Shinji Matou at Your Service-Chapter 869 - : The Saint

Time rewinds to the moment when the fist struck Roa's abdomen.

Since it was a hastily thrown punch, the force wasn't strong, and Roa didn't feel anything unusual at first. However, the moment the force dissipated, a new pain emerged at the point where the hand contacted his abdomen. This pain didn't come from the impact but from something on another level.

In an instant, Roa felt a burning sensation in his stomach, as if a fire was melting away his skin, muscles, and internal organs. His brain was screaming, warning him of impending death.

Instinctively, he looked down to confirm that the pain wasn't an illusion. His abdomen was indeed melting—skin, muscles, and internal organs were disintegrating layer by layer from the outside in.

This was something he couldn't understand.

It wasn't magecraft. As a first-generation great magus, he didn't detect any signs of magical flow or spell construction. It wasn't like the ancient mysteries such as the Seventh Holy Scripture either, as he didn't sense the aura of old artifacts or phantasmal beings.

What could it be, then? Despite not being able to sense anything on the surface, it was causing severe damage to his Dead Apostle body—could it be...!?

A long-buried memory resurfaced. Before his eighteen reincarnations, eight hundred years ago, when he was still human, before he became a Dead Apostle and began his cycles of reincarnation. Back then, he was a member of the Holy Church, traveling far and wide to combat the increasingly rampant vampires. Eventually, they succeeded in establishing the Burial Agency, a force so fearsome that it became legendary.

At the agency's inception, the Church provided all possible support, including the personal weapons of saints. Dead Apostles touched by these holy relics suffered great damage. After all, if even the Shroud of the Saints, which had wrapped their corpses, could harm vampires, what damage could their weapons do?

The wound back then was identical to what he was experiencing now. Dead Apostles, deemed unclean, were purified by the power of the saints, melting and evaporating.

"Ughhhhhh—are you... are you a Saint of the Church?"

As soon as these words left his mouth, everyone froze, including Araya, Ciel, and Caren, who were all born within the Church.

Before they could speak, Roa continued to scream in agony, "No, it can't be! How could there still be a Saint in the modern era?"

"The existence of saints is not bound by time but by the human heart. Though I am not a saint, I choose to believe that saints exist even in this era."

The female magus raised her hand toward the severely wounded Roa, seemingly intent on purifying him directly. In a flash, Araya's bear-like body shielded his suffering companion.

"Even now, you still protect him?"

"He holds the key to my goal; he cannot die here," Araya replied, his expression as hard as stone.

"Very well, then let us continue our battle."

As the female magus spoke, the four mechanical arms on her back adjusted their positions, simultaneously aiming at Araya. Araya raised his hands expressionlessly, activating both his bounded field and Vajra body. A battle between a saint of the Church and a Vajra of Buddhism was about to erupt.

At that moment, further away, Ciel, who was both observing the fight and protecting Caren, suddenly shouted, "Watch out!"

Before she could finish, Roa, who had been shielded by Araya, pressed his hand to the ground. A thick white smoke rapidly spread from his hand, quickly enveloping an area of several dozen meters.

The density of the smoke severely hampered visibility, and since dawn had not yet broken, even with magically enhanced vision, visibility was reduced to less than a meter.

The female magus, momentarily caught off guard by this trick, snorted lightly and fired her mechanical arms in all directions. But Araya was no longer in his original position, clearly having planned his escape.

The female magus maintained her firing stance, vigilantly scanning her surroundings, seemingly trying to detect her enemies' movements.

Soon, she seemed to notice something. The four mechanical arms switched from firing mode to movement mode, carrying her swiftly toward a certain direction.

The smoke parted as the rotating mechanical arms cut through it, revealing three figures—one tall and two short. The tall one was Araya, and the short ones were Ciel and Caren.

Seeing the female magus approach, Araya didn't linger and immediately retreated into the thick smoke.

The female magus was about to give chase but hesitated, glancing back at the weakened Caren and Ciel—one was still recovering from old injuries, and the other had taken Araya's attacks to protect the former. In the end, she sighed and gave up the pursuit.

She knew the enemy's goal was to escape, and she knew they wanted to use Ciel and Caren to distract her, but she couldn't bring herself to leave the two girls in danger.

By the time the smoke cleared and visibility returned, Roa and Araya had vanished without a trace.

After confirming that there was no one else around, the female magus disarmed her gear and asked the two girls, "Are you both alright?"

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"I'm fine, but Caren..."

Ciel replied, touching her recently healed wound as she stood up from Caren's side, where she had been positioned to protect her. Caren had saved her earlier, and now it was her turn to protect Caren.

Ciel possessed the highest level of immortality in the world and wasn't afraid of injury, but Caren didn't have that same advantage. After being defeated by Roa, she had been in poor condition.

Despite this, Caren gritted her teeth and stood up.

"I'm fine as well. Thank you for saving us."

"Don't push yourself. Get on this, and I'll take you to a safe place," the female magus said as she lightly tapped the gear she had taken off. The connecting backpack extended outward, forming a small platform.

"Thank you so much," Ciel quickly placed Caren on the platform and bowed deeply to the female magus, who waved it off.

"It's nothing, just a small effort. However, my current condition is a bit special, so I can't treat Miss Caren."

"No problem, I can handle it myself."

Even if the female magus had offered to treat Caren, Ciel wouldn't have dared to accept. Caren's power came from the Dead Apostles, and if the female magus could purify Roa, she could undoubtedly purify Caren as well.

Ciel's treatment methods were very skilled. She had been Caren's first instructor after she joined the Burial Agency, and after numerous training sessions that left Caren injured, Ciel had become adept at healing her. She could even treat Caren while conversing with the female magus.

After a while, Ciel finally asked the question she had been most eager to ask.

"Are you not a Saint from our Church?"

The female magus shook her head again.

"I'm not a Saint, just a wandering magus."

"My name is Ciel. Could you tell me your name? It's okay if you'd rather not."

"It's no trouble at all."

Seeing Ciel's nervous demeanor, the female magius smiled, removed her hat and veil, and revealed a face as clear and pure as her voice.

"My name is Fiore."