章 81: The World Below - Athena's Powers
"Huh? Can you fix me?" Athena asked.
She hadn't realized it, but she was smiling with the spark of hope that had just sparked in her chest, bringing her happiness along with what she'd heard.
Athena's eyes sparkled with anticipation.
"Fufu~..." Ella hid her lips as she laughed at Athena's reaction. "Yes, I can help you."
"How? Are you going to take s Excalibur and draconic mana from me?"
"Excalibur?" Hercules could not ignore that word. "Do you have a legendary sword?"
"Stay out of it. It's my business." Athena replied without taking her eyes off Ella.
"Gross…I'm your savior…I wish you were a little more grateful to me."
"What language are you using to converse?" Ella asked curiously.
"They always speak that language when they talk to each other..." Malana said. "But thankfully they have at least one language that they both know... The Odeonian of Hercules is terrible but you can understand. And Athena... If they didn't speak this strange language, no one would understand what she's talking."
"Hm? Why can't I understand what Malana said?" Athena asked Hercules. "I'm sure a few hours ago I understood what she said... It can't be..." Athena looked at Malana. "Did you learn English?"
"Now that you mention it…" Hercules frowned and looked at Malana.
"I see…" Ella muttered. "You automatically use this strange language when you talk to each other and when you talk to me, he uses Odeonian and Athena uses Basilican... And as I use the unique language of dragons, that allows me to communicate with any race, everyone understands me..."
"I don't know much... I learned by listening to you talk and I translated by looking at your reaction." Malana said.
"Wow!" Athena let out her wonder and looked at the other two children, Idna and Kalta, and let the disappointment show in her eyes when she saw their confused expressions.
"Now that we've got everything clear about languages…" Ella took up the subject again. "Athena, when I entered your mind, I could see the state of your mana."
"Oh, yeah... I tried to link the three, but I became a dragon and I still can't control my mana, use skills or spells."
"Hmm…" Ella narrowed her eyes. "How you did?"
"I made a circle. I linked white to gold, gold to blue and blue to white." Athena said drawing a circle on the floor with one of her claws.
"I understand..."
"Can you really fix me?"
"First tell me something... How did you end up in this state?"
"That happened two years ago. I was fighting a demon lord and used draconic magic while I had the fantastic idea of strengthening my body by fusing me with a sword filled with divine mana." Athena explained as best she could.
"And what happened?" Ella asked. Her eyes were intent on Athena.
"I became a gigantic dragon, bigger than you. My scales looked like white gold and for a moment I had no control over my body."
"How did you manage to use draconic spells without being a dragon? Does it have to do with this other thing inside of you?"
"What's in her insides?" Hercules asked upon hearing Ella.
"She has a sword, dragon mana and..." Ella held her chin thoughtfully. "Darkness? No, it's deeper than that..."
"For some time I was a Dark Mage, a Tormentor and a Death Knight at different times." Athena said and Ella widened her eyes.
"W-what did you say? Tormentor and Death Knight?" In Ella's voice there was a mixture of fear and amazement.
"I also once had the quality of Ruler..." Athena continued. "Ah! Speaking of qualities... I am a saint. A saint of massacre and I have the power called Akashic Records that allows me to use any skill I want as long as I have what it takes to use it."
"No, no, wait! What's this all about? Are you trying to become a goddess? How is Asherah letting you stay alive?"
"I don't know. Naph said no god can interfere with my actions as long as I'm alive…" Athena said casually.
"Did you talk to Death?!" Ella squeaked.
As he listened to the conversation and understood only what Ella was talking about, Hercules was increasingly amazed by the new information he learned about Athena.
(She is a monster trying to become a goddess... Wait! Do gods exist? More importantly. Is it possible to talk to Death?)
"Not just Naph. I've also talked to Uran and there's something sinister that has something for or against me..."
"Gods…" Ella cried out in pure amazement. "You are a mixture of so many things..."
"Well…" Athena was a little surprised by Ella's reactions. She didn't think it was all that big of a deal. "Things happened, but more importantly. Will you really be able to fix me?"
"I..."
Ella had lived for over ten thousand years, of which she was awake for only three thousand of them. In the time she was awake, Ella witnessed some important events.
She saw the beginning of a war that lasted for millennia, she saw the birth of the first saint and she saw the first Tormentor.
However, none of that mattered to her. She is a dragon and as such, she didn't care what the lesser races did.
But Athena's case was completely different.
Athena was beyond anything she had ever seen and ignored. That woman in front of her was an oddity, a tumor that was growing in the world and Ella didn't know if she should help her or...
(She is dangerous... If Athena continues on this path, she will soon surpass any demon, dragon or lesser god, and become something like Uran... A incongruous existence that shouldn't exist.) Ella wondered what to do when Athena urged her on.
"You...? You what?"
Ella woke up from her attempts to predict what might happen in the future and looked at Athena. "As I understand it, you have more than four essences within you..."
"Huh?"
"You are a thing..."
"Hey! It's impolite to call people a "thing"." Athena complained.
"Listen to me. You started on the way to becoming the worst thing that could walk in this world and halfway through you became something totally different..."
"Ah! About that..." Athena interrupted Ella.
"What? Is there more?"
Embarrassingly, Athena scratched the back of her neck and laughed. "Before I became a Tormentor, I was a paladin and after I became a Tormentor I absorbed mana from a mana crystal and became a Reaper."
Ella's eyes could no longer widen. In fact, she was already tired of being surprised every time and after asking Athena to tell her all her story so far, Ella sighed at all the information she had heard.
"Fuah~" Ella dropped to the ground on her back. "I am exhausted."
"..." Athena stared at the dragon in silence, but she no longer placed as much faith in her as she did before.
"You are indeed interesting."
"What is she anyway?" Hercules asked Ella. His eyes sparkled with interest.
He was making a stone wall around the children who slept in the corner of the cave. This was to protect them from the cold wind that came into the place.
"I already told you it's none of your business." Athena responded in English by deducing what Hercules said. "It's my thing. I don't get involved in your story."
"Hmph... The problem is that our stories are connected now that we know each other." Hercules said without looking at Athena.
"In what way?"
"I saved your life and you got revenge for me."
"Huh? I didn't get revenge for you!"
"Never mind, you killed Mammon and I consider it revenge."
"Revenge was, but not for you. I don't even know you." Athena snapped, cutting the link Hercules was trying to form.
"What's wrong with me knowing what you are?"
"I don't want someone who might be an enemy in the future, to know things about me."
Hercules frowned, not understanding why that was if she had just said a lot of things to Ella.
(Women are so weird sometimes...) The young man thought, giving up on Athena.
"Athena…" Ella said. "First of all, we're going to have to bring out all the remnants of what you've been."
"How like? I'm not even those things anymore..."
"Even if you cease to be something, you never cease to be completely. Your soul couldn't stand it, after all. In your soul there is always some information about what you once were, felt and lived." Athena glanced at the dragon, and Ella quickly understood. "I know... This will take time."
Ella was referring to the amount of information Athena's old soul had. Athena had said many things...
"How much time?" Athena asked feeling urgent.
"Days, weeks... at most a month or two." Ella said and Athena frowned.
"I can't wait that long to get back."
"Have you waited for two years, what is two months?"
"Can't you take me flying?" Athena asked almost pleadingly. "I really want to go back. People have been waiting for me all this time."
"How do you know they're waiting for you? For what you told me, these people may as well have buried you already." Ella said as if she was trying to get Athena to give up, but that wasn't quite it. (She will insist on wanting to go back if her heart is not filled with darkness.)
Upon hearing Ella's words, Athena's heart ached in the same way as when she was betrayed by Luana in the other world.
This was a simple test and Athena was failing.
クリエイターの想い 
All_J
All_J A second chapter today... Chionothýella is quite... Hm... Cunning? I can't remember the right word, but "cunning" is pretty close.
Vote, add to your library and comment if you like it. ~(°▪°~)
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See ya soon.
Now I will try to sleep.
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