The Saintess of the Holy Kingdom [1]
Dong— Dong—.
The morning in the holy city began with the faint tolling of the tower bells echoing through the air. Flocks of white doves soared peacefully against a cloudless blue sky, while the street fountains shattered the morning sunlight into sparkling jewels.
"Isn't it the first time the Saintess has suddenly returned from an expedition like this? I wonder if something urgent came up…."
"Yeah. I heard this expedition was especially grueling. I hope she gets some real rest now that she's back. She's strict as always, but deep down, she's kinder than anyone."
Young nuns gathered in a cluster, chattering worriedly. Nearby, children playing around grabbed at the hem of a priest's robes, their eyes sparkling.
"Priest! Is the Saintess really coming? Does that mean the hero from the stories is coming too? She'll have beaten back the Demon King's army, right?"
The old priest smiled kindly at the children's innocent questions, stroking their heads.
"Heh heh, the hero is still at the Empire's front lines. But the Saintess is bringing back a very special gift just for you all. Now go wash your hands clean."
"Yessir~!"
As the children dashed across the temple courtyard with bright smiles, it happened.
Clank, shhhk—!
A massive metallic clash, like gears grinding together, sliced through the peaceful air. Holy knights in dazzling white armor poured out from the main gate, lining up in perfect formation with ruler-straight precision. The nuns and children held their breath and stepped back at the sight of their unyielding intensity, allowing not even a fraction of an inch of error.
Archbishop Benedict, his eyes sharp as blades, stood before the ranks and bellowed.
"Silence, all of you! The Saintess has just passed through the north gate. Maintain the honor guard without a single one missing and show proper respect!"
The peace that had hung in the air moments ago evaporated in an instant. Beyond the main gate of the holy city, now taut with tension, a crude wooden carriage kicked up clouds of dust as it appeared.
It was an ordinary, rough-hewn wooden cart seen anywhere, but the armor of the knights escorting it was stained with blood and monster filth.
The carriage halted, and the door swung open. Pure white boots embroidered with silver thread touched the ground.
"Saintess, your long expedition must have been—"
Benedict stepped forward and bowed, but Se Rena cut him off ruthlessly as she threw back her robe.
"Skip the formalities, Benedict."
As the robe fell away, silver hair—like threads spun from cold moonlight—cascaded over her shoulders. Not a speck of dust marred its smooth strands, defying belief that she had just returned from the field.
Her pale, almost translucent skin framed icy blue eyes that pierced Benedict. She stepped down from the carriage in pristine form and added coolly,
"A direct 'oracle' has come to my soul. Open the Holy Core immediately."
"A direct… oracle?"
Benedict's eyes widened in shock. Oracles normally required elaborate rituals and purification. For one to strike straight into the Saintess's soul without warning meant the situation was that dire.
In that split second, Benedict noted her pallid complexion and the fierce glow in her eyes. Sensing her body screaming from holy power overload, he spoke gravely.
"Enduring the Holy Core's resonance without purification will strain your body immensely. But…."
Bowing to Se Rena's resolute aura, Benedict continued.
"If God's will stirs so urgently, no mere procedure of holy law can stand in the way. Escort the Saintess at once! Cancel all ceremonies and open the shortest path to the Holy Core!"
At his sharp command, the hesitant priests scattered in perfect order. Benedict led the way himself, adding in a low voice to Se Rena,
"Saintess, just hold on a little longer. I'll stay by your side, bolstering your holy power and suppressing the oracle's waves."
Se Rena nodded curtly instead of replying. Her pale lips pressed tight, but her eyes held a cool rationality overpowering the pain.
She strode ahead through the vast, dark underground corridor without hesitation. The rhythmic clank of Benedict's and the holy knights' armor echoed behind her. Staring straight ahead, she asked in a low, chilling voice,
"The Council of Elders?"
"They mobilized the moment they got word. They'll convene at the Holy Core soon."
"The other archbishops. We can't have even one missing."
"We just got word that Archbishop Lloyd has arrived. Every high priest in the Holy Kingdom has assembled."
Se Rena's pace quickened. Her silver hair whipped through the cold air.
"And His Holiness the Pope?"
"He'll be here any moment. His Holiness already sensed the emergency and halted all duties."
"Good. No time to waste."
Se Rena's eyes darkened to steel blue.
"The Goddess has never called me so desperately that She couldn't wait even for purification. This is unprecedented."
Her fingertips trembled faintly—not from fear, but an instinctive spasm as her saintly soul detected the harbinger of a colossal calamity.
"It's no mere blessing or guidance. If my holy power is screaming like this… it's probably a continent-shaking, venomous 'warning.'"
With those words, they reached the massive Third Stone Gate at the corridor's end. Thick holy power billowed from beyond, fiercely shaking Se Rena's white robes.
Clank, clank—.
Passing through the Third Stone Gate, the escorting holy knights halted in unison, snapping sharp salutes. From here, only permitted high priests could enter the sanctuary.
Without looking back, Se Rena proceeded into the deeper darkness with only Archbishop Benedict.
Moments later, the Second Stone Gate appeared. Archbishop Lloyd and the other archbishops waited there, faces ashen.
"Saintess!"
Lloyd tried to speak urgently, but Se Rena didn't stop.
"Explanations later. Follow me."
At her cold command, the archbishops clamped their mouths shut as if by agreement and trailed her. The Holy Kingdom's powerhouses in white robes moved like a massive wave centered on Se Rena.
Finally, they reached the First Stone Gate, the final barrier to the Holy Core. The Council of Elders, summoned in emergency, waited anxiously, leaning on their staffs.
They parted for Se Rena but couldn't hide their shock at her pallor.
"Saintess! Your complexion… how could it be…!"
The eldest elder blocked her path with trembling hands, voice laced with worry.
"A direct oracle burns the flesh. Even for you, Saintess, to bear it without purification… please, take care of your body!"
The veterans' voices carried genuine fear—not mere deference, but dread of losing the Holy Kingdom's treasure, Se Rena.
But Se Rena coldly brushed aside their concerned gazes and gripped the First Stone Gate's handle.
"I'm more afraid of this voice inside me falling silent than my body breaking. Right now, the Goddess is screaming through me."
The elders gasped at her icy proclamation. Leaving them behind, she declared firmly,
"I must confirm it before I collapse. Whatever is driving me to this edge."
Benedict signaled gravely, and the First Stone Gate—bearing thousands of years—groaned open like a scream. Dazzling white radiance from beyond swallowed Se Rena's silver hair.
Leading the worried hearts of the Holy Kingdom, Se Rena stepped boldly into the Holy Core's heart, where all truths slumbered.
The moment the First Stone Gate opened, radiant light poured out, banishing the darkness.
Deep underground, in an abyss untouched by light, it blazed like standing beneath the noonday sun. The vast plaza brimmed with white light—not from magical lamps, but pure holy power floating in the air.
Se Rena's gaze fixed on the plaza's center.
There floated the Holy Core—the source sustaining all the Holy Kingdom's barriers, infused with the Goddess's mercy, in noble form. Silver liquid overflowed ceaselessly from the Holy Grail, pooling into a massive lake below the altar.
It was the lake of holy water.
Sacred chill rose like mist from the still surface, dampening Se Rena's white robe hems. Only the endless flow of holy water rippled the silent underground plaza.
"…Beautiful. Every time, it takes my breath away."
Benedict murmured in awe behind her, but Se Rena indulged no sentiment. Her blue eyes locked solely on the white-haired elder already waiting before the altar, beyond the Holy Core.
The pinnacle of the Holy Kingdom: the Pope.
With hands on the altar in the lake's center, the Pope regarded approaching Se Rena with a mix of pity and sternness.
"You've come, Se Rena. I can hear your soul screaming even here."
Se Rena crossed the iridescent bridge over the holy lake without pause. With each step, waves resonated around her ankles.
"Your Holiness, we've skipped formalities and purification. We'll begin the resonance now."
Reaching the Pope, Se Rena unleashed her surging holy power. White radiance erupted from her, sending fierce waves across the lake.
At the vibration, the archbishops kneeling around the altar clutched their relics to their chests and began chanting.
"Breath of the stars, eternal source of light, enshrine the vibrations beyond the closed veil in our humble flesh…."
The archbishops' pure holy power converged in a lattice toward the altar. The elders behind them slammed their staffs, amplifying the resonance.
"Weave the scattered fragments of divinity, revealing only Your will in clarity!"
The mana and chants from dozens of high priests swirled into a massive vortex embracing Se Rena. As the plaza filled with blinding light, the Pope raised his hands high and proclaimed solemnly.
"Source of all light, pour Your voice into this prepared vessel!"
The Pope's immense holy power cascaded like a waterfall onto Se Rena. As all forces converged, the floating Holy Core—the Grail—resonated and descended toward her. Transcending matter, it became pure light and seeped into her chest's center.
"…Hup!"
Se Rena instinctively gasped at the overwhelming presence piercing her chest.
Pain like her lungs burning surged deep, but she bit her whitening lips, swallowing the scream. Blood vessels burst in her eyes, but her reason clung to the cold Holy Core's waves.
Soon, her silver hair defied gravity, surging wildly upward, and her blue eyes lost human sight, engulfed in white radiance.
The Saintess's body transcended humanity, becoming the 'perfect vessel' for God's voice.
And then,
Se Rena's lips, which had swallowed the pain, slowly parted.
Her voice was no longer human.
A bizarre harmony, like thousands of choirs singing in unison, stormed across the Holy Core's domed ceiling.
—Breaking the primordial silence, footsteps of the unrecorded one tread upon the abyss.
The holy lake churned like a scream. Golden letters flickered ominously before Se Rena's eyes.
—On the day stars close their eyes and the lineage of light fades,—
A 'vast void' unobservable by any authority shall seize the world's tender sprouts.
Chills ran down the praying archbishops' backs. Never had God's voice expressed fear of an 'unknown existence' like this.
—He wears the crown of calamity yet indulges only in ennui,—
And wherever he stands, the will of all things evaporates, and the world's laws rot silently into ruin.
The white radiance from Se Rena's body reached its peak. The final sentence tore through the entire Holy Core.
—Behold, the 'nameless' existence that wets the gods' blood yet feels no thirst sits beside the breath of pure life.
—Whether that touch is blessing or world's end, only the one who verifies the 'taboo' the Holy Kingdom sought to forget shall know.
As the oracle's final decree crashed against the domed ceiling and scattered, the brilliant white light enveloping Se Rena vanished like a lie.
"…!"
Her defying hair fell limply, and her radiance-filled eyes lost focus and closed. Like a puppet with cut strings, her body collapsed onto the cold altar.
"Se Rena!"
The Pope, concentrating holy power beside the altar, rushed and caught her fall. Hailed as the strongest Saintess in history, her body in his arms felt frail and ice-cold.
"Saintess!" "Your Holiness, this way!"
The surrounding archbishops and elders rushed forward, faces drained of color. The Pope touched her forehead with trembling hands. Faint smoke of burned holy power rose chillingly from her skin, remnants of forcibly seizing the oracle.
"Out of the way! Make room!"
The Pope scooped her up himself and bolted toward the Holy Core's exit.
"Benedict! Activate the purification barrier in the resting chamber to maximum now! Archbishop Lloyd, summon the saints! Anyone delaying even a second faces excommunication!"
A murderous edge, unseen in the kindly Pope's life, laced his voice. Their footsteps thundered roughly through the underground corridor as they fled the Holy Core.