CHAPTER 39

Goddess of Destruction

“All things return to their origin after being crushed by the Spikes of Destruction. There are no exceptions.”

The Gate of Valhalla…! I can’t believe such a “cheat” exists!

While I tremble with fear before the menacing attack that destroyed the “invincible” God of Death, Valkyrie suddenly falls to one knee.

“V-Valkyrie…?”

Worried, I approach her. She is breathing heavily as if she were in pain.

“Stay back, Ristarte. Thirty seconds have already passed. It’s almost time.”

“Thirty seconds…? Almost time for what? Wh-what’s going to happen?”

Out of nowhere, red liquid begins spurting out of Valkyrie’s right shoulder, covering my face. I wipe off the sticky substance with my hand, look down, and scream:

“I-is this…? Is this blood?!”

Her arms, legs, stomach—every area on her body is covered in gashes, spewing out blood as if she were cut with something sharp.

“Eeeeeep!”

Elulu and I tremble at the sudden gruesome sight. While covered in blood, Valkyrie explains:

“Valhalla’s Gate…uses the caster’s life force as a catalyst—enough life force to kill a human…without fail.”

While speaking with a stammer, Valkyrie suddenly coughs up blood before collapsing to the ground like a marionette that had its strings cut.

“V-Valkyrie?! Are you okay?!”

But when I try to wake her up, she suddenly adopts an expression dripping with ecstasy.

“Shit… I—I could get addicted to this…! This feels so good!”

“…! I thought you were a sadist, but you’re a masochist?!”

I mean, just how many perverts are there in this spirit world?!

It was stupid of me to ever worry in the first place. Disgusting. Seiya, on the other hand, seems pleased as he watches by my side.

“Looks like she didn’t use Order to awaken that move but to survive the kickback.”

Seiya’s eyes are a different color while he gazes at Valkyrie. It looks like he’s using Scan. Curious about her HP myself, I use Scan as well.

GODDESS OF DESTRUCTION, VALKYRIE
HP: 3,198,512/99,999,999

She lost that much HP?! Seiya was right! …Hmm? Wh-what the…? What’s this feeling…?

While preoccupied thinking about Valkyrie’s status, my chest suddenly feels weird. Valkyrie is no longer lying on the ground anymore, either…because she apparently sneaked around behind me and is now fondling my breasts!

“Ahhh?!”

“Ristarte! You’re the one who summoned that piece of shit, aren’t you?! Don’t lie to me!”

“Y-yes, I mean, in a way…b-but anyway…could you…stop…g-groping my…breasts?!”

To make matters worse, Mash and Elulu are watching, too! Ahhh!

“My painting got destroyed! I mean, look at this!”

Valkyrie shows me her ruined work of art with one hand while fondling a breast with the other. The painting on the canvas looks like something a toddler drew with their nondominant hand, while lying down. It’s so ridiculously bad that, for a moment, I completely forgot that she is vigorously groping my boobs.

“You’re gonna pay me back for destroying my greatest masterpiece before I could even finish it! Lemme squeeze your bare tits!”

She’s trying to stuff her hand into my dress!

“My bare what?! Y-you’re joking, right?! H-hey! Noooooo!”

But no matter how much time goes by, Valkyrie’s hand doesn’t reach my chest. Perplexed, I look back and find Seiya tightly holding her wrist.

S-Seiya?! Are you trying to protect me?! Oh, Seiya…! You might not admit it, but you really do like me, don’t you? I’m right, aren’t I? You like me, huh? All right, then! It looks like we both have feelings for each other! Sigh… Okay, you win. Just this once though, okay? Next time we’re alone, I’ll let you touch my bare breasts.

However…

“Gwaaah?!”

Seiya kicks my butt as hard as he can. It’s so powerful that my underpants are completely exposed as I roll on the ground.

“What do you think you’re doing?!”

Without even glancing at me as I scream, Seiya shoots Valkyrie a penetrating look. It appears he wasn’t trying to save me but simply get rid of me.

“Valkyrie. You’re the one. Only you are worthy of training me.”

“Huh? ‘Train’…? You saw me fight. All my moves are like that. Every move comes at a price.”

“That’s fine.”

After fixing my dress, I stand up and yell:

“Seiya?! Do you seriously plan on training in the spirit world again?! You just learned archery from Mitis! Don’t you think you’re prioritizing training a little too much lately?!”

“Might as well train now that we’re here. Besides, we can’t continue like this. The enemies are gradually getting stronger, so I have to train more.”

He’s right about that. Not even Seiya would have been able to defeat Thanatos if it weren’t for Valkyrie. So it would be safe to assume that the upcoming battles will be as difficult or even more difficult than the God of Death. Seiya was unable to obtain the strongest sword, Igzasion; neither was he able to get the legendary armor. Maybe having him learn from the strongest goddess in the spirit world really is our only chance to save Gaeabrande.

“But Valkyrie said humans who use Valhalla’s Gate will die! No exceptions!”

That moment, a sharp pain shoots through my butt once more.

“Haooofff?!”

I let out a scream unbefitting a goddess while rubbing my aching cheeks. When I turn around, Valkyrie is looking at me with a furrowed brow.

“When did I ever say I’d help? I don’t plan on teaching my destructive techniques to anyone. Besides, they’re not something you can learn through instruction.”

Seiya glares at Valkyrie.

“Don’t jump to conclusions.”

“It’s impossible. There’s no way for humans to learn these techniques.”

“How about trying and seeing for yourself?”

“…You just don’t know when to give up, do you?”

Valkyrie scratches her head, messing up her silver hair as if she were annoyed by Seiya not backing down.

“Listen, you keep going on and on about training, but…have you seriously not realized it yet?”

“What are you talking about?”

All of a sudden, Seiya appears taken aback.

“I’m talking about you. You still don’t get it? Then let me show you. First—”

…I unexpectedly hear the sound of a sword being drawn, and before I even realize it, Seiya is pointing his sword at Valkyrie’s throat.

“The hell do you think you’re doing?” Valkyrie says in a threatening voice, causing me to panic.

“S-Seiya?! What’s gotten into you?!”

However, Seiya continues to stare at Valkyrie like a hawk.

“There is no reason to bring that up right now.”

“Oh…? So you did realize it?”

“That’s why I said I wanted to train with you.”

“I see. So because, you know, you… Interesting.”

They stare at each other in silence for a few moments.

Huh…? Wh-what are they talking about? W-wait. Did Valkyrie’s intuition as a goddess tell her that Seiya doesn’t have the equipment we need to defeat the Demon Lord?

I wait for the turn of events with bated breath until Valkyrie’s lips suggestively curl upward.

“I see. He isn’t your run-of-the-mill Hero. He may very well be able to learn my destructive techniques, even if only slightly.”

Then Seiya lowers his sword, and Valkyrie’s smirk turns into a scowl.

“But I’m still not going to teach you Gate of Valhalla. Got it?”

“The other moves should suffice.”

Valkyrie turns on her heel; then without looking back at us, she says:

“Be in my room in ten minutes.”

After she leaves, I mutter:

“Sigh… More training? I should have known. I really wanted to relax today, though…”

Mash and Elulu simultaneously tug at my sleeves.

“Hey, Rista! You think we could go to Aria’s place to train, too, then? I want to continue our training from last time!”

“I wanna go with you! I can’t wait to learn some new magic!”

I figured they’d be sick of training since all they got to do was clean up fly carcasses last time, but…they’re really fired up. How innocent they are. But hey…that’s a good thing.

“Of course, you can. I’m sure Aria will be thrilled to help as well. Have fun, you two.”

After giving them permission, they wave good-bye before darting off, leaving only Seiya and myself on the rooftop. I let out a deep sigh.

“Whew… Looks like you’re learning destruction moves next, huh? I guess it’s not like you have much of a choice, though. After all, we weren’t able to get the sword or armor. Sigh… I don’t know. I get that this is an S-ranked world, but sometimes it feels like this is unreasonable, y’know? Nearly impossible even.”

Since nobody else is around, I decide to complain a little to Seiya. But even then, he doesn’t join in. In fact, he pushes me ever further away when he says:

“Complaining isn’t going to solve anything. Our only option is to do the best we can with what we have.”

Seiya suddenly sticks his hand out before me, revealing something in the palm of his open hand.

“It’s a fragment of the legendary armor. I picked it up when we were at Izale village.”

“Is that the piece of armor that fell out of that giant Adamantoise’s mouth? What are you going to do with that?”

“I won’t be able to make armor with something as small as this. However…”

Seiya unsheathes the platinum sword-plus, then places the Adamantoise fragment on the blade. From there, he takes some familiar strands of hair from his pocket and places them on the blade as well. The sword immediately begins to shine even brighter.

“Synthesizing it with the sword could be promising.”

The radiating light calms, revealing an awe-inspiring, divine sword in his hand that almost appears to be glowing itself.

“I’ll call it the Adamantitor. It probably won’t work on the Demon Lord, but it’s the strongest weapon there is at the moment.”

“S-Seiya… I—I can’t believe you just…!”

My heart begins racing as I gaze at the sword, which is glowing even brighter than gold. I almost feel as if Seiya could turn any disadvantage around and gain the upper hand.

I impulsively wrap my arm around his.

“When life gives Seiya lemons, he makes lemonade! I knew you were the one, Seiya! I’m counting on you!”

“…Rista, let go.”

Seiya acts annoyed, but I refuse to let go.

“Hee-hee! There’s nothing to feel embarrassed about! We’re a team!”

“…I told you to let go.”

“Not happening! Look at you, hiding locks of my hair in your pocket! Oh, Seiya! I’m only fine with it because it’s you!”

I raise my fist into the air, pretending like I’m mad at him as if we were in a romantic comedy. I am definitely not angry, though! If anything, I want to hug him!

“Rista…”

“Hmm? Yes, my dear?

Somewhere deep within my heart, I always hoped we would end up together like this. However, Seiya looks at me with a dead-serious expression and states:

“You smell. Get away from me.”

“…! You’re joking, right?! Do I really stink that badly?! How do I smell?!”

“…Sour.”

“That’s some serious BO! I-I’m gonna go take a bath!”

“Knock yourself out. I’m going to go train with Valkyrie.”

My dreams of being in a lovey-dovey romcom scenario are crushed the moment he tells me I smell sour. After Seiya and I go our separate ways, I rush over to the giant bathhouse in the sanctuary until I run into Cerceus in the hallway. Steam rises from his body as if he has just had a bath.

“Oh. Hey, Cerceus. You just take a bath, too?”

I figure he ought to be refreshed after a nice bath, but he unexpectedly appears to be in a bad mood.

“Heh-heh-heh… I was just washing the cake off my face. I never expected to have my greatest work…heh…smashed into my face. Funny, right? I mean—hilarious.”

Cerceus chuckles with a self-deprecating air, so I decide to join him.

“Ha-ha! So, um… Did it taste good?”

“…?! No! The cake I worked so hard on was shoved right into my face! I was heartbroken! And just between you and me, I cried!”

“R-really? Sorry about that.”

After a short sigh, Cerceus speaks up as if he suddenly remembered something.

“By the way, I heard that Great Goddess Ishtar is looking for you.”

“What?! She was? I—I wonder why…”

“Maybe she’s mad at you for luring that monster into the spirit world?”

“Ack…! D-do you really think so?”

“You should hurry up and find her.”

I was so looking forward to taking a bath, though… Even so, I change directions and head to Ishtar’s room.

After knocking, I tell her I’m coming in and open the large door. The highest-ranking deity of the unified spirit world—Great Goddess Ishtar—is sitting in her chair, knitting as usual.

“Thank you for coming, Ristarte.”

Her calm expression slightly eases my nerves.

“I—I heard you were looking for me? Is it about that monster?”

“Oh, that? That wasn’t your fault. It came after you on its own, right? Besides, Valkyrie took care of it. It isn’t a problem.”

“Then why did you wish to see me…?”

Her knitting hands pause.

“It would seem that the last general of the Demon Lord’s army has already started to make a move. The Demon Lord’s army is getting ready to attack the capital.”

“What?!”

I almost immediately ask her if she’s sure, but I catch myself. The Great Goddess Ishtar can see into the near future, so being sure about it is a given.

“Rista, now is the moment of truth.”

“I will do my best!”

“By the way…is Seiya Ryuuguuin currently training under Valkyrie?”

“Y-yes, he is… I-is that bad?”

“Valkyrie’s techniques of destruction… I assume this is your last resort since you were unable to obtain Igzasion and the adamantite armor?”

It appears nothing really does get past Ishtar.

“I do not think it is possible for a mere human to learn Valkyrie’s techniques. However, that Hero is a different story.”

Wow! The Great Goddess acknowledges Seiya’s talent! I’m so proud of my Hero!

“Nevertheless, there isn’t much time before the last general invades the capital. When the time comes, I request that you please head back to Gaeabrande immediately. I will allow you to open a gate near the capital, Roseguard, due to the urgent nature of the matter.”

“Th-thank you very much!”

Just as I express my gratitude and turn to leave the room…

“Rista. Is that man, Seiya Ryuuguuin, strong?”

I return her sudden query with a smile.

“Yes! He’s by far the strongest Hero I have ever met! I can’t even express how relieved I get whenever I hear him tell me that he’s perfectly prepared after training! Gaeabrande is a rough world, but I just know I will be able to save it with Seiya by my side!”

There is no hesitation in my words. However, she turns her gaze at me with a slightly stern look in her eye.

“Ristarte, you will soon come to know Seiya Ryuuguuin’s true strength.”

“Huh? His ‘true strength’…?”

What does that mean? Seiya’s already more than strong enough if you ask me…

After puzzling over her words for a few moments, I look Ishtar in the eyes, only to discover that her gentle expression has returned.

“I apologize for keeping you from your bath. Now, please hurry along and get cleaned up. You are starting to smell of vinegar, perhaps due to your long journey.”