Chapter 412

The pressure came quickly and left just as quickly.

Very soon, Maria, who was prostrate on the ground, felt the suffocating, terrifying pressure dissipate, and her strength, which had been sealed, was restored. Even so, this red-haired angel witch did not stand up, but instead maintained her prostrate posture.

"Get up."

It was not until Sophie Liya's voice came from ahead.

Only then did Maria carefully stand up, then looked up and ahead. Seeing that the Saintess was about to walk away, she stood up.

The red-haired angel witch turned her head to look at the dining area behind her. Seeing that no one had noticed the anomaly here, she breathed a sigh of relief and then hurriedly chased after her.

Ahead, Sophie Liya also breathed a sigh of relief. She knew that she had temporarily suppressed this powerful netizen.

As someone who had only just advanced to the Grand Witch rank, it was naturally impossible for her to truly have the strength to compete with a Peak Witch. Her previous deterrence was merely utilizing a special method; those few seconds were the result of her exhausting all her strength. If it had dragged on for a few more seconds, she wouldn't have been able to keep up the act.

Whether for angels or angel witches, the Halo of Faith atop their heads is the core of their power. Once the Halo of Faith is sealed or destroyed, it is very likely that they will suffer a great loss of power or even lose it entirely.

The strict hierarchy among the various levels of angels in Heaven is divided based on this. The Halo of Faith of low-rank angels relies entirely on the bestowal of high-rank angels. Once they wear the halo bestowed by a superior, while low-rank angels gain power, their own destiny is also firmly grasped by the superior angels.

With just a single thought from a superior angel, a low-rank angel could directly lose their power and lose the ability to resist.

The angel witches are actually the same, except that the angel halos of angel witches originate from talent or expertise, which are passed down from their mothers. Therefore, their superiors are their two mothers and the direct ancestors further up the line.

At least there is the bond of blood and kinship, so overall, angel witches are much more comfortable than the low-rank angels in Heaven who work themselves to death without necessarily being able to advance. At the very least, they don't have to be controlled by outsiders.

And there is only one person who can have control over all angel witches, and that is the God King. As the object of faith for all angel witches, the God King naturally holds this authority.

And only the God King holds this authority.

Well, it should have been that way, but Sophie Liya is an exception.

As the daughter of the King of Angels, the Lord of Radiance, Sophie Liya's angel halo naturally possesses a very high rank. If she were in Heaven, she would be a genuine Princess of Heaven.

Of course, this is of no use, as the Princess of Heaven cannot control the God King's believers.

But who told the Pure White Witch that besides being the daughter of the Lord of Radiance, she is also the direct bloodline of the God King?

An extremely high rank of the Halo of Faith plus the orthodox claim of the God King's bloodline, and then a little bit of Fate Power as a buffer to combine the two—with this, Sophie Liya can, like a bug in a system, briefly adjust her destiny rank to that of the God King's daughter.

Well, rank of Angel Princess + bloodline of the God King + distortion of Fate Power = identity of the God King's daughter. Nothing wrong with that.

This extremely imprecise logic was the theoretical basis for the so-called God King's Holy Son created by Sophie Liya's insane mother back then.

And such a nonsensical theory actually resulted in Sophie Liya's birth. In a sense, the Pure White Witch is indeed a Daughter of Fate.

She herself does not know if she is truly the prophesied God King's Holy Son, but she can indeed briefly borrow the authority that should belong to the God King.

When she first had this bold idea and put it into practice, the Pure White Witch was panicked and worried for a long time, fearing that such an act of usurpation would anger the God King and lead to divine punishment.

But at the same time, she was actually quite looking forward to the God King noticing her. After all, the School of Prophecy has a saying that everyone is born with a mission. She really wanted to ask the God King in person what meaning destiny had for the birth of someone like her, who was seen by others as a disgrace.

It is a pity that Sophie Liya's worries and expectations all came to nothing. She waited for a long time, but nothing ever happened, as if the God King tacitly approved of her usurpation, or perhaps the God King simply couldn't be bothered to pay attention to her, not even bothering to lower divine punishment.

This result also left the Pure White Witch confused and conflicted for a long time. Theoretically, she, who could borrow this authority, was already the strongest angel witch in the absence of the God King.

But she didn't dare to just borrow this authority casually. After all, what if the previous time was just because the God King was in a good mood and didn't want to bother? If she really used divine power recklessly without knowing her place, she might truly invite divine punishment.

Amidst such conflict, Sophie Liya ultimately chose to cautiously seal this ability and began to honestly plot to run for the position of the legitimate and reasonable God King's Holy Son.

But today, with the courage given by the Young Lady, she used this authority for the second time, and against an angel witch whose rank was Peak.

It can only be said that divine power is divine power after all, and the effect is still as outstanding as ever. A powerful Peak Witch had all her strength directly sealed, and in front of her, she was as fragile as a mortal, able only to prostrate on the ground.

The Pure White Witch looked up at the sky again.

Above her head was still the blue sky, and the surrounding sea of clouds remained the same; there was no omen of divine punishment about to descend.

So, did the God King really tacitly approve of my usurpation?

Sophie Liya frowned, feeling surprised and a trace of secret joy in her heart.

She truly could not understand what that supreme God King was thinking, and whether there was any special intention behind all of this.

But not being able to understand it, she simply stopped thinking about it. After all, the thoughts of such a big shot were not something she was qualified to speculate on at the moment. Anyway, no matter how much she thought, she couldn't resist. Since the God King wasn't pursuing it, then she would just use it without hesitation.

Well, not abuse, but reasonable use.

Having figured this out, more confidence surged from the bottom of Sophie Liya's heart.

After all, this de facto tacit approval actually meant that she had already entered the God King's line of sight, which in itself could even be seen as the God King's encouragement to her.

Realizing this, even someone as calm as the Pure White Witch could not help but feel a little excited.

Although she felt a bit sorry for the Young Lady, she had to say that this silent encouragement from the God King was much more reassuring than the Young Lady's preaching.

Thus, the fire of confidence in Sophie Liya's heart, just ignited by the Young Lady, burned even more vigorously.

It is a pity that although this move is easy to use, the consumption is truly huge. Just borrowing the authority for a few seconds just now directly emptied nine-tenths of all her mana.

Fortunately, Maria didn't have much hostility toward her to begin with, and even held respect, so those few seconds were enough to successfully bluff her and completely shock her heart. If this had been an unfamiliar angel witch, she might have had a hard time ending things today.

Such a risky plan was something she would never have adopted in the past. Previously, all her plans were not about the best effect, but about the highest safety, emphasizing the word "steady," wanting nothing to go wrong.

But now it seems that her risk-taking this time has succeeded, and high risk often means high reward. Maria's loyalty should be maxed out now. Even if she frankly states her blood of a sinner later, this angel witch, whose faith has already taken over her brain, has a high probability of gritting her teeth and still insisting on supporting her.

Well, actually, Sophie Liya still didn't want to confess. After all, the risk was still too great. However, thinking carefully, the Young Lady was right; not everything can be achieved through utilization and deception. Some things must be fought for uprightly to be well-deserved.

Then...

"Maria, are you interested in hearing a story? A story about faith, original sin, and redemption."

The Pure White Witch murmured as she continued to walk forward without looking back.

"Saintess, please tell me."

The red-haired eight-winged angel witch followed closely behind, answering respectfully, and then listened quietly.

"Sixteen years ago, a pious believer who inherited the blood of the gods was gifted and highly anticipated. Everyone believed she was the Holy Son corresponding to the legend left by the gods, and she herself believed so too. Thus, she went to the altar, attempting to pull out the holy sword left by the gods."

"It's just that she failed to pull the sword, and the devil sealed within the altar took the opportunity to mock her."

"The devil said: The supreme god rules over both humans and devils, so the Holy Son of the god must also be able to gain the recognition of both the human and devil races. The recognition of humans alone is not enough for you to be qualified."

"In grief and unwillingness, this believer was eventually tempted by the devil's words. In her madness, she committed the taboo act of blaspheming the gods."

"She used the devil's blood and the blood of the gods she inherited to create a daughter who was like a monster, a disgrace destined not to be accepted by the world."

"Fortunately, the righteous heroes arrived in time. They sealed the believer who had long since fallen due to madness, but regarding that daughter of divine sin, the heroes had disagreements."

"Most heroes believed that this abominable creature who blasphemed the gods should be executed immediately. Only one hero, who had also just lost her child, felt pity for this daughter of divine sin."

"She was the leader of the heroes. In the end, she powerfully persuaded her companions, personally pulled out the sinful blood of the divine sin, and then adopted this daughter of divine sin, even willing to treat this abominable monster as her own lost daughter and cultivate her as her successor with all her might."

"It's just that fate is truly mocking. When that daughter of divine sin, who was born with knowledge, almost forgot her identity and truly regarded herself as the hero's successor, the hero suddenly found her own daughter."

"Just like that, the divine sin, who was not needed in this world to begin with, lost her value of existence once again. She began to be confused, not knowing what the meaning of her birth was."

"Even though the hero still treated her as usual and did not ignore her, the adopted daughter, because of her daughter's return, the divine sin knew very well that everything could not go back to the past."

The Pure White Witch recounted everything calmly, as if it were truly just a story. At this point, she suddenly stopped and turned to look at Maria, who had been listening quietly beside her.

The red-haired angel witch was not a fool; naturally, she could not fail to understand the hidden meaning in the story just now. However, still holding onto the fluke that "maybe it's really just a story," she did not rush into a panic, but forced herself to stay calm.

It's just that, no matter how much she forced herself, her eyes still revealed a bit of panic at this moment. After all, the direction of this story seemed really not good.

Damn, I finally found a savior, don't go dark on me.

Maria's heart was sweating like rain, and she was extremely conflicted. She couldn't wait to hear the rest of the story, but why did this Saintess stop at such a place?

Cliffhangers are not a good habit; it's too much to torture people by keeping them in suspense like this.

"Maria, what do you think you would do next if you were that divine sin?"

Sophie Liya asked.

Maria: "..."

The red-haired angel witch was silent. How was she supposed to answer this question? But she couldn't not answer.

"Leave on her own?"

She thought for a moment and then gave a compromise answer.

After all, she couldn't say she would compete for favor with the hero's daughter, or more extremely, kill the hero's daughter.

However, to her surprise, the Saintess opposite her actually nodded and even gave her an approving look.

"That's right, the divine sin realized that the hero's home was ultimately just a temporary harbor for her, and now it was indeed time to leave to pursue her own destiny."

The Pure White Witch continued to walk forward and continued to recount.

"Ah, this..."

At this, Maria was stunned but also breathed a sigh of relief. She hurriedly chased after her again.

"Everyone in this world is born with their own mission. Even as a divine sin, she still felt she had a mission, and thinking about it, her only mission was probably the reason her crazy mother created her."

"Moreover, even as a divine sin, she wanted the freedom to live freely, not like now, being monitored everywhere and treated like a monster in secret."

"It's hard for her to change the world's view of her with her own strength, but the gods can. As long as she can truly become the Holy Son as her mother expected, then she will be reborn."

"It's just..."

"Maria, do you think such a divine sin can truly become that holy Holy Son?"

Sophie Liya asked again, her tone full of confusion.

This was not acting, but a true outpouring of emotion. After all, the Pure White Witch really didn't know if she could eventually pull out that holy sword. Everything she sought now was just to obtain the qualification to pull the sword, but she couldn't rule out the embarrassing possibility that when she finally stood before the holy sword after all the hard work, she wouldn't be able to pull it out.

Her caution and carefulness in the past, besides being out of fear, was it not also out of inferiority?

Her persona as the Student Council President had always been so perfect; was this not a suit of armor built to hide her inferiority?

People are often obsessed with what they lack.

"Of course you can. If it were before, I might not have dared to be sure, but now, Lady Sophie Liya, apart from you, I do not recognize any other so-called Holy Son."

Sophie Liya was still confused, but suddenly there was a shout from behind her. This voice was so loud and firm that it almost made the caught-off-guard Pure White Witch shiver, thinking Maria couldn't bear it anymore and wanted to make a move on her.

It was only when she heard the content of the shout clearly that she was stunned again.

Ah, this, I haven't even started preaching yet, and you've already agreed? Isn't this a bit too rash?

Sophie Liya, whose pace was disrupted, turned to look at Maria, and then she saw the teary-eyed red-haired angel witch.

Pure White Witch: "..."

She suddenly remembered that this netizen seemed to have a true saintly personality; her maternal instincts had always been overflowing.

"Are you really not going to reconsider my identity? You must know that my bloodline is that of the Lord of Radi..."

Sophie Liya was silent for a while, and then, feeling a bit uncomfortable, wanted to say something again.

"Lady Sophie Liya, you don't need to say any more. Before, I might have cared more about your identity, but now I care more about you as a person. You didn't choose to deceive or use me, so naturally, I will also trust and look forward to your guidance."

Maria interrupted the Saintess's words, wiped her tears, and then said with a smile, frankly.

... Saintly smiling...