With the remaining years.
Recalling all those past events, the determination in the Saintess’s eyes grew even stronger.
She would eliminate Tina and Elsa. She would eliminate anyone in her path.
“Lady Gabriella is now the wife of the Demon King, Miss Saintess.”
“A lie. Another lie.”
The Saintess’s brows furrowed slightly.
“Lady Gabriella has already died.”
Golden light burst forth behind her once more.
She summoned two golden giants, each wielding massive hammers like gatekeepers guarding the divine realm.
This time, she poured all of her remaining fifty percent power into them.
As the two golden giants swung their weapons, they easily shattered the fragile ice crystals.
The shockwaves alone could pulverize the sharp boulders of the mountain range.
Even Tina was forced to retreat step by step for a moment.
However, with her ice wings, she remained extremely difficult to pin down, making it hard to catch her quickly.
At the same time, the Saintess swiftly flew to a high vantage point.
On a stone platform far from the battlefield, she dropped to one knee and bowed her head.
A golden-yellow magic array immediately appeared beneath her, enveloping the ruins.
Ancient golden runes began supplying power to her body continuously.
Several strands of silver-white hair floated upward along with the golden energy.
Some shattered ice crystals flew over from the entanglement between the two golden giants and Tina, but they could not affect the array that allowed her to recover magic at any time.
Now, she only needed to wait patiently for her power to restore.
But at that moment, Elsa unexpectedly caught up and said to her with a smile:
“Miss Saintess.”
“What meaning is there in you coming here?”
The Saintess showed no fear at all, even though her magic was currently recovering and she was in a vulnerable state.
“Elsa, you have transferred most of your power to Tina. In your current state, you cannot harm me.”
“You seem quite confident.”
“Of course.”
The Saintess’s gaze sharpened.
“Back in the knight order, I told you Four Saints that only by giving your all and using any means to defeat me in a duel would you be worthy of vying for the title of Goddess. If not for the Holy Queen—if not for them placing the position of Goddess on a fallen person like you…”
Golden flames of anger burned in her eyes, as if they could swallow Elsa whole at any moment.
“Saintess, why do you protect the position of 【Goddess】 so fiercely?”
“That is Lady Gabriella’s will. A fallen one like you could never understand.”
“Isn’t it just your own selfish desire?”
Elsa slowly walked closer to her.
The blue spiral patterns on her horns glowed faintly under the golden light, as if charged with energy.
In truth, the Saintess was one of those strict and selfish figures in the Church.
Tina hated the Saintess.
The chaos in the knight order was, to some extent, also related to this Saintess.
She often excessively punished and disciplined knights, as if venting anger—like what she did to Philina.
As a pure Saintess, she had never truly maintained order. Instead, she revered violence and force.
In Elsa’s view, she was the sinner who destroyed the peace that Big Sister had single-handedly created.
She and Tina shared the same opinion.
Yet,
she always felt that this woman emitted an aura of “facing death unflinchingly.”
Indeed different from those other sanctimonious hypocrites.
Moreover,
she had always believed the Saintess wanted to replace Big Sister and become the true Goddess.
But now, it seemed not so simple~
Elsa also sat down on the teleportation array.
The holy light’s magic caused a burning pain in her body, as if her demonic physique instinctively rejected this pure substance.
“What is your relationship with my Big Sister, Miss Saintess?”
“…It has nothing to do with you.”
“Is that so? It seems there is indeed some connection.”
Elsa began to ponder.
The Saintess’s existence was extremely mysterious.
She seemed to have no background, suddenly appearing in the Church to become Saintess without any prior signs.
And it seemed only Holy Queen Simona knew her true identity… yet the Holy Queen kept silent about her existence.
Silver hair, Gabriella… Could she be Big Sister Gabriella’s illegitimate daughter?!
Elsa felt she might be overthinking it.
Although she hadn’t always been by Big Sister’s side those years, she at least knew her circumstances and had met many of her former comrades in the Church.
Big Sister strongly resisted emotional relationships with others, as if her heart was solely devoted to the justice within and to endless battle.
The current Big Sister was already bound by emotion~ and the Saintess carried a part of her shadow.
“You really want to see Gabriella, don’t you?”
Seeing that her probing question received no answer, Elsa became even more convinced of her own theory.
Opportunities to get close to an enemy were rare, but as long as she seized them, she could extract intelligence from the enemy.
“By the way, Miss Saintess, what is your name? I’ve never heard anyone call you by it directly.”
“Shut up.”
“Speaking of which, Saintess, I want to know—why do you keep believing that Big Sister Gabriella is already dead?”
“She is dead…”
“I once thought the same as you, but Big Sister Gabriella is still alive. She and Lord Demon King are very happy every day~”
As she spoke, several strands of shadow coiled around Elsa’s fingertips.
These shadows swayed like the tentacles of a living evil god.
“These are all Big Sister’s power, you know.”
“Her power is pure and flawless white. I remember it clearly—I remember it far better than any of you, fool.”
“Miss Saintess, have you never considered why Tina and I betrayed humanity?”
“Or rather, because of Big Sister’s existence—actually, you should be the same as us, right?”
“Stop talking.”
The Saintess finally began shaking her head. One of the hands maintaining the array clutched her head.
Elsa knew she had won.
Though in truth, there had never been a possibility of losing this battle.
She infused shadow power into the array the Saintess was constructing, suddenly releasing even more.
Interfered with by foreign power, the magic array began showing signs of cracking.
The speed of the Saintess’s power recovery was disrupted.
At this moment, the pained Saintess had no choice but to return the hand on her head to the ground to reinforce the array.
Suddenly, a hammer of light—bisected by ice—came crashing down with a boom, the powerful airflow lifting the Saintess’s long hair.
Just as she thought she would face a second attack, several black tentacles appeared behind Elsa and instantly tore the light hammer apart, scattering it into golden-yellow particles.
Elsa had not lost her power at all.
The Ice Saint Tina was holding her own against the summons with her own strength—and even slightly gaining the upper hand.
Only now did the Saintess realize that her situation had always been extremely dangerous.
Elsa simply hadn’t chosen to act earlier.
“Damn it… Damn it… Detestable!” The expression on the Saintess’s face began to twist.
They had merely accepted power, that was all.
She should be the one Lady Gabriella cherished most—her only one!
Yet Elsa’s next words were like a basin of cold water poured over the blazing fire in her heart.
“Gabriella is still alive. I can take you to see her right now.”