Volume 4, Chapter 11-1 – Colleague, I’m Sorry

Stella looked at the twenty-four white-robed spirits surrounding her, and an indescribable feeling welled up inside her.

Just look at them. Who were her best colleagues?

Without a doubt, the Chastisement spirits.

When she needed help the most, they had crossed worlds and traveled thousands of miles to come to her aid, sacrificing themselves for a righteous cause. Even after being brutally beaten and forced to reconstitute their spirit bodies, the very first thing they did after recovering was rush over together without even stopping to rest, all to protect her.

Such loyal and righteous conduct truly moved Stella.

Although she had given the White Tower Warden a one-star review last time, the service provided by the Chastisement spirits genuinely deserved five stars.

Stella glanced at Veronica, who lay on the ground with more air leaving her than entering.

The dark-gold blood had already stopped flowing, and the rise and fall of her chest was almost imperceptible.

If Stella did not act now, there really would be nothing left to do except collect her corpse.

At this point, Stella could no longer afford to worry about much else. She could only make her Chastisement spirit colleagues from the White Tower suffer a little.

After all, because of the Chastisement Brand, Chastisement spirits that failed to complete their chastisement could not return to the White Tower. They could only remain here, staring helplessly and worrying themselves sick.

Drifting around the Abyss forever like wandering ghosts would be rather pitiful too.

It would be better for Stella to put in a little effort and help them end their meaningless wandering and suffering as soon as possible.

Stella could not help marveling at her own benevolence and righteousness.

Stella stepped forward and took one Chastisement spirit by the hand.

The Chastisement spirit did not seem to have reacted yet. It simply floated there blankly, the holy flame inside its hood flickering slightly.

“Good colleague,” Stella offered her sincere condolences, “You’ve really worked hard.”

As soon as the words left her mouth.

Stella raised her right hand, aimed her palm at the white spirit in front of her, and slightly parted her cherry-pink lips.

“All light returns as one, grace flows back.”

Holy Radiance Extraction, activate.

The space around the Chastisement spirit immediately began to distort.

A sacred halo poured out from within its body, flowing toward Stella like countless tiny streams.

The Chastisement spirit’s outline began to dim, and its spirit body started to disintegrate.

In the end, it completely dissolved into countless tiny motes of light. They drifted through the air for an instant like fireflies before surging into Stella’s body all at once.

Stella felt comfortable all over.

First one done.

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Stella walked toward the second Chastisement spirit.

“Coming all the way to the Abyss on a business trip must’ve been rough.”

She raised her hand.

Drained dry.

The third one.

“Colleague, I’m sorry.”

Holy Radiance Extraction.

Disintegration.

The fifth one.

“Don’t worry, it’ll be quick.”

The sixth one.

“You’re sacrificing yourselves for a righteous cause. I’ll remember you.”

The seventh… the eighth… the ninth…

One after another, Stella offered her condolences to the Chastisement spirits, then mercilessly devoured them completely with Holy Radiance Extraction as if she were eating jelly.

Before long, the final Chastisement spirit dissolved into motes of light and vanished before Stella’s eyes.

Chastisement spirits truly were worthy of being the White Tower’s jailers. As high-purity Holy Light spirit bodies, their quality was certainly nothing to scoff at.

The energy of all twenty-four Chastisement spirits gathered inside her, forming a pure source of Holy Light.

Stella lowered her eyes and looked at her hands.

It was enough.

Next, she only needed to guide it out and use it as a bridge connecting herself, Veronica, and the Lord, then chant the proverbs.

Speaking of which…

Stella looked around the empty wasteland.

Twenty-four Chastisement spirits.

All gone.

‘What kind of reaction would the White Tower have?’

Twelve had gone missing before, and now another twenty-four had disappeared.

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‘Wouldn’t the Warden go insane?’

‘But they probably would not end up short-staffed, right?’

There were tens of thousands of Chastisement spirits in the White Tower. Stella had only eaten… uh… a little over thirty at most.

Losing a few would not matter.

Stella nodded.

‘Mm. It wouldn’t matter.’

She did wonder what a composite spirit body formed by fusing multiple Chastisement spirits together tasted like. It should be even more nourishing than an ordinary Chastisement spirit, right?

But even without thinking too hard about it, a composite spirit body was something used against high-ranking demons or even Archdemons. The White Tower Warden had no reason to use one just to hunt her down.

Stella put those thoughts aside and walked over to Veronica, preparing to use a Divine Blessing on the dying dragon-type demon according to the plan she had just come up with.

To tell the truth, Stella was not sure what would happen next. She did not know whether the Lord would bestow a Divine Blessing at all. And even if the blessing really descended, she had no idea exactly what kind of blessing it would be.

At this point, there was nothing to lose by taking a gamble.

If she won, she would drag Veronica back from the gates of hell, and today’s farce would finally be over.

If she lost, she would have to wash her neck clean and prepare herself for an Archdemon’s impotent rage.

Stella bent down.

Her long silver-red hair fell forward as she gently kissed Veronica’s ash-covered forehead.

It was a kiss that withdrew the instant it touched, light as morning mist, yet heavy as though it carried ten thousand mountains and rivers.

A kiss upon the forehead held extraordinary significance within the ancient rites of the Holy See.

The lips touching the outer point closest to the very center of the human brain represented the highest level of guardianship and protection.

It was also an indispensable part of a Divine Blessing.

Stella devoutly closed her eyes and clasped her hands before her chest.

The Holy Light condensed from twenty-four Chastisement spirits trembled softly within her body and began flowing along the spiritual link, constructing a sacred bridge within the void.

Stella chanted the proverbs.

“May the Lord bless you and protect you.”

“May the Lord lift His face toward you and grant you peace.”

“The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.”

“The Lord makes me lie down in green pastures and leads me beside still waters.”

“Love is patient and kind.”

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“Love does not envy. Love does not boast. It is not arrogant…”

“Love never ends.”

“May the grace of the Lord, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you.”

The chanting of the proverbs came to an end.

Stella lowered her hands and silently waited for the result.

To tell the truth, she was a little nervous now.

Bestowing a Divine Blessing upon a pureblood demon was absolutely unprecedented in the sacred scriptures of the Holy See.

No one knew what kind of backlash it might cause, or what sort of phenomenon it might attract.

After all, even when bestowing a Divine Blessing upon the most devout human believer, there was still a considerable chance of failure.

No one could ever fathom the Lord’s mood.

Much less when the one lying on the ground was an Abyssal demon.

Stella waited for a while.

The surroundings were utterly silent. Only the chirping of insects could be heard from the bushes. No miracle descended, nor was there any baptism of Holy Light.

Veronica’s charred chest had nearly stopped moving altogether. Her already faint breathing had become almost nonexistent, and her body temperature was rapidly dropping.

Stella sighed.

It failed.

The Lord had absolutely no intention of bestowing a blessing upon a demon.

That made sense.

A demon was still a demon. How could one possibly receive the Lord’s favor?

From the beginning, Stella had only wanted to take a gamble.

A gamble on an impossible possibility.

“All that work for nothing.” Stella muttered. “I’ve let down the great sacrifice of twenty-four Chastisement spirit colleagues.”

She glanced at Veronica on the ground.

Forget it. She could just treat it as a farewell prayer for someone on the verge of death. Stella had simply run out of options and tried anything she could think of, gambling on one desperate last resort.

Now she had lost the gamble.

Once Veronica died, what Stella would have to face next was the Samael Family Head’s impotent rage.

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Time to pack up and head back.

Stella let out a long sigh.

She stood up and instinctively looked down at her completely naked body.

But they were out in the middle of nowhere, and there was not even a scrap of cloth around to cover herself with.

What was she supposed to do?

Just as Stella’s mind filled with thoughts of how she could find herself a set of clothes, something changed.

Something changed.

A beam of light descended from the Abyss’s eternal night dome, landing precisely on Veronica.

Golden radiance enveloped Veronica. The charred marks across her body began to recede, wounds deep enough to expose bone began to heal, and a trace of color gradually returned to her pale face.

Stella immediately perked up.

‘It’s here, it’s here!’

‘The Divine Blessing was here!’

‘My application to the Lord requesting that a blessing be bestowed has actually received a response!’

‘I had only taken a gamble with a try-and-see attitude, yet the Lord had actually approved a request for an Abyssal demon!’

Stella watched as Veronica gradually regained signs of life, and a question immediately arose in her mind.

Although Divine Blessings had taken effect before, every blessing had one thing in common.

The recipient was always human.

The essence of a Divine Blessing was the Lord’s gift to His people, the partiality of a mother toward her child.

‘Since a Divine Blessing could also take effect on Veronica, who is a demon, then in other words…’

‘In the Lord’s eyes…’

‘Could demons and humans actually be the same?’

Translator Note

Oh~ That last one sounds like something that could be used as a major plot twist? xD