Before Kail and Rizelotte arrived at the underground prison.
Continuing the battle against Sloth Apostle Slush, Merlin sensed the surging miasma emanating from deep within the prison and turned his head.
The pink-haired Virgin Saintess they had been trying to rescue was rising like a marionette on strings, creaking eerily.
‘That is…’
Creeeak, creeeeak-
Kiiiaaaah!
A pitch-black miasma engulfed the entire prison. Seeing this, Merlin swiftly teleported outside the prison with Sera.
‘Damn, are we too late?’
Kail had explained that the Virgin Saintess was the only being in this world directly connected to God, acting as a terminal easily accessible by external forces.
If that terminal fell into the hands of the Evil God Cult, the Evil God could influence this world far more easily than before.
Therefore, they must prevent the Virgin Saintess from falling into the hands of the Evil God Cult—or at least kill her if necessary.
‘Judging from her appearance, it seems too late. Is there no other choice?’
Remembering the Virgin Saintess’s final moments, Merlin concluded she had already fallen to the Evil God. The sight of her emitting thick black miasma all over made it impossible to think otherwise.
The mission had failed. As Merlin thought this and prepared to send a signal spell, he sensed a teleportation trace coming from inside the prison.
In this world—aside from himself, there was only one other being capable of using teleportation magic. At least, that’s what Merlin knew.
And unfortunately, that one person was on Merlin’s side.
“Damn it—why did you go in there now?”
Merlin, who was contemplating whether to rush in and assist them, soon realized such thoughts were a luxury.
An enormous amount of miasma surged out from inside.
‘First, I need to survive.’
With that, Merlin teleported to the nearby fortress walls with Sera, where there were no enemies. The swaying miasma reached up to the sky.
The next moment, a blue sword energy shot up from the ground, slicing through the miasma.
“A.”
We’ve won.
Merlin thought this and felt relieved.
Of course, Rizelotte isn’t foolish enough to have teleported there alone.
“You’re late, idiot.”
Looking at Kail flying up amidst the storm of miasma, holding the pink-haired Virgin Saintess, Merlin sighed lightly.
The mission was a success.
***
“Kyaaaaaah—! G-god! Why me…!”
Upon entering the prison, what Kail saw was the Virgin Saintess, oozing thick black miasma all over, swallowing someone whole.
After gulping down an unknown man, the Virgin Saintess rolled her eyes back and stared at Kail.
“This is bad… We’re too late…”
If the Virgin Saintess had completely fallen under their control, it would be better to kill her. With this thought, Kail unsheathed his sword and drew Superior Blade.
Just as he was about to swiftly behead the Virgin Saintess without pain, he was stopped by Rizelotte grabbing his arm.
“Wait, Kail. Look closely.”
“Huh? At what…?”
Only then did Kail notice the Virgin Saintess’s lips moving. Reading her clumsy ventriloquism, he understood:
‘Please save me.’
The Virgin Saintess’s consciousness was still alive. It was no longer possible to simply behead her.
After a brief moment of contemplation, Kail swung his sword. As if aiming for her neck, the black miasma pouring from her body surged even stronger.
“Kyaaaaaaaaaah—!”
As if the Virgin Saintess were screaming, an unidentified female voice filled the area. Ignoring the eerie voice, Kail drove his blade deeper, causing the thick black miasma to escape her body and rise into the air.
“—I’ve been waiting.”
As the evil presence inside the Virgin Saintess destroyed everything in its path to escape, Kail aimed his sword at the miasma rising into the sky.
His sword energy, Superior Blade, ascended to the heavens along with the dark miasma.
The divine power humans worked hard to obtain—the purest source of power in the world—split the Evil God’s miasma in half.
─■■■■■!!
From the halved miasma came the Evil God’s scream. Hearing this, Kail smirked.
“How’s that, Zasha? How dare you try to swallow the Virgin Saintess.”
Saying this, Kail looked down to check on the Virgin Saintess cradled in his arms. She seemed fine—at least on the surface.
Her attire was somewhat indecent, but that was likely due to the Evil God Cult members who dressed her while controlling her.
“Rizelotte, let’s get out of here.”
“Yeah, —Open space…”
“Close it.”
Fzzzt-!
Just as Rizelotte began chanting the teleportation spell, it shattered instantly. From the prison entrance, an enraged man stomped in.
“You can’t escape twice.”
“Aah—you’re here?”
“Put the Virgin Saintess down, Kail Meyer.”
“No way. The Virgin Saintess belongs to us now.”
“…This is still our Evil God Cult territory. Do you really think you can escape—?”
Kwagagagak-!
As Arkade spoke, a large pig flew in from afar, landing in front of him.
The pig, which gnawed the ground upon landing, was bleeding profusely from its neck, indicating it had died before arriving.
“…Gluttony.”
“Oh, so that’s also your apostle? The Evil God is impressive, making non-humans apostles too.”
Realizing the identity of the suddenly fallen pig, Kail smirked.
At the same time, several figures appeared. They were members of Holy Weapons who had killed the Apostle of Gluttony.
“This repays our debt, Kail Meyer.”
“Yeah. Don’t let me see you again.”
“Such a thug…”
Aruki, covered in injuries, grumbled as he looked at Arkade and Agni standing before Kail.
“Are those guys the same as that thing?”
“Yeah. Apostles of the Evil God. You want to help them too?”
“No. This is as far as we go.”
Saying this, Aruki stepped back. Seeing this, Arkade smirked, pleased that the monsters who killed the Apostle of Gluttony wouldn’t interfere.
But that was a mistake.
“—Here she is! The Virgin Saintess!”
“Our leader found her.”
“Those guys are from the Evil God Cult…”
Masters began gathering from all directions. The twenty Masters Kail brought—though some had fallen—still formed a formidable force.
Seeing the Masters, Arkade’s face grew increasingly grim. The Virgin Saintess was already taken. Fighting these many Masters in this situation?
“Hey, do that thing from earlier again.”
Kail confidently stepped forward.
Arkade clicked his tongue and glared at the Masters, specifically at Kail Meyer.
“…Don’t think you’ve won.”
Snapping his fingers, the corpse of the Apostle of Gluttony rose. More accurately, ‘it’ descended, using the corpse as a vessel.
“—Let’s go, Agni.”
“Hey, don’t call me for stuff like this next time, got it?”
“If you’re an apostle, fulfill your duty.”
─Kwaahhhhh-!
The hellish beast.
The Hell Dragon opened its eyes.
“We will never disappear.”
After leaving behind a cockroach-like declaration, Arkade disappeared. Watching this, Kail let out a hollow laugh.
“Cowards running away with fancy words… Their tongues sure are smooth, though their actions say otherwise.”
Handing the Virgin Saintess in his arms to Rizelotte, Kail eyed the monster left behind—the Hell Dragon.
“Take care of her for a bit. I’ll go deal with that.”
“…It’s a dragon. And it’s alive.”
“What, scared of dragons now?”
Smirking, Kail leapt toward the dragon. In the next moment, his sword slashed through the dragon’s head.
“It only takes one strike anyway.”
The Hell Dragon born from the Apostle of Gluttony returned to hell.
The holy war ended.
They saved the Virgin Saintess and reclaimed the Holy Kingdom.
Kail earned the title of hero.
***
“Huuuuh…”
Groaning as she opened her eyes, the Virgin Saintess Lagraisha realized her body felt unusually hot.
A sensation she had never experienced while living a pious life as a saint. Because of this, she couldn’t understand what situation she was in.
‘My lower abdomen… why is it so hot…?’
Patting her pounding lower abdomen, Lagraisha felt lightning bolts chaotically zipping through her mind.
“Hnyaaaat─!?”
Her lower region throbbed, and a clear liquid began trickling down. Not a five-year-old child anymore—mortified, the Virgin Saintess blushed furiously as she looked around after soaking her underwear.
It wasn’t the Holy Kingdom. Nor was it the prison she last remembered.
‘Where am I…?’
Confused, she began searching for clothes to change into. Fortunately, the room had plenty of pajamas and clean underwear.
As she removed her soaked underwear and pants to change, someone abruptly burst through the door.
“Sainnnnt…?”
“A.”
Bent over to change, exposing her bare bottom, the Virgin Saintess quickly covered herself upon seeing Kail staring unabashedly at her lower body.
Blushing redder than before, she cautiously spoke.
“G-get out…!”
“…Yes. Sorry.”
After Kail left, the Virgin Saintess hurriedly changed her clothes. But her racing heart refused to calm.
