Presence—or aura—was an intensely mysterious concept, but when facing it directly, one could feel a pressure so intense it seemed almost tangible.
Such was the case with Amore. If she had seemed like a ferocious beast in the eyes of the Hellfire Legion before, everything changed the moment that power descended upon her.
In their eyes, Amore was now enveloped in near-colorless pale flames, every flicker of which unleashed terrifying airbursts.
And only deities possessed power that transcended mortal limits!
“Absolution!”
Amore slowly raised her greatsword. In an instant, an invisible force seemed to erase all emotion from her eyes.
Her gaze turned eerily calm, like a stagnant pool of water without a single ripple, yet the pressure radiating from her grew ever more suffocating.
The next moment, the pale flames surrounding her condensed, surging entirely into the greatsword to unleash a blinding, brilliant light.
She brought her blade down in a slash.
“Boom—!!!”
A blinding arc of sword energy swept forward with devastating force, obliterating every obstacle in front of Amore.
The pitch-black armor that had managed to wound her earlier couldn't even endure half a second before being reduced to ashes by the sword energy of “Absolution.”
Viewed from high above, the entire battlefield looked as if an apocalyptic storm had swept through. An expanse spanning thousands of meters in front of Amore was left completely bare, cleared of every living thing.
Yet it was far from over. Amore vanished from the spot in a fraction of a second, reappearing on the other side of the battlefield the very next instant. With a single swing of her greatsword, she completely vaporized a third of the Hellfire Legion.
Witnessing this, Eleanor's pupils contracted sharply. She hastily ordered the knight order to retreat, but it was already too late.
“Absolution!”
Another emotionless shout echoed across the field as blinding light descended upon the earth once more.
This attack engulfed both the Hellfire Legion and the Templar Knights alike. Dozens of High Knights caught in the middle of combat were turned to dust before they could even react.
At that moment, watching her elite knights perish at the hands of one of their own, Eleanor's heart bled.
She had never expected Amore to suddenly lose control. Even among the adaptors, Amore possessed one of the highest resistances to the mental erosion of the Holy Relics.
Even after invoking the true name, without hundreds or thousands of activations, it should have been impossible for Sariel to awaken using her body.
Yet she was nowhere near the threshold of mental erosion, and still, Amore had gone wild without any warning.
Eleanor recalled that Amore was an orphan—a clean background that now seemed intensely suspicious.
Why hadn't she lost control earlier or later? Why did it happen right at the critical juncture when His Holiness was targeted by an assassination attempt?
Despite being nowhere near the brink of madness, she had still lost control.
Everything seemed to point toward the single conclusion that she was a spy for the Kingdom of Northland.
“Bring Amore back—at all costs!” Eleanor commanded with a grim expression.
Under no circumstances could she allow the Holy Relic to fall into the hands of the Kingdom of Northland. Even if Amore truly was a traitor, she would first have to face the judgment of the Tribunal.
Amore's rampage inflicted unimaginable losses on the Templar Knights, forcing their steady advance to a complete standstill.
As key individuals nurtured in recent years, the other two Holy Relic Knights paid a steep price, calling upon their Holy Relics' true names twice before finally subduing her.
When Amore regained consciousness from her rampage, she couldn't help but burst into tears. She cared nothing for the severity of her own injuries, nor for how many Templar Knights had died because of her.
The only thing she cared about was the future.
This rampage had virtually shattered her chances of becoming one of the Twelve Sacred Knights.
And if she couldn't join the Twelve Sacred Knights, she might never have the chance to stand beside His Holiness for the rest of her life.
While the Templar Knights escorted Amore back to the Holy City to await trial, Lu Li was frantically rushing through his holiday homework.
“Curse you, Julia!”
“Curse you, curse you, curse you! You just had to wait until the last few days to tell me I have to go back to class!”
Quill in hand, he scribbled wildly in his notebook while grinding his teeth, condemning a certain unscrupulous Cardinal.
He was attending the Holy City's sole Seminary, which was also one of the most famous academies in the entire continent, attended by children of countless nobles and royalty.
Furthermore, being a Seminary, half of the instructors were clergy members of the Holy Court.
As the Pope and the Holy See of the Holy State, Lu Li couldn't afford to make a fool of himself in front of these people. So even if it meant pulling multiple all-nighters, he was determined to finish his homework.
Finally, the day school reopened arrived. Lu Li stepped down from his carriage with heavy dark circles under his eyes.
The moment he appeared, he drew countless gazes. His soft, pale gold hair, dark blue eyes, and pure, holy robes left no doubt as to his identity.
“Your Holiness!”
“Your Holiness the Pope!”
“Holy Father!”
The clergy serving within the Holy Court offered respectful greetings one after another, while the young novices didn't dare disturb him, settling for watching from afar while devoutly drawing the sign of the cross over their chests.
The pale sunlight of early autumn reflected off the youth. He slowly raised his sleeve as if blocking the sun, when in truth he was secretly stifling a yawn where no one could see.
He hadn't slept a wink last night—not because he hadn't finished his homework, but because Julia had sent a lady-in-waiting at the last minute with a speech containing standard official pleasantries about welcoming the new students.
Her motive was glaringly obvious: she wanted him to go on stage and give a speech tomorrow.
Lu Li hadn't expected he would have to give a speech just for the start of the term, but upon further thought, it did make sense. Thus, he had spent the entire night dutifully memorizing the speech.
While waiting for the ceremony to begin, Lu Li suddenly heard a girl say,
“Have you heard? Amore is a traitor!”
“I heard she was a spy for Northland all along,” another girl added.
The girls at the academy had long disliked Amore. She was just an orphan, yet she acted like she was above everyone else, following His Highness the Holy Son around like a shadow every single day.
Dammit! They wanted to talk to His Highness the Holy Son more too!
As the girls' conversation grew livelier, Lu Li paused for a moment.
Amore... why did that name sound so familiar?
Soon, he remembered. After entering the academy, his original self had seen a white-haired girl being bullied and stepped in to save her once. That white-haired girl had been Amore.
Ever since then, Amore had clung to him. Whenever they were at the academy, except for the restroom, Amore would follow right behind him wherever he went.
When he asked Amore why she kept following him, Amore had said she wanted to protect him.
Lu Li found it somewhat amusing—a girl who couldn't even protect herself claiming she wanted to protect someone else.
“Anthelia, do you know Amore?” he asked the person beside him.
Anthelia tilted her head with a thoughtful expression.
“Amore? Do you mean Amore of the Templar Knights?”
“That should be her,” Lu Li nodded.
“Mm... I heard she betrayed the Holy State and the knight order. It seems the Tribunal is issuing her final judgment today.”
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