Chapter 411:
Chapter 411:
I've traveled to many ruins with Celeste over the years.
Part of it was to get to know her better, but…there's another reason, to collect the Sun God's relics.
‘…'
The Sun God's relics are items of special power that the Sun God placed in this world.
The Knight of the Sun, whom I destroyed with Stardus or the Wish Granter who erased memories in exchange for wishes but in addition to these, I collected a variety of other relics with Celeste.
The sword Luxaria, which we first found together, the Golem of Wrath, and the Ring of Jealousy, Invidia, found beneath a giant statue of the Sun God.
The time has come to destroy these holy objects.
…And so, for such a reason, I was currently in Cathedral.
"Ugh…"
~A large space with white walls and soft light from stained glass~There, in the slightly chilly room, I stretched out with my arms outstretched.
"Ahhh…Nice."
I muttered, waving my arms and grinning from ear to ear.
I've been cooped up in my hospital room for weeks now.
I finally managed to convince Celeste to let me out of there under her power.
I'm sure there's an alter ego of mine in my room right now, specially made for me by Celeste. I told her I couldn't talk much in my room because I had to work…I probably won't be found out until I get back.
Anyway, seeing me stretching like that.
"…Hmmmm, you can thank me, but why are you so heavily armed?"
Celeste asked me.
Black hat, mask, and cloak. Celeste asked me that question, seeing me so heavily armed on my way to Cathedral.
I turned around, smiled wryly, and asked.
"Celeste. Do you have the Sun God's relics I gave you so far?"
"…What? Oh, of course I have them…"
She replied in astonishment at my question.
As she muttered that, I twisted her silver hair slightly and said, with a smile still on my face.
"Then, could you please bring them to me?"
Why would I come dressed in full outfit?
Because I want to smash the relics of the Sun God.
***
Knight of the Sun, Wish Granter, Holy Sword Luxaria, Golem of Fury, and Ring of Jealousy Invidia.
The first two I've already destroyed, and now I had to deal with Celeste's remaining three.
Their identities are…
"These are the Sun God's devices for judging the seven deadly sins."
In Celeste's office we were looking at the sword on the table, the ring, and the golem in the hollow behind it, and I explained to Celeste.
"The Seven Deadly Sins: Sloth, Greed, Lust, Wrath, Envy, Gluttony, Pride."
These were the devices the Sun God had placed in the world beforehand to deal with the sins of men, commonly referred to as the Seven Deadly Sins.
In the original story, they were all destroyed by Stardus.
"Ah…"
Celeste muttered that with a despairing expression when she realized that even the Sun God's relics were not gifts for humans, but rather tools to punish them.
"Here's what I've discovered about the relationship between sins and relics."
Knight of the Sun God, Punisher of Sloth, one you can never defeat if you don't know its attack pattern.
Wish Granter, the Punisher of Greed.
If you ask for a great wish without knowing the subject matter, he will grant it with a twist and a price.
Luxaria Holy Sword, Punisher of Lust.
The moment it is wielded, the sword automatically tracks down and eliminates those who have sexual urges toward its wielder.
Golem, Punisher of Wrath.
A creature that deflects and reflects back all that attacks it.
Ring Invidia, Punisher of Jealousy.
An entity that tempts the wearer to kill the object of their jealousy, and then, if they fulfill the bargain, kills the wearer in return and passes them on to the object of their wishes.
These are the true identities of the Sun God's holy objects.
Bound together by malice, they were true weapons and it is fitting that they should be destroyed before the Sun God's descent.
There was no telling what the Sun God would do with them once he arrived, when they would be so strongly influenced by his power. The Sun God might absorb the power of these objects and grow stronger.
In the original story, these five beings were defeated before his descent.
But…
‘The original, apparently, was the Seven Deadly Sins.’
There are only five holy relics, and the relics associated with the other two sins are nowhere to be seen.
Well. The world's setting suggests that the Catholic seven deadly sins are derived from solar deities, so maybe it was the five deadly sins to begin with.
Anyway, I needed to focus on destroying those three for now.
With that thought, I turned to Celeste and said calmly.
"Celeste, you know, we need to take care of these."
"It's ……"
She replies in a small voice, uncomfortable with me saying that.
…Destroying these artifacts now would be the greatest betrayal of the Sun God that Celeste will ever commit.
It's one thing to disobey orders, it's another to destroy his relics.
…I stepped in front of her, clasped my hands together, and said.
"Celeste, I know this is hard, but I'm asking you. I need you to destroy these holy objects. I'll be right here with you, just look at me. Just this once, okay?"
"…Okay."
In response to my persuasion, she replied with a small sigh.
…For her, a holy woman of the Sun God, to be asked to destroy the Sun God's holy object herself…She could have resented me, or rebuked me for being so cruel, but Celeste thankfully did not.
And so I turned to her, clasped her hand, once more, and said.
"Then, let's go and break the Sun God's holy relics."
***
And so it was that we decided to smash the holy relics.
Outside of the office, in the empty halls of the Cathedral, we stood in the center of it, staring at the three holy relics.
"…I have a feeling something is up… So, how do we destroy these?"
She muttered as she looked at the holy relics.
Three holy relics on the floor. The Sword of Lust, the Ring of Jealousy, and the Golem of Rage.
Celeste asks me what to do with them, and I reply calmly.
"Just infuse them with a lot of sun power, and they'll spontaneously combust and collapse on themselves."
"…I see."
My simple explanation, just slam the power into it and destroy it.
In fact, in the original, Stardus handled most of these with the power of the stars. It's probably the most standard tactic.
Except…
‘The Fury Golem, in the original, Celeste infused it with so much power that it ran amok and exploded.’
So, I could see that Celeste alone could destroy these holy objects.
…Of course, if she tries and it doesn't work, I'll have to ask Stardus to do it, or I'll have to take care of it myself, but there's a good chance she will.
Plus, it would be better for Celeste's mental state to deal with them herself than for Stardus to destroy them.
Anyway, Celeste stayed away from where they were placed, and I stayed close to them.
If anything happened, I would use my Black Star power to subdue it. Hopefully, I won't have to use it anytime soon…
And with that, I was all set.
"Celeste, let's take care of this golem first."
"Okay."
-Piyuuuuu.
With my words, Celeste shot a beam of light at the golem.
The result.
-Kaaaaaah!
The golem's eyes glowed, accompanied by a bizarre mechanical sound, then it exploded in a burst of light, followed by a popping sound and disappeared without a trace.
"…."
Celeste didn't look too happy after destroying one of the holy relics, but she didn't seem to mind.
Good, let's keep going.
"One more, Celeste."
"…Okay."
-Pfft.
And so, one after the other, we destroyed the ring without too much trouble.
Of course, the ring had a minor problem with a ghostly thing popping up in the middle…which, much to Celeste's delight, vanished without a trace as soon as it appeared.
"…Phew. One more."
"….."
I muttered quietly to Celeste, who looked even more sullen after smashing the ring.
…Maybe I should be nicer to her after all this. The ring was precious….I feel very sorry for her.
Anyway, that's what I was thinking….And, since I haven't had any problems so far.
I didn't think much of it as I broke the final holy object, Luxaria, the Sword of Lust.
Qua-ching—!
The sword was shattered by Celeste's beam but I was unable to react to the pink smoke that suddenly flowed out.
"….er!"
And, before I realized something was wrong, I had already inhaled the pink smoke.
"Egostic! Are you okay? Egostic!!"
"Ah…"
I staggered back, just like that.
***
"Egostic!"
Celeste rushed to Egostic’s aid, seeing him staggering around after inhaling the strange pink smoke from the shattered holy relic.
"Are you okay…?"
She cleared her throat of the strange pink smoke and ran to him, shaken and worried.
And…Unlike Celeste's worries.
"Um…"
Egostic staggered for a moment, but then regained his composure and stood tall.
"Egostic…?"
"…Celeste. Ah, khhhh. I'm fine."
He said, as if nothing was wrong but Celeste was already standing in front of him, worried.
She was able to look him straight in the face.
"….."
His face looked fine, except for a slight pinkish color.
Celeste was wondering if he was really okay when she saw that.
"Hic…!"
Celeste let out a new sound, one she hadn't realized she was making.
Egostic put his hand to the side of her face, gently stroking her cheek.
"I'm perfectly fine, Celeste. It's more than…"
"Uh, uh…"
Celeste was stunned by this sudden turn of events.
It was the first time she had ever seen him make such a bold move.
While she was embarrassed by her flushed cheeks, he whispered to her, his voice low enough to be heard.
"Celeste….You look even more beautiful today."
"Eh…Uh…What??? No, thank you, but all of a sudden…?"
While Celeste was bewildered by this bottomless barrage of affection, he pushed her a little further and pinned her against the wall.
With her pinned against the wall, he gazes at her in wonder.
…Up close, he looks even more handsome than he did from afar… Wait, that's not it.
’What is it??? What the hell is that???'
At this point, Celeste’s face was deeply red and incredibly flustered….and then, suddenly, she realized something.
‘Wait…
A brick room.
There, a silver-haired woman dressed in a saint's robe was pinned to the wall by a man in a black hat.
With her back to the wall, the silver-haired woman stared up at the man in front of her with golden eyes and spoke in a trembling voice.
"Wait…Egostic, calm down, we can't do this here, okay?"
"I don't think so. I can't take it."
"No, just calm down, I like it, okay? We can't do this here… Ugh."
"Wait….!!!
This is the scene from the prophecy…!!!!
She was horrified.