The silver-haired girl wore a devilishly strange smile as she spoke.

“Yeah, right. My Soul Spirit fluctuations are only at level four right now. I almost forgot.”

“You don’t belong to this plane. Who are you?!”

The gray-robed man took Zinora two steps back. The contempt vanished from his face as he secretly formed a rune in his palm, gathering a scorching fireball.

Nolan ignored everyone else, propped her chin on her hand, and watched Zinora with amusement before saying something shocking once again.

“I’ll ask you one more time. Do you want to live, no matter the cost?”

The silver-haired girl’s mysterious whisper drifted through the elf girl’s mind like a dream.

Rage and grief had taken over her heart. Her unshakable faith had crumbled completely, leaving only the instinct to survive... and revenge!

She’d cling to even the tiniest straw.

The little princess bit her lip and gave a slight nod, as if accepting a lifelong pact and offering the silver-haired girl everything she had.

Nolan instantly understood the meaning behind those sorrowful, tear-bright eyes. She nodded in satisfaction and stood up.

“Stay right there and don’t move. Otherwise, I can’t guarantee Her Highness’s safety.”

The gray-robed man pressed his weapon to Zinora’s throat. He couldn’t tell what level her Soul Spirit fluctuations were, yet he felt a bone-deep chill—and a subtle sense of emptiness.

His intelligence had never mentioned this girl. Apart from the young knight who’d grown up alongside Zinora, did she have another protector?

This is gonna cost extra!

Emptiness meant nothingness. There was nothing there at all.

He lost focus for only a moment, but the silver-haired girl had already vanished from his view.

The Mystic’s vision went black. It was as if someone had suddenly shut the door on his world, turning out the lights and bringing everything to an end.

“Wha... what?”

The gray-robed man’s lips moved slightly, but no sound came out. His body crashed heavily to the ground.

Nolan held up his head and gently placed it in the stunned elf girl’s hands. Then she turned to the assassins who remained.

“Remember: from today on, you belong to me. I am your god.”

Without a warning, the heads of the assassins who’d been running their mouths moments ago fell one after another, as if they’d never belonged on their necks in the first place.

Nolan hadn’t lifted a finger from beginning to end. Her gaze itself was the cause that erased all things.

This had gone beyond a fight. It was a one-sided massacre. Their Mystics were useless, and their martial skills did nothing.

Before the silver-haired girl, a group of other-plane powerhouses, all averaging level eight, were no better than livestock waiting to be slaughtered.

Could she be the Soul Ferryman—the Death God?

Zinora’s lips moved, but she couldn’t speak.

The silver-haired girl hadn’t lied. She really did have the power to turn things around, and she’d kept her promise at once.

When she was done, Nolan looked away. The restless Chaos Brand retreated into the deep hollow of her chest.

“Let’s go.”

“Huh? Oh.”

Zinora nodded blankly, still unable to accept what had happened.

Was she dreaming?

The tears still wet on her cheeks, the Grand Knight Captain’s body not yet cold, the heavy stench of blood, and her trembling legs all reminded Zinora just how real this night was.

The little princess gave Barry one last, reluctant look. But instinct told her there was no time left. She whispered a prayer, silently apologized, and hurried after the mysterious girl.

The young Grand Knight Captain could have had a bright future ahead of him. Now he lay in eternal sleep in a foreign land...

Not long after the two left, a shadow raced across the plain and stopped amid the ruins of the camp.

In the firelight, the old man’s immaculate tailcoat made him look like a bat prowling through the night. If Nolan had been there, she’d have recognized him at once—and probably asked how his bad old knees could run so fast.

There was no way the Duchess would actually let Second Joestar obey her lousy husband’s orders and fend for herself. So she’d sent her most trusted butler along to protect her in secret.

Corpses didn’t lie. The carnage here told the story of what the victims had suffered.

What was strange were the other bodies: several clearly belonged to foreign races, not Iseran, along with an elf knight who’d been brutally killed.

These people were no weaklings. The butler frowned, his usually kind expression darkening. If anything had happened to the Second Miss, he’d hunt these people and their master down and slaughter them—even if he had to track them all the way to the Prime Plane.

“A Sun Elf?”

The old man crouched and examined Barry’s headless body, then looked into the distance in puzzlement.

The tracking marker on Second Joestar showed that her vital signs had remained normal, without the slightest abnormality. That was why he’d arrived so late.

The second group had been killed cleanly and efficiently. Even the butler couldn’t be sure he could’ve dealt with such a gang of dangerous criminals any better.

Then who had saved the young lady? And what exactly had happened here...?

At dawn, the two girls followed Traveler’s Road to the edge of the plain. The magnificent city on the highlands beyond River Valley was now close at hand.

At the sight of Lunsa, the holy city she’d longed for, a little light returned to Zinora’s eyes.

This trip to another plane should’ve been a happy one. She never imagined she’d fall from heaven into hell in the blink of an eye.

But just as she was about to plunge into the abyss, an incredible human girl had grabbed her hand.

“Mm!”

Zinora suddenly collapsed to the ground, looking in pain at her bloodied feet. Her tender skin had been cut open by sharp stones.

It hurt so much!

The princess had rarely had to walk anywhere on her own in her life, much less leave the red carpet and step onto filthy ground.

But a lot of what had happened tonight was a first for Her Highness.

Zinora couldn’t get back up, so she gazed at Nolan pitifully.

Nolan rolled her eyes. “Don’t look at me like that. I’m your god. You’re supposed to serve me, child.”

“But I really can’t walk any farther, God... ma’am.”

Zinora’s voice wavered close to tears. It hadn’t been easy for a girl who’d grown up in an ivory tower to hold on this long.

Nolan pursed her lips, looking troubled, as if she were trying to decide whether this elf was smart enough to train as a Witch missionary.

Did she think God was her name?

“Sigh.”

In the end, Nolan sighed and went back to being a humble manager, crouching in front of Zinora.

“And I’m not called God. My name is Nolan.”

Zinora carefully climbed onto the silver-haired girl’s back and thanked her, blushing.

The early morning sun fell across their profiles. Through the grime and mud, Zinora could see up close that the silver-haired girl had a remarkably beautiful face. She couldn’t be much older than Zinora herself.

Zinora stared, entranced. It took her a long moment to remember that Nolan had saved her life. Stammering, she said, “Um, Miss Nolan, thank you again for saving me. The elves of the High Court will give you whatever reward you wish.”

“Your faith is my reward. Better yet, you can convince all your people to believe in me, too.”

Believe in me, and you shall have eternal life!

Nolan grinned foolishly. If only it were that easy—then she’d rescue princesses every day!

“Fai... faith?”

The little princess looked utterly baffled, but her cheeks inexplicably grew warm.

A hero saving a beauty, a knight and a princess—these were the fairy tales she loved most.

But she’d never imagined that the knight who took Barry’s place as her protector would be a handsome girl—and one every bit as lovely as she was. Her heart started beating faster for no reason.

As a High Elf princess, Zinora had heard plenty of heartfelt confessions. None had been as forceful and domineering as Nolan’s, which had so easily broken through her defenses.

That’s right. The elf girl had never imagined that the person carrying her was a true god in the mortal world.

She took Nolan’s unusual request for faith as a solemn promise to stay together forever—a heartfelt declaration of love.

“I... I accept.”

As soon as she said it, Zinora wished she could bury her whole little head in Nolan’s back.

Well, what could she do? She’d already agreed.

“Heh. Did you have a choice?”

Nolan pursed her lips. She wasn’t sure Zinora could handle the important job of idol ambassador for the Chaos Throne.

She’d picked her up along the way. Might as well keep her.

“From today on, I’m your god. If anyone bullies you, come to me.”

The Beautiful Goddess-King repeated herself.

“Mm.”

Free from danger, the little princess smiled sweetly, her voice barely above a whisper as she wrapped her arms tightly around Nolan’s neck.