"What happened!?"
The news hit like a bolt from the blue.
I rushed down from the divine couch and hurried to the knight's side.
"Say that again!"
The knight kept his head bowed low.
"Reporting to Your Highness! Last night around nine o'clock, the demon army launched a massive assault. Sir Tristan led a charge of two hundred and twenty knights to intercept the demonized beast, the One-horned Great Bull."
"Unexpectedly, they fell into a demon ambush and engaged in battle with Demon Blade Schiram. To cover the retreat of his men, Sir Tristan stayed behind alone to hold the line. He was severely wounded by Demon Blade Schiram and is currently unconscious from poison. The demon army is at our gates. Sir Klo urgently requests reinforcements, or the Great Wall will fall!"
I had been on the move all day without eating anything substantial and was already exhausted. Hearing this news made the world spin around me.
I stumbled, my vision darkening. It was clear that the overexertion of the past few weeks was finally taking its toll.
However, just as I regained my footing, a sudden cry of alarm came from behind me!
"Your Highness, watch out!!!"
Before the dizziness could fade, a dagger appeared right in front of my face, lunging straight for me!
An assassin!?
The thought flashed through my mind. My low-level physical stats were simply not fast enough to react.
Was this messenger... a demon?
No, he didn't radiate even a hint of demon aura.
He was a noble!
Was it the Garnet family? Or the Dressas family?
A flurry of thoughts raced through my head.
The blade was less than a fist's width away from my eyes!
Was I going to die?
After dying such a confusing death before, I had come to this world and hadn't even enjoyed a single day of peace before dying again.
What a pathetic life...
No!
I don't want to die, and I certainly won't die such a ridiculous death at the hands of some noble!!
Four inches below my navel, a surge of heat suddenly erupted.
A streak of black light spread from my fingertips.
At this moment, the assassin was almost on top of me.
We stood face to face, with the panicked knights behind him.
Behind me, Nara was screaming.
Time seemed to freeze in that instant.
I could clearly see the arrogant, wild grin on the assassin's face gradually turn into confusion, then shock, and finally... a hint of pure terror!!
Reflected in his pupils was a sharp, black claw armor.
The kind of black aura that any powerful person could sense. There was no doubt... it was a demon!!
Is the Saintess a demon?
The thought only existed for a split second in the assassin's mind.
In the next second, the sharp claws grabbed his wrist. I violently twisted the poison-coated dagger around and plunged it into his chest!
"You..."
The assassin froze in place. He had been holding the dagger with one hand, and his right hand had already gripped a second dagger to ensure there were no mistakes.
But out of sheer shock, he forgot to follow through with the second strike.
"You are actually..."
He couldn't believe it. The high and mighty Saintess, the representative of divine faith, was actually... a demon?
The black claws reverted to their original form in an instant. Simultaneously, a ripple appeared in the void above the girl's right shoulder.
Within the ripple, a black hilt flashed for a moment before turning silver-white.
"Die!!"
I raised my right hand, grasping the hilt that emerged from the void. As if drawing a blade from its sheath, I swung it downward with a violent force!
Screech!
The Sword of Fidelity had begun to change its appearance once I reached level ten.
The thin rapier had transformed into a straight sword two fingers wide.
The sharp blade sliced through his skin as easily as cutting through vegetables.
My fourteen points of strength gave me wrist power far beyond that of an ordinary person.
Although practicing my swordplay was still part of my daily routine, I had never been able to easily cleave through wood.
Back then, I always thought... maybe I lacked talent for the sword, or perhaps I just didn't have the aptitude for melee combat.
But at this moment, I understood.
What I lacked... wasn't strength or speed.
It was the intent to kill!
As long as there was a killing intent, the blade could slice through flesh without the slightest hesitation!
In this moment, I could clearly feel the blade cutting through soft muscle, severing tough tendons, and splitting hard bone.
With every inch it passed, I felt a slight vibration transmitted back through the sword.
My mind was free of distractions. If I didn't deliver a fatal blow, the moment he spoke those next two words, everything would be over!
The blade entered at his left shoulder and exited below his right ribs.
The entire cut was fluid and seamless.
At this moment, I truly felt that my daily practice hadn't been in vain.
Even if that wooden training dummy was still standing, the feeling of the strike had already sunk into my muscles.
His mouth hung open, but those last two words wouldn't come out. His diaphragm and lungs had been sliced open, making it impossible for air to reach his vocal cords.
He could no longer speak.
But his mouth still formed the shapes.
The others were too far away to see, but Luo Li, standing right in front of him, saw it clearly.
'De... mon...'
Thud! Splat!
The first sound was the upper half of his severed torso hitting the floor.
The second was the lower half of his corpse collapsing.
Blood splattered across the Temple.
Yet, the floor beneath my feet remained dry.
The floating skill allowed Luo Li to walk as if on solid ground even over a pool of blood.
Time returned to its normal flow, and my consciousness snapped back to reality.
My breathing became ragged, and beads of sweat formed on my smooth forehead.
"Your Highness!"
"Your Highness!!"
The knights guarding the door, Hilda who had just arrived, Nara behind me, and Lola walking in from the entrance all rushed forward.
A group of people instantly surrounded me, trying to shield me.
Hilda had already drawn her sword, warily scanning the surroundings.
"Your Highness, get back! I've got this!"
Looking at the panic in everyone's eyes, Luo Li shook her head slightly and waved them off.
"There's no need. It was just one assassin."
"Do not be careless, Your Highness! I sensed a demonic surge just now. This person was likely a demon spy!!"
Hilda's expression was grim as she scanned the area. The corpse on the ground was definitely dead; she could tell that much. She stopped watching the body and focused on the surroundings.
For a demon to enter the Temple so easily and even get close to her Lady was an absolute... failure of her duty!
A demon?
Luo Li looked down at her palm. That cold sensation was already gone.
She couldn't exactly say that the demon aura just now had come from her, could she?
After a moment's hesitation, she didn't resist and allowed herself to be guided back by their protection.
But just then, Nara suddenly let out a cry of alarm!
"Your Highness, you're injured!?"
"What!?"
"Where is Your Highness hurt!?"
"Quick! Summon the alchemists and priests! No... send someone to the Alchemists' Association and find Lady Camilla!!"
Nara's scream instantly drew everyone's eyes to the girl.
However, while the others didn't know, Luo Li knew very well.
In that instant, it was impossible for her to have been injured. Although the assassin was fast, his strength was likely only around level twenty.
He wasn't that strong. According to the law that a demon of the same level could crush a human, the strength and speed of her level thirty Witch form was something a level twenty human could never match.
Being injured... was impossible!
But when she looked down at her legs, she discovered that at some point, her waist had been stained a bright crimson.
On the pure white Saintess's robe, that splash of scarlet was incredibly striking!
Am I... actually hurt?
Her mind didn't register it for a moment.
However, a strange flow of liquid suddenly slid past a point three inches below her navel, and then... the bloodstain on her skirt spread even further.
"Everyone shut up!! Get out!! All of you!!"
She suddenly realized what this damn thing was, and her brain felt like it had been hit by a gong.
A feeling called 'manly spirit' seemed to be drifting away with the wind, leaving her forever.
She didn't have time to worry about catching that 'manly spirit' right now. If anyone saw her in this pathetic state, how would it be any different from the embarrassment of her previous death!?
If her feet weren't floating, she would have used her toes to dig a hole in this hard marble floor to hide in!
She was dying of embarrassment!
"Your Highness..."
"If you say another word, I'll kill you!!"
She looked up and glared at the knight who had spoken. The other knights looked at each other in total confusion.
None of them expected their Lady to have such a... fiercely cute side?
Looking at the girl with tears shimmering in her eyes, her face flushed red, and her teeth biting her lip... the hearts of the knights present almost melted in an instant.
Suddenly, one knight paused, stroked his chin, and muttered to himself.
"This scene... I feel like I've seen it somewhere? It's like when my daughter first... first... uh... Your Highness, please don't look at me like that. I'm scared."
Looking at the Saintess's crimson eyes filled with killing intent, her face practically screaming 'I will kill you if you dare say it,' the knight felt a chill run down his spine.
The other knights also looked at each other knowingly.
Most of those who could become knights were already married with children. As adult men, how could they not know about that kind of thing?
In an instant, the knights all made eye contact and abruptly turned around.
One of them had a sudden stroke of inspiration and pointed outside, shouting at the top of his lungs!
"There's an assassin outside!"
The other knights caught on immediately and roared in unison:
"After him!"
Then, with a loud clatter of armor, they all scrambled out of the hall.
Inside the hall, only Nara, Lola, and Hilda remained.
Along with Luo Li, who was so embarrassed she wanted the ground to swallow her whole as she experienced her first moment as a young woman.
The Saintess no longer held her usual majestic, elegant, and graceful posture.
Her fair, delicate face was flushed crimson, and the red spread all the way from her ears down to her neck.
"If... if anyone dares speak a word of this, I... I will kill them!"
The Saintess's threat echoed in their ears, but that soft, adorable voice didn't sound the least bit scary.
Instead, it made the three girls present suddenly feel like... they wanted to pull their Lady into their arms and give her a big hug!
Fortunately, while Hilda and Nara were struggling to contain themselves, Lola's rationality won out. She whispered softly into her Lady's ear:
"Um, Your Highness, perhaps we should change your clothes first?"
Luo Li snapped her head up, her eyes brimming with moisture.
Her voice was a mix of grievance and helplessness.
Biting her lip, a single word escaped from behind her pearly white teeth.
"...Fine."
Rate on N.U.
