118. Heroes, Rise Up
118. Heroes, Rise Up
"Mmmph....?!!"
Something touched her lips.
A rough and dry texture. And hot, at the same time.
After a time that was both an instant and an eternity, what she saw before her was...
"It's the first day from today?"
"....Hweh?"
So, that meant....
It's the first day from today?
That was....
From today
That.....
It's the first day?
"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeek?!!!"
Ah
A-wa
A-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba
Ga-na-da-ra-ma-ba-sa-a-ja-cha-ka-ta-pa-ha and so on
"...........Hic!"
A sudden hiccup burst out.
Minerva covered her mouth with both hands and slowly looked at Chrono.
"Minerva, how is it? Can you do it now?"
".........Hweh?"
Chrono lightly tapped her on the shoulder.
Chrono placed the electric guitar back into Minerva's arms and asked.
"That fish head, can you beat it?"
"............."
In that moment, her rationality returned.
Right
It wasn't over yet.
She was flustered in many ways, but Minerva held the electric guitar in her arms again.
She picked up her pick, grabbed a chord, and once more prepared her will toward the gigantic 'monster' right in front of her....
"Iiiiiiinjaaaaaan!!!!"
"Ugh......!"
...but to burn that will, Minerva had already experienced failure once.
No, it hadn't been just once.
She had already fought against the Sirens numerous times, repeating mistake after mistake, failure after failure.
Even when Chrono had believed in her, she had ultimately failed spectacularly, so the initial momentum just wouldn't appear.
Can I... really do it...?
All she felt was doubt and delusion.
Minerva showed no will of her own in picking up the pick and turning on the guitar; only a consciousness that she 'did it because she was told to' remained.
"...I'll, do it. Since it's a task Chrono entrusted to me."
Even just folding away the urge to run away or give up at any moment and standing her ground to play could be considered her doing her best.
However──unfortunately, doing just her 'best' wasn't enough for this situation.
At this, Chrono approached Minerva.
"Minerva"
"Yes──eup, mmph....?!"
He held the electric guitar with one hand, and with the other, he grabbed the back of her neck for another kiss.
Only, what was different from before was...
──Slurp
"Hmppppph?!!!"
His tongue, went inside.
Chrono's tongue pushed through between her teeth.
Minerva panicked and tried to block it, but she knew that if she closed her teeth, Chrono would definitely get hurt.
"Slrp....mph....Hmmmn♥ Wa, wait a momen...!"
So she couldn't close her teeth and just barely tried pushing it away with her tongue.
But even this backfired, because pushing one tongue with another was just a deep kiss.
"Sluuuurp....smch, hm──Pah! Haa, ha, haaaah.....??!"
Ultimately, every corner of her mouth was invaded by Minerva.
Flustered for a moment by the much deeper kiss than before, Minerva felt a burning heat rise in her body.
"This is....this, power is....."
It was different.
A heat on a completely different dimension from before.
Warmth. A sense of omnipotence as if she could do anything.
"How about it, can you do it with this?"
".....Chrono..."
[Encore Kiss]
A skill imbued through Ur's blessing, and...
"The activation condition is a bit questionable, but the effect is solid, isn't it?"
An ultimate buff skill that doubled the stats of the kissed target for a set duration.
"Or... right. Should I say it like this?"
In addition to that, Chrono spoke.
"It's okay even if you fail."
".....Chrono..."
"Even if you do fail, there's absolutely no way I'd ever come to hate you."
"..........Mph...!"
At that single, unexpected sentence...
Minerva pressed down hard near her heart and swallowed her breath.
[It's okay even if you fail,]
Chrono....
Those words, were words that Minerva had never been granted until now.
[Even if you do fail,]
Chrono....!
Always having to be perfect, always as the Guild Master's daughter.
[There's absolutely no way I'd ever come to hate you,]
Chrono!!
She must not fail.
She must not make mistakes.
As the Guild Master's daughter, as Lady Minerva, as the next Guild Master of the Athena Guild,
"Hooo───"
And ultimately as a daughter who listened well to her father,
So as not to be abandoned by the one person who acknowledged her, her one and only sanctuary...
...Before me, who was always frantically hiding myself,
"──Haaaaaaaaah...."
Really, this person was so willful.
One moment he backed off saying it was a no-go,
And now suddenly, he barged right into the deepest part of my heart and lifted me back up.
Completely willfully.
Just an utterly willful person.
And that person said to me,
"....I, might make mistakes."
"A person can make a mistake once or twice."
That it was okay.
"Also, Chrono might end up in danger."
"Isn't it already dangerous enough to be fine?"
That even if I fell, even if I failed,
Even if I fell like that and got covered in dirt.
"I....actually I'm very clumsy, and I'm not that quiet..."
"I also kind of like lewd stuff, and honestly I have weird thoughts when I look at Chrono..."
"Sometimes I get jealous too... and, and alsooo....."
"Minerva"
I wasn't afraid anymore.
Because...
"I like lewd girls."
"......What kind of talk is that."
Because I had someone who accepted me just as I was.
[Bond Rank 10─(Max)]
[Bond Rank Reward]
[Awakening Skill Unlocked]
"Really, so stupid."
[Awakening Skill Activated]
[Advent─Athena's Avatar]
─Wooooooong!!
The atmosphere vibrated.
Divinity resonated out. A meter spreading and flowing.
A holy wave that repelled the wicked.
"Finally, it's done."
Chrono quietly admired it.
Violet armor that overlapped onto Minerva's body.
Athena's armor. Athena's divinity. Having accepted Athena's divine status, Minerva slowly lifted the electric guitar into her arms.
"I'll, sing."
Not for the Athena Guild.
Not as the Guild Master.
"Solely, for Chrono."
The pick slashed down powerfully.
The mechanical sound released by its friction against the metal strings instantly filled Queen Siren's lair and rang out.
─Kiiiiiiiiiiiiing!!!
"Kiat.....Kyaaaaaaahk!!!"
Queen Siren covered both ears and let out a painful groan.
At the same time, the numerous Sirens surrounding us also began to fall to the ground in agony.
"This is....."
"The Sirens....!"
The guild members stared at the dying Sirens.
They couldn't understand the situation, but it was definite that things had turned advantageous.
"Wha...how....how can this be....!"
Queen Siren ground her teeth in fury, but this was a natural outcome in a way.
Could such small, weak, wicked things, not even real Queens, dare to withstand a soundwave brimming with divinity and survive on that spot?
Moreover,
['Battle of God's Music(BGM) Activated]
[Poem Celebrating the Birth of a Hero]
-A poem imbued with the blessing of 'Athena'
-Glory to the wise victory
-Blessings on the birth of the hero
-Nullifies debuffs below a certain level (Major)
"Ah, aah......!"
"The Goddess is with us!"
Since she was even outright banging the gong for them to win,
"Chrono....!"
Minerva felt it intuitively.
If they were with the gods, if they were with Athena, they could defeat that monster.
A calamity she could never even dream of facing with her own power alone.
A disaster that was impossible even to resist even if everyone combined their strength.
"Now is the time!"
If they were with Athena, they could overcome it.
Minerva shouted toward Chrono with all her might.
".........Right."
The hero called by the goddess.
The first steps of the great hero who would put an end to this long war...
"Have now, awakened."
[Goddess Athena:......??]
Unfortunately for them, I had absolutely no intention of walking the path you guys wanted.
*************************
My reason had flown away.
My intelligence had collapsed.
As a result, I moved as if completely drunk and half passed out, and...
"Minerva, if it wasn't for you, I really would've been screwed."
"What.....?"
Thanks to Minerva, I just barely managed to regain my senses.
Queen Siren's charm.
Mai's Enchanting Beauty.
My intelligence halved because of it.
Normally, my intelligence shouldn't have returned so easily, but...
"...You didn't expect this much, did you?"
[Goddess Athena: What do you mean?]
"No, it's nothing."
Roughly, something like...
So you're a Greek god too, huh.
Especially that strangely characteristic way of trying to act perfectly, then breaking down sloppily.
"When Minerva's skill dispelled Queen Siren's charm, the debuff Mai put on me vanished along with it."
[Goddess Athena: I don't quite understand what you mean?]
"Yeah. Sure. I figured you'd say that."
Because I was also slowly starting to 'understand' it.
Watching Cronus.
Watching you, Athena.
I felt like I roughly grasped how these so-called 'gods' operated.
"Still, compared to Cronus, are you a bit better...? If that guy's whole deal is truly messing with people, this side is at least... goodwill? I guess?"
I didn't know.
Was there even a need to understand?
I dismissed the 'Squite' in my hand.
It doesn't matter anymore anyway...
Even so, I didn't want to be dragged along as 'they' desired.
I slowly looked around and lightly stretched my neck.
[Goddess Athena:....What are you trying to do?]
"What do you mean, trying to do."
I was doing what I did best.
I opened my mouth and yelled with all my might.
"Those who are alive! Those who can still fight, listen!"
"Who are you! Whose soldiers are you!"
[Goddess Athena: Hero, do not do anything foolish. You only need to walk. If you just proceed forward, you can become a 'hero'.]
I ignored the mosquito prattling beside me.
"You are the soldiers of Athena! The army of Athena! Are you not followers who serve only Athena!"
"And right now, right here! In this moment! Athena has called us 'heroes'!"
[Goddess Athena: Now hold──!!]
There was no hold or whatever.
I continued to shout even louder.
"[Poem Celebrating the Birth of a Hero]"
"Yes, we who stand on this battlefield right now are the heroes!"
"Heroes called by name by Athena! Heroes who fight for Athena!"
[Goddess Athena: Do not twist my intentions!]
But I said it was already too late?
In the first place, even the Bible is interpreted however the hell one wants in modern theology, so what difference would Greek gods make?
"Athena called me....?"
"No. It's us. She called us, heroes!"
[Goddess Athena:....Good heavens.]
This was a result foretold the moment the status windows appeared right before their eyes.
I shouted once more toward those gradually coming over to my side.
"When we were not called, we were but weak humans; however,"
"Those of us called by the Goddess are now her warriors, heroes!"
The climax was slowly building.
Everyone had their will burning in their eyes as they gripped their swords and spears, their own weapons.
"Arise, heroes!"
"Stand up. Fight back!"
I shouted to them.
"Kill the enemy who insults the Goddess, and be reborn as heroes!"
"""""Waaaaaaaaaah!!!"""""
A scene of madness and faith.
Just as everyone drew their weapons and began swarming in to lynch Queen Siren, Athena spoke to me.
[Goddess Athena: You crazy bastard]
"Thanks for the compliment."
In that industry, that's a compliment, you know.