"That was incredible! Your control over gravitational forces during combat was unlike anything I've seen before!"

The petite nun stared at Heena with eyes that sparkled brighter than polished gemstones.

Her hands moved in excited gestures as she continued rambling about combat applications and gravitational theory like she was discussing her favorite hobby instead of lethal force applications.

"And the way you reversed the momentum at that exact angle! Ka-pow! The timing was perfect! If you'd been even a fraction of a second off, the knight would've recovered, but you—"

Heena stood there awkwardly.

Her brain struggled to process the fact that a nun was currently making explosion sound effects while discussing battlefield tactics.

This didn't match any religious stereotype she'd ever encountered.

Weren't church people supposed to be calm and reserved?

Maybe preach about mercy and compassion?

Not analyze combat maneuvers with the enthusiasm of a sports commentator on energy drinks.

*Ahem.*

A deliberate throat clearing cut through Joanna's excited monologue.

The silver-haired angel standing beside her nudged the nun's shoulder with enough force to snap her back to reality.

"Oh."

Joanna blinked rapidly as awareness crashed back into her consciousness.

Her cheeks flushed pink as she realized she'd been geeking out in front of complete strangers.

"I... apologize for my enthusiasm. That was unprofessional."

She straightened her robes with practiced efficiency and managed a more composed smile.

"Allow me to introduce myself properly. I'm Joanna, an awakened healer. Nothing fancy, just someone who tries to help where I can."

The angel beside her stepped forward with graceful precision.

Her golden eyes tracked both William and Heena with the kind of focus that suggested she missed absolutely nothing.

"And I'm Lillia. Joanna's companion and bodyguard."

William's analytical mind immediately flagged several inconsistencies.

The way Lillia moved screamed military training at an elite level.

Her posture was too perfect, too controlled.

And those wings weren't decorative.

They carried a different kind of energy than the mana they were used to.

But of course, he kept those observations to himself and simply nodded politely.

"William Fordsmith. A pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Heena waved casually from her floating position.

"Heena Min-Jeowon. Just call me Heena though, formality makes me itchy."

Joanna's expression brightened immediately at the casual response.

Something about Heena's straightforward demeanor made the tension in her shoulders ease considerably.

"You're around my age, aren't you?"

The question came out with genuine curiosity instead of polite small talk.

"Maybe? I'm 32 if that helps."

"Really? I'm 28!"

Joanna's smile widened into something more authentic.

Talking to someone close to her own age felt refreshing after weeks of formal meetings with ancient deity representatives and political figures who measured their lives in centuries.

The conversation flowed naturally after that.

Joanna asked about Heena's combat training, and Heena deflected with jokes about learning through trial and error while fighting things that wanted to eat her face.

William and Lillia maintained polite distance, though both clearly monitored the interaction with professional interest.

Eventually, the topic shifted toward recent events.

"The dungeon corruption has been getting worse," Joanna mentioned, her expression growing more serious. "We've been tracking reports of entire leyline networks destabilizing."

"Yeah, we've noticed." Heena's tone matched the gravity. "That's why we're here actually. Investigating patterns, trying to figure out who's behind the coordinated attacks."

"Speaking of groups..."

Heena's expression shifted as a memory surfaced.

She snapped her fingers like she'd just remembered something mildly interesting instead of potentially significant.

"That reminds me. We ran into this duo at a restaurant a few days ago. They handled a bandit attack like it was nothing. The guy was pretty strong, and the woman with him was definitely priestess-looking. Kinda like you, actually."

Joanna tilted her head with mild curiosity.

"Priestess-looking woman?"

"Yeah." Heena nodded. "I think his name was Nero Walker? And the woman was... what was it again?"

"Celis."

William corrected from the side without looking up from adjusting his pince-nez.

"Her name was Celis, and you're underselling their capabilities significantly. Both displayed combat efficiency that suggested at least SR-tier at minimum."

"Right, right. That pretty girl named Celis. She had this really formal way of talking, like she stepped out of a history book or something."

The two continued their casual banter about the encounter.

Heena described Celis's gentle demeanor and the way she carried herself with almost ethereal grace.

William added clinical observations about her mana signature and the unusual energy patterns he'd detected.

Neither of them noticed the reaction happening directly in front of them.

Not until Heena glanced back and saw Joanna trembling.

The nun's face had gone pale.

Her hands shook slightly where they gripped her robes, and her eyes had gone unfocused like she was staring at something invisible.

Beside her, Lillia looked equally shocked.

The composed angel warrior's expression had cracked into visible disbelief mixed with something that looked like desperate hope.

"Hey…. You okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."

Heena's voice dropped the casual tone.

"..."

But Joanna's mouth opened but no sound came out immediately.

When she finally spoke, her voice came out barely above a whisper.

"You said... the woman's name is Celis?"

"Yeah?"

Heena confirmed with growing concern.

Lillia stepped forward abruptly.

Her golden eyes locked onto William with an intensity that made even the composed butler straighten slightly.

"Can you please describe them?"

The urgency in her tone left no room for casual deflection.

William exchanged a brief glance with Heena before responding with clinical precision.

"The male, Nero Walker, appeared to be mid-twenties. Black hair, black eyes, above-average build. He demonstrated advanced fusion magic capabilities and tactical awareness beyond his apparent age."

He paused to adjust his glasses.

"The female, Celis, presented as late twenties physically. Golden hair, half-closed eyes, spoke in an archaic dialect similar to old ecclesiastical texts. Her presence carried significant metaphysical weight suggesting historical significance."

Heena jumped in with less formal details.

"She was really pretty. Like unnaturally pretty. Had this whole mysterious saintess vibe going on. Super polite but also kinda mysterious, you know… Why? Do you guys know them…?"

Heena had a curious look, but Joanna wasn't really listening anymore as she kept her head down.

Her mind had already traveled elsewhere.

The Pope's words echoed through her memory with crystal clarity.

'The Saintess of Catastrophe... she had a real name when she was still traveling with the hero.'

Her hands moved to the folded parchment tucked inside her robes.

The image provided by the church archives.

A golden-haired woman with half-closed eyes and an expression of serene wisdom that seemed to transcend time itself.

'Celis Verillia.'

The name overlapped perfectly with the description William and Heena had just provided.

The gentle demeanor.

The archaic speech patterns.

The overwhelming presence that suggested power beyond mortal comprehension.

It all matched.

Every single detail aligned with the prophecy and the historical records.

Joanna's breath caught in her throat as the implications crashed down on her like a tidal wave.

The First Saintess.

The betrayer of the First Hero.

The prophesied harbinger of catastrophic darkness.

She's in Legendor.

The First Saintess has been found!

***

Back in Waifuria, inside Luna's laboratory, Nero sat on a stool looking confused.

The room was sealed tight with enough magical barriers to prevent eavesdropping from literally anyone outside these walls.

Luna had insisted on that level of security before dropping whatever bombshell she'd discovered.

Felt stood off to the side clutching her research notes.

Her eyes darted between the high elf and Nero with barely contained curiosity mixed with visible nervousness.

Whatever Luna had found was clearly big enough to warrant this level of secrecy.

Luna paced in front of her analytical equipment.

Her heterochromic eyes carried an intensity that made her usual scholarly focus look casual by comparison.

Papers covered with complex magical notation were scattered across every available surface, formulas bleeding into margins with the frantic energy of someone who'd been working nonstop.

Nero broke the silence with the only logical response his brain could produce.

"So... what's the emergency? Did something explode? Is reality breaking again?"

Luna stopped pacing.

Her fingers drummed against Verdalume in that unconscious rhythm that meant her mind was working faster than her mouth could articulate.

"I've been analyzing some of the data patterns of your summoning system for quite some time now…"

She paused.

"And I've somewhat… identified the source."

Nero blinked.

"Okay? That's good news, right? You figured out how it works?"

"No. Not exactly."

Luna shook her head.

"But instead, I found something that could potentially explain why I can't figure out the foundation behind the intricacies of your system."

But then, her expression then shifted into some sort of confusion and stern expression before saying it outright.

"... Your whole system might be a paradox in itself."

"..."

Silence crashed through the laboratory like a physical force.

Nero sat there while blinking his eyes.

His mouth opened slightly before closing again as his thoughts tried catching up to words that made zero logical sense.

He stared at Luna for several long seconds, searching her expression for any hint that this was some kind of elaborate joke.

But her face remained dead serious.

Finally, he spoke, slowly repeating the shocking revelation with a tone that suggested his brain was still several steps behind.

"You're saying... the Waifu System doesn't exist?"

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