“Look, I’m totally fine~”
Gabriella gently patted her head.
Tina lifted her tear-filled eyes and looked at her.
“R-really… nothing happened to you?”
“Of course. Otherwise, how could I be standing here perfectly unharmed?”
“Mmm…”
Tina nodded, but still asked with lingering fear in her voice:
“Lady Gabriella, what happened to your eye? I heard people say that after the Silver-White Sword Empress was captured by the Demon King, she was locked in the dungeon and turned into a breeding machine, giving birth to terrifying monsters for the Demon King every day.”
A scene appeared in her mind.
A pitiful female prisoner whose eyes were covered, passively receiving the Demon King’s favor every day.
Because she had spent so long in darkness, and because of her powerful perception, Gabriella had grown accustomed to the dark environment, which was why she now covered her eyes with silk cloth.
“There’s no such thing. You’re overthinking it.”
Gabriella immediately shook her head in denial.
What was with all these rumors these days?
Giving birth to the Demon King’s children, really?!
Yet somehow, she had started imagining that scene herself!
Having the Demon King’s babies or whatever.
Because, during those years when she was brainwashed, Gabriella really had thought about that question.
She had even prepared numerous nutritional meal plans, all for the sake of ensuring proper nutrition if she ever became pregnant with the Demon King’s child in the future.
In her spare time, she would even study books on demon prenatal education.
“…I escaped. My eye… got a little injured.”
After thinking for a moment, Gabriella answered like that.
“Was it the Demon King who did it?”
“No, not her… Anyway, don’t worry about those things. I can still see.”
Gabriella felt that if the questions continued, her fearsome image would completely collapse.
Right now, the knights following Tina were all staring intently at the situation, unsure if they had seen their leader currently kneeling on one knee and sobbing, their faces filled with confusion.
Tina stood up, pretended to cough once, and asked in a slightly louder and rather formal tone:
“Lady Gabriella, why can’t we continue the march? The purpose of this expedition is to rescue Lady Elsa.”
Her voice sounded exactly like… she didn’t actually care and was only putting on an act for the knight order to see.
Naturally, Gabriella wouldn’t let this opportunity pass.
She also replied in a voice loud enough for the knights to hear:
“With only ten thousand elite knights, no priest corps support, no blessings or protection from the Saintess and Saint, and no siege equipment or supplies—what war are you planning to fight? The current you look more like sacrificial offerings and a fuse.”
“Then what should we do now?”
“If you truly want to save Elsa, you must not engage the demons in open battle. I know a way to infiltrate the Demon Domain. How many 【King-tier】 knights do you have?”
Gabriella looked toward the knights behind Tina. Many who had been staring immediately averted their gazes.
Only a short-haired redhead girl met Gabriella’s eyes with determination.
She stepped out from the crowd and stood directly on top of the fissure Gabriella had cleaved into the earth.
Unlike the awe shown by the other knights, this girl viciously drew her sword and declared to Gabriella:
“Lady Tina, don’t let this person deceive you! She must be an illusion created by the demons to trick you!”
She was even shorter and slimmer than Tina, barely 160 cm tall, looking exactly like a loli.
She wasn’t wearing armor but rather a slightly bulky Church crimson robe.
Dark red pantyhose wrapped her slender legs, and several long rectangular ribbons hung from her chest down to her knees, giving her petite figure a touch of sanctity.
Only her rather flat chest was a bit regrettable.
“Philina, that’s not it!”
Before Tina could explain anything, Philina continued:
“Siege weapons? Modern humans don’t need those things at all! Formation mages replaced clumsy siege engines six years ago, and we certainly don’t need aid from those priest corps fools!”
Her voice carried three parts anger and seven parts doubt.
Her watery eyes seemed ready to shoot flames that would swallow Gabriella whole.
“Only the strong deserve to lead us. I challenge you to a duel! I am Philina, Captain of the Second Knight Order.”
Gabriella walked up to her, tilted her head, and smiled.
“I accept your challenge. You’re welcome to team up with Miss Tina.”
Such blatant provocation instantly turned Philina’s suspicion into pure rage.
Because in the knight order, duels were always one-on-one.
Two against one, even if they won, would be considered dishonorable!
Yet unexpectedly, Tina’s cheeks flushed red as she gazed at Gabriella with adoration.
“I can join too? Then… please guide me well, Lady Gabriella!”
“…”
“Fine, we’ll do that.”
Seeing that even Tina had agreed, Philina had no choice but to go along.
Gabriella had only intended to humiliate her a little, but things had somehow turned out this way.
When the duel began, Philina simply closed her eyes, clasped her hands together, and gathered power, leaving Tina to handle the offense.
Half a minute later, once her preparations were complete, she erupted with magic far surpassing 【King-tier】.
Forming a bow and arrow with her hands, she continuously fired magical arrows at Gabriella.
Every shot missed Gabriella but blasted massive craters into the ground.
Tina, meanwhile, clashed head-on with Gabriella using her Frost Saint Sword.
Her freezing aura could form ice shields for defense.
Whenever Gabriella leaped backward, Tina would spread frost across the ground and attack with ice spikes.
Their coordination was flawless.
Silver light suddenly flashed in Gabriella’s hand, gradually forming the phantom of a holy sword—an almost tangible manifestation of divine radiance.
She strolled leisurely through the storm of blades and arrows, then lunged forward, knocking the longsword from Tina’s grasp.
In the next instant, she appeared before Knight Captain Philina, resting her blade across the girl’s neck and declaring the duel over.
“You…”
Philina stared in stunned disbelief at the silver flash that was Gabriella.
It took her more than ten seconds to realize she had been utterly defeated—the gap in their strength wasn’t even on the same dimension.
A trace of submission finally appeared in her previously defiant eyes.
“I surrender. I will follow your orders.”
Gabriella withdrew the sword from Philina’s neck, and it dissolved into silver particles that scattered with the wind.
…
In just ten-odd minutes, Tina gathered all the King-tier and above knights before Gabriella.
Including Gabriella herself, there were fourteen in total.
After a brief discussion of strategy, they immediately set off toward the Demon King’s Castle.
Everyone now had absolute faith in Gabriella—after all, she was the powerhouse that even the Ice Saint willingly followed.
Though they didn’t know her exact origins, she somehow felt like one of those heroic figures from the knightly code.
Yet Ice Saint Tina still felt lingering dread.
There was no doubt that Teacher Gabriella was just as strong as before.
However,
Just moments ago, Tina had personally witnessed the manifested holy sword Gabriella used.
On the hilt of that weapon formed from pure white power, there had actually grown a sinister crimson vertical demon eye that radiated an eerie aura, sending chills down her spine.
Gabriella’s pure power seemed to have been tainted slightly by the abyss and chaos.
“No way… I must have seen wrong.”
Tina muttered to herself, shook her head, and hurried to catch up with the knights.
How could someone as mighty as the Silver-White Sword Empress ever be so easily corrupted and fall to evil?