[Vol. 8] Chapter 131: Sybil Roland
Back during the Fourth Demon War.
More precisely, during the previous timeline’s Fourth Demon War, Sybil had once been captured by demons who had secretly infiltrated the city.
She was then charmed for a long time by the Daughter of the Demon Lord of [Corruption], the succubus Cressia Eloun, and ended up becoming one of the demon’s pawns planted inside the city.
At a key moment in battle, she betrayed and stabbed the Judgement Saintess, Frederica, in the back. This caused the situation to suddenly take a sharp turn for the worse and triggered a series of serious events afterward.
But after Violet corrected the timeline and changed Yuna's plan from cooperating with [Eloun], the outcome of that event, and Sybil Roland’s fate, completely changed.
Because there was no help from an insider anymore, Sybil didn’t fall into the hands of the demons. Instead, she stayed at the frontlines with the Saintess, fighting against the invasion for a long time. She earned honors during the war and was officially promoted.
Now, she even joined the trial for the chosen heroes and became one of the challengers under the [Underworld Gate].
Still, she probably never imagined that she would die such a sudden and strange death in the trial space. Just like that, without even knowing what killed her.
Fate… really is a strange and unpredictable thing.
But she was still lucky in a way. Because Sybil Roland didn’t die out of greed or arrogance, but because of some kind of forced external power, Violet decided to step in and help.
“[Prayer of Resurrection]”
Without any flashy moves, the priestess calmly used a resurrection spell on Sybil.
It was just a basic Tier-7 single-target revival spell, plain and simple. But since Sybil had only recently died, and her body was still well-preserved, the [Prayer of Revival] was enough to bring her soul back to the world of the living.
Through the black-and-white vision of the [Yin-Yang Eyes], Violet could see Sybil’s fading soul being pulled back into her body by the spell. Slowly, it merged back into place.
Before long, the girl let out a faint groan and opened her eyes. She was slowly regaining consciousness.
“Uh... where am I...?”
“You’re awake? You’re really lucky. Even after that, you didn’t completely die. Looks like the Goddess was secretly watching over you.”
Violet acted all serious as she put down her staff, pretending she had just finished healing.
To the followers of the Church, the Goddess who represents the Primordial Light is seen as all-knowing and all-powerful. So Violet couldn’t show herself to Sybil as the Goddess, not even to ask her questions. Using her real appearance was actually much more convenient.
“Didn’t completely die? I… huh?!”
Maybe because the person who killed her was way too fast, it took Sybil a while to react. When she finally remembered what happened, her eyes went wide in shock, and she let out a very unladylike yelp. She jumped up on the spot like a startled cat, making the priestess twitch slightly at the corner of her eye.
She’s a pretty girl… But turns out she’s got that kind of personality inside, huh…
Not knowing what the black-haired girl was thinking, Sybil instinctively raised her hand to touch her neck. But the wound that had once completely cut through her artery had already healed completely, thanks to the revival spell.
She checked all over herself in a bit of a panic, but found nothing. Then she picked up the four-winged holy symbol that had been cut off along with the rope during the attack. Holding it in her hand, she stared at it for a long time in a daze, then slowly looked around her.
“Dear Goddess… are they all... gone?”
It wasn’t until now that she finally noticed the more than ten dead bodies lying around her, bodies that had long gone cold. They were also wearing outfits like priests or clerics.
As a high-ranking cleric skilled in healing, Sybil didn’t even need to walk over to check. She could immediately tell what had happened just by looking.
“~”
Violet said nothing. She just let Sybil quietly observe the surroundings and didn’t make any comment about the dead clerics. It was as if she didn’t care at all about anyone here besides Sybil.
But the panicked cleric didn’t seem to notice how strange that was.
It took quite a while before the girl slowly recovered from the shock. She stared at the priestess’s beautiful and flawless face for a moment. For some reason, the fear and nervousness on her face began to fade… and a faint blush appeared on her cheeks.
“I-I’m sorry for being rude. Did you… save me? Thank you very much. I’m Sybil Roland, the current Red-Robed Deputy Bishop of Saint Sarnos City, um…”
She nervously rubbed her hands together. It looked like she was feeling a bit awkward and didn’t know what to say. Only when the priestess lightly cleared her throat did Sybil finally react. She gave an embarrassed smile, quickly straightened up, used a simple cleaning spell to clean the blood off her robe, and politely gave a formal bow.
“Anyway, thank you so much for helping me. If not for you… I’d probably have died here like the others. May I ask your name, miss?”
After a moment of hesitation, Sybil looked at the priestess with a hint of admiration in her eyes and couldn’t help but ask.
“You have such a pure and holy presence… That kind of aura only comes from someone who has trained their faith to the highest level, someone nearly one with the Holy Light. Only top-tier saints can have that kind of power. In the entire [Goddess Church], there are only a few people like that. But you… don’t seem to be any of the Three Saintesses, right?”
Not wanting to waste time with guessing games, the priestess waved her hand, showing that she already knew Sybil’s general situation. Then she calmly and clearly answered.
“No need for small talk. I’m Violet. I don’t belong to your temple system. I’m just a regular traveling priest who happened to pass by and saw you. So, what exactly happened here? Why would someone suddenly go on a killing spree in the Goddess’s trial space?”
“Eh? You’re… not a priest from the Church? There are holy and pure people like you outside the [Goddess Church]? I see… I guess I really don’t know as much as I thought. But still… ‘Violet’… That name sounds oddly familiar…”
Looking puzzled, Sybil, who had long golden hair and the perfect appearance of someone from a holy country, muttered a bit to herself. Then she lightly cleared her throat and frowned in thought.
“Well… Miss Violet, here’s what happened. After entering the Goddess’s trial grounds, for some unknown reason, I and about ten other priests from the temple were all gathered together. That place wasn’t like this one. It was a grand and holy hall, very familiar feeling, but not part of any temple or city we’ve ever known…”
“It was a divine trial, after all. No one could predict what might happen. Even though we priests came from all over the world and didn’t know each other, we were all under the same organization, so we introduced ourselves and decided to travel together for safety.”
“I don’t know about the other trial takers, but among the priests selected for this divine test, everyone got along very well. We quickly divided up the work and started moving forward as a team.”