Undersea Temple (2)
Dawn.
The secret art usable only by those who bear the Solar Halo.
The light that announced the night was passing and morning had come — this was the second time I'd unleashed it.
Light steeped in the heat of the sun collided with the sea.
The ocean vaporized in billowing steam, and the monsters swimming through its depths were burned to nothing within the sacred flash — skin, muscle, bone, every element that composed their bodies smoldering away one by one until only ash remained.
Having served its purpose, Dawn flickered out, and water rushed back in to fill the space where the light had been held.
The undersea temple, which had been thick with tension, sank into a stillness so complete it felt dead — and the swarm of monsters that had inhabited Atlantis vanished without leaving so much as a trace behind.
"No way…"
Ter's jaw hung open like someone who'd just witnessed the impossible.
The pinnacle of mastery that emerged when a Divine Relic was pushed to its absolute limit. She had wielded the Wrathful Heavenly Thunder, if only briefly, so she must have had some idea of just how high a level I'd reached.
'Astonishing, every single time.'
A single line the Writer had penned floated up from memory.
"One who bends a Divine Relic to their will wields power rivaling a nuclear weapon."
Back when I read that, I understood it with my head but couldn't accept it with my heart. I just couldn't picture it, you know? A human being triggering an explosion with a wave of the hand and turning an entire region into scorched wasteland. Sweeping whole nations away with power on par with natural disasters.
And honestly, it didn't hit home all the more because I'd already seen footage of modern weaponry back in my old world — I'd grasped that kind of destructive power with my own eyes. My reaction was simply, ah, so that's how the author built her setting.
Even after coming here, even after inheriting a god's power, I'd doubted whether something like that was actually possible for a human being.
'Turns out it is.'
With my output suppressed as far as I could manage, I'd still succeeded in wiping out every monster that had converged on the temple in one fell swoop. If I'd actually cut loose, I might have sunk all of Atlantis outright. But my goal was the Divine Relic itself, so doing something idiotic like picking a fight with this place's master and his lingering will was never on the table.
"Let's get moving."
Anyway, with the enemies blocking our path dealt with, all that remained was to set our feet toward the destination. This was my first time here, but I had a rough idea where the relic lay from skimming the novel and its setting compendium.
"That was incredible. You took down that whole horde of monsters. I'm genuinely shocked."
Ter spoke as she trailed behind me, her eyes sparkling like some curious child — apparently my overwhelming display of firepower had left quite the impression.
"Even skilled Guardians can't wipe out an entire enemy force in one shot like that. That's seriously impressive, no?"
"What's there to be shocked about? Anyone who properly knows how to handle a Divine Relic can do that — you, me, any of us."
At my words, Ter let out an exasperated, hollow laugh, like a spectator watching Pinocchio's nose grow longer on the witness stand.
"Don't you hear how absurd that sounds, even coming out of your own mouth?"
"Not at all. Everyone holding a Divine Relic fights at roughly my level."
The relic bearers of the final chapters — they flaunted their ultimates and supreme techniques, bringing the stage called Academy Yuri Princess to a resounding close. Eva had gotten the carrot-and-stick treatment, but Chloe and Ter both came into their relics and stood on equal footing with the rest of the Celestial Clan. Compared to Marin — hailed as the ultimate partner — they fell a bit short, sure, but they made for dependable assets. Still a step behind Proto, the strongest of them all and the novel's final boss, of course.
Ter had no way of glimpsing her own future. But me? I'd already read it all in the book the Writer wrote. The sight of her aiming a gun-shaped Divine Relic and picking off targets from range. Every shot dead-on, serving as the fire-support anchor of the back line and becoming Eva's devoted supporter.
"You'll climb to about my level too once you get your relic. So quit gawking."
"I can tell when you're lying, you know. How would I even manage that? I'd count myself lucky just to cross blades with that woman Yupi."
Ter said it like it was nothing, but I caught the shift in her heart, sticking out like down feathers poking through a cheap parka.
'Ter's self-esteem has taken a nosedive.'
The Ter of old would have been burning with bravado, itching for a brawl with her sister on the spot. Instead, she'd wrapped herself in an air of it's hopeless anyway. Watching her vent something bordering on self-deprecation made my chest ache a little, watching from the outside.
"Ter."
"Hm? What's up?"
"That relic is about to be yours. I'm going to make sure of it."
I rested a hand on her shoulder as I said it — like a friend cheering up someone who'd lost their spark.
"But before that, I want to ask you one thing. What on earth happened between you and Yupi to make you two go at each other's throats like that?"
"Do I really have to tell you that?"
"It's the price for the relic. If there's a giving, there's got to be a taking on my end too — that's only fair, isn't it?"
Ter becoming the relic's master was a foregone conclusion; I'd merely hurried it along. But between talking Pallad around and slaughtering the temple's monsters for her, the effort I'd put in was real. The payment was due.
"If you won't tell me, fine. But in that case, my help ends here."
In the novel, I'd never once seen the original Solis truly enraged at Ter — so what on earth had she done to provoke his wrath? That was the secret I wanted to extract. And since no one hands that kind of thing over willingly, I proposed the trade…
"Fine. I'll tell you."
'Huh?'
And she accepted, just like that.
"You sure? No reluctance? Nothing like that?"
"It's a trade for a Divine Relic, isn't it? Where else am I going to find a deal this one-sided in my favor?"
Ter laid out her position like it was the most obvious thing in the world. I'd expected it to come to this, but I hadn't imagined she'd answer without a single moment's hesitation.
Things were moving along smoothly — too smoothly, which was somehow the worrying part.
Be that as it may, I had work to push forward, so I didn't so much as pause my stride while we talked, and soon enough we reached the destination: the highest point of the temple — the altar of Atlantis. I climbed the stairs of that towering structure, from whose summit the whole of the temple spread out below.
"There it is."
I pointed at the azure orb enshrined at the very center of the topmost floor.
Endless Waves.
Right before my eyes lay the Divine Relic that had lost its master in the distant past and sunk into the deep sea.
"That's it—!"
At the word relic, Ter lunged straight for it — for all the world like a mouse spotting cheese and slapping its mouth onto it to gobble it down on the spot.
"HALT!"
An unfamiliar voice cut in between us, unwilling to simply stand by and watch.
"Welcome, visitors who have come seeking the undersea temple of Atlantis."
The currents around the relic roiled violently. A whirlwind seized the space, whipping up clouds of spray — and from within it, a blue figure emerged, facing us with an air of overwhelming majesty.
"My name is Daon Citrine. I am of the Celestial Clan, and master of this Divine Relic."
A voice as clear as if he'd switched on a megaphone carried through the water in pure vibration. Dignified and noble in bearing, he stood out like a single thread of light cutting through the dark.
"Name yourselves, you who have come to this place!"
"I… I am—"
Unable to keep pace with his presence, Ter stumbled over her words, thrown into confusion over whether she should answer him at all.
"Solis Auram, master of the Solar Halo, pays his respects to the honored ancestor."
"Heir to the Auram name — a descendant of the Sun, then."
Unlike Ter, I'd done my reconnaissance in book form, so I delivered the appropriate answer without missing a beat.
"I am Ter Citrine. The second daughter of House Citrine offers her greetings."
"Ah, so you are my descendant. The line endured to the very end, did it."
Ter, who had been anxiously reading the room, finally remembered her manners — a beat too late. Daon regarded her with a satisfied smile on his lips.
"I needn't ask. You've come to take the Endless Waves, haven't you."
"Yes. The young lady of House Citrine, rightful inheritor of the relic, has completed every preparation to receive it as her lawful successor. Lady Pallad has granted her permission as well."
"She sent you herself? Then I have no objection. Take it."
Daon stepped aside, clearing the path to the relic. His easy approval sparked my curiosity.
"No trial of any kind? I rather expected to be put through at least some manner of test."
"She already meets the barest requirement for handling a relic — she can sketch the relic's outline. Am I mistaken?"
"When I briefly borrowed the Wrathful Heavenly Thunder, she did once succeed in forming its shape."
"To my eyes — fused with the relic as a lingering will so that I might pass it to the next inheritor — that child is ready."
In the original story, he'd barked you are not yet ready! and then loosed monsters on her or served as her sparring partner himself, all to help her earn her qualification. But the Ter I'd meddled with had taken my advice to heart from the day she enrolled at the Academy — start by forming the relic's outline — and after untold effort, she'd succeeded in shaping another's form. The Wrathful Heavenly Thunder had ultimately gone back to Yupi, but her training hadn't been wasted.
Now, then. On to the next matter.
"And with that, you've gained your new Divine Relic."
"…You're really giving it to me?"
"In exchange, you tell me everything that happened back then. Every last detail. If you hold out on me, I'll resort to every dirty, underhanded trick in the book and take that relic from you by force."
Ter flinched and shuddered at my words. I'd turned the screws hard, making sure not a single speck of a lie would leave her lips. I raised my mana, letting its pressure bear down on her — and she folded, tail between her legs.
"I honestly don't get why you'd want to hear this…"
Muttering that small complaint to herself, Ter let out a quiet sigh and went on.
"It's something my informant dug up. I just asked Yupi to confirm whether it was true, that's all."
"And what did you find out?"
"Nothing much. Apparently I have another older sister besides Yupi? That kind of pointless gossip."
"…"
In an instant, ten thousand imaginings tore through my head. I, who had pored over every line of Academy Yuri Princess and memorized its contents down to the letter, arrived at the conclusion in a single breath.
"When I kept pressing her and she wouldn't answer, I provoked her — said she'd probably killed you — and then…"
"YOU CRAZY SON OF A BITCH—!"
"Gwahk—!"
CRACK!
And before Ter could even finish her sentence, my fist smashed into her skull.