On a plane flying toward the Church headquarters, a purple-haired girl hesitantly stared at the virtual screen before her.
On the screen, a golden profile icon quietly remained in place.
Should I send Ely a message?
As a near-future technological world, Asterisk War had developed its technology tree to an extremely advanced level.
In the original anime, practically everyone could use technology like virtual screens. Whether making calls or video chatting, everything was extremely convenient.
Sylvia originally didn't need to go through all this trouble. She could have simply called Elise and asked her directly about everything she wanted to know.
But she had still come.
Perhaps she was worried, or perhaps she wanted to confirm things personally. In the end, Sylvia chose to speak with her face-to-face.
She wanted to ask Elise directly what exactly those memories inside her mind were about.
Why would Elise have thoughts like that?
And there was also one particularly unusual matter.
Back when Sylvia had spoken with Elise, she had once said something along the lines of, "Perhaps some mysterious organization is plotting behind the scenes."
Elise's answer at the time had been, "I've never heard of one. I'm not sure whether it really exists."
But among the memories Sylvia had seen, there had been a certain scene...
Inside a room filled with a mechanical atmosphere, a woman lay within a transparent tube filled with nutrient solution, while beside the tube, two people were shaking hands and speaking.
One of them stood within the shadows, so Sylvia could only vaguely tell that she was a woman. Her appearance couldn't be seen at all.
But Sylvia was incomparably familiar with the other person.
Hair gleaming like gold, her entire figure pure white and sacred. There was no doubt about it. This was Sylvia's closest friend, Elise!
If not for this coincidental discovery, Sylvia would never have realized that something was wrong with her memories, nor would she have learned the truth.
"This is completely different from what she told me!"
Every time she thought about it, Sylvia's heart felt as though it had been struck by a hammer. Even she didn't understand why it hurt so much.
Perhaps it was because her best friend had deceived her?
And that wasn't all. Sylvia had also considered the worst possible scenario, a reality she absolutely didn't want to face.
Perhaps Elise herself was a member of that mysterious organization?
Looking at things now, that possibility really did seem quite likely.
What am I supposed to do?
Although Sylvia intended to confront Elise face-to-face, the moment she thought of that golden figure, she had no idea how to begin.
Perhaps some hope still remained in her heart.
...
Asterisk's six-pointed star, Rewolf Black Institute.
Inside the student council president's office, a somewhat plump man with short red hair sat behind his desk.
There was no expression on his face, as though no matter what happened, nothing could shake him.
He was the student council president of Rewolf Black Institute—the Tyrant, Dirk Eberwein.
At this moment, Dirk was staring solemnly at the message on his communicator.
"I didn't expect her to wait this long before contacting me..."
"Looks like our plan can finally begin in earnest?"
A golden profile icon was displayed on the screen as well. There wasn't anyone in Asterisk who wouldn't recognize her.
After all, she had only just won the Lindvolus Festa!
Yet unexpectedly, Rewolf Black's notoriously ill-reputed student council president actually possessed Lady Saintess' private contact information.
If that news got out, who knew how many people would stare in disbelief.
"She contacted me as well. There shouldn't be any mistake."
At that moment, an emotionless female voice came from behind Dirk, making him frown.
"What are you doing here?"
It was obvious that Dirk had very little fondness for this woman.
And when he turned around, rather than immediately looking at the woman's eyes, his gaze went directly toward her chest...
At that location hung an Orga Lux in the form of a necklace!
"Valda?"
That's right. The newcomer was a member of the Golden Bough Alliance, the Orga Lux—Valda-Vaoth!
The body Valda had originally used belonged to Sylvia's teacher, Ursula.
But because of the deal with Elise, Ursula's body had been handed over to Elise for treatment and had now already been returned to Sylvia.
And with Elise's help, Ursula had been discharged from the hospital completely unharmed.
However, to prevent internal information about the organization from leaking, Valda had still interfered with Ursula's memories, at least ensuring that she couldn't remember anything about the Golden Bough Alliance.
Although Dirk and Valda were both members of the Golden Bough Alliance, he clearly didn't like this Orga Lux very much.
After all, Valda possessed the ability to manipulate people's minds!
Not only ordinary humans, but even Genestella could be controlled!
It seemed that one of the terrible incidents in Seidoukan Academy's history had even been connected to her.
At the end of the day, Dirk had only joined this alliance because circumstances had forced him to.
"No one discovered your movements, did they?"
"Of course. Whether I'm coming here or going to Madiath's side, I'm always extremely careful. After all, the foundations absolutely cannot discover what we're doing."
After Valda finished speaking, Dirk fell silent, or rather, he began waiting.
Valda would never come to him without a reason. Whenever she appeared, it meant something major must have happened.
"I did come to see you because something very important has happened."
The voice remained completely devoid of emotion. From her tone alone, there was no way to tell that this was supposedly important.
"What?"
Although that tone irritated Dirk, he still intended to keep listening. After all, they were grasshoppers tied to the same rope.
If one of them disappeared, the others would inevitably be affected. This was especially true of Valda, an Orga Lux capable of manipulating memories. If her existence were exposed, she might even be hunted down by all six foundations!
So no matter how much risk it involved, Dirk would have to help Valda.
"The interference with someone's memories appears to have been undone."
That single sentence made Dirk's brows furrow even deeper. He hurriedly asked, "Who?"
"That little songstress who stays around Elise. I believe her name is Sylvia?"
"And that's not all. She had already been investigating us before this. Right now, she should be on her way to see Elise."
"Damn it!"
After learning that, even Dirk couldn't stop himself from swearing.
"What the hell is wrong with that woman? Why can't she ever finish things properly?"
"And you. Isn't your mental interference supposed to be capable of controlling Genestella? Why couldn't you control that pretty little figurehead?"
Faced with Dirk's questioning, Valda showed no reaction at all. She merely replied, "I didn't expect it either. That's why I came to you."
"Then what do you expect me to do? Sit here and wait to die?"
Dirk understood Sylvia quite well. Once that woman learned what they were doing, she would definitely interfere, and their plan would inevitably be affected.
"I think you should speak with Elise. Perhaps she'll have a solution."
"Talk with that woman? What kind of joke..."
Before he could finish speaking, Dirk's eyes suddenly widened as a rather good plan occurred to him.
Although it carried a certain amount of risk...
"I really should have a proper conversation with her."
...
A rather simple airport.
A brown-haired woman wearing a sun hat and sunglasses walked out of the airport and looked toward the conspicuous white building in the distance.
"So this is the Church headquarters..."
To come find Elise, Sylvia had deliberately disguised herself, changing both her clothing and her hair color.
After all, she was a beautiful girl!
Wherever she went, people flocked around her. And this wasn't Sylvia bragging. It was an established fact that had already happened countless times.
If she came here with her original appearance, her fans would probably surround her so completely that she wouldn't even be able to walk.
It had happened plenty of times before, so Sylvia had long since gained experience dealing with it.
But Ely was probably the same, wasn't she?
After all, being the Saintess of the Church couldn't be much easier than being a songstress.
Yet after relying on the courage in her heart to make it all the way here, Sylvia instead began to hesitate.
How exactly should I talk to Ely?
Even after discovering that Elise might have deceived her, Sylvia was still willing to believe that Elise had her own difficulties.
As for what those difficulties were, perhaps only Elise herself knew. That was precisely why Sylvia needed to ask her.
"So I've come to find you, Elise!"
...
Now, let's see what Elise was doing.
Having only just returned from the Lord God Space to the Asterisk War world, Elise had quite a lot she needed to do.
Although only one month had passed in this world, Elise had experienced three entire worlds—the Elementalist world, DanMachi, and High School DxD.
For her, almost ten years had passed.
Everyone knew how greatly ten years could change a person.
Some people might even want to travel through time and kill their past selves from ten years ago, because that version of themselves was simply too embarrassing and unbearably chuunibyou!
Elise's changes were also extremely obvious. In the past, she hadn't been nearly as beautiful as she was now...
Ahem. Rather, she hadn't been nearly as powerful as she was now!
When Elise first arrived in Asterisk War, she could only be described as an ordinary powerhouse who happened to possess the cheat-like Power of Faith.
But no matter how powerful a cheat was, there were still limits to what it could do.
That was why she hadn't been able to defeat Fan Xinglou and had ultimately been forced to fuse with Sylvia.
But now, after nearly ten years of growth, Elise had not only strengthened both her body and mind, she had also obtained many powers she hadn't possessed before.
If she faced Fan Xinglou again, she only wanted to ask her opponent one question: Why is a monkey's butt so red?
But that was a matter for later.
The most important thing Elise needed to do now was remember what she had done in this world before.
Although Elise remembered the general outline after ten years, there was no way she could remember every single detail for that long.
Her memory was fairly good, but it wasn't so extraordinary that she could remember everything after seeing it once.
Most people were probably the same, right?
They could remember things they were interested in very clearly, while no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't retain things they didn't care about.
That was why Elise had written down everything she'd done in a notebook and hidden it inside her room at the Church, adding several mechanisms and locks so there was practically no chance anyone could find it.
So now, Elise intended to retrieve that notebook.
After reading it, she absolutely had to destroy it immediately!
Otherwise, if someone else saw it, who knew what kind of terrible consequences might follow.
"But it's fine! Who could possibly open something I made?"
Such was Elise's confidence!
She was no longer the ordinary Saintess she used to be. Now she was a super Lady Saintess capable of transforming into the God of the Bible!
"As expected of me!"
"This is exactly the moment when I need someone else to applaud!"
Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!
Where had that applause come from? It turned out Miss Mana was excitedly clapping behind Elise.
As the Pope's granddaughter, Mana had received elite training from the Church since childhood. Many years ago, she had even served alone as Elise's personal nun, so naturally, she had eventually become what could only be called an Elise-only fanatic.
In her eyes, no one could possibly be stronger or more beloved than Lady Elise.
Lady Elise was a treasure bestowed by Heaven!
Even if someone told her to replace the god she worshiped with Elise, Mana would immediately nod and agree.
At that moment, Elise felt the Power of Faith flowing from Mana and smiled.
First of all, Elise hadn't done anything whatsoever to Mana. She hadn't coerced her, mentally interfered with her, or altered her memories.
Yet Mana's faith was exceptionally pure, to the point that it could even rival that of fanatical believers!
Then a gentle expression appeared on Elise's face.
"If that's the case, then Mana..."
"I suppose the next Pope has already been decided."
There were already very few people left in this world who could fight Elise. Eventually, the world would undoubtedly fall into her hands.
When that happened, the organization responsible for governing the entire world would naturally be the Church!
And the Church's leader would unquestionably have to be someone Elise trusted completely, just like Gabriel and Metatron in the High School DxD world.
In the Asterisk War world, that person would probably be Mana. If Elise could find another assistant for her, then with the two of them handling things together, far fewer problems would arise.
"I didn't expect there to be businesses like these around the Church. I thought all the food was purchased centrally."
In the High School DxD world, human technology wasn't particularly advanced, roughly corresponding to around 2008. After all, that novel had originally been written during that era.
But Asterisk War was a near-future world. Even around the Church, there were plenty of small commercial stalls.
After all, everything had to keep up with the times.
"Mana, could you buy a few cups of milk tea? We'll drink them together!"
Noticing the gazes of the little ones beside her, Elise felt somewhat tempted too. How long had it been since she'd last had milk tea? The previous time had probably been in DanMachi.
This was the perfect opportunity to revisit the delicious flavors of the Asterisk War world!
"Of course, Lady Elise!"
Mana agreed without thinking much about it.
She happened to be thirsty too!
...
This was the Church's main headquarters, but in reality, it was divided into areas open to visitors and areas that were off-limits.
Elise and the others were currently in a visitor-accessible area, so there were quite a lot of tourists, and the line at the milk tea shop was rather long as well.
Mana quietly stood in the middle of the line, occasionally turning her head to look at Elise playing not far away.
"As expected of Lady Elise. I absolutely must protect that smile of yours!"
"Here are the five cups of milk tea you ordered. Please take care with them!"
The employee's voice came from nearby, immediately snapping Mana back to attention. She picked up the bag of milk tea and prepared to return to Elise's side.
Perhaps because she was in too much of a hurry, when she turned around, she accidentally bumped into the customer behind her.
The bag containing the milk tea immediately flew into the air, and panic appeared on Mana's face.
Yet at that exact moment, an exceedingly soft song reached her ears.
If she hadn't listened carefully, she might not even have heard it.
But precisely because that song appeared, the milk tea that should have fallen under the law of gravity instead drifted gently toward the ground like leaves.
For a moment, their gazes met.
"This is your milk tea. Make sure you hold onto it properly!"
"And don't be in such a hurry next time!"