The friendship between Joy and Aqua went back years, long before the two had become the formidable women they were now.
Their bond was something that had been forged in the fires of loneliness, expectation, and fate itself.
When Joy was first appointed as the Saintess, it had not been a moment of glory.
Far from it.
Her ascension had caused a storm within the Church. Many of the senior clergy and sisters had already chosen another candidate—a young, docile girl whom they had carefully groomed for years to be the next Saintess.
She was gentle, obedient, and molded perfectly to fit the image the Church wanted to present to the world.
So when the Goddess's divine light chose Joy instead—an orphan girl born out of scandal, a girl who had once massacred over a hundred people in a single night—it was nothing short of heresy to them.
A murderer turned Saintess?
A child of sin declared the vessel of divinity?
It was blasphemy in their eyes.
