Upon hearing Sophie’s question, Via couldn’t help but freeze.
Her sister didn’t recognize her?
A wave of discomfort rose in her chest.
Even Nana had recognized her immediately, yet Sophie hadn’t noticed her identity at first glance.
“Who exactly are you?” Sophie said coldly. “The prayer ceremony has already ended. Unauthorized personnel are not allowed to enter here.”
“You really don’t realize who I am?” Via asked.
“I don’t know.”
Sophie showed no interest in Via. She intended to leave. If this troublesome person dared to obstruct her, she could simply call other clerics to deal with her.
With that thought in mind, she walked past Via.
Suddenly, her eyes widened. A near-instinctive impulse surged from deep within her — the urge to purify the black-haired girl.
The other person carried the aura of the abyss.
“Holy Light.”
Golden light gathered in Sophie’s hand and struck toward Via.
Via was startled. She raised her arm to block, taking the full impact of the holy light head-on. She was pushed back a considerable distance before finally stopping.
Under the effect of the holy light, her disguise melted away. Her true appearance was revealed — the pink-haired Demon King.
“Via?”
After seeing Via’s face, a flash of surprise crossed Sophie’s expression.
“You only recognized me after it came to this point?”
Via slowly stood up.
“Sophie… It seems I was presumptuous to have expectations of you.”
“No, Via, I—”
Sophie wanted to explain something, but her words suddenly caught in her throat. It felt as though an invisible shackle had been placed upon her mind. A faint golden light flickered in her eyes as a sacred aura abruptly appeared.
The trace of apology she had shown toward her closest family member vanished instantly, like a small piece of ice thrown into boiling water.
The young Saintess’s expression once again turned cold and indifferent. The way she looked at her own sister was no different from how one would look at an enemy.
“So it’s you, Via. The one who actively abandoned humanity and chose to embrace the evil demonkin — a fallen traitor.”
“Traitor…”
Via could not accept Sophie’s words.
“After you fled to the Desolate Fallen Continent, the Holy Land has been searching for your whereabouts the entire time. Unfortunately, they never found anything. I never expected that you would deliver yourself to us. You’ve saved us quite a bit of trouble.” Sophie observed the changes in Via, particularly the pair of horns on her head that symbolized demonkin. “They’re far too conspicuous. Today, I’ll personally deal with you.”
Via felt an extremely strong sense of incongruity.
In her understanding, her sister had never been this kind of person.
Even though their current positions were opposed, they were still sisters. When speaking about each other — whether positively or negatively — there should have been noticeable emotional fluctuations.
Yet the Sophie before her was far too cold. Her words sounded like they were coming from a machine under control, completely devoid of personal emotion.
There was no sadness, no confusion, no effort to understand.
She simply viewed Via as an obstacle that needed to be eliminated.
Where exactly was the problem?
As this thought crossed her mind, Via quickly examined Sophie. She noticed an extremely strange abnormality — Sophie’s eyes had turned pale gold.
“Sophie, I came here because there’s something very important I need to understand.”
Via didn’t give Sophie a chance to interrupt. She asked directly:
“Why did you follow the Pope’s orders and use a false divine oracle in the name of God to support Soren? You’ve always hated this kind of hypocrisy.”
“So what if I did?”
“I want to know your reason.”
“For the sake of faith.” Sophie gave an answer that Via could not accept.
“Faith…?”
Via felt that Sophie had become incredibly unfamiliar. She was no longer the sister she knew.
She stared at Sophie’s golden eyes and suddenly recalled something.
When Nana had been chatting with her earlier, she had casually mentioned that Sophie had received a blessing from God and awakened.
Could all these changes be caused by that awakening?
“Silver Sword.”
Sophie raised her hand and summoned one of the Divine Might Armament’s silver swords.
Gripping the silver blade, she charged at Via with extreme speed.
“Abyssal Shield!”
Via activated the abyssal aura within her body, converting it into Abyssal Force and creating a pale purple shield in front of her.
However, something unexpected happened.
Sophie raised the silver sword, infused it with holy power, and brought it down on the Abyssal Shield.
After a violent clash of gold and purple, the Abyssal Shield shattered.
The two weapons, each symbolizing their current identities, crossed paths.
Clang!
At the critical moment, Desolate Fire appeared to protect Via.
The shockwave from the clash caused the corridor to collapse with a loud crash.
The entire temple shook, causing a huge commotion. The voices of clerics rose one after another.
“You really surprise me, Via. In such a short time, your strength has already reached the Legendary tier?”
Sophie kept applying pressure with her hand, trying to suppress Via head-on.
“Indeed, you are a massive threat.”
“Sophie…”
Via frowned.
She had already realized that Sophie’s strength had also become extremely powerful.
The last time they parted, Sophie hadn’t even reached the Transcendent tier.
But now, she was at the Legendary tier — the same as Via.
Just what had happened to her sister?
“Saintess!!”
The voices of clerics rang out from behind.
Via glanced over with the corner of her eye and saw that the clerics inside the temple had all been drawn over by their battle.
She had originally wanted to have a private conversation with her sister and try to communicate. But now the commotion was far bigger than she had anticipated.
The situation had already slipped out of her control.
She quickly assessed the current state. If she continued fighting Sophie, it would be difficult to reach a conclusion anytime soon. If it turned into a prolonged battle inside the enemy’s headquarters, it would clearly be very disadvantageous for her.
“Burn, Desolate Fire!”
At Via’s command, Desolate Fire erupted in black flames. Black fire spread outward from her as the center, rapidly forming a storm of black flames that swept through the surroundings.
“Holy Light Slash!”
Sophie swung the silver sword, unleashing several consecutive shining sword slashes that tore through the black flame storm.
After extinguishing the storm, she discovered that Via was no longer there. She had already withdrawn.
“Hmph.”
The red-haired girl released the silver sword, allowing the divine weapon to dissolve into particles that gradually disappeared into the air.
She lifted her head and looked at the broken section of the corridor. She knew clearly that there would inevitably be another battle between her and Via.
“The next time we meet, I will definitely finish you off, Via.”