"We're fast approaching the Shrine." Vastoria smiled, "I'm getting kind of excited now."

"And nervous, it seems." Throne glared down at her, "You're shivering like crazy. Don't make it any harder for me not to drop you."

"You won't." She giggled.

"What makes you say that?"

"You said it yourself, you need me for this~!" She stuck her tongue out with an innocent tease.

"Hm..." He couldn't really argue with her on that, "In any case, there might be a chance you get rejected anyways."

Alas, there is no guarantee that even with Vastoria, the seraphim with the least amount of gold on her second only to Throne himself, they could pass the Shrine's barrier. For one thing, there appears to be some sort of force field that detects a Heavenly Being's gilded parts and thrusts them back to their homes. And since Heavenly Beings are connected to their gilded parts, it essentially makes the area inaccessible. They would need to find a pure White angel, unharmed by the previous world, and get them to ascend to seraphimhood on their own if this didn't work. Such a backup plan could take them ages...

"Let's hope this works." Throne dangled Vastoria high above the Shrine, "Since the barrier appears to have a dome-like shape, I can safely remain here without getting sent back."

"Yeah, but how am I gonna get down there then-?" She asked, getting cut off mid sentence by him letting her go, "Ah, no!"

Throne, in all his genius, had assumed this to be the best and most optimal way to go about it. The Shrine was merely a small, one story stone building, completely different from the colorful houses of the residential area. Though they weren't near any houses, there was still a possibility that the White Monster could get them if they descended down to the ground and walked towards it. "Heavenly Beings do not take fall damage" was his assumption, however he failed to take note of Vastoria's specific case. Due to her golden heart, she doesn't do well with stressful situations.

"P-Panicking...!" She darted her gaze around so much it made her lightheaded, "Gotta calm down... Can't land on my feet, I'll feel pain that way...!"

Verily, she had another golden spot preventing her from just sticking the landing like any other angel or seraphim. It was a small one, barely even noticeable unless you were for whatever reason really looking at it, but Vastoria had a gilded spot on her right toe. This tidbit of information made walking quite uncomfortable for her, hence her motivation to gain her seraphim wings as soon as possible. Nonetheless, if walking was made unbearable, then landing on it from this high up could possibly even make her heart explode. Some angels might say their gilded parts are extremely convenient, as is the case with Hate, but for her, the combo could not be any more poorly matched.

"Dammit, landing on my head could snap my neck... No wait, is it even possible for the White parts to break?" She pondered, nevertheless opting for the safest bet, "Whatever! Vastoria, you can do this! Just... Just pretend it's water!"

Assuming the position of a diver leaping into the pool below, she had aimed for the smallest splash possible. Of course, divers do this to account for surface tension, which only occurs with liquids, however the aforementioned force field around the Shrine could very well be a solid, or worse—A gas. Right now, she almost has to hope she gets rejected, otherwise who knows what fate might befall her.

"Mngh...!" She braced herself, only to feel her descent begin to slow down to a halt, "Eh?"

"Tch, of course." Throne clicked his tongue, "Alright, guess that's my cue."

Dashing down to a seemingly random spot in the sky, he braced himself to catch Vastoria before she got launched back to her home. He has been in her exact position hundreds of times before, after all, with the only difference being that he had no one to catch him. This time, however, things were different. Though he wasn't even sure it could be possible to stop her from getting sent back, he would of course try his hardest to not let this attempt end early.

"What's going on...?" She looked around, only to get flung back at the speed of light, "Oop-!"

"Didn't think I'd ever have to play goalie in Heaven, but I guess here we are." Throne joked to himself, "Come on, catch this! Catch it...! Dah!"

She was flung towards him so fast that he didn't even get the chance to blink. He was afraid, and though he couldn't feel his heart racing, he definitely wished to not have to see the outcome of this. He wanted to flinch, to dodge, or even just to have something to shield him from getting a girl flung at him at mach 1, but he stood his ground. It was either catching Vastoria, he reasoned in his mind, or going all the way back to square one to relive this nightmare from the beginning. The conclusion he came to in the end?

"No more do overs." He breathed a sigh of relief as he held her in his arms.

"That was..." She tightly held her chest, "Terrifying! I was sure I was going to be the first Heavenly Being to die in this world!"

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

"There's no way that can happen..." He sighed, "Even if something like that did happen, you'd just wake up safely in your bed the next cycle."

"Don't try to play this off, you dropped me!" She sniffled as tears began to well up from her Eyes, "I trusted you..."

"Vastoria..." He looked her in the Eye and said, "For the record, I didn't drop you. I intentionally let you go."

"That's even worse!" She smacked him before apologizing immediately after, "O-Oh no, sorry!"

"...Geez, you really are too sweet for this place." He chuckled, "Alright, let's try something else."

"Take me to the ground first!" She begged.

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking too." He nodded, "We'll try to go in through the main entrance this time. Properly, as it was intended."

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***

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With a few more flaps of his golden wings, Throne had safely landed a way's away from the Shrine. It wasn't too far, by any means, but just far enough where they didn't enter the barrier. Slowly, they began to walk towards it.

"Hm?" Vastoria noticed something peculiar, "Are... you seeing what I'm seeing?"

"The Shrine." He furrowed his brows, "It's disappearing!"

Stopping to fly himself up a bit, he noticed that the Shrine only became invisible when they were on the ground. Otherwise, it remained there just as it always has. Touching down next to her once more, he explained his findings.

"I think I get it. The Shrine isn't disappearing, nor is it becoming invisible." He continued, "There appears to be a wall that refracts light around it, only visible from a bird's Eye view."

"Wait, you only found this out now?" She tilted her head.

"What are you implying?"

"I dunno, it's just..." She struggled to find the correct words to not offend him by accident, "Didn't you try to just walk in even once during your hundreds of earlier attempts?"

"Mm..."

"...Eh?" She was baffled, "Wueh!? Seriously, you never even once thought to do that!?"

"Why would I walk when I can just fly in?" He looked away, crossing his arms with a pout.

"Because you obviously CAN'T fly in!" She chewed him out, "...Pfft! Seriously, even I thought to land immediately after seeing how flying in didn't work."

"Just shut up and get moving." He complained, "You'll see, we'll just get our asses sent back to the start line anyways. Walking or not."

Though he said this, things did in fact go right for them for what felt like the very first time since they left Vastoria's floating island. As they approached roughly where they recalled the Shrine to be placed at, they could finally see the wall surrounding it in all its glory. It was large, dome like, just like the barrier. Presumably, the two were one and the same.

"So the barrier is made of glass." Vastoria noted.

"Or possibly ice." Throne replied, "The impurities give it away."

Reaching out to touch it with his hand, he noticed that there was in fact zero resistance from the wall. Unlike previously, where they would get heavily punished for trying to swoop in from the air, this time it was just your regular, run-of-the-mill ice wall. Once he understood it was safe to touch, he did the only natural thing he could do next.

"E-Eh, ew!" Vastoria gagged, "Just what is your fascination with licking everything, geez!"

"Mn?" He glanced back at her, his golden tongue frozen and stuck to the wall, "Tholly, I'd lathel..."

"Free your tongue first, I can't understand a word you're saying!"

"...Haaa, haaa..." He breathed hot air from his mouth on it, eventually thawing the tongue off the wall before nodding in a scientist-like manner, "Yep, definitely ice. Now, as I was saying—Sorry, I'd rather not have a golden tongue either, but destiny had other plans for me."

"I wasn't blaming you for having it, I was blaming you for constantly using it..." She sighed, "Well, now that we know what it is, our next task is to figure out how to break past it."

"Oh, that one's obvious. Time to break the ice!" He smirked, punching the wall with all his might, keeping his form perfect as he made sure to use his whole body's rotation to pivot the fist, "...Huh."

"That definitely looked like it should've hurt..." Vastoria noted.

"Yup, but we don't feel pain, so I can try again!" He readied his fist for another punch, only to realize it didn't want to clench itself, "Looks like you're never too old to learn new tricks, huh?"

"Don't you mean: Even an old dog can learn new tricks?" She vaguely recalled the saying.

"Yeah, that's what I said." He nodded.

"...Hey, did you just call me a dog again!?" She pouted.

"Never mind that, we have an issue on our hands." He showed her his hand as it weakly dangled from his wrist, "It's broken."

"What? No way, we can't get injured here." She cocked her head back.

"Yeah, and I didn't say I feel the pain." He bent all the fingers back in the completely opposite direction, "But as you can see, I think this wall presents one of the first exceptions to that rule."

"My Gods...!" She looked on in horror, "W-Wait, so you're saying...?"

"It appears so." He nodded grimly, "We can't fly into the Shrine. If we do, the force field sends us back. But if we're here on the ground, the force field becomes a wall that can and will damage our bodies. Tch, let's just hope this broken hand won't stick around after the reset..."

They had hit an impasse yet again, and to make matters worse, this one well and truly felt like there was simply nothing to do on their part. They had no tools to use, only one of them had a pair of wings, and if they tried just brute forcing through it with their fists, they'd eventually have nothing to hit it with.

"What do we do?" He asked, "Thinking of calling it quits for this cycle?"

"...No, not yet." She shook her head, "After coming this far, there has to be some way to break through."

"Sometimes, even though you try your hardest..." He revealed his own thoughts on this, "It doesn't mean things will work out in the end."

"So you're just gonna give up!?" She yelled.

"On this attempt, yes." He resignedly replied, "Unless of course, you got a better idea?"

"I'll think of something!" She hastily stopped him from leaving, "Just... Just gimme a minute!"

The ice wall remained firm in front of them. Unfazed by Throne's previous attacks, standing there unchipped as if to mock them for even attempting such a brutish way of entry. Vastoria had to think of something soon, otherwise this attempt would have to come to an exceedingly disappointing end...