No Choice But to Be Firm

They had followed the army into the heart of the Holy City to carry out a rescue plan, only to find that those people had long been turned into “time bombs.”

At that time, night turned into day, and only Tina and a scattering of others remained of the human army.

With nowhere left to run, Tina decided to try approaching those who had been ensnared by the illusions, testing them to find their weaknesses.

That day, she had carefully slipped into a tent, only to turn around and find the controlled people already surrounding her from all sides.

Every single one of their faces bore a pale, eerie smile.

Tina had already learned to instinctively resist such “goodwill” of unknown origin.

She decided to test her.

She glanced at Alix, who was looking back at her with a smile.

“Alix, you're making things difficult for me. Is there something you want?”

But Alix didn't react much. She simply touched her cheek and tilted her head with a smile.

“I just think you're so cute~ And so pitiful.”

“Did we know each other before?”

“This should be our first time meeting, but you know, I think my heart skipped a beat for you~ Tina, be my girlfriend~”

“...” Tina instantly lost any desire to keep talking.

What did the Deceptive Magical Beast know, and how much? No one knew.

One thing was certain: she had been targeted.

This creature might simply want to test her, or perhaps it had taken an interest in Sathya and wanted to use her. In any case, this damn thing was only here to cause trouble!

There was no school bell here. When the time was up, Ulrich checked the time, smiled as he bid everyone goodbye, and left the classroom with his books.

Just as Tina stood up to leave, Alix suddenly leaned in close, almost brushing against her body.

Alix's eyes were filled with genuine worry. “Tina, is the wound on your wrist really okay? You've looked like you've been in pain these past few hours.”

Her tone was soft and natural, completely devoid of any artificiality.

It was truly terrifying.

The burning sensation on her wrist would occasionally make her frown or instinctively cover her wound.

For a sensitive, observant girl, noticing these things wouldn't have been difficult.

The Deceptive Magical Beast's disguise was flawless, but the only issue was that this was completely out of character for Alix.

She reached out, intending to touch Tina's bandage-wrapped wrist, but the sudden appearance of someone made her abandon the action.

“Sister Tina, can you let me see?”

By then, Sathya had already walked over to them.

Sathya had been chatting with the students who adored her, but her attention had been entirely on Tina the whole time.

She had been keeping an eye on this strange girl, Alix.

—Why does she keep looking at Sister Tina?

Even though reason told her this was no time to be jealous, seeing the person she loved being fussed over and cared for by someone else still made her feel uneasy.

She hadn't wanted to interfere, planning to slowly find the right time and opportunity to approach Sister Tina and ask what she had really done that day.

But when she overheard their conversation, she immediately grew alert and broke away from the crowd.

Her gaze also fell upon Tina's bandage-wrapped wrist.

Sathya remembered that although she hadn't killed the Demon King, the strike she had unleashed with all her power had landed directly on the Demon King's body.

Sister Tina was injured, and it was a wound that required bandages infused with high-level healing magic.

She had tried to trigger the curse to make the Demon King suffer and to sense her location, and Sister Tina had happened to suffer a painful flare-up at the exact same time. But how could she explain the birthday party incident then? Was it really just a coincidence?

Sathya felt she was very close to the truth.

Faced with her question, Tina remained silent.

To lift the curse, she either had to get Sathya to remove it, or kill her.

Tina couldn't do either.

Sathya had just reached out, intending to touch the bandage on her hand, but at that moment, Alix gave her a cold look and said, “Tina is in a lot of pain right now. Don't just touch her!”

“Miss Alix?” Sathya finally began to size up the girl in front of her.

This woman had been sitting next to Sister Tina from the very start, constantly fussing over her.

Sathya naturally remembered Alix as well. She was a Saintess of the “Snow Plum Society” who had died on the battlefield of the Sacred Mutiny.

She shouldn't have had such an annoying personality in the past.

“Sathya, even if you are the most popular Saintess, you shouldn't treat Tina like this. She is already in so much pain. Just leave her alone.”

Sathya was never one for words. For a moment, she didn't know how to argue back, but a flash of murderous intent surfaced on her face.

Seeing this, the other students immediately gathered around, but none of them were willing to step in and stop this silent war.

The atmosphere grew tense and explosive.

“You hurt Tina, yet you pretend to care about her. What on earth is your goal?”

“I never thought of it that way!” Sathya's expression was conflicted. “You don't know anything, so stop judging me and Sister Tina, okay?”

“Am I wrong? You wrote a recommendation letter just to get Tina to join us, but did you know that Tina was actually very resistant to joining? You only ever care about yourself.”

“I did it because... I only wanted to...”

Sathya had originally wanted to say, “I did it all to protect Sister Tina,” but Sister Tina's current injury made her words ring hollow.

For a moment, those in the crowd who had wanted to speak up for Sathya fell silent as well.

They knew full well that the relationship between the Saintesses was far more complicated than they had imagined.

Velrose took in this entire scene from a distance. Just as she was about to step in and diffuse the situation, Tina, who had been silent the whole time, suddenly stood up.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Tina tightly grabbed Sathya's hand and walked toward the door without looking back.

“S-Sister Tina?!”

Tina simply kept walking forward, never pausing.

She walked all the way to the entrance of the Holy Church Building. When she turned around, she saw Sathya looking so embarrassed she didn't dare lift her head. Before she could explain anything, she realized Alix had actually caught up to them.

There were many other students and teachers around. Seeing Tina drag Sathya around by force, they all stared in shock.

And so, Tina dragged Sathya all the way to a nearby lawn.

She grabbed Sathya's other hand and gently pinned her against a tree trunk.

Her petite body had no intention of resisting at all, making it incredibly easy for Tina.

And so, right there in broad daylight, under the gaze of the nearby students and all the instructors, she kissed the apprentice Saintess, Sathya.

“Mmh... mm...”

This way, no matter what scheme the Deceptive Magical Beast had up its sleeve, it would never succeed.