Why was the Sacred Queen able to absorb faith power?
Elise pondered this question. In their earlier battle, she had tried attacking with faith power several times.
The Sacred Queen had indeed been able to use faith power, and could absorb the faith power Elise used against her—but she did not absorb the surrounding ambient faith power.
In other words, she could only absorb faith power when it was directed at her, and only if it originated from the Elementalist World.
How strange.
This led Elise to think about what made up the Sacred Queen.
The human Saintess Areishia.
The Light Elemental Lord, Alexandros.
And a being from another world—an angel.
Normally, unless one possessed a special gift, only a god of faith could perceive and wield faith power.
And the part of the Sacred Queen most akin to a god… was surely that unknown angel from another world!
Within the Root existed countless angels!
The author of Blade Dance of the Elementalers must have drawn inspiration from the Bible. As for how much, Elise did not know.
But if angels existed here, then…
Could there also be a god?
The original work never mentioned it, and Elise had no desire to go to the Root to see for herself. If there really was one, she would be doomed.
She never imagined that what had once worn the guise of a simple academy harem story—Blade Dance—actually concealed such enormous implications.
It had truly taught her a harsh lesson.
"Very well, I'll remember this grudge!"
That was why Elise chose to retreat. At present, she clearly had no way to kill the Sacred Queen in the short term.
She could not use this world's faith power against the Sacred Queen, and her own faith power alone was insufficient.
For now, retreat. Once she found a method, she would return to eliminate the Sacred Queen!
But she could not return to the Lord God Space—she would not take that risk.
That meant her only choice was another world—the Elemental Spirit World neighboring the human realm!
Between the human realm and the Elemental Spirit World lay dimensional rifts. These rifts separated the two worlds.
To travel between them required special methods, such as the teleportation gate of the Blade Dance Festival.
If Elise used a massive amount of faith, she could directly traverse between them. But just now, in front of the Sacred Queen, she had chosen the cautious route.
By using only her own faith power, she opened a passage to the Elemental Spirit World. The drawback was that the limited faith power did not allow precise targeting.
After passing through the portal, Elise arrived in a pitch-black world. If she was not mistaken, this was the dimensional rift itself.
It truly was a world of darkness, with only occasional flashes of chaotic colors blending together.
"Once I pass through here, I'll reach the Elemental Spirit World!"
"Sister, I can guide you!"
Est's voice echoed in Elise's heart. Earlier, in the rush of combat, Elise had recalled Est back into her body.
Now, a ray of light appeared before Elise, drifting steadily ahead. Seeing it, she immediately followed.
She had not yet recovered from the battle just now.
Though she had declared she would deal with the Sacred Queen, as for how—that was a far more difficult question.
Her lack of battle experience had long been evident. It had already shown during her clash with Fan Xinglou.
Against Fan Xinglou's martial arts, refined over a thousand years, Elise had only won by fusing with Sylvia.
Now, against the Sacred Queen—far stronger than Fan Xinglou—she truly had no confidence.
As for fusing with Est… though it might grant her a chance at victory, the problem of faith power being absorbed remained unsolved. The Sacred Queen could simply drag things out until the fusion ended.
Suddenly, Elise recalled the Sacred Queen's final strike.
At that moment, the Sacred Queen had seemed affected!
Was it… her eyes?
From the start of the battle, Elise had removed her eyepatch, intending to use her eyes to defeat the enemy.
But when she found them ineffective, she had focused entirely on the fight and paid no further attention to them.
But now that she thought about it, perhaps her eyes had not been useless—only slow to take effect!
And afterwards, the Sacred Queen had quickly recovered.
From the moment the Sacred Queen broke free until the battle ended, it had only been around fifteen minutes.
This was the first time Elise had encountered such a situation.
"If I use my eyes against the Sacred Queen, there may be a sliver of hope for victory!"
However…
It was obvious that after suffering that attack once, the Sacred Queen would surely be wary of her eyes. To make it work again, she would have to catch her off guard.
How could she ensure the Sacred Queen would look into her eyes? Or at least ensure the eyes' power would activate…
"Not good…"
A faint voice entered Elise's ears, instantly making her entire body tense.
She had only just fought the Sacred Queen. Could it be that the Sacred Queen had followed her here?
"Please…"
The same female voice sounded again, just like before, but now filled with deep sorrow.
"Who are you?"
Elise was on high alert, ready to attack at any moment. At the same time, she secretly opened another portal behind her. If anything went wrong, she would flee immediately.
From the deep darkness, a petite figure slowly emerged, floating toward Elise. She seemed to want to come closer, but when Elise instinctively stepped back, she stopped.
The girl had long hair the color of night, eyes shining like gold, and a well-defined, beautiful face.
She wore a short, black kimono. Her attire was extremely revealing—her collarbones clearly visible, and from her thighs downward, almost everything was exposed to the air.
One glance was enough to make an ordinary person fall into the depths of that darkness.
"My name is Ren Ashdoll. I am a spirit of this world."
Although Elise had suspected as much, when the figure appeared before her, she was still shocked.
She knew full well who this spirit was!
The Dark Elemental Lord—Ren Ashdoll!
Though it was strange she had not introduced herself as the Dark King…
Still, Elise had just fought the Sacred Queen. And now, the Dark King appeared as well? She couldn't help but wonder—had she stumbled into the Elemental Lords' very den today?
The portal was fully charged. If anything went wrong, Elise would escape instantly.
"Do not worry. I bear you no ill will," Ren said softly. "I came to find you because I wish to entrust you with something, outsider."
"Please kill the Elemental Lords… and save this world!"
Ren's expression was filled with sorrow. For reasons unknown, she even bowed her head to Elise.
"I beg you!"