Chapter 159

CHAPTER 3 Paradise Lost The crowd begins buzzing. “A-a human head?” “No way. This has to be some sort of performance.” “H-hey! What’s that?” Everyone, including me, looks in the direction the deity is pointing. The gate slowly opens, and someone begins walking into the arena. They’re wearing plate armor with niello on their slender frame, but what stands out to me the most is their mask. “Th-that’s…!” I instinctively leap out of my chair and start rushing toward the center. “R-Rista, wh-what’s wrong?” “Wait! Where do you think you’re going?” Adenela and Cerceus try to stop me, but I keep running. This isn’t a performance. Ethan Schiffer was killed! I recognize that mask and that dark crimson, ominous aura radiating from their body! That’s the person that was with Mersais in Sage Village! After reaching Aria’s corner, I violently shake her by the shoulders. “Aria! Get Reimi Mochizuki to stay back! That person is dangerous!” Reimi stares at the approaching masked individual. Aria nods doesn’t say a word. She obviously must have already sensed the enemy’s odd aura. “Reimi! Let the deities handle the intruder!” “B-but…” “Fall back! Now!” Reimi reluctantly retreats a half step, taken aback by Aria’s unusually stern tone. In her place, a deity steps foot into the battleground. Valkyrie approaches Ethan’s head and looks at it for a few moments before glaring at the masked intruder in the center. “Was this your doing?” “Yep.” With that immediate muffled word, Valkyrie vanishes into thin air. A dry sound echoes, and immediately, their places had switched. D-did Valkyrie attack?! I didn’t even see what happened! The masked warrior adjusts their body’s position while speaking with a demure voice: “Whoa. That was a close one. You deities sure are fast.” “I commend you for avoiding a direct hit. I meant to crush your skull. But ‘that was a close one’? Don’t make me laugh.” Valkyrie cracks her knuckles, and a crack suddenly runs through her opponent’s mask. “The First Valkyrja: Shattered Break.” The cracked mask then crumbles to the ground. I thought the warrior behind it would be a hideous monster, but the mask instead fell away to reveal glossy lips, long eyelashes, and… “Oh? I thought I dodged it completely. Amazing.” The intruder’s voice is no longer being muffled by the mask. It’s the youthful voice of a woman. “Come on, I thought deities weren’t supposed to harm humans.” Valkyrie’s eyes open wide as she stares at the woman combing back her rather short hair. “You’re…!” What?! Does Valkyrie know her? As if feigning ignorance, the woman continues: “I probably would have ended up like that guy if I was any slower.” She cackles while pointing at Ethan’s head. “By the way, he was one of the favorites to win the tournament, right? Rather unimpressive, that one.” “My Hero was ‘unimpressive’?” “His stats were high, but that doesn’t have anything to do with being strong. What if someone graduates from a leading university at the top of their class, but they’re later arrested for molesting someone? Wouldn’t you question their intelligence? It’s like that.” “I’ve heard enough of your bullshit!” “I’m just disappointed by how weak he was, being a former Hero myself and all.” A-a “former Hero”?! I yell to Aria at my side: “Aria! Just who is she?!” Aria then mutters: “The Divine Hero…!” D-didn’t I see that title back in the exhibition hall? “But…this…this can’t be happening! A soul that has been destroyed cannot be revived!” Aria exclaims in a trembling voice. It appears both Aria and Valkyrie know this woman. I want to ask what happened, but Aria is frantically panting. I return my gaze to the center of the arena and gasp…because the woman is staring right at me! “We’ve met before, haven’t we? Hey, where’s that guy you were with last time? I’m sure he’s way stronger than this one was.” “S-Seiya’s not in the spirit world!” “Awww. How boring.” She appears genuinely disappointed until… “Where do you think you’re lookin’?” Valkyrie throws herself at the woman from behind and swings a fist infused with her powers of destruction. There’s a metallic clang, and I witness yet another hard-to-believe sight. In between Valkyrie and the so-called former Hero is a familiar goddess wearing camouflage and crossing two swords together, blocking Valkyrie’s fist. “Z-Zet?!” I instinctively cry out. But…! But I thought Brahma imprisoned her! She’s the Goddess of Warfare, who taught Seiya how to go into Berserk Mode. She pushes the chain-wrapped fist away with her swords, then says to the former Hero: “Don’t let your guard down. She’s the strongest goddess in the entire unified spirit world.” “Hold on, Zet. Are you saying I couldn’t beat her even in Phase Four?” “You mean Berserk: Phase Four? It’s a strange feeling, knowing that you can use that even though I never taught it to you. But I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. This is the almighty power of Mersais, after all.” “So can I win or not?” “…Just stick to the plan for now.” “Yeah, I guess that would be for the best.” Zet faces Valkyrie in a battle stance, brandishing her blades. The former Hero then uses this moment to retrieve a piece of paper from her breast pocket. She throws it into the air, and the red magic circle drawn on it grows until it materializes into the real thing. “The gate’s open. Ready when you are.” A decrepit arm, like that of a corpse, appears from the eerie circle of blood. “D-don’t tell me…!” The bad feeling in my gut was right. An undead wearing armor, an individual wearing a black robe and emitting an evil aura, a man with the frightening body of an insect—abnormal creatures slowly begin to crawl out from the gate! “D-demons…!” The sight causes a commotion among the deities in the colosseum. The creatures, which are just as malevolent and threatening as a Demon Lord from an SS-ranked world, gradually drop to one knee around the gate. And eventually, the Goddess of Atrocity gallantly emerges from the magic circle with flowing brindle hair. Mersais…! But her aura isn’t divine. Rather, it’s pitch-black and sinister to the core. And yet, she possesses an overwhelming presence and radiates such beauty that I find myself bewitched. Mersais observes the arena while walking through the kneeling devils. “I’m home, unified spirit world.” Valkyrie, who is standing just ahead of her, clicks her tongue. “So this was all your doing, huh?” “Valkyrie…and I see Aria is here as well. So many familiar faces.” “Don’t get cocky. Do you really think we’re gonna let you leave in one piece? This colosseum is surrounded by gods.” “That won’t be a problem. This arena wasn’t chosen by chance, after all.” “Sounds like everything’s going according to your little plan, huh? That pisses me off. How’d you make sure Ishtar didn’t see you coming, though? You snuck Zet out, summoned a former Hero, and even brought in devils somehow. That’s not something you can do in the spirit world.” Y-yeah, Ishtar can see into the near future, so how did she pull this off? “I learned something the last time we fought. Ishtar can’t see her own future. All I had to do was kill her first. Problem solved.” “…What?” Mersais gives the signal, and Zet walks over with a large, straw sack that had been resting at her side. “There you go.” Thud. Zet smirks near Mersais. “I’m sure I don’t need to tell you what’s inside.” Dark red blood leaks from of the sack, and my entire body freezes. “N-n-no…! This can’t be happening! Wh-what did you do to Ishtar?!” “Rista, calm down! Deities don’t die even if they lose their physical bodies! I’m sure Ishtar will be okay!” Aria raises her voice, almost like she was trying to convince herself as well. However, Zet apparently heard her yelling. “Usually, that’d be the case, but there is an exception when you use this.” Zet raises her jet-black swords into the air, miasma radiating from the blades. “Chain Destruction. Killing a god is no problem as long as I have this, so you should probably be careful.” Immediately, Zet leaps into the crowd with her swords! The bizarre creatures draw their weapons and charge the deities as well. “Ahhhhhh!”