The Second Tower (4)
Hyeonseok withdrew the hand he'd been reaching toward Yeonseo and me, then slowly rose to his feet.
"You've both rested enough, right?"
He stood and told us it was time to move on to the next area.
"Haa… so the next one is supposed to be the last, right?"
Yeonseo, who had been leaning against her summon Marinarion the whole time, slowly pushed her exhausted body upright and started toward the door.
"Yeah. This was the ninth island, and looking at the key and the door, it feels like the end. So I figure it probably is."
"Please let this be the last one."
As we talked and approached the door, Hyeonseok took out the key and held it near. Once again, a keyhole appeared with a solid click.
"Ready?"
Before inserting the key, he looked back at us. Yeonseo and I exchanged a glance, then nodded at him.
The moment he turned the key, light burst forth unlike anything before and swallowed us whole.
I raised my arm against the blinding radiance, waiting for it to fade. When I opened my eyes, what lay before me was a room furnished entirely in pure white.
I had no idea what had just happened. The light from the door had been so dazzling that I'd only closed my eyes for a moment—
And when I opened them, Hyeonseok and Yeonseo were gone. Only a pristine white room with white furniture welcomed me.
"Wh-what? What is this place…?"
I looked around, wandering this way and that, when I sensed someone behind me. I drew Durandal and swung in a single motion. And the one standing there was…
"Pa… Partruna? Why? We haven't even cleared the tower yet—why are you here? Where are Hyeonseok and Yeonseo? We were just about to enter the final room."
"Shall we put that sword away first and talk?"
I withdrew Durandal from near her throat. She settled onto a sofa, so I sat across from her and simply looked at her.
"Even for you, there has to be a reason you summoned me so suddenly like this, right?"
"Haa. You're looking a lot angrier than you used to. Don't glare at me like that. You'll wrinkle that pretty face of yours."
"Haa, is that really what you're saying right now? If something happened to Hyeonseok or Yeonseo while I was gone…!"
"Don't worry. Time is frozen—I only called your consciousness here. Hmm, more importantly, you've grown quite a bit, haven't you? Still a ways to go, but at this rate you'll reach your second form soon enough."
My eyes went wide. I couldn't understand what she was talking about.
Second form? Did she mean I'd grown since first becoming a woman?
"Second form? What do you mean by that…?"
"Well, don't worry too much about it. You'll find out soon enough. And when that time comes, it might be good to take a moment to think about yourself again."
"Honestly—then and now, you only ever say what you want to say…!"
I shot back at her, and Partruna smiled softly, lifting a cup of tea from a table I hadn't even noticed was there.
"More importantly—how was your first taste of a woman's pleasure? Incredible compared to when you were a man, wasn't it?"
"W-what?! W-wait, what are you even… talking about…"
I startled so hard my shoulders jumped. Trembling, I wrapped my arms around myself and slowly turned my head away from her gaze.
The look on her face—knowing about that day of mine—was terrifying.
When did she even see that? No—why would she watch that…?!
"Heehee. Don't look so shocked. Watching you live every single day is one of my great joys, you know? And getting to see Oppa is nice, too."
"What? What did you just say…?"
"Anyway, the reason I called you here is to tell you about the child you're about to meet."
She barreled on without giving me time to process what I'd just heard.
"That means… you already know the master of the tower we're about to face. Haa. I should have realized the moment I saw the angels…"
"Mmm, actually we only just found out ourselves. Charlotte. Looking at the angels that have appeared through you so far, they were ones we'd lost contact with. And among them, the child you're about to meet is the Archangel Gabriel."
"She was our herald, and a right hand of Gaia, the god of Earth. Of course, contact was suddenly cut off after Gaia died… but now we know."
"So what do you want me to do?"
"Heehee. I do love how quick you are. Please… don't kill that child, Gabriel."
It didn't make sense. Don't kill her? Wasn't defeating the tower's master the whole point?
But asking me not to kill her probably meant we needed to extract information. The gods working with Partruna still didn't know the truth about Gaia's sudden death.
"Don't… kill her. You do realize that could get us killed instead, right?"
"Oh, come now. Neither you nor the other two will lose to Gabriel, so don't worry. Well, if you'd met her somewhere other than the tower, then besides Charlotte… Charlotte?"
The thought that the other two would be in danger if they'd met her anywhere but the tower made me glare at Partruna without meaning to.
I don't want to see them get hurt like that again…!
"Haa. Calm down, Charlotte."
"Ah! S-sorry. But… hearing something like that, I just…"
"I'm glad. I was worried you'd go off on your own even after returning, but it's a relief you've found companions like this. Back to the point—please don't kill Gabriel. There's something we need to find out."
"Haa. Alright. I'll do my best. But if you learn anything later, tell me too. I'll need it to convince the other two."
"Yes, yes, of course. Well then! It's time to part ways. I'm counting on you."
"Don't worry. I'll do what I must as your apostle."
Just as when I'd entered this place, light swallowed me. When I opened my eyes, Hyeonseok and Yeonseo were beside me again—both seeming to have only just come to their senses.
The moment Charlotte left, a muscular man approached Partruna. He had long hair and a long beard, a sword at his hip and a shield on his back.
The most distinctive thing about him was that he had only one arm.
"Tyr. You've come?"
"I have. So—was that child just now the 'vessel for a god' you spoke of?"
"Hmm. More precisely, a 'vessel to hold divinity.' Haa. I still can't believe how much the Divine Realm changed while I was sealed…"
"There's nothing I can say to that. Still—Archangel Gabriel… I'm glad she's alive."
"Is she, though? To my eyes, she looks more like residual thoughts left behind after death."
"Well, we'll see when we look. More importantly—Vulcanus, Thoth, and Hermod said they'll use their power this time to change the tower's rewards."
"What? Why on earth would they do that…?"
"Something about hoping your apostle hurries up and fully corrupts into a woman, or whatever."
"Haa. Those old men, I swear…"
"They're probably just joking. The real reason is they want to install a communication system as soon as possible."
"Ah, that would be better sooner rather than later. It seems remnants of the evil god Thanatos are still lingering among the humans."
"Tsk. That one again…? Reviving Gaia is going to be harder than I thought."
"Well, it can't be helped. For now… we can only hope that she—the apostle of a god—and the humans below survive."
Having said their piece, the two gods simply watched their apostle below in silence, hoping nothing would go wrong with their plans.
"So we can't kill that thing? You've got to be kidding me…"
"I'm sorry. There was nothing I could do about it this time."
"Yeonseo, this isn't something Charlotte could help either. Let's just bear with it."
Yeonseo pointed irritably at Archangel Gabriel, seated on a distant, glowing throne, while Hyeonseok tried to soothe her.
But I understood why Yeonseo was angry this time. Just defeating her would be hard enough—aiming to subdue her would be twice as difficult.
"Well, they said we're strong enough to subdue her as we are now. Don't worry."
"Hey, Fire Fox—that's not the problem! We won't know until we try! Ugh, seriously! Once we catch that thing, you're not getting off easy!"
"What?! W-wait, why are you taking it out on me?!"
Yeonseo summoned her beast and charged straight at Gabriel. Hyeonseok shrugged as if he had no choice and ran after her.
"Haa. Why am I always the one who loses out…!"
Of course I couldn't just stand there either. I pulled out my gear and followed after them.
When we arrived before her, Gabriel slowly opened her closed eyes and spoke.
"How dare you lowly creatures set foot in this place!"
Huh? She can… talk…?!
"Uh, so, um… Cha… Charlotte?"
At the sudden sound of Gabriel's voice, Yeonseo's eyes went wide and she froze. Hyeonseok just looked at me in confusion.
"We come by order of the goddess Partruna."
She's a friend of Partruna's, so giving the name should be fine, right?
But Gabriel's reaction was nothing like what I'd expected.
"Insolence! There is but one goddess—Gaia alone! You heretic!"
Gabriel rose from the throne, unfurled six wings stained black, and took to the air.
"Hey! Your goddess is a fraud, isn't she?!"
"Wh…at…? She said they knew each other…!"
Yeonseo grabbed my shoulders and shook me back and forth. I just stood there, stunned by the unexpected reaction.
But after soaring into the sky, Gabriel didn't attack us at all.
She simply beat her wings and circled overhead.
"What is she trying to do?"
Hyeonseok looked up at the sky. Sensing some hidden intent in the way Gabriel refused to attack, he raised a barrier of wind around us. The black feathers falling from Gabriel were swept far away by the wind.
But those feathers were far more terrifying than we'd imagined.
The moment a black feather touched the ground, a pillar of black light erupted with a whoosh, exploding outward. What remained was a crater the width of the pillar, gouged deep into the earth.
Gabriel hadn't been refusing to attack us—she'd been lulling us into complacency while scattering feathers everywhere so we couldn't dodge.