Biggest thanks for Ace-Triad for fixing my SPAG problems, and Angel Wraith for beta-reading the chapter and providing feed backs.

Once again, special thanks to my former co-author Comrade Broseph. Who shaped a lot of foundation for my story's lore that I have since build on top of. I truly miss you man. Please press F to show him respect. Another special thanks goes to fellow writer Pretty Lazy who allowed me to use their original characters for my own story.

As always, I will blabber some more in my end note.


The newcomer looks young judging from her appearance. Only a few years older than Raphtalia when she stays in her original child form, judging by human standard. But looks can be deceiving, and the princess is well known for this fact. The unnatural amount of filorials surrounding her in what appears to be total submission, some of monarch varieties no less, suggest she is something much greater than a mere teenager.

There is also the almost scary way that she snuffed out the attack from the griffin king as if she's merely taking a stroll in the garden. This combined with both the way the King Waejark refers to her, and the way she refers to the Shield Hero. There is no doubt about the strange girl's identity: The one true queen of the filorials. Alaya's avatar on Medea.

"You presume to make a demand to a son of Gaia? You vastly overestimated your station, pretender." Yet, the griffin king doesn't seem very impressed with the true filorial queen. Despite her being in the same station as his very esteemed 'father'. Yes, Mein is fully aware of the animosity both dragon, and griffin have towards the adjunct of Alaya. But a king of the griffin, no matter how ancient, is still nowhere near the level of Alaya's living avatar. She wonders if there's something strange going on with this mountain to have both Zeke, and now this griffin king started acting with such self-destructive hubris one after another.

"I am merely paying respect to your father, not you. King Waerjak. If you insist on disrespecting me, and attempt to harm my Emerald WEAPON, I will discipline you in place of your father." The avatar of Alaya takes a single step forward with her right foot. Mein could feel the air grow heavy, pushing down on her shoulder to make her want to bow down to the presence of humanity's protector. The avatar's filorial attendant, on the other hand, did bow their head down towards their one true queen.

"Do not presume to lecture me, you pretender child! You might fool the lesser beings, but I know what you truly are! You are nothing more than a mere false idol. A girl wearing a crown that is too heavy for her, and it's slowly snapping your neck!" The enormous griffin beats his wings with renewed vigor. Seemingly ready to issue his challenge to the avatar of Alaya. The gust of wind picks up once again, beating everyone still remaining in their battlefield.

Chapter 119: Of Gods and Mortals

"So be it." The true queen closes her eyes. It's hard to tell what she is thinking with her emotionless face. Mein wonders if the avatar of Alaya is enraged at the impudence of the griffin king, or if she merely felt pity that he refused to see reason. Regardless, this seems to be the moment King Waerjak is waiting for. Taking advantage of the true queen's lack of sight, the feathers on his wing pointed forward, as if each and everyone of them had gained full sentience. They shoot out of his gigantic wings. Each one as hard and sharp as finely crafted arrows, with the accuracy and force of prestige level archers. Ready to turn the queen of filorial into something more resembling a porcupine. "Child's play."

The true queen holds a single finger up from her hand. Time, or at least air seems to stop all around her. King Waerjak's steel arrow-like feathers were about an arm's length to find their target. But all of them froze midair, almost as if the avatar of Alaya had claimed the remaining distance as her realm, and the one true queen's wish is not to be disobeyed even by one of the world's most ancient griffins. A moment later, they all crumble to dust one by one.

Still, the griffin king isn't deterred by his second failed wave of assaults. A new halo of golden lightning was charged above his head as soon as he released his barrage of feather arrows. Unlike his previous attack, which only hovers above his head (which was still as large as a full sized house), this one grew large enough to have the diameter as long as his entire body. Super charged thunderbolt grows as bright as a sun that's been pulled down from heaven to earth. Despite it being conjured up by a monster that clearly detest humans even more than the Siltvelt animals, the attack looks much more brilliant than any miracles that the princess saw the Chief God's faithful conjure up. And she briefly wonders if Pope Balmus, Chief God's 'Miracle Maker' is capable of a feat like this.

Just as Mein wonders if the ancient griffin is about to throw this miniature sun down towards the avatar of Alaya. He flies right into his lightning halo and lets out a loud screech. It's hard to tell if he is physically hurt by his own attack that he clearly put all his power into, or he is overwhelmed by his passion to try and assert his dominance over Alaya's avatar for Gaia's glory. His battle cry didn't help clarify anything for the princess. "BEHOLD MY TRUE POWER! FALSE DEITY! THE POWER MY FATHER GAIA BESTOW ME! YOU SHALL NOT DEFEAT ME, WITH YOUR STOLEN POWER!"

The griffin king's snow white mane turns golden with the currents of thunderbolt running through his body. He folds his wings back, and begins to spin his body much faster than something as big as a castle should be physically capable of. No doubt, he had called upon the power of wind to assist him as much as lightning. At this moment, King Waerjak is Arc itself, the embodiment of storm as he dives down towards earth like a deadly hurricane. Trees, rocks, even the ground itself parted ways for him before his body even touched anything. Once again, the princess is closely reminded of her own sense of mortality when she comes face to face with something that's less a monster, and more like an apotheosis to a force of nature.

"I AM Alaya, more than any of her previous avatars." The avatar of Alaya's voice rises a few notes, even if there is still barely any audible emotion behind her words. It's hard to know if she did so for emphasis, or if the avatar is truly offended by King Waerjek's continued belligerence. "[Thus Have I heard / Nyozegamon]."

The lips of filorial's true queen moves again and she speaks a single phrase. But it feels more than mere words coming out of her mouth. Two heavenly echoes audibly overlap each other, yet the princess heard them both clearly as if they were spoken separately. She knows the translation effect of her wand is broken, so she wonders if the current avatar of Alaya is also a hero, or if she has something else that gave her the same effect as a hero weapon's translation matrix. Regardless, the phrase itself makes her feel heavy to hear. Almost as if she is being touched by some undeniable truth about the world. Time itself seems to slow to a crawl, or perhaps it's something else. The griffin king's attack, which previously crossed the distance between heaven and earth, can't seem to reach them for the last ten paces or so. Yet, it's not as if the ancient griffin had been paralyzed, or frozen. His body is still wildly spinning, diving at them. Mein could even feel the same sense of his power and speed which he displayed at the start. Yet, for the power of the storm he commanded, he could not close the distance of the last ten places to harm them almost as if the avatar of Alaya had manipulated space or even time.

A carriage seems to materialize right behind the true queen of filorials. It's constructed out of wood, in a style that looks completely alien to the princess. The corners of the carriage all have pointed protrusion upwards, but not in the threatening way a blade, or a spike would look. They look kind of like a bottle, with beads on top that gradually become smaller the closer it points towards heaven. Almost like they are some kind of a strange tower. The symbol of what looks to be a lotus flower is about the only thing that she recognizes. Is... is it the same weapon used by Dantaag, The Raging Beast of the Seven False Heroes? Mein never expected the Avatar of Alaya would be using a weapon of the false hero. It would certainly give a headache to all the men of faith if they saw it with their own eyes.

"[Dana Paramita]." The queen takes another step forward as she opens her hand. The carriage behind her shifts, if ever so slightly. And the arcing bolts of energy surrounding King Waerjak seem to slowly die out. Snuffed out by whatever ability she has, or her weapon has. The carriage shifts once again, as the true queen closes her hand. "[Ksanti Paramita]."

The eyes of the griffin king seem to grow glassy, as he slowly falls onto the ravaged ground and closes his eyes. The slow, but methodical rise and fall of his body tells everything that he's not dead, merely put to sleep by the one true queen. Honestly, for how much disrespect he showed the avatar of Alaya, Mein expected a much severe punishment.

With the fight taken care of, the one true queen turns around so she faces them. The bird that followed moves forward, standing around Shield Hero's group, Thomas the occultist Unspeakable and the two renegade rangers who were still alive. The birds open their wings, casting wisp of healing over Reiner and Anne, making the burn of their body slowly disappear. While that's happening, the true queen herself walks over to Firo, and lays a hand on the young filorial queen's head. Not too long after, the young faubley man gives his hand a few test squeezes before he slowly crawls back to his knees. "What happened here, Anne?"

"Zeke betrayed us. He shot Bertholdt dead, and tried to have his subordinate kill the Shield Hero." The female ranger turns her head over to where their dead comrade once lay. Obviously, the body is no longer there after the intense battle between the giant forms, and the arrival of the ancient griffin king. The smear of blood that drenched the earth remains of their dark haired companion.

"Damn... DAMNIT! What was the point of our mission, if we were betrayed by our superiors!" Reiner hammered the ground with his fist, clearly letting the emotion get the better of them. "Why did Zeke betray us like that! Was he working for that old fuck Dumbledore? Because he doesn't want the Shield Hero in Faubley?"

"We don't know that, Reiner. Dumbledore isn't the only one who is against the Shield Hero's return." Thomas turns his head over to look at Naofumi. The Shield Hero looks rather lost at everything that had happened in the last few hours. The sole remaining Unspeakable (unless the two renegade rangers were also part of their organization, which Mein wouldn't put it past them) look thoughtful. Probably wondering how much information about Faubley he should share with both the Shield Hero, and someone from Melromarc. After a few moments, he shrugs his shoulders. "Ah, what the heck. There's no point keeping everything hush hush if our own men are turning against us. Let me give you a fair warning, shield boy. Not everyone wants you in Faubley. And I'm not only talking about Dumbledore and his lackeys from the Sword Order. There are even those in the Shield Order who don't want you there. Those descended from warlords. They think your return would give the magelords descendants too much power."

"More political bullshit? I think I had enough in Melromarc." The Shield Hero slowly gets up to his feet, also lending a hand for Mein to lean on. "I don't think I'll go with you to Faubley after all. Sounds even more of a clusterfuck than I have here."

"Probably a smart move. Kid. You think all these games of backstabbing and intrigue are bad here in Melromarc? You haven't seen the real shit till you get a look at Faubley." Thomas shakes his head, he extends his arm out and gives Mein's hair a few good ruffles. "Take care of yourself and don't get killed, kid. I happened to like living, and you get killed will fuck things up for everyone."

"Take your hand from me, you Fau-pig. Don't get all chummy with me, like I'm your daughter." The princess rolls her eyes as slaps the occultist's hand away in annoyance. Seriously, who does the guy think he is to be so casual with her? Sure, he saved her life a couple of times during their fight with Zeke and his henchmen, but not even her own father gets to play with her hair like this after she turned six.

The Unspeakable clearly know he had worn out his welcome, so he and the two renegade rangers give everyone a last stare, as they turn away and begin to make their way north. Considering how much of the noise they kicked up robbing Naofumi right out of Bartfort's hand, they certainly left without so much as a whimper. Perhaps this Thomas character truly is as honest as he presented himself. More than likely, he was intimidated by the presence of Alaya's avatar and knew which battle to pick. Regardless, they are likely trying to slip their way out of Melromarc and report back to Faubley without causing further disturbance.. With luck, the griffins would finish them off. But perhaps they'll try and investigate who ordered Zeke to kill the Shield Hero, and hopefully put a stop to the foolishness.

"What did you do with the big griffin? Seriously, I have never seen one grow this huge." The Shield Hero takes a few steps forward. He bends his upper body down, tilting and waving his head left and right to look at the unconscious form of the ancient griffin like an exotic display. "His attack! It's like a flying hurricane mixed with lightning strikes! You just stopped it like it was nothing, and then put him to sleep!"

"Very little is outside the realm of possibility once you unlock the forms of the six perfections with your weapon. Dana Paramita, the perfection of generous giving granted me to manipulate power, which amplifies or negates any energy. Ksanti Paramita, the perfection of enduring shame grants corporeal manipulation. The ability to heal... or to cause harm. In this case, I merely manipulated King Waerjak's internal chemistry to put him in a deep, dreamless slumber and now..." The one true queen opens her hand again, and gently places her palm on the giant head of the ancient griffin. "[Sila Paramita]."

The carriage trailing behind the avatar of Alaya shifted yet again. Still maintaining its exotic design, with the lotus flower theme. But this time, its form becomes much more rigid, the marking much subdued. "Sila Paramita, the perfection of maintaining discipline. It grants the power of memory manipulation. I have made King Waerjak forget your involvement with the trouble brought by the Faubley agents. He, nor his kingdom will not pursue you any further."

"You mean you brainwashed him." The Shield Hero stares at the true queen with his head tilted to the side. His expression was incredulous. "That doesn't sound too virtuous to me."

"Let's not look at a gift filorial in the beak, Master Naofumi... literally in this case." The princess quickly gives his arm a tug. She turns to look at Alaya's avatar, hoping she didn't take offense to her unintended pun. Thankfully, the one true queen's expression didn't change at all. She didn't even dignify Mein with a look from the corner of her eyes. The dishonored princess hopes this is a good thing, considering the ability the avatar of Alaya already demonstrated on the ancient griffin king. There's nobody present who can stop her, if she deem it worth her time, or effort to punish Mein for any perceived slight. "Would you rather hordes of hundredths of griffins hunt us down in addition to the Three Heroes' Church, and their fellow sycophants and accomplices?"

"Okay, that's a good point... are we free to go now, or do you also need me for something else?" The Shield Hero turns his gaze back to the avatar of Alaya once again. "Because I distinctly remember you called me 'your' Emerald WEAPON. And I can hear the all caps emphasis when that huge griffin, and you say it."

"King Waerjak speaks the truth. You, as are your fellow heroes, are Alaya's WEAPONS. The ones that's duty bound to strike at the threat of Medea. Even after her shattering." The avatar looks down at Naofumi's empty arm, before bringing her eyes back to look at his face once again. "You are the weapon, not the Shield. That means it can neither be stolen, nor destroyed so long as you are alive. You only need to be able to reconstruct its corporeal form again."

Despite how easy the avatar of Alaya made it sounds, Mein can't help but wince on Naofumi's behalf. "I don't suppose Master Naofumi can simply will his shield back by thinking very hard on it?"

"That... is one way to do it. Yes." To Mein's surprise, the one true queen actually affirms her sarcastic comment. "Metatron informed me of what happened at the end of the Third Wave?. The goddess sealed your shield inside of you. And the one way to break through the seal is to use strong emotions. Negative emotions tend to be the easiest way, since sentient beings can focus on their negative emotions much easier than positive ones. But it will have a detrimental effect on you. Regardless, we are wasting too much time. Come with me to the realm of Alaya, and Metatron will explain it to you better than I could."

"I thought I'm supposed to be your weapon? Why could someone else explain it better than you?" The Shield Hero's voice is filled with suspicion. Regardless, he moves forward to follow the avatar of Alaya's footsteps. Curiosity is a powerful weapon against men with inquisitive minds, no matter how much skepticism it fights against. And the Shield Hero is someone who is constantly curious about the world around him.

"You are my WEAPON, and the WEAPON of Medea. But Metatron speaks and interprets for Yggdrasil. She has information I am not permitted to as the guardian of this world's sentient residents." The one true queen didn't bother to stop, or look back at the Shield Hero as she walked towards the gathering of her flock. The group of birds arranged themselves into two lines. All of their necks bent down, heads bowed low on the ground. At the end of the walkway formed by the bodies of birds, the monarch variance of the filorials stand at their full height, shoulder to shoulder, seemingly forming into a wall of flesh and feathers. They step to the side as their queen approaches, almost as if opening a door with their bodies. And the scene in the opening completely changes to show a giant true in the distance. Its crown is dark, with wisps of light shining like stars. "Come. My Emerald WEAPON. The speaker of Yggdrasil awaits you."

Mein shares a brief glance with Naofumi. Besides them, Raphtalia and Sir Oersted gather, Firo being carried on the young Gallian knight's back. The Shield Hero gives one look over to his youngest surrogate daughter. "What about Firo? I thought you were healing her?"

"I did, but I decided to let her rest for now. She'll need to be at her peak state for the test I will subject her to." The avatar of Alaya didn't bother to turn back as she answered Naofumi's question. "Come to me, so we can be granted the audience by Yggdrasil's speaker together."

"I suppose it'll be better than being chased by the Three Heroes' Church, or whoever wants me dead or something..." The Shield Hero mutters to himself while he looks at the tear in reality. Mein gives his hand an encouraging squeeze, as they step forward together followed by their companions towards the giant tree in the distance.

As they step through the threshold, Mein can feel the very air itself becomes charged. Everything has a deep blue taint, the color of mana, essence of magic itself. The concentration of magic power is much greater than anything she had ever experienced before as they dance on her exposed skin, even greater than the land changed by the massive cultivation of dryad trees outside of Balafon. She wonders if they are still walking on the soil of Medea, or if they have step foot in some other, pocket realm not meant to be breached by mortals like them.

"You said something about Medea being shattered. That's the name of the world, right?" The princess turns her head around to look at the Shield Hero. She's surprised at how he catched a point that she easily overlooked when the one true queen dazzled them with her god-like abilities. "Do you mean this world itself has been shattered before? Is this related to all the talk of the beastman coming from another world?"

"The ones humans call beastman, the Malithians, came from a world they shattered themselves. The world of Malith. They are not my native children. And they honor Gaia more than me due to their stronger connection with nature. Which is Gaia's domain. But still, I regard them as my children and look after them. As is my duty to watch over the sentient lives in this world." The avatar of Alaya continues to take even, graceful steps forward. Her carriage drives forward, without anyone or anything pulling, or pushing it. "As for your second question. Medea is the name of our world, yes. But the one I was talking about was a goddess. The one who presided over this world and had it named after her, before her shattering, and the one human worshiped as the 'Chief God' ascended to take her place. She is better known as The Old One by mortals."

"...how do you go about shattering a god?" The Shield Hero asks the question that's been sitting on Mein's mind like a giant boulder. To get told that the ancient legend spoken by those religious nutjobs, something she assumed to be complete fabrication by the faithful to promote their own legitimacy was actually real is certainly a humbling experience. It makes her wonder if the land of Flangey is also real, and they can't find the holy land because they have all astrayed from their god's path.

"Sloth is a deadly sin for mortals and the divine alike. For how young Medea was compared to her fellow divine, she was still unfathomably old compared to the mortals, and even beings like me: Earthbounds, entities between mortals and the true divine. Yet, her celestial domain was as fragile as a newborn infant, due to her spending more time seeking her own pleasure rather than actively strengthening it. She was unable to attach her own existence onto a celestial domain, which would have kept her safe if she was slain in the mortal realm." The avatar of Alaya continues to walk forward. Speaking as casually with the Shield Hero as if she's discussioning the weather during a morning stroll, and not the death of a god. "Even then, it took a lot of coincidences for a mortal to slain her, and ascend in her place. Something not likely to be repeated."

The Shield Hero looks pensive as he silently walks besides the avatar of Alaya, no doubt thinking over her explanation. After a while, he looks to the earthbound being and asks again. "We heard something about this current Wave of Catastrophe being different from others. More of a crusade than a natural disaster. Did it have something to do with what you just told us? You said Medea, the goddess was 'shattered'. Implying she still exists in some way as shards. Was she behind whatever is causing the Wave this time?"

"...The Burning Legion." The Shield Hero's question reminded Mein of something she learnt in what felt like a long time ago (although it's actually shorter than a month prior). With everything else that's been happening, she completely threw that bit of information behind her till this moment. She looks up, realizing Naofumi is looking at her now with a strange expression. "That's the vision I got when I touched Eclair's family heirloom. I think I saw the last memory of a hero from a different world, as they are about to be destroyed by an enemy she calls 'The Burning Legion'."

The one true queen of filorials seems to be genuinely taken aback for once since her appearance, as her movement freezes for a split of a second, before she regains her fluid, regal movement. Although her face is still as serene as she started out with. "I suppose it's not incorrect to say the current world ending crisis we are experiencing had its root in Medea's shattering, although Medea herself is not directly behind it. As an entity who is capable of individual thought, she is no more - completely annihilated across all existence. And one can not reassemble something that's already been reduced to nothing. But there are still some shards of her scattered across time and space. They can be recovered by particularly ambitious mortals. They have the capabilities to ascend as a new Medea. Even if the circumstance will be as difficult as Chief God's own ascension. But that is Metatron's area of expertise as the interpreter and speaker of Yggdrasil. Its very nature is above my duty and concern as an earthbound who is only beholding to the world of Medea."

"Geez. You make yourself sound like Kami/God. The guardian of earth. What does this mean for the Metatron character you keep bringing up? Kaioh/Realm King?" Naofumi's voice is less severe this time. Giving the princess that he's making more of a sarcastic comment, rather than asking a genuine question. More specific words related to his world, perhaps?

Once again, the one true queen pauses a small moment, seemingly thinking over Naofumi's words. Although there is no stopping of her motion this time, suggesting she is merely distracted by his words rather than feeling genuine concern like the last time. "Not exactly in the details, but I suppose the comparison is somewhat palpable in the most basic sense."

This time, it's Naofumi's term to make some sputtering noise. He either didn't expect the avatar of Alaya to understand what he was talking about, or didn't expect how close to the truth his off hand comment was.

They continue to walk towards the single tree in the distance. Time almost felt malleable as it feels like they walked for weeks, but also a split second. They have likely covered more distance than the sum of distance they have traveled since the summoning of heroes. Most of them on carriage, no less. Yet, the princess does not feel any sense of tiredness despite her walking the whole time. She is well aware that she's not exactly the most physically capable member of the people who have followed the Shield Hero. And the fact that she herself feels no sense of fatigue is rather concerning in a way.

Out of curiosity, she spares some glances over to the other current companions of Naofumi. Firo is still sound asleep while being carried in Sir Oersted's arms. Raphtalia's eyes wander over between the Shield Hero, and Mein herself. Noticing the gaze on her, Mein's surrogate daughter returns a quick nod. She's clearly more concerned with both Naofumi and Mein's well-being than the epic story about a dead god, the ascended mortal who usurped her place... and everything in between woven by the avatar of Alaya's emotionless narration. As for the young Gallian knight, his eyes are wide open, clearly awed by the story told by filorial's one true queen, as fragmented as they were. The princess can't help but think she was the wrong person here. She had never been particularly pious, so the most impact of Alaya's avatar is surely lost in her.

The tree in the distance grows ever larger as every step they take. What already looked like a large, possibly centuries, if not millennia old giant eventually expanded to a truly incomprehensible level as they walked towards its root. As they near the bottom of the truck, the princess could no longer even see how big it was with her eyes. But once thing was for sure, if the tree was planted on Medea's soil, it would have taken more land than the entire city of Melromarc Castle. It made the life root, the newborn outer god spawned from the seed, a gigantic leviathan class monster in itself look more like a sprout by comparison.

And at the foot, the upper visage of an immaculate woman seemed to be fused with the tree itself. Her waist, hand and every single strand of her hair seemed to be connected into the pale, blue bark of the tree's trunk. Upon a closer inspection, Mein realized the being is not truly a woman at all. The princess had always taken pride in her own beauty before the first scars she received after her traveling with the Shield Hero. Yet this woman seemed other worldly in her appearance. There is not a single blemish on her exposed body, almost like every part of her was meticulously polished to perfection. Probably because she was.

There is no doubt. The woman, likely this 'Metatron' the avatar of Alaya keeps referring to considering the reference of her being the interpreter and speaker to Yggdrasil, is a particular type of golem. "A Fatima."

"She's an android made to help pilot mecha?" The princess has to blink at what comes out of the Shield Hero's mouth afterwards. One more of his muttering that regard specific vocabularies from his world that would have come off as completely incomprehensible ramble to anyone else not his fellow heroes... or a reincarnate like Consevatie the young, or Bartfort. "I guess it makes sense, from a certain point. If they were used to help act as the nerves between a pilot and a mecha. She would also help connecting with this giant tree god thing. Whatever it is she does."

"What is a mecha, Master Naofumi?" The Shield Hero is startled, and jumps on his feet by Mein's question.

"Oh. A mecha is a giant robot... hmm, how do I explain this... a giant metal construct. It's piloted by a human pilot somewhere, which makes it a 'mecha' and not a 'robot'. A robot would be able to move on its own." The Shield Hero's eyes turn, seemingly having difficulties over how to explain it to Mein. At least in a way that she understands. Because she barely gained more understanding of what he was talking about after the explanation. "Oh. I guess a robot is kind of like a golem to you guys. Pretty sure we talked about this before? Anyways. Think of a mecha as a metal golem that doesn't move on its own, and needs someone inside to actually move it like it's an armor. Except it's so huge, you wouldn't be able to just wear it like a suit of armor because your entire body would be somewhere within its head, or torso."

"Ah. It's a golem suit." The princess nods her head, finally able to understand what the Shield Hero is saying. Although this time, it's Naofumi's turn to return Mein with a confused expression. So she hopefully explains the context to him. "Golem suit is a branch of golem construction, and enchanting tested by some wealthy, and powerful mage lords in Faubley... or rather, Germania back when their land were still more divided. And any prospective warlord, or mage lord could have a shot at commanding everyone as long as they can rule through strength. The concept is to construct a golem around a mage like an armor, granting them extra protection since a mage is by definition much less durable than a warrior even with all the protective enchantment. Unless they are prodigies who master both combat and magecraft, but those are few and far between the generations."

"I'm guessing the research wasn't too successful. Or else you, or at least some of the other mages would be wearing a suit of this 'golem armor' and stomping around while we were fighting against the wave. Let me guess. The issue was latency? It's too unwieldy for a mage to 'wear' a golem around more than wearing heavy armor?" As expected from the Shield Hero, he almost immediately figured out what the problem was.

"Yes. Exactly. The idea of a mage with the durability of a golem, or golem who can think creatively like a mage sounds great on parchment, the experiments proved that the sum ends up being lesser than their individual part." The princess nods her head, and begins to explain to the Shield Hero. "The exterior of a golem proves too much interference to a mage's spell casting. Much more so than the penalty of wearing any heavy armor. And the mage inside of the golem either can't fully comprehend what's going on outside their shell, or be too tied down by their heavy shell to fight effectively. Which is why the technique to use a golem as a battle shell tends to be used by specific individuals who have great affinity for it. The most famous example of a golem suit user right now is Fouquet the Sculpture of Faubley."

"I see. Then I suppose a Fatima doesn't mean the same as what I thought... What does it mean here, anyways?"

"A Fatima is a type of golem who has self-sentience. Either because they were designed to be this way from the start, or they gained self-sentience later after their initial construction. They have the ability to think, and act on their own independent of what instructions their original creator wrote for them." Mein turns her eyes back to look at the form of the perfectly immaculate woman fused within the enormous tree god once again. "All the specifically crafted Fatima are made to mimic their creator, usually a human as those Siltvelt beastman consider the method to be appalling. Probably because the first Fatima was created by the original Bow Hero who supported the idea of killing them all to ensure peace. Which is why I know she's a Fatima. She's clearly made to look like a perfect human woman."

"I see. So the first Bow Hero was either a fan of The Five Star Stories, or it's a massive coincidence." The Shield Hero shakes his head. With the unnamed Fatima being dormant and unresponsive, he seemed to have once again slipped into his mind as he began muttering. "Anyways. In The Five Star Stories, Fatimas are artificially created to be co-pilot to control a giant mecha... err, golem suits for you guys. Their mind is specifically designed to process large amounts of information to help control the menial functions of a mecha like weapon systems, so a pilot can focus on actually controlling the mecha. That's why the trinity of them, the mecha is considered the body, the pilot the brain, and Fatimas are considered the nerves."

Mein blinks at Naofumi's revelation. The princess has to admit what he proposed makes a scary amount of sense. It's no secret that a Fatima can process information much faster than a human, regardless of their specific intelligence. Some of the arcane researchers proposed the theory that it's their lack of emotion that enables this feat. So have Fatima act as an intermediary to regulate a giant golem suit's movement, so a mage can focus on commanding how a golem move would make a lot of sense. They would still be moving more sluggish compared to a human on the virtue of their size alone for a golem suit's body to be large enough to safely house both a mage, and a Fatima. But the relative increase in agility compared to someone of equal size would be significant to make them actual combat capable.

This is the information she's going to have to convince Naofumi to keep a lid on. Because Faubley is the country that would benefit the most with their economy having never suffered from The Great War like Melromarc, or even Siltvelt to a degree. Even if she, or more likely her mother could manage to scramble together a golem suit program (and likely putting the realm further in debt to Amelia family), it'll pale compared to what Faubley could field once they manage to figure out what made Melromarc's golem suit division so successful. Not to mention as the nation of mages, Faubley had much more Fatima than Melromarc to begin with.

"The story that was written on five stars. Yes. That was what our elder sister's master named her after. Something we gladly took the name upon us as a collective afterwards. Although he never intended for elder sister to inherit the functions of her namesake." A new voice made both Mein and Naofumi jump this time. The princess casts her eyes onwards. Sure enough, the doll had opened her eyes, revealing pale blue eyes that seemed to be glowing with the same shine of the mana that seemed to saturate the very air they were breathing. "My greetings to you. Alaya's Emerald WEAPON, and the noble defenders of Medea who assist him. Sorry I was not fully awake to attend you as you arrived. I was in a deep commune with Yggdrasil to ruminate over the events that I only learned recently thanks to Alaya's children."

The filorials which walked behind them all bow their heads down once again. Leaving no room for error in interpreting who this Fatima was talking about. And speaking of the sentient golem in question. The way she speaks is similar to the one true filorial queen. Serene, and emotionless. Yet, there's some subtle difference between the two of them.

The avatar of Alaya sounds like someone whose emotion is highly muted. With the few instances where an impression of emotion seemed to bubble up to her surface. Such as when she reacted to the griffin king continued belligerence of denouncing her. Or when she was clearly taken aback when Mein mentioned The Burning Legion. The Fatima on the other hand seem to be completely devoid of emotions, something which never existed. Which does fit, considering that's how her kind were created to begin with. Which honestly, speaks more for the avatar of Alaya, than the sentient doll. The princess can't help but wonder what's the story behind them both.

"Are you this Metatron that..." Naofumi opens his mouth to speak, but suddenly loses his voice. He turns his head over to the avatar of Alaya. "Actually, I don't think I got your name, hmm... Buddhist lady? I mean... I'm not sure if you follow Buddhism, but you brought up Buddhist ideology when you were explaining your abilities. It sounds nicer than calling you a bird lady and I don't want to be rude after you saved our lives. I mean... you also said something about you being Alaya? But the way you said it doesn't make it sound like a name, more like some kind of specific title. You can't be the actual Alaya, right?"

"The vassal of Alaya is what I am. Just like the avatar of Gaia, the one Dragon Emperor. We are supposed to be their mortal vassal housing their essence. Even though we were also supposed to remain as our own separate entity. A different incarnation, if you will." The one true queen turns her head to look at Naofumi. "You have met the newest incarnation of GrahLahneyStrun, who you know as Gaelion, the dragon lord of thunder storm. Correct? As a name, you may use Fitoria. The name given to this incarnation by her father."

Mein can't help but notice the way 'Fitoria' is referring to the name in third person. Almost like she no longer associates herself with that identity. Guess that's what she meant, when she said that she is more Alaya than any other previous avatar of the world mind.

"Yeah. I did... so that's what he meant when he said Gaelion was a title passed down from him, to him... He inherited the essence of a title, but he's a separate mind from the previous incarnation." Naofumi nods his head, as he looks towards the doll embedded inside the massive tree. "Is this the same with you? Miss Metatron?"

"I am different. While both the avatar of Gaia and Alaya are meant to become true earthbound deities that embody the aspect of their world minds, I am NOT Yggdrasil even as I become one with Yggdrasil. Yggdrasil-" Metatron looks up, she pulls her right hand out of the pale blue tree trunk, easier than pulling her hand out of water as no ripple, or rip forms on the mighty tree itself. Almost like they are one and the same. The doll raises her right arm up, and a single pale, milky blue vine extends down from the tree to brush against her perfectly crafted fingers. "Yggdrasil is a primordial mind. Not able to fully think like, or comprehend the mind of mortal minds. Therefore I interpret Yggdrasil's will, and in term translate and speak for Yggdrasil. I suppose you could say I am Yggdrasil's head priestess."

"So Norse mythology got it right. Unless we are talking about the Digimon version of Yggdrasil, which makes me VERY worried. It's not about to go for a full genocide run against human, would it?" Naofumi takes a few steps back, and looks up at the incomprehensibly large tree with trepidation. Mein has to admit she can fully understand the Shield Hero's fear. Now standing at the foot of the tree. She can truly appreciate just how insignificant she is compared to the tree god. Its crown completely covers the heaven of whatever realm she found herself in, to the point she can't even begin to fathom where is the tree and where is the sky.

"The world tree. The cosmic tree. The tree of life. The tree of the sun. The tree of origin... Many different cultures have different interpretations of Yggdrasil. But in the end, Yggdrasil is." Metatron slowly lowers her hand to slide it seamlessly into the smooth bark of the great tree god. "Through my connection with Yggdrasil. I know what was, what could have been, what is present, and what might come in the future."

"If you are all knowing, why do you need Fitoria's subordinates to tell you what happened to me?" The Shield Hero raises one eyebrow, clearly suspicious of the claim made by the Fatima.

"I can know a lot of things through Yggdrasil, but I myself am not omnipotent. When I try to look after something specifically, I lose my focus on other things and need someone else to tell me what is going on. That was why I wasn't aware of your arrival when I was in the commune with Yggdrasil." The doll explains, and Mein find her answer makes a lot of sense. What she described sounds like the ability of divination. Something that gives an user the ability to know information they otherwise would have no access to. But they need to first know what they want to look for, and they can still be surprised because they aren't actively expecting something, or are distracted and overlooked certain details.

"Alright... then can you explain what's going on with The Burning Legion Mein heard in that vision she had earlier? Were the dark titan Sargeras really behind it all." The princess blinks her eyes as she hears the unfamiliar name coming out of the Shield Hero's mouth. She really shouldn't be surprised at this point that he knew more about their enemies than any archmage, or prophet of their world. The summoned heroes are assumed to have greater knowledge about the universe than them, being the messengers of their gods.

"Yes. The culprit behind our current Wave of Catastrophe, a true world ending invasion rather than a dimensional natural disaster it usually comes as is one known as The Burning Legion. But not the one you are referring to. The Pretender took the name of them from the Shield Hero she once traveled with." Mein blinks her eyes again at Metatron denying Naofumi's suggestion. She doesn't know which part to attribute the sudden chill slowly creeping up her back to. The fact that there are two legions that go across different worlds to burn them down (at least that's what she assumed their usual mode of operating are judging by her vision)... or that one of them was started by a companion of a former Shield Hero.

"You said 'she'. So the one behind it was a woman. Was that the goddess summoned by Lautrec at the end of the Third Wave? And that's why she tried to kill us and she took my shield?" Naofumi's eyes narrow at Metatron's explanation. He lets his eyes wander over to Fitoria for a brief moment. "Or she sealed my shield inside of me. Like Fitoria said."

"No. The goddess Lautrec summoned has nothing to do with The Burning Legion." Once again, the fatima shakes her head and rejects what Naofumi assumes. "The one summoned by Lautrec is known by the mortals of this world as 'The Lady'. The Lady of Sword, The Lady of Hammer, The Lady of Katana. She is them all and each is an aspect of her."

End Note:

We are getting into two of the most exposition heavy chapters even in my story in this and the next chapter. Which would wrap up this current ongoing arc. A few interlude later, it'll be the final arc and battle against Three Heroes Church, then the aftermath of what I have personally called 'Three Heroes Church Saga'. Basically, what I consider the high point of the original Rising of the Shield Hero. And the part I'm mostly interested in recreating. It'll be more or less entirely new (but originality vary because I'm Chinese, and I only know how to steal things) storyline from this point onward.

The whole filorial queen being the avatar of Alaya, dragon emperor being Gaia idea was came up by Comrade Broseph. In RotSH canon, it's repeatedly stated filorials hated dragon/griffins and vise versa, but Alenko never give a concrete reason why (not sure if LN expanded on that, but considering I don't have very high opinion on everything else LN expanded on, I'm probably going to throw it into the trash bin anyway), I think Comrade Broseph's explanation is great about filorials follows the guardian of sentient life while most other monsters follow the guardian of nature.

And the other demi-god that made her appearance in this story. Out of the four original characters created by Pretty Lazy, Metatron is the one who got the biggest change when she transferred into my story. About the only thing that kept from his original version (which I learned through asking him in a pm) was her being a sentient doll created by a former hero. There being a 3rd god like entity in the tree god is entirely my own creation (which is to say I stole the idea from somewhere else). Obviously, the tree god got its name from Norse mythology, although I also took a lot of inspiration from other powerful tree entities such as Cosmic Tree from Thea, and also some old Chinese webnovels back in 2000 (I mean literally year 2000, not 2000s. We Chinese had our webnovel boom long before Japanese).

So, yeah. No need to be coy like Atla's real identity. The 'Chief God' everyone worship is God Naofumi from a timeline that's more or less based on the original RotSH webnovel (something I already given the answer long ago. Go read the sermon Balmus performed when he was healing Malty in his first appearance, which only one reviewer commented on). Although as this chapter kind of teased but not fully spelled out, one of the thing I changed was Medea was the ruling god before him instead of an invading foreign god. Honestly, I feel like this one little change both explained Medea's supposed 'incompetence', but injected so much more existential horror into WN's story. The idea of a world ruled by an uncaring sadistic god who treat all the mortal as her personal playthings. And her injecting her shard and finding agents into the world isn't some grand scheme to take it over (because she already rule it legally), but simply because she's bored and she wanted to find some entertainment by tormenting lives like a cruel child torturing insects.

The Paramitas series is going to be my story's version of Blessed series for legendary weapons to serve as the mirror to the cursed series. Which is obviously based on the six perfect of Buddhism belief. I totally stolen the idea, and what ability each perfect give from the Hiroyuki Takei's manga series [Karakuri Doji Ultimo]. Another attempt for him to capture the popularity of Shaman King... and it fall on its face just like his 2007 attempt with Jumbo.

In case anyone is interested. The six Paramitas and their respective ability in this story are as follow:

Dana Paramita (Generous Giving) Power Manipulation

Sila Paramita (Moral Discipline) Memory Manipulation

Ksanti Paramita (Enduring Shame) Corporeal Manipulation

Virya Paramita (Diligent Progress) Probability Manipulation

Dhyana Paramita (Meditative Serenity) Emotion Manipulation

Prajna Paramita (Wisdome) Sense Manipulation