[26th Round] Vault of Souls
“Oh, this power…”
“Who… Aah?!”
“Miss Lanuvel! Save me!”
“H-hey! Don’t come any closer!”
Regardless of the techniques they used, the Heroes Lanuvel recruited couldn’t do anything against their opponents. When the two elves screamed [Retribution] sweetly, they all died.
Logic and common sense didn’t work here.
How else could a soft pillow beating brute force be explained?
These Heroes weren’t even weak. It was just that their opponent was on a completely different level.
“Lanuvel! You deceived us!”
[Premonition]
“You didn’t warn us about this!”
[Speed of Light]
“This is the power of the Innocent Goddess…”
[Thunderstorm]
“This is pure suicide!”
[Unmatched]
Some of the Heroes possessed divine powers. However, the “Apostles of God” weren’t equal to each other.
It was like the difference between a mollan and a mullan.
As Disco said earlier, an apostle of a high-ranking deity could defeat a low-ranking god.
“That’s Retribution…”
Even Disco, who was just blithely watching what was happening, tensed up.
Retribution seemed to be a famous divine power.
Lanuvel was no exception.
But she had gone too far, leaving her with nowhere to retreat.
Ssosiel had already blocked her escape routes, after all.
Lanuvel was able to infiltrate, but now she couldn’t sneak away as she did before. We wasted no time and spared no effort to prepare against her.
“Be more truthful, handsome husband. While I was working, you were just busy flirting with other women.”
“I was? When?”
“I knew you’d say that, so I wrote everything down. Look.”
“HM! Okay, show me.”
I looked at my cowardly wife’s list of my violations.
1) T50148391: Stared at the buttocks of the First Mead Pub’s owner for 3 seconds.
2) T50148402: Complimented the sisters at the Emily & Eris Flower Garden, saying they were more beautiful than flowers.
3) T50148415: Grabbed a thief by her pelvis in Alfario city of the Holy Empire.
4) T50148419: Sucked on the lips of the Red Witch, the BioLab boss, until she died of a heart attack.
…
813) T50148623: Grabbed a heretic fugitive hiding by the spine.
814) T50148628: Caressed his wife’s pelvis while looking at the white stocking belt of one of the festival’s participants.
“… This is unfair!”
I was just staying true to my responsibilities and role as the Z-Class Righteous Senior Hero.
Be that as it may, now wasn’t the time to look into the past.
“Wow!”
Captain Fantasy joined the battle to end Lanuvel’s rebellion.
‘Crush them all with your plump ass!’
“Help me, Invisible Dragon Mallangos!”
“Maaaaal!”
At this moment, however, somewhere beyond the void, a dragon roared.
[Invisibility]
The giant lizard couldn’t be seen precisely because of that divine power’s manifestation.
“Wah?”
“Maaaaaal!”
“Wough?!”
It struck Captain Fantasy’s torso.
However, the infant’s elastic skin deflected all the damage it caused.
“Wow!”
“Maaaaal?”
Captain Fantasy, hit by an enemy he couldn’t see, immediately became enraged.
Meanwhile, Mallangos’ attack being rendered harmless confused it.
It looked like their battle would drag on.
“Wow!”
“Maaaaal!”
The clumsy baby and the transparent lizard collided again, not wanting to give in to each other.
*****
While the two giants’ battle continued indefinitely, not allowing third parties to interfere, Lanuvel took something out from her four-dimensional bag.
A platinum trident.
It looked like an enormous fork.
I was guessing it was a secret weapon she prepared to fight me.
After all…
[Friendship]
[Love]
It exuded old-fashioned divine powers.
“Ha-ah!”
Sneaky Lanuvel pointed it in the direction of the little girls.
How could she be so terrible?
Selenis and Selvenus, on the other hand, were holding a white pillow with pink and sky blue patterns in the shape of stars, gripping both of its sides.
… At least it looked like a pillow.
“Retribution!”
“Retribution!”
The pillow easily broke Lanuvel’s trident and delivered a direct blow to her body.
“Kyaaaahh!”
Even as she was blasted off to the side, she didn’t forget to pretend to be cute.
Regardless, it was worth noting that she wasn’t erased with a single blow, unlike her minions.
She was still a deity, after all. There was a huge difference in combat power between her and her grunts.
Lanuvel, now naked due to her clothes being torn to shreds, wasn’t wounded, but she flickered like a burned-out light bulb.
“I am arresting you for illegal intrusion, Pretending-To-Be-Sweet Lanuvel.” Vice-principal Bakery quickly reached and detained her.
Trying to break free, she screamed, “I’m innocent!”
“Ha! Then listen carefully. You are accused of several attempts to seduce Director Ssosiel’s husband by pretending to be cute.”
“This is nonsense! I would never seduce anyone! I am just cute!”
“Just cute? So you admit to your crime after all.”
“Ah?!”
“We’re taking you into custody.”
Fshuk!
Bakery plunged a sharp dagger into Lanuvel’s chest.
Even though she was trapped here, she could abandon her body and take ghostly form. That had to be prevented.
If one died in Fantasy or Festival, they would become the school’s property.
Gods were no exception.
These were the rules my father-in-law laid down.
Lanuvel, who had a lower star rank than Demon Lord Pedonar, couldn’t resist it.
My righteous daughters had successfully destroyed her invasion.
Now all that’s left was…
“Waah!”
“Maaaaaaaal?!”
Invisible Dragon Mallangos, who believed in the power of its invisibility, roared in pain amid its intense barrages.
Captain Fantasy had used his only sharp weapon, biting down on its tail with his teeth.
Their battle was as good as over at that point.
I was glad it didn’t escape and fought to the end.
If it fought a guerrilla war, it would be a real headache.
Anyway…
“In the end, you didn’t even have to take your focus off eating popcorn.”
“Yeah.”
Lanuvel, like a thorn in her finger, fell very easily.
Was that even normal?
It made me wonder if she lost voluntarily for some other purpose.
“Unlikely. There was too much invested for it to be considered a feint. If we weren’t able to stop her so early, her invasion would’ve caused dire consequences for us.”
“Really?”
“Yes. The twins were just too strong. Mallangos is actually infamous among the Mollan Fleet, the Space Police. There’s even a book about his atrocities.”
“It didn’t feel like it was.”
How could that lizard, bitten by a cute baby, be so renowned?
I wanted to grab Lanuvel’s spine right away, but the ongoing festival couldn’t be stopped due to the Mollansoft inspection team.
“Don’t worry about it.”
“… What do you mean?”
“The chaos Lanuvel caused at the Angel Goddess’s camp killed many of our opponents. We can easily win now.”
“Does that mean I don’t even have to fight?”
“Yes.”
“Then there will be no problems if I take another day off.”
I wanted to praise my two daughters for defeating the alien invaders, but the goddess of adventure’s backbone had to come first.
“Lanuvel, having become part of Fantasy, is now in the Vault of Souls. I wanted to extract her memory and distribute her soul immediately, but her soul is so weak right now that it’ll have to wait.”
“Is it because of Retribution?”
“Hmm. That has nothing to do with it.”
“You seem to know a lot about this.”
“Of course, I’m not a redneck. The Innocent Goddess, the Restless Demonic God, and the Ignorant God of War. In the entire universe, those three deities are the only ones given a 1-star rank. Retribution is the power of the Innocent Goddess, and Mollansoft is a subsidiary of the God of War.”
“Ha~”
The great gods seemed interested in us.
And what about the Restless Demonic God?
“I don’t know why you’re curious, but regardless, their interest in us is too dangerous. If the Innocent Goddess confronts the God of War, Fantasy will meet its end.”
“Hmm…”
I didn’t like my cowardly wife saying this with such trepidation, but I saw what my daughters’ Retribution was capable of, so I didn’t deny it.
I had a long way to go.
For now, however, I had an important task that had to be completed.
“In this situation, you can leave the post of the Demon Lord, handsome husband, but you’ll have to return as soon as possible. You need to take care of your daughters, who gained the innocent goddess’s interest, to ensure they don’t do anything unnecessary.”
“I do?”
Why now?
“Or you can wait until Selenis and Selvenus return before leaving. You have to praise them for their good work.”
“Ahem. I’ll be back soon.”
I knew my daughters were strong, but I couldn’t shake the thought that Lanuvel lost too easily.
I trusted my intuition. So I wanted to make sure.
Flash!
*****
Fantasy’s Vault of Souls.
The souls of children conceived by locals with divided souls were weak, so they disappeared upon a classroom’s collapse.
But sometimes, life was born between a student and the inhabitant of Fantasy.
A complete soul.
They were kept here to prevent them from roaming desolated worlds like ghosts until their parents could retrieve them.
“This is really… a terrible place.”
I was aware of its existence since my son Haris was being held here, but this was the first time I visited it in person.
“…”
“…”
“…”
Naked individuals of both genders stood in perfect rows, their eyes closed.
depending on when they entered storage, but on average, they were around 15 years old.
The reason?
The Heroes who created them spent roughly 15 years before dying from the Five Great Disasters or the Demon Lord’s army.
But if that were all, it wouldn’t be so unpleasant.
[Zeus and Sylvia]
[Zeus and Sylvia]
[Zeus and Sylvia]
[Zeus and Aries]
[Zeus and Aqua]
…
They wore dog collars with tokens engraved with the name of their parents. They were systematically categorized by the name of the Hero who conceived them.
… Somewhere out there was probably the Sword Princess’s name.
The more I imagined it, the more my stomach turned inside out.
I quickly made my way to my destination.
Going past where the children’s souls were kept, I reached the ordinary souls’ section.
“… What?”
Upon my arrival, I immediately noticed tokens scattered on the floor.
[Hero Keith]
[Adventurer Alfred]
[Hero Julia]
[Adventurer Gallion]
Sensing something was wrong, I picked up my pace.
[Adventure]
Although it was faint, I could sense her divine power.
She was still here.
“Lanuvel!”
I immediately called out her name as soon as I found her, but not to get her attention.
“…”
A creature was holding her by her neck.
“Who are you? A teacher? a bug? Someone’s puppet? a ghost?”
The vault of souls was filled with naked and collared bodies.
But before me stood an individual wearing a complete outfit.
Her hood hid her face, but judging by the outlines of her figure, she was a woman.
“Fantasy’s Wrath,” She answered, her voice muffled.
“I see. What a coincidence.”
My wrath had been awakened, too.
[Original Sin]
