After exchanging contact info with Sylvia, Elise often chatted with her, and in recent days even brought Sylvia to visit the Church a few times. Their bond remained as strong as ever!
But once Sylvia departed for the aquatic city of Asterisk and joined Queenvail Girls' Academy, Elise returned to her role as the saintess.
The holiday... was over.
It was time to start enacting her plan!
Elise had been contemplating the feasibility of various plans, and the most important point among them was: She must not cause major disruptions to the original story!
For example, wiping out one of the conglomerates of the Integrated Enterprise Foundation—while Elise could actually do it, she must not. Because events would spiral into unpredictable outcomes.
She knew about the butterfly effect.
If it were up to personal desire, Elise would love to eliminate the Foundation and replace it with the Church, making it the sole ruling power in the world.
But doing that would be no different from declaring war—and that wouldn't bode well for her image as the saintess. If she truly wished to go that route, then Elise would need a just cause.
A righteous justification to eliminate the Integrated Enterprise Foundation!
But all such justifications were firmly in the Foundation's own hands. How could Elise possibly get her hands on them?
So she opted for a subtler approach—advancing on two fronts, in secret.
The seeds she had planted within the Foundation before—perhaps they had already begun to sprout.
If asked which of her innate abilities was the most convenient, Elise would undoubtedly answer Sacred Speech, because it belonged to the "Kotodama" category—an incredibly overpowered class of abilities.
As long as she had enough faith power to back it up, Elise could turn barren ground into gardens, deserts into forests, wastelands into paradises, and even perform acts that could only be described as miracles.
But if asked which of her innate talents was the strongest, Elise probably wouldn't answer at all—because even she didn't know. Still, she had a guess!
The Lord God Space she resided in was incomplete, which was reflected on her status panel.
While character stats were given grades, her talents, skills, and equipment had no such ratings. Their effects were only vaguely understood, and their origins were also unclear.
So Elise could only judge the strength of her talents and skills based on their effects.
She did think Sacred Speech was quite powerful—mainly because she used it often, it was effective, and especially convenient. All she had to do was say the word and it would happen.
But there was another ability—one that influenced Elise at all times, brought her numerous benefits, and also attracted considerable trouble. It even forced her to live wearing a blindfold.
Enthralling Gaze (Extended eye contact causes obsession and addiction)
It looked like an ordinary mental interference skill—its description was brief, and even the name was plain.
But Elise knew very well just how terrifying this skill was!
In the last world, she had once gone into a prison intending to use this ability to reform convicts. Afterward, those former criminals became almost saintly.
She had also used this skill against enemies. With just a soft, "I prefer those who wait for me in heaven," those enemies took their own lives.
This overpowering charm ability was currently beyond Elise's control, which is why she kept her eyes covered to avoid accidental contact.
But this power belonged to her—and if she wanted to use it, no one could stop her!
Elise believed that even though it was troublesome, every ability had its moment to shine.
Hadn't she used it on the pope and bishops when she first arrived?
This time, the target was just the Integrated Enterprise Foundation.
"Is everything ready? We're only sending a small group for negotiations this time. There'll be many difficulties along the way, you know?"
The Saintess stood at the doorway of a lounge with a gentle smile. Even though she wore a blindfold, everyone inside the room could feel her gaze.
"All ready, Lady Saintess!"
They were all Genestella arranged by the Church—assigned to accompany Elise on this mission.
This mission was conducted in secret. Only the old pope and a handful of individuals knew of Elise's itinerary.
The objective—was a clandestine meeting with EP, one of the conglomerates of the Integrated Enterprise Foundation!
Some might not recognize the name EP (since few stories delve into this academy), but if you mention that it's the conglomerate behind Saint Galahadworth Academy—the knight academy—then it becomes much clearer.
Still, even if people don't know, it doesn't matter. The original story never gave this academy much detail.
This time, Elise came as a representative of the Church to meet with EP's leadership. The topic was nothing more than cooperation and benefit distribution. However, Elise had no intention of negotiating.
As long as the main storyline remained intact, Elise wouldn't hesitate. Once her plans were made, she simply executed them.
After a long journey, Elise and the Church representatives finally arrived in Asterisk, ready to begin their "friendly talks" with EP's upper echelon. However…
Standing outside the meeting location was a clearly out-of-place figure.
It was someone clad entirely in black armor, with not a single inch of skin exposed. Just by standing there, the figure exuded a sense of danger.
"Lady Saintess, please be careful!"
One of the Genestella stepped in front of Elise, trying to block the black knight. But unfortunately, the knight was clearly stronger!
"Hehehe! You're finally here. I've been waiting forever—I can't hold back any longer!"
A jet-black fist came flying straight at Elise's face!
Though Saint Galahadworth was widely known as a knight academy, there were always a few rule-breakers among them.
This knight clearly wasn't much of a knight. But then again, Elise wasn't exactly the typical saintess either.
With the elegance of a dancer, she easily dodged the attack and tapped the knight lightly at the waist—sending him crashing to the ground.
"Damn it, damn it, damn it! Why are you so strong?!"
The knight kept muttering to himself. Then, dark mud began bubbling all over his body, quickly encasing him.
Twisted horns grew from the black knight, and at the same time, a dark longsword emerged from the muck, making him look like a demon.
"Aaaaargh—"
The black knight roared like a wild beast, charging directly at Elise. But Elise stood motionless, gazing upon the now inhuman knight with a hint of pity.
Had his opponent been an ordinary student from any of the academies, perhaps the black knight might have stood a chance.
But unfortunately, the one he encountered was Elise.
In the eyes of so-called "beyond-spec" individuals, even the strongest of the strong might not be worth more than an insect. Thankfully, there weren't many such beings in this world—only two, in fact:
One was Jie Long Seventh Institute's "Banyuu Tenra!"
The other was the Stjarnagarm's "Chronotemis!"
And perhaps, now, it was time to add a third…
At this moment, the black knight lay at her feet, completely stripped of the ability to move.
Even the perfect saintess sometimes revealed a powerful side.