Chapter 97
Chapter 97
Saint, You’re So Vulgar! – Chapter 97
The saintess is not a combat role.
Excluding extreme exceptions like Halia, even Judithwho had a few combat-oriented tricks up her sleevewould expose weaknesses in various ways if she were left to face a full-on fight alone.
Versia shared that same trait.
However, there simply weren't any opponents in the world worthy enough to bring it to light.
ZZZZZZING!
Beams of light poured down like a shower.
They didn't just shatter the barrier surrounding the buildingthey had enough power to half-demolish the structure beneath it.
The incantation woven into her prayer was simple: 'light with physical force.' In plain terms, the spectacle Versia unleashed was nothing more than a disaster born purely from overwhelming scale.
Even amid the awe-inspiring barrage crushing everything around her, Versia remained unfazed.
To be precise, she felt no sense of superiority or omnipotence from that power.
How could she feel novelty toward something innate? Besides, she had far more pressing concerns than marveling at the divine power she herself had unleashed.
"You're so damn tough."
"If I were that easy to crush, why would I have even shown myself? I'd have bolted the moment you arrived."
"Just die already. I'm seriously busy."
"Busy rolling around with that knight?"
"Yeah, I've got a ton of stuff I want to do."
RUMBLE!
Tehira's barrier enveloping her body was sturdy. It wasn't that no damage got throughit repaired itself the instant any harm occurred, boasting the vitality of a cockroach.
Her thoughts weren't linear, thanks to Gal-ae's curse.
Even so, Tehira's composure was planting a distinct sense of unease in Versia.
'What is it?'
She took a step forward and exhaled her divine power even more intensely. She formed wings of flash and scattered feathers. Each feather was infused with countless prayers granting properties like penetration, explosion, contagion, and more.
Tehira's barrier began crumbling faster.
But there was still no fatal damage.
'Another fake?'
Yet its presence felt far too real for that.
She could sense the presence of Ashanta, the heretics' god, emanating from her.
It was a direct presence, something no fake could replicate.
"Oh dear, getting lost in thought?"
Her childlike tone furrowed Versia's brow.
Tehira's eyes curved into sly arcs.
"Hehe, must be complicated. All sorts of devious thoughts must be ravaging your mind. That handsome knight boy is probably your opponent in there, and your fantasies must be spiraling beyond your control."
The unease thickened.
"At first, you'd imagine sweet kisses or embraces. Then, overlapping your bare bodies. Next, gazing at each other, drenched in sweat and fluids. Soon after, licking, biting, clawingone thing leads to another."
The unease surged to the top of her head.
That was when it happened.
"And then what comes after?"
Those words were directed at her.
"Doesn't a moment come when you can't bear that he's a different being from you? Hasn't that revolting instant arrived yet?"
"!"
"That's when it hits you. A truly horrific, yet sweet solution."
Versia realized the source of this unease.
Goosebumps prickled across her skin.
A twisted smile crept over her face, and her divine power took on a fiercer red hue.
A question burst out.
"What the hell are you?"
How else could she
"speak as if you've experienced the curse's symptoms yourself?"
She knows this curse so well.
Tehira's smile deepened.
But it no longer carried its former gentleness.
Her expression hadn't changed, yet it reeked of malicedistorted and crumbling.
"Don't you already have the answer in your head?"
That was the moment.
BOOM!
A spear erupted from Tehira's barrier and thrust toward her. Versia blocked it with her wings. With a massive boom, the shockwave rippled through.
But Versia had no time to worry about that.
She pulled the information from her mind and pieced it together.
An utterly absurd possibility surfaced.
No way, it couldn't be.
Even as she thought it, the answer narrowed to one.
The scattered dust settled. Versia peered at Tehira beyond her wings.
She looked like a woman in her late twenties.
But considering she was a witch, age meant nothing.
Finally, she uttered the name aloud.
"Sera."
"Hehe."
"Sera Wizdia."
No one in the Holy Churchor anyone living on this continent, for that matterwould be ignorant of that name.
She was the harlot who destroyed the first kingdom, the very first saintess to fall to Gal-ae's curse.
"But you're dead?"
"That's the story they tell. How kind of them."
Sera flicked her fingers as if conducting. Her humming held no trace of crisis.
It brimmed only with delight.
"Not an important tale. At least, not to me."
SHRRR
Black brambles sprouted in midair, thorns infused with Ashanta's divinity rising upon them.
Versia's eyes widened to the point of tearing.
It couldn't be helped.
What she was using now was
'Ancient prayer arts.'
Lost arts of divine magic from ages past.
"Faced with a curse so familiar it aches. It's like gazing at my past selfsuch joy, such delight."
The thorns fired.
ZZZZZZING!
She wrapped her wings around herself to block, but the impact was greater than before.
More than that, her focus wavered, and the curse's aftereffects surged.
Her breathing grew feverishly hot, creasing her brow.
Sera pressed on, as if intent on shaking her further.
"Poor favored child. The one who monopolized God's love."
Pity tinged her smile.
"You will fall. Just as I did."
"Figures only washed-up old hags who ruined their own lives curse others like that. Thinking the whole world is as pathetic as they are."
"Deny it all you want. It changes nothing."
Blood tears streamed from Sera's eyes.
She was unleashing power, bracing for the backlash.
Yet she didn't stop talking.
"Starting to feel it now, aren't you? What that curse truly is? It's not some reckless lust. Quite the opposite. A supremely pure curse. One that endlessly craves the singular irreplaceable."
"Shut up."
"You."
"I said shut up."
But Sera spat it out anyway.
"You'll kill that knight with your own hands. You won't be able to truly possess him otherwise."
KIIIIING!
Her halo blazed red. Versia's expression froze.
Killing intent filled the space. Every element of the material world resonated with her emotions.
Sera laughed loudly, as if she'd stated the undeniable truth.
"You'll devour and destroy him. The moment will thrill you. But afterward, only emptiness remains. You'll wander mad, seeking a replacement for that void. But you know it bestlove can't be replaced. You'll writhe endlessly. And so."
Coughing up blood, Sera tore open space.
"That curse's name is Gal-ae."
Ashanta's eyes glared at Versia from beyond the rift.
Versia's breath caught.
"Never wondered? Why the almighty Father, creator of all things in this world, doesn't directly punish even one heretic god. Why He remains silent, even labeling it evil."
Her entire body felt encased in ice.
The evil god's glare bound her divine power.
"Why the one true absolute overlooks His antithesis."
CRACK, her halo began to compress.
"Ever considered it might not be that He won'tbut that He can't?"
CRUNCH, her wings twisted. They tried to regenerate, but failed.
Sera whispered.
"That He fears that godAshantahas never crossed your mind?"
Ridiculous.
Even thinking it, the pressure shook her.
She's getting to me. Any longer against this, and it'll be irreversible.
She held her breath. From the moment their eyes met, she felt the curse react.
Her breathing grew ragged. Sweat beaded on her skin. One face floated in her mind.
Thoughts of possessing him overwhelmed everything.
The whisper continued.
"Let me help you a little."
She was on the verge of collapse.
!
"?"
A tremor shook the air.
THUD!
It grew louder, rougher.
Versia forced her head up.
Displeasure crossed Sera's face.
Right then,
BOOM!
With an explosion, the brambles filling the area shattered.
A figure appeared next.
Clothes drenched in blood, yet a pristine complexion. Black hair, blue eyes. In his hand, a straight sword.
"Sir Knight?"
"Sorry I'm late."
Asher had arrived.
His back filled her vision.
Then his face came into view.
Serious, warm eyes.
Relief washed over her, mingled with indescribable distress.
"Are you alright!? Saintess."
"Ah, I'm wet."
"?"
Asher looked down at Versia with contempt.
She scrutinized his face.
Heat surged within.
Not the kind of thought for this situation, but the curse left her no choice.
Unable to vent her rising emotions, she thought,
'Degradation play.'
It might actually be pretty good.