Even if you're a corrupted magical girl, you still have to try to redeem yourself.

Saint Prayer looked around and then realized that there might indeed be some problems here.

Apart from the main road beneath their feet, which led to this almost abandoned area and then to some unknown distance, the surroundings were deathly still, devoid of any sign of life.

Even the large tracts of land along the roadside were barren, with only a few clumps of weeds scattered in various unnoticed corners. This desolate scene really didn't warrant a special trip.

The last time Mashiro Urouge fought the nuns of the Holy Church, it seemed to be a place like this.

This kind of place seems perfect for solving some problems, or for getting rid of some people.

Seiki didn't have any of those extraneous thoughts, but the fact that she unintentionally brought Genji Mashiro to this place was not so easy to explain.

As Seiki looked around, Genki Mashiro also scanned the surroundings with her gaze, seemingly searching for something, but apparently finding nothing.

"I don't intend to do anything to you here." Saint Prayer was indeed getting a little anxious because the environment he had chosen was somewhat out of place.

Normally, she wouldn't speak so rashly in a panic. As the successor, Shengqi was self-aware and strictly demanded of herself every action and word.

It seems that every moment of her panic—the conversation with her mother about whether the corrupted magical girl is evil, the rush to find out about the secret mission of the Holy Sisters but being stopped outside—is all related to Genki Mashiro.

When the Holy Prayer realized what he had just said, it seemed that it was already too late.

This statement sounded like a sophistry. Although she didn't know how Genki Mashiro would interpret it, she felt as if she had inadvertently revealed her evil plan.

However, the reaction of Genji Mashiro was smaller than Seiji had predicted.

“I know that if you were planning something, we wouldn’t be standing here talking like this,” said Mashiro Urouge.

But it was precisely because Genki Mashiro's reaction was so small that Seiki felt that this moment was more like a gentle breeze before a storm, making people feel incredibly cool, but they could not be complacent because of this, otherwise they would surely be swallowed up by the coming storm.

For a moment, Seiki couldn't tell whether Genki Mashiro's words were a threat or not.

She had never said anything so provocative to me before.

"If you don't intend to do anything, what's the purpose of calling me out?"

"I don't have any ulterior motives, I just want to know more about you, and I want to know what you're thinking."

Is this what you truly believe?

"Sei Mashiro! What do you mean?"

"Saint Mashiro? It sounds so unfamiliar coming from the Saintess's mouth." Genken Mashiro chuckled, but the bitterness in her smile was more pronounced than anything else.

"Then why don't you call me Saint Prayer anymore? Why is it that even though our relationship has become closer, you've become more distant from me? What are you doing every time I try to understand you? You're rejecting me!" Saint Prayer gritted her teeth, feeling a surge of anger rising from the depths of her heart.

"Because you are a saint of the church, not the saint who said she wanted to be my friend."

"it is good!"

It wasn't the first or second time that Hiiragi had been deliberately provoked by Mashiro Urokin. Most of the time, it was Mashiro Urokin who did it on purpose, but only this time, even though Hiiragi knew that Mashiro Urokin didn't do it on purpose, she had never felt so angry before.

"Fine! Fine! Fine! Genken Mashiro! You don't care about the title of 'Saint' at all, you don't know the meaning behind this honor! You... what exactly do you want to do!"

Shengqi said "good" three times in a row, but when she wanted to retort, the anger that rushed into her mind made her not know what else to say. She ended up with a weak and meaningless question.

Genken Mashiro tilted her head to one side: "If Your Majesty wishes to speak frankly, then I may well spare some words."

Seiki's gaze toward Genki Mashiro grew even fiercer. She clenched her fists without uttering a word and raised her chin, seemingly signaling Genki Mashiro to continue.

She really wanted to hear how Mashiro Gorgen could possibly argue with her.

"Does the title of 'Saint' really hold such glory for you?" asked Genken Mashiro.

“Of course! We bear the responsibility of protecting magical girls and this Moonsea City. This responsibility has never changed from ancient times to the present. This is our glory!” Kisaragi didn’t think that Genki Mashiro wouldn’t know the history of the church, but she just wanted to hear what else Genki Mashiro had to say.

"That's right, this is the glory of 'Saint', it's really cheap." Genki Mashiro said indifferently.

"You!" Blood rushed to Shengqi's head once again.

She knew that Mashiro Gyoken could be disloyal to the church, and she had always been aware of Mashiro Gyoken's attitude.

However, Genken Mashiro directly denied the Church's glory and responsibility over thousands of years, which is absolutely unforgivable for the Holy Prayer.

This responsibility is the root of the church, the faith of holy prayer, the path she will dedicate her life to practicing, and the most important thing to her.

It is absolutely unacceptable for the most important things to be belittled.

The holy sword drew a golden halo, piercing straight into the shoulder socket of Xu Yanzhenbai.

It was impossible for Mashiro Urokin to be unable to stop him, and Seiki had no intention of actually doing anything to Mashiro Urokin, nor did she expect to be able to defeat him.

This was just her irresponsible venting of anger; it was just her willful disregard for her image.

The burning candlestick caught the holy sword of the Holy Prayer, deflecting the blade aside.

Mashiro Urouge seemed completely unsurprised by Seiki's attack and made no attempt to retaliate. She simply waved her wand and deflected Seiki's attack with minimal force.

Saint Prayer disregarded all sorts of tactics and simply unleashed her fury with holy light and her holy sword. Her light blades and translucent golden wings launched a relentless barrage of attacks, surrounding Genki Mashiro.

"Holy Maiden, why are you so angry?" Xu Yan Zhenbai looked up and asked, dodging most of the attacks launched by Sheng Qi by moving left and right. The few light blades that came close to her body were blocked by the magic energy surrounding her. No matter how fierce Sheng Qi's attacks were, they could not hurt Xu Yan Zhenbai in the slightest.

Saint Prayer remained silent, continuing her attack and venting her anger.

"Did I say anything wrong? Or did I hit the nail on the head, and that's why you're getting angry?"

The holy sword paused for a moment, then fell even faster, only to be deflected once more by the burning candlestick.

"Is any of what you said true? You..." Shengqi wanted to curse, but whenever some of the less-than-clean words reached his throat, they would get stuck and he couldn't spit them out.

"And what about me?"

"Shameless!" Saint Prayer gritted his teeth, and his holy sword scattered into a dazzling display of sword flowers, falling like a meteor shower.

The burning candlestick, like a giant paintbrush, used flames as paint and the world as a backdrop to depict an impenetrable wall of fire, completely swallowing up the sacred radiance.

As the wall of fire dissipated, Genji Mashiro, who remained behind it, raised his eyebrows.

"Where have I been shameless?"

Saint Prayer clenched his teeth even tighter: "You're the one who harmed your companions!"

Mashiro Gorgen raised an eyebrow again. "Of course, who else would it be?"

"Your mother treats you this way because she's afraid of you! You...you're a threat in her eyes!"

"That's right. If you could handle me, would you still be so subservient to me?"

"You...you! You admitted it all!"

"What is there that I can't admit? And what about you? Why did you approach me?"

"Because I said it! I want to understand you!"

"Wasn't it your mother's order?"

"This has nothing to do with her!"

"She didn't say she would have much contact with me?"

"So what if I said it?!"

“It’s nothing special, there’s nothing there.” Genki Mashiro stepped back a little and hugged the candlestick to her chest. “I understand. The bishop was worried that I would turn against you, so he gave me all sorts of honors and even sent you to my side. I understand all of that.”

“That’s right!” Shengqi insisted.

"However, the bishop mistakenly believes that I would care about your glory. She thinks I will be satisfied with that. She doesn't know what I want, so she can only treat her worthless glory as a priceless treasure, and use it to make a collar, and wants to use it to restrain me."

“Until the very end, those who don’t understand human nature still cling to that worthless arrogance called honor.” Genki Mashiro said, letting out a barely perceptible sigh: “Seiki, are you like that too?”

"I..." Seiki couldn't keep up with Genki Mashiro's train of thought for a moment, and couldn't understand what the other was saying at all.

But she heard something.

A worthless honor.

"What gives you the right to say our glory is worthless! You may not care about it yourself, but what gives you the right to trample on our glory?"

“It was you who trampled on her,” Xu Yan Zhenbai said firmly.

"When will we!" Saint Prayer exclaimed angrily.

“It started when the bishop wanted to get rid of me, when the nuns of the Holy Temple attacked their companions in order to eliminate the corrupted magical girl, and when you wanted to erase me in order to maintain the purity of your faith, just as the geocentric believers burned those who proposed the heliocentric theory.”

Genki Mashiro's words were like a heavy hammer blow, but her tone was light and airy, as if she didn't care at all about the things that sounded incredibly shocking to Seiki.

The holy sword that the saint was raising suddenly stopped.

Everyone he trusted, that time they acted behind his back, the inexplicable annihilation, his mother's strange attitude, and the unexpectedly preferential treatment she later gave to Mashiro Gorogen...

All the bizarre events were suddenly connected.

It was all connected in a way that the Holy Prayer never expected, and that she would never believe.

Captain Kenmochi did nothing wrong, nor did Urobuchi Mashiro; everyone was doing what they were supposed to do.

Seiki suddenly understood why she thought Genki Mashiro was the suspicious one. It was because Genki Mashiro was still alive, so she could speak, and that's why she was suspicious.

The truly suspicious person who pushed them to the opposite side and caused irreversible damage to the Church was the one whom Saint Prayer had never doubted.

There is only one person who can do all of this.

His own mother, now the head of the Holy Eternal Academy, is also the bishop who can lead the entire church.

Putting aside the fact that she was his mother, the bishop who arbitrarily decided the fate of the nuns, causing losses to the Church, and is now trying to make amends in an even more shameful way as if nothing happened, is the one who has truly betrayed glory.

Mashiro Urouge was right, absolutely right. The bishop was using her shattered glory as a priceless treasure, trying to use it to buy off Mashiro Urouge, who had witnessed glory turn into a joke.

This whole thing is ridiculous.

Clang.

Saint Prayer dropped the holy sword in his hand at his feet.

"Konken Mashiro."

"Hmm." Genken Mashiro's expression remained unchanged.

"If I told you I knew nothing about these things, would you believe me?" The demonic armor on Saint Prayer's body dissipated into the air like a cloud of mist as holy light flashed.

"You mean, I have to believe that your appearance on a battlefield that's already over was a coincidence?"

“It’s not a coincidence.” Shengqi gritted his teeth and looked at Xuyan Zhenbai with an expression of certainty.

Saint Prayer shouted even louder, "I'll be there! Because I'm worried about you! I'm worried about why you would go on such a dangerous and mysterious mission! I'm worried you'll be in danger! I'm afraid that the suddenly vanished magical aura belongs to you!"

For the first time since Seiki had known Genki Mashiro for so long, she had read... no, seen a look of surprise on Genki Mashiro's face.

"Why?" Gen Kenshiro's lips moved slightly, and anyone could read the wavering in her eyes.