Still, the Seven Virtues having eight members was common knowledge, wasn't it?
To put it simply, both the Seven Virtues and Seven Deadly Sins were never truly fixed.
They were more like a special tier.
Lower, middle, and upper.
And the Seven Virtues and Seven Deadly Sins represented the upper tier—Ultimate Skills with the potential to climb even higher and challenge the divine realm. They were essentially a transitional state.
Hinata's Lord of Mercy was exactly that kind of case.
Its quality surpassed ordinary upper-tier Ultimates, and there was no "Mercy" among the standard Seven Virtues.
According to Velzard's explanation, the Seven Deadly Sins and Seven Virtues were fragments of Star Dragon King Veldanava's authority of creation.
Only those who obtained such power had any hope of challenging the realm of gods.
Of course, this wasn't absolute.
Beings like Diablo—who came from another world and carried rules beyond Veldanava's power—couldn't be judged by the same standard.
Back to the Lord of Mercy.
"Lord of Mercy—control over truth and falsehood."
In simple terms, Hinata's Ultimate allowed her to turn solid concepts, power, matter, and energy into nothingness.
It also let her create any force she desired from that nothingness.
Purely in terms of strength, this Ultimate was ridiculously powerful whether in combat or any other application.
Damien even felt it could almost qualify as a miniature Void.
"Velzard?"
Thinking of that, Damien immediately asked, "Hinata receiving this power—it's because of me, isn't it?"
"Just as you suspected."
Velzard nodded. "Due to compatibility, Hinata inherited void-related power from you."
That meant that on her own, even if Hinata had obtained an Ultimate Skill, it never would have been something as exceptional as an upper-tier one like the Lord of Mercy.
It was only because she had come under Damien's banner and received his blessing that she obtained the Eighth Virtue.
Hinata herself, as the one who received the skill, already understood everything through the Lord of Mercy.
"A Mercy King that rivals the Seven Virtues?"
Hinata expressed her gratitude to Damien and promised, "I will assist Lady Artoria well and properly govern the Kingdom of Falmuth."
As for the issue of exposing her identity…
That wasn't a problem at all.
As long as Hinata wore a mask, no one would recognize her as the Saint Hinata.
"Mm."
Now that Hinata was one of his own, Damien no longer felt any desire to be harsh with her. "I'll release the knights under your command."
Their punishment had been sufficient. For Hinata's sake, he was willing to let them go.
"Thank you for your mercy, Lord Damien."
Hinata immediately offered to take responsibility for her knights and atone on their behalf!
The benefits of joining Damien and following this man far exceeded anything she had imagined.
More importantly, standing with Damien was the only way her people and the knights under her would have a future.
Only after becoming his vassal could Hinata truly feel just how powerful her new lord truly was.
She even felt Damien was being far too low-key and merciful.
If he had even the slightest bit of ambition, the entire Central Continent—and perhaps the whole world—would fall into his hands effortlessly.
Anyone who dared resist would be crushed without mercy.
What an extraordinary capacity for tolerance.
Hinata couldn't imagine how gentle Damien's personality truly was.
Compared to him, her old classmate Yuuki Sakaguchi was nothing but scum.
Not only had he forgotten favors and set up Shizue, he had used Hinata herself like a disposable pawn.
Just thinking about it made Hinata want to find him immediately and beat him senseless!
"By the way."
Damien said, "Falmuth has already paid the price for this incident."
"As for the knight order, for Luminas and Hinata's sake, I'll overlook what happened."
"But there is one person," he continued in a low voice, "who must pay the price!"
Anyone who dared scheme against him had already earned a death sentence!
"Please allow me to handle it, Lord Damien!"
Hinata volunteered, "I will bring Yuuki before you so you can deal with him personally!"
Don't call Hinata heartless.
Yuuki had been the first to stop treating her and Teacher Shizue as people who mattered.
If she had encountered anyone other than Damien, Hinata would be dead, the knight order would be wiped out, and even the Holy Empire behind them would have been dragged into disaster.
Even Teacher Shizue might have been punished by Damien because of Hinata's actions.
Damien had kindly helped treat her and her student.
Was this how her other two students repaid him?
"Very well."
Capturing Yuuki Sakaguchi would be child's play for Damien.
But since Hinata wanted to handle it personally, he wouldn't refuse. "I'll only give you one month."
"If you haven't caught him within one month, I'll send someone else."
"That's more than enough!"
"I swear I'll make that bastard Yuuki kneel before you and Teacher Shizue within one month!"
With that, the matter was settled for now.
"Carrera."
"Release the members of the Holy Knight Order."
"But be selective—don't release everyone at the Demon King Castle. Only release those whose personalities are suitable."
Not every member of the Holy Knight Order knew that their goddess Luminas was actually the Demon Lord Queen of Nightmares.
To them, exterminating monsters was their duty, and colluding with monsters was the same as betraying humanity.
In short, they were a group thoroughly brainwashed by the human-supremacy ideology of the Western Nations.
Damien disliked such people.
Therefore, he needed to screen them.
Those who were stubborn and unteachable would remain locked up.
Of course, the previous torture was no longer necessary.
He had already prepared a perfect excuse.
Their captain Hinata had sacrificed herself to secure their survival.
Yes—this would serve as revenge against those with severe racial discrimination.
As for the rest—the ones who could be reasoned with, like the Water Saint Litus or the Earth Saint Bacchus—they could be released directly. Luminas and Hinata would explain everything to them personally.