CHAPTER 19: THE GODDESS OF WAR P4
~19.4~
*****
When they stepped through the doorway from the Void Palace to Arslade, Kye, Allison, and Luma felt the ground rumble. Each instinctively flared their mana and drew their blades.
Allison detected the source first. “What must be the ‘pet’ is just outside the city.” She vanished, followed swiftly by her two companions. Looking down on the scene from above, what they saw was nothing short of a monster out of a myth.
“What the hell?” Luma muttered.
“I admit I underestimated this ‘pet’,” Kye said. “How in the world did it get here?”
Standing in the lake northeast of the city was an enormous two-legged demon beast. It looked like an S-Class beast with its humanoid shape, albeit with elongated arms, but it was exponentially bigger. Magic filled the air around it. The defensive was already underway.
“Judging from its mana...” Kye said, narrowing her eyes. “I estimate it at around 725,000T. This thing is no joke. I can close that gap, but it would take compounding Aether Drive and Mana Burst like I did in the first battle here five years ago. Aether Drive takes me up to 5100T, but that would still require a minimum of nearly 150x to fight it, per attack. A couple hundred of those and this is the same situation as five years ago. The only other way is-”
“No,” Luma said. “There’s no point in you trying to calculate a way to fight that monster. Your mind just jumped to-”
“And so what if it did?” Kye shot back. “Either everyone dies or-”
“Stop,” Allison said calmly. “I won’t stand for a sacrifice play, and I’m concerned that your mind went to that as a solution so quickly. There is no need. I’ll take care of it.”
“I agree,” Luma said. “Kye, you should stop trying to take on all the burdens yourself. Let your friends fight for you this time.”
Kye wasn’t having it. “Even if Allison is the strongest mortal in Elysium, it’s still not enough to fight that thing! I could do it with her output, but that’s relying on aether!” She eyed Allison. “With aether you can probably take that thing on, but-”
“Stop.” The look in Allison’s eyes hadn’t changed one bit. Her eyes showed not an ounce of fear or doubt, only confidence. “Luma, please shield the people. I may rewrite the map a bit, and I’d rather exclude our people from the crossfire.”
“Uh...”
“Rewrite the map?” Kye said, an eyebrow raised. “What are you saying? Mana and aether can’t do that.”
“I have my full memories.” Allison held her hand up and unleashed her Radiance. It glowed a brilliant silvery blue. “One should always practice restraint, even in the midst of battle. This is why I allowed you and Alethea to fight when the city was attacked. If I were to haphazardly unleash my power in a populated location... most of the people would die from just the exposure.”
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“I’m aware of that,” Kye replied. She continued the conversation, but could no longer hide her surprise. “That’s why I fought the S+ beast out at sea that time on Atlas, as well.”
“Yes, and that’s why in such close proximity to the city that time, I allowed the student I trusted most to succeed to handle the fighting while I played defense. But with my memories comes the expertise of Seris Athas. There is no more ‘haphazardly’. I am in full control.” She paused a moment to turn back to Kye and smiled. Her eyes glowed with a twenty point star in her irises. “Sometimes, you should rely on your mentor.”
Kye’s eyes widened, and she clutched her head as if in pain. The world became so bright so quickly that she couldn’t see anything.
Huh?
As the brightness faded, Kye found herself in a courtyard in front of a beautiful marble palace.
What is this place?
“Elysia! Again!”
She heard both her name and the sound of swords clanging together. She ran toward the source and found a younger version of herself fighting with a purple-haired woman closely resembling Allison.
No, they’re not fighting... they’re training. And there’s...
Several students were lined up watching the exchange, trading comments like, “Do you think she’ll be the first to pass?” and “She’s really improved. It’s easy to imagine why she’s top of the class.” Kye recognized many of them. The first one to catch her eye was a beautiful pink-haired girl whom Alethea strongly resembled.
Maya.
Next to her were a pair of redheads.
Adele and Adara.
Next to them were a pair of golden blondes, then a pair with green hair.
Elias, Eliana, Katriel, and Kadmiel. But...
She fell to her knees and clutched her head again.
Why do I remember this? And... that woman...
Elysia ended up on her bottom with the black-haired woman’s blade pointed at her. “Not quite. You’re close, but you’re still not quite there.”
“Damn,” Elysia mumbled as she stood up. “How are you so good?”
The woman smiled. “By design. My concept was born of your mother’s desire for you to have a teacher. I have to be good to teach you, Elysia.”
“It’s still ridiculous! You’re a full grown woman, Master Seris! We are still... we’re still children! I look like a thirteen-year-old mortal! Why is it taking so long for us to grow?”
Seris patted the blonde girl’s head. “You lot are very precious. You are the first and greatest of us. I imagine she is simply taking her time with your development. Don’t forget, our lady loves you very much.”
“I wanna grow up, already!”
Seris shook her head and smiled. “Don’t equate yourself to a mortal. The time it takes one of them to be born, grow, live, and die... is nothing more than a blink of an eye to you. Don’t use them as a metric for yourself.”
“But...”
“It’s fine, Elysia.” Seris patted Elysia’s head and kneeled down in front of her. “You and your classmates are the most exceptional souls out there, but you can grow to be so much more if you let the rest of us help. Lady Eve created this place just for all of you.”
“...yeah.”
“And look, I know everyone looks up to you. You came first, and you’re the most gifted of them all. But, if you are the first... who do you rely on?”
“Wh-what?”
“I’m sorry if I’m not making much sense.” Seris smiled again. “Just remember. Sometimes, you should rely on your mentor. That’s what I’m here for.”
And then the marble world faded away, replaced by the sky above Arslade. Kye flung herself back when she saw Luma and Allison again.
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Revision: 2024-7-9