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| ← Ch.145 | Ch.147 → |
Author: Fire Head (炎頭)
Translator: Hand of Vecna
Editors: TpstT, Keii
🏠
When the flames of Aries dissipated, the avatar had already vanished. It seemed to have been successfully vanquished by Mesarthim.
Scorpius said, "Well, that was rather disappointing."
However, this was the natural result. After all, up until this point, this was an opponent who was being dealt with by Aquarius alone. This time, there were four members of the Twelve Stars, including Aries, Scorpius, and Karkinos. Furthermore, Phoenix and Hydrus, who had already fought it beforehand, were capable in their own right. Therefore, there was no reason for it to be a difficult battle.
Therefore, Aquarius thought that this was natural and did not question it further. However, the change in the avatar's expression during its final moments was rather troubling.
It... laughed? The avatar that has only ever sleep-walked without being conscious of its surroundings laughed?
Until now, all that the avatar did was strike back when attacked, but that was just an automatic defense. There were no hostile or malicious intentions. As an analogy, it was like how people would close their eyes when something came right before their eyes. Likewise, they would withdraw their hands quickly when they felt pain. In other words, this was just a reflexive action... The fire ouroboros was not conscious.
That was why this had never happened before. It had never shown distinctive expressions, such as laughing.
The ouroboros is sleeping... There's no mistake. The seal hasn't been weakened. Am I thinking too much? Was it just dreaming and laughing in its sleep... ?
Aquarius glared at the fire ouroboros intently. Naturally, the latter showed no indication of moving. Even now, it was still sleeping soundly.
Then why? The ominous feeling wouldn't go away.
"Hey, Aquarius. Let's leave quickly. There's nothing left to do here, right?"
"... Ah, yes... Let's go back up."
Since Scorpius was hurrying her, Aquarius decided to return. She ordered Ganymedes to move and looked back just once more.
There was... no change. The ouroboros was still sleeping.
Aquarius felt something incomprehensible, but she still left without further questioning the unchanging form of the ouroboros. Therefore, she did not notice.
After they had left... the ouroboros opened its eyes... and immediately shut them again.
♒
"Then, first, let's consider the future."
This was the fairies' village, Alfheim.
Currently, the Fairy Princess Pollux and her elder brother Castor were gathered here. Terra, the son of the Demon King, Luna of the Seven Luminaries, and Virgo of the Twelve Stars were here as well.
Furthermore, in case of an emergency, Pollux had summoned three heroic spirits as guards, who folded their arms and stood behind her.
The first was Pavo of the PeacockPavo (パーヴォ; Latin for "peacock") is a constellation in the southern sky. The peacock is associated with Argus, the builder of the ship Argo, who was turned into a peacock and placed next to the defunct Argo Navis constellation. The peacock is also associated with Argus Panoptes, whose hundred eyes were preserved by Hera in the peacock's tail.. He originally had white wings, but due to excessive dyeing and fanciful decorating, his wings became fanciful like a peacock's. He was exiled from the flügels as a result. He was a useless man in many senses of the word.
The second was Apus of the Bird-of-ParadiseApus (アプス; Greek for "without feet") is a small constellation in the southern sky. It represents the bird-of-paradise, which was once wrongly believed to lack feet. Also, see for the fight between Terra and Pollux's Argonauts. , who was a former flügel adventurer skilled in wind manipulation and specialized in Wood-attribute divine magic. As a fellow flügel and adventurer, there was a time when he had seen Ruphas as a rival. However, he was just a pathetic man who realized the difference between them and surrendered to her without a fight. Incidentally, he was the flügel who slashed Terra's shoulder when the latter challenged Pollux.
The last was Corvus of the RavenCorvus (コルブス; Latin for "raven") is a small constellation in the southern sky. In Greek mythology, when Apollo learnt from a pure white crow about his lover's infidelity, he turned its wings black in a fit of rage.. He was a strange guy who originally had white wings, but he dyed his own wings black after becoming captivated by Ruphas.
These three capable people had reached Level 1000. They were reliable and loyal followers who fought alongside Ruphas until the end of the battle two hundred years ago. As such, there was little fear of treachery.
Leading the three of them along, Pollux crossed her arms and leaned against a tree. She then spoke softly.
"There's one important thing to consider. What will the Goddess-sama do next?"
"Th—That... Isn't that something to be discussed with Ruphas-sama present?"
Virgo gingerly voiced her opinion to Pollux. The current conversation was important enough to direct the course for the future. She wondered if it was really fine to talk about this without Ruphas, who was at the heart of the issue. However, Pollux simply shook her head.
"It's not a problem. Ruphas-sama might not be consciously aware of it herself, but she actually knows everything and is moving accordingly. Our current conversation is merely a simple explanation for you people who may not know much about the Goddess."
"Then, what about the other Twelve Stars?"
"Also not necessary. It would be counter-productive to casually tell those muscle-brains, especially Scorpius and Aigokeros. We wouldn't know what they might end up doing."
Pollux implied that the other Twelve Stars were not really reliable. It was a rather harsh opinion to have of one's comrades, but such discretion was necessary for the brains of the group.
One should believe in one's comrades and leave one's back to them. Indeed, that would be wonderful. It might even be beautiful. However, Pollux believed that unconditional trust was the same as giving up thinking altogether... Such beautiful and pleasing words were just sugar-coating problems.
Furthermore, the Goddess could control people and modify their memories. As such, abandoning suspicion was equivalent to telling the Goddess to take whatever actions she wanted... Such behavior was absolutely unacceptable.
To be blunt, there were only two people in the current group—Ruphas and Benetnash—who could be confirmed as definitely not on the Goddess' side. Indeed, Pollux even doubted herself. There was no guarantee that her memories and thoughts had not been tampered with. In order to be completely outside of the Goddess' influence, it would be necessary to be so absurd as to jump out of her control like the two of them.
"First, there's the methods used by the Goddess... This is actually easy to predict. Because, currently, she can only move the readied pieces. She can manipulate the weakness in one's heart. She can also control one's consciousness like what she did to me. Otherwise, she can command another piece that was previously prepared by her... Basically, there are these three types, but essentially, all of them involve acting through someone else."
"Isn't she omniscient and omnipotent?"
Surprised by the few options available to the Goddess, Terra directed a question to Pollux. It was the common sense of this world that the Goddess of Creation, Alovenus, was omniscient and omnipotent. However, Pollux shook her head.
"It's close, but she's not truly omniscient and omnipotent. How should I say this?... Because the plane of existence is too different, she can't see everything. For example, if an entire world is a grain of sand, would you be able to grasp the detailed activities of every single person who lives there? If there is a foreign molecule that mixes into such a miniature world, would you be able to destroy only that molecule?... Impossible, right?"
"... Yeah, that would be impossible. Just poking it with your finger would destroy everything."
"That's how it is. If the Goddess-sama herself takes action, the world would be crushed by her finger and everything would be blown away by her breath. Since the Goddess-sama doesn't want to destroy the world, she can only make minor adjustments and move really tiny handpieces very carefully."
That wasn't encouraging news. Instead, it was undesirable information that made them realize how much the power of the opponent exceeded their imagination. However, Pollux continued without worrying about their concerns.
"In other words, the Goddess-sama can only move her handpieces in that one pattern as she's been doing until now. However, brainwashing and possession won't work on Ruphas-sama. As long as Taurus is around, it would be the same no matter how many times she tries. Even if she controls me again, there's nothing that can be done now that Benetnash and Ruphas-sama have teamed up."
"In other words, she needs a more powerful piece?"
"You catch on quickly. Exactly, that's where the seals that we've been maintaining comes into play. By preemptively sealing them, we can restrict the Goddess-sama from moving her strongest card—the ouroboroses."
Currently, the cards available to the Goddess were surprisingly few. Except for the Moon Ouroboros, all the other ouroboroses had been sealed. Furthermore, the fairy siblings, Parthenos, and Aquarius, who were originally on the side of the Goddess, had all joined Ruphas.
Currently, there were only three cards for the Goddess to play—the demons, the Moon Ouroboros, and the avatar.
However, one of them, the demons, could no longer be counted upon. Even if Luna was brainwashed, her abilities couldn't be compared even to Castor's. Even if they launched a mass offensive, they would simply be destroyed by Ruphas in one attack. The only one to reach Level 1000, Terra, was not the result of the Goddess' arcane magic and thus could not be moved.
In other words, it was just the Moon Ouroboros and the avatar... They just needed to watch for Dina's movements.
After all that, would she still move the demons? Pollux pondered as she glanced at Luna.
"Well... I don't think it's likely, but you should be careful. The possibility of you being manipulated isn't zero."
"O—Okay."
"Well, if she's going to control someone, it's more likely to be me than you, so you don't have to worry too much."
Saying thus, Pollux pointed at herself. Naturally, Pollux had taken measures to protect against brainwashing. Currently, she was wearing a skill-sealing ring on her finger. This was given to her by Ruphas, so she was currently unable to activate Argonautai.
Moreover, the ring was cursed by Aigokeros, so she couldn't remove it on her own. Removing it would require the permission of Ruphas or another member of the Twelve Stars. In other words, Pollux was currently not worth manipulating.
Ruphas had said, "To think that there would be a day when a masochistic item for bondage play would become useful..." However, everything had its own use. By the way, its effect was that any experience gained would be doubled at the expense of sealing one's skills.
"And the Moon Ouroboros... Since we've come this far, I'm just going to say it bluntly. You all know about the Demon King, right? He's the Moon Ouroboros. Oh, by the way, all the beast gods, evil gods, and great demon kings who persecuted the humanoids and were then subjugated by the heroes... all of them were him."
"... Huh?"
Upon hearing Pollux's revelation, Terra stared at her dumbly. Luna and Virgo widened their eyes. Castor had a bitter look on his face as if he was reminded ofsomething badCastor's encounter with the Demon King happened in. As mentioned in, Orm (オルム) is the Old Norse word for "snake", "worm", or "dragon".. Although this was irrelevant information, Pollux had never told him about the Demon King's true identity.
"Also, my brother and I are avatars of the Wood Ouroboros. However, since I became a fairy and gained my own ego a long time ago, I'm practically a different being now."
"Is it really okay to tell us this?"
"It isn't really something that needs to be hidden."
For Pollux to reveal her true identity so easily, it couldn't be helped that Terra was stunned and asked such a question. How could he have imagined that the being before him was an incarnation of an ouroboros and an agent of the Goddess? Luna too was visibly shaken by the truth.
"You... are supposed to be the opposite of the Demon King-sama... But if you are both the same kind of existence, then that means..."
"... It's just a dramatic farce by colluding parties. It's an easy-to-understand heroic tale based on the Goddess' scenario... Orm and I had been playing the roles of enemy and ally. This had been going on for millions of years."
Pollux spoke as if she was forcing those words out of her mouth. Hearing this, Luna closed her mouth as she couldn't say anything.
The faith in the Goddess whom people had believed in so far, the stories of the great people of the past, and the symbol of light that was the greatest obstacle to the demons—none of them ever existed.
Everything was just a comedy. They were all just faithfully playing the roles they had been given.
"And thenewest heroApparently, poor Sei doesn't count. Or maybe Pollux just didn't know about him yet. appeared two hundred years ago. The Goddess-sama thought of Ruphas-sama as a threat, so she set her up as the villain of the heroic tale—in other words, the last boss—and let Alioth and the others subjugate her."
"So, that's the truth of what happened two hundred years ago... If you unveil what's behind the scene of the heroic tale, it's nothing but a farce."
Terra was reminded of the words thatVenusTerra's confrontation with Venus happened in. spoke before she vanished in front of him.
Doll... She pointed at Luna and said that. A poor doll who wasn't even aware that she was a toy.
Indeed. Once this much was known, it was easy to understand why she said that.
The arrangement that Pollux and the Demon King had with each other involved using the demons and fairies as pieces to play out an opposition between darkness and light. Once this was known, there was no other way to think of it except as a puppet show.
Even the Seven Heroes were merely amusing actors dancing to the tune. Only Ruphas and Benetnash were not.
... No, wait. Back then, she had also said something else that was worrying.
"I was the same."—This seemed to imply that she was different now. Wasn't that strange?
Since Venus (Dina) was the avatar of the Goddess, shouldn't she practically be the Goddess' doll herself? If that was true, then why... ?
"Ah, speaking of which, is that guy, Orm, doing well? I haven't seen him lately."
"That manner of address is rather casual. Do you have a close relationship with him?"
"Close relationship... I guess it's more like a relationship that we can't get out of? After all, we have been associating for millions of years. Occasionally, he would come over and have tea with me. Well, yeah. I don't really hate that."
The relationship between the Fairy Princess and the Demon King, which was thought to be irreconcilable, turned out to be like this. If this was told to the mentally fragile Cruz, his common sense would collapse and he would faint.
As she spoke, Pollux suddenly remembered something. Orm always came to visit whenever she was depressed after sending those heroes to their deaths. Now that she thought about it, did he actually care about her in his own way?
"So, back to the main topic concerning the next move of the Goddess-sama. Now that Ruphas-sama's combat power is nearly complete, it would be pointless to move a minor piece. Therefore, the Goddess should be thinking of sending out the ouroboroses. In other words, the Goddess-sama will likely be trying to break the seals of the ouroboroses. It would probably be the Heavenly Ouroboros who is the least protected. Perhaps Vanaheim is her target?"
The ouroboroses were sealed in four locations.
The seals of the Earth Ouroboros and the Fire Ouroboros were guarded by Taurus and Aquarius respectively, so they would be difficult to break. As for the Wood Ouroboros, they were currently gathered here.
Therefore, Vanaheim would be the least protected. Parthenos was there, but she was already dead and had no combat power. She could try and terrify the ouroboros as a ghost, but putting things in another perspective, that was all that she would be able to do.
Therefore, the target would be the Heavenly Ouroboros. At least, if she was the Goddess, she would send her piece there to wake the ouroboros.
Yes, that's what she thought.
"—Not a bad analysis, but it's somewhat off. The first one that I'm aiming for is the Wood Ouroboros."
"!"
"!?"
"Who!?"
Castor, Terra, and Luna reacted immediately to the sudden voice. Everyone turned in the direction of the voice and readied their weapons.
Under their vigilant gazes, a tall white-haired man casually walked forward. He had golden pupils which were vertically slit. Furthermore, his skin was blue, which was a defining trait of the demon race. Seeing this man, Luna exclaimed in surprise.
"You're... Sol!?"
—He was the last member of the Seven Luminaries, Sol of the Sun.
He should be Level 300... but Terra somehow felt that he would be a strong opponent like he had never fought before. He silently stepped forward.
Author's Notes
Next chapter: "What's a Level 300 small fry doing here now... ?"
A member of the Argonauts, RockyamNone of us have a clue who or what ロッキアム is supposed to be. I can't find anything with the search engines either. Leave a comment if you know. (ロッキアム), has been renamed to Pyxis. Well, he's not really an important character, so you don't have to remember this.
Translator's Notes
Welcome back! If you haven't read Chapters 127-139, check for the links. Since the start of the Aquarius arc, we have entered into the territory of Light Novel Volume 7.
About the author's notes above... Our translations are based on the post-revision version. Pyxis was mentioned in.
Sometimes, there are issues with variant spellings of the same name. The carrier of Aquarius will be translated as Ganymedes (ガニュメーデス), although his name is also spelled as Ganymede (which is also the spelling used for one of Jupiter's moons). The mythical minotaur's name is Asterion, but sometimes also spelled as Asterius. We will be changing Taurus' name to Asterius since it is closer to the raw (アステリオス).
Also, I'm trying out a new blog template. Let me know if there's any issue.
A WILD LAST BOSS APPEARED!
| ← Ch. 145 | Ch. 147 → |