Chapter 77: Fair And Square.
I watched Anje for a moment.
Her gaze was growing colder. Even with her mask on, I could feel shadows falling across her face.
...I'd better use Property Change quickly.
For some reason, I could see the future.
If I just stood here doing nothing, even Cain with his demonic energy might die.
Cain used Property Change to make his demonic energy identical to holy power.
*...If I use Color Setting too, wouldn't this be holy power rather than demonic energy?*
While I was thinking about that, Anje's patience apparently exploded and she shrieked.
"Get your hands off her right noooow!!!!"
Holy power erupted from Anje's body, so bright it was impossible to look at directly.
-Whoosh!
At that moment, Elza took Anje's holy power head-on and screamed as she burned like a demon being purified.
"Kyaaaah!"
Ouch. If I hadn't used Property Change, I would've been in an even worse state than her, right?
Yeah, probably.
It makes sense since I had even less demonic energy than Elza.
*Come to think of it, Elza really is on another level.*
If it had been Ashad from the previous Performance Evaluation, he would've been annihilated long ago.
After all, he made such a big fuss just because Rain awakened as the Saintess of The Goddess Who Brings Happiness.
Even without using Demonic Possession yet, Elza looked like she was on the verge of death, but she was still holding on.
At this point, I had to wonder if she and Ashad were really both Executives of the same rank.
*Ashad, that bastard acted all tough, but turned out to be complete trash.*
Thinking that, I quickly moved to Anje's side.
When Anje confirmed that Cain had approached, she withdrew her holy power and let out a sigh of relief.
"Phew. Are you hurt anywhere?"
"No. I'm fine, thanks to you."
At Cain's answer, Anje returned to her usual expression.
While the two were talking briefly, Elza looked at Anje while gasping for breath.
"S-Saintess? W-why are you here?"
"Why? Why do you think? I brought her here, idiot."
Cain answered her question while removing his mask.
Elza looked at Cain's face and was shocked with disbelief.
"Y-you should be in the underground prison...?"
"Pfft. Oh, you mean this guy?"
I took out a clone from my Subspace Ring.
Seeing it, Elza's eyes widened.
*So that's what happened.*
At first, I thought Lien had secretly passed information to Anje.
But that wasn't it.
She had been in David von Cain's palm from the beginning.
*...Wait. Then who's at the Orphanage?*
Right. Even if I concede that David von Cain played me, why is Anje here?
Until just before coming here, our members were being slaughtered.
And the only person who could protect the orphanage people while slaughtering our members would be Anje.
*...Sigh. I need to calm down.*
Thinking about it won't solve anything anyway.
I need to escape from here first.
While Elza was thinking this, her subordinate Burly approached and whispered.
"Lady Elza. I'll try to buy as much time as possible. I think it would be best for you to escape from here."
As soon as he finished speaking, Cain, who had raised his Volume Control just in case, pulled out a dagger and threw it without hesitation.
-Whoosh!
The dagger flew toward Burly.
Burly raised his weapon to block it and shouted.
"Lady Elza. Now!"
At those words, Elza nodded and ran in the opposite direction.
Cain was about to give orders to Anje without hesitation when—
"Excuse me? Where do you think you're going?"
Anje, who had been standing demurely beside them until just now, was suddenly blocking Elza's path with her mask removed.
*Wait, when did she take off her mask?*
It seemed I wasn't the only one surprised—everyone except Anje was startled.
Elza finally realized escape was impossible and unleashed all her power.
-Whoosh!
This was different from Ashad's transformation.
When Ashad used Demonic Possession, he noisily released demonic energy, but Elza was quiet.
However.
*...Ashad really was trash.*
Of course, Ashad was undeniably strong when he used Demonic Possession.
But compared to the pressure Elza was exerting now, his was cute.
After all, except for Anje, everyone was unable to move due to the pressure.
The group watched as she transformed.
Bat wings, horns, a tail, and finally a tattoo below her stomach began to appear on her body.
At first, I couldn't tell what kind of demon she was, but as the transformation neared completion, I realized what Elza had possessed.
The demon she possessed was none other than a Succubus.
The creator must have set her up as a Succubus considering her characteristics.
*Tsk. I can't just stand here doing nothing.*
With the feeling that I needed to do something, I used Physical Reinforcement to overcome the pressure and was about to attack Elza mid-transformation.
-Step. Step.
Anje approached Elza slowly, as if nothing was wrong.
Elza felt a sense of danger seeing Anje move so nonchalantly.
*H-how can she move so easily?*
In fact, everyone except Elza and Anje was misunderstanding the situation.
They thought they couldn't move because of the pressure, but that was only half right.
While the pressure alone was enough to immobilize them, Elza had also added her special ability of seduction to completely prevent them from moving.
However, she wasn't using much seduction on them.
Rather, she was directing most of her seduction toward Anje.
After all, Anje was the most dangerous.
She thought that even if she couldn't completely block Anje, there should at least be some effect.
Anje had now arrived in front of Elza.
*No. My transformation... it's almost complete.*
While Elza was panicking, Anje smirked and reinforced her body with holy power.
Then, without hesitation, she brought her fist down.
-Boom!
Insane.
That was the only word that came to mind.
Honestly, I thought her attack would cause damage to the surrounding Capital City.
But that was an unnecessary concern.
She had deployed a top-tier holy barrier to prevent any harm to people.
In other words, she was protecting Cain's group and the citizens of the Capital while delivering a critical blow to Elza with a single attack.
Of course, being attacked during transformation contributed to the damage, but it wouldn't have been much different otherwise.
While Cain and the others were dumbfounded, Anje slowly spoke.
"Don't be so dramatic. I deliberately hit you gently so you wouldn't die in one blow."
So that was her being gentle.
At Anje's words, Elza exhaled roughly.
"Huff. Huff. Ugh! How cowardly... attacking during transformation..."
Wait. Anyone watching would think we're the villains here.
Cain raised one corner of his mouth in disbelief and shifted his gaze to Burly.
"Kuh! How cowardly, two against one!"
Seriously? Why are you playing the victim too?
He was currently facing Cage and Lien.
From a certain perspective, the victims were ganging up on the perpetrator in a fair fight.
While Cain was leisurely watching the fight, Burly was sweating under the assault from the two.
*Kuh! If it were just one person, I might have a chance.*
Against one person, he could probably win easily with his skills that ranked high among the members.
But that was just hypothetical. Reality was different.
While Burly was making excuses to himself, a momentary opening appeared.
Cain took advantage of this brief gap, pushed off with full force, and landed a direct punch to Burly's solar plexus.
"Kuhak!"
Taking Cain's punch head-on, Burly hit the holy barrier and collapsed to the ground.
Lien swung her dagger without hesitation at the now vulnerable Burly.
The sword strike moved silently.
-Slash!
In the end, Burly died without even being able to properly resist.
After finishing the fight with Burly, the three turned their attention to Anje.
-Boom!
Wow, she's still holding on?
Anje was relentlessly attacking while surrounded by holy power, but true to her title as an Executive of the Cult, Elza continued to endure.
*Though she looks like she's about to die.*
But can this really be called enduring?
To be honest, it only looked like Anje was toying with her.
*After all, she said earlier that she hit her gently so she wouldn't die in one blow.*
I guarantee that even now, Anje is holding back to ensure Elza doesn't die.
I can't help but think that because—
"Earlier, you dared to touch my Cain, didn't you? I won't let you die easily."
"Kuh! Damn it!"
Look at her casually claiming me as hers.
If I hadn't raised my Volume Control, I wouldn't have heard that.
-Smack!
Elza barely blocked Anje's attack by surrounding herself with demonic energy.
She seemed to think she had a chance now that she'd blocked Anje's attack, and raised one corner of her mouth.
"Right. Even a Saintess can't handle me while maintaining a top-tier barrier to protect the surroundings."
...Such sad denial of reality.
Well, it's not unreasonable for her to think that way.
From Elza's perspective, she probably hadn't seen anyone stronger than herself except for Andrew.
So her denial of reality is understandable.
Of course, she wouldn't have completely dismissed the possibility that Anje the Saintess was stronger than them.
The Cult would certainly have been monitoring her achievements and actions.
*But they probably thought the rumors were exaggerated.*
Without seeing Anje's power firsthand, her achievements would seem too exaggerated to believe.
They were simply beyond what a mortal should be capable of.
Elza briefly laughed with an arrogant face and counterattacked.
"Kyahahahaha! Right! There's no way I, possessed by a top-tier Succubus, would lose to a mere Saintess, not Lord Andrew or even another Executive!"
"......"
Saying that, Elza unleashed thick, sticky demonic energy at Anje.
-Boom! Bang!
Dust rose around Anje for a moment.
Cain watched with an expressionless face.
In contrast, Lien wore a worried expression.
"S-shouldn't we help my daughter?"
"...You don't need to worry too much."
"What?"
Instead of Cain answering, Anje waved her hand to clear the dust with air pressure.
Then, without a speck of dust on her, she gave a cold smile.
-Chilling!
Elza briefly made eye contact with Anje.
At the same time, she felt a chill run down her spine.
*...Just making eye contact made me shiver?*
Until now, the only person who had made her shiver just by making eye contact was Andrew, not even including herself or other Executives.
That meant that Anje was at least on the same level as her superior, Andrew.
*T-that can't be...*
"That can't be!!!"
"The time for your beating isn't over yet."
A holy punch appeared before the charging Elza.
-Boom!
Elza couldn't dodge Anje's holy punch in time and was sent flying.
Meanwhile, Cage, who was watching the situation, trembled and grabbed the hem of Cain's clothes.
"Master, that lady is scary."
"Yeah."
Me too.
After that, Elza was pummeled by Anje's holy punches for about 30 minutes.
At the same time, a Hidden Quest completion message appeared before my eyes.