Boom—!
Outside the window, the demon raised its foot and stomped down once more.
The soil surged like a tsunami, toppling the already damaged walls of the Snow City Fortress.
The fortress defenders screamed, shouted, and fled into the fortress’s underground.
Inside the lounge, Selis blinked after hearing Teresa’s decision. “Eat your soul? Then won’t you die?”
Teresa held the back of Selis’s hand, a determined yet almost tragically beautiful smile blooming on her pale face.
She shook her head gently. Her voice was not loud, but it carried a tone of absolute certainty.
“I don’t care! As long as you can kill the demon or escape this place, my life and death… they aren’t actually that important.”
After she finished this sentence, the lounge fell into a dead silence.
A long time later, Selis placed both hands on Teresa’s cold cheeks. Her gentle fingertips trembled slightly as she gazed into Teresa’s eyes.
“How could it not be important? You are a Rose Knight, a comrade-in-arms to Leanna and the others, and a knight under my command. How could your life and death not be important?”
She spoke each identity with profound clarity and weight.
Teresa’s resolve wavered slightly because of her attitude, but the current situation did not allow her to indulge in such sentiments.
“But, but if we don’t do this…”
She was halfway through her anxious words when Selis’s finger pressed against her lips.
Under Teresa’s puzzled gaze, the complex emotions in Selis’s eyes eventually transformed into a soft sigh.
That sigh carried helplessness, but it also held a hidden trace of composure.
Selis let go and took half a step back. Her expression became increasingly indifferent, even possessing a calmness that seemed to see through everything.
A faint curve tugged at the corner of her mouth.
Seeing this, Teresa’s pupils contracted slightly as if she had realized something.
“You really are…”
Selis shook her head. Her gaze seemed to pierce through Teresa, seeing the desperate sacrifice hidden deep within her heart.
“Did you think I was unprepared?”
Her voice regained its usual warmth, supplemented by a profound, unfathomable confidence.
She raised her hand and gripped the Star-shaped Pendant.
The surrounding magic seemed to tremble slightly in response.
“I stayed in the Snow City Fortress for so long and went to the cemetery almost every day to absorb the soul aura. How could I have no way to mend my soul?”
As her voice fell, the star at the bottom of the pendant gradually emitted a gentle light.
Outside the window, the demon had already raised its massive claw, which was entwined with destructive energy, and smashed it down toward the direction of the Rose Knights.
Accompanied by a violent tremor, Selis no longer hesitated.
She gripped the glowing pendant tightly and closed her eyes.
A warm and powerful force surged from her palm, flowing like a sweet spring through the parched and cracked lands of her soul.
The whispers and emptiness caused by the forced tearing and the erosion of the Abyss were being rapidly smoothed over and mended!
Under Teresa’s obsessed gaze, a flash of light erupted from Selis, and she transformed into Isavel.
Her long black hair moved without wind, the tips stained with a golden luster. Her long dress swayed.
At this moment, Isavel remained incomparably holy, but compared to Selis, this holy aura was more ancient and majestic.
Once her soul was completely mended, she slowly opened her eyes.
The gentleness in them had been replaced by an absolute, rational majesty.
…….
“Leanna!”
On the battlefield, Morton’s cry came from a distance, but Leanna, who had blocked several attacks from the demon, could not hear him clearly at all.
At this moment, blood seeped from the corners of her eyes and both ears.
The webbing between her thumb and forefinger on her sword hand had already torn.
Although the injuries were not too severe, they had already begun to affect her strength.
If this continued, she would eventually die at the hands of this demon.
Or rather, it was already a miracle that she had managed to hold out for so long against a Demi-God Level demon.
But miracles were miracles because of their rarity.
They would not keep happening, just like her life and the lives of the Rose Knights.
If they didn’t find a way to retreat now, they were destined to die here…
“Roar—!”
The demon did not care about such things; it only knew how to attack.
After another roar, it clenched its hands together and smashed them down fiercely toward Leanna and the Rose Knights!
Its massive figure almost completely blocked out the sun, leaving only coldness and despair for Leanna and her comrades.
However, just as Leanna gritted her teeth and tried to find a way to dodge the strike, a pitch-black figure appeared beneath the giant fist.
She merely raised her right hand and halted the descent of the massive blow.
‘Isavel…?’
Perhaps because the distance was too great, Leanna could not see the figure’s face clearly.
It was only because the image of the Villainous Saint in her black dress and her terrifying strength were so deeply ingrained in everyone’s minds that Leanna subconsciously assumed any black figure was her.
But…
‘At a time like this, the only one who would come to save them is probably the Villainous Saint Isavel, right?’
As this thought flashed through her mind, Leanna didn’t know whether she should feel hatred or amusement for a moment.
The demon seemed to sense a threat and let out a furious roar.
A Dragon Breath shockwave, powerful enough to instantly destroy a city, erupted again and swept toward Isavel.
Isavel simply raised her hand calmly, without even chanting a single spell.
When the destructive flood of energy approached a certain range around her, it was as if it had hit an invisible barrier.
It silently decomposed, turning into two beams of light that flew behind her.
‘Imprisonment’
She spoke softly.
In the next moment, countless chains formed from black magic appeared out of thin air, instantly binding the demon’s massive body.
The demon struggled wildly, but its power, which was enough to shake mountains, could not break those seemingly thin dark chains.
Instead, they wrapped tighter and tighter, and the evil fire in its eye sockets let out a hissing wail under the burning of the strange magic.
“Damn it, what is this?!”
For the first time, fear appeared in the demon’s eyes. It opened its massive maw and spoke in a human tongue.
At the same time, it tried to gather deeper Abyssal Magic in an attempt to break free from the chains.
However, Isavel did not give it any chance.
The Black Longblade appeared in her hand. Under the demon’s terrified gaze, she brought the blade down.
There was no earth-shattering explosion and no dazzling light effects.
That once invincible Demi-God Level demon had its massive body split in two from the head down.
Blood and organs did not spill everywhere.
After its body fell, it decomposed as quickly as a weathered sand sculpture, turning into primitive black dust.
Along with its foul Abyssal core, it dissipated into the air.
From the moment Isavel appeared to the demon’s annihilation, only a few seconds had passed.
Between heaven and earth, it seemed as if only her figure remained suspended in the air.
Morton stared blankly at the sky, his eyes filled with disbelief. Behind him, the Cross Knights felt the same way.
The Rose Knights, on the other hand, had seen this kind of scene many times.
They all lowered their weapons and slumped to the ground, grateful that they had lived to see another day. Leanna had already closed her eyes and fallen into a coma.
After all, her injuries were the most severe.
The sunlight spilled down once more, illuminating Isavel’s cold and perfect profile, as well as Teresa, who was below them with tear streaks on her face but a smile of immense pride and relief.
Isavel slowly descended as her glow faded.
She looked at Teresa, the absolute majesty in her eyes receding and turning into a trace of complex, indescribable tenderness and helplessness.
“Next time, you are not allowed to act so recklessly on your own. Every Rose Knight is indispensable to me and to everyone else.”
Her voice regained its usual softness, but it carried an undeniable firmness.
Teresa nodded vigorously and threw herself into Isavel’s embrace with tears in her eyes.
Holding the girl in her arms, Isavel gently patted her back and then let out a soft sigh.
She didn’t know when it had started, but the number of girls who knew she and Selis were the same person was growing.
Her identity as the Villainous Saint was becoming less effective.
Why was that?
‘Could it be that my acting is actually that bad?!’
Isavel was completely puzzled.
The Demi-God Level demon was annihilated, and at the same time, the Imperial Capital of the Norwich Empire was trampled by the Human Allied Forces.
The Imperial War, which had lasted for more than one year, finally came to a complete end at this moment.
The Norwich Empire fell, and the Nobles beneath it acted independently.
The demons seemed to gradually settle down, and the Snow City Fortress finally welcomed peace.
With no more battles, the Rose Knights naturally had to return to the Oracle Hall to prepare for the next phase of their strength enhancement plan.
The moment they left, the fortress’s defenders and the Cross Knights lined the road to give them a passionate send-off.
Bidding them farewell alongside them was Nora.
After witnessing the rapid improvement of the Rose Knights, Nora could finally no longer sit still.
She chose to leave Isavel’s side to seek a path to increase her own strength.
The next time they met would perhaps be the moment her strength underwent a world-shaking transformation.
……
Night, inside the Saintess’s Bedchamber in the Oracle Hall.
Moonlight streamed through the window, casting mottled and quiet shadows on the floor.
A faint, soothing incense permeated the bedchamber, interweaving with the cold fragrance of flowers drifting from the garden outside.
Inside the bedchamber, Isavel sat before the dressing table, removing her daytime attire and letting her black hair fall over her shoulders.
At that moment, a familiar presence quietly appeared in the shadows of the balcony.
Franndo stepped out of the shadows. She was not wearing her formal Empress robes, but rather a seductive nightgown covered by a black overcoat.
After seeing Isavel, she walked up behind her and wrapped her arms around Isavel’s neck.
A lazy and charming smile played across her lips.
“It has been a long time since we last met. Did you miss me?”
Isavel did not turn around.
She watched the approaching figure through the reflection in the mirror, her hands not stopping as she combed her long hair.
Her tone held a hint of knowing helplessness.
“I did miss you, but why do you always come to find me at night?”
Warm breath brushed against her sensitive ear.
Franndo used her fingertip to gently coil a strand of black hair. “What’s wrong? You don’t like it?”
Isavel finally put down the comb and reached up to place her hand on the back of Franndo’s.
She tilted her head slightly, a few traces of charming danger in her eyes.
“How could I not like it? It’s just… at night, you know that once you’re here, you won’t be going back.”
Franndo rested her chin lightly on the top of Isavel’s head, the corner of her mouth curling.
“Mmh, I didn’t plan on going back. And don’t worry, even if the Empress isn’t in the Royal Palace, nothing will go wrong.”
After a moment of silence, she took a light breath, as if confirming a certain scent.
Then, with a bit of reproach and playfulness, Franndo said, “On the other hand, we haven’t seen each other in so long, yet the scent of other women on you is getting stronger.”
Isavel lifted her eyelids and looked directly into Franndo’s deep eyes, asking with a bit of a probing tone, “Then… would you be angry?”
Hearing this, Franndo did not look displeased. Instead, she let out a low laugh.
She reached out to cup Isavel’s cheeks, her thumbs gently stroking them. Her gaze was open and inclusive.
“No, after all, I knew from the very beginning that you belong to me, but you do not belong *only* to me.”
From the moment she fell in love with Isavel, she knew that her lover would not belong to her alone.
Their gazes locked, and a silent understanding and affection filled the air.
As the moonlight shifted slightly, Franndo slowly lowered her head and kissed Isavel’s lips.
Isavel tilted her head back slightly to respond, her hands climbing up Franndo’s neck.
The mirror on the dressing table unclearly reflected their embracing figures, until they finally collapsed together onto the magnificent bed draped with gauze curtains nearby.
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