My Goddess is Good at Pretending

*Clang* *Bzzt*

The burly ninja parried the handcuffed girl's iron rod with his saber, but he was electrocuted to his deepest core. His protective artifact couldn't block anything, and his spirit received a critical hit.

*Thud*

The burly ninja fell to the floor with smoke and a burnt smell coming from his body. He was twitching and convulsing like the other fallen ninjas.

"Human bodies and metal are good conductors of electricity. You won't withstand a ten thousand volt shock from my Lightning Baton." Ely removed the sea stone handcuffs from her wrists with a little trick to the keyhole.

She was about to save the dying apprentice mage, but his soul suddenly left his body. She tried to catch it but failed as that soul wisp was so fast than a gust of wind.

The dead person's soul was forcibly pulled to the training ground behind the academy. The captives were gathered inside a large, dark ritual magic circle.

"Don't tell me they will summon the Demon God with the sacrifices of hundreds of mages." Ely pursed her lips as she remembered the God involved in this incident was the Demon God of Necromancy.

"Lady Miko? You-" Lily-Mae was shocked by the sudden change of events.

"Miss Lily, do you know where the core of this anti-magic domain is?" Ely removed the sea stone handcuffs from Lily-Mae's wrists.

"I'm afraid it's in the most dangerous place. My grandfather and elders seem to be fighting around there. What's your plan, Lady Miko? Also, what do you mean by Demon God?" Lily-Mae could hear a faint sound of metal thumping from the garden.

"It is as you heard. The black cloud of calamity over there does not bring good news. The dimension crack has already occurred as the gate begins to take shape. Those evil ninjas are demonic practitioners from a demonic cult who seem to be about to summon their Demon God to this world." Ely then took out two transparent talismans and handed them over to Lily-Mae

"Please go to your grandfather and his secret protector in the park. These talismans can make them resist the anti-magic domain's suppression." Ely decided to drag the 6th Rank dean and the 7th Rank secret protector into a more significant event to help her.

"But-" Lily-Mae felt a bit scared and doubtful.

"Please compose yourself and move quickly. You will be fine under this talisman's protective cover, but people will be sacrificed if this continues." Ely grasped Lily-Mae's arm, providing encouragement and motivation with a resolved gaze.

"Did you know this incident was going to happen, Lady Miko? Regarding your arrival at this magic academy?" Lily-Mae lowered her head slightly.

"They had everything prepared long ago, but my arrival made them anxious. Instead of being exposed and their years of effort wasted, they decided to target me and hasten their sinister plan. That's what I can understand just by looking." Ely shook her head.

"I understand. In that case, we must stop them immediately. Lady Miko, please be safe. I will pass this talisman of resistance to my grandfather and great elder." Lily-Mae gave a respectful bow, then immediately ran away.

"Well then, what should I do with them? I hope they have some good pieces of stuff." Ely snatched the fainted ninjas' storage pouches as it was her spoil of war.

She found several evil-related things, spirit stones, and magic items. There were also plenty of living ropes, the magic item that could move on their own to tie up captives.

Ely tied up the fainted ninjas and put them into an empty pet pouch. It was a magic item to store the pet or living animals inside, similar to a storage pouch. However, it was much smaller in space.

A few moments later, Ely arrived at the rooftop of the academy's main building. She observed the entire layout and environment. She noted the enemy's position and the formation array that composed the great magic circle on the training ground.

The ten masked assassins wearing dark outfits landed behind Ely without making any noise.

"You have arrived." Ely responded casually, even though she felt a bit surprised. They come like ghosts, after all. She might fail to notice their arrival if it wasn't for her 2-meter radius of flawless perception.

Gabriella knelt down, and the other disciples did the same. She then reported respectfully. "Master, we have neutralized their backup plan. Their background is unknown, but they plan to summon a Demon God. Also, we have caught the one suspected of being a descendant of the cursed hero." 𝑏𝑒𝑑𝑛𝘰𝑣𝑒𝘭.𝑐𝑜𝑚

"That apprentice mage, huh... Where is he?" Ely turned around.

Michael felt more at ease to see his master was safe and sound. She was still so calm despite the current situation. As expected of their master.

He removed the large cloth sack tied to his back, then took out an apprentice mage.

The boy wore a ninja outfit like those demonic cultivators but was already tied up like a cocoon.

"Hmm! Ngh!" The helpless apprentice mage tried to plead for mercy, but his mouth was plastered with tape.

"I shall purify you of the curse you are suffering from. Please be prepared. This might hurt a little." Ely stated her intention, and the apprentice mage nodded frantically.

She already saw that the weird cursed energy had contaminated this boy's body. Perhaps, this was the first stage of demonic possession? This boy might turn into a devilish slime soon.

"This is the first time I purify a conscious human. Are you ready?" Ely crouched to take a closer look at this boy's complexion.

She felt something was wrong but couldn't tell what it was. Also, this was her first time handling someone about to fall into demonic possession. All members of the Guardian of Dream were already in the worst situation before she saved them.

This time, the apprentice mage went pensive for a few seconds as he tried to consider a few things. However, he nodded in agreement, thinking he was in a tight position that endangered his life.

He would go to this stunning lady's banner instead of those evil people if he needed to choose.

"All right then." Ely took out her Gohei and reached her hand near the apprentice mage's head. She cast her advanced purification skill. "The light of purification. Please save this pitiful soul from his suffering."

Ely's palm shone a golden light, and the apprentice mage was enveloped in a comforting warmth. However, his blood suddenly ran wild. He coughed out a lot of blood, and black blood flowed out of his orifices.

*Rip*

The rope that bound the apprentice mage was torn apart, and he slowly swelled up like a balloon about to burst.

"Uuh... demonization? Incompatibility with the hero's blood? He doesn't have the bloodline of a hero, but the artificial one created from the extracted bloodline. The curse is lifted, but his body can't handle it." Ely covered her mouth.

She could see a short event of a cruel experiment. It was only a few seconds of the event summary, but she felt nauseous. The gruesome scene was similar to the information Gabriella had reported yesterday.

Rafaela could guess what had happened. She materialized her longsword to execute the demonic monster, but that boy soon disappeared.

"He had suffered for so long. He can't handle the purification. The fake hero's bloodline, huh..." Gabriella supported her master in standing up. She could clearly comprehend what had just happened.

"I see... So, that's why I felt a bit strange about his energy frequency. I could feel the faint familiar feeling, but he was apparently not a part of us. He was just one that was made to resemble us." Azrael nodded in understanding, but his ruby-red eyes glistened as if he understood something more profound than this incident. The city lord's dark secrets came to his mind.

"Eh-ah? I'm, I'm sorry." Ely unconsciously grasped the pitiful apprentice mage's soul. She felt sad as she didn't expect this kind of outcome, but the wisp felt relieved to be freed from suffering.

The holy saintess liberated him, and dying like this wouldn't be so bad as he didn't need to suffer anymore. He begged the holy saintess to punish those evil people and save the pitiful souls with a fate similar to his.

He expressed appreciation before flying into the sky and going to the afterlife. Ely protected that soul wisp so he could leave this anti-magic domain safely.

"If only I had known sooner..." Ely muttered under her breath.

She failed to save that pitiful boy, and his body even turned into ashes because he couldn't handle the hero's bloodline and her purification.

"..." The ten core disciples felt sad because of their master's melancholy murmur.

It was the first time something had happened beyond their master's expectations, but no one could have expected the fake to be so close to the real one before it was too late. Everything happened so fast, but there were still a lot of things that were happening right now.

"All right, we need to handle the current situation first. You will act as Apostles, not Shadows. Please transform your outfit now. The Demon God of Necromancy has revealed his aura behind that cloud of calamity." Ely tapped Gabriella's hand, grasped her arm, and looked up at the spiraling dark clouds.