Mount Olens.
Via raised her head and looked at the staircase leading to the Holy Land. For a moment, a myriad of emotions welled up within her.
The last time she had come here, she had still been a saintess candidate who had been summoned. In front of the other saintess candidates, she had worked hard to disguise herself so that no one would discover the abyssal aura on her body.
Now, she no longer needed to hide her own secrets. She displayed a Mythical-tier aura. The staircase was filled with clerics standing ready in formation, weapons in hand and aimed at her.
“St-stop right there, heretic!”
The usually valiant clerics blocked Via with trembling voices.
“This is the great Holy Land. We absolutely cannot… allow you to approach even one more step!”
Via looked at that golden-haired cleric and actually felt a bit of admiration for the other party’s courage.
This was none other than the Holy Radiance Knight, Ellis.
Even after sensing her Mythical-tier aura, the other party was still able to maintain her own will and attempt to raise a sword against her.
At the same time, she also felt regret. Such a brave person had been used by the despicable Altes, blinded by lies, and was selling her life for another’s ambition while believing it was a faith that ought to be upheld. It was truly not worth it.
“Could this be the king of the demonkin who previously assisted the New Imperial Army in capturing the capital?”
“No, this is clearly Via!”
“Via? Why has the missing Via turned into the king of the demonkin? Isn’t she Lady Sylvia’s daughter?!”
The group of clerics was rather surprised after realizing that this was Via.
Who could have imagined that the piece of trash who had originally been looked down upon by everyone would return to the Holy Land with such a posture?
“No matter who it is, the sacred Holy Land will absolutely not be easily… defiled!!”
Ellis ran her hand across her weapon, attaching a layer of holy light to it. She strove to drive courage to dispel the fear in her heart and charged toward an opponent she almost could not possibly defeat.
Ding!
Accompanying the fall of the weapon, a clear striking sound rang out.
Via stood in place without moving a single inch. Invisible ripples spread outward. She had not even used divine power. She had merely blocked the attack with Abyssal Force and sent the other party flying.
“Ah!”
Before everyone’s eyes, Ellis fell onto the steps. The armor and weapon on her body all shattered.
Via had not even moved her hands once, yet she had left the other party in such a sorry state. This left the crowd truly rather shocked.
One must know that Ellis had received an inheritance in the Hall of Heroes and was of the top standard within the Holy Land. Yet even so, she had still been easily defeated.
Via took a step forward.
This single step was like startling a flock of birds in a forest. The clerics treated her as a great enemy and nearly launched an attack against Via together.
“Wait a moment!”
A nun jumped out in front of everyone and blocked the clerics.
“Sister Nana, what are you doing? Hurry and come back…”
Ellis, who was lying on the steps, shouted.
“Aiyah, why is everyone making things so tense? It’s not like we don’t know each other.”
Nana patted her own head and revealed a carefree smile.
Unlike the others, she did not regard Via as a terrifying figure and still waved happily at Via just like in the past.
“Via, we meet again~ Hi hi hi~!”
“Nana, good afternoon.”
Seeing that Nana was still so energetic, Via couldn’t help but smile and gave a response.
“Have you eaten yet?”
“Not yet.”
“Want to go to the cafeteria? My treat?”
“Next time. I still have important matters that haven’t been handled yet.”
“Uu, alright then~”
Nana felt it was a bit of a pity.
The conversation between these two people left all the clerics staring in a daze.
Ellis climbed up, a bit angry. “Sister Nana, are you going to betray the Holy Land?”
“What are you talking about? I haven’t betrayed anything. I’m just greeting Via, same as before,” Nana pouted. “It’s you people who looked down on Via in the past and always gave her unpleasant looks. Now that she’s back, you’ve put on another repulsive face.”
“She was previously a saintess candidate of the Holy Land. Now she has become an evil heretic, the king of the demonkin!”
“If Via were truly a bad person, then you should already be dead right now, Ellis.” Nana pointed at Ellis. “Look. The fact that you can still stand here spouting nonsense is precisely proof that Via doesn’t intend to push things to the extreme, right?”
“This…”
Ellis was momentarily speechless.
She also knew just how great the gap in strength between herself and Via currently was. If the other party truly wanted to kill her, it would be no different from crushing an ant.
“Nana is right. The purpose of her returning to the Holy Land should be heard. Via currently truly does not want to kill us.”
Mia walked out from the crowd.
Among the former saintess candidates of the Holy Land, she had been second only to Sophie in excellence. Although young, her ability was outstanding and she also possessed some prestige. She had remained in the Holy Land and continued her duties. After the saintess candidates had all been cancelled, the clerics had become at a loss.
I advocate communicating with Via.
Internal opinions had clearly split into two factions. One side leaned toward Ellis, firmly intending to drive Via away and absolutely refusing to bow their heads to an evil heretic.
The other side stood with Nana and Mia, believing that they should first communicate.
“We should firmly uphold our own faith and give everything for justice. How can we bow our heads to evil? If it is like this, I would rather die here!”
Ellis drew a weapon from another cleric, preparing to fight Via to the death in order to prove her devout faith.
However, a voice stopped Ellis.
“Stop, Ellis. The one you should be swinging your sword at is not Via. It is Altes.”
“This voice is… Sophie?!”
Ellis stopped the movement of her hands.
Behind Via, a starry spatial crack appeared. Sophie walked out from within it.
This was precisely the current Saintess of the Holy Land.
Her appearance once again stirred up a wave of shock. No one had anticipated that Sophie would also come to the Holy Land together with Via.
“Sophie, I thought you had already died in battle in the capital. How are you still alive?”
Ellis’s mind was somewhat chaotic.
“And what did your words just now mean? What has His Holiness the Pope done?”
“The previous wars between the demonkin and the human race were deliberately caused by Altes. The justice you believe in is merely a deceptive method he used in order to achieve his own ambitions. All of us were deceived by him.”
Sophie exposed the truth to the clerics of the Holy Land.
“Altes is precisely the sinner of the Holy Land… no, he should be called the sinner of the human race.”