Once more, two swordsmen were facing on in the arena located in the Pocket Castle's barracks. On one side was Izuna, the four tailed kitsune samurai, wielding one Tsushikimoto, one of the seven legendary katanas. Against her was Micaela, the first seraph and the latest recruit in Luka's army.
Several monsters were watching the fight. A few healers were also standing by in case either warrior got carried away. Micaela got surprised that the arrival of the legendary seraph didn't create more reaction within the community, but she realized that between the fact that they already recruited Eden and travelled between worlds where they also recruited apoptosis, most of the castle's inhabitants had likely seen it all.
And so, when she stepped in the barracks with the intent to train, she was slightly surprised when the kitsune offered to challenge her in a sword fight to see her skills by herself. She thought her angelic nature and her own reputation would drive away every contender, but it was in fact quite the opposite. And so she accepted to face her in a first blood fight.
Both opponents gauged themselves. Micaela had her sword drawn, but Izuna's was still sheathed, although she had a hand on it. The seraph didn't doubt that a wrong move on her part would be countered by a serene demon sword. They kept turning around, until the kitsune lost patience and seemed to move ever so slightly her hand. Right afterward, Micaela parried a water imbued energy blade with her own sword and jumped at the kitsune, who finally unsheathed her sword for good. The blades started clashing at an impressive speed in a cacophony of steel. The seraph was impressed by the mastery the kitsune had over her weapon, the latter was parrying effortlessly her lightning strikes no matter where they came from while occasionally finding openings to attack herself. Furthermore, the small fox spirit that was accompanying her was disturbing the first seraph, who wondered if she would try anything. As it was starting to become clear that she couldn't really fight or cast spells, Micaela relaxed ever so slightly and fully focused her attention on her opponent.
However, even with those odds against her, the seraph still had the power and the experience advantages. Izuna had to lose time dodging and stepping back to avoid the seraph's strongest attacks. Micaela slashed at full strength diagonally, and the kitsune jumped back to avoid the powerful strike. The seraph pushed on the assault, forcing her opponent on the defensive and even allowing her to cast a small holy spell. As Izuna didn't react when the spell connected, Micaela realized she made a small mistake, and that the fox was likely wearing a holy resistant armor. Right as she pondered this, a few paper sheets flew by her. She instantly raised a magic barrier and managed to block the elemental rain of rock that followed. Right after this demonstration of spellcasting, the fighter's blade locked. Suddenly, the kudagitsune started talking.
"Your mother was a hamster, and your father smells of elderberries!"
"What?" Micaela raised an eyebrow in front of the small spirit's insult. This instant of surprise earned her a strike from a katana's pommel straight in the stomach, knocking the wind out of her. As the kitsune prepared a vertical attack, Micaela recovered and struck her opponent in the side at lightning speed. The kitsune found herself propelled in a wall, and fell down with a gurgle and a trickle of blood coming from her mouth. Healers were already stepping in to fix the wounded fox samurai.
Micaela felt slightly ashamed of the treatment she just inflicted to her opponent, and slowly made her way to her. Nobody tried to hold her back, and even Izuna's gaze wasn't filled with fear or hatred, only a feeling of disappointment.
"I apologize for that, but what was that just now? I didn't expect one of Yamatai's samurai to resort to lowly insults."
"It is my responsibility to apologize." Izuna winced in pain as her broken ribs were magically glued back together. "You are correct in saying me that this is dishonorable." She gave her kudagitsune a stink eye. "Someone told me that insulting your opponent is a great way to distract him to get an edge."
Micaela closed her eyes. "Morrigan I presume."
Izuna silently nodded. Well, it looks like the succubus had even taken to tutoring some other monsters with her own twisted lessons. The seraph had to recognize however the effectiveness the trick suggested by the succubus had.
"Actually, you should keep doing that… Just… beware of the consequences."
Izuna raised an eyebrow in front of Micaela's statement. When the healer were done, she bowed respectfully in front of the seraph. "I thank you for your lesson. I shall train to not let myself be surprised by any opponent."
Micaela gently smiled. "You're welcome." She then decided to leave the barracks and wander around the castle a bit. A pang of concern filled her heart as her mind wandered toward the explosion that had happened earlier, and then toward Promestein, the responsible. She remembered that Ilias tolerated her because she was an indispensable pawn into the Goddess of Light's plan to reconstruct the world.
And here she was, looking younger in Luka's Pocket Castle, busy experimenting and doing science. Even if the angel scientist was not working for Ilias, Micaela didn't feel comfortable knowing that Luka was directly exposed to her. The application of the result of the effort she put in her scientific research was rarely positive, no matter what she did. It was definitively time for a little talk with her.
Promestein was already back in her laboratory after having recovered from the latest explosion she caused. The succubus witch and several other monsters were keeping an eye on her from the corner of the room to keep sure the angel scientist would not do anything dangerous, but the latter tried to reassure them that she had stopped her research on genetics today to focus on makinas. This didn't reassure anybody in the slightest. In fact, most of the people usually hanging around the laboratory ran away when they heard she wanted to study the possibility to transform some of the weapon-like makinas to give them a domestic usage.
When Micaela stepped upstairs, she could see Promestein holding the Plama scythe in front of a small bush. She was fidgeting around the device, which was connected to a strange metallic case. Seeing that she was in front of the makina, Micaela stepped away should the contraption accidentally start on its own. In the meantime, the angel scientist was thinking aloud, talking about formulas and effects to weaken the power of the weapon. After a while, she got back and pushed a button on a panel on the side.
The beam scythe started slowly glowing, and was emitting a whirring sound louder and louder. Promestein started moving away in panic, and the makina unloaded a powerful energy blade. The bush was shaved flat and put on fire, and the wall on the other side was pierced like butter. The angel scientist looked awkwardly at the seraph.
"I thought reversing the polarity would decrease its power and turn it into a trimmer to more easily take care of the vegetation. Please do not say anything to Luka."
"I will consider it. However, I didn't come to see your attempt at science-ing out the devices he acquired, but to talk about a few other things. Namely, yourself."
Promestein shrugged. "I don't have much to tell, I was an angel librarian under the responsibility of Ranuel, the great librarian. I always preferred trying to understand the world surrounding me through the scientific method rather than accepting everything as being the will of Ilias. It earned me the spite of a few angels, including the second generation seraph Zion. Eventually, I got whisked away during a small experience centered on the combination of light and dark energy to find out how the world's creation happened." She sighed. "Then I spent 200 years alone with limited equipment and only apoptosis attacks to keep me company before Luka found me. Since then, I accompanied him occasionally on his adventure, and help participating in the researches on new technologies and apoptosis.
Her interlocutor distractedly nodded before she noticed something that disturbed her. "Wait. Zion? You knew her from before? How?"
Promestein looked up while tapping her chin with a finger. "Oh yes, I come from the same world as those second generation seraph. She was kinda hot headed and had a tendency to bully me because I spent a lot of time reading and asking myself questions about the benevolence of Ilias." She shrugged. "But that was in the past."
Micaela blinked repeatedly in surprise. She then started frowning as she leaned toward Promestein, almost terrifying the small angel scientist. "Tell. Me. Everything. About this world."
The red haired angel scientist started sweating bullets under the seraph's gaze. "You don't need to do… that. I'll talk, I'll talk."
"Sorry." Micaela turned away. Promestein exhaled as the tension released. She repositioned her glasses.
"Let's get started about what interest you then. Although I'm ashamed my focus was more on participating in scientific progression than on studying how Ilias ran her world."
"Any information on the matter would be welcome, so please, fire away."
The world is lead by Ilias from the Heaven, while the seven archangels are the one managing the regions and are reporting to the other world Micaela, who remains by the side of Ilias. The cities themselves could simply be described as grandiose. Every street is filled to the brim with marble statues of the goddess and her saints while the bells from the different churches ring day and night. Each of them took more effort to build than the last one and is more developed. Every place is perfectly illuminated to represent the watchful eye of Ilias, and this is not a figure of speech. She deliberately uses magic in several regions of the world to stick to the day phase of the cycle. This created a few issues in several regions but I disgress.
The justice system is simple: the word of Ilias is the law. Everything is decided by the Goddess herself, and everybody must live according to the path she decided for them. In reality there is an absolutely byzantine administrative system to manage the small details, but it doesn't change the fact that stepping out of your given role is considered contesting the great plan of the goddess, and will get you demoted to a second zone citizen if you're lucky. If you're not, you will be killed or thrown into Sariela's prison. The debate is still open as to what's the worse, but I should point out that telling that there might be an error is considered going against Ilias.
As far as I'm concerned, I'm happy right now. Ilias is not overseeing everything I do and I am not ridiculed for trying to make science progress. When I checked the books in the library, I didn't find a single information about technological innovation within the last five hundred years. It's as if the goddess was reveling in the stagnation. I theorized that she could feel threatened by the change they brought, but I never declared it openly, I didn't want to see what became of those that contested the word of the goddess myself. I worked toward solving that, but… I got taken away in strange circumstances. I don't think that they even miss me, or else, they would already be here for me after having seen me.
But still, the people there are told they're safe under the benevolence of Ilias. The Great Monster War is now just a myth about the goddess crushing the last rebel under her heel while freeing mankind once and for all from the oppression of the Monster Girls. People now live their life as dictated by the Goddess, toil daily for her or the others, and pray every free minute. It is, has been, and will be like that until the end of time. Ilias considers her planning perfect and will never change it.
Micaela was holding her hands in front of her face. "This… is exactly how I imagined a world lead by Ilias would be. You didn't say anything about Lucifina?"
"That's because there were no records pertaining to her."
Micaela raised an eyebrow. "She's my equal. The only one that could make her disappear like that is Ilias herself. And the only reason the latter would do so would be if she rebelled… You don't know anything about that?"
"No. There might have been something about it in the locked section of the library reserved to the archangels, but I was a mere assistant librarian."
The first seraph twirled a strand of hair around a finger. Simply talking about her sister was a touchy subject, but she wanted to try to get at the bottom of it. Maybe Promestein had a key information that could help them hold off the Angel World.
What did happen to her? Her sister was always rebellious and always had difficulties keeping a lid on her more bloodthirsty tendencies. Did she finally snap, or did Ilias got rid of her first? Micaela started grimacing as frustration was growing inside her.
Noticing that her interlocutor was eyeing her strangely, Micaela bowed respectfully, taking the small scientist aback. "Thank you for sharing your knowledge, and if I may give you an advice… If someone tells you the work on your life is transgressing on the goddess's feet, start focusing on finding a way to not get stomped."
The first seraph left the angel scientist alone to ponder what she just meant. Time for a drink…
Micaela was silently pondering what she heard about herself and the world lead by Ilias over a cup of Gold tea. Fortunately, Morrigan had cleared the premises and was now likely wandering to unfortunate places and the more gropey monsters were either asleep or away, allowing the first seraph to fully relax and meditate over the situation. She had to acknowledge that the serenity offered by the Pocket Castle at that precise moment was welcome, although she was still concerned about hidden agendas and daily conflicts between some of its inhabitants. It still seemed that it was somehow working out.
After a while, she could feel a small but focused holy aura that approached her from behind. She turned to see her smaller looking self, nervously jumping around. She maternally smiled.
"Do you need anything?" She showed the chair in front of her, inviting the younger seraph to take a seat.
"Well…" The small angel took the chair and sat across the table. "I know less about me than I should, and since you're me as I should have been… I was wondering if you could help me..." She was fidgeting around in an untypical display of coyness. "I kept hearing from everyone that you were the greatest source of wisdom around, even above Ilias… But what made you… me… turn away from her light."
With a long standing experience, Micaela concealed her surprise. She didn't expect so many people to already consider her a valuable source of knowledge and wisdom. Or was there an ulterior motive? The seraph eventually decided that this question was irrelevant right now. She had a job important enough explaining what happened to her younger self without shocking her.
"I lived with her for several millennia. A moment comes when her light is blinding and less than needed."
The younger looking seraph raised an eyebrow in front of the cryptic comment. Micaela decided to push her point forward.
"This is harder to explain to someone who always have seen the good side of Ilias so far. But first, I shall ask you a question. Did you ever see her acting in a way that could be described as selfish?"
"No." Her younger counterpart seemed almost shocked by the idea that the Goddess of Light's actions could not be aimed at bettering humanity's life as she always claimed. This was going to be hard.
"Okay." Micaela decided to try aiming with a different angle. She repositioned herself. "Describe her."
Micaela-chan closed her eyes and started reciting a lesson. "She's the most graceful being to have ever existed. Each of her word that is neither a law nor an order carries immense wisdom and should be treated as the most valuable lesson in her life. Her beauty-"
"-is second to none. She's the sun that illuminates our lives and guides our actions. Nothing can compare to her benevolence, and she will save humanity from darkness." Micaela ended the lesson herself. "I see that you read Ranaruel's gospel, but how is Ilias daily I mean? Did you travel with her?"
"… I can't remember it." The small seraph looked ashamed of her declaration. "But I heard enough from the travels with other angels to know that she is every bit as benevolent as the gospel says."
Micaela leaned a bit closer and rested her head on one of her hand. "Can you tell me about what they told? As much as I worked under her, I never had the luck to travel with her."
"I heard it from Victoria." Micaela-chan cleared her throat and started counting her tale.
I heard about a time where the Goddess had to go in another world to acquire a key resource. Said world was one where the war between the tyrannical Black Alice and the heroic human kingdoms was at its apex. In that terrifying context, Her goal was to infiltrate the damnable Monster Lord's castle and swipe an item from under Black Alice's nose. As they started their noble mission in the Gold region, they required a mean of transportation to get there. As the hero Heinrich was around, he instantly answered the call to help of the Goddess and offered her a boat allowing them to reach Hellgondo. Once there, following the lead of the goddess, they made their way through the hellish landscape that was Hellgondo to reach its main city, Remina.
During the stay of the Goddess and her followers in this other Remina, they were confronted with numerous monsters hiding their murderous intentions behind respectable fronts. But even as other companions turned a blind eye to their presence, the goddess wasn't fooled and knew of their depraved intent. Even as they adventured around, she exposed the different monsters around by judiciously placing bony remains acquired by Luka on his adventure, and used her conviction skills to frame those as the work of monsters living in town. However, her plan failed as a devious monster replaced a few of those by some from an animal, destroying the reputation of the Goddess. Repudiated, she decided that the only course of action to save those humans was to destroy Black Alice herself, and both heroes took stride in their mission.
"So as you can see, in the end, she always act to protect her children, as the mother of all life that she is should."
"…" Micaela fell silent for a moment and gestured for the scylla maid to bring her a bottle of Yamatai sake. Without ceremony, she opened it and filled her cup to the brim before gulping it in one go, without spilling a single drop in the whole process. She opened her mouth as if to say something, but decided to hold back. After a long minute of awkward silence, she eventually decided to settle on something that wouldn't risk antagonizing her narrow-minded other self.
"You're right, she's like a mother. And at one point comes a moment where you want to fly by your own wings, no matter how good your parent is. Anyway, do you want to talk about any… thing… else?"
Micaela slowed down and looked around her as signs of disruption were arising in the castle. Several monsters were running outside while the ground was starting to quake rhythmically. She readied her sword while making her way outside… and could not believe her eyes in front of what was happening.
"Emeth! Fate! Giga! Stop it! The Giant Dance Challenge has been cancelled until stated otherwise! Nobody found a place solid enough to accommodate you!" Mephisto was having difficulties getting herself heard over the mess. Several giant monsters were dancing in the front yard with the grace of drunken whales. The quaking was caused by their dancing, as they stomped on the floor in synch (or even occasionally fell). "At least please don't practice in the Pocket Castle! I have no idea how much this place can endure before it collapses!"
The situation was so ridiculous that some clicked in Micaela's brain.
I stayed here long enough. I don't think I'll be able to handle another day here twiddling my thumbs, and it's a miracle that Luka didn't go insane around that.
Time to get back on the road.