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Large explosions took place one after another.

Rod of God was an attack-type holy magic spell that brought about a large amount of holy power, which would all fall from the sky. It didn’t have much physical power on its own, but it was still powerful as an 8th Circle attack-type holy magic spell.

At the moment, it was safe to say that no one in the Holy Empire could use holy magic above the 7th level. The only possible person was the previous Pope, who was rumored to be living in seclusion after giving up his position to the current Pope. Needless to say, there were very few people who could use holy magic above the 7th level in the Holy Empire, a nation with so many priests.

Therefore, it was unbelievable for many people to see an 8th-level holy magic spell be cast in front of their eyes.

It was quite a scene to see all the Undeads, regardless of size and participation on the battlefield, go up in flames upon being exposed to the light. Everything was wiped out in moments.

In the end, everyone could not take their eyes off Davey.

‘I… Yeah, let’s say that I stole the show.’

Davey was fine with the attention, having established a presence in the middle of the battlefield. Without hesitation, he gathered back the sluggish holy power as he stared at the Undead army that he had just wiped out.

The situation had been overturned before, so the allied army would be successful in defending the Undead even if Davey didn’t do anything.

Saintess candidate Alice protected the west gates. Davey wasn’t loyal to her, so he did not come to defend the west gates for her. In fact, he didn’t share a good relationship with her at all, and that was the reason why he had stepped up to help. Davey, whom Alice was in most conflict with, had helped her with holy power. This act completely weakened her position.

Davey could tell from the moment he saw Alice that she was jealous and frustrated that he had received a stigmata without any hard work.

Alice, who had worked to become the Saintess ever since she was born, had probably put in a great amount of effort; she would have studied theology and worked so hard to increase her mastery in using holy power that she got migraines. On top of that, everyone’s expectations of her would be higher, since her holy power probably developed much faster than Saintess candidate Lena, and she would have tried hard to meet those expectations as well.

Despite having worked so hard, Alice still did not receive the stigmata. Instead, some random person she had never heard of did. Who wouldn’t be jealous in this situation? Furthermore, it was known that there would only be one Saint or Saintess in the world each time.

It wasn’t like Davey did not understand Alice’s despair of having her life goal robbed. He could have then let it go if it was jealousy shown in a cute, harmless manner. However, in this case, Saintess candidate Alice had misunderstood the gravity of the situation.

“Hurrah!!!!”

The soldiers’ cheers echoed from the distant west gate, directing their praise toward Davey. Looking at the situation, Alice, who was already blinded by jealousy, would only grow even more jealous.

“She doesn’t even know that her situation right now is a test. Idiot.”

—Isn’t it impossible for that woman, Alice, to become the Saintess?

“Everyone is born with a unique amount of holy power.”

When he returned to the treatment center, Davey could see a brown-haired woman praying as she watched the soldiers who were being carried in gurneys. She did not have the beauty of Saintesses written in books; her hair was a common brown color and so were her eyes. Her appearance was not one that would draw eyes in a crowd, but her heart shone brighter than anyone else’s here.

“And currently, the kids who are picked as candidates for Saints or Saintesses have been born with an unimaginable amount of holy power.”

The real challenge was to pass God’s test and win her love, even with the large amount of holy power they already had.

[Listen carefully, Davey. Get it in your ears because I’ll only say it once. There is no God; God does not exist.]

This was what Daphne, the first Saintess, had said to Davey. Davey knew Daphne as an immoral Saintess, but he still did not expect her to outrightly deny the existence of the God she served.

[However, the will of God exists. We are not talking about a single being. For example, holy power. Davey, where do you think holy pow… Hey, pay attention, you damn bastard!!]

It was true that Daphne had beaten Davey, who had spaced out thinking about the affair between Death Lord Rho Aias and Bow Lord Apollo.

“Everyone has to pass the test and get God’s love before receiving a stigmata. Both saintess candidates Lena and Alice have passed the first test.”

The first test was being born with a huge amount of holy power. However…

“They completely diverge in the second test.”

-Is it the talent of using holy power?

“No, it’s their preparation.”

Holy power was lazy, and that laziness only grew the nicer the owner was. Of course, if holy power became lazy, there was no way that its progression speed would be fast.

Davey was probably not the only one suddenly reminded of a similar situation; it was quite funny.

—Now that I think of it, I heard that Lena’s progression of holy power is slower compared to Alice’s…

“I think a Saintess of this time will be produced if they are left like that.”

Davey thought about the fact that Lena’s development of holy power was slow although she had been born with a Saintess-level amount of holy power.

—Considering that, you really are an irregular.

The record stating that only one Saint or Saintess during an era would remain unchanged if Davey hadn’t shown up. However, things were different now, so no one knew exactly what would happen in the future.

—Then, isn’t it just impossible for Alice to be Saintess from the beginning? The fact that her holy power is active means that she is just untalented.

“I told you that in order to see someone’s true self, one has to be given power or hardship. Goddess Freyja had given them two different projects: she had given one power and authority, and put the other through hardships.”

—What a cruel God.

“True.”

One of them shone bright even amid hardships, and the other one eventually floundered in the swamp of power where they could do anything.

“It’s impossible for them to become Saintesses until they realize it themselves and repent.”

The lack of talent could be made up by the stigmata anyways; the quality and amount of holy power didn’t matter to a Saintess candidate in the first place.

“Oh! Prince Daveyyy!” Lena, the young Saintess candidate, spotted Davey and ran toward him. She dragged the ends of her words.

Davey smiled. “Were there any problems?”

“Did you see that just now?! Huge pillars of light just fell from the sky!”

“Oh, that.”

“Yes! The holy power was so concentrated that it gave me goosebumps! Do you think God descended down here?!”

As Davey avoided her glance, Lena persistently tried to meet his gaze. “Did…you do it, Prince Davey?”

“I thought the army would be taken over if I did nothing,” Davey answered with a bitter smile.

Lena clapped her hands like she was delighted. “Oh my… Are you Goddess Freyjaaa?”

Davey put his hand on Lena’s head as she had asked a weird question. He asked, “Do I look like a woman to you, Saintess candidate Lena?”

“Hm… Without your sharp eyes…’

Davey chuckled at Lena’s weird response.

* * *

The alliance had successfully defended the headquarters. Although the Undead had charged in fearlessly, Grell Orphan, the Elder Lich, had retreated upon realizing that there was no benefit to continue fighting. They had been bombarded with attacks, after all.

Now that the alliance could take a breather, another topic was brought to their attention: it was the discussion of competence.

Saintess candidate Alice had sacrificed many men trying to fight the war efficiently. Of course, sacrifices were bound to happen as their opponent was the Undead. However, Davey had shown everyone the most unrealistic and miraculous outcome, and his help had been rejected by Alice from the beginning. This caused people to wonder that maybe the war could have come to an end with far less casualties and damages if Davey had fought in the first place.

The origin of the rumor?

“Good work, Aina.”

“Please call me Jack,” Jack–no, Aina Helishana, mumbled calmly. She sounded slightly dissatisfied.

Thanks to the secret plan, Alice’s position was weakening by the minute, and people even began shouting to resign her from her position. They felt that she viewed human lives as nothing more than a fly’s.

“I will not fight like this anymore. I tolerated this because I had no reason to intervene in the battle of pride between the two, but I have no intention of sacrificing my soldiers because of the Saintess candidate’s stubbornness.” One of the older male knights of a middle-sized kingdom showed his dissatisfaction.

However, that was not it.

“Well, good. Same thing for the Lyndis Empire as well.”

Grand Duchess Kathryn, who had defended one side with a near-perfect tactic, also said the same thing. Her suggestion was a straightforward one, considering that she had stayed silent until now.

It truly only took moments for Alice to lose her power as she had created conflict with a lot of people.

Alice, who was sitting silently while staring into space, could not say anything. She remained quiet even while facing the alliance commanders’ strong backlash. The only ally she might have had was Prince Sullivan from the Pallan Empire, but even he did not help her this time. Perhaps he was angry at how Alice’s orders to attack had gone too far.

“Saintess candidate Alice, this is an absurd battle that started because of your pride. Take responsibility and solve it. Because of your pride, the soldiers of my sister and the alliance and countless innocent people have died. I will no longer defend you.”

As Prince Sullivan nailed the last nail on her coffin, Alice just mumbled monotonously, “Eighth level… Light…”

Upon realizing the holy magic spell that Davey had used, Alice turned toward him with a blank gaze. She looked in his direction, but her eyes were as empty as a void.

“...has abandoned me.”

With that, Alice slowly got up and approached Davey. She said quietly, “Pri…”

“Take your apology somewhere else.”

“...”

“I did not come here to fish for praise.”

Alice remained quiet.

“I think an entertaining story has spread to the Holy Empire. Don’t you have to go back?”

Normally, Alice would have been quite surprised by Davey’s response. However, she simply nodded calmly.

—She doesn’t look so good.

‘That is none of my concern.’

Just as Davey said, Alice was the one who had chosen to play politics before getting dragged down to rock bottom. She was the one who had messed with him first, so Davey had no reason to sympathize with her.

The Holy Empire had lost their own people as well, so there probably would be a lot of people who were going to tear Saintess candidate Alice apart and drag her down from her current position.

“I have conditions.”

Davey no longer paid attention to Alice. He proposed two conditions.

“I will accept. Tell me.”

“First…”

Davey gave two proposals, both of which got easy agreements.

As this was happening, Alice got ready to return to the Holy Empire per their summoning. She stared down at the holy knights who were escorting her with eyes showing nothing but a sense of hopelessness. Then, her gaze turned toward a black-robed giant, the one who had killed the holy knights inside the tent.

“A soul that has started to become corrupt; its corruption is so pure that its power far exceeds mine. It is suitable to be the master of the core that my lord has left behind.”

“You are…?”

Alice should be surprised at the fact that the enemy that she should kill was inside the command center, but she simply replied monotonously.

“Follow me. You will not receive the love of God, but I can make you similar to God. You can kill that despicable human being, and you can reach the level of a demigod that you so yearned for.”

Alice lowered her head. She had reached out so desperately, but God did not answer any of her prayers; God had let that demon boy take everything from her.

‘Why is this happening to me?’

She smirked as a realization dawned upon her. She muttered, “I believed in the light. I lived my life according to it.”

“...”

“But now, the light…”

Grell’s robe slipped down as he lifted his hand above Alice’s head. His frail, bony hands were exposed.

“Has betrayed me.”

Whoosh!!

With a burst of black energy, Alice’s eyes turned black.

“You will soon become my desires. I cannot win that demon, but my lord will come back to life from your presence. Remember this: his name is King of the Dead Deian. He has lived a life incomparably longer than mine, and he is the one who drove First Saintess Daphne to death.”

The Lich, who could never give up on his lord, and the Saintess candidate, who had failed to overcome the test and fell apart… It took just a moment for them to disappear from the command center.