The Saintess

“It’s over—”

The moment that terrifying torrent of magic was casually kneaded into a candy ball and then swallowed by the entity within the scripture, only those two words remained in Vera’s mind.

Did I… just make another wrong decision?

What do I do, what do I do? I have to find a way to make up for it. Otherwise…

“You’ve done well enough, Vera.”

Just then, a familiar, cold voice sounded from behind her.

Vera paused and, shrinking her neck, she turned her head like a child who had done something wrong, her eyes red-rimmed. “President, I think I’ve messed things up again.”

“This has nothing to do with you.”

Celicia, her uniform stained with a trace of blood, her hair slightly disheveled, patted Vera’s head and said softly, “Faced with an enemy beyond our understanding, anyone would have ended up in this situation. In fact, so far, not a single student has died in this chaos. That’s already…” Celicia glanced at the mummy-wrapped Ariel nearby, her words pausing for a moment. “…very impressive. What happens next is not something we should interfere with.”

Celicia looked up, her gaze sweeping over the area, and in an instant, she had grasped the current situation. But when she saw the naked man running wildly in the wind, a certain prodigious son of the Campbell family, and also her own fiancé, even someone as calm as her couldn’t help but feel the corner of her mouth twitch.

But she quickly recovered and issued a command to all the students around her. “The door to the academy’s underground shelter is open! Everyone, retreat immediately! Take shelter underground!”

She didn’t use any magical amplification, but her cold and unquestionable voice reached the ears of every student at the same time, quickly calming those who had also been frightened by the current scene.

With the help of the student council elites, the students quickly organized an orderly retreat.

But.

“It’s too slow.”

A sigh echoed in the air.

An old man, leaning on a cane but still hale and hearty, appeared beside Celicia.

Professor Planck looked at the holy scripture floating in the air. The hand had already withdrawn, but that didn’t mean the enemy was retreating. On the contrary, it meant that the enemy’s next step was to descend completely.

“Who’s going?”

Another voice sounded.

Professor Glen had, at some point, also appeared here.

And behind him, on the other side of a spatial ripple, a dozen or so old gazes seemed to be looking this way.

“I’ll go,” Professor Planck said with a sigh.

“You?”

Professor Glen raised an eyebrow and whistled. “You’re practically ancient. You’re not going to throw out your back in the middle of a fight, are you?”

“Then who?”

Professor Planck shot a cold glance at Glen and said in a huff, “Should I let you, a man who hasn’t fought in a dozen years, go? Or should I let those old bastards with one foot in the grave come?”

“Well, that’s true. Who would have thought that among us old geezers, you, the old magic teacher, would be the most capable fighter,” Professor Glen shrugged. “Then I’ll handle the student evacuation. You can go without worry.”

“Don’t say it like I’m not coming back.”

Professor Planck reached into the spatial ripple and pulled out a…

Cute, pink, star-shaped little magic wand that radiated a majestic aura.

Holding the pink star wand, the corner of Professor Planck’s eye couldn’t help but twitch. He sighed. “I’ve used you so many times, but every time I do… it still feels so strange.”

…

…

“Waaaaah—”

A sorrowful wail sounded again.

From the dark pages of the holy scripture, the faint sound of footsteps grew closer.

And then, with a gentle sway of a gauze skirt, a pale, jade-like foot stepped out from the darkness.

In that instant.

A holy hymn began to play.

As if a horn of pure gold had sounded from behind the curtain of the heavens.

The ethereal, holy song, mixed with the sorrowful wail, echoed in the desolate world.

Anyone who heard the wail couldn’t help but feel a heart-wrenching sorrow, but listening to the holy song, they would also feel the joy and happiness of dedicating their all to a great being.

Countless white feathers, appearing from nowhere, scattered with the wind.

Like the petals scattered by a flower girl at a wedding.

A stunningly beautiful figure in a complex white dress finally, at this moment, completely walked out of the holy scripture and descended upon this place.

Her expression was sorrowful, as if she were pitying the suffering of the world.

Behind her, a pair of pure-white wings unfurled, and the endless light that bloomed from them was far brighter than the spotlights that were gathered here.

And on her head, a crown, inscribed with the stars and the sun and the moon, rotated, emitting a suffocating, terrifying aura.

A Crowned-rank, a Crown-wearer!

The Saintess of Purification!

…

…

“What the hell? That brainless God of Love has a Crowned-rank believer?”

In the Well of Silver, the Pink Bear watched this scene from a distance, and especially at the majestic crown on the holy woman’s head, he was so shocked that his bear mouth was hanging open.

Only those who had broken through the limits of humanity and had stepped into the realm above the fifth rank, and had been recognized by this world, would be bestowed with a [Title] and a [Crown], becoming a Crowned-rank powerhouse, and be revered by the world as a [Crowned One].

And compared to ordinary people, a Crown-wearer had already undergone a qualitative change in their life form, and was therefore called a “near-god” by some scholars.

Although they couldn’t truly wield the supreme authority of a god, every Crowned One represented the pinnacle of human power.

And now, a Crowned One had descended upon the academy as a believer of that God of Corruption.

This was indeed beyond the Pink Bear’s expectations.

But the biggest problem was not this. The academy was not without Crowned Ones, and with the existence of the Great Sealing Instrument, a single Crowned One, unless seven or eight of them came at once, could not possibly shake the foundation of the academy.

The biggest problem was…

With a Crowned One as a vessel and a medium, how much power could that God of Love… project?

“Speaking of which, why do I feel like this Crowned One looks a little familiar?”

Looking at that almost perfect, beautiful face, the Pink Bear couldn’t help but stroke his chin and think.

He felt like he had seen her somewhere before.

But that wasn’t right. He would never forget a beauty he had seen before.

“Don’t tell me…”

The Pink Bear, as if he had just realized something, suddenly took out his treasured “Saintess pinup” and quickly flipped through it.

When he reached a certain page, his bear paw suddenly stopped, and his expression suddenly turned grave.

“I see…”

“This Crowned One… is the former Saintess of the Church of Life?”

“But didn’t that Saintess announce her retirement twenty years ago? There were rumors that she had married her lover and had gone off to live a private life.”

“Her lover…”

The Pink Bear looked up as if he had just realized something. He looked at the sorrowful Saintess, and for a moment, a look of pity appeared on his face.

“What near-god? Just a mortal who can be corrupted by the twisted love in her heart.”