The ancient jungle around them seemed to recoil as the two beings squared off in the small clearing. Massive trees with trunks wider than castle walls creaked and swayed, their leaves rustling in agitation despite the absence of wind. Birds took flight in panicked flurries, abandoning nests and perches as the air itself grew heavy with tension. Even the soil beneath their feet darkened and crumbled, as if the very earth sensed the impending clash of powers never meant to coexist.

Before Marisia stood a ghost from the past—a corpse reanimated by forces that defied the natural order. It was Luze-Ferris, the priestess she had beheaded decades ago, the grotesque scar around her neck a charming reminder of their last encounter.

Marisia remembered how the deities loved to meddle in mortal affairs, often resurrecting fallen champions or zealots for their own ends—a disgusting and nauseating thought that churned her stomach. Her nose crinkled at the scent of [Holy Energy] Luze-Ferris emanated, cloying and saccharine, embodying all the hypocrisy and subjugation Marisia had sworn to destroy.

She narrowed her golden eyes into slits. "I see," she said, her voice calm despite the unease roiling within. Her [Wild Demonic Energy] began condensing around her obsidian armor, forming a slick film like oil on water. Wisps of misery and madness danced over the black plates, creeping into every seam as the armor absorbed every drop of power she could muster. The vegetation at her feet withered and blackened in expanding rings, curling inward as if it were in agony.

The young Moorgrelian Knight activated her [Divinity Line – Voracious Empathy]. Just as her mother had mastered techniques based on her own [Aura] combined with [Energy] and martial arts, Marisia had similarly specialized toward the other end, earning her fitting nickname—the Living Weapon.

"I guess I have to be more thorough this time," the corrupting power spread further outwards—like starved vermin painted red and black—devouring the vegetation, sucking their life gradually away.

Facing her, the priestess remained unnervingly still. Luze-Ferris's ashen face betrayed no emotion, yet her lifeless eyes glimmered with a macabre intelligence. "You are right," she acknowledged softly, lifting one hand with elegant precision as if drawing water from an invisible stream. Shimmering lights, delicate as butterflies, fluttered gracefully toward her palm, each beat of their ethereal wings stirring a gentle breeze. Gradually, they dissolved and reformed into a crystalline staff within her grasp, its shaft radiating immense holy power. "I shall do this thoroughly now, Marisia," Luze-Ferris continued, her raspy voice resonating with a haunting, musical quality at odds with her cadaverous appearance.

Without warning, a brilliant sphere of light burst into existence before her, illuminating the clearing as fiercely as a captive sun—harsh shadows sliced across her gaunt features, starkly emphasizing every hollow and bone.

Marisia braced herself, preparing to let her [Wild Demonic Energy] surge outward. But Luze-Ferris moved faster than expected: dazzling ribbons of light flew upwards and plunged towards Marisia.

'Intriguing,' the light was mesmerizing and dangerous at the same time, like chains about to imprison her and warm her frozen and battered body into absolute submission—she took a step, disappearing wholly as the ribbons of light crashed into the place where she stood.

Her step was light and absolute—a combination of [Air Walk] and [Flash] at the highest strength [Absolute] made her movement as fleeting as the wind itself, reappearing right behind Luze-Ferris, a flurry of wind fluttering the priestess's robe and showing the dreaded skin under the common cloak and pristine white silk. '[Technique 8 — Pure Penetration] should be enough,' Marisia saw the danger those lights held. While it was exciting to plunge into those maniacal fantasies, she wasn't a young girl anymore. She had responsibilities—any danger to her being also meant a danger to her family.

Her arm pulled back, forming a palm that focused a minuscule amount of her [Wild Demonic Energy] combined with a [Propulsion] spell that would give her a boost without the need to activate her armor—yet as she was about to push forward, a light appeared underneath her, from the ground, binding her arms and legs, like coiling snakes, killing her momentum and pushing her away from the priestess.

As Marisia struggled, the priestess turned around. Her staff halfway dissolved as the light dimmed, creating another sphere that slammed into her obsidian armor and detonated with a flash that washed everything in brilliant white. "I need to thank the dirt worshiper!" Luze-Ferris's impassive face twitched with faint satisfaction. "I always hated that version of your cursed [Energy] and his trickery," she remarked, recalling how the Knight had once corrupted holy power and turned it against its wielders. "But since you are alone—Brute force can still break you."

As the light coalesced around Marisia, the ribbons binding her into a blossoming dome slowly created the holy flames Luze-Ferris received for her devotion. "Oh," her smile widened as she controlled the ever-denser emergence of the dome, blinding the jungle with absolute holiness. "Do not worry! It will only hurt for a little bit!"

Luze-Ferris opened her arms, the staff dimming gradually while the dome burned like a divine sun before her eyes, burning away all that was evil and unpure. The ultimate goal was never to end Marisia's life completely—she intended to dominate her mind and use her as a pawn. Capturing Marisia meant access to Alexander, some wolf-kin genius the Hero wanted dead. With Marisia under her thumb, Luze-Ferris believed the plan would be simple.

"Yes," she closed her eyes, and a violet blush crept along her face. "How I love this!" Killing those abominations was always hard. Still, once one had a far higher level, it could be done by brute forcing it, and she couldn't deny the sin of seeking and receiving vengeance—the sphere exploded outward, engulfing Marisia in the center of the domain of holy fire. Even the residue that leaked outward transformed the jungle—white flames that didn't consume the vegetation but purified it, forcing it to grow with unnatural vigor. Ancient vines suddenly blossomed with flowers that shouldn't exist in this climate; trees straightened as rot and decay were burned away.

She stepped toward the dome, the reason for her revelation and pain imprisoned inside. "Soon, you will learn your place." She extended her staff into the glowing dome, channeling the purifying inferno into a searing lattice of holy fire. The fiery structure tightened, morphing from a sphere into a looming cross of white-hot wood, which snaked and branched into every opening of Marisia's armor. Luze-Ferris watched with dead-eyed detachment as Marisia seemed pinned in place, her limbs, torso, and neck locked by sinuous coils of intensifying flames.

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"Beautiful," the priestess breathed, her smile morbidly serene as she watched Marisia's body writhe against the scorching bonds. "You always did cling to your pride."

Flames crackled, surging brighter. The dome of holy power condensed further, thickening until the very air felt suffocating. Luze-Ferris's lips curved upward in a parody of joy. "Let divinity consume you," she intoned. "And become my perfect instrument."

A living coil of liquid light escaped one of the spheres floating around the staff—a serpentine—a representation of [Holy Energy]. It slithered over Marisia, scorching any so-called impurity it touched. The earth beneath them crystallized into swirling sigils resembling ancient holy texts, each symbol glowing with renewed zeal.

The slivering [Holy Energy] fully engulfed Marisia, transforming into a beautifully multicolored searing cleanse, radiant waves of purification that no evil could supposedly survive, no demonic being could withstand. In her mind, it was probably how the first Hero felt when purging corruption, but it still felt cheap since the Knight was only ~Tier 4—a pale imitation of true evil against her divine wrath.

Luze-Ferris exhaled sharply. "Soon—"

A scarlet wisp flickered within the whiteness. Luze-Ferris paused, confusion twitching at the corners of her eyes. Another wisp appeared. The pair of sanguine lights bobbed and weaved inside the searing dome, refusing to yield—even the serpentine paused, hissing in disgust.

"You never learn, priestess," Marisia's voice, distorted by the swirl of powers, resonated within the dome, trembling with dark amusement. "Let me show you why nobody dares to touch Moorgrel~."

Small cracks—purulence black and scarlet red—veined the brilliant shell of holy fire, spiderwebbing from those pulsing red points as if reality itself were fracturing under pressure. Luze-Ferris poured every remaining drop of [Holy Energy] into the spell, trying to smother Marisia before she could break free. But the more Luze-Ferris focused her holy flames, the stronger the corruption surged inside the dome—her power was fueling Marisia's miasma instead of snuffing it out—a half-moon smile slowly emerged, making her spine shiver.

"Y-you evil witch…!" Luze-Ferris spat, desperation raw in her voice. She tried to form one last barrier, but it was already too late. An unholy shockwave burst from the dome's center, shattering the holy enclosure like fragile glass and pushing the priestess away.

When the light subsided, Luze-Ferris watched with dread what had occurred—Marisia stood in a vast crater, her obsidian armor dripping with a swirling, crimson-black haze. "Evil Monster!" Luze-Ferris shrieked, black eyes wild with terror. Although Marisia disliked the term, she knew that in the eyes of a zealot, her existence was indeed monstrous—an affront to the divine.

Marisia advanced with slow, measured steps. She reveled in the raw power coursing through her veins, the armor absorbing every drop like a dried corpse. "Calling me monster or witch…" A low chuckle escaped her, red-tinged wisps trailing from her lips. "…is the oldest tune in the church's hymn, is it not? Yet here we are again."

Her presence radiated a madness that made Luze-Ferris's limbs quake. The trees themselves bent away, their trunks groaning as though trying to withdraw from the surge of demonic corruption—the priestess hastily conjured translucent shields of white flame, preparing to defend her valuable life.

Marisia smiled, her voice echoing and reverberating like thousands of angry locusts. "Lovely," she pulled her arm slightly to the side, forming a claw with her hand as her [Energy] became almost solidified around the fingertips, like nails of pure pestilence. "I will oblige."

One swing, one casual move—first nothing happened, then as if reality itself bent and transformed, the flames of holiness, distorting and extending, slowly followed by a black and disgusting [Energy], screeching into Luze-Ferris's mind insults and laughter, as one string after another of her nerves ripped apart, tears flowing out—then the physical world emerged as if waiting for the world itself to correct. The wind blew, the force crashed, trees as if in silence, got ripped away, dispersed to the outer parts, grounds cleared, and the shields dispersed at last.

'What is happening,' Luze-Ferris didn't understand—with a single wave, Marisia almost broke her mind, even the divinity. "What are you?" Luze-Ferris hissed, her voice trembling. It was inconceivable that someone so lowly could threaten a Saint—she desperately reformed her staff, shaping it into a liquid, wrapping around her body—a broad shield against all evil.

But it wasn't enough. "You ask me what I am?" Marisia's voice was laced with equal parts curiosity and scorn. "I am simply free—free of your illusions about good and evil." She lifted a gauntleted hand, the armor's edges gleaming, her tail splitting into three sinuous extensions that glowed with deep red motes. "You, on the other hand, remain shackled to the hypocrisy you serve."

Luze-Ferris tried for composure, sneering behind her quivering shield as it slowly engulfed her body. "For all your talk, you're still vile corruption incarnate. You feed on evil and breed chaos."

Marisia tilted her head, turning the priestess's accusation over in her mind. "Chaos isn't evil," she countered softly. "Madness is simply the purest form of being—freedom in its foundation to do what one desires." Then her expression sharpened. "But this is not a philosophical debate, dear priestess—enough chatter."

Without warning, she vanished from Luze-Ferris's sight. But the priestess reacted just in time—her skin-tight armor forged in a final, desperate flame barrier—it crumbled, blown away by a single wave of a hand, distorting her whole being as the drops of liquid armor opened her eyes toward the monster.

'I need to go all out,' panicking, Luze-Ferris grasped at her last resort. She invoked ancient words older than the church, resonating with an otherworldly timbre.

"You made a mistake!" she cried, the air rippling around her as she summoned something from beyond mortal comprehension. "Come, my guardian angel!"

Marisia froze in mid-stride, an uneasy flicker crossing her eyes. She recalled tales of guardian angels: immortal fragments of divine will, bound eternally to their summoners, unstoppable in their holy purpose.

Her thoughts proved correct when the sky tore open above them. A colossal fist, seemingly made of living marble, crashed down with the force of a meteor. The resulting shockwave toppled trees for hundreds of yards. Soil and rock blasted outward, carving a crater nearly twenty feet deep.

Luze-Ferris cackled, hugging her staff close as it remerged from further droplets crawling toward her. "Do you see now?" Her voice echoed across the devastation. "This is the power granted to those chosen by true divinity! You never stood a—"

She choked on her triumph when the dust settled. Marisia stood in the center of the crater, shielded by her three coiling tails. Unharmed. Unbroken. Her obsidian armor hummed with gathered [Energy], and the whirling [Aura] of red-and-black miasma crackled around her.

Marisia gazed up at the towering being. Its featureless face gleamed with holy radiance, each contour carved from what appeared to be living marble suffused with divine light. Great wings unfurled behind it, spanning wider than ancient trees, each feather etched with swirling runes that hummed with celestial power. The air around it shimmered with divine authority, reality itself bending to accommodate its presence.

The guardian angel's form was both beautiful and dreadful—a perfect embodiment of divine judgment. Its massive arms ended in hands that could easily crush boulders, and though it had no true eyes, two orbs of brilliant light studied Marisia with cold calculation. A halo of golden fire crowned its head, pulsing in rhythm with what might have been a heartbeat.

"Fascinating," Marisia said softly, her voice reverberating across the torn clearing. She lowered her tails and let her full aura flare like a beacon of malevolent majesty. Golden eyes gleamed with predatory interest as she studied the celestial being. "Who knew I'd get a chance to kill a dirty Saint and her guardian on the same day?"

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