress.
The golden-patterned corset was cut away in delicate hollows, revealing a glimpse of the snow-white waist it beautifully outlined.
Expensive floral embroidery on her thigh-high stockings half-concealed her thighs.
The cold expression on the girl’s face had already shed all traces of the confusion and melancholy from when she awoke.
Leaving the 54th Royal Residence and boarding her carriage, she traveled along the magnificent white streets, radiating the majestic aura of a sovereign.
Handsome soldiers in ceremonial attire lined both sides of the road, bowing slightly and offering their blessings to Her Majesty the Holy Queen.
Following the avenue, she arrived at the resplendent Holy Palace and ascended her throne.
Simona clutched the letter in her hand, falling into deep thought as she read its contents.
It was a letter from Philina, Captain of the Second Knight Order, delivered by pigeon—a battlefield report, it seemed.
She had sent several identical copies, as if the contents were far too important to risk losing even one.
When Simona opened the envelope and read what was inside, her face drained of color.
“Elsa… Tina… Gabriella?!”
The contents of the letter seemed to turn her dream into prophecy.
Knight Order Captured
The Silver-White Sword Empress Gabriella… A mysterious young woman appeared and saved the entire knight order from being swallowed by the Demon King’s scheme, preserving the greatest possible number of fighting forces.
Only Elsa’s whereabouts remain unknown.
Simona once again recalled the scene from her dream.
In Captain Philina’s letter, the urgency of the war was not described with phrases like “the Silver-White Sword Empress has been captured by the Demon King.”
“Gabriella—brainwashed and controlled by the Demon King?!”
Simona whispered to herself.
The more she thought about it, the closer her dream seemed to reality, sending chills down her spine.
The girl who had once been a hero had saved the knight order once more, and now the entire order was singing Gabriella’s name in praise.
The title “Silver-White Sword Empress” seemed to be circulating again.
While she was lost in thought, a young girl entered the hall and gave her a slight bow.
The girl was roughly 150 cm tall, clad in a white veil holy robe and an ornate headdress.
Her porcelain-delicate skin glimmered faintly beneath the translucent fabric.
Petal-like patterns on her white thigh-high stockings symbolized purity, yet her face bore not a trace of expression.
Her silver-white hair and golden eyes inevitably reminded people of that hero.
Yet the Saintess’s demeanor was the complete opposite of that hero’s former gentleness.
“Your Majesty Simona, I believe their information regarding the Silver-White Sword Empress is false.”
“Why do you say that?”
The Saintess raised her head, fixing her sun-gold eyes upon Simona.
The gaze that should have been holy and warm, bestowing blessings upon humanity, instead radiated a chilling murderous intent.
“Lady Silver-White Sword Empress is already dead. Our immediate priority should be selecting the Divine Maiden—the Divine Maiden who will oppose the Evil God.”
As she spoke, some of the guards in the room emanated faint traces of fear.
Though their training kept them outwardly composed, they all seemed to dread that bell-like girlish voice.
“…There is no need to rush so.” Simona replied calmly.
“Your Majesty the Holy Queen, based on my understanding of those ignorant fools, the knights are merely making excuses for their own failure. The knight order is pathetically weak—of course, Grand Commander Elsa should bear primary responsibility.”
“Lady Saintess, that judgment is rather biased.”
Simona sighed.
She had long grown accustomed to the Saintess’s harsh and icy demeanor; the girl had been like this ever since eight years ago, and even after becoming the Saintess, nothing had changed.
Her petite, delicate appearance had deceived countless knights, but in truth, anyone who violated doctrine would never be spared by her—she had become the Church’s very nightmare.
Yet the one who had changed was not only the Saintess.
At the very least, Simona felt she had no right to judge others.
Even she herself was far from blameless; she too had wronged the fallen Lady Gabriella.
At this thought, resolve flashed in Simona’s eyes.
“Saintess, when do you depart?”
“In two days, I will lead the knight order and the priest corps to attack the Black Stone Mountains in the Demon Domain. However… something rather serious seems to have happened at the front lines.”
“Speak.”
Simona asked with slight confusion, hoping nothing unexpected would arise.
The Saintess merely bowed once more.
“Just like five years ago, the 【Evil Tree】 has awakened.”
“Wha…”
Simona’s heart violently shuddered.
If it truly was that Evil Tree, did that mean the Divine Maiden was about to revive?
Yet suddenly, she remembered a certain purple-haired demon girl.
The high-ranking demon who had fought her fiercely five years ago.