Step.
Xiunu took a step, and little silvery-white points of light lit up around her like fireflies, as if she were draped in stars.
Lita narrowed her eyes and studied the points of light.
‘Holy Light…’
Even though she had never directly touched it, the fact that it made her physically sick—there was probably nothing else but Holy Light.
‘So, this one really is a Xiunu?’
But Lita couldn’t figure out why a Xiunu—or the Church—would want to go after her.
‘Did I leave some trace, and the Church caught my tail?’
‘Ew, that sounds so vulgar.’
In reality, aside from Cecilia, no one had ever touched Lita’s tail.
“Not going to attack?”
“Then let’s attack.”
Xiunu raised her hand, and Holy Light descended from the sky like a heavy hammer, smashing toward the top of Lita’s head.
Lita had no intention of taking that, nor could she afford to. Not only would it be excruciatingly painful, but her reaction to the pain would give Xiunu clues. After the enfeoffment, she and Cecilia were deeply bonded. Her identity was the best weapon to use against Cecilia, so she absolutely could not expose it.
Between the Holy Light that resembled the pure white curtains of a wedding, Lita’s feet began to move as if dancing, each time nimbly dodging before the attack landed on her.
Xiunu spread her palm and continuously called down Holy Light spheres like a cluster of stars, turning them into even more fierce attacks, compressing Lita’s space to move, and several times forcing Lita back when she tried to close in.
Even if she directly approached, the opponent’s defensive ability would probably block her attack.
‘A mage who relies on long-range attacks and has no defense? No way that’s possible.’
A sharp sound of tearing air rang out, and two poisoned flying daggers shot toward Xiunu, but they were blocked by a shield of light that stood about half a meter in front of her.
‘Just as I thought.’
Those two daggers had been lifted from that short old man—what was his name? Guanjizhu, or something?
‘Whatever. Those two daggers were just a simple test and a distraction.’
‘Now my real target is this!’
Lita flashed to the fallen poison user, grabbed the hilt of the sword embedded in his chest, and yanked it out, stepping on his chest.
Xiunu’s brow furrowed slightly.
‘Damn, she got a weapon.’
She had never believed from the start that those self-proclaimed strong assassins could actually kill Lita. A Crest Knight without a weapon was still a Crest Knight. As long as they could drain Lita’s stamina and leave her with injuries that made it hard to fight back, that would be enough.
But Lita’s Crest power was also troublesome—it could instantly heal all injuries, an almost incomprehensible ability. Many had seen her turn the tables with her Crest power during her fight with Xingxian, so Lita’s Crest wasn’t a secret. However, it couldn’t be used consecutively, meaning that if they could force Lita into a second phase, that would be sufficient.
Unfortunately, they had performed far worse than she had anticipated. The first wave of attacks, which should have seriously wounded Lita, was almost completely dodged. After that, they were defeated at an alarming speed—it was practically a one-sided slaughter of the nine of them.
Now Lita had even gotten a weapon.
So she had to do it herself.
But in truth, it didn’t matter much. From the start, she was the one who would be doing the final work.
Lita’s sword swung toward Xiunu, and the gold light attached to the blade easily tore through Xiunu’s Holy Light shield.
In the next instant, Xiunu’s body would surely be struck.
But that was also within her expectations.
Xiunu hadn’t hoped that the few small fry could drag out Lita’s Crest. Even if she managed to hit a few times, Lita could still recover with her Crest power.
When it came to combat strength, she was no match for Lady Xingxian.
But Lita also had a fatal weakness.
She was a swordsman, not a mage.
Those swordsmen who only trained their swordsmanship would become helpless once they encountered magic.
Especially mental magic.
Even if Lita had the Crest power, so what? As long as she was hit by a mental spell, victory would be sealed.
Especially at this distance, with such an unexpected attack—how could a mere swordsman dodge it?
“Ha!”
A visible shockwave swept in, hitting Lita with pinpoint accuracy, making her pause mid-swing.
‘Mind Scream has hit!’
Next up—Mind Blast!
‘Hit!’
Though nothing was visible externally, mental magic was just like that.
Xiunu raised her palm burning with Holy Light, and dark energy instantly dyed that flame a deep purple. ‘Can’t let down my guard—I have to press the attack.’
Mind Fire!
Translucent purple flames engulfed Lita’s entire body, burning her spirit.
Finally—this!
Soul Connection!
Soul Connection was an extremely dangerous magic; one slip and the user would be backlashed by their own skill.
But the opponent was just a swordsman who had taken two of her attacks squarely, and was now being scorched by Mind Fire. She had no strength left to resist!
A white ribbon of light connected to Lita’s forehead, and Xiunu, confident of victory, slammed her vast soul power through the link.
But the moment she unleashed her power, her nun’s habit was soaked with cold sweat, and the winter night wind blew through it, as if freezing her marrow.
‘What… is this?’
According to her original plan, she only needed to crush Lita’s spirit like extinguishing a flame, render her completely unconscious, and then she could do whatever she wanted.
Even if the enemy had a stronger soul, it might only be a blazing flame, nothing to fear with her own power.
But what Xiunu saw was like a forest fire—a great blaze of pink flames burning before her eyes.
In the center of the flames, something was watching her.
‘Did I lose consciousness for a moment?’ Though it wasn’t direct eye contact, that single instant made Xiunu freeze momentarily.
‘Never mind! I don’t know why, but luckily I stopped just before grappling with her soul—no, I stopped out of fear.’
‘If I break now… no. I can’t.’
Xiunu’s eyes widened as she noticed that the Soul Connection she had set up was now stained a faint pink, and that pink was still spreading, rushing toward her like advancing flames.
She wanted to pull away, but the speed of the pink spread was too fast. Before she could even fully form the thought, it was already too late.
If the opponent didn’t understand mental magic, this would have been absolutely impossible.
‘Wrong. All wrong. Why did I think she was just a swordsman who couldn’t withstand my attacks?’
If her talent with the sword was ninety, then her talent in mental magic might be one hundred and ninety, or even more.
The silver-haired girl who emerged from the raging flames of the mental world spread her black wings, and her scarlet vertical pupils looked down on her with pity, yet seemed ready to tear her soul to pieces.
Xiunu watched helplessly as the heart-shaped tail behind the girl slowly rose and approached her, falling into despair.
‘I might have accidentally opened Pandora’s box and glimpsed a secret I should never have seen.’
‘If I hadn’t done this, there might have been room for compromise.’
‘But now…’
‘I’m dead for sure.’*
Thud.
Xiunu’s body collapsed limply to the ground.
‘What the hell? If she had kept fighting me with Holy Light, I would have found it pretty troublesome, y’know?’
‘Just like how my magic doesn’t work on Waerfeisi, using mental magic against me is like showing off in front of an expert.’
‘Too bad, really too bad. If she hadn’t discovered my secret, I might have captured her and tried that memory-extracting magic to find out who was causing trouble, then killed her.’
‘But she found out too early, and she’s someone coming after me. I can’t keep her alive.’
Lita sighed, looking down at Xiunu’s rolled-back eyes.
For the first time, she truly felt the fragility of humans—both body and mind.
‘But speaking of which, she really seemed to be from the Church.’
‘The Church wants to take me out? Or has someone infiltrated the Church?’
‘Wait! Even though I hate Lilia, isn’t she recovering in the Church right now?’
‘If Lilia were secretly killed, I’d be happy, but the uproar caused by her death is not something I want to see.’
Just as Lita was about to turn around, rapid footsteps closed in from all sides.
“Don’t move! Drop your weapon! Surrender immediately!”
The man’s shout forced Lita to refocus on reality.
‘Well, compared to the trouble that Lilia’s possible death might cause, my own trouble might be closer.’