With Maven’s attention diverted by Kannon and Henna’s antics, the Apostle had the time to covertly conjure up a small space shard in his hand - which he promptly took the opportunity to hurl in Ela’s direction like a throwing blade.

“Ela!” Maven shouted desperately, extending her hand in panic and attempting to stop the blade.

Unfortunately for her, there’s no type of magic that could travel faster than space. Even light magic could not exceed it. Light is the fastest element found in nature, but it still had to travel through space. The space element used by the Apostle could quite literally ignore any obstruction, nothing short of a god’s intervention could possibly get in its way.

By the time Maven noticed the boy attacked Ela and began to respond, the magic had already nearly reached its destination. Unable to do anything more at this point, Maven prayed that Ela would be safe behind the shield she created for her.

*SKRRIIIII*

Like a saw chewing through metal, the spinning space shard managed to shave away half of the protective shield with a horrifying screech. The shield had been imbued with plenty of divinity in Maven’s desire to protect Ela, but the boy possessed some divinity of his own.

Through a combination of factors involving the rushed creation of the shield and the pinpoint nature of the Apostle’s attack, the blade managed to cut more than halfway through the protective spell in the blink of an eye.

“Princess!” Amara shouted as she hugged Ela and dove to the floor. She did it without thinking, desperate to protect Ela from the Apostle’s rage.

Luckily, the shield managed to pull through in the end - stopping the space blade before it could hurt anyone. Ultimately, Amara’s actions turned out to be nothing more than a thoughtful gesture.

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“How dare you!?” Maven said while turning towards the boy in rage. “How dare you attack Ela in front of me?!”

“Hehhh, that’s quite interesting…… You can’t have known each other more than an hour, so why do you seem so attached? Love at first sight, perhaps?” The boy mocked Maven mercilessly, his words causing her to blush in embarrassment.

“Y-You’re wrong! Ela’s just a friend! Just a friend!” Maven shouted in protest, her face bright red all the way up to her ears. Even Ela looked a bit shy from her position on the floor, face red and eyes swimming restlessly. Love may be a rather strong description of their feelings, but the two were certainly conscious of each other.

“Hahahaha, that’s adorable! Who knew the Saintess would turn out to be such a hoot?” The boy cackled in glee, taking pleasure in Maven’s discomfort. “You picked quite the target for your affection,Saintess, fancying someone doomed to die and whatnot.”

At these words, Maven’s face became quite rigid and Ela’s went white with fear.

“What do you mean, doomed to die??” Maven asked, voice brimming with anger. “You and your friend there seem to be the ones attacking her…”

“Heh, now that would be against the rules…… What I will say, however, is that no matter where she goes, how she hides, or who she’s with, that girl will die. How tragic for you… Hahahaha” The Apostle said derisively.

“Well then, since you don’t want to talk…… I’ll just have to make you!” Maven said before urging the dragon forward, marking the resumption of the battle.

“You crazy Saintess!” The boy cursed under his breath, swinging his whip at the dragon as he attempted to keep the massive beast at bay.

“That’s not going to work this time!” Maven shouted, voice brimming with fighting spirit.

“Yeah!!” Kannon cheered, waving her pom-poms through the air energetically. “Show him who’s boss!!”

Determined to bring this battle to a close, Maven mustered up some more of her nearly bottomless magic and divinity to heal and reinforce the dragon. Due to the special nature of Maven’s pseudo-golem creation spell, a simple infusion of magic and divinity was all it took to repair the damage the Apostle’s whip had done to the dragon.

After repairing the dragon, Maven continued her spellcasting - this time, seeking to increase the strength of the dragon. With an intricate weave of magic and divinity, Maven crafted an elegant set of full-body armor to the dragon’s body.