The Banished Saintess Wants to Lose.
Clitia muttered the complaint under her breath, the same old refrain that had followed her through every fight.
Most of it was just bravado. After all, she had never run into a problem Aura couldn’t handle.
“It’s a shame you can’t use holy power anymore.”
But today the limits had finally caught up with her.
The copy of Clitia standing in front of her was proving exactly how powerful holy power could be.
“Are you tired already?”
Five minutes into the battle and the enemy hadn’t moved an inch, arms crossed, wrapped in a red barrier.
“Too much too soon?”
The Sun Veil.
The ultimate holy spell that swallowed every incoming shock.
“Of course you’d want to win. If it bothers you, go ahead and pierce it.”
Simple toughness and it would break in an instant.
The real problem was the counterattack. A legendary defense that turned every hit into explosive retaliation.
It used to require an absurd amount of holy power to maintain, but since the user was her, that flaw had vanished.
“You know how much holy power I have, right? It reaches the sky.”
“You’ll run out sooner or later.”
“Three hours at least.”
More than her, then.
After all, a banished saintess might not be the best role model for deepening faith.
“I’ll make you surrender right now.”
White spheres rose around the enemy like blooming lotuses.
“Holy spell: Solar Satellite.”
“I know that one.”
“I was explaining it just to annoy you. How do you like it?”
Of course she knew Clitia too well.
The Pope was deliberately scratching at her mental wounds.
Psychological warfare with no clear effect, but it was still slowly chipping away at her.
“I’ll just defend.”
“Come on then.”
The white spheres floated in formation, guarding the red barrier like satellites orbiting a planet.
Approaching without caution was suicide.
A classic tactic she had seen in games countless times.
“Absolute Defense combo, right? Give up.”
“With my life on the line? Of course not.”
“Of course not. You know that.”
Why did that sound so annoying?
It was no joke how easily a person’s mind could be shaken.
Maybe she looked the same way to others.
There was no other way to put it.
“She’s just like the old Clitia.”
“The old me?”
“Early days of forming the Hero Party. The vibe was way lighter back then.”
“……”
So the other Clitia was actually closer to the real her.
Various thoughts flooded her mind.
“Hey, let’s talk.”
She stood a little apart and suggested a short truce.
“You want to buy time? Fine.”
The enemy radiated pure leisure.
No tension at all.
A good thing for her.
She decided to milk it for all it was worth.
“You beat the Demon King, right?”
She had wanted to ask since the moment they met.
“Yes. It was a tough fight, but we won in the end.”
The answer came out completely calm.
In their world, that was something people only dreamed about.
Yet the Pope spoke of it as if it had long been forgotten.
“What was the secret to defeating the Demon King?”
The Pope pondered for a moment.
“The biggest reason was Liam’s awakening.”
“Awakening?”
“Yes. Half a year into the journey, he finally understood what it meant to be a true Hero and threw himself into training.”
Their Liam had only done that when he was on the verge of death.
Even after being brought back as an undead.
“How much stronger did he get?”
“He grew so brightly that he became an equal to the Demon King.”
“……”
If only Liam had awakened sooner, they could have won for real.
It might have been better if they never had.
Should she have pressed harder?
Regret was already creeping in.
“You got lucky.”
“It wasn’t luck. You have any idea how much I had to throw away?”
The enemy’s expression was too calm to fall for the taunt.
“But you still couldn’t win, right?”
“Everyone else died except me. You all survived, right?”
“That’s unfortunate. Thanks to Liam, we all made it.”
Two completely different situations.
One was the banished saintess who had lost everything to the Demon King.
The other was the current Pope who had defeated him and kept her companions alive.
It was enviable.
Jealousy didn’t rise, though.
If she looked so happy, it must mean she had paid a heavy price for the Connector.
“You lost to the Demon King and got excommunicated because of it?”
“Who knows.”
She tossed that out casually and began gathering Aura.
It was thicker than usual, a deep, heavy red.
“You’re pretending to talk while compressing mana, huh?”
“You noticed?”
“Even if I didn’t, I couldn’t leave while you were using the Sun Veil.”
She wrapped her whole body in Aura, shaping it like armor.
Power flowed through her veins.
She could barely control it herself.
“You still talk to the Goddess, don’t you?”
She shot forward with the words.
“Of course. I’m still a saintess.”
The spheres reacted to her movement and rushed toward her.
“Envious.”
She charged in with fists flying.
In the blink of an eye she was right in front of the barrier.
“I have something I want to ask the Goddess.”
Her fist shot forward with force.
Blocked by the red veil and followed by an explosion.
But the high-density Aura smashed through.
“Why did you excommunicate me?”
She kept pushing, fist after fist.
The weakness of the Sun Veil.
Explosions only happened once at first impact.
After that, the attacks that kept coming could only be blocked.
“Unfortunately, you can’t hear me right now.”
The sphere that had been repelled slammed into her back.
It bounced again and flew away.
Then it collided once more, slowly whittling down her Aura.
“Why can’t you hear me?”
She thickened the Aura until it looked like blazing flames.
At the same time she sharpened her fist like a spear that pierced armor.
The barrier began to crack.
“The Connector lets one of us step briefly into the other world.”
The red veil glowed and mended itself.
The spheres never stopped coming.
“That’s why the connection with the Goddess was cut off when I entered your world.”
“That’s a shame.”
It was an even fight.
The battle had reached a stalemate.
“I want to go home soon.”
“Separation anxiety?”
“There are groups trying to pull the Goddess down to the ground lately.”
“……”
A brief opening.
The enemy reached out.
Lightning flashed, then a sharp pain exploded in her abdomen.
Another hand, this time near her chest.
Light flared and her body was slammed backward.
“Why are you so surprised?”
“There’s a crazy guy on my side who wants to drop a Sun down too.”
The enemy lifted a hand as if about to use another holy spell.
Then hesitated.
“Coincidence, huh?”
“Sure.”
Who had really started this?
Suspicion rose.
“It’s Lemiraen.”
“The Lich who’s one of the Public Enemies?”
“Still just a guess, but that bastard resurrected Liam as an undead.”
“……”
The enemy’s face twisted in shock as he slammed a hand to the ground.
“I definitely can’t lose.”
A massive surge of holy power churned across the plain.
Then a pillar of light erupted from the ground.
The unpleasant feeling from near the abandoned temple filled her chest.
“Sorry, but this ends now.”
A holy spell that grew stronger the more holy power was poured into it.
Right now it was big enough to level a small city.
The pillar slammed toward her.
She couldn’t dodge and keep moving, so she braced and met it head-on.
Aura fused with her right hand.
She planted both feet, twisted her waist, and drove her fist into the coming pillar.
The impact and spreading light shook everything.
The pillar vanished.
In exchange, her entire right arm was blown off.
“Aura Stage 3 specializes only in removing mana.”
The enemy planted both hands on the ground.
Two more pillars rose.
“Block this one too.”
Both pillars charged at once.
Grinding her teeth, she slammed her left fist into the first pillar.
The pain felt like her mind was shattering.
The pillar and her left arm exploded.
The remaining pillar was finished off by the right arm that had already mended.
Both arms vanished together.
They were already twitching and regenerating.
“Using arms like consumables…”
The enemy sat on the ground, face pale.
He had used a lot of holy power.
Even the Sun Veil was probably getting hard to sustain.
She pressed Aura against both legs and the newly mended right hand.
Then she stomped forward with a speed that had nothing to do with her previous steps.
The sphere that had finally reacted rushed at her.
But it couldn’t keep up and fell behind.
She reached the enemy and swung her right fist with full power.
At the same moment the Sun Veil flared brighter and grew thicker.
The red flashing attack and the red glowing defense.
She couldn’t withstand the shock or overload.
Her legs shattered.
“It hurts…”
“You’re insane.”
Thanks to that, a huge hole opened in the Pope’s side.
Holy power was trying to heal it, but it looked exhausting.
“It’s over, right?”
“……”
Her body was slowly recovering.
The enemy couldn’t move at all, holy power almost gone.
She had won.
Even if she was a mess, she had survived and hadn’t reached defeat.
“If you had only defended, you would have won.”
“It’s been a while since I fought. I got too excited. This is the first time since the Demon King battle.”
Experience she had stacked up steadily had decided the winner.
If she had been the active saintess instead of the Pope, she might have lost.
“You were so full of yourself.”
“I couldn’t show weakness.”
The enemy eventually collapsed to the ground and looked up at the sky.
“There’s one confession I need to make.”
Her legs were mostly healed, so she sat beside him.
“What is it?”
“I’m becoming the Demon King.”
“……”
She didn’t joke about things like this.
Neither would he.
“Tell me more.”
“The Demon King who scatters curses before death. Isn’t that a classic cliché?”
Blood trickled from the enemy’s cracked lips as he forced a smile.
“The curse is eating me slowly. My personality is growing more and more violent, and a trace of poison is leaking out with every passing day.”
“So you’re going to become the next Demon King?”
“Exactly. Right now I’m holding on with my reason, but I don’t know when it’ll break.”
Even beating the Demon King wouldn’t end it.
Another thorny path would open.
She felt the world itself starting to mock her.
“If I stay still, it will completely swallow my soul.”
“You’re trying to live longer because of the curse?”
“Yes. If I die and come back, the curse should disappear.”
The more she heard, the heavier it felt.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine. Just tell the next Hero Party to be careful.”
A huge gulp of blood poured from the enemy’s mouth.
Very little time left.
“Thanks. How do you feel?”
She casually asked about the defeated feeling.
She figured the enemy would see it as the most satisfying ending.
“Like a dog. Want to raise me?”
“……”
Surprisingly, he wasn’t even happy.
He looked downright disgusted.
“Anyway, use my body however you want.”
The enemy closed his eyes.
“Oh radiant Sun, I wish to become a tiny dying flame. May I find eternal rest in your embrace.”
His breathing gradually slowed.
She sat silently beside him, praying for the enemy to sleep peacefully.
“Why won’t it die…”
“Yeah…”
She had been seriously injured, and quite a while had passed, yet he was still alive.
Something was wrong.
“Maybe the holy relic broke and caused the problem?”
“It can’t suddenly break.”
“You were fighting while losing an arm. You don’t remember where it went?”
“……”
Of course it was the bracelet, so it was on her wrist.
“Even a holy relic would shatter if hit that hard.”
In the heat of battle she hadn’t thought of it.
She hurriedly searched the area and found the Connector lying on the ground.
“Ah…”
The bead was completely shattered.
“It’s broken?”
“Completely.”
“Then what do I do?”
“Who knows?”
They stared at each other for a while.
With the lingering pain from the fierce battle echoing through her body.