After all, the Abyss Church that the Lord used as cannon fodder were almost wiped out. The few who sneaked in from time to time would be completely wiped out by Elvin dropping from the sky with a group of flaming Armored Skeleton Warriors. As a result, there was hardly anyone left to clean up.
The following election phase made people like Elvin so angry they were close to exploding. What exactly were the standards for judging a Saintess? The answer was that even the insiders probably did not know, because the records and results from past years were a complete mess. Old texts and rules were often burned or lost thanks to little surprises from the Abyss Church.
Even the Saintess Selection itself had only been restarted in the last two hundred years. Before that, Twilight had held power, and this change only happened because the current Pope showed mercy. No one really knew why this Pope suddenly remembered this fallen faction and decided to reestablish the long forgotten position of Saintess.
It was like creating a competitor for himself, yet for many factions and individuals, it was still an opportunity. The end result was extreme chaos with no order at all. From top to bottom, the Church of Holy Light was full of rotten people, and the scenes played out during this election would have been enough to film dozens of dramas.
As devout believers, Elvin and the others were furious, but for now they could not simply kill all these pests. The position had not been secured yet. What was even more absurd was that this chaotic situation actually helped push Alba forward.
Yes, while Simulator was shut down and Alba could only go out occasionally to wander around and do some good deeds, she somehow ended up being pushed straight into the final round. At this point, only a few dozen competitors remained. Even so, Alba was still among the strongest contenders.
The reason was simple. Elvin and Raina, one focused on combat and the other on planning, forcibly carried Alba forward. When it came to dirty tricks and manipulating forces, their side was actually the strongest now.
On the combat side, anyone who dared to cause trouble, target Alba, or secretly communicate with forces from Abyss would be purged by Elvin. Under Divine Flame, no sin could escape, and no innocent person would suffer by mistake. With extremely sharp Dark Power perception, hostility detection, and sin judgment, she killed with perfect accuracy.
That flame was almost unstoppable. She had already killed three Gold Rank level experts as easily as slaughtering chickens. With information deliberately spread to preserve witnesses, stories about a flaming angel and skeleton Warrior punishing sinners from Hell quietly circulated through the streets.
On the non-combat side, the popularity and image of a Saintess were also important. In the end, popularity, votes, charity, and events all came down to money and connections. Raina lacked many things, but money was not one of them.
As one of the top merchant groups in Faris Empire, and even across The Continent, money was just a number to her. There were very few who could compete, and she could smash opponents simply by throwing money at them. On top of that, they somehow gained support from certain schools and factions within Rohn Empire and Paraten Empire, as well as from the Elven Race.
With these two leading the way, Alba advanced without much clarity but with unstoppable momentum. Most competitors were taken down in quick succession, and she easily entered the final round. There were no meaningful trials or sacred religious atmosphere at all, just pure advantage with almost no personal effort involved.
Still, they did not feel there was anything wrong with this. When you compete fairly and others play dirty, taking action yourself is only natural. At most, they just kicked people out, and aside from those truly tied to Abyss, they did not wipe out the losers.
Compared to that, others were far more ruthless. Earlier, there had been a genuine miracle, and as one of the few Saintess to advance from that event, Alba naturally attracted attention. In just a short period, they had already dealt with over a hundred assassins, including nearly a hundred covert attempts involving poison and explosions.
At the moment, Alba was doing something very familiar. She lay on her bed, holding her phone and having a long video call. The person on the other end was Fei'er Li.
"Your election is going far better than I imagined. If nothing unexpected happens, the position will be yours. How do you feel?" "Every time I go out, it feels like social death. I have to be wrapped up tightly by Raina and keep smiling the whole time. It's exhausting." "That does sound rough." "But thank you for your support. I heard from Raina that you helped a lot." "It was nothing."
Fei'er Li was also holding her phone, feeling a long lost sense of familiarity. The two had now confirmed their relationship as allies and friends. She had also provided significant help for Alba's Saintess campaign.
After decades of experience, Fei'er Li had built up extensive connections. As a Gold herself, the people she could reach were considerable even though she traveled constantly. On top of that, with the help of Pure White Book, she was almost a top tier Mage.
Her published papers and displayed abilities had already earned her great respect from many within the Academy and other factions. Then there was Luna, who first passed the news to Grand Elder. At first, when he heard about going to beat up Elfido, Grand Elder hesitated slightly, but once he heard someone would provide strong support, he immediately straightened up and agreed.
Icelis handled external deterrence. Any small faction with negative Gold or involvement at the Hall Tier level would get their leader beaten badly at the first sign of trouble, and then they behaved themselves. Although Icelis's combat growth was somewhat awkward, either completely crushing others or being crushed, dealing with minor figures below the Evil God level was still fine.
Fei'er Li did not know why Elfido wanted to reestablish the position of Saintess, but it was likely nothing good. If Alba's destiny as a chosen Saintess was fixed, then fighting for this position might still get in his way. If restoring Saintess was part of Elfido's plan, he definitely would not want a real Saintess to take the seat.
Otherwise, the original Book would not have included the plot where Alba died early. The two exchanged all the information they had, focusing on the black Dragon shaped god currently called Bahamut. After discussion, they realized that almost everyone, including Raina and the others, seemed closely connected to that Dragon.
The massive changes in events were all caused by that Black Dragon. First, it was confirmed by Icelis in the Northlands, where it devoured a Beast Tide and defeated the Fire of Decay empowered Black Dragon. Then, confirmed by Luna, it defeated the damaged World Tree that tried to devour her and the entire Elven Race.
Later in Faris Empire, it fought two enemies at once and destroyed both Elfido and Augustus. After that world shaking event where even the Sun was affected, Augustus was completely erased from the World. Two of the four great figures were gone, and with the ancestor of the Dragonkin appearing as a true Dragon God, the old black dragon threat was surely long dead.
Earlier still, it directly acted to erase the entire Demonkind, pulling out almost all the corrupt influence of the Church of Holy Light across the World. In practical terms, it had used the power of a single god to turn what was once Hell level difficulty into something like beginner mode.
After hearing about the original tragic plotlines from Fei'er Li, Alba finally realized just how terrifying Bahamut was. Defeating the entire World alone was no exaggeration. Still, she could not help wondering why someone like that even needed their help.
Fei'er Li explained that perhaps this God had paid a price for acting directly before. Now, to continue using power, it might need real world vessels like them. Or at least, there were things that only non-God mortals could do.
Otherwise, there would be no reason to involve them at all. Both of them considered this possibility. Soon after, the call ended because Alba received a notice.
The Twilight Pope Elfido was coming to visit. He was visiting all the candidate Saintess, and he was already halfway through the list. The moment they heard this, both of them thought of a weasel paying New Year visits to chickens.
"This guy is probably trying to find the cause of that earlier miracle. That means you," Fei'er Li analyzed immediately. The artifact used by Dawn that wiped out many of the Church of Holy Light was far too eye catching.
Even if it was not directly related, ruling out future competitors was still a gain. After suppressing Dawn and letting the Church of Holy Light rot for centuries, how could he not react to such a miracle? "What should I do? Should I meet him, or not?" Alba panicked a little.
By Fei'er Li's description, this was clearly a boss level figure, and meeting in person meant she could not hide anything. This was supposed to be a low level boss, so why did he suddenly appear right in front of her? Even if she had backing, the distance was too great.