Valo felt like she was being targeted.
Because the moment she decided to struggle and resist the idea of “becoming a Saintess Candidate” for the sake of her daughters, it was as if a mechanic of “World Online” had been triggered, and everything around her shifted to easy difficulty.
The original Kaika had forcibly overextended her life force and crushed three Flowers of Fel Energy.
Seeing her daughter bleeding from every orifice made Valo’s legs tremble.
However, after the girl obtained Ascara’s second ability, “Health Lock,” she merely caught a glimpse of her mother out of the corner of her eye and immediately gained the confidence to strike back!
Afterimages of her body, wreathed in dark purple Fel Magic, attacked from all directions.
She was moving so fast that even the Sister Superior — a veteran who was an expert in Wind Magic — could no longer hold her ground!
Finally, with “One Instant, A Thousand Strikes,” the girl delivered a solid mid-air kick, stomping the Sister Superior’s head and pinning her to the ground!
Ascara’s ability only locked her health; it didn’t restore it. Kaika’s current state could only be described as… not dead.
But even though she was covered in wounds and blood, tattered and barely able to stand straight, this rebellious daughter of Valo’s still had to open her mouth to taunt her opponent.
“Keep barking, you old maid… cough, cough.”
The girl said as she delivered two more kicks, nearly losing her balance.
“Why aren’t you laughing anymore…”
Watching this made Valo’s stomach churn with anxiety.
‘Still taunting? Her attitude is terrible. If it weren’t for her mother hardening her heart and putting in all this effort, you’d be dead by now, daughter!’
‘And can’t you, my unfilial daughter, understand the value of “stopping while you’re ahead” in traditional martial arts? You can’t actually kill the Sister Superior. You’ll still have to greet her in the future!’
However, Valo could only keep these lectures to herself because she had just broken free from Anqi’s bridal carry and was currently plummeting through the air.
Without a way to transform into her Demon King form and fly in public, if she hit the ground with her soft and fragile little lolita body, she would either die or be paralyzed for a long time.
Fortunately, Valo’s cry of “Finney, save Mama!” was like Goku receiving a Spirit Bomb, Tiga finding the light, or Naruto realizing the power of friendship and bonds.
It directly awakened and ignited the Hero!
Fiery wings sliced through the dawn sky. Her Hero daughter performed a mid-air slide, firmly catching her in her arms just an instant before she hit the ground!
Coming to her senses, Saintess Anqi instinctively dived forward, wanting to snatch her mother back!
This time, Finney would not humor her — a look of reproach and disappointment toward her companion immediately froze the Saintess in her tracks!
Not far away, the fight between the students of the Knight Order led by the Knight Princess Eain and the Church knights had already stopped.
Everyone seemed to tacitly understand that no matter how fiercely they fought, it wouldn’t affect the outcome of the battle. At most, they were just background noise to set the mood.
So, it was better to just trade casual blows and take the time to watch the legendary battle between the genius girls.
The result at this moment also made everyone secretly breathe a sigh of relief.
Although they didn’t know the inside story, it seemed to have ended peacefully — back when Mama fell from mid-air, it really made their palms sweat!
In addition, they got to see Mama use an angel-like Holy Relic — this lifetime was now worth it.
Finally, as Ascara flew back onto Valo’s hair accessory, the Conquest Panels of the two Holy Relics delivered their impatient congratulatory messages!
[Ascara is moved to tears: Such beautiful and pure mother-daughter love! Seeing that scene just now made the price of admission worth it, even if it died!]
[Favorability: 35%]
‘Then why don’t you just go ahead and die? You were the one putting the most effort into causing trouble this time! You’re involved every time something bad happens!’
[The Eye of the Goddess reluctantly acknowledges your actions: Don’t think this means it will lower its guard against a Villainous Demon King like you! It will be watching you!]
[Favorability: 10%]
‘That’s great. Are you just not going to mention how the Saintess Anqi you abandoned is feeling right now? Do you even dare to look at her? Say something!’
Valo didn’t want to look at the favorability bonuses of the Holy Relics at all right now.
Because everyone else had a bright future, and the only one truly hurt was herself.
The morning sun rose, bringing the first ray of warmth to today’s celebration.
Birds poked their heads out, chirping to announce the dawn, bringing peace to everything on the tree-lined path.
The Knight Princess Eain silently began to reorganize the ranks of the soldiers, while Saintess Anqi silently treated the wounded Sister Superior as if she had lost her soul.
Kaika had just finished taunting the Sister Superior when she reached her limit as Ascara’s second ability ended — her eyes closed, and she fainted straight away.
At this moment, Valo was silently providing a knee pillow for her rebellious daughter, and then… she met the concerned gaze of her other Hero daughter, Finney.
“Mama, I’ve made you suffer.”
Valo’s lip twitched. ‘You have the nerve to bring it up, Hero?’
‘You girls have really made life hard for your mother! You’ve made it so hard for me!’
“But please rest assured. Since Kaika, Eain, and I were able to come and save you, then as long as we have saved you, we can protect you from now on.”
Pausing, the girl, whose face was covered in sweat and dust, showed a smile as hot as fire.
“At the very least, we can prevent you from becoming a Saintess Candidate.”
The girl said no more. With the appearance of the Clock Tower students, it wasn’t hard for Valo to guess how they planned to “prevent her from becoming a Saintess Candidate.”
As expected, the support of that Magic Old Man, the Great Sage, was behind this operation to “Rescue Mama.”
Why was everyone stopping her from becoming a Saintess Candidate? Had she broken some heavenly law?
Everything had settled down, but the unwilling Valo still wanted to try and wriggle a bit.
“Finney, Mama wasn’t exactly willing, but I wasn’t exactly forced to become a Saintess Candidate either.”
She met Finney’s gaze with a serious look.
She was distorting things a bit, but it wasn’t technically a lie — because as long as they entered the Virtuous Corruption Ending, everyone would have a beautiful future.
It was just that her two daughters disagreed for their own individual reasons.
By now, she could no longer say things like, ‘Mama became a Saintess Candidate just to avoid a Bad Ending and enjoy the life of a Celestial Being.’
‘Where’s your manipulative streak? Why did you turn all soft and mushy the moment you were hit?’
‘Anqi, don’t you know that the most important thing for a qualified villain is to never admit they’re wrong, even on their deathbed?’
‘Right now, you should arrogantly throw out a line like: “I’ll still snatch Mama back!” and then turn around and leave!’
Valo still wanted to try and persuade the girl. “Anqi, you didn’t do anything wrong; you just had a different way of achieving your goal…”
In the end, she was immediately silenced by a single sentence from the girl.
“But hasn’t the Eye of the Goddess already abandoned me? It… as expected, it doesn’t want you to become a Saintess Candidate either, Mama.”
The girl’s miserable gaze flickered toward Valo’s neck, and then she forced herself to cheer up, no longer mentioning the matter of the “Saintess Candidate” at all.
“I’m sorry, Mama. I need to focus on healing magic now.”
At the same time, in the Nurturing Panel in Valo’s vision, Saintess Anqi’s Justice Value — which symbolized the girl’s status, position, and stance and had always been at full capacity…
For the first time ever, it fluctuated and dropped to 95%!
Now, Valo could only let out a deep, helpless sigh. One of the prerequisites for the Virtuous Corruption Ending was that her daughter Anqi’s Justice Value had to stay at full capacity.
Once the Justice Value representing Anqi’s determination and stance wavered, the Virtuous Corruption Ending would naturally not be triggered.
At this moment, Valo still had a gentle smile on her face. She even waved her hand to politely decline the water skin offered by the Knight Princess Eain.
In reality, she was feeling incredibly aggrieved!
The Virtuous Corruption Ending she wanted to trigger was gone!
Mama was unhappy! Mama was going to throw a tantrum!
But she calmed down immediately. No, she couldn’t just flop around on the ground and give up.
Just as she had considered when she decided to give up on the Virtuous Corruption Ending to save her daughter, that specific ending in Anqi’s route was wonderful for her, but it was by no means the only one.
In the various daughter routes of Valorant, there were still many Good Endings that would allow her to shed her identity as a mother and escape the Matricide Script.
Rather than acting like a giant infant and crying over a missed Virtuous Corruption Ending, it was better to take advantage of the favorability she had built up in front of her daughters to pave the way for finding and entering a new Good Ending.
Thinking this, Valo turned her gaze toward Anqi. To liven up the somewhat gloomy atmosphere, she raised her voice and said tenderly.
“Anqi, after you’ve finished healing Kaika, let’s go to the Imperial Capital as planned to attend the First Day Celebration.”
“Miss Eain, tell everyone to tidy up their clothes and brush off the dust so they don’t give anything away later.”
“Yes! Mama!”
The junior student, Eain, agreed readily, but Anqi asked somewhat dejectedly, “Mama, you no longer intend to become a Saintess Candidate, so… what are you going to the celebration for?”
Pausing, the Saintess pouted and squeezed out a rather resentful expression. “Do you want to make my schemes public and ruin my reputation?”
Valo quickly waved her hands. “What are you thinking?”
How could she possibly be so foolish as to go against Anqi, one of her daughters? Taking advantage of this incident to do her Saintess daughter a favor would only be beneficial to Valo.
Not being a Saintess Candidate didn’t mean she couldn’t attend the celebration.
This was because in special events like the Victory Anniversary in the game, if the protagonist could participate and gain or accumulate fame, they might be able to achieve another Good Ending for her in the future — the Lady Magnet Ending.
This ending was very troublesome and difficult to trigger, but Valo didn’t want to miss a chance to plan ahead.
“Mama can’t just leave you unable to wrap things up, Anqi. After all, the sun is up now, and there isn’t enough time left for you to make other arrangements, right?”
This time, the Saintess finally lowered her head obediently.
Then… the girl immediately raised her head in confusion at Valo’s suggestion, blinking her eyes.
“So, Mama has a proposal. I won’t be the Saintess Candidate anymore, but how about Mama comes up with a temporary identity to replace it?”
Feeling her daughters’ burning gazes, Valo felt quite satisfied.
‘Right now, my daughters must really admire their mother for turning the tide. Their hearts must be filled with respect, right?’
‘As for how that tide started, don’t ask.’
Heh, how could she, the one known as the peak of tactical intelligence, ever reach a dead end?