Chapter 97
Chapter 97
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 96
Chapter Title: The Second-Worst Happy Ending
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Losing her holy power as a Saintess wasn’t simply a matter of the gods preparing the next vessel and passing the role along.
What if this Saintess had some hidden agenda behind the scenes? What if the gods knew and stripped her of her power?
People celebrated her retirement while questioning the early exit.
But all she could offer such skeptics was a smile.
She couldn’t help but suspect, yet it gave her a moment to reflect—had she done anything wrong?
And so, she departed.
With her holy power gone, the gods’ protective veil vanished too.
She bestowed endless blessings upon the new Saintess, Lucia, then set off for a remote, uninhabited place.
The demons came for her somewhere in the Griffin Kingdom. An unnamed forest.
There, for days on end, she became their plaything.
The pain was beyond her wildest imaginings, her body ruined in ways beyond comparison.
But the demons’ grudges weren’t eternal.
The one that gnawed her hand left, sated and full.
The one that rotted her legs deemed her boring and abandoned her.
The ones that gouged out her eyes chewed them gleefully and departed in delight.
She thought it was over.
Yet one demon remained by her side.
“Fascinating.”
The one who stayed till the end brimmed with profound interest.
In her.
“Doesn’t it hurt?”
Of course it did.
It hurt too much.
She screamed countless times, fainted repeatedly, and shamefully wet herself once.
She still remembered splashing through her own blood, forcing her body to turn.
That was the first time she regretted her blindness. She couldn’t tell if the sun or moon hung in the sky.
Her skin burned so hot she couldn’t feel the air around her.
“Is it day now? Or night?”
So she asked the demon.
The demon let out a hollow laugh and clicked her tongue.
“Night. But the moon is so bright, everything is clear as day.”
I see.
“Pity. I wish I could see it too.”
Even as she tilted her head toward a sky she’d never behold again, a faint smile curved her lips.
“What’s so funny?”
To the demon’s irritable question, she replied softly.
“Because I’ve bought Lucia enough time to become the new Saintess.”
“Ha.”
The demon clicked her tongue in disbelief and approached slowly. She was certain this was the end.
What would it take this time?
Her remaining right hand?
Or perhaps her life outright?
She waited, ready to accept anything.
But the demon was more unique than she’d thought.
The pain in her body vanished.
After healing her wounds, the demon placed a hand on her head.
“Saintess Stella. I’ve met countless Saintesses, but you’re the first like this.”
“Is that a compliment?”
“Who knows. Anyway, you’ve piqued my curiosity.”
“……Pardon?”
Suddenly, something jammed into her head. The agony surpassed any torture; she couldn’t even scream, couldn’t think to breathe.
“My name is Belica. One of the ten Archdemons on the continent, overseer of mutation.”
Archdemon?
Her body tensed at the word, but resistance was impossible.
“You, a Saintess closest to mutation among them all—I shall savor you.”
* * *
How much time had passed?
Blind, with Belica dwelling within, fumbling through her memories as she lived on.
The citizens who once revered and cheered her as Saintess wouldn’t even glance at her now—hands lost, legs rotted, eyes gouged.
They didn’t know she’d been the Saintess, but it wounded her deeply all the same.
But it was fine.
The people who smiled brightly along her path.
Those who bowed in gratitude, declaring boldly they’d live new lives—they remained in her heart.
Blinded, she could relive those memories.
Recall their smiles and always smile herself.
That’s how she lived.
The gods took her holy power, she plummeted in an instant, crawling at rock bottom. Yet she felt she’d accomplished all she could.
Even if she couldn’t die and return to the gods’ embrace.
Even if they refused to take a soul like hers.
But that wasn’t the case.
One day, Belica, who’d been with her, said,
“If you die like this, there’ll be no repose.”
“Pardon?”
“Demons hold deep grudges. Many still watch you, awaiting your death.”
Thanks to the senses Belica opened, she felt those chilling gazes.
Countless eerie eyes surrounded her from all sides.
Watching her broken, crawling through filth, navigating alleys, growing filthy.
They laughed like theatergoers enjoying a play.
“Demons care little for human souls. But you’re different. Your nobility far surpasses ordinary humans. To demons, that’s the greatest entertainment.”
“…….”
“After death, nothing awaits but life as their toy.”
In the end.
Pain persisting beyond death.
Her trials and tribulations would never end.
“Ah.”
It was the first time.
Hot tears—or rather, blood in place of tears—flowed from her gouged sockets.
Sticky blood soaked through bandages, drenching her hands, crushing pain twisting her chest.
Life’s end wasn’t quiet oblivion, but despair in demons’ clutches.
Was this truly the path the gods prepared?
What meaning could it hold?
“Why…… tell me this?”
Panting roughly, she asked Belica. Her voice was uncharacteristically gentle for a demon.
“From now on, I’ll devour your memories.”
“…….”
“You can’t endure anymore. I’ve been with you for years; I know. Without this, you’ll break.”
“Why…….”
Why show me mercy?
But she couldn’t voice it. Belica wouldn’t answer anyway.
And so.
Every day.
She began losing memories.
* * *
Why was yesterday’s me here?
Asking that became her daily routine. She’d ask Belica where they were, what she’d meant to do.
Thus, at the end of that long journey, she returned to Elia Convent.
There, she simply prayed.
Fearing the afterlife, she prayed for courage to overcome it.
She prayed and prayed.
But.
“Ugh, ngh.”
She couldn’t overcome it.
Eternal torment after death was beyond mortal mind’s limits.
In their mockery and torture.
Unable to faint even in death brought overwhelming terror.
But thanks to Belica.
Yesterday’s pain didn’t carry to today.
She lived in repeated agony, forgetting it each new day to start anew.
One such day.
Thinking she’d slept, she woke to damp hands.
When she rose, yesterday’s memories remained intact. She panicked.
And Belica said,
“I’ve called someone who can grant you the end of all.”
She didn’t understand.
Didn’t grasp the meaning.
But hearing from the abbess of the convent murders and demon summoning, she realized.
Belica had used her body for something.
Had they been together too long?
Belica could move her body without her knowing.
That day, she argued with Belica for the first time, raising her voice.
“You shouldn’t have! I don’t know your schemes, but you can’t kill innocent children!”
“They weren’t innocent. Greed filled their eyes. Take a demon’s word for it.”
“But……!”
“They were blind enough to summon demons to become Saintess.”
“They might be foolish, but they can repent and reform! Humans can change!”
“Stella.”
It was the first time.
Belica’s voice was so tender.
“You’ve borne too much pain.”
“…….”
“I’m the only one who understands you. Stella, your end can’t be like this. You can’t end up a plaything in the hands of filthy demons like me.”
“Be, lica?”
“Even if I protect you, other Archdemons covet you. They envy the time I’ve spent with you.”
Belica apologized unintentionally—her presence had drawn other great demons.
“I can’t grant you repose.”
“…….”
“But there’ll be no pain after death.”
She smiled faintly.
Why?
Though blind, she felt Belica smiling.
“I am the Archdemon of Mutation, Belica.”
“…….”
“So perhaps even a demon’s nature twisted strangely.”
She tried to call her, but no words came.
Yet rough hands felt gentle, embracing her.
“You win, Stella.”
* * *
But things went awry.
Belica had meant to lure Saintess Lucia to the convent.
Instead, a man she’d never heard of arrived.
Necromancer, Deus Verdi.
After the nuns’ deaths, even without Belica taking her memories, she pretended to lose them.
She couldn’t explain to the abbess.
But by fortunate coincidence.
Her amnesia let her converse deeply with the Necromancer, who uncovered her secret.
No, she and Belica guided him to it.
With Belica’s help, her legs healed, and by then she understood Belica’s intent.
So she followed it.
Deus having the Holy Grail was a godsend. They could die naturally.
And now.
In this beautiful scene, she met her end.
Souls brimming with holy power clung to her, offering salvation named death.
“Stella.”
As she took in the sight, Belica spoke.
“Yes?”
An Archdemon emerging from her body would kill her instantly, but Belica could survive.
Yet Belica didn’t leave.
She stayed with her.
“I can only be your companion to the end. The title of Saintess who first eradicated an Archdemon will be known only to the gods.”
“…….”
“Sorry I could only prepare this ending.”
Foolish.
“No.”
Countless souls toiled for her, forsaking their own repose. She was sorry.
But swept in holy power, she’d vanish with them.
At least she could join them.
“Only at this end could I become myself again.”
The souls affirming her life’s work wasn’t wrong. Belica.
And Deus Verdi.
“I’m just…… grateful.”
To end the pain after death, her soul itself needed annihilation.
Thank you for saving me.
Thank you, everyone.
Thank you, Belica.
And thank you, Kim Shin-woo.
Eyelids growing heavy with fatigue.
She smiled slowly.
Everyone.
Farewell.
Crunch!
At oblivion’s brink.
Rough grip on her wrist jolted her eyes open.
“If you call dodging the worst with a second-worst a happy ending.”
Pulling her from dissolution, the Necromancer offered a faint smile.
“Then I won’t let you go.”