Iseran was a secondary plane ruled by humans. It wasn't especially powerful, but it wasn't helpless, either.

Its civilization wasn't backward, but it still lagged far behind the mysterious and powerful Prime Plane.

People strive to climb higher, while water flows downhill. The truly strong always fight their way up without holding back, racing toward a better future.

The battlefield between planes was their path to rising through the ranks.

Nolan wasn't in such a hurry. She needed to establish herself here and, in the name of the Chaos God King, build the first temple altar for the Chaos Throne.

Everyone knew that Norland's top powers were also among the mightiest military forces on the interplanar battlefield.

The first was the country where she was born: the Broomflower Kingdom.

Morningstar City was the largest city in the eastern province of Broomflower territory, as well as the fief of General Joestar, the supreme commander on the interplanar battlefield.

But its people preferred to call it the Griffin's Nest. The strength of the Griffin Legion under Grand Duke Joestar was renowned even in the Prime Plane, and every child in Morningstar City was born an aerial fighter.

That's right. Thanks to the Goddess of the Seven Luminaries' little prank, Nolan had turned into a young lady from a powerful ducal family.....

Things had certainly become more complicated for Nolan, but the identity Astetaya had given her wasn't entirely useless. At least she didn't have to worry about money.

She couldn't reveal who she was. Not yet.

The Chaos Throne stood for destruction. If a little girl were linked to it, people would only think of her as a heretic. To win over believers, it was important for the “agent” to have a good reputation, too.

Nolan would become a godfather of war, leading lost lambs to abandon their old faith and embrace Chaos!

And shaping the perfect image of an Apostle of Chaos would begin with playing an impeccable lady knight. She never forgot the humiliation the Bitch Goddess had inflicted on her.

If faith was the source of a god's power, then Soul Spirits were the source of a mortal's strength.

The peoples of secondary planes knew next to nothing about power. Their understanding of how to use Soul Spirits barely went beyond the most basic speculation.

There were two paths: training the body and meditating the mind. Their counterparts, Soul Warriors and Mystics, were the two most common classes in Norland.

That didn't matter. Nolan would always keep her Soul Spirit fluctuations within the normal range for someone her age, to show that she was training diligently.

She couldn't be too strong or too weak. Both geniuses and failures drew attention and brought unnecessary trouble.

On a bright, sunny morning, Nolan finished her usual morning exercises and wiped away her sweat. Her beautiful silver hair, inherited from her mother, gleamed in the sunlight.

Second Joestar had never given her neurotic father any pleasant surprises, but she'd never disappointed him, either. Years of strict training had made her a capable soldier, ready to be knighted at any time.

By now, her status as a third-tier Soul Warrior was enough to make most of the personal guards feel inferior.

Nolan stripped off her light clothes and casually planted her cross-shaped sword in the ground. Then she walked barefoot through the manor in nothing but a simple shirt.

This quiet little estate on the outskirts of the city was the Duchess's family's ancestral home. After the increasingly old and deranged Duke Joestar made a certain decision, all the servants were dismissed.

Only a butler to see to daily needs and a few tutors to teach the “second son” remained.

Every year, Lady Tess came here on vacation. All three daughters were born here, then grew up in Morningstar City. At last, they returned to the ducal residence in the capital, Anlu, for a grand coming-of-age ceremony, becoming celebrated noblewomen far and wide.

But Nolan was the exception among the three sisters. She was confined to the estate and kept far from makeup and fine gowns. Even her mother was allowed to visit only once a year. She was like a prisoner.

Fifteen years on the secondary plane had passed in a flash. Now nearly sixteen, Second Joestar had grown even more beautiful, living up to the bloodline of Anlu's number-one beauty.

But the more beautiful she became, the more it pained the old butler, who had watched Tess grow up and raised Nolan, too.

Of all the daughters, Second Joestar—the one stripped of every bit of freedom—was the most like the young lady.

She should have had the most wonderful youth in the world......

It turned out Duke Joestar had made the right decision. He never had another child.

Nolan wiped her mouth in the dining room, finishing breakfast with impeccable noble manners.

As she stood, the heavy feeling in her chest made her frown slightly. Ink seemed to flow through her dark red eyes, like blood-red agates.

Nolan lifted the soft mounds on her chest with both hands and sighed deeply.

“I could puke......”

It wasn't just her height and graceful figure that had grown.

Her R-cup size......was growing, too!

ಥ_ಥ

She pushed open the plain bedroom door, and someone immediately rushed into her arms and hugged her tightly.

“Did you miss me?”

The beautiful woman, both familiar and a stranger, cupped Nolan's face with red-rimmed eyes. Deep lines had formed at the corners of her eyes, though hints of her youthful beauty remained.

Second Joestar tugged at the corners of her mouth, as aloof as ever. The distance in her expression gave the gentle woman nothing to complain about.

What kind of mother only lets you see her once a year?!

Tess stroked her head with affection and pity, murmuring, “Jojo has already left with her father for the royal capital. She's going to the Seven Luminaries Temple to receive the sacred baptism. She kept talking about you before she left.”

Jojo was, of course, Joanna Joestar—the adorable little girl whose birth had plunged the duke into misery.

This time, her mother had brought a mountain of letters. Her younger sister had been clingy since childhood, and Tess wasn't the one suffering most from being unable to see Nolan.

At the mention of little angel Joanna, Nolan gave a quiet “Mm.” The corners of her mouth lifted into a rare, sweet smile.

Even without makeup, she could still captivate anyone.

Too bad the only one lucky enough to see it was the old, half-blind butler.

But a hint of wicked anticipation lurked in that flawless smile. If she could nudge Joanna, a natural-born Little Witch, into becoming an Apostle of Chaos, the results would be spectacular.

Jojo had left Morningstar City, a little sooner than Nolan had expected. Nolan had thought her sister wouldn't head to the heart of the Broomflower Kingdom until she turned sixteen and came of age.

But the idea of her receiving the sacred baptism and becoming a follower of the Goddess of the Seven Luminaries made Nolan deeply uncomfortable!

That wasn't a family tradition. Had those fanatics in the church taken an interest in her?

Just then, Tess noticed the telltale bulge beneath Nolan's shirt. She rolled her eyes and nagged her for a moment.

It was the usual complaint: why was she running around without a bra again?

No doubt she'd gone without underwear below the waist for convenience, too. Otherwise, the curves outlined beneath her shirt and trousers wouldn't have been so breathtaking.

“Do you really think you're a man?”

As she spoke, the Duchess's eyes reddened again, helpless in the face of it all.

In her eyes, this was perhaps her daughter's way of rebelling, getting revenge, or giving up on herself.

Nolan's cool temperament and carefree ways seemed only natural after the brutal upbringing she'd endured as a boy.

After so long apart, Tess sat with Second Joestar on the bed and couldn't stop talking, as if she wanted to make up for everything she'd missed in Nolan's life over the past year.