I will strive beyond this cursed bloodline!

Rossaline continued training and relearning whatever Lily threw at her; it wasn't as hard as she had hoped it would be.

She, like Elizabeth, was very good at the things that were quite obvious; it was only that, unlike Elizabeth, Rossaline didn't enjoy or think herself good at what she was good at.

Rossaline... had a talent for Soul Magic, Mental Magic, and Manipulation. Not manipulation magic, nothing as dignified as tamming or familiar type magic. No.

What Rossaline was good at was manipulating people with her Magic, twisting the victim using her Magic to make them more willing to follow her instructions. She knew how to mold the minds of other people to fit her tastes.

There was a twist here, and suddenly they didn't like their hairstyle anymore. A whisper and a compliment here when they tested the blonde dye, and suddenly they loved being blonde.

A whisper and sigh about loving them when their body was more... well-endowed, and suddenly they twisted their own body with Magic to fit the body type of Elizabeth.

It was... Not something to be proud of, but it was what Rossaline was best at.

Turning people into offshoots of Elizabeth, fake versions of her lover. Fake versions that loved her and wanted nothing else but to please her.

It was disgusting, and it was what Rossaline was best at. Why? Because it was something that had happened to her in another life, she had seen parts of it, it made so much sense now. Rossaline had doubted this about herself, doubted about if something was wrong with her, why could she do this?

The answer was as simple as it was obvious, it was because she herself was broken, same as Rena, but worse in some aspects.

Her soul was more stable, so she didn't need to indulge in this, and yet... She did, she twisted and corrupted so many innocent girls, all because she wanted to indulge in the pleasures of the flesh, all because she could not control her own urges, the phantom feel of someone ravaging her.

The pleasure her body craved... And her own stubborn desire to not be a victim to the urges of a BUG. She had not known why she detested the idea of a man leering, watching, tasting, licking, playing, and or lying down with her.

Not till she got full control of the [Gem Of Lust], she was happy for the fact that Elizabeth hadn't taken it. And for the fact that the blonde girl didn't invade the privacy of her.

The past... was not pretty. And the fact that her own disdain for Healing magic was rooted in the past... It didn't settle well with Rossaline; it was part of this stubborn desire to not be controlled by her past, which was why she didn't take to healing as much as she should have.

The only reason she had wanted to have some knowledge in the field was because that first night that Elizabeth had almost died when they got into the MPI. The scare had been so primal that she didn't think and merely put to use all the knowledge her parents had given her about healing, and it had barely been enough to save Elizabeth.

It was only after that event, that she truly started to dwell more deeply into healing.

And even after that Rossaline didn't dwell too much onto it, she knew that Elizabeth had painted her perception of her as a Healer, so that was what she pretended to be, it wasn't that hard.

Her own original [Shift] was that of a pink-haired mage, it was easy enough to twist it into one of a healer.

And while she practiced dark Magic, soul magic and even mind Magic, Elizabeth never said anything about it, so she continued doing so, learning about wards and barriers, she prepared to seal out any information that she didn't want to share.

And so, her first year of school ended.

Then... the worst came to pass, she had needed more advanced healing Magic, Magic that she hadn't studied, not seriously. And so, she ended having to beg others for it, the... disgrace, Rossaline was not used to beg for things.

She, of course, had done so, but it was more of an act to give other people the impression that they had stuff she wanted, to get them to reduce their awareness or suspicion of her.

But this? This actually hurt her, when they refused her, when they asked why she thought that they would be able to heal Elizabeth. When she, a prodigy couldn't.

And the fact that she couldn't scream at them that she was a fake. That she knew not how half the Magic she used worked, that she had... that she was an atheist, a user of divine Magic that believed in no god could only go so far.

Magic was like that, a mystical force, you could replace great many things with it, you didn't need an actual divine entity to bless you or your actions to use spells like [Blessing].

You could compensate, and if you knew how the body worked, you could even skimp on the Magic, so to many her spells seemed to be working as intended, when her [Blessing] spell worked differently, it didn't enhance them by the use of divine Magic.

But instead she ended with nothing, and when she finally got something, it had almost been a deal with the devil, at least she didn't need to go forward with it, it would have been more issues for Elizabeth after all.

It would mean that she would have to deal with the Italians more deeply, instead of the small touch that they needed to do right now.

"Focus, your mind is wandering... again." The message screamed at the far end of her consciousness, the albino woman still focusing on her mana channels and how she was building the spells.

The woman was judging and evaluating what she did.

"This is not a normal spell, you are building upon the premise of [Divine Favour] you aren't supposed to prepare everything, you set up the vessel for the spell and give yourself to your chosen deity." The women continued not speaking, but still communicating.

They had been doing this for the better part of the day. Rossie would cast a spell, then Lily would deconstruct it and rebuild it as it would be for a normal cleric.

How she was supposed to cast spells if she was truly a [Saintess of Healing], for she should have started casting spells as an acolyte, then move to cleric, priestess, bishop, arch bishop and finally a Pope.

Or well, Saintess at some of the steps. She wasn't quite sure how the [Church] worked, mostly because, as she had stated before. She was an atheist.

There was no reason why she should believe in the existence of divine intervention, even if she had seen evidence, she still didn't trust or believe in it.

Or not till Elizabeth showed her a different view on it, be it willingly or not.

"I am trying," Rossaline answered while focusing and doing the spell again, this was a style of spell casting that she was not used to.

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She was used to building the spell from the ground up, even when not using Elizabeth's spell-casting style, she still prepared and set up contingencies in case something didn't work as it was supposed to.

Then she used to cast the spell and react accordingly, but this? This was another matter entirely, she... trusted in Elizabeth, she knew that if she left it to the blonde, the spell would bloom as it was intended, hell, chances were her Magic would jump a few tiers in the power list.

Rossaline knew that Elizabeth was like that, that if it was her choice, she would probably make it so all the spells Rossaline entrusted would always work, no matter how little mana Rossaline used.

That was one of the greatest advantages of the divine magic style magic. That one didn't need as much mana as the normal variant. The more your god loved you, the less mana you needed to use, the fewer things you needed to pay attention to while casting.

That was why people believed her to be better than them, because her spells always were pristine, no one believed these were made by Rossaline, the fricking useless clerics.

They could not differiantate between Magic from mortals and the divine, how was Rossaline supposed to trust in them like that?

"But... Elizabeth..." Rossaline said sighing, if she started removing parts of the spell to leave only the normal framework, and then called upon the [Divine Connection], Rossaline knew it would work.

Even if it wasn't Elizabeth herself, it would be one of the two other ones, the ones that had started working as Elizabeth's assistants, her two former [Shift].

The fact that Elizabeth could split herself like that and remain sane was another proof of her blooming divinity. Even if Elizabeth acted like they were different people...

Rossaline wasn't sure why Elizabeth had decided to set up like that, but she would trust and act accordingly. Even if she would love to get her way with three different versions of Elizabeth at the same time, more so since Elizabeth's birthday was coming fast and faster with every day.

Soon Elizabeth would be eighteen, and all her excuses would become moot point. Rossaline had great plans for what to do during that auspicious day.

"Even the most incompetent God can deal with normal magic, half of their spell casting is supported by their believers, they too brute-force the spell construct by delegating the calculations to the subconscious mind of their believers, you not trusting your goddess is you don't trusting your fellow believers." Lily sent back to Rossaline.

Trust her fellow believers? So if Rossaline casted spells using the divinity of Elizabeth, she herself was building the spell? Her subconscious mind was?

And that of fellow believers? That would be... Rena? Aura? All the minions that Elizabeth carried around? If so, then it should be fine, leaving aside the latest additions (Chloe and Alice) Elizabeth had a great many amount of minions, so if the calculations were divided upon all of those that worked as believers of Elizabeth...

Rossaline took a second look at her Magic Circle, at all the precautions, all the safeguards, everything that made this magic stable really. All the effort she had made while learning Magic, all the adaptations that she made so that the Magic worked as it should...

And discarded them, all that remained was the framework, the outline of a spell and what it should do. Not how to do it, not how to get the required mana, or how to move it. Instead it was merely a prayer, a desire... Something she wanted to achieve with no description, plans or any idea of how to do it.

"Heal," Rossaline chanted, by all metrics of the world this spell should fail, her own understanding of Magic said so, it had no framework, spellwork, it barely had spell nodes if anything.

No mage, magic girl, wizard, witch or sage would call this a spell. No, this was closer to a wish, a wish cast upon a star.

"That is correct, that is how you should do it. It wasn't that hard was it?" And yet...

The spell bloomed, no, not spell, this wasn't a spell, not anymore. This was, "A miracle." Rossaline said as the golden light enveloped her hand, moving it around, the Magic remained tied to her, Rossaline felt no drain to her Magic. No drain to her mana, no hidden headache at the back of her head as her brain struggled to keep the magic calculation going.

Instead it was a normal Heal, a very basic healing spell even. Placing a hand atop her shoulder she felt the Divine Energy sap into her and start working to release the stress that was upon her shoulders.

"Works better than suspected, same proficiency to a dedicated spell..." Rossaline said as she gauged the effect of the spell, "This... shouldn't work this well."

"The efficiency and power of Divine Magic is tied to the faith and belief one has upon their deities, as such while more powerful on the lower end of the ranks, it is weaker on the higher ends, as you will never be as powerful or will be able to overpass those you dedicated your life. Not a problem for more divine casters, unless they achieve apotheosis and surpass their deities, that is." The words transmitted from Lily while encouraging highlighted a hidden message.

"So you say that if I fully dedicate myself to this style, I will never be able to surpass Eli-Eli?" Rossaline said as she started working on the next Divine Style spell, this was easier since she didn't need to prepare as much, barely a thought and the framework for the next spell was ready, "[Blessing]."

Only this time the target was herself, she felt the mana envelope her body as if she was being hugged from all directions by Elizabeth, as if the whole self of Elizabeth was entering her body and soothing her tired soul...

Rossaline may have.... had a little accident from the feeling itself.

"Precisely," Lily continued as if not noticing what had happened with Rossaline. "Honestly, I am showing you this only because it's one of the paths of power open to you, what I would suggest you do is that you shift the fountain from which you take your power by-"

"I know," Rossaline understood what the other woman meant, but even so, she prepared the spell, it was easy enough to guess what she wanted to do. It didn't take a genius to understand it. "I Rossaline Singh, fully understanding what this will mean pledge... That my faith, my Magic, my mana, my Mana Core and my full body. I dedicate it to my Goddess, the one I will follow, the one I will trust, the one I will love..."

".... Or that, that also works." Lily sighed as the words etched themselves upon Rossaline's Mana Core; she was now forevermore bound to Elizabeth. Should the blonde girl never achieve apotheosis, that would be a path forever closed to Rossaline.

Not that she thought it was possible, and even if that happened, she would be happy to stay with Elizabeth.

"That is good enough for now, we have been doing this for all day, go and sleep or think about what you have done, you need to acclimate more to this, and start to think if you will change your skill set, you can follow my style or continue what you have been doing, not that your magic will be affected much, since it will depend fully on your belief and the power of your chosen deity." Lily said shooing Rossaline away.

She of course would do just that, thinking about what to do next was important, there was also the fact about their shared experience, she needed a way to get Elizabeth to accept the next batch of experience after their body settled once more.

She and Rena didn't need that much time to adjust, but Elizabeth was different. Even so, while walking back to their shared apartment the first thing that she noticed was the smell, it smelled as if something was being cooked.

Had Elizabeth come back already?

"Welcome back E-!" Rena came rushing from the kitchen dressed in a cute apron. Sadly, under that apron was her usual T-shirt; no naked apron today. "Oh...welcome back Rossie!"

"It's fine I get it," Rossaline said smilling and shaking her head, "I also thought Eli-Eli had come back already, honestly I didn't think she would take that long training or whatever, unlike us, she never quite needed that much time to learn or prepare something did she?"

"Oh, that's right. She always has everything ready, I wish I could be like that...Amelia advised me to discard most of my skills, so right now I am quite defenseless..." Rena said laughing and shaking her head.

Defenseless? Rena?

Rossaline could see it, all the ways the other girl was moving, the hidden blades waiting under the shadows, she doubted an A-Tier Hero could even defeat her, even if all the other girl had was a spoon.

That would be hilarious to see.

"Yeah, the old hag said something similar to me." Rossaline said cursing Lily casually under her breath, "I will need to think what to remove and what to keep... she didn't outright told me to do as she did to Eli-Eli, but the intent was obvious, if I am to move my spellcasting as she adviced...most of my things are useless."

"Oh, I wonder what Eli-Eli will return like...Maybe she will return with a new type of Magic? Or perhaps a new type of skills?" Rena said wondering aloud, "Maybe a new type of Minion-"

And it was then, that they both felt it.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!" The first to react was Rena, who was happily speaking with half a smile on her face. Her scream was primal, filled with terror and despair. She fell to the floor as if she were a puppet whose string had been cut.

"Nonononononononono, don't discard me, I'll be a good girl... I'll listen, I will do whatever you want, nonononononononononononononononono...." The red-haired girl spoke as she shed tears of blood. Rossaline could see her mana running rampant within her body, all the months of hard work going to hell as the body of the girl was starting to break apart, "Eli-Eli, please!"

And it was till the girl screamed the name of their lover that Rossaline reacted, moving half by instinct and half by worry, "Divine Blessing! Divine Heal!" she intoned, half-constructed spells being channeled.

She was still in the mood of the classes that Lily had taught her, so her spell moved as if she was still there. Using belief and faith.

Faith in that there was nothing in this world that could make Elizabeth discard them...

For...for...

"Shhh.... Everything is okay Rena, I'm still here... I will not discard you, Elizabeth will not discard you... This..." Rossaline said as she felt her own Soul ache as the thread that connected her to Elizabeth had dissipated.

"Nonononononono," Rena continued repeating as if a broken record, so Rossaline kept extending her mana into the other girl, and remembering what Elizabeth had done, she molded a thread out of her own Soul, reinforcing it with the Prana that she had available still.

"Soul synchronization..." Rossaline intoned as the name of the Divine Magic came to her, the spell fueled by the presence of Elizabeth manifested and guided her, as if the blonde was with them guiding her steps.

The channel was made and a thread of soul power established between the two girls. It was... heavy.

Rossaline felt the strain descend upon her soul as her soul struggled to keep the other girl afloat, she could see it clearer than ever, the cracks and strain in the other girl.

"...Rossie?" Rena said looking up to the pink-haired girl, "What... what happened to Eli...?"

"...Everything will be okay." Rossaline said as she felt the tears want to come out from her eyes, she... they... they were alone.

The connection that they had with Elizabeth had been severed, not from their side, but from the other side. Whatever... Whatever had happened to Elizabeth, it was sudden.

Rossaline wasn't sure what had happened, the severing should have killed Rossaline and Rena, but yet they were alive, even if barely. Rossaline was sure that if she hadn't arrived at that moment, if this had happened while she was with Lily...

Rena would have died, the fact that she was here... It was nothing closer than a miracle...

"Eli-Eli is fine... My new magic style uses Eli-Eli's Prana as fuel, so long my Magic works, Eli-Eli is fine..." Rossaline said casting once again the [Blessing] spell and infusing it on Rena, "See? Can you feel Eli-Eli?"

"...Yes..." Rena said, relaxing, "...thank you Rossie...what... what would I do without you two?"

Rena said as she rested her head upon Rossaline's chest.

"What will you do without us?" Rossaline thought while the other girl closed her eyes and fell asleep, be it by the stress or the pain she had experienced, Rossaline knew not.

"What will I do... without Elizabeth? What.... What was all this effort for?" Rossaline couldn't help but think that.

She was alive because Elizabeth made the world brighter, but now? Now when Elizabeth cut their connection... What was she supposed to do? She... she couldn't even die, not with Rena like this.

Why...

Why did you discard us Elizabeth?

Was... Did our promise mean so little to you?

... What... What are we to do now?

Tell me... Tell me why Elizabeth Starbright...

Why?