“Senior.”
Velrose calmed down, reverting to her human form. Flickers of green flame still clung to her body, but fortunately, her school uniform hadn't been completely charred. It was only slightly torn, revealing the pale, tender skin of her waist.
She trotted over to Tina's side and exclaimed, “As expected of you, Senior!”
“Senior, we went through a lot. First, the Cardinals had the students go ahead. Once things quieted down, they made the Class A students stay behind to continue onward, and then...”
She recounted everything about the Cardinals sacrificing the paladin army.
Velrose was clearly gloating as she spoke, as she had absolutely no desire for any humans to make it out alive.
At the time, the paladins had begun slaughtering one another as if they had lost their minds, while the Cardinals simply watched with amusement, quietly waiting to collect the belongings of the deceased.
“True madmen,” Tina remarked dryly.
They only did it to seal away the sins hidden here so the world would never find out.
The Kingdom of Lystra had not fallen because of magical beasts, but because they had crossed the Church's line.
The Church's solution was simple: destroy the kingdom entirely.
Human lives were like weeds to them. Most of those paladins were merely peripheral forces of the Church anyway, making them the perfect sacrifices.
And their ultimate goal was to prevent the conspiracy of the Saintess Selection from being discovered by anyone else.
As they spoke, Tina patted out the remaining embers on Velrose, stopping her clothes from "burning." There were still some green cracks on Velrose's face and arms from her beast transformation, but these would gradually fade over time.
Sometimes Tina felt she understood magical beasts better than they understood themselves. It seemed this was Velrose's first time using her power, and she was still completely unaccustomed to it.
However, Tina couldn't bring herself to say something like, “You need to practice more.”
“Where is Sathya? Since you're here, does that mean she's out of danger?”
“I'm so sorry...” Velrose bowed her head slightly.
“Sathya has already gone through that door ahead of us, but I can assure you she is safe.”
“I see. Thank you.”
Tina looked toward the door, leaping up to stand on the platform.
It looked like a crooked wooden gate built into the fence of a dilapidated garden, bearing witness to untold years.
Since Sathya had already set foot here, the door would not be as difficult to open as it usually was.
In the past, she had to defeat countless blackwood dryads before finally reaching this door alone through sheer, stubborn willpower.
Tina had once tried to smash it open, but this time, a gentle push was all it took.
Sure enough, the door connected to another space.
Before stepping through, she realized Velrose wasn't beside her. Looking down, she saw the girl waving up at her.
“Senior! I'll wait for you out here!”
“...Okay.”
She stepped through the doorway without hesitation.
Inside, there was still the endless white sand and the black forest.
But the only thing that caught her attention was a wooden cabin fifty paces away.
This scene disappointed Tina somewhat.
She had originally thought there would be a massive amount of residual chaos energy stored here, or that Sathya had already absorbed it. In reality, this place seemed to be nothing more than a subspace created by a magical beast.
In other words, an isolated dimension.
The cabin was pure white, resembling a simple line drawing in a black-and-white world, yet it possessed an eerie sense of three-dimensionality.
She walked up and knocked on the door.
The door opened.
A girl with long black hair stepped out. She wore clothes made of black leaves, and her pale skin was utterly devoid of blood and life, resembling painted wood yet possessing the texture of a human body. Her eyes were like two black pearls, and her long, ash-gray hair also seemed to have lost all color, her petite frame evoking a sense of pity.
“Demon King, Sister Tina,” she actually knelt on one knee to greet Tina on her own accord, then stood up and hugged Tina's arm.
At the same time, three more girls emerged from behind the door. They also had long, ash-gray hair, large black eyes, and pale skin.
“Sister Shetiel, this is the first time you've ever called someone 'Sister'.”
“Is she the Lord Demon King? She... feels so cute.”
“So pretty~”
Their expressionless, vacant faces served as a constant reminder to Tina that they were not human.
They were magical beasts—specifically, magical beasts associated with the White Dusk Forest.
Tina had never met them, but she had already guessed their identities.
“I am Shetiel, and they are Sylvie, Nayuan, and Sandra.”
So it really is them.
Shetiel, Sylvie, Nayuan, and Sandra.
Tina had once seen these four names on a list when she had dealings with the Rebel Army.
The Church had washed away their sins in the Kingdom of Lystra, but some things could never be erased.
The Saintess Selection.
Around the time of Lystra's destruction, the Church had held the very first Saintess Selection.
Only the children of prominent nobles participated in this selection, so only a few people knew about it.
In the end, four of the strongest apprentice Saintesses remained.
—And all of them had died during that selection.
Their names were Sylvie Zabul, Shetiel Stett, Nayuan No Lombardy, and Sandra Stuart.
They corresponded exactly to the names of these girls.
“Please come in.”
The girl named Shetiel let go of Tina, opened the door, and invited her inside.
The interior was crude and dilapidated, and it was freezing cold enough to turn dripping water to ice.
Surprisingly, the cramped wooden cabin was filled with people lying down.
They were all apprentice Saintesses of the Holy Academy, completely unconscious and in a peaceful slumber. They seemed to be protected by an invisible force.
Lavertis, Krulu, and several other female students from Class A and the squad were also here.
Right now, Tina only wanted to know where Sathya was.
She pushed open the door to the only other room, walked through, and stepped into the cabin's backyard.
There stood a tree. No...
It was a membrane, like an egg's inner lining, wrapped in branches and roots.
Enveloped and protected by the roots, it pulsed rhythmically, like the heart of this forest.
Inside the membrane floated a young girl. Her eyes were closed, and her long, silver-white hair drifted with the airflow.
It was Sathya.
“Little Ya, you're safe... Thank goodness...”
Black roots wrapped around her like tentacles, clinging to the translucent, eggshell-like cuticle. She didn't seem to hear Tina.
The thing Tina had feared most hadn't happened; Sathya was safe.
【Magic Core Integrity: 65.5%. Her condition is quite good~】
There was nothing wrong with her condition; in fact, she even showed signs of recovery.
Meanwhile, Shetiel and her "sisters" followed.
“Lady Sathya told me she would help us become true demons so we can leave this forest and destroy the loathsome Church,” Shetiel said.
One of the girls, Sylvie, chimed in, “That way, we can establish a kingdom of our own for the demons. Sister Demon King, isn't that wonderful?”
Being called the Demon King by magical beasts felt rather strange.
She didn't really want to respond to a magical beast, but she was indeed quite fixated on that word.
In fact, she was highly interested.
“A kingdom of abyssal magical beasts.”
Excitement surged within her. Her lips curled upward, and she even let out a happy laugh.
Because if a kingdom of magical beasts were truly established, it meant she could be surrounded and even protected by even more magical beasts.
That way, no one would ever be able to hurt her again.
She wouldn't be betrayed by the Church, let alone get hurt or die because of it.
【Now, we just need to kill those two Cardinals~】
Make Sathya the rightful Saintess...
【Establish a kingdom belonging to magical beasts~】
Originally, she had thought this was nothing but a pipe dream. But now, the two Cardinals were isolated and without help, and these magical beasts—who were once Saintesses—would also become her allies.
Creating a world where Little Ya would never be hurt was no longer out of reach.
Or rather...
This was simply wonderful.
Rate on N.U.
