"It's good to see you again too, Julis!"
A familiar female voice came from behind Orphelia, and aside from Amagiri Ayato, the other two recognized the newcomer almost simultaneously.
"Lady Saintess!"
"You bastard!"
The two exclamations contained completely opposite emotions. Orphelia's was love, while Julis' was hatred.
Orphelia practically had the word "happy" written across her face at Elise's arrival, because she could finally see the Lady Saintess she constantly yearned for again.
Even though the two of them were already roommates in the dormitory and saw each other every day, Orphelia still deeply missed the feeling of staying by Elise's side. She even wanted to remain beside her forever without leaving.
Through their interactions over this period, Elise had naturally discovered Orphelia's problem as well. Ultimately, the cause lay in faith.
Elise could almost be certain that although her current identity was the Church's Saintess, within Orphelia's heart, she had long since transcended the status of a mere saintess and been elevated into the god she worshiped!
Coincidentally, Elise had done exactly that in the High School DxD world!
So Elise had bestowed many powers upon this devout believer.
For example, there was the Falna from the DanMachi world, the Stigmata Elise had developed herself, and even a divine artifact personally created by Elise!
It was far stronger than this world's Orga Luxes by more than just a little.
However, she hadn't seen Orphelia use it yet...
After all, although the enemy before her was the male protagonist, he was still only Ayato from the beginning of the original story, someone who hadn't undergone any growth. Even as this world's child of destiny, he still wasn't strong enough to make Orphelia draw her weapon.
"Honestly, our relationship was clearly pretty good. Why would you say something like that?"
Seeing Julis' reaction, Elise became interested. She directly hugged Orphelia from behind and rested her chin on Orphelia's shoulder, their cheeks even pressing against each other...
At that moment, the scent of yuri filled the surroundings, and the first to react was the adorable white-haired girl in Elise's arms.
"Lady Saintess..."
The instant Elise hugged her, Orphelia's body went rigid. She had originally intended to react somehow, but the two soft masses pressing against her from behind completely robbed her of the ability to resist...
Is this Lady Saintess' embrace?
So broad. So magnificent!
"Don't talk just yet, Orphelia."
Elise reached out and pressed a finger against Orphelia's lips, stopping the words she had been about to say.
"Can you leave the rest to me? I won't do anything to your friend."
"Mm... Lady Saintess..."
Orphelia's pitifully adorable appearance made Julis' anger rise rapidly.
That was her former friend! And now she was actually being held in Elise's arms while that woman did such enviable... No, such infuriating things to her!
Absolutely unforgivable!
"You bastard! Get away from Orphelia!"
Before Elise could even do anything, Julis brandished the sword in her hand and charged toward them. Ayato behind her hesitated for only an instant before choosing to trust Julis.
He didn't necessarily need to attack Elise, but helping Julis take Orphelia back shouldn't be a problem.
Besides, Orphelia was Julis' friend. Although Ayato couldn't really tell from their conversation, it was absolutely certain that they knew each other.
"No, Julis. And you too, Ayato."
Facing the two charging toward her, Elise showed no panic whatsoever. She simply raised her head and opened her eyes.
In an instant, Julis and Ayato's sensations changed. It felt as though something terrifying had locked onto them, creating an overwhelming sense of oppression.
Especially Ayato!
Not long ago, he had seen this famous Saintess of the Church on the street. Even then, he had sensed that she seemed to possess extraordinarily terrifying power.
That single accidental glance had already been enough for Amagiri Ayato to realize it.
Divine Word—Freeze!
Sacred Speech had once required spoken words, but after Elise's refinement and development, she no longer even needed speech as a medium.
Instead, she used something deeper—the language of the soul!
Its activation was incomparably fast. Neither humans nor members of the Starpulse Generation possessed reaction speeds quick enough to respond in time.
Ding!
At that instant, Ayato, Julis, and even Orphelia in Elise's arms all seemed to hear a crisp chime.
At the same time, the world changed...
The originally verdant leaves, azure ocean, brilliant flowers, and even their own bodies all lost their colors at that moment. Or rather...
Everything turned a deathly white, like plaster!
The sight completely overturned their understanding of the world. Even more frighteningly, they could still continue thinking. What exactly was this?
But before the three of them could react, Elise's voice reached their ears.
"I simply froze all of you in place. There's no need to panic so much."
Within this deathly white world, there was only one thing that still possessed its original color...
Elise!
However, she had already released Orphelia and instead walked over to Julis.
"As expected of a princess. In terms of appearance alone, you're certainly first-rate. But..."
A trace of warmth spread across Julis' face, and she saw that Elise had already placed a hand against her cheek.
What are you trying to do?
Although that question filled her mind, she couldn't speak at all in this world. She could only allow Elise to do whatever she pleased.
"Looks like the lesson I gave you last time still wasn't enough, Julis. So this time, I'll try to do something you'll remember very clearly. Make sure you thank me properly afterward. After all, this is the world of adults."
"Ah, right!"
"When things like this are happening, boys absolutely aren't allowed to watch!"
Then Elise merely snapped her fingers, and Ayato's head turned roughly sixty degrees to one side. Even if he tried looking sideways, there was absolutely no way he could see Julis.
At the same time, Elise mercifully restored Julis' ability to speak.
"You bastard!"
The very first thing Julis did after regaining her voice was curse Elise without the slightest restraint. Her personality was already rather fiery, so naturally, the things she said weren't particularly pleasant.
But she was still a beautiful girl, so Elise decided she would simply collect compensation from her directly!
"Wait?!"
"What are you trying to do?"
At that moment, Julis realized something was wrong, but it was already too late.
"Take your hand away! Don't touch me there!"
"Don't come any closer!!!"
...
A few minutes later—
"Ah! Much better!"
Wiping nonexistent sweat from her forehead, Elise wore an unusually refreshed expression.
As expected of the heroine of the Asterisk War world, the protagonist's main love interest!
After conducting a little investigation, Elise discovered that Julis really did have some assets. Although the one Elise herself had always liked was Sylvia...
"Y-You..."
After experiencing those indescribable events just now, Julis was covered in sweat, as though she had just undergone some sort of intense physical exertion.
Ayato off to the side wasn't doing much better. His face was visibly bright red, to the point that it had even begun affecting Elise's ability.
Snap!
With another snap of her fingers, the deathly white world ended.
After everything she had experienced, Julis directly collapsed onto the ground, tears streaming from the corners of her eyes.
"Aaaaaah—!"
The pink-haired girl began pounding the ground repeatedly, lamenting the injustice of the world.
Congratulations! Achievement unlocked: Heroine Pounds the Ground and Cries!
"Julis..."
The moment he was released from Elise's control, Amagiri Ayato hurried to Julis' side to comfort her.
Although his neck had been turned away earlier, preventing him from seeing the whole thing, he could infer from the sounds alone that whatever happened definitely hadn't been good, at least from a girl's perspective.
"Why did you do something so awful?"
Julis didn't react at all, but Ayato had to do something. More than that, he genuinely couldn't understand why Elise had done such things.
"Naturally, I had my reasons."
Elise tidied up her appearance once more and returned to her usual saintess demeanor.
But in Ayato's eyes, that only proved Julis had been telling the truth. Elise wasn't a genuine saintess!
"Just like how you must have had some reason for coming to Asterisk... Am I right, Amagiri Ayato?"
Elise gave a mysterious smile, but the clever Ayato instantly picked up on something from her words.
She... seemed to know him?
But that was completely impossible. Ever since childhood, Ayato had rarely even left the Amagiri Shinmei Style dojo!
If he had ever met an important figure like the Church's Saintess, he absolutely wouldn't have forgotten!
Yet Ayato had no memory whatsoever of meeting Elise. That fleeting encounter the other day had unquestionably been the first time they had ever seen each other!
But judging by Elise's tone, she seemed to know him extremely well. That was practically impossible. Who would have nothing better to do than pay attention to the heir of some small dojo?
There was probably only one possible reason Elise would know him...
"Do you know my sister?"
Just as Elise had said, the reason Ayato came here was because of his sister!
Only through his sister, Amagiri Haruka, could someone know so much about Amagiri Ayato!
At that moment, Ayato focused practically all his attention on Elise. If she answered yes, he would absolutely continue questioning her.
"Of course. Not only have I met her, I even know where she is right now."
Unexpectedly, Elise didn't deny it. She admitted it directly on the spot.
She had indeed seen Amagiri Haruka through Madiath, the Execution Blade and chairman of the Festa Executive Committee.
According to the original plot, Amagiri Ayato would win the upcoming Phoenix Festa together with Julis, use his wish to search for his sister, and Madiath would then hand Haruka over to him.
But Elise had arrived, and the plan had changed completely.
Haruka had been transferred directly into Elise's custody. If Ayato wanted to find his sister, he would now have to go through Elise.
"Where is my sister right now?"
Sure enough, the instant Elise finished speaking, Ayato shouted urgently.
His sister had disappeared five years ago. The family had sent people to search many places, but they had never found any news of her.
And now, he had unexpectedly obtained information from Elise. It was truly an unexpected stroke of fortune.
But Elise had no intention of telling him so easily!
"If you want to obtain something, you have to pay a price. Don't you agree, Ayato?"
Elise spoke meaningfully, but Ayato immediately replied.
"What do you want? Money?"
"If that's what you want, the Amagiri Shinmei Style dojo can give you plenty. But my sister..."
Ayato naturally assumed Elise wanted money, but before he could finish, Elise interrupted him.
"No, no. I'm not a kidnapper, so naturally, what I want isn't money."
"Do you really think someone in my position would be short on money?"
Elise casually waved a hand. Although the Pope was publicly the one who held authority over the Church, he was Elise's puppet, which meant the Church ultimately belonged to her anyway.
Even the Foundation behind Saint Galahadworth Academy had already fallen entirely under her control. The idea that she lacked money was complete nonsense!
What Elise needed was something more useful to her plans!
"I need you to participate in the Festa, Amagiri Ayato."
The moment she stated that condition, not only Ayato but even the still-crying Julis stopped.
Neither of them understood what Elise meant.
"Naturally, merely participating in a single Festa won't be enough, Ayato."
"You must participate in the upcoming Phoenix, Gryps, and Lindvolus Festas, and you need to win at least two of them. Only then will I tell you Amagiri Haruka's whereabouts."
"In other words, it's a best-of-three arrangement."
For an ordinary student, that requirement was truly excessive. Even the Page Ones of the six academies would have difficulty winning three consecutive championships, much less across three competitions with completely different formats. Accomplishing that would practically be harder than killing a seventeen-year-old fishmonger.
"...I accept."
Ayato's expression became resolute. After all, information about his sister was right in front of him. If there was an opportunity, he intended to try.
If he couldn't do it, he would simply have to find another way to learn the truth.
"That's wonderful. I'm sure your sister will be very happy when she finds out."
Elise smiled brilliantly, as though she were genuinely delighted for someone else.
But after everything that had just happened, Ayato clearly wouldn't mistake that expression for Elise's true self anymore.
It was all merely this woman's disguise!
"Then I'll see you again later, Ayato."
Elise turned around and released Orphelia from the immobilization. After all, what had happened earlier really wasn't suitable for a high school student to witness, so she had no choice but to block Orphelia from perceiving it too.
However, just as Elise was about to leave, she stopped and looked back with a smile.
Ayato and Julis, who had originally been preparing to leave, immediately became wary.
"By the way, the Festas I'll be entering are the Gryps and Lindvolus. I won't participate in this Phoenix Festa, so consider it an opportunity I'm giving you."
"Of course, if you still can't seize even that opportunity, then you won't be able to blame me."