Tina was extremely anxious.
She utterly loathed the enemy standing before Little Ya.
It was a deep-seated hatred stemming from the very depths of her heart.
She even wanted to punish the woman herself and watch her die right before her eyes.
However, she was quickly pulled back by Krulu.
“Mother, now is not the time for us to make our move.”
“Huh?”
“Indeed. For now, let us leave this person known as the Sword God to Lady Sathya, Tina,” Velrose agreed.
With both of her arms gently held, Tina's anger subsided a little.
But she still raised her head to observe the battle between the two several hundred meters away.
They had begun a contest of pure swordsmanship.
At first, Sathya seemed a little overwhelmed.
The decisive factor was when the sword in Elcalan's hand suddenly erupted with immense magic power; however, once the battle shifted to a contest of magic, Elcalan began to fall into a disadvantage.
Sathya only needed a gentle push to completely put an end to the dizzying array of attacks.
The light magic Elcalan used was completely futile.
This was because the light behaved like a slave that had completely submitted to Sathya, serving no purpose other than to add bricks and tiles to her palace of light.
Sometimes, Sathya did not even need to construct spells; she only needed a single thought.
The next moment, the light would turn into a shield, then immediately transform into sharp swords, which would further morph into arrows and spears under a rain-like offensive.
“Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh—!”
Countless arrow-shaped light spells rained down like a torrential storm.
Elcalan swung her sword, relying on her sword qi to slash through the arrows, and then used her agile movements to circle around directly above.
The sword in her hand was emitting destructive ripples, aiming to pierce her opponent's chest at the critical moment of spellcasting.
To her surprise, the moment she made her move, all the arrows stopped instantly and transformed into an impenetrable barrier of light.
What drove Elcalan to even greater despair was that this strike caused even less damage than her previous attempts.
If she continued to hold back her strength, this battle would be over within five minutes.
She quickly withdrew all of her magic power.
She gathered it into her body, letting it flow within her to form a perfect cycle.
The magic power circulated within her body, rather than using her body as a mere launching device for spells.
Elcalan's figure darted back and forth through the light-attribute attacks.
She condensed a dagger in her hand, sharp enough to slit a throat.
In almost the blink of an eye, she traversed a distance of a thousand meters, appearing before Sathya like a ghost.
However, Sathya also withdrew her magic power, forming a translucent shield around herself.
Bang!
The dagger, combined with the momentum of her rapid movement, culminated in a full-force strike that slashed against the shield, producing a deafening sonic boom.
Yet, the shield did not budge in the slightest.
Instead, Elcalan was pierced through the lower abdomen by a sudden Holy Sword of light.
Although she forcefully shattered the Holy Sword as it pierced her, it still left a wound that was difficult to heal.
She took a few steps back as blood seeped out, dripping onto the ground.
Then, she sank to one knee, panting heavily. In truth, having fought consecutive battles, the wounds she had sustained from her fight with Tina had not yet fully healed.
And Sathya was an opponent she simply could not defeat.
Sathya walked toward her.
“Are you still refusing to admit defeat?”
“...”
“That day, you must have still been conscious, back in the White Dusk Forest.”
“Damn it.”
“You heard everything, which is why you are so angry, isn't it?”
“Shut up!!”
Elcalan's eyes widened, and the expression on her face suddenly distorted.
During that battle with Tina, she indeed had not lost consciousness.
Her body had simply been unable to move.
She had heard the conversation between the girl who was about to turn into a magical beast and Sathya.
This was already something that deeply saddened her.
Elcalan had supported the Saintess program.
She knew that although it was only a distant dream, she had still tried to carry it out.
At the time, she believed that the powerful Sathya would become the true Saintess.
Just like everyone else, she had thought so too.
It wasn't until she followed the clues and investigated the cases that Sathya had supposedly been "solving" that she discovered the true demon hiding among everyone!
Tina.
If one were to ask who could have manipulated everything to secretly murder everyone standing in Sathya's way—even taking out Ulrich—in the end, she was the only suspect left.
She had even anticipated the battle in the White Dusk Forest, knowing that not even two Cardinals could deal with such a powerful existence.
Because that demon was a true magical beast! A magical beast hiding among humanity!
Thus, she had tried to fight her.
She had to interfere with this Saintess Selection, or an unstoppable tragedy would occur.
On that day in the White Dusk Forest, she had prepared herself to "face" this demon.
Yet, to her surprise, she discovered that the demon was also a user of the Silence Style. She could even see traces of their clash, and through them, catch a glimpse of some of the demon's past experiences. Was she really a magical beast?
Yes, she was a magical beast.
And on that day, something even more unacceptable happened.
Tina revealed her true form, the sky was swallowed by darkness, and Sathya appeared.
She did not stop Tina; instead, she protected and comforted her.
They were lovers, deeply in love with each other, and they would help each other unconditionally...
Why? Could such pure feelings actually exist between a human and a magical beast?
Yes, that had to be it.
—The so-called Sathya was nothing more than one of the magical beast's kind.
It was absolutely impossible for a human and a magical beast to fall in love, which left only one possible answer.
The so-called Saintess program was nothing but a failed plan to cultivate and breed magical beasts.
She was going to put an end to this farce right now.
In a daze, she recalled a woman she had once loved.
“Cas... tina...”
She murmured the name.
Could a human fall in love with a magical beast?
As she knelt on the ground, Sathya walked up to her.
This scene was witnessed by all the onlookers.
Elcalan had lost.
However, the corners of her mouth curled upward as she stared at Sathya with an extremely furious, murderous gaze.
“Magical beast, just how much longer do you intend to maintain your disguise... Aether, now!”
The ultimate weapon known as the "Divine Nail," which she had hidden in her right hand, suddenly vanished.
Magic circles materialized around Sathya.
Or rather, countless magic circles—structured like a complex array of gears—surrounded her. It was a chaotic and dazzling array, so bright that it was impossible to see the scenery outside.
Right at that moment, veins popped on Aether's face. He raised his hands and quickly brought them together, only to be forced apart as if pushed by some invisible resistance.
“Trapping this girl really isn't an easy task!”
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