To shake Finney off, she flapped her wings, and the white feathers that fell were enhanced by holy magic, turning into holy spears that stabbed toward Finney!
Finney dodged, dodged… and kept dodging!
Only then did Valo realize that Finney had only turned Pandora into crimson wings with the intention of snatching her away from Anqi!
That was it!
Beyond that, the girl didn’t intend to hurt her teammate like she did last time in the Clock Tower Colosseum!
She hadn’t even transformed a weapon; she only wanted to rescue her mother!
Anqi’s magic was no amateur feat!
Under this bombardment of holy spears, which was comparable to a treasury of kings, even though the Pandora that Finney operated dodged and wove like a mecha, and even though the [Phoenix Feather Robe] on the Hero could block most of the attacks…
There were still stray holy spears that grazed her body and pierced her shoulder!
Before long, Finney was bleeding profusely, and her flight path became wobbly. However, the girl still had no intention of retaliating!
This caused Anqi’s arms, which were holding Valo, to tremble slightly.
“Tch… Finney, don’t think I’ll give Mother to you out of pity just because you’re acting pathetic!”
Even though her form in mid-air was swaying and bright red blood flowed from her forehead past her eyes, Finney’s attitude remained unchanged!
“I just came to take Mother back. I won’t make the same mistake twice.”
She stood firm in her position as a Hero, refusing to harm her own teammates to achieve her goals.
She fulfilled her responsibility as a daughter, determined to take back her mother, Valo, no matter what.
The Hero had found a way to satisfy both, never wavering even if she fell heavily injured. Her [Justice Value] rising to 80% was the best proof!
At this point, Valo, who was being held by Anqi, had entered “ostrich mode,” burying her face in Anqi’s chest, not daring to look.
Her heart was constantly urging itself: ‘Don’t panic, stay steady, I can still do this, stalling is winning!’
The convoy escorting the Saintess and the Saintess Candidate had been attacked.
It wouldn’t be long before the Empire and the Church sent people to investigate and take control.
She just needed to wait quietly until that moment, and she could smoothly continue appearing at the First Day Celebration as a Saintess Candidate.
Then she could trigger the [Virtuous Corruption Ending].
As for Kaika and Finney?
These two daughters of hers would surely be fine. At most, they’d be bedridden for a few days or grounded for a while due to their mistakes.
When the time came, she would personally vouch for them. Who would actually dare to give the two daughters of a Saintess Candidate a hard time?
‘Trying to sneak into the Imperial Family? You should give up on that idea.’
‘It’s fine.’
‘This is just the pain of cutting ties that must be experienced before entering the [Virtuous Corruption Ending]! It’s just a small misunderstanding because I can’t tell my daughters my real goal!’
‘It’s just a slight ruffle of the hem.’
‘It’s fine, it’s fine, it’s fine…’
But in the next instant, a [Conquest Panel] for the Holy Relics appeared in Valo’s vision!
Even Ascara and the [Eye of the Goddess]… were here!?
[Ascara is urging you: What are you waiting for, Demon King! Quickly save your daughters! Respond to them with your true heart!]
‘What true heart!?’
She truly wished that Kaika and Finney hadn’t come to cause trouble and stop her from entering the [Virtuous Corruption Ending] today!
She was stunned for a moment, and then this peak mental battle left her breaking out in a cold sweat. ‘Wait, that’s not right?’
When Ascara communicated with her last time, it was still hesitant. How could it now clearly feel that she was “deeply trapped in the Saintess Candidate plot, waiting to be saved by her daughters”?
[Ascara understands you: It knows you are making a sacrifice for your daughters’ happiness, but you should look back. Your daughters are already birds with full-grown wings.]
[Ascara says: Your performance as a mother has been outstanding enough to even earn the recognition of the Eye of the Goddess. So… stop carrying the burden alone!]
‘What do you mean “earned the recognition of the Eye of the Goddess”?’
‘You bastards! What do you two think you understand!’
[The Eye of the Goddess has grudgingly recognized you: It worked hard to convince itself to help the Demon King once, and now it feels unclean all over. So, don’t waste the opportunity it gave you.]
[Favorability: 5%]
Now it was Valo’s turn to understand instantly. No wonder Kaika and Finney knew the exact schedule of the [Saint Candidate Plan] in advance and came to reclaim their mother.
So it was these two Holy Relics that passed on the intel!?
Valo suddenly grabbed the collar around her neck. Which side was this [Eye of the Goddess] actually on?
Last time, it hated her, the Villainous Demon King, to the bone, even lowering its status to recognize Anqi as its master.
This time, it was helping her by passing information behind Anqi’s back.
How did this Holy Relic also become a traitor, wanting to help her “escape the sea of suffering”?
Everyone thought she “needed to be saved,” huh?
Ascara was one thing, but where was your persistence, [Eye of the Goddess]? Where was your stance? Where was your noble, holy faith that repulsed the Demon Clan?
However, the [Eye of the Goddess]’s stance in the [Conquest Panel] was very flexible.
[The Eye of the Goddess feels: It wants to choose you again as its user, just so it can monitor the movements of the Demon King at all times!]
‘Oh, how impressive. You think Anqi is too manipulative and want to change masters, and you can even use that kind of rhetoric.’
[Ascara is urging you!]
[The Eye of the Goddess is urging you!]
Valo felt like everything was now stopping her from becoming a Saintess Candidate.
What was even more troublesome was that everyone thought they were “saving her.”
The Holy Relic [Eye of the Goddess] had already defected—it was no longer a collar, but had turned back into a necklace!
Sensing the anomaly, Anqi froze in disbelief—the holy and pure Saintess had actually been abandoned by her own Holy Relic!?
Kaika’s [Blackening Value] had reached 95%! Finney’s [Justice Value] had also risen to 90%!
If this dragged on, she feared the [Matricide Plot Kill] triggered by her two daughters reaching their max values would happen before the [Virtuous Corruption Ending].
The incompetent and useless Demon King mother was tricked into becoming a Saintess Candidate, stubbornly refusing to wake up and betraying herself.
A mother who had lost her identity as the Demon King was no different from a doll. It would be better to give her release and then follow her in death.
…Both daughters had reasons and the trigger conditions for a [Matricide Plot].
Furthermore.
One daughter was injured, while the other was in danger.
Kaika had crushed three Flowers of Fel Energy; it wouldn’t be long before she lost her life!
Finney was also swaying, yet she still didn’t intend to resist her teammate Anqi’s attacks!
At this point, could she really continue to pretend to be corrupted and insist on entering the [Virtuous Corruption Ending]?
Maybe she could trigger the [Virtuous Corruption Ending], but was she really willing to see the price she would have to pay for it?
She just wanted to enter the [Virtuous Corruption Ending] and then safely cut off her identity as a mother, giving herself and her daughters a bright future.
She never thought about hurting her daughters.
Never!
Because for her, the good ending wasn’t just the [Virtuous Corruption Ending], but her daughters were the only ones.
Cutting off the mother identity was only to avoid a bad ending, but the mother-daughter relationship lived forever in her heart.
So, when the two conflicted, how should she choose? And how should she face her daughters’ misunderstanding and their actions to save her!?
Ugh, her head hurt so much; it felt like she was actually growing a brain.
‘Aaah! Just let it all be destroyed!’
She was so angry, so angry, so angry!
What else could she do? She could only follow her daughters’ expectations and act out the classic scene of “Mother suddenly snaps out of it and calls for help”!
In the next instant, Valo violently broke free from Anqi’s embrace and threw the Holy Relic Ascara, the hair accessory behind her head, toward Kaika, who was almost about to collapse!
“Ascara! Grant your protection to my most beloved daughter!”
Ascara’s second ability: an invincibility cheat! It was currently the only way to let Kaika endure the backlash of three Flowers of Fel Energy!
Valo herself then plummeted from mid-air.
She turned her head and looked at her Hero daughter, Finney, who was flying crookedly in her vision!
She entrusted everything to this daughter she trusted.
“Finney… save Mother!”
With a sobbing tone, she cried out for help!
Because she really wanted to cry right now. The [Virtuous Corruption Ending] was probably going to be a bust!
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