The two of them stopped in line, Asagi looking straight at the teleportation chamber.
“Kobato.”
“Y-yeah?”
“There’s no cure for stupid.”
The Goddess Vicius
MY ORGAN is shut? That ringing in my ears… Those particles of light that began floating in the air a few moments ago, then vanished… It cannot be.
Vicius held out her hand and furrowed her brow.
“I cannot use my divine magic.”
I cannot even summon a Fireball. Have my divine powers been sealed? In any case, they’ve done something to me. A trap of some sort. But this power to influence the divines…
The crow that she had squished earlier drifted into the back of Vicius’s mind and she ground her teeth.
“Anaorbael.”
She was a talented dark elf, but could never quite divest herself of her feelings. If only we didn’t think so differently—if only she hadn’t been so pointlessly emotional—I would have made her one of my servants, a demi-god. She has a long lifespan, so I’d hoped she would have realized how worthless humans can be. I’d hoped she might have a change of heart.
I should have killed her when I had the chance.
“I see.”
They are working with Anaorbael, then. The Forbidden Witch has been offering them her assistance from the shadows this whole time. Is she here now, somewhere inside the labyrinth?
I never anticipated that she would have the power to affect my divine organ. Has she made use of some ancient magical device that she has kept hidden away all this time, reluctant to part with it?
There is something strange about the way these worms are operating. They seem much more resolute than I expected. It is almost as if…they have borrowed the knowledge of the divines? It can’t be… Are there other divines here? It wasn’t just Lokiella and Vanargadia who came to this world? Is Thesis here? Or no…the chief deity, Origin? Was all that talk of quarreling in the heavens a lie after all?
No… The decision to send even two divines down here should have been a difficult one. If more were coming, why wouldn’t they have arrived with Lokiella? There would be no sense to dividing their number. Then have they sent additional forces in such short order? Was there another scheduled to come? A late arrival? Is this sealing of my divine abilities their doing? Must I now work the presence of another divine into my plans?
“…”
No.
She ordered her thoughts.
An additional divine would pose no threat to me. Their presence would be an advantage, even—my anti-divine abilities are so advanced now that they will pose no threat whatsoever.
Vicius focused in on the sensations of her body once more. Her organ was closed, but it seemed that only her divine magic was unavailable to her. She scratched at the skin of her arm with one of her nails, which had been transformed into a sharp blade.
My body remains capable of changing shape and regenerating itself. I do feel as if my base strength has been somewhat diminished… It’s at a nine out of ten, if I had to put a number on it.
But no matter.
Vicius finished confirming the state of her other abilities.
Yes. This will serve. I am unable to use my divine magic and my base strength has been lowered a very small amount.
She laid a hand on one of the white walls beside her.
It does not appear that this has affected the Divine Labyrinth…
She took a knee and touched the floor, closing her eyes as she checked on the carving that she had concealed within the capital.
It is active… Its effect is unchanged.
She stood.
“It seems they cannot affect a fully manifested conception magic spell, or interfere with my divine carving, eh…”
Vicius took the divine device from her pocket and looked at it again.
How many times have I checked this thing now?
The Holy Eye was still operational.
With a cold glare at the machine in her hands, Vicius put it away again.
“…”
She smiled.
“Damned scum.”
This Divine Labyrinth. What is to take place here will be no lighthearted training exercise. The lives of those filthy creatures will be eradicated by me—by a god. This is no labyrinth—it is a divine tomb.
“Hoh hoh, hoh hoh hoh hoh… My, my… Out of the frying pan, straight into the fire, I see. ♪”
There is no need for any more of this tedium.
I do not like them. That is why I provoke them. Why I make them feel sorrow, hurt them, injure them.
I enjoy it. That is why I make them suffer, mock them, break them, bring them misfortune.
I hate them. I love hating them.
That is why I slaughter—slaughter human happiness.
Vicius swallowed the deep purple sphere that she held between her middle finger and thumb.
“I am committed.”
That is why I will slaughter them.
“I will slaughter them.”
Sogou Ayaka
AFTER ACTIVATING the anti-Vicius magical device, Sogou Ayaka looked down the passage before her.
It’s so quiet… There’s no sound…
A few moments earlier, she had tried to call out to someone—aware of the risks that shouting out might entail.
I might draw enemies to my location… But I can defeat them if they come my way. The danger of encountering anything in here concerns me less than finding my allies. In the best-case scenario, I will hopefully find Munin-san first… Though she won’t necessarily have been teleported in anywhere nearby—that is the problem. Given this soundproofing, there also seem no better options available than to just run around in the hopes of finding her.
Ayaka had followed Touka’s orders in immediately destroying the anti-Vicius magical device after she had activated it. The activation itself had consumed no MP, as Ayaka had received a separate device containing stored mana for her to use during the activation.
For a time, Ayaka just ran.
I am not using my silver steed yet—my MP will be limited in this fight. I won’t have any time to sleep and I have no other method of recovering mana. I must conserve it as much as possible.
A building came into view that Ayaka had seen before. This is definitely Eno.
The wax-like white membrane had split the house in two and covered about 80 percent of its walls. Ayaka had yet to see any people. The city street below her was cobblestone, replaced at times with a white covering like fallen snow. When her feet touched the white parts, she felt like she was stepping on hard wax, or perhaps bone. The passageways she ran through were of all different sizes. Some were wide with high ceilings. Some had open ceilings, and parts of the white walls that had warped into staircases. There were sometimes wide rooms between the passageways.
It is possible these rooms were used for the divines’ training—for their fights.
With one hand on her trusty spear, Ayaka charged down the passages, looking up at the ceiling as she went. There was no sunlight in the labyrinth, but the interior was bright. She felt as if she was sealed off from the outside by a membrane, but there was oxygen for her to breathe on the inside, and even a strange sensation of wind.
The mysterious white substance had consumed—or in some cases chaotically fused itself with—parts of the city of Eno. It looked like a half-complete transformation, like it had failed partway through and just been abandoned in place. After circling the nearby area, Ayaka looked in one direction.
The castle… It’s over there.
The heroes had stayed in the royal capital of Alion for a long time after their summoning, and Ayaka was familiar with the buildings and streets that she was running down. She could manage well enough without her map. Everyone was under Touka’s orders to head for the castle.
If we all head in that direction, we should start to group up without even trying to…
But then—
A eucharist…!
A mid-sized eucharist holding a lance emerged from a side passage. Ayaka killed it as an afterthought.