Stunned, she sat there in a daze.
The girl's body had nearly slid all the way to the bottom of the bath.
A scenario she had never envisioned unfolded before Lyudmila.
As a possessor of the "Holy Light" ability... she never imagined that one day, she would be blinded—smacked right in the face—by Holy Light.
Moreover, Lyudmila could clearly sense that the naked young girl seated upon the throne possessed a "Holy Light" that shared the same origin as hers; they were exactly alike.
Caught off guard by the sheer shock, Lyudmila hadn't even reacted in time to realize that she could have peered through that smear of Holy Light to get a closer look.
While the ability was completely "passive" for Su Yuzu, it required active activation for Lyudmila.
By the time she reacted, that wisp of "Blessing" aura she had forcibly detained had already burned out.
The silhouette of the colossal throne vanished into smoke.
That pair of crimson eyes disappeared along with it.
Replacing them were the familiar ceiling of the bathroom and the hazy, warm yellow glow of the bathroom lights.
If she wanted to peek again, she would probably have to wait for the next "Blessing" to descend.
According to the Little Rabbit, ever since the day she met Yuzu-senpai, Lady Fate's "Blessing" would arrive on schedule every day.
If nothing unexpected happened, she... would probably be the same.
Associating this with the power that had disintegrated her will in an instant during the day, and... that "Blessing" which possessed an aura completely different from the Goddess she believed in.
The thought that she would have to spend every day amidst that kind of "Blessing" from now on, and that the frequency of this... alien "Blessing's" descent was even higher than the genuine Lady Fate's "Blessing"...
She would be thoroughly dyed by that strange aura.
A trace of helplessness flashed through Lyudmila's pious golden eyes.
"Lady Goddess..."
"Is this your test for me?"
Lyudmila was the Saintess of the "Holy Royal Court".
She was a sufferer who endured physical hardship and could transform the suffering she experienced into power.
But... the tests Lyudmila had always endured were physical trials like the Thorned Crown, the Thorned Whip, and the Saint's Brand.
Even mental trials were painful tortures akin to purgatory.
Even the decadent temptations of a lost paradise were completely different from this "Blessing"... an 'attack' that had absolutely nothing to do with will.
Lyudmila had never imagined that there would be a day when her will would be disintegrated by a "Blessing".
The most terrifying and humiliating part was...
For the sake of the fate foreseen by the "Revelation," she still had to strive to endure it, to experience it, to detain the power of that "Blessing," thereby pushing the wheels of the era in the right direction.
The girl hugged her shoulders in the bath, praying to the deity in her heart.
Then... a flash of panic suddenly appeared in her golden eyes.
For the first time since her childhood, the voice of the deity, which she had always been able to hear clearly... became intermittent and weak.
"How..."
She perceived the power of the "Blessing" flowing within her body... which had already merged into her origin and become completely one with her own power.
The holy maiden suddenly felt... as if she were already standing by the side of the Abyss.
There was no road back to speak of.
When the Little Rabbit dragged her exhausted body back from the Assault Department girls' dormitory, the scene she saw was her roommate sitting on the sofa wrapped only in a bathrobe, holding a thick "Holy Royal Court" scripture on her lap, looking utterly soul-lost.
Saotome Yukina had never seen Lyudmila reveal such a pitiful expression.
In her impression, that demure girl always had an air of calmness and composure, no matter what she did.
Elegantly holding everything in her hands.
The Little Rabbit observed Lyudmila's condition.
She was innocent, but she wasn't stupid.
Student Mira didn't have the habit of blow-drying her hair. From the dryness of Lyudmila's hair, Saotome Yukina could judge that Student Mira had been sitting there for a very, very long time.
Even... possibly from the moment she returned from the commercial street and finished her bath, she had been sitting there until now.
"Student Mira?" The Little Rabbit called out cautiously.
The soul-lost Lyudmila saw the Little Rabbit's worried expression and only then restrained the dispiritedness caused by her inability to hear the deity's voice.
After an afternoon of prayer, Lyudmila was able to reconnect with the deity.
But... Lyudmila knew that was only temporary.
Wait until tomorrow—
When she received that strange "Blessing" again and was stained full of that "Blessing's" aura, she would 'temporarily' lose the right to listen to the deity's voice once more.
And... if it was truly as Saotome Yukina said.
From the first "Blessing" onwards, she would receive the "Blessing" of that unnamed goddess every day.
Then... she was afraid she really would be molded into the shape of that unknown goddess.
For Lyudmila, who had received the education of the "Holy Royal Court" since childhood, this was simply a disastrous catastrophe.
And yet... and yet, this catastrophe gave her absolutely no possibility of resistance.
In the face of the "Blessing," even her will would be disintegrated.
On the other side—
In the Assault Department girls' dormitory.
Su Yuzu sat on her bed, her brows furrowed even tighter than Lyudmila's. She looked at the Q-version chibi of Lyudmila in [Operator Development], which had a conflicted look on its face.
The girl's Favorability kept jumping back and forth around 22 points.
"Ding Ding Ding Ding—" The mechanical woman's voice rang incessantly.
Moreover... if it were just jumping back and forth, that would be one thing. But every time Lyudmila's Favorability went up a tiny bit, the Favorability Gift was given without fail.
Was that Saintess... glitching the game on her?
Even in games, Su Yuzu had never seen such a scene.
In just a short afternoon, five or six rows of strange 'torture devices' had piled up directly in her data column.
Mm... Looking at those Thorned Whips and Thorned Crowns of varying sizes and materials.
Su Yuzu even felt she could no longer look directly at that Saintess.
If what Kujou Katora liked was the humiliating feeling of being maliciously bullied by her, then... this Saintess was probably not just a simple pain-lover.
Just as Lyudmila was trying hard to compose herself in front of Saotome Yukina.
The girl's expression suddenly turned stern.
In the Healing-type girls' dormitory, a piercing alarm tore through the night sky.
At the same time—
A moving dark red domain climbed rapidly.
Lyudmila, wrapped only in a bathrobe, lunged directly at Saotome Yukina.
Despite being a Healing-type priest, Lyudmila's agility was in no way inferior to Su Yuzu's.
This was probably the reason why the girl could stand up so quickly after being crushed by the "Blessing" in the morning.
Crash—
The glass and wall beside Saotome Yukina shattered instantly.
In the dark night, a pair of dark golden vertical pupils met Lyudmila's gaze.
「Zero—」
The emotionless vertical pupils gazed at the Little Rabbit behind Lyudmila.
A woman's voice echoed in her ear, 「What is needed to create the most terrifying demon?」
「The most terrifying power?」
「The most evil ambition?」
「Or the most horrific desire?」
「None of them—」
「Just a tragic past is enough.」
「...」
「Go... destroy that young lady of the Saotome family.」
________________________________________
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