#2-18 The King of Salvation, And... (Priestess Kana - Is This What You Like♥?) (2)
Church, Prayer Room. Saria, the 1st Saintess, and her aide Kana were still there.
"Kana."
"Yes, Saintess."
"Are you disillusioned? With humans like this."
The Prayer Room had been steeped in long silence. Then Saria broke it with that question.
Kana stood behind Saria, gently brushing her hair. In the silence, she always did this as a routine. Even though the hair was already pristine without a single tangle, she kept brushing it... and opened her mouth.
"Not at all, Saintess."
"You seemed pretty shocked earlier, though."
"Of course I was. How could I not be?"
Saintesses and holy knights alike—they were the objects of Kana's admiration, chosen by the goddess. For such a saintess to declare herself a slave to some unknown man... Witnessing that without knowing the full story, who wouldn't be shocked?
But after Gaon and his group left, she heard the whole story from the saintess herself. To Kana, a mere lowly priestess, Saria had confessed her sins as if in absolution. After hearing it all, Kana could say nothing more. She just thought, Saintesses are human too, after all.
It made perfect sense. They weren't perfected through profound asceticism or grand achievements; they were simply chosen by the heavens. Even saintesses didn't have to be flawless.
And the 1st Saintess is so young, too.
She was barely in her early twenties. Though the longest-serving among the great saintesses, that was only because she'd been chosen earliest. Saria had been marked with stigmata at birth and raised as a saintess. The 2nd Saintess Sharon was chosen around age twelve, and the 3rd Saintess Lemon at seventeen. So Saria was both the eldest and youngest saintess.
Four years older than her, Kana saw Saria not as a saintess first, but as a younger sister.
Knowing all this, she couldn't bring herself to say anything harsh.
...And despite being younger, her breasts are...
Ugh. Sensing an inner wound, Kana hurriedly stopped that train of thought.
She was a priestess, sure, but it was hard to endure seeing her younger sister-figure with such a far more mature figure. Just three years ago, they'd been similar, so what had she been eating to grow like this? Small ones were cuter, anyway.
In any case, Kana—who'd never lived on the brink of death like Saria—could neither fathom nor condemn her saintess's worries.
And after hearing what was to come next, she judged herself unfit to judge her at all.
"............Ah."
Suddenly, Saria lifted her head. Her slightly opened gray eyes—still being brushed by Kana's hands—turned toward somewhere beyond the wall.
It was just then that Lemon's resurrection occurred. A pillar of light descended from the heavens, as if blessing the revival.
Saria's eyes fixed on that pillar beyond the wall.
The witch of ruin. Scythe and blood. The blood-soaked saintess. And the pillar of light. All as she had foreseen.
"...She's alive."
Only then did Saria exhale in relief. She'd known it would happen, yet tension had gripped her all along. Her heart still pounded painfully.
Relief was short-lived. The saintess rose again.
"Time to go, Kana."
"Go? Where to?"
"I have duties as a saintess. If I stay here, the capital will burn. Even the revived Lemon will die again."
Kana's eyes widened at the mention of the capital burning. But there was no time for explanations.
"I-I'm coming with you!"
Saria wasn't blind. She covered her eyes because she saw too much. Even with them closed, she perceived her surroundings better than most. She didn't need an aide, but Kana insisted on staying by her side. If things went south, she could at least throw herself in as a meat shield.
But Saria looked troubled.
"That's... Kana."
"I don't care what you say—I'm coming! I can't send you to danger alone!"
"It's hard to say this."
At Kana's spirited resolve, Saria rarely sighed.
"...If you put on clothes before coming, maybe I'll consider it."
At Saria's words, Kana looked down at herself. She was still stark naked.
Confirming it, she calmly looked up again.
"But I haven't been given permission to wear clothes yet."
"You plan to go out like that?"
"What do you mean? What's wrong with it?"
Her expression said she truly didn't get it. Traces of hypnosis lingered in Kana's eyes as she spoke.
She couldn't let a prime maiden wander the church like this. Saria tried persuading her, but whether from loosened mental screws or hypnosis, Kana stubbornly insisted on following naked.
In the end, with awkward glances from the corner, the succubi helped pry Kana away, allowing Saria to step out.
Almost the moment she exited the church, an earthquake shook the entire capital of Berthel.
"I never thought they'd actually revive her... What is that man, Lord Gaon?"
Feeling the earth-shaking vibrations underfoot, Sion raised both hands in surrender and said that.
She was pinned hard against the wall, Noa's knight sword pressed to her nape. Yet she remained composed and serene.
"But it's pointless. The 'Saintess's Death' is already complete."
"What?!"
"We didn't touch the saintess for no reason. We had to, for the ritual."
It was part of the ceremony. Like the one her fellow cultists had performed before, sacrificing numerous innocents and travelers.
This time, the required sacrifice was a 'saintess's life.' The murders across the streets had been preparations to draw out the saintesses.
They'd failed to kill the 1st, but succeeded with the 3rd. Completing the ritual.
Her job was done. Whether she lived or died, it would proceed—and awaken.
Guuuugrrrumble—!!
The quaking intensified. Pavement blocks in Berthel cracked, popped up in dust clouds, shifted, shattered.
But that was mere prelude. Soon, the ground lifted entirely as it burst forth.
A grotesque head emerged from the upheaved earth, soaring skyward. It hovered, overlooking the capital.
Black wings flapped in the air.
It had a demon's head.
An unnaturally elongated neck.
Jet-black wings like its torso.
A vaguely humanoid body, but elongated arms and legs ended in claws sharper and harder than any famed sword.
Bizarre reverse-jointed limbs. A skeletal frame, bony and exposed, evoking horror far from abundance.
『Kweeeeeeeeek――――!!!』
The monster's roar, chilling all who heard, echoed across the capital.
The ominous beast bellowing thunderously was Jabberwocky. A Seed of Ruin, like Akasha's Serpent or Hitor's Giant—possessed of power enough to fell kingdoms.
Seed of Ruin 'Great Demon Jabberwocky' has appeared!
Continental corrosion accelerates.
New omens of ruin appear across the continent.
New forces of ruin emerge: demons led by Jabberwocky. They pose a grave threat to the continent.
'Jabberwocky' directs hostility toward the capital Berthel.
If 'Jabberwocky' is not stopped, the capital Berthel will vanish from the map tonight.
Such a message window appeared before Gaon. Similar to the one announcing Leveille Kingdom's fall recently.
Akasha's Serpent was the monster that had nearly been summoned in Stonevic before the loop. Hitor's Giant was the one that destroyed Leveille Kingdom just before.
Compared to a mere city like Stonevic, the capital Berthel was vastly larger in scale and forces. But while Stonevic used commoners as sacrifices, this time it was a saintess.
Perhaps that's why this beast gained even greater power—not just enough for a city, but to incinerate the whole capital.
After purging Stonevic's cultists, Gaon's aide Mea had estimated the stats of the would-be summoned Akasha's Serpent. Her calculation: a monster Lv.5 or higher, Lv.6 or below.
The beast now hovering over the capital—born from a saintess sacrifice—undoubtedly exceeded that.
—Provisional: Monster Lv.6 or higher.
Perhaps even stronger than the Most Noble Knight. Such a monster now loomed over Berthel's skies.
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