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A strike that truly deserved to be called swift.

It was the same attack Serena had first demonstrated when she cut down the so-called enhanced form created by the Black Blood Woman.

The reason the Black Blood Woman had chosen to create a sword among countless weapons wasn’t because she was particularly skilled with it.

She simply wanted to test a new technique she had acquired.

That strike created a crack in the holy power that was being concentrated. Taking advantage of Christine’s momentary hesitation, the next attack followed.

Once again, a strike mimicking Serena’s drawing technique slashed through Christine.

A strike invisible to the eye. After being hit twice, the holy power developed large cracks before dispersing and returning to mere ordinary air.

Holy power differs from mana. Concentrated holy power doesn’t explode outward. If it had, this entire area would have been obliterated.

However, what just happened was enough to make Christine falter. It was because she had never experienced such a situation before.

Until now, no human who had stood before her had ever moved with such speed. There had been no exceptions to this fact.

Even if there were transcendentally powerful beings like Charlotte or Serena, their abilities relied on mana.

That’s why mana nullification worked absolutely.

No matter how muscular or fast-footed, a mere human body could never defeat Christine.

Except for the blasphemous blonde who was closely attached to her god, who could match or exceed Christine’s physical abilities without using mana.

Until now, this had been an absolute truth in Christine’s mind, and she needed a moment to accept this distortion of that truth.

Despite mana nullification clearly working, how could someone move exactly as if they were using mana to enhance their body?

Her contemplation didn’t last long. Christine quickly changed her mind.

“Ah, my God. I am sorry. I shall atone. Please do not forgive this lamb’s disloyalty.”

Even momentarily doubting her ability was a grave sin. Since this power came from God, doubting herself was equivalent to doubting God.

At least, that’s what Christine thought.

When she breathed, saw, heard, moved, and even lived—all of it depended on God’s mercy, so how could she doubt it?

But the Black Blood Woman was equally surprised.

“What are you? A monster? Why aren’t you getting cut?”

Though in appearance, the monstrous one was actually the Black Blood Woman, but that fact was easily ignored.

Although its strength was underestimated because Serena had killed it so easily, the enhanced form had skin tough enough to withstand even the highest-level magic of the Royal Knights.

Having perfectly copied the strike that had easily pierced through that, it should have cut through as the slash was delivered.

But it didn’t.

Its skin remained intact, without even a scratch where the blade had passed. It had only left cracks in the innocent holy power.

It wasn’t because the sword lacked durability.

Although the mental connection was still crude and the real body was elsewhere, this was still the body of a Black Blood demon. It was difficult to even scratch it with ordinary attacks.

Then there was only one answer. The nun’s skin was abnormally tough and sturdy enough to overwhelm the Black Blood demon.

They were both surprised at each other.

Christine was shocked that her opponent could move at such speed despite mana nullification being active, while the Black Blood Woman was amazed that a mere religious person had such tough and sturdy skin.

But the surprise was brief. Christine immediately kicked off the ground and charged, while the Black Blood Woman retracted her sword back under her skin and crossed her arms to block the attack.

A sound like consecutive explosion spells erupted where fist met arms. Christine’s merciless barrage of punches followed immediately.

Holy power exerts absolute strength against what it designates as heresy. And to Christine, everything except two people was heresy.

So it was somewhat natural that the Black Blood demon’s body literally melted under the merciless barrage of punches.

“Hmm…”

But there was no urgency to be found on the Black Blood Woman’s face.

The Black Blood Woman, who had initially been struggling to block the attacks, suddenly changed her gaze. Her two black eyes, with a completely shifted atmosphere, sharply and definitively scanned Christine.

Christine felt those eyes turn toward her but didn’t care at all. This thing would be offered as a sacrifice without even a chance for repentance. She would make sure of it.

No, she had tried not to care.

The Black Blood Woman, who had been merely blocking the merciless barrage with crossed arms, suddenly flashed her eyes and swung her arm forward.

With a boom, her fist embedded itself near Christine’s heart, between her ribs. It was a strike aimed at that very brief moment between attacks.

Christine didn’t even flinch when hit by that fist.

Because it didn’t hurt.

Not because she had lost her mind in rage or was too crazed to feel pain, but because it truly didn’t hurt.

Christine’s body was too sturdy to be penetrated by such a trivial attack.

Realizing her attack was ineffective, the Black Blood Woman leaped backward. Christine couldn’t react to that speed and punched the bare ground instead.

Immediately, the ground exploded, sending the damp soil flying into the air before falling back down as muddy rain all around.

It was a result that demonstrated both how fierce Christine’s attack was and how incredible the Black Blood Woman’s durability was to withstand it.

She pulled her hand out of the buried soil. The holy power enveloping her body immediately designated the dirt on her hand as heresy and purified it with white flames.

“What did you do?”

Christine thought this: The punch just thrown undoubtedly resembled her own attack style.

Although Christine relied solely on instinct for all attacks and defenses, having never properly learned any techniques, she was actually more sensitive to her own posture because of this.

She instinctively realized that the attack just performed was an exact copy of her own movements.

“Not content with blasphemy, you now try to steal God’s blessing?”

It was heresy.

No, the word “heresy” fell far short.

It blasphemed her God, blasphemed her, and now even copied and used the blessing her God had bestowed upon her.

How could such a thing be described with the single word “heresy”?

Hatred without end began to burn again, fueled by Christine’s emotions. The wings on her back suddenly collapsed.

Not because the holy power had disappeared, but on the contrary, because the holy power was so overwhelming that the extended wings couldn’t handle the incoming force and collapsed on their own.

Once again, holy power as vast as an ocean began to gather at a single point. The exact same action was repeated as before.

The Black Blood Woman, or rather Olivia, showed no particular reaction this time despite witnessing this.

As if showing that hatred in her place, the ground where she stood had already melted to the point of resembling a swamp, yet the expression of the person herself remained impassive.

“You, I remembered.”

So, she just muttered this one line.

Christine stomped the ground with her left foot. Simultaneously with that stomp, an enormous shockwave erupted from the ground.

Like ripples spreading in circles when a stone is thrown into a calm lake, now it was Christine’s left leg instead of a stone, and the ground instead of water.

As the overturned ground spewed out its contents, the forest rose up by its roots. Massive trees with exposed roots toppled over helplessly, and mounds of soil erupted from all directions.

Christine threw her punch. The compressed holy power, reaching its limit at her fist, exploded with force.

The Black Blood Woman’s body was caught in the shockwave. And the moment it was caught, her entire body disintegrated into pieces. Without leaving a trace.

The shockwave created by the holy power didn’t stop there. As if expressing Christine’s anger, it extended beyond the horizon, devouring everything in its path.

It was such an intense strike that it seemed to embody the very concept of “hitting.”

The shockwave, united with white flames, swept away everything on the ground as it passed, and its aftermath followed a beat later.

Trees, already twisted from the undulating ground, couldn’t withstand the aftermath. Massive trees that would take several people to encircle flew around like mere reeds.

If even thick tree trunks suffered such a fate, it was natural that the grass covering the ground became less than dust.

In the blink of an eye, as vegetation evaporated, the earth revealed its bare face that had been covered by all kinds of plants.

The forest, which had been lush until just moments ago, had transformed into a miserable wasteland.

Trees entangled by their roots lay scattered everywhere, and the number of uprooted weeds and bushes was impossible to count.

White flames burned everywhere, purifying heresy. Left like this, they would soon consume the entire forest and return it to God’s embrace.

It was a devastating sight. One might think that even some desert somewhere on the continent wouldn’t be this desolate.

Christine, the perpetrator of this destruction, withdrew her fist after confirming that the heretic who had dared to commit blasphemy had been purified.

And she failed to regain her peace of mind. It was because all the sacrifices she had prepared had been destroyed in the recent battle.

After staring blankly at the scene for a moment, tears once again streamed down Christine’s eyes. She needed to repent for her sins as soon as possible, but all the sacrifices had disappeared.

Today was truly an unfortunate day.

She needed more sacrifices.

Many more, enough for God to forgive the blasphemy she had committed today.

A pair of black eyes quietly watched Christine’s back as she staggered away in search of new sacrifices.