“Then I will explain in simple terms,” Celestina continued. “We removed the rubble embedded in your body, stitched your body back together with my thread, and then did what healing we could. However, the damage to your brain was rather severe, so the only thing we could do was leave that to your own Auto Heal ability.”
“As far as I know, if the head is destroyed, healing shouldn’t work...” Hanakawa mumbled. Even in a world where people possessed souls or spirits, the faculties of thought, will, and memory were all governed by the brain. It was fundamentally different from other organs, which could simply resume their function if they were reconstructed. Hanakawa’s experience as a Healer had taught him that rebuilding the brain wasn’t capable of restoring a person’s memories or personality.
“Perhaps it is thanks to the Philosopher’s Stone,” Celestina proposed. “For us, it serves only as a key to pass through the gates, but with one in your body, it may cause your healing magic to ascend to a new level.”
“I see... I also absorbed that portion of Luu’s arm. There may be some possibility of godly powers at work as well... Wait, does this not mean I am technically immortal?”
“I would not be too confident in that,” Celestina replied. “It may be that things only worked out this time because I was here to help.”
“I-I suppose you are right. Even if I were to discover I was immortal, I would not be so careless with my life.”
As they spoke, Hanakawa’s condition gradually improved. Returning to his feet, he looked around. Though it was impossible to tell what had happened, it was clear to see at a glance that some unparalleled destruction had occurred. Damage had been done not just to the pyramid, but to the entire island. With the walls gone, Hanakawa could step up to the newly fashioned cliff and look down to see the sea below them. To the left and right were nothing but water, which looked to be in the grips of a storm. Something enormous must have passed through the area, erasing everything it touched.
“The fact that any of the pyramid survived at all seems to be a miracle...” Hanakawa murmured. Despite essentially having been killed, he had to admit they had been quite lucky. “But at this rate, the gates will have been destroyed. How will we progress?”
“What do you mean?” Carol said. “Now we can go anywhere we want.” She then leaped off the edge.
“Carol?!”
Though he expected her to fall, she instead launched upward. Carefully leaning out over the ledge, Hanakawa looked up after her and saw her climbing the side of the pyramid using a grappling hook to ascend to the next level.
“Getting through the pyramid was a struggle before because we had to do it from the inside. If we can climb the outside of it, then it becomes really easy!” she called back.
“I see! But in that case, would it not have been more intelligent to climb from the outside right at the beginning?”
“Hey, no dwell on past!”
“Can you stop reverting to your poor language skills, then?”
“At first, climbing the outside of the pyramid was impossible,” Celestina added. “Right now...it seems there will be no problem.”
“You investigated it with your threads?” Hanakawa asked.
“Correct. I can now get them to the top.” Before entering the pyramid, she had investigated the outside of the structure. Her search had turned up a barrier a certain distance off the ground, preventing any further climbing.
“So, that being the case, how are we supposed to climb?” Hanakawa asked. “Are you going to carry me, Carol?”
“Please leave it to me,” Celestina said, stepping off the ledge. At this point, no one expected she would fall. Sure enough, she hovered in the air, her threads supporting her body and creating footing for her. “Carrying four people should be easy enough. Are you ready?”
Hanakawa, Ryouko, and Sora nodded together. Their bodies were gently lifted off the ground, drawn outside the pyramid. Far below them, the sea still raged in the aftermath of whatever chaos had passed through. A shudder ran through Hanakawa’s legs, prompting him to focus his attention upwards.
“Oh, I can make it on my own, so don’t worry about it.” Using her grappling hooks, Carol was making smooth progress up the side of the pyramid, with the other four gently ascending behind her.
Without any obstacles, they made it to the roof. From the top, they could clearly see the extent of the damage. Half of the once perfectly square rooftop was missing, signs of damage everywhere.
There were a fair number of people gathered there. They seemed clearly on guard against each other based on the way they stood scattered apart. They must have been adventurers here to challenge the last boss. It seemed they had also taken the opportunity to climb the pyramid from the outside now that it had been destroyed.
“Didn’t they say there was another area after the prison?” Carol asked, looking around. There didn’t seem to be anything here. The field’s name was Castle in the Sky. Looking up, they could see a large cloud, so the castle may have resided within it, but there was no obvious way to get inside.
“That witch lady said there was an Antechamber Area after the Prison Area, did she not?” Hanakawa recalled. “Something about a waiting room while other adventurers gathered. Is that perhaps what this place is?”
“It doesn’t look that way to me. It doesn’t look that different from the area we just passed through.” As Sora said, it looked like this was just a continuation of the Prison Area.
“Then what are we supposed to do now?” Hanakawa had thought making it to the end of the Prison Area would have been enough.
✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦
Now that they were here, he had no clue what they were supposed to do.
“Looking around...it appears most people are rather calm. They are only waiting, so I suppose we should do the same?” Celestina said, just as calm as the other adventurers.
“I suppose so,” Hanakawa agreed. “There is nothing we can do anyway.”
“Then I will take my leave here.”
“Huh? Where are you going?” Hanakawa called out as Celestina began walking away.
“It appears everyone is divided into their party groups. There is nothing here now, but it is possible that individual parties will be in contest with each other. I have no desire to bring harm to you as guests of the hotel, but if it becomes necessary... That said, even if it does, it would be impolite for me to attack you all without warning. So I feel it would be best to separate here.”
With that excuse, he had no reason to stop her and could only watch as she departed.
“Ah! Now that I think about it, Ryouko, Hanakawa, and I are all in a party, aren’t we?” Carol said.
“Perhaps it is best if I leave as well,” Sora suggested before stepping away.
“Are we not in trouble if those two become our enemies?” Hanakawa asked.
“Yeah, if we’re against Celestina, I guess we don’t stand a chance, do we?” Carol replied.
“I think the same could be said about Sora...” Hanakawa added.
“Really?” Ryouko said. “I don’t remember Akino being that strong.”
Back during their experience in the Underworld beneath Manii’s capital, Sora had engaged in combat with them. While she was capable of handling the enemies on the upper levels without issue, Ryouko didn’t think she compared much to the combat professions like Samurai or Ninja.
“Well, you see,” Hanakawa began. “And so on and so forth.”
“Could you explain properly please?” the two girls sighed.
Hanakawa explained how Sora’s fans appeared out of thin air when she was in trouble.
“So in other words, we never know when Hanakawa will suddenly betray us!” Carol exclaimed.
“Ah! I suppose from an objective viewpoint it does appear that way!” Hanakawa was still wearing the cheering uniform with Sora’s name on it. He hurriedly threw it and the glow stick to the ground.
“I don’t know if changing your outfit solves the problem here,” Ryouko said.
“Don’t worry about it.” Carol waved off her concerns. “As long as we know he might betray us, there’s no problem!”
“I would never do such a thing...or so I would like to say, but I do not even know where these clothes came from or why I was wearing them, so I suppose I cannot say for certain.” It was quite possible he would suddenly turn into one of her fans and sacrifice his life to help her. He couldn’t even trust himself at this point.
“Either way, we can hold on to him until we actually have to fight her.”
Before Hanakawa could ask what that was supposed to mean, two people came flying towards the pyramid.
“That’s the Sage...” Hanakawa murmured.
One was the Sage Van, who had embedded a Philosopher’s Stone in Hanakawa. The other was a boy a little smaller than Van, wearing a mask.