Truth and lies.
’From the moment she was born, she believed her life was a lie. Abandoned by her mother, forced to wander the city’s sewers, and sold to a pair of drug cultivators—she refused to accept this world as reality.’
’On the brink of death, she often had out-of-body experiences. Shedding her heavy, mortal coil, she would soar into the sky, looking down upon the town, the mountains, and the sea, until she finally merged with the clouds. There, winged angels would play their trumpets just for her. Only then did she feel she was in the ’true world’. The maggot-infested food, the brutal labor and abuse, the stench of the sewers—that could not possibly be her world.’
’The out-of-body experiences became more frequent as she desperately denied her surroundings.’
’But the end was always the same. No matter how blissful the escape, she was always dragged back to her squalid reality. She saw herself as a child of heaven, temporarily displaced. Surrounded by other children who collapsed and died in the drug fields, she would gaze at the sky and endure, certain that one day the angels would come to take her home.’
"Ever, heaven must be such a wonderful place that many people want to go. That’s why it’s taking so long."
’Her only friend had told her that.’
"Let’s just hold on. If we keep enduring this miserable life, all our suffering will pile up and become our ticket to heaven. Survive, Ever."
’The next day, her only friend collapsed in the drug fields, foaming at the mouth, and was thrown away like trash. Ever Kire, honoring her friend’s last words, survived with vicious tenacity. She was certain that her time would come, that she would soon ascend to the shining reality of heaven beyond the sky.’
’But the end never came, and her life stubbornly clung on.’
’Exhausted, she finally prayed.’
’If you refuse to grant me the release of death—’
’Then at least show me a glimpse of the heaven I am destined for.’
"My daughter."
’A voice answered. Ever Kire knew, with absolute certainty, that it was the voice of the goddess. The voice gave her a mission, and with it, the power to create her own heaven.’
’She had laughed then, a wild, manic sound.’
’She transformed the wretched drug fields into a field of her favorite dandelions. The enraged adults and the cruel children who had tormented her were turned into trees, which she then burned along with the dandelions. Her own little piece of heaven.’
’In a life that had been nothing but a lie, she had finally created something true.’
’I’ll make a one-way ticket to heaven.’
’To reach the real heaven, she decided she would first have to build her own in this fake world.’
A brilliant divinity erupted from Ever Kire. She was clad in the Holy Raiment, the limp arm of the true Saintess of Harvest—her essence stolen—dangling from her abdomen. With this heinous, bizarre appearance, Ever Kire stepped barefoot onto the ground.
Across the arena, the wheat grew ever taller, swaying in an unseen wind. The entire stadium had transformed into a golden wheat field, bathed in the light of an eternal sunset.
[Very good.]
Ever Kire surveyed the field, pleased with her newfound power.
"You...!" Lethe gritted her teeth. "How are you using my senior’s power? No, before that, how did you get to Roc Island?"
Ever Kire’s body shook with silent laughter. [I was on Roc Island from the very beginning.]
Her goal had always been the destruction of Kizen, the heart of the necromancers. She had manipulated the Valkese clan and warped reality itself, preventing the Valkese Arena from being returned and seamlessly integrating it as a sixteenth venue. Everything had been proceeding perfectly.
But then, an unexpected variable had threatened to unravel her entire plan: the Saintess of Harvest. With her authority, the Saintess could pinpoint the location of any divinity user. Fortunately for Ever Kire, it was a ’dummy’ she had prepared that was discovered first. The dummy alerted her, and Ever Kire reverse-engineered the flow of divinity to locate the Saintess of Harvest.
The fight was difficult, but she managed to ambush the Saintess while her power was sealed, finally felling her with her own Innate Ability. Then, she read the Saintess’s mind. She learned that Israphel of the Holy Federation was secretly cooperating with the Dark Alliance to prevent a war. She also learned that if the Saintess of Harvest were to fall, an even more powerful Saintess with superior detection abilities would be sent next. That Saintess would be Lethe Shardena, the Saintess of Stars.
Armed with this information, Ever Kire altered her plan. She devoured the Saintess of Harvest, absorbing a portion of her power, and then disguised herself to look exactly like her victim, feigning defeat. Manipulating reality to make the wheat grow was a simple matter. She then ordered a second dummy to flee the island.
The Kizen agents, believing the Saintess of Harvest had been defeated, moved Ever Kire to a secure cave, their attention completely focused on chasing the decoy. In the chaos, the Saintess of Stars arrived. But by then, her trap was already set. Even if Lethe scanned the entire island, she would have only detected the lingering divinity of the Saintess of Harvest.
"Then...!" Simon bit his lip. "The person in the cave all this time was—!"
[Me.]
Ever Kire’s lips stretched into a terrifying grin.
[When I will it, it becomes so. When I make a decision, all of humanity must obey. No one on this continent can stand against this ’power of a god’!]
The wheat began to grow even taller with a great rustling sound.
[But before I face the Witch of Death, I see no need to waste a god’s power on dealing with the two of you.] She extended her fingertips. [Shall I test the power of the Saintess I’ve newly acquired?]
In that instant, Simon charged, his eyes bloodshot with rage.
"Simon! Calm down!" Lethe yelled.
As he tore through the wheat field, Simon opened a subspace. Pier’s bones flew out, encasing Simon’s body in skeletal armor. His right hand, now sheathed in bone, reached out, and the pure white greatsword flew to his grasp. In a flash, he had become a skeletal knight. He spun, the formless cloak on his back swirling with the motion.
"Haaaaah!"
The white blade, swung in a furious arc, slammed against an invisible barrier with a deafening clang.
’The Greatsword of Ruin...!’
It was stopped cold by a protective wall shimmering in front of her. This was not her Innate Ability. It was a barrier of divinity, woven with the authority of a Saintess.
’The power of the Saintess of Harvest!’
Ever Kire smirked. Simon immediately kicked off the ground and retreated, opening a massive subspace behind him.
"Mages! Fire!"
Dark Blaze
From within the portal, skeleton mages unleashed a volley of black flames that hammered against the barrier.
Blind
Paralyze
With his free hand, Simon fired off a series of curses, but they too failed to penetrate the shield. Physical force, Jet-Black magic, curses—nothing worked. He gritted his teeth and fell back.
[Kizen was hiding something truly remarkable,] Ever Kire mused with a smirk. [To think a mere student was secretly a Legion Commander. How very amusing.]
She swept her arm through the air, and a magic circle of light instantly appeared, unleashing a shower of radiant projectiles.
"Agh!"
Simon stood his ground, wildly swinging his greatsword to deflect the attacks. But one of the light bolts moved with an unnatural trajectory, bending around his blade and striking his shoulder.
In that moment, Lethe appeared, her snow-white hair flying as she kicked the white magic spell into oblivion.
"Lethe!"
"You must not rush in so recklessly," Lethe warned as she landed. "The Saintess of Harvest boasts the strongest defense among all the Saintesses. So long as her feet are on the ground, breaking that barrier is quite impossible."
Simon’s gaze sharpened. "Her feet on the ground is the condition?"
"Indeed. We must get her airborne, but that will not be an easy task..."
"We have to try."
Simon raised the Greatsword of Ruin, its blade darkening with an infusion of dark blue Jet-Black. Lethe turned her back to him, fully releasing the seal on her choker. Starlight erupted from her body as a massive wave of divinity poured out.
[I never thought I would witness such a sight,] Ever Kire laughed.
Before her stood a boy and a girl, one wielding black power, the other white, both radiating a palpable, murderous hostility.
[A Legion Commander and a Saintess, joining forces.]
"Let’s go, Lethe!"
"Right!"
They charged, one streaking across a path of Jet-Black, the other on a trail of divine light. In response, Ever Kire simply raised her hand.
Simon’s eyes widened.
A colossal beast’s head erupted from the wheat field directly in their path. Simon instinctively thrust his greatsword forward. The beast’s fangs scraped against his blade, but the sheer difference in power sent him staggering backward. He saw Lethe retreating as well.
’What is that!’
A lion of pure light, the size of a house, stood growling amidst the wheat. Its mane was white, its teeth forged from divinity. It was not standing on the ground but seemed to float just above the golden stalks.
’A divine beast? No, this is...!’
It was a creature born from a Saintess’s authority.
The lions of light began to move. They did not run; they rode the waves of wheat, circling wide before closing in at blinding speed. To Simon, it was as if a beam of pure light was hurtling toward him. He reflexively raised his greatsword just in time for the impact.
The force of the blow felt like being hit by a carriage, sending him flying through the air.
Simon grunted.
The lion was faster, surfing the wheat to reappear behind him before he could even land.
’I don’t have a second to spare for Ever Kire!’
He spun, swinging his greatsword behind him just in time to deflect the lion’s attack.
Just then, the entire wheat field began to tremble. Grains of wheat, glowing with divine energy, began to rain down, disappearing as they touched the ground.
Ever Kire closed her eyes, a faint smile on her lips. The defensive barrier around her swelled, growing even larger, and the lions of light increased in size, their manes crackling with brilliant energy.
"They got stronger?"
"This is precisely what makes the Saintess of Harvest so formidable," Lethe said, fending off a lion as she moved closer to Simon. "Every single one of those grains of wheat is like a priest. They absorb mana from the earth and air, converting it into divine energy that fuels both the Saintess and her creations."
A third lion materialized with a low growl. The longer this fight dragged on, the worse their odds became.
"I must admit, I am somewhat surprised myself," Lethe added. "It cannot have been long since she stole my senior’s power, yet she wields it so skillfully just from reading her memories."
"What’s the plan?"
"We must overwhelm her with a single, massive assault. You may leave that to me."
At that moment, two more lions surged through the wheat, closing in on Lethe from behind. Simon’s eyes widened.
"Le—!"
And then, two stars fell from the sky, slamming into the backs of the charging lions. The stars carried the beasts through the wheat field before erupting in a massive explosion.
With a calm expression, Lethe gracefully waved her hand. A meteor shower rained down from the heavens, annihilating the wheat field. In an instant, the golden sea was a cratered wasteland. Ever Kire’s barrier flickered and weakened, and the remaining lions shrank in size.
She stated matter-of-factly, "I am a Saintess, after all."
Simon grinned, pulling his greatsword back. It was his turn.
’The space itself...!’
The Greatsword of Ruin began to hum with power. He poured Pier’s strength and his own Jet-Black into the blade and swung it down at the ground.
’The sensation of cutting!’
A mountain-sized slash tore through the earth. The wheat field was cleaved in two, and the black rift of energy shot forward, slamming into Ever Kire’s protective barrier.
[Useless,] Ever Kire stated flatly.
"No."
In a flash, Lethe was already there, her hand pressed against the ground.
"Just momentarily depleting the earth’s divinity is quite enough."
For a brief moment, Lethe’s vast divinity flooded the earth that had been under Ever Kire’s control.
[What are you trying to do?]
"For just a moment, I am making this section of the planet my ’star’." She pointed a finger to the sky. "What do you think is required to make a star fall, hmm?"
The true authority of the Saintess of Stars.
It was...
’Gravity Field’
Gravity.
Ever Kire’s body went limp as she was lifted from the ground, her feet dangling in the air as she shot upward. The moment she was airborne, her protective barrier vanished.
And Simon, who had also been lifted into the air, raised his greatsword high as he descended upon her.
"With power you just stole!"
[Ah!]
Simon’s greatsword fell.
"You can’t beat us!"
The Greatsword of Ruin sliced clean through Ever Kire’s head with a sickening crack.

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