“Big Sister!”
The remaining priestess sisters gasped as they saw Catherine’s body hurled so far she was no longer visible to the naked eye.
“Hey now, ladies. Stay right where you are. Planning to interrupt a sacred one-on-one fight?”
Helia, who had just sent Catherine flying, used her summoned beasts to keep the priestesses in check.
Her tone was playful, but her intent was deadly serious.
Fighting Catherine alone was already overwhelming. If the priestesses joined in, the balance would tip immediately against her. It would be far better to eliminate them here and now before that could happen.
The priestesses hesitated.
They were not weak, but they were no match for Helia — a woman who could manifest ancient monsters into reality.
“Smart girls.”
Seeing they wouldn’t interfere, Helia mounted the back of a monster shaped like a wyvern and took off, chasing after Catherine.
‘Would’ve been nice if she’d flown clear off the island.’
She was just thinking that when a golden beam shot through the distance and pierced the wyvern.
“Whoa.”
Helia leapt from the burning beast, shrouded in golden fire, and summoned a new flying familiar — a gigantic bird with a human face.
“Too bad. I was hoping to finish this quickly.”
Catherine appeared before her, spreading wide her radiant golden wings, smiling calmly.
But that wasn’t all.
A spear of light shone in her right hand, a shield of light in her left.
Behind her rose the colossal figure of a giant made of pure brilliance, looking down upon Helia.
“Hah. This is absurd. You’re seriously using all the power of the priestesses?”
The sacred arts and abilities wielded by the priestess sisters — Catherine was commanding them all.
How was that even possible?
“No... I was thinking about it wrong. Those powers the priestesses use — they originated from you, didn’t they?”
Catherine smiled as if confirming the truth.
It wasn’t that she was borrowing their power.
It was the opposite.
The priestesses were using her power.
“And your power itself... is the remnant shard left behind by the Saint of long ago — Arkenis.”
After Arkenis’s death, the Church had ceaselessly attempted to create another Saint.
But the vanished holy power never returned to them.
So they used the fragments Arkenis had left behind to forge one artificially.
Countless children died in the process of experimentation.
And at the top of that tower built on death, one perfect product was finally born.
Saint Catherine.
Her affinity and resonance with the Saint’s power were extraordinary. Though she could not reach the original Arkenis, she wielded immense sacred energy.
Catherine was not the only “result.”
The current priestesses — they were the failed products of that artificial saint project.
Not complete, but able to channel fragments of saintly power — thus they were given the title of priestess.
Helia clicked her tongue inwardly.
‘If she can do this much with just a fragment of the real Saint’s power, then how terrifying was the true Saint Arkenis a thousand years ago?’
Helia had known Arkenis was powerful, but she had never faced her directly, so she hadn’t understood her full strength.
All she knew was that even Suruna had lost to her time and again.
She had once laughed at Suruna for it, but now, facing the real thing, she felt like a fool.
“Ah, this is annoying. I really hate drawn-out fights.”
The moment she felt Catherine’s overwhelming aura, Helia realized this battle wouldn’t end easily.
A single mistake here meant death.
Even the golden giant standing behind Catherine looked ready to bring its massive sword down at any moment.
No one could afford to hold back against such a thing.
“Well, no choice then. I guess I’ll have to get serious too.”
Helia invoked her authority.
Her fighting style was always simple.
Using her divine authority, she brought forth illusions that possessed physical substance — illusions so real they could overwrite reality itself.
Behind her, as she rode her flying beast, a gigantic form appeared.
A massive body covered in countless scales.
Sharp horns jutting upward like a crown upon its head.
A long, protruding snout filled with vicious teeth.
Flap—!
Each beat of its vast, leathery wings whipped up a storm.
A dragon.
A being that had long gone extinct, remembered only as myth — the absolute apex of ancient races.
And not one, but three colossal dragons appeared, each over a hundred meters long from head to tail.
KROOOOOAR!
The dragons roared.
The sound itself tore through the air, splitting the sky.
At their head flew Helia.
“Fight with me, uncles.”
Before the world had called her a demon —
In that ancient age where many races still lived in harmony —
Helia had borne a different title.
The Dragon Princess.
* * *
Because Catherine had left to face Helia, the remaining priestesses were at a loss.
Had it been only them, they would have headed straight for the citadel — but they were not alone. Rine was with them.
Catherine had entrusted her sisters with protecting Rine.
And because it was their beloved elder sister’s request, the priestesses could not leave Rine in danger.
So they had to choose.
Should they hold this position until Catherine returned?
Or risk everything and head for the citadel?
The choice was made for them — when the ground erupted and a wave of vegetation surged upward.
At first they thought Helia had left a beast behind, but they quickly realized otherwise.
The three priestesses reacted instantly, without panic.
“Camilla! Take care of that girl!”
Trees burst from the earth, forming a forest in seconds.
Branches and roots stretched out like living creatures, and two priestesses stepped forward, raising holy power to counter the forest.
Priestess Ariel.
Priestess Lucia.
They immediately recognized whose attack this was.
The one who had summoned the enormous tree that had once blocked the citadel gate — the same person Catherine had defeated.
If they fought with half-hearted resolve, they would lose.
“Fall back.”
The last remaining priestess, Camilla, grabbed Rine and retreated.
“W-what about those two? We have to help them!”
“They’re strong. They’ll be fine. What matters right now is your safety. Big Sister told us to protect you no matter what. So I will — I promise.”
The advancing forest surged past Ariel and Lucia, chasing after Rine.
Camilla and Rine had no choice but to keep running.
Camilla invoked her sacred art, forming a golden hemisphere around them.
The sea of trees slammed against the barrier and stopped.
But maintaining it anchored Camilla in place.
Seeing Rine trembling, she tried to reassure her.
“Don’t worry. I may be the weakest of my sisters in battle, but my sacred art is specialized for protection.”
That was why the others had entrusted Rine to her.
“I can hold for at least an hour.”
“An hour? And after that...?”
“If the enemy keeps pressing, I can’t promise what’ll happen after that. We just have to hope Big Sister finishes her fight quickly and comes back.”
Just then, the trees pounding against the barrier suddenly went still.
Before they could wonder why, the forest parted — and a girl stepped through the opening.
‘That girl...’
Sedina Roshen.
Rine recognized her immediately — Ludger’s assistant professor.
Sedina glanced sideways at the golden barrier, then fixed Rine with a cold stare.
She didn’t speak, but her eyes seemed to demand an explanation: Why are you here?
Camilla was just as shocked.
“...To think a girl like that could create such a vast forest.”
She instantly sensed Sedina was no ordinary mage.
To command trees so freely — such power could only belong to a Color Magician.
And though the priestesses were strong, none of them could handle a Color Magician alone.
“First of all, you’re unnecessary. So I’ll have to remove you.”
Sedina’s voice was cold as ice.
She raised her hand, and the surrounding trees began to move, coiling around the golden barrier like serpents.
Cr-cr-crack!
The trees tightened, pressing down on the hemispherical shield with overwhelming force.
The sheer crushing power, like the grip of a giant hand, made Camilla bite her lip.
‘Too strong!’
The trees, empowered by Sedina’s intent, exerted a force far beyond ordinary magic.
Cracks began to form across Camilla’s protective sacred barrier — one she had always taken pride in.
At this rate, they would be crushed.
‘What should I do? I need to get this child to safety, at least...’
Her thought didn’t last long.
Suddenly, Rine reached out and placed a hand on Camilla’s shoulder.
“You— what are you trying to—”
Before Camilla could finish, both of their figures vanished like a mirage.
They didn’t rise into the air or sink into the ground.
They simply disappeared.
Sedina’s eyes widened at the sight.
‘That spell—!’
She had seen something like it before.
Of course she had — it was identical to the spatial movement magic used by the person she admired most: Ludger.
But there was a crucial difference.
Where Ludger used shadows as a medium to set coordinates before moving, Rine had done it without any such limitation or process.
‘They escaped? Where to?’
She never imagined Rine would be capable of such magic.
Only now did she begin to understand why the Saint and the priestesses had brought Rine here in the first place.
‘A power that transcends space itself... this is far too dangerous. She could send deadly enemies straight to the professor’s side if she wanted to.’
To transport someone through space regardless of distance or terrain — it was an ability that granted absolute supremacy on any battlefield.
She had to find her.
Sedina immediately sought information through the roots of the plants spread across the land.
She had already sown seeds throughout the battlefield — their roots had grown into an intricate network beneath the earth.
As long as they remained on Bretus, nothing could escape her notice.
‘Found her.’
Rine had reappeared more than a kilometer away — with Camilla at her side.
‘To move that far in an instant...’
With refinement, the range could /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ surely be extended even further.
‘I have to catch her now.’
Sedina prepared to pursue immediately — but then halted when new information flowed to her through the plants.
Ariel and Lucia.
The two priestesses were bulldozing their way through the thick forest straight toward her.
Because she had revealed herself to chase Rine, she had given away her position to them.
As she watched the priestesses approach, golden flames blazing around them, Sedina clenched her teeth.
“Don’t get in the professor’s way!”
All around her, trees thickened, and a sea of flowers burst into bloom.
* * *
The Holy Crusaders surged forward like a rising tide.
Their advance was unstoppable.
Their goal — to break into the citadel as quickly as possible.
Thus, they avoided prolonged engagements, skirting around battles to rush straight ahead.
“We’ve finally arrived.”
“At last — the citadel.”
But as they reached the entrance, they swallowed hard at the sight before them.
The gateway bore immense marks of destruction.
The ground was muddy, soaked as though after a flood, and churned to chaos as if plowed over multiple times.
The remnants of hastily grown forests — and traces of those same forests having been burned away.
“What in the world happened here?”
Their questions didn’t last long.
The light of Galahad Citadel flared, and a thunderous roar echoed from within.
There was no time to hesitate or think.
“Move! We don’t have time to stand around!”
The Crusaders stormed into the citadel in a flood of armor and banners.
“They’ve arrived sooner than expected.”
Suruna sensed their presence outside.
The moment the Cardinals had entered the island, the breach of the citadel gate had become inevitable — but even so, this was faster than anticipated.
“We planned for this possibility. At least the structure of the citadel itself has changed — that should slow them down.”
“That’s something, at least.”
“The inner passages are narrow and twisted. It’ll be easier to defend from inside.”
Naturally, they had stationed defensive forces throughout the interior.
“Easier to defend, huh?”
“That’s right.”
“Then why did they break through so easily?”
The question came out of nowhere, but Ludger understood it perfectly.
“Because considering their capabilities, it was only natural.”
As he said this, Ludger lightly swept his hand.
The wave of mana scattered like dust, dispelling the watery veil that shimmered before him.
“Well. I didn’t expect to be discovered this quickly.”
“You’ve made quite an entrance. Maybe it’s time to change tactics.”
“Perhaps next time I should. Any suggestions?”
The playful tone came from the one revealed by the dissolving illusion.
Ludger looked straight at Casey Selmore — who stood there with Betty at her side, already in battle readiness just in case.
“Casey Selmore. Did you come to kill me?”
“Considering the holy war, the proper thing would be to slay the Demon King.”
Casey didn’t avert her eyes. She met his gaze head-on.
They locked eyes in silence for several seconds.
Then Casey withdrew her mana.
“To me, you don’t look anything like the so-called Demon King people talk about. At least, that’s how I see it.”
“Then you must have another reason for being here.”
At his piercing observation, Casey nodded frankly.
“Yes. You’re right. I need your help. That’s why I came.”
“Help — from me, the Demon King?”
“My sister is coming.”
Those simple words carried weight far beyond their brevity.
“She’s coming to kill you.”