330 - The Goddess Awakens
—Celes swallowed the jewel whole.
She thought there would be resistance as it passed through her throat, but there was none, it settled into her stomach as if it were melting. She had been looking upward while swallowing, but she slowly returned her gaze to Lariel and the others.
Flames created from high-density magic swirled around her, protecting Celes. It was a skill she had prepared for the purpose of suicide, but it was a flame that Celes, possessing magic power beyond that of a human, had spent years preparing.
Lariel and the others would not be able to touch her.
After all, she was currently using power capable of blowing away the royal capital just to protect her own body.
It was a skill Agrissa had given Celes, a flame originally intended to eliminate nuisances.
Celes, that is enough, isn't it?
Agrissa's voice was gentle. Celes nodded.
"Yes, it is enough. After all, it was a promise."
Celes remembered. That day.
It was when Celes was six years old. Inheriting the memories of Septem, Celes had vividly inherited memories of being oppressed by humans, just as Agrissa had. Born with such memories, Celes viewed everyone other than her parents as nothing more than trash.
She perceived them as nothing more than noisy insects that would blow away if touched. For Celes, whether she liked them or not determined the value of the insect. That was how she thought.
But—.
I will never forgive him. Absolutely never.
Her older brother, Lariel, had inherited all of Septem's memories. And yet, while inheriting those memories, he certainly possessed his own identity.
He had even gone so far as to seal his own memories, claiming that he could not keep looking back at the past.
He was capable. He surpassed Celes.
And, unlike Celes, who held the memories of the oppressed Septems—Lariel was kind to those around him. He met his parents' expectations and was loved by everyone.
Even without relying on the power of Septem, Lariel was loved by those around him.
Like yin and yang, the more brightly Lariel shone, the stronger Celes's darkness became.
And so, hiding it behind her usual bright expression, Celes continued to hate Lariel. Her hatred grew because, even after noticing it, Lariel—remained kind to Celes.
Through the flames, Celes saw Lariel, who looked frustrated that he could not reach her.
Seeing Lariel different from his former smiling self, Celes's heart felt refreshed.
Being treated kindly by Lariel, being tormented by a sense of inferiority, and then, when the jewel she found after her grandmother's death spoke to her, she felt it was destiny.
She had entered her grandmother's room and searched around for something interesting. Seeing the people around her grieving, she thought it was disgusting. To Celes, her grandmother was only of that much value.
After all, her grandparents had also vaguely noticed Celes's abnormality.
It was boring. She slipped away from the funeral and found a strictly guarded box.
When she opened it—.
Hmm, it is not Zenoa. Is it the granddaughter, Celes? You have grown.
That was the moment Celes, having found the yellow jewel, met Agrissa. From there, everything began to move.
And what Agrissa sought was Celes's body. Moreover, it was not that Agrissa sought it strongly. To Agrissa, Celes was a cute descendant. She was a being of value even to Agrissa.
Beyond the flames, the beings who had tormented her were panicking.
Celes spread her arms.
"—Now, despair. I shall watch it all from hell."
Even though she was about to vanish, Celes smiled until the very end—.
As Celes smiled one last time and spread her arms, her body swelled, sprayed blood, and blew apart.
I thought fragments of flesh would scatter around, but they absorbed the surrounding flames, and the flesh and blood gathered to create a sphere. As the reddish-black sphere pulsed, I aimed my gun and fired.
Everyone immediately attacked with magic, arrows, and cannons, but...
The reddish-black sphere burst, and from it, a naked woman drenched in blood appeared.
Her long golden hair was soaked in blood, but it still seemed to shine. The purple eyes visible between the strands of hair also had a jewel-like brilliance.
White skin and a beautiful body. Large breasts, a slender waist—at that point, I shook my head. Everyone else was also captivated, so I called out to them.
"Keep your guard up!"
Then, the blood-drenched woman—perhaps in her mid-to-late twenties—looked at me and curled the corner of her mouth.
The woman had been near the throne, but the moment I turned around to call out to everyone, she was beside me.
"Allow them to be captivated. Also, let me say nice to meet you, Lariel."
There was absolutely no presence. Even though I was sharing Celes's visual information, I hadn't noticed. I tried to jump back, but the woman did not follow.
She was smiling as she looked at me.
"Do not be so afraid. I hold a fondness for you. It has truly been a long time since something like this happened. Let's see... it is an excitement similar to when your ancestor dealt the finishing blow to me."
From the flow of the conversation, the one my ancestor had finished off—that was Agrissa.
"Miranda!"
Miranda, who recovered faster than the others, entangled Agrissa with threads using a skill. The naked Agrissa was bound, but even Miranda's threads could not leave a scratch on Agrissa's skin.
"This woman, how hard is she!"
Then, Agrissa laughed. While laughing, she was cutting Miranda's threads.
"How cruel. Even so, my skin is soft. Shall I let you confirm it? As expected of someone Novem chose. There are plenty of cute ones here."
Unlike Celes, she had been acting favorably toward me from a while ago. But that was conversely terrifying. Just now, if she had been serious, she might have been able to kill me. And yet, she didn't.
It would be forbidden to have the optimistic thought that she couldn't.
Novem stepped in front of me. She held her staff, but the staff took the form of a great scythe, and Novem was on maximum alert.
"Agrissa—no, Septem!"
Then, Agrissa's expression clouded.
"Do not call me by that name. I am Agrissa. I would prefer not to be called by the name of a fool like Septem. Well, I suppose Septem is not the only fool."
In the latter half, Agrissa directed a provocative attitude toward Novem. Then, Novem approached Agrissa at a speed unlike anything before and swung the great scythe toward her neck.
Agrissa caught and stopped it with her left hand.
"Good grief, do not be so angry. I have finally been resurrected. Even so, it has been a long time since I smelled this activated magic. The scent of the battlefield. You must be fighting outside as well. How nice... I get shivers thinking about people dying. As I thought, there are things one can only feel when they have a body."
Feeling fear at the sight of Agrissa's blushing cheeks, I gave instructions to those around me.
The allies connected via Connection began to move, and Ludmila and Glacia attacked, sandwiching Agrissa between them.
They were enhancing themselves with skills. Their speed and power were above normal, but—.
"Ho, descendants of the Goddess. Looking closely, there are others gathered here as well. Lariel, you are impressive. Did you collect them without realizing it, or is it fate—well, that does not matter."
The blood scattered around swelled up, becoming large arms that blocked Ludmila and Glacia's attacks.
"You!"
When Glacia produced flames, Agrissa looked at her.
"Oh, hot, hot. As expected of someone who carries the blood of the Goddess. But that is all. I shall add you to my collection, so be quiet."
Blowing the three of them away, Agrissa vanished the arms that protected her. As she stretched, Monica and Eliza launched an attack.
Clara went to recover the three who had been blown away, and Miranda was hugging a shivering Shannon.
"Automatons. You have resurrected something nostalgic. Well, I imagine you hate me."
Agrissa looked at Monica as if she were a curiosity. Monica, while swinging down a giant hammer, spoke.
"My core tells me that you are more dangerous than the vixen. Vanish!"
Agrissa stopped that hammer blow with her palm, and with her other arm, she grabbed the staff Eliza had swung. Eliza had created a blade of ice, but when Agrissa touched it, the ice easily shattered.
Agrissa looked disappointed.
"What a pity. You all are excellent. Moreover, since you are precious things left behind by humans, I would like to keep you by my side... well, if Lariel becomes mine, you will likely obey."
As Agrissa looked at me, she blew Monica and Eliza away. Aria stepped in front of me, but Agrissa passed Aria and came before me.
"What!"
Touching my cheek, Agrissa looked at my face.
"How nice. Because you carry my blood, you feel truly endearing. Moreover, you are distant in terms of blood relation, and you are strong. Even after everything was stolen by Celes, you filled that vessel with a different power. Celes seemed to hate you... but I have taken a liking to you."
Is she perhaps a better person than what was told? I almost started thinking that. When I shook my head and tried to move away, Novem swung her staff down at Agrissa.
Then, Agrissa let out a sigh.
"Sigh... Novem, do not get in the way."
Novem's face was dyed in a rage I had never seen before.
"After killing Celes-sama, youuuu!!"
As the staff that had changed into a great scythe burst into flames, Agrissa threw Novem away. However, Novem slashed at Agrissa.
Her movements were faster than before. It was as if—Novem was gradually changing.
"It is what Celes desired. In the first place, you also utilized what we were doing. You hated that Lariel had my blood in him, and you used Celes just to extract it."
"Shut up!!"
Novem's purple eyes seemed to be glowing. Magic power overflowed from Novem, and that power—seemed to be the same as Agrissa's.
"Surpassing humans, are you? Interesting. It is because the base was excellent, but do not think I am the same as I was before."
I could tell that Novem was becoming infuriated by Agrissa's provocation. From the connected line, Novem's emotions flowed in so intensely that I could not process them.
"!"
I clutched my chest.
The line with Novem was forcibly cut. Then, Shannon screamed.
"Stop Novem! Agrissa—Agrissa's target is Novem!"
We all approached Novem and Agrissa at once, but Agrissa, looking slightly disappointed, immediately smiled.
"What a pity. I thought I would cherish the sight of you all despairing, but there was a clever child among you. However, it is too late."
Magic power erupted from Novem, and a storm of magic raged through the Audience Chamber. From the outside, it would probably look like wind was simply blowing inside the room. But in our eyes, we could see the flow of magic that Shannon saw.
Looking at Novem's form.
"Novem is... changing."
She seemed to be transforming from a human into something else. She had a human form, but she was becoming the same thing as the infuriated and hateful Agrissa—and then, two giant reddish-black palms appeared around Agrissa.
"Septem!!"
The infuriated Novem could see only Agrissa.
"Are you enraged because I killed Celes! You acted refined in front of Lariel, but as I thought, you must be like this! It is just like that time! The time you killed me! You have not changed at all!"
Agrissa laughed, looking at the enraged Novem. We were blown away by the storm and slammed against the wall. As the Valkyries caught us, the giant palms enveloped Agrissa and Novem.
Agrissa and Septem were enveloped. Then, a reddish-black sphere was created once again, and from within it, Agrissa appeared.
"What. What is this thing—"
The Agrissa before my eyes had grown giant. She was still in the form of a woman, but her size exceeded four meters. And on her chest was the form of Novem, her neck hanging limp.
Her arms and legs had changed into reddish-black limbs where blood vessels floated and had hardened. From her back, several horn-like things that could not be called wings protruded.
"—It does not fit well. It will take a bit more time, but... as expected of Novem. She had inherited all the memories. With this, the parts I lost have been neatly filled."
The giant Agrissa looked down at us. Then, her expression broke into a smile.
"What is it, Lariel. Why are you looking at me so much?"
I drew my katana and took a stance.
"What did you do to Novem!"
"Do not be angry. We simply fused. She will become my flesh and blood. Well, this one is someone who deserves to have this happen to her. Do you want to hear it? What Novem did. Do you want to know? What the being called a Goddess actually was?"
I looked at Agrissa's chest. My skill told me that Novem was still safe. But I did not think she would remain safe forever.
Aria looked up at Agrissa.
"Goddess? This is..."
Then, Agrissa glared at Aria.
"Ah, that is right. Humans once revered this hideous form as a Goddess. It was humans who worshipped us, whom humans created! And so, we became gods. Therefore... the massacre I am about to perform is a divine punishment decided by a god."
As Agrissa slowly raised her arm, Miranda screamed instead of Shannon. She spoke to everyone connected via the line.
"Evacuate everyone immediately! Even if it is just hiding somewhere!"
I was horrified by the flow of magic pouring in, and the result Shannon read from that flow.
"Everyone immediately—"
By "everyone," she did not mean those of us here. She meant our entire army that had infiltrated Central.
However, Agrissa simply laughed.
"I will have to go easy on you all. But it is already too late."
The light released from Agrissa's raised hand was about to blow everything away. Its power's effective range covered all of Central.
Porter immediately moved into a position to shield us. However, the Valkyries jumped forward, deploying their binders fully, sensing that it would not be enough.
When everything was enveloped in light, the voice that was heard was Agrissa's.
"I shall stain the entire continent in blood, and now it is my turn to rule the world. Novem, I will let you watch that sight from the best seat in the house! You can watch from there as the humans you loved perish!"
I gripped the jewel tightly.