Saintess? Not Anymore! I'd Rather be a Destroyer-Chapter 163 - 149: Mana

"Joining you doesn’t change the fact that my Nation would be destroyed," Shiba declared stoically, as she mentioned the figure, twenty, before launching an offensive against Queen.

Aurianna, responding with an air of assurance, saying, "It won’t, I assure you that your nation and its citizens won’t suffer, only your knights. My father has this strange complex of leaving the citizens alone. He says it would be a waste, because they can contribute to a larger country and our country’s rank is Highland so in order to upgrade he needs more people. "

Shiba’s face softened at this explanation and Aurianna continued persuasively, "So what do you say, Queen Shiba? Remember I can revive your son."

Queen Shiba’s looked at Aurianna curiously as she asked, "Why would you go against your father?"

’Why does she ask so many questions?’ Aurianna sighed inwardly.

"I despise him," Aurianna said with a calm expression but her voice in Shiba’s head sounded cold.

"But he is your father," Shiba questioned, doubt lingering.

"Like I give a shit," Aurianna retorted dismissively.

Shiba, issuing a warning, declared, "Ugh, I would agree then. But if you betray me I’ll make you pay."

Aurianna beamed, before she said, "Rest assured, Queen Shiba, I shall keep my word. So now I just need to give you my symbol."

"How?" Shiba queried.

"Simply gaze into my eyes for a moment," Aurianna directed. Suddenly, a white crystal flower materialized in Shiba’s eyes. "All is done. The mark on your eyes will signify your alliance with me to the demons."

"Is that all?" Shiba inquired.

"Yes, all you need to do is flee in the opposite direction towards Hugo City. Someone will be there to pick you up," Aurianna explained.

Shiba chuckled, remarking, "You’re truly insane, you know that? Conspiring against your own father."

"He brought it upon himself, thinking he could discard me so easily," Aurianna responded with a sinister grin.

"When shall we meet again?" Queen Shiba asked.

"Sooner than you think," Aurianna replied cryptically.

"Before that, let’s put on one final, epic attack!" Aurianna suggested with a wink, prompting a resigned sigh from Shiba. Queen Shiba distanced herself, raising her axe high. Dark magic enveloped it, causing discomfort to those nearby. Queen brandished her sword, sparking with white lightning.

"Abyss!" Shiba shouted, slashing her axe.

"Radiant!" Queen yelled. Their attacks clashed, resulting in a massive explosion. Seizing the opportunity, Queen Shiba used the chaos to escape.

The angel of war remarked coldly, [You know escaping means you lose the war?]

"I already lost when it began," Shiba replied before darting away at speed that was too fast for others to see. The dark clouds in the sky vanished, and the midday sun could be seen again.

(Today’s info. I recently learned that the speed of darkness is faster than or equal to the speed of light. Darkness is created when there’s no light. However, it is faster for a place to be dark than a place to be bright. That explains why Shiba is fast. She uses darkness and shadows to move around. Every living being has a shadow, so she can just appear before them.)

"Queen Shiba is fleeing, Your Majesty!" a platinum knight exclaimed beside King Girsal.

"We cannot allow her to escape. Pursue her. I did not anticipate her to be cowardly enough to desert the battlefield in the midst of a war," King Girsal ordered, and a group, led by mysterious individuals, flew in pursuit.

Aurianna mused, "To think that saying was true – There’s nothing like a mother’s love for her child. She’s willing to sacrifice anything. Well unfortunately, that saying is also false since some mothers like mine is full of shit and only care about you when you’re usefull."

Aurianna suddenly begun coughing up blood and felt her entire body slowly lose its senses. ’Her attacks have caught up with me, dammit, I feel horrid,’ she thought as she clutched her stomach.

[ Let me fix this up. ] The angel of war said as she waved her hand and the ground returned back to normal. As if there wasn’t a war in the first place.

Queen and the others landed on the ground since it was fixed and Aurianna had a frown on her face as she watched the angel of war approach.

Surveying the angel’s effortless restoration of the battlefield, Aurianna marveled, "She fixed this place like it was nothing.’ 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

[The Goddess of War expresses interest in your plans. Mortals, she declares, are truly fascinating.] the angel of war conveyed, standing tall before Aurianna, her imposing figure reaching up to seven feet.

"Can I have the money you promised now? I did manage to survive most of Queen Shiba’s attacks," Aurianna inquired, casually opening and closing her palm.

"She’s demanding payment from a goddess, and so rudely!" gasped Amber, who felt her heart ache due to Aurianna’s behavior.

"That’s what she’s worrying about?" wondered Momo, exchanging bewildered glances with Amber.

"You all witnessed that, right? She survived an attack from an Arc Human," Ezra frowned, her gaze fixed on Aurianna.

"Her golems pose a threat, even to us," Lauren concurred, acknowledging the danger posed by Aurianna’s summons.

[Of course, here it is.] The angel of war touched Aurianna’s ring.

[You’ve received 100,000 magic coins.] The system, relayed the information to Aurianna, who nodded in satisfaction at the heap of glowing coins within her space ring.

"Oh my, the Goddess is certainly kind and generous," Aurianna remarked, rubbing her hands together and unable to suppress a cheeky smile.

[Enough with the ugly grin you’re making.] the angel of war sighed and shook her head.

"Ah, money, my beloved money," Aurianna declared, rubbiing her ring finger along her cheek, seemingly oblivious to the angel’s presence.

’She’s not paying attention!’ the angel of war thought, a frown creasing her brow.

[Ahem, the goddess asked if you’re interested in joining her church. You would be paid 100 magic coins a month.] the angel of war relayed, prompting Aurianna to eye her with suspicion.

’Dammit, Aurianna, refuse. You’re supposed to join Paige’s church!’ panicked King Girsal.

"One hundred magic coins a month? Peh," Aurianna snorted, surprising the angel of war.

[It’s a reasonable offer, though.]

"At the moment, I’m not interested in joining any church," Aurianna clarified, looking up at the angel.

[Well, if you change your mind, she said she’s willing to offer you an Apostle role in our church. So do come by.] the angel of war suggested.

’Same ranking as that Gray woman?’ Aurianna mused with a grin. "I’ll think about it," she replied, prompting a sigh of relief from King Girsal.

[Well, we have another war to manage, so we’re off.] the angel said, floating into the sky before disappearing.

"Ugh," Aurianna felt her heart momentarily stop, tighten, and she coughed up white blood as her body trembled. ’Her attacks?’

"It seems Shiba’s attacks were focused on damaging you internally. Don’t worry; you’ll recover," Eva assured Aurianna, who sighed in relief.

’It seems the souls of the Infinite Nation’s knights aren’t here. Just as I predicted, the souls hover on the body for some days. When not revived, they get collected by death angels and undergo judgment. Once they reach that stage, they can’t be revived,’ Aurianna pondered as her hand moved and the souls floating before the dead Sandeph knights floated towards her.

’Seems more than fifty thousand of Sandeph’s knights died in the second round,’ A slight smile played on her lips as she observed the numerous souls. ’I can also control the movement of souls.’

’Well, free souls!’

’System, can you fuse them for me?’ Aurianna asked.

[Yes.] The system answered, and immediately, all the souls merged into one.

’I hope no one can see this,’ Aurianna thought, pretending to take a deep breath before swallowing the fused soul.

Suddenly, thousands of black crystal chains shot out from her body, wrapping around her. "Arrgghh!" Aurianna screamed, experiencing excruciating pain like never before.

’These chains again, but why are they so painful?’ Aurianna wondered frantically.

Suddenly, one of the chains snapped, and all the others disappeared.

[She managed to break another part of the seal.] The system blurted out silently.

"My body feels lighter," Aurianna remarked aloud, attempting to get up, she stumbled to the ground since her body felt weak. ’I’ll have to ask Eva more about this later,’ Aurianna said to herself.

"Queen, Nia, and Abed, buy me some time. Ruigo, I want you to give me all the mana you can gather. Help me exceed my mana storage limit," Aurianna requested, looking up at Ruigo.

"Master, that’s stupid!" Ruigo berated her.

"Why insult me?" Aurianna asked.

"Everyone possesses a mana capacity for a reason; exceeding that limit results in you exploding, and it can even damage the soul. Your body is even experiencing the consequence of exceeding your mana flow and usage capabilities," Ruigo explained, prompting a thoughtful frown from Aurianna.

"Then create a temporary one for me and fill it to the brim. I need to revive 400,000 people and mark all of them, so I need an insane amount of mana!" Aurianna declared, determination gleaming in her eyes as she addressed Ruigo.

"Master, you are truly interesting. However, it would feel like hell though," Ruigo chuckled.

"Stop scaring me and get on with it already," Aurianna dismissed impatiently.

"Luta, join Ruigo in pouring mana into me!" Aurianna ordered, to which Luta obediently nodded.

"Queen, do you think you can defeat Girsal in a fight?" Aurianna inquired.

"Not at your current level," Queen responded.

"I anticipated as much. He is one of the strongest race that is ranked number three, a Mecha. Just hold him back," Aurianna instructed, and Queen nodded in understanding.

"I don’t think we can last long enough with another attack like Shiba’s, we would only have a few minutes to hold him off," Nia voiced her concerns.

"Will that be enough, Ruigo?" Aurianna questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes," Ruigo affirmed.

"Then let’s begin!" Aurianna laid on the ground, and Ruigo and Luta approached her, pointing their fingers at her.

"Your majesty, watch out!" a platinum knight warned as he intercepted Queen’s sword attack with his own.

"Her golems are turning against us?" Yesphine wondered, observing Nia attacking others.

"What’s wrong with them?" Iona questioned.

"Raaaaaarrrr!!!" the knights screamed, undergoing a berserk transformation, their crystal bodies radiating a menacing red glow.

"They are going berserk; I assume she can’t control them anymore," King Girsal speculated, observing the chaotic scene.

"What is that one doing?" a knight beside King Girsal pointed out as a substantial amount of mana that flowed into Aurianna.

Ruigo and Luta’s hands glowed brightly, causing all the plants in the kingdom to wither immediately. The once-green land, fixed by the angel of war, transformed into a desolate state.

Touching Aurianna with their large fingers, Ruigo and Luta directed concentrated mana into her body. Aurianna’s crystal hands clenched the ground, blood dripping from her bitten lips as she endured the pain. With closed eyes, she thought, ’I hope this will end quickly.’

"What is happening to Aurianna?" Queen Amber exclaimed.

"Amber, it’s clear that they’re infusing mana into her," Emirie remarked with a roll of her eyes.

"But that could kill her!" Amber panicked, attempting to rush forward, only to be blocked by Abed, who stood before her with his scythe.

’What are these beings thinking?’ King Girsal pondered as he observed the golems closely.

"Stop this immediately! Aurianna is severely injured!" Freed yelled from a distance, but the golem paid no heed.

"These golems are blocking our way!" Freed gritted his teeth in frustration as he glared at Nia.

"Why is she still alive?" Ralph wondered, his palms clenched as he watched from a distance in his carriage. Suddenly, he coughed, covering his mouth and finding blood on his hands, which alarmed him.

"We’re almost there!" Ruigo reassured Aurianna as they continued pouring large amounts of mana into her.

"They broke Nia, and she won’t revive," Aurianna began to panic, observing through her slightly opened eyes, King Girsal was the one who had destroyed Nia.

"Don’t worry, master. She will revive later, but only after you recover your missing body parts," Reoul clarified, prompting a sigh of relief from Aurianna.

"So I can summon her again once I regain my missing parts?" Aurianna asked telepathically.

"Yes," Luta responded.

"We’re almost done," Ruigo announced.