Saintess (2) The Saintess and the Falling Sun

"Huh?"

One week before the Proclamation of Heaven. Mirne received a message she hadn't expected at all.

"A Saintess is being born in the Empire?"

It was a development that didn't exist in the original novel. 'What was the name of the Saintess candidate who was supposed to compete with me...?'

Actually, she couldn't remember well. It was a character the original work hadn't covered in any depth. Just a brief mention that they had parted ways due to differences in religious views. After that, no further story appeared. There wasn't even a struggle between Saintess candidates for the position. In the original, it was just the natural flow for her to become the Saintess.

'No, did we meet briefly?' Her memory was hazy.

'...We talked about how we believed in God, right? Did we say it was different? That we were different?' She squeezed her brain, but that was as far as it went. But that had nothing to do with the story unfolding now.

The plot was diverging too far from the original. While flustered, Mirne immediately contacted the Saint, Valerian.

"Saint, hello. It's Mirne."

"Mirne, I have been waiting for your call. I was just about to tell you what happened..."

But, incredibly, Valerian also brought up the story related to the Saintess. He spoke as if ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠he were very sad that he had no choice but to go to the Empire, where they were announcing the new Saintess. Mirne agreed with his story and hinted, ever so slightly, that she wanted to go with him.

To be precise, she said, "I have free time then, so I will pray for your safe journey, Saint." She mentioned that her schedule was open.

"If you say you are free... how about coming to the Empire with me?"

The Saint took the bait immediately, thinking, "Perfect."

From then on, there was nothing difficult.

"Dad! I'm going to the Holy Kingdom!"

"...Yes, go ahead."

Moving to the Holy Kingdom as quickly as possible was the end of it. Perhaps it was thanks to the help of teleportation magic and spirits. Despite moving secretly on her own, she was able to arrive at the Holy Kingdom in no time.

'It would have been better if Silpiner was here.' There was no spirit better for travel than a wind spirit, but that spirit was currently contracted with the Crown Prince.

'Will I ever be able to get it back?' Promising a distant day, as soon as Mirne arrived at the Holy Kingdom, she said,

"Saint, I think it would be better for me to go secretly."

"You will soon be the Saintess of the Holy Kingdom, is there a need to go secretly?"

"I haven't become the Saintess yet... and besides, you invited a person from the Holy Kingdom, so it would be a bit awkward if I just showed up."

"That also makes sense. Instead, you must not leave my side. That is the condition."

"Okay!"

She immediately asked him to hide her identity, and in that state, they entered the Empire. And from that moment on,

"If the divinity is split in two, what happens to me? What about the Saintess? Even if we are of the same order, if our intentions differ... how is the divinity maintained?"

The Saint kept muttering incomprehensible things. But it was only for brief moments, and since this content didn't exist in the original either, she was at a loss.

'I don't know what to do in these unexpected situations.' Mirne decided to watch the situation first and just stayed by the Saint's side.

However, Mirne's attitude soon changed. The Proclamation of Heaven proceeded without a hitch. And the moment the Empire's Saintess was officially announced,

Pure white messages filled Mirne's vision. 'Descending? What on earth is this?'

While Mirne was flustered by the story that was excessively detached from the original, *swish*.

'The Crown Prince?'

In an instant, the Crown Prince grabbed her and Valerian by ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the throat, then used teleportation to move their location to a mountain far away from the center of the Empire.

'...?'

It was an absurd manipulation of mana. Teleporting more than two people usually required controlling the mana of others to lock onto coordinates, so the failure rate was extremely high, and it certainly wasn't something that could be done in an instant. But the Crown Prince did it as easily as knocking down a sandcastle. As if mocking them, asking if something like this was supposed to be difficult.

However, this was no time to be impressed.

"Saint! Please calm down!"

"I want you to become a complete Saintess. Not a split, torn half-Saintess... I want you to become a Saintess who can fully use the divinity of God as it is!"

Valerian, the Saint with pure white divinity imbued in his body, looked like a judge from whom white flames were constantly erupting. Wings made of divinity shone brilliantly, illuminating the surroundings. The Saint, with pure white light emitting from his eyes, ignored Mirne's words.

"Crown Prince, you are ruining everything. Do you dare try to split the divinity?"

He continued, glaring at the Crown Prince. *Slash!*

Without hesitation, the Crown Prince swung his sword instead of speaking. The Zweihänder, drawn so quickly she hadn't even noticed, created a red diagonal line across the Saint's body.

"Khaaaak!"

The heat was so intense that flames surged from the cut. It wouldn't have been strange if he had fainted from the agony, but *whirrrr!* White threads erupted from the Saint's body and sealed the wound.

"What on earth are you doing!"

As if he had never been cut, he returned to a perfectly fine state. It was an unbelievable regenerative power that could truly be called a miracle. Seeing that, the Crown Prince muttered calmly,

"I cut you with the intention of splitting you in half, but ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you are sturdy."

It was an attitude that suggested he had expected as much.

'Well, Paladins have a strong image of being like cockroaches.' A tank with low attack power but extremely high regeneration and defense. That was the typical image of a Paladin, and it seemed the Saint was of that type.

'So that's what it meant by dividing.' Originally, the church splitting wouldn't cause the god to divide, but the core of this matter was the religious view held by the Saintess. The Saintess believed that humans accumulated divinity through prayer, and that divinity became God. And since this was tantamount to denying God, Rowena was quite suited for the villain position.

'A Saintess candidate who denies the way God exists.' In contrast, Mirne wouldn't have any of that. Naturally, a confrontational structure was bound to emerge, and it was no wonder she was called a villainess.

'Interesting.' Muttering that to myself, I swung my sword with all my might again. There was no need to show off various techniques in this situation. Valerian felt like a tank wrapped in divinity.

"Crown Prince!"

When he swung a mace I didn't know when he'd pulled out, massive divinity covered me along its trajectory. *Bang!* It was parried as the divinity touched the path of the sword I had already swung.

'I get the feeling he isn't using his body properly yet.' I was saying it was full power, but it didn't feel like it. It felt like a Formula 1 car being driven by a novice.

'How did I do it when I cut down the Northern Grand Duke?' I wanted to draw out the power in the Crown Prince's body more explosively, more destructively.

"You are ruining everything! By birthing something like the Empire's Saintess! This is why this mess happened! It's all your fault!"

The Saint shouted at me, looking emboldened, as if he had clearly gained the upper hand.

"You sound like the Northern Grand Duke."

I considered him like the Northern Grand Duke who was now dead and gone. Come to think of it, that guy had said something similar. What happened to him now?

While I was thinking for a moment, the Saint showed signs of moving, and I reacted immediately, swinging my sword to the side. Crimson flames flew straight ahead. And in that direction was...

"Crown Priiiince!" *Bang!*

It was Mirne. Mirne, who had been standing still, couldn't have reacted to the attack, and the one who reacted instead was, obviously, the Saint. Since he looked like a god had descended into his body, I thought if I sent the flames toward Mirne, he would protect her with divinity.

'He still has humanity left if he blocks it with his body.' It was clumsy humanity. If you're human, be human; if you're a god, be a god.

"Hoo."

After a short breath, I continued to explicitly target Mirne. Until a moment ago, it had just been a mindless collision of power, but as soon as I realized Valerian was putting Mirne behind him and blocking attacks with his body, I changed my mind. If I followed the thousands, tens of thousands of sword paths in my memory to cut Mirne,

"Stop! How can you commit such an act!"

Saint Valerian, spouting lines that could come out of a play, took that sword path directly. The Zweihänder's unique irregular swordsmanship pierced Valerian's body. Even while gripping the middle handle, the ricasso, and swinging strongly, *slash!* As soon as he tried to block the sword, I grabbed the original handle and changed the direction of the blade. Normally, I would have had to shift my balance to handle the greatsword in this process, but the Crown Prince's ridiculously strong body easily ignored such trivial conditions.

How many times had I cut the Saint like that? Behind the Saint who was clumsily trying to swing his mace, Mirne, who was standing still, entered my field of vision.

'But why is he doing nothing while the Saint is getting hit like this?' To be precise, it wasn't that she was doing nothing. She was just changing her position to avoid me. But since it was impossible for Mirne to dodge me, all she was doing was moving clumsily, and the Saint filled the gaps in her movements every time.

It felt like dancing a terrible waltz.

'But he really is stubbornly refusing to die.' ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Contrary to the shouting he had done while venting his anger, the Saint was just taking the hits with a very lethargic appearance. The only thing keeping him going right now was his mindless regenerative power. Even though I had aimed for his neck and cut, the neck was reattaching at the same time it was being cut. It was such excessive protagonist plot armor that it was ridiculous.

'Is this just going to be a meaningless war of attrition? But the original protagonist is here, and this kind of development keeps happening?'

It wasn't bad for me. As the engagement continued, I could feel my body waking up more actively. Sol Bellos. Unlike the first engagement, I could feel the power said to have swallowed the sun stirring even more intensely.

'A little more, just a little more.' As time passed, my body woke up, and at the same time, the Crown Prince's memories, which hadn't been visible through the haze, were seen trying to surface.

-Even if it is a meaningless task, isn't it better than not doing it at all?

The memory that had surfaced slightly. The Crown Prince was looking at someone and constantly swinging his sword.

'Who is it? The Emperor?'

Where on earth is the Emperor? Is it a MacGuffin-like setting? Or is something really happening? While various questions were about to arise,

"Stop the fight! Please!"

Mirne's cry, like that of a tragic heroine, rang out, and "...Ha." That cry applied only to me, causing my body to stop for a moment. Through Mirne's cry, the Saint gained power, and the explosively increased divinity bound my body. Is it something like, "A knight protecting a princess is strong"? But it didn't matter.

"Only to this extent." *Creak.*

It wasn't my first time killing a male protagonist, and I had experienced events occurring in absurd situations before.

"Detonate."

Before the Saint's mace could touch my body, I activated magic faster than that and detonated it right in front of him. *Bang!* The power exploded by condensing the flames I had poured out while swinging my sword.

'This won't do much damage, but at least I stopped one of his tricks.'

Just as I felt it was a pity that I hadn't wanted to consume it so vainly, *drip. Drip. Drip.*

"Th-this is..."

Valerian bleeding came into my view. 'He was regenerating stubbornly until now, but suddenly? Is his divinity already exhausted?'

Just as various possibilities were popping into my head, *whoosh!* I felt divinity slowly filling my body. It was very faint, but clearly a power in the opposite direction to Romper's divinity right now.

'That's right, you're not the only one with a Saintess.'

Rowena's divinity was imbuing me. I could instinctively tell. This was the power that could kill the Saint right now. 'Since the Saint pointed his sword at me, the Pope won't be able to avoid responsibility either.'

The Saint dies here. And the Pope won't be able to meet a comfortable end either. 'Mirne, I will make you the Saintess of a ruined church.'

It is time to kill God.