Volume 2, Chapter 35-1 – Is She Still the Same Person?

The dazzling holy radiance shattered into countless motes of light, like a magnificent snowfall slowly dispersing through the air before fading away.

The once-clamorous Corridor of Blood was now so quiet that it almost seemed sacred.

The boiling sea of blood beneath her feet, which had once devoured countless losers, had transformed into a crystal-clear pool as smooth as a mirror.

Starlight drifted beneath the surface, shimmering amid gentle ripples.

On the dark-red walls to either side, the bloodthirsty crimson shadows within the portraits of generations of Family Heads had all vanished, leaving only row after row of blank canvases hanging silently in their place.

Stella lowered her eyes, gripped the hilt formed from her left hand, flicked her wrist lightly, and performed a standard sheathing motion.

There was no scabbard.

Her body itself was the scabbard.

Click.

The translucent snow-white blade began to soften.

Within a single breath, the blade formed from the Sanctity of the Heart lost its edge, and her left hand reappeared beneath the lingering warmth of the holy radiance.

Stella flexed her five fingers and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

‘Phew… Thank goodness it can go back in.’

Just now, she had almost thought she was going to become a one-armed Saintess.

Although she had no idea what exactly this weapon evolved from the Sanctity of the Heart was called, since it was made from Holy Light, she would just call it the Holy Sword from now on.

Simple, straightforward, and she didn’t even have to use her brain.

This time, she had really come close to meeting the Lord.

When the Inquisitor first handed the Sanctity of the Heart to her, Stella had only thought of it as a ticking time bomb. Who could have imagined that, in such a desperate situation, it would actually be the Sanctity of the Heart that saved her life?

If she hadn’t forcibly raised the synchronization rate, even if she had ten lives, she would have lost every last one of them today in this completely unreasonable Corridor of Blood.

Who could have guessed that damned thorn mark would cling to her hand like glue and even seal off her cheating escape route through the Mirror Realm?

Speaking of the thorn mark…

Stella raised her hand and looked at her palm with lingering fear.

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The thorn mark symbolizing the deathmatch contract had now dimmed, like a withered vine deprived of nutrients, quietly lying dormant between the lines of her palm.

It had gone dark.

The Laxia Ritual was completely over.

She had won.

“…It’s over.”

Stella murmured to herself as her taut nerves finally relaxed.

Right now, she only wanted to get out of this troublesome place as quickly as possible.

Stella instinctively lowered her eyes toward the clear pool beneath her feet, preparing to call Dorothy.

However, the instant her gaze touched the reflection on the water’s surface, Stella froze.

A girl was reflected in the water.

Long silver hair cascaded like moonlight, and her purple eyes were clear to their very depths.

She was as beautiful as ever, but that wasn’t the problem.

The problem was that she was too clean.

Where were her curved succubus horns?

Where was her tail, which might have been useless but at least helped her keep her balance?

Where was the streak of crimson at the ends of her hair that represented the Valentine bloodline?

All gone.

Stella instinctively reached up and touched the top of her head, only to feel smooth hair beneath her fingers.

There was nothing there.

Right now, she was neither Valentine’s illegitimate daughter nor an Abyssal succubus genius.

She was nothing more than a pure human Saintess.

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‘This is bad…’

Could it be that after she raised the synchronization rate, the Sanctity of the Heart had conveniently scrubbed her clean too?

Under the cleansing of absolutely pure Holy Light, whether it was the carefully concocted succubus elixir or the Abyssal magical power brought by the Eye of the Black Mass, all of it had been regarded as filth by the Sanctity of the Heart and purified and suppressed together.

She was screwed.

If she had Dorothy pull her out now…

Who was waiting for her in Lilith School?

There was Dorothy, who already regarded her as her succubus mother. There was Remedios, who harbored an extremely twisted obsession with the Saintess. There was Cheryl, who had completely accepted her as her elder sister. There was Professor Katerina, who already regarded her as the daughter of someone she had once admired. There was Principal Gehenna, who was trying to make amends for her past mistakes out of guilt by saving the daughter of her former disciple.

If they saw that the victor walking out of the Corridor of Blood was a human Saintess…

Stella clutched her head.

Just imagining that scene was terrifying.

Hell itself could hardly be worse.

As she had said, these thoughts brought such appalling and unbearable terror to her still-throbbing heart that even the boldest imagination would surely recoil from them.

Even in her dreams, Stella couldn’t imagine half the horror of that infernal hell.

No.

At the very least, she absolutely couldn’t go out right now.

Sizzle.

Without any warning, the thorn mark that had dimmed in Stella’s palm began to burn.

“Wasn’t the Laxia Ritual… already over?”

Even the judge had left the stage, so why was there still a revival round?

The mark in her palm not only refused to disappear, but instead turned redder than it had ever been before.

It seemed to come alive, transforming into countless fine blood-red roots that frantically crawled upward along her wrist and forearm.

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Stella panicked.

‘What is going on now?’

‘Mia’s final counterattack before death?’

‘No… that isn’t right.’

Stella recalled the explanation of the rules Mia had given with a hint of boasting before the ritual began.

The victor would receive all the blood of the loser.

Could it be…

Because she had just completely erased Mia, the Laxia Ritual had judged her the winner and was now preparing to stuff Mia’s essence into her?!

“Are you serious…”

Stella didn’t even have time to complain about such a tyrannical clause.

Almost instantly, a sudden and excruciating pain spread throughout her heart.

In the blink of an eye, the crimson thorn patterns crawled all over her neck, like countless tiny red snakes scrambling to burrow into her blood vessels.

‘It hurt…!’

‘It hurt so much!!!’

It felt as though she were being scorched by fire.

Stella held her breath.

Even the slightest rise and fall of her chest frightened her.

“Ugh… cough!”

Stella clutched her chest. Her legs went weak, and she dropped straight to her knees on the surface of the water.

At the same time, the world beneath her feet began to tremble.

With the disappearance of Mia, the overseer of the Corridor of Blood, the Corridor of Blood had lost the force supporting it and reached the end of its existence.

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The white walls around her began to crack, while the space above her resembled a mountainside soaked through by August rains, sliding, collapsing, and breaking apart.

The fierce winds whipped up by the spatial turbulence lashed across Stella’s cheeks.

The Corridor of Blood was collapsing.

She couldn’t stay here any longer.

Whether she had turned back into a human or was being infused with some strange essence no longer mattered.

If she didn’t leave now, she would collapse along with this space and be reduced to dust within the void.

She lowered her eyes and took one final look at the savage and bewitching reflection in the pool.

Crimson thorn patterns already covered her entire body. They were both alluring and agonizing, while an endless dark fragrance surged from them.

Stella had absolutely no idea what would happen to her afterward.

But…

There was no time to worry about that anymore.

Trembling, she raised her hand and pressed it against the pool beneath her.

“Dorothy…”

“Take me out of here.”

Translator Note

Loll I bet her body got upgraded instead.

So the potion was really temporary… but now with all that blood from many generations, will her body become succubus permanently? ><