Yat pulled her foot-blade from the black mist that Jovian had transformed into, shaking off the residual misty dregs clinging to it.
Achilles's armor bore a few new scorch marks from the lightning strikes, but overall, it was undamaged.
She pulled Hector out of the ground, preparing to resume her pursuit of Esper.
But then, a figure appeared on the main road out of nowhere.
Her long pink hair was tied into a single tail that draped down her back, its tip swaying gently against her lower back. Her black nun's robes fluttered loudly in the northern wind, the dark red lining flashing as the hem whipped through the air.
Her weapons were a flintlock pistol and a silver-white cross sword.
The muzzle of the firearm was pointed at Yat, while the tip of the sword rested on the ground. Her expression was calm—so calm it seemed as though she were merely conducting a routine patrol.
“My apologies. You cannot go any further.”
Yat stopped in her tracks, glancing at the crest on her chest.
“Disciplinary Cardinal, Cecilia.”
The Church of Radiance's top enforcer and executioner, and the Pope's most favored personal guard. It was said that any heretic targeted by her would not survive a week, no matter where they hid.
“I take no pride in it. But duty is duty,” Cecilia replied, her tone neither humble nor arrogant.
“Beatrice sent you, didn't she?” Yat asked casually, tilting her head.
Cecilia did not answer.
“Silence means yes. Then let me ask another question. Does Constantine know you're abetting evil like this?”
“Why mention him?” Cecilia's voice sank instantly.
Her tone remained unchanged, but all her emotions were tightly suppressed beneath her vocal cords. Her fingers around the hilt of her sword tightened slightly.
“To annoy you, of course.” Yat raised her right hand and flipped the middle finger at the Disciplinary Cardinal.
Cecilia's pupils trembled slightly.
“He has a bad habit—he likes to take everything upon himself. You grew up with him, so you should know that better than I do, right?
“If he found out you're being a loyal dog to that old hag, what do you think he'd think? Would he take this on himself too, thinking it's his fault for not realizing sooner that you've turned into this?”
Yat tilted her head, a smirk practically spilling from the corners of her lips. “What do you think, Miss Cecilia?”
Cecilia raised her silver flintlock pistol and fired a shot into the sky.
Yat narrowed her eyes.
She definitely hadn't fired that shot just to waste ammunition.
The moment she pulled the trigger, holy light flared.
“『Sanctuary』”
Layer upon layer of sun-shaped magic arrays expanded, forcibly converting all surrounding magic into holy light.
This was a holy art capable of altering the nature of magic into holy light to bolster one's own Vow Power.
A second bullet was fired.
“『Gaze of the Daughter of the Blazing Sun』”
At her temple, a stigmata emerged, resembling the miniature sun within Beatrice's eyes.
A holy art that allowed her to invoke Beatrice's favor, obtaining a massive reinforcement of holy light.
A third bullet was fired.
“『Heaven's Scourge Bestowed Sword』”
The silver-white blade was enveloped in golden light, letting out a crisp, pleasant chime.
This was the strongest reinforcement holy art within the Church, usable only by 'Scourged Ones' who had been personally marked by Beatrice.
Cecilia closed her eyes. Light poured from her sockets, condensing into a blindfold that obscured her vision.
A dense, white radiance immediately flowed around her body, and the holy spirit patterns engraved on the blindfold began to shine.
Holy Spirit Possession · 『The Maiden Who Plucks the Blazing Sun』
Her core build was online.
She charged, sword in hand.
Her steps were incredibly swift. Her nun's robes whipped backward in the wind of her sprint as she dragged her cross sword at her side in a reverse grip. The tip of the blade carved a straight trench into the ground, leaving a trail of mixed gray and gold light in the air behind her.
Yat did not meet her head-on.
Achilles's foot-claws dug into the ground, launching her body sideways. The slash of the cross sword grazed her back armor, the sword wind scraping against the metal surface with an ear-piercing shriek.
The moment she landed, she dropped to all fours to adjust her center of gravity. Her foot-blades gouged deep furrows into the cracked earth, and she launched herself again, circling to Cecilia's flank.
Cecilia did not turn. She simply swept her cross sword backward, the blade perfectly intercepting the foot-blade kicking at her from behind. The holy light on the sword clashed with Achilles's shell, erupting in a shower of fine, white sparks.
“Nice reflexes. I've never seen you fight before, but you're a lot tougher than I thought.”
Yat used the recoil to flip backward, adjusting her posture in midair before landing several paces away from Cecilia.
“But the holy light on that crappy sword of yours is like a match compared to the Saintess's sun. Your only advantage is probably how you've developed and applied it, along with whatever other holy miracles you've mastered. I heard the Saintess only knows Holy Light Bullet and Holy Healing.
“Tsk, it's a bit strange, isn't it? You're the enforcer the Pope values most, yet you only possess this level of holy light?
“You can't even compare to Constantine. Is Her Holiness unwilling to grant you more power? Or are you just not pious enough?”
Cecilia did not reply. She simply raised her cross sword once more.
A sphere of light resembling a miniature sun rose from the tip of the blade.
“『Solar Flare』”
A torrent of holy light erupted from the sword tip, massive enough to completely engulf Yat.
“...Spoke too soon,” Yat muttered, using Godspeed Cavalry to dodge the attack.
Hector heated up to its maximum capacity on her foot-blade. The sword-spear glowed with a blinding, white-hot light, and the air around the tip warped and distorted from the extreme heat.
“Esper... should be fine, right?”
Rate on N.U.
