Volume 1, Chapter 39 – —Master

‘Holy Light…’

‘Holy Light was protecting a succubus?’

Lainia knelt in the mud, her amber eyes trembling violently.

That sacred power she had prayed for countless times and yearned for countless times, yet had never once been able to touch, was now flowing from a succubus’ fingertips, docile as a tamed hunting dog, humbly licking its master’s palm.

‘Why…’

‘What gave her the right…?’

‘How is that possible…?’

Countless doubts surged through her like shifting sand beneath the foundation of a monument, enough to shake the entire structure in a single fleeting instant.

A ridiculous sense of vertigo swept over Lainia.

‘There was absolutely no way the Lord had abandoned me… Absolutely not!’

‘But… how could the sacred Holy Light, a power that rejected all impurity, choose to shelter a sinful succubus?’

‘Unless… it had never been a choice at all.’

Lainia stared fixedly at Stella’s cold and haughty profile as every clue from the past connected in her mind like flashes of lightning.

It was obvious. Whether it was what she had done in class when she devoured Lainia’s divine blessing, the approving attitudes of the succubus professors afterward, or the wariness the other succubi showed toward her.

Everything could point to only one thing.

Plunder.

That was the answer.

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Lainia shuddered.

The succubus before her was not praying at all, nor was she borrowing anything. She was forcibly enslaving the Lord’s power.

She was like a tyrannical monarch, forcibly tearing the pure Holy Light down from Heaven, imprisoning it within her evil body, and twisting it into a slave under her command.

‘What a terrifying method…’

‘What a blasphemous heretic…!’

Even Holy Light could not purify her. Instead, it had fallen and become her minion.

If a monster like this were allowed to keep growing, if she learned even more ways to control Holy Light…

On some future battlefield, when the Templar Order raised their holy swords and the Cardinals chanted divine arts, only to discover that the powers they took such pride in not only failed to harm her, but instead turned against them at the critical moment…

The Church would suffer a devastating blow, and every member of the clergy would become a joke before her.

Lainia could not even tear her gaze away from that figure.

Silver hair stained with scarlet, commanding Holy Light, with tyrannical bloodflame coursing through her.

If she were allowed to grow unchecked…

The consequences would be unimaginable.

Lainia suddenly understood.

A revelation-like shudder ran through her entire body.

Why had the entire escort team been wiped out while she alone survived?

Why had she been passed around as merchandise until she was sold into this abyssal academy?

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Why had she, of all people, lost her blessing, and why had she, of all people, witnessed this blasphemy with her own eyes?

Those past misfortunes that had once caused her unbearable agony had not been meaningless suffering. They had all been preparation leading to this very moment.

‘The Lord had not abandoned me!’

The Lord had guided her through trial after trial solely so that she could arrive before this demon and witness the birth of this enormous threat.

No one but her knew this secret.

And she could no longer leave.

Lainia remembered her oath.

As a trainee battle nun, when her faith issued its call, she had to walk in that direction.

Now, the greatest darkness was right before her eyes.

How could she run?

She had to stay.

Only by lurking beside this demon, becoming the person closest to her and the one she guarded against the least, could Lainia observe at close range how she enslaved Holy Light, investigate the magical circuits of this monster, and find her weakness.

Even if she had to offer up her dignity and her body for it.

Even if she had to endure the humiliation of being raised as a pet by a succubus.

Even if she had to watch Holy Light be blasphemed day and night while forcing herself to smile.

Because this was…

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‘The trial the Lord had given me!’

Lainia resolved herself to martyrdom.

Stella watched the swarm retreat and hurriedly withdrew the light.

She could feel the Holy Light she had released slowly and continuously purifying the magical power that belonged to Cheryl. Perhaps because of the brutal treatment Vice Principal Mara had subjected her to, the two forces had formed a delicate tug-of-war inside her body.

But if she continued using Holy Light, the disguise created by the succubus elixir might gradually unravel.

Stella let out a long breath.

She had exposed her Holy Light, but at least she was still alive.

She turned around and looked at the bedraggled Lainia, mentally working out how to bring this situation to a close.

Now that she had gone as far as using Holy Light, there was no point in pretending to be a succubus anymore.

She might as well simply reveal her identity, tell Lainia that she was also from the Holy See, make her swear to keep it secret, and then hurry up and send her on her way.

If Lainia was likewise a servant of the Lord, then surely she would understand Stella’s choice.

“Um, actually, I…”

Stella had only just opened her mouth, already preparing herself for a deeply moving reunion between fellow believers.

Clank.

The sound of metal colliding interrupted her.

Lainia climbed up from the muddy ground.

She did not run.

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Instead, she silently walked over to the patch of grass where she had thrown away her collar earlier.

She bent down and picked it up.

Under Stella’s bewildered gaze, Lainia fastened the cold collar back around her mud-stained neck.

Click.

The sound of the clasp locking shut rang particularly crisp through the silent forest.

Lainia walked to Stella’s side, grasped the other end of the chain with both hands, and respectfully offered it into Stella’s hand.

She lowered her eyes. Although her voice trembled, every word was clear.

“…Master.”

Stella’s hand froze in midair.

‘…Huh?’

Translator Note

I was too naive. In the end it’s another misunderstanding xD

Her reputation grew worse day by day HAHA xD