CRAAAACK.
The sound of glass shattering could be heard from the changing room.
The glimmer of life had returned to Lucy’s eyes, but so had confusion.
“W-wait, something’s off about this…”
A shovel? Did I really receive a shovel? Seriously? Are these really my memories?
“My word! Lucy, are your memories coming back?!”
“I-I think so, but something seems…off.”
“We have to keep going! Sir Alan! Ready the next scoop!”
Alan silently thrust his shovel into the hot water again, causing the video feed to change. This time, it showed a vast field beneath the brightly shining sun. As a member of the heavenly army and an angel-soldier trainee, Lucy was participating in her first real battle. Up until then, she’d only watched Gabriella in combat.
“Lucy, watch me carefully.” Gabriella smiled in front of the injured Lucy.
Ah! I remember now! Gabriella’s special attack, the…
“HOLY WAVE MOTION SHOVEL BLAST!”
KA-CHOOOOOOOOM!
The Gabriella in the video held a shovel in her hands and fired off a Wave Motion Shovel Blast. All the other angels on the battlefield were holding shovels as well. Even the demons. Of course they were. Shovels were the strongest weapon in all the realms, heavenly and demonic alike…
“…?”
Wait, what? Had that always been Gabriella’s special attack?
“Er, um, dear sister, why do you have a shovel…?”
“A little more, Sir Alan! This is the last scoop!”
Alan once again thrust his shovel forward.
At this, Lucy saw herself searching Rahzelfo, conquering each of the Four Elemental Towers, defeating the Mage King with her shovel, and even trouncing Pazuzu.
“Shovel Angel! Shovel Angel!” All of her friends cheered her on with her new title.
Let us all pay reverence to the Shovel Angel, Lucy! All hail the great Shovel Angel, Lucy! Within the video, humans, angels, and demons alike sang Lucy’s praises.
“Ah… Shovel…Shovel Angel…?!”
Gabriella embraced her sister tightly and whispered into her ears. “That’s right… You’re a Shovel Angel… No, you’re the Shovel Archangel, Lucy.”
“Shovel…Archangel…? I am…? Foolish old me?!”
Lucy could feel herself getting excited. She was filled with joy. Now she was on the same level as her beloved sister. Despite thinking herself a failure, she was now an archangel like Gabriella. Everything would be fine. She had some doubts about the integrity of her memories, but that had to be her imagination. She shed tears, but she was certain they were tears of joy.
“Aaahhh… I…the shovel…!” Lucy could feel her memories being filled in with a shovel. “Aaah… Shovel…Archangel…!”
I’m…Lucy. I’m a Shovel Archangel? Is that…really okay? My heart says this is right. My body desires the shovel. Then surely it must be fine! I have no reason to hesitate. All I have to do is empty my heart and accept these memories… Accept the shovel.
The light of the shovel glimmered within Lucy’s eyes.
“Wake up, Lucy!”
“?!”
A fierce female voice blew away her tears. “Don’t let go of who you are! I’m with you, Lucy!”
The voice was somehow nostalgic.
Wait, that’s right. I know this voice.
It was the voice of one who stood against the shovel.
I know this voice!
“Don’t you dare lose to the shovel!!!”
Lucy heard the sound of something shattering to pieces. The coffee milk bottle in the changing room had broken.
She stood up in the bath, drenched in sweat and breathing heavily.
This is all wrong. The shovel is wrong. This isn’t how my memories are supposed to be. Right, Catria?!
“This is…WRONG!” Lucy declared as she stood firmly on her own two feet. “I…I’m no Shovel Angel!”
“Ah, she’s reverting, shovel! How unfortunate… Let’s try one more…eeek!”
THONK.
Gabriella attempted to embrace her little sister once more, but Alan stopped her.
“Gabriella, what did Lithisia put into that head of yours?”
“Ack!”
“One is only truly worth digging into when their heart remains strong. Stop messing around with people’s memories.”
“I-I’m sorry, shovel.”
Lucy was exhausted beyond belief, but life had at last truly returned to her eyes. With great strength, she said, “Miner Alan! I believe it’s time we destroy this Angel Furnace!”
“You got that right, but could you cover yourself with a towel first? I can’t look at you like this.”
“Huh…?” Lucy looked down at her mostly naked body. Her thirty-five inches of breasts. The hot water dripping down her hips. Her tight waist and the small belly button on her stomach. It was all utterly visible.
And then there was her lower body. She wasn’t completely naked, and the center of her white garments had an angel wing decoration. Unfortunately, it had been rendered largely translucent in the Angel Bath.
Lucy blazed with utter dismay. “Mm!”
To Alan’s surprise, her expression shook his adamantine self-restraint. This experience had given Lucy even greater depths than she earlier possessed.
“EEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!”
“Please cover up.”
✦ ✦ ✦
Lucy hurriedly dropped her body beneath the water.
“Sir Alan, since we’re here already, what say the two of us showash your back, shovel?” asked Gabriella.
“No thanks. We’re getting out of here, stat.”
“Aw, too bad.” Gabriella wore a somewhat disappointed expression, one that resembled Lithisia to a tee.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Great Hero Catria, you have my gratitude. Thank you so very much…!”
The party had scooped up the remaining ninety-nine angels, destroyed the Angel Furnace, and made their way back to the World Tree Castle. Lucy was in the main hall on her knees, bowing to Catria over and over again while expressing her devotion. If not for Catria’s words, she would have fallen to the shovel.
“As long as I live and breathe, I vow to serve you, Great Hero Catria!”
“Er, you don’t have to go that far, I swear.”
Despite her embarrassment, Catria was genuinely happy. Next to her, Lithisia looked disappointed.
“Lithisia… You did something to Gabriella, didn’t you?” said Alan.
“Ah, um, no! I just contacted her via Shovel Call is all!” Lithisia’s response was all too easy to understand.
“It was almost like you were talking through her body, actually.”
“Shovel?!” Lithisia broke out into a cold sweat.
Alan had clearly hit the nail on the head. Lithisia was panicking and clutching her shovel.
Despite his accusation, the miner had trouble believing it. Had this princess really possessed Gabriella’s body? Lithisia was crazy, yes, but surely she couldn’t be this far gone…
“No, wait,” he said. “That’s right. Alice and the Mage King.”
“Sh-shovel?!” Lithisia was now a waterfall of sweat.
“I-I was against it! Against it, I tell you!” insisted Alice.
Farshinal was capable of advanced spirit magic. Through Alice, Lithisia used Farshinal’s power to temporarily transport her spirit into Gabriella’s body. As for why, well, she wanted to turn Lucy into a Shovel Angel.
This was bad. Lithisia was mastering the shovel at an absurd rate. Still, there was a part of Alan that was happy someone other than him could master it at all. He wasn’t alone in this world. How could someone not be pleased by such a revelation?
“Just don’t mess with the soul too much, Lithisia.”
“Shorry…”
Alan just couldn’t work himself up to be overly strict with her. After all, at the end of the day, nobody had been hurt. Also, the miner’s sense of ethics typically sided with the shovel.
“Well, anyway. We’ve got six orbs now.”
On the table in front of the party were all six of the spheres. They only needed one more before they could put an end to Prime Minister Zeleburg’s ambitions. As for the location of the final orb, the Purple Orb, Lithisia looked more serious than she ever had.
“It lies in the dark nation, known as the ‘Kingdom of Darkness.’”
This was also the location of Zeleburg’s base of operations. A stormy region with no sun, it had almost no communication with the outside world. The situation on the ground was completely unknown to anyone who didn’t already dwell there. It was also said to be run by demons. Given Zeleburg’s rise to power, that was all but certainly the truth.
“The Purple Orb supposedly resides in the underground fortress Mormegil, where the King of Darkness lives.”
“An underground fortress, eh? Perfect.” Alan smiled his usual smile and held up his shovel. “Shovels are perfect for dealing with the underground.”
Amidst the party’s confident nods, Catria was still and silent as she thought.
The underground was indeed the perfect place to demonstrate a shovel’s power. But seeing how the shovel was already so effective above ground, in the ocean, and even in the sky, how could it possibly get more powerful? Catria couldn’t imagine, but she was sure of at least one thing…
“We’ll enter using a Shovel Tunnel, Shovel Railroad, and an underground Shovel Battleship. Yeah, that sounds about right.”
Their adventure to the Kingdom of Darkness was going to be something awful.