Clashing

At the sound of that title, Little George looked a little displeased. He said unfriendlyly,

"Me? I'm the bishop of the Holy Spirit Society, appointed by the great Lord of All Spirits. You don't even know who I am, yet you dare call yourself the Lord's knight?"

Little George didn't believe the great Lord would have forgotten to tell that knight what His bishop looked like.

Diana also recalled what Ivan had revealed to her: "Midnight, East District, alley, believer..."

Her beautiful eyes shifted beneath her veil, and she muttered,

"The Lord really didn't mention anything about a bishop. But how could it be a boy of fourteen or fifteen? It would make more sense if it were that gentleman from earlier..."

"Who are you, exactly?" they both asked at once, and the atmosphere grew tense.

Seeing this, Gais hurriedly pushed Little George out of the chapel and shut the door.

He could more or less tell that the knight who followed the Lord, as Little George had described, was most likely this refined young noblewoman.

But for now, he couldn't let the believers see the bishop confronting someone else...

He turned around and smiled at the believers inside the chapel.

"Brothers and sisters of the Holy Spirit Society, today's service will begin a little later. The great Lord of All Spirits has given our esteemed bishop some new revelations."

The believers nodded in confusion. They hadn't noticed what was happening by the door, and continued murmuring among themselves.

He breathed a sigh of relief, adjusted his glasses, and opened the door.

Bang! A whirlwind swept past Gais, nearly blowing off the glasses he had just cleaned.

The two people outside in the alley had already started fighting.

The instant Little George was pushed outside and the door shut behind him,

the whirlwind in his hand had already shot out, meant to test the mysterious girl's true identity.

If the person before him really was the knight the Lord had spoken of, she would surely be able to withstand this attack.

If she wasn't... Hmph.

Little George had no intention of going easy on a pretty girl. Everything he did now was in service of protecting the Holy Spirit Society.

Guided by his Spirituality, the whirlwind howled away from his hand, abruptly gathering into a translucent ball of air. Like a tightly packed cannonball, it hurtled toward Diana.

Diana's pupils contracted slightly, and her body instantly shifted into a combat stance.

She could clearly sense the paths of dust drifting through the air, and even detect the unstable "threads of order" along the edge of the air mass.

Almost as soon as it came at her, she stepped back. Her body slid lightly to the side like a feather, her ivory skirt tracing a clean arc as she slipped just beyond the air mass's path.

The airflow lifted one corner of the white veil over her face before it quickly fell back into place. Her sapphire eyes remained fixed on her target.

The air mass struck the stone-paved road behind her and burst into a cloud of white air, sending chips of stone flying.

Little George hadn't clearly seen Diana's movement. His eyes narrowed, but he didn't pause. He pressed his left hand down against the ground.

Dark green vines suddenly burst from the cracks between the paving stones. Their sharp thorns glinted as they twisted like living things toward Diana's ankles.

Little George swept his right hand, and water leaped from a bucket he had left by the wall. It became a slender whip that lashed toward Diana's shoulder.

The elemental attacks, drawn from the Natural Aspect, came from the front and behind, hemming in her escape.

Diana's reactions were astonishingly fast. She lightly touched the ground with her toes and sprang upward, the explosive strength of her muscles lifting her half a meter into the air.

The wind flipped up her skirt, revealing her short deerskin boots. The soles landed precisely on the encroaching vines.

Following the motion of her step, she twisted in midair, dodging the water attack while keeping her eyes on Little George's movements.

She could sense the point where Little George's aura connected to the forces of nature as he controlled the elements. It was right before his chest—the weak spot in his defense!

Little George was still staring in disbelief at Diana's midair maneuver.

She can even dodge that? Could she really be...

There was no time to think during a fight. The instant the girl landed, she surged toward Little George with precise, measured steps.

Her ivory dress followed her movements, clinging snugly to her legs as she ran without slowing her down at all. It was like a suit of armor fitted to her body.

The wind from her sprint blew her white veil backward. Her delicate face flickered in and out of view, growing rapidly larger in Little George's eyes.

Little George realized that he was nowhere near as nimble as the girl. He hurriedly redirected the vines, trying to ensnare Diana and slow her down.

Feeling the vines twisting after her, Diana furrowed her pale golden brows beneath her veil.

She dodged the vines still reaching for her from behind as she continued closing the distance between them. At the same time, she clenched her right hand into a fist and struck at the point where Little George's Spirituality connected, in front of his chest.

Her fist, strengthened with explosive force, swept through the air hard enough to ruffle the hair above Little George's forehead.

Little George's expression changed. He hurriedly manipulated the air into a shield before him and retreated.

But Diana's attack came at an extremely tricky angle. Her fist skimmed the edge of the air shield, then swerved strangely in midair and struck his forearm with pinpoint accuracy.

Thud! Little George felt his arm go numb, and his control over the elements instantly faltered.

Diana's attack had inflicted not only physical damage but also a mystical punishment, disrupting his connection to the natural elements.

Diana's left hand followed through to seize his wrist. Her gray lace glove closed around his forearm. Her delicate fingers, which should have been soft as jade, had become iron pincers, leaving him unable to move.

Little George struggled, trying to use his advanced Spirituality to manipulate the air elements in front of him and blast Diana away.

But before the whirlwind could even take shape, Diana's right hand had already locked onto his shoulder.

Her long right leg swept out from beneath her skirt and tripped his feet.

The strips of fringe on her skirt fell softly as she leaned forward, covering her stockings.

The white veil finally slipped from her face with the force of her movements, revealing beautiful blue eyes brimming with fighting spirit and tightly furrowed brows.

The faint freckles on her delicate face no longer looked cute. Her small nose and mouth were drawn tight, as though the tension of battle had set her nerves on edge.

Her long, pale golden hair was pinned up beneath a wide-brimmed hat, with only a single lock hanging over her forehead.

Little George had no time to marvel at her beauty. The world spun around him as the girl threw him to the ground with an over-the-shoulder throw.

Gais, who had watched the fight anxiously from the side, rushed over as soon as it ended.

He reached out with both hands, hoping to catch Little George before he hit the stone road, but as an ordinary middle-aged man, he was just a little too slow.

Just as Little George's head was about to hit the ground, his body suddenly stopped, hovering strangely in midair as if an invisible pair of hands were holding him up.

Then a majestic, ethereal voice rang out in all three of their minds at once:

"Excellent. As expected of our Holy Spirit Society's knight. With strength like that, you can certainly protect our Holy Spirit Society."