The Villain Saint is my secondary account

"Hmph, are you afraid now, you foolish false god?"

"Elean" laughed coldly, but before she knew it, Ella reached out and pinched her cheek.

Damn it, I've hit this false god's sore spot, she's panicking!

Elaine's mouth was pinched into a gourd shape, and her head was pulled in front of her like a radish by Ella, cold sweat pouring down her face.

She was merely a fragment of her soul, and she was already prepared to endure all the pain. However, it was impossible for her to say that she was completely unafraid of the despicable methods that this false god might use.

"I'm quite curious, just how firm can the will of this fragment of your soul be?"

Ella gave a charming smile and licked the corner of her mouth with her tongue.

As she finished speaking, countless tiny tentacles grew out and crawled onto Elaine's face, right before her wide-eyed eyes.

Chapter Seventeen: The End

Later, another rumor spread in the dungeon of the White Tower: at midnight, a female ghost's shrill screams would come from the depths.

As for why a female ghost would appear in a place like a sanctuary, no one knows, but the prisoners in the dungeon are very certain that they heard such a sound on a certain day.

The Dark Shepherd acted very cautiously. He placed multiple restrictions on the wisp of soul within Elaine's body, and even when Ella tried to communicate with him through her tentacles, she only managed to obtain a few fragments of information.

She couldn't go too far and completely destroy the soul, since it might still be useful in the future.

Along the way, she also asked Greta for help. The little maid commented that seeing Ella's dungeon felt as warm as coming home, and she also shared some of the techniques she had accumulated as a Great Demon God for pleasant communication with souls.

Although she couldn't completely pry open the mouth of the wisp of soul within Elaine's body, the delirious Elaine eventually revealed some information about the Dark Shepherd, allowing Ella to piece together the whole story of what had happened in recent days.

Previously, they had been working with the company to try to take over the sanctuary through the three major families, but this was thwarted by Helios.

The two sides fought openly and covertly for a long time until the latter secretly invited Ella to the First Knights, ending the battle.

The schemes of the Rossia family head and Elaine's instigation of Theresa to start a civil war were actually decisions made in a moment of desperation.

Because of the public opinion they deliberately guided, the mainstream opinion in the Holy Temple has always been "demonizing" the Holy Maiden of Light. In addition, Helios had never clearly expressed his attitude towards the Holy Maiden when discussing the topic in the council, so they never considered that Helios would actually side with a Holy Maiden who showed the power of an "evil god".

Some even believed that the First Knights sent by Helios to Valen were there to capture Ella, so they could also lie in wait and watch the saintess and the holy lord fight to the death.

It wasn't until news spread that the First Knights hadn't fought Ella but instead invited her aboard the Golden Ship that the Dark Shepherd and the Company realized the situation was dire. They then took a desperate gamble, went public, and rallied their forces to launch a counterattack, which led to the events that followed when Ella arrived in the Holy City.

The Holy City was not captured. The "Black Carnival" that recently took place in Concordia was orchestrated by the Dark Shepherds in an attempt to seize power in the Kingdom of Saint Ara. If successful, they could use the Kingdom of Saint Ara as a springboard to continue their struggle against Aila. But naturally, they failed again.

To avoid trouble, Elaine fled to Rift Valley with her split soul. She intended to continue her underhanded tactics against Saint Ara and hinder Ella, but Ye Xiao and the Seven Stars Society caught her red-handed.

Currently, some remaining forces of the Dark Shepherds and the company still exist within the Kingdom of Saint Ara, but without a leader and without Elaine as a branch leader to act as a fulcrum, it is only a matter of time before they are all eliminated.

The return of the Kingdom of Saint Ararat also means that, at least in the short term, the development of the Holy City will no longer be hindered by external forces.

Although given the nature of the Dark Seekers and the company, there would definitely be some sneaky harassment, Ella was confident that with her in charge, it was unlikely that the other party would be able to cause any trouble here.

With the Holy City and the Kingdom of Saint Ara settled down, Ella was finally able to free up her mind and turn her attention elsewhere.

……

Two days after the Rift Operation, Augustus sent a message to Ella through the Kingdom of God.

King Lionel of Saint Ararat claims to have found the culprit behind the "Black Carnival" attacks. He says that his brother, Prince Frantos, colluded with the Dark Shepherds to assassinate him and seize the throne.

Since Ella had captured Elaine, who possessed a divine soul, this news was no longer so important to her. However, unexpectedly, the prince then revealed another matter—the whereabouts of the former Cardinal Tobias William.

Just as Ella had initially suspected, after receiving the message from the three major families, Prince Frantos secretly sent men and the Dark Shepherds to ambush and kill Tobias, who had left the Holy City with a secret mission.

However, Prince Frantos confessed that their ambush operation was unsuccessful. Tobias was, after all, a Saint Arcane Mage of the Extraordinary level. After they fought in the deciduous forest in the eastern part of Saint Ara, they lost track of him.

That deciduous forest was vast, teeming with monsters, and its borders were marked by treacherous canyons. Further east lay the sparsely populated Star Plateau, dotted with towering mountain ranges, and beyond the Star Plateau lay the renowned Northern Territory.

None of these places are suitable for human habitation. They are vast and boundless, but the border checkpoints on the eastern border of the kingdom have long since lifted their pursuit of Tobias. If he is not in danger, why doesn't he come back to the kingdom?

Ella thought about it and could only assume that the other party was being cautious and had chosen to remain hidden at the border for the sake of stability.

The place was quite far from the Holy City, so Ella simply had Augustus choose a captain from among the Knights stationed in Concordia, and send her raven and royal envoy to the east to search in cooperation with the local lord.

As one of the things Helios entrusted to him before his death, the whereabouts of Tobias should still be quite important.

In addition, in the study, Orphnoch reported another piece of news to Ella.

“Your Holiness, regarding your previous order to search for Lord Helios’s daughter, we have searched Morningstar Ridge thoroughly but have not found any information about her.”

"In fact, our previous investigation revealed that Lord Helios had never had a wife. The only records we found about his family relationships were his parents, who used to live in the West District, but the two elderly people had passed away seven years ago."

Can't find Helios's daughter?

This left Ella somewhat bewildered.

It's worth noting that in her previous life, this daughter of the Holy Lord, along with Aslan's eldest princess Serendra and the Red Dragon Princess Veronica of Molten Core, were three goddesses renowned among players.

Now, fate has changed. On Aslan's side, the eldest princess was betrayed and lost her identity as the Earth Saintess, and on this side, the daughter of the Holy Lord has simply disappeared without a trace.

Ella frowned slightly, deep in thought as she looked at the pile of documents on the table.

Helios did not mention anything about his daughter in his last words. Logically speaking, if such a person existed, Helios would not have left her unmentioned since he was about to die.

But what exactly happened that caused this person to simply disappear?

Ella interrogated other members of the Rossia family and also questioned Alina, but neither side knew of such a person.

Helpless, Ella could only make a note of this and find out more about it later.

After sorting out the matters left behind by the Holy City, she stretched like a kitten and spread out a map of the Loren Empire on the table.

At this time, Loren was still at war with the Duchy of Tedeh. The Kingdom of Doom had fallen, and Skadi and Holman's legions were struggling to hold out in the western frontier.

Ella stretched her wrists. Now that the area around the Holy City was at peace, it was time to support her sisters.

Chapter Eighteen: The Western Frontier Battlefield

The Loren Empire, Western Frontier, Sandbar Fortress.

The western Xinjiang region is vast, but unlike the lush forests of central Loren and Walund, it is mostly desert.

Low hills and sandstorms define the main character of this region.

At this moment, atop the fortress tower of Sandbar Fortress, Holman, dressed simply, held up a monocular telescope, gazing solemnly at the warships emerging from the clouds in the distant blue sky.

In the month or so since the Holy City of Aila was unified, the Principality of Tedeh has not announced any invading forces and has already fought several battles with the Loren Empire in the western frontier.

The army that rushed from Loren to the western Kingdom of Doum failed to stop the advance of the Duchy of Tedeh.

Neither the unprecedented war alchemy machines nor the enemy generals with powerful holy light protection spells could defeat Lorenna's legion, which was mainly composed of cavalry and mages.

Although Holman was a military commander under the Doomsday Witch in the previous life, he had never seen such powerful enemies beyond his comprehension in this life. He was caught off guard and the 100,000 people he brought almost suffered total annihilation in the Kingdom of Doom.

The initial battles were quite fierce. After the defeat in the defense of the capital of the Kingdom of Doom, Holman's army was driven back in defeat after defeat.

Fireballs rained down like raindrops, turning cities into scorched earth, while steel chariots, bathed in holy light, easily crushed even the most elite heavy infantry lines.

The manpower-driven magic cannon force was incredibly clumsy in the face of the mobile steel air force, and the range of the crossbowmen and musketeers was less than half the range of the enemy's steam tanks and heavy artillery.

Despite being outnumbered, Holman attempted to use the superior mobility of the Loren cavalry to spread out the battle lines and harass and raid the enemy's rear in the vast desert using dispersed guerrilla tactics.

These cumbersome steel machines ultimately require magic crystals as their power source. If their supply lines to the enemy can be harassed and cut off, they will be nothing but scrap metal once their magic energy is exhausted.

Holman's intuition was correct, but the opposing commander was more cunning than he had imagined.

After successfully harassing the Duchy's supply camps in the desert several times by bypassing the battle lines, the enemy began to create a false stronghold with scrap metal frames, killing Loren's rangers several times.

The two sides went back and forth, from direct combat to tactical planning and intelligence battles. Holman was crushed layer by layer. Under the relentless bombing of the Tedeh war airships, he was eventually forced to retreat to the border in a sorry state, giving up most of the territory of the Kingdom of Doom.

The members of the Doom royal family who had been evacuated cried out in despair upon seeing their country fall, but Queen Skadi was powerless to do anything about it.

After a period of rest following the capture of the Kingdom of Doum, the duchy's army soon launched another unannounced attack, continuing its eastward march towards the border of Loren.

Fortunately, the western frontier of Loren was extremely vast, and the sandstorms and scattered city outposts slowed down the advance of the duchy's army.

As one of the three great human empires, the Loren Empire still possessed considerable wealth and resources. Although its quality was lacking, its sheer quantity was still impressive.

Skadi's order brought in a large number of magic cannons from other provinces. After being improved by alchemists recruited from the player community, their range and power were increased. Ella also transferred Freya from the Septian Society to provide support, adding a group of powerful clockwork knights and mechanical scorpion lions to the Loren side. Finally, they managed to temporarily resist the enemy's attack by relying on the three major fortresses that stretched across the central part of the western frontier.

Furthermore, at Ye Xiao's suggestion, the Loren royal family had already begun to vigorously develop talent recruitment for players.

Although Ye Xiao wasn't exactly an all-rounder, and was proficient in both military and engineering fields, his past life experience made him all too aware of who was skilled in these areas.

After a list is given to the Home Secretary Isaac, he will naturally select and recruit the necessary personnel.

Therefore, although it did not have the same long-planned and aggressive military approach as Tedeh, Loren, which came later, also rapidly increased its war-fighting capabilities after entering a state of war preparedness.

Ye Xiao hadn't rushed the pace of development mainly because he was worried that it might be too much of a push for progress. Rapidly advancing technological development might leave many hidden dangers for a society that was still in a feudal state. But now that the enemy had come to their doorstep, it would be a bit like trapping themselves in a cocoon.

Ultimately, the two armies reached a stalemate at the defensive line constructed by the three fortresses in western Xinjiang.

The Duchy's army couldn't advance immediately because the thousands of magic cannons deployed in the three fortresses could cover the entire battlefield with their staggered fire. The sheer density of the artillery fire was too much for even their steam tanks and warships equipped with enchanted armor.

However, similarly, the Loren army also lacked the ability to leave the city and repel the enemy.

The magic cannon itself has poor mobility as a hand-push cannon. When gathered together, it has sufficient firepower as a city defense weapon. However, once it is used as an offensive weapon outside the city gate, the battle line is stretched out, and it will be completely destroyed by the enemy in no time.

Nearly half of Loren's military strength has now been deployed to the three fortresses, including Shazhoubao, because if these fortresses are breached, the capital of Xijiang Province will be located behind them, and the entire Xijiang Province will fall into enemy hands.

The Duchy of Tedeh was clearly aware of this as well, knowing that the military force that the Loren Empire was deploying at this moment would be unprecedentedly large.

Therefore, they did not launch another attack rashly, and after several attempts, they deployed their forces in nearby cities.

As one of the three great empires, the Duchy possesses abundant reserve resources, and the military strength they have for offensive purposes is far greater than what is currently displayed.

Therefore, they are not in a hurry. Once they have consolidated the territory of the occupied Kingdom of Doom and completed the establishment of the logistics supply line across this large area, their army will reach its true full potential.

Holman was well aware of this, and that was why his gaze, which stretched into the distance through the telescope, was filled with sorrow.

At the edge of the earth, long plumes of smoke rise from the city, which has been converted for steel forging, shooting straight into the sky like a black forest, oppressive and suffocating.

"Commander, according to our information, the Duchy's army reinforcements will arrive in about three days, with an estimated number of over 80,000."

Holman's lieutenant brought the latest news.

"I understand. How many more days will it take for Grand Duke Seychelles' reinforcements to arrive?"

"Also in three days, Duke Heville's eldest son will arrive with reinforcements."

The deputy general reported.

Holman nodded. Since the start of the war, the two dukes had each provided no less than 100,000 troops to the western front. If it weren't for Duke Albert in the north having to guard against the restless northern barbarians, he could have also transferred some men.

Even though the force he now commands in his three fortresses numbers nearly 300,000, Holman feels only a gloomy future in the face of the steel battle line that stretches across the horizon.

Chapter Nineteen: The Desert Fox

Just as Holman was at his wit's end, a crow flapped its wings and landed beside him.

He turned around and saw ripples spreading out in the air, from which Ye Xiao, dressed in a black trench coat, emerged.

"The moment you step into this place, you feel the intense heat."

Ye Xiao tugged at his collar and greeted Holman, "It's been a long time, Mr. Holman."

"Mr. Ye, good day."

Holman nodded to Ye Xiao, and his furrowed brows finally relaxed.

The arrival of this attendant knight means that the problems on the Saintess's side should have been resolved.

With the help of the Holy Maiden, the situation might not be so bad.

"How is the battle going?"

Ye Xiao didn't waste any time on pleasantries and went straight to the point.

"Hmm...not ideal."

Holman sighed softly. His subordinates weren't around, but he could tell Ye Xiao the truth.

"The Duchy's army reinforcements are on their way, and the cities along the way have been converted into factories, providing them with a steady stream of supplies."

Holman reported succinctly, "The enemy will launch a general offensive in three days at most. Once Sandbar Fortress is breached, the entire western part of the empire will fall into their hands."

Ye Xiao nodded knowingly and glanced left and right at the other two fortresses located on the north and south sides of Shazhoubao.

The shadow of the majestic castle lay dormant like a crouching beast in the howling yellow wind. The three fortresses, centered on Shazhou Fort, formed a "品" shape with their heads facing west.

"Who is the opposing general?"

"The former general was a girl who impersonated the 'Holy Maiden' and was able to cast a spell that resembled the protection of holy light on tens of thousands of troops."