237 Chapter 204: Elyzaphimia

Elyzaphimia Moonheart was said to be one of the oldest and wisest of all the known angels in the game.

She's only mentioned and no official illustration is found in the game.

She was said to be at the top of the Divine Order hierarchy before the Cherubims and Seraphim vanished completely. These angels didn't have varying roles in the divine realm, unlike the diverse range of human gods.

They didn't have a purpose for existing despite being nigh-omnipotent.

Despite this, they continued protecting the divine realm as a last line of defense should the gods ever perish.

Their mere existence defied common sense. This is due to how powerful each of them were. One of the strongest angels to exist could completely restore a world to before it was destroyed. It could also grant immortality to any creature that receives its blessing.  

These angels were said to be a myth by the NPCs in the game but players from the base game know them all too well. It's only revealed that they do exist when Luke goes to the divine realm for the holy sword.

They're the reason why you respawn at temples when you die. It's said that they do this because they see the players as special beings who they must protect in order for there to be peace.

Of course, it's just for logical purposes since you don't actually encounter them. The feature of respawning at temples needed to make sense and what better way than to say there's some invisible angel that blessed you?

If one were to think about it, it makes sense why they would protect players from death seeing as how you're the only one who can complete the main story and save all life from destruction.

Of course, choosing to pursue an evil campaign that only causes suffering for others causes the angels to revoke their blessings, leaving you with only one life.

Canonically, it doesn't make sense for Luke to be evil so players never went this route unless it was in the base game. He gets killed by members of the Hero Party anyway and that causes an instant game over.

A question lingers in Arnold's mind: where did Selia really get Ceru?

…

"Ceru… Is that you…?" Arnold approached the beauty and put his hand on her cheek, "You're the one who healed me in Siana's palace, right? You were the women who I heard in my sleep."

"…." Her slanted yellow eyes silently looked at him.

"—This is who you were talking about…?" Rafaela also approached the woman.

Arnold stepped back to get a good look at her.

Of course, this isn't just because he was ogling her. He just couldn't believe that this is the same thing—no, person—that was inside that glass box.

"This is her alright…" he looked up at the barrier. The beams could still do nothing against it. It was like watching rain hitting a sunroof.

'How is she this powerful… I guess it's because she's the reincarnation lf Elyzaphimia, one of the strongest beings in Star Fantasy. It's crazy how she's only level 1…'

Ceru suddenly hugged Arnold who was deep in thought. Her breasts deformed on his chest.

"Mmm… Daddyyy…" she glanced up from his chest with a purr.

Rafaela looked at Arnold with a face asking what the hell is going on.

"No, no my name is Arnold. A.R.N.O.L.D."

"Arnold is Ceru's daddy!"

"Hey, now…"

"Does daddy not like it? Then what about father?"

"That makes me sound old. No."

"Then… Papa?" she said with upturned eyes with her chin on his chest.

"…Just call me Arnold."

"Papa." She said in a whiny voice with puffed-up cheeks.

"…."

Rafaela hurriedly interjected and changed the subject, "Will that barrier hold…?"

It was a stupid question since the golden rays couldn't do anything to it.

Ceru cleared her throat a few times. This time her voice sounded more mature when speaking to Rafaela.

"It's one of my strongest barrier spells so it will hold even if the Dragon God fired a fully-powered dragon's breath at it."

"That's quite the confidence…"

Ceru looked at Rafaela with a troubled expression.

"I've known this for quite a while but… Your body is close to breaking down from all the divine power that it has to contain."

"I'll be fine—"

"That's what you want to believe. In truth, you don't have long before your whole body is consumed by your own divine power and becomes divine power itself."

"W-What?"

"Let me put it this way: your skin, muscles, bones and even your soul will be consumed by the very energy that gives you power. Your abilities and limits as an angel are gone, leaving you with the vessel of a mortal. However, you need not worry," Ceru put her hand on top of Rafaela's head.

Rafaela's skin glowed golden for a few seconds.

"What just happened? The shivering… The muscle pain… It's all gone." Rafaela looked at her hands.

Arnold looked above Rafaela's head.

·        Condition: stable, surprised

"I stabilized your divine power by making your body go through an ascendance process. Your body is now capable of harnessing any amount of divine power so long as it's not to volatile levels equal to mine, for example."

'Now I'm curious. System, show Ceru's divine power stat.'

·        Divine Power: 100 000

'…..'

"Papa," Ceru turned back to Arnold and spoke in a childish voice, "Lord Gederick is on the verge of combustion. If you don't hurry now, you will lose out on getting his experience points. Papa wants to become stronger, right?"

"Uh, yeah you're right." Arnold looked up, "Getting to him will be tricky."

"I can surround Papa's body in my power that will shield you from Lord Gederick's attacks. Even if the explosion happens while you're outside the barrier, the damage you'll receive will be close to null."

"You can really do that?"

"Yes, but the downside is I'll fall into a slumber again since I'm not fully capable of harnessing all my power yet. You could say I am in the same spot as Mama."

She looked at Rafaela when she said "Mama".

"W-Wha—me? I'm not your Mama—"

"But Mama makes love to Papa, right?" she asked innocently. It was so strange seeing a woman, who looks about Anna's age, speak like that.

"But that doesn't mean we—" Rafaela covered her face when she looked at Arnold, "…Nevermind…"

She glanced at Arnold through the gaps of her fingers.

Oblivious to her, Arnold spoke to Ceru.

"Why would you fall into a slumber? Does your power take a toll on you or something?"

She shook her head, "This is my first time in my new human body so I'm not able to utilize all my spells and abilities from three lives prior."

'So, she really did reincarnate…'

But to say it so casually… Usually reincarnators avoid revealing that they're from other worlds or timelines. That's like putting a target on your head.

Well, at least the gods still can't see her so that's a good thing.

"When will you be able to come out again?"

"Dunno," she shrugged her shoulders. Her breasts jiggled with an upwards motion (hell, it jiggled with every motion), which distracted Arnold a lot, "Maybe when I grow my other wing? I only have one at the moment."

She turned around and put her hair over her shoulder to show her back.

He didn't notice it before but she had really narrow waist for someone with hips as wide as that.

He tried to dig through his memories to see if he could remember an official illustration about Ceru (or Elyzaphimia) in the game.

Nothing.

"See? By angel standards, I am still in my development phase."

'Development phase? With a body like that? Hold on, I'm thinking about unnecessary things here.'

"What if I give you a bottle of holy water again? Will that help you grow?"

"Hmm, I dunno." She shook her head, "But it's tasty. Please give it to Ceru when Papa finds more."

"Uh… sure."

"Ceru is going to kiss Papa now."

"What?"

Before Arnold could process what he just heard, Ceru took hold of his cheeks and went in for a kiss.

He tasted cherry and strawberry when her tongue invaded his mouth. Her body also gave off a strong womanly scent that was akin to roses.

He could feel a gentle and warm energy surrounding his body.  

Ceru pulled away, a trail of saliva leaking down her mouth. She licked her lips then blushed with her hands on her cheeks.

"I-I took advantage of Papa. Ceru is such a bad girl. B-But it's okay because this was the only way to give Ceru's power to Papa. Yes."

Somehow he wasn't convinced that was the only way.

"Mmmm… So sleepy…" Ceru leaned on Arnold, "…I wanted… to talk… to Papa… moooore…."

Arnold subconsciously smiled.

He stroked her hair.

"I hope I can see your human form again someday."  

"Mmm…" her body glowed before she turned into particles. Soon she returned to her original form, a small eye with one wing. He could hear a small "peek-peek-peek" as she slept.

Arnold carefully put her away.

He gripped his soul armament.  

"The power feels weak." Rafaela put her hands into the golden glow surrounding Arnold, "Will you be okay with just this much to shield you from the beams?"

"I'm not sure. But I trust that Ceru was right that this will protect me even if the beams hit me."

"Right…"

Arnold walked forward and bent his knees. A small area on ground caved in when he jumped.

The barrier opened up a small hole for him to go through. Was Ceru still controlling it?

In any case, seeing as how his body was being protected by Ceru's power, he only needs to focus on killing Gederick and not use his aura to protect himself. It wasn't that difficult to sense Gederick amongst the sea of divine power in the clouds.

He suddenly heard a powerful roar similar to that of a lion. A golden lion with a great mane made up of pure divinity hopped across the sky on platforms made from lightning.

Arnold managed to come to a stop in mid-air. Ceru's power also gave him the ability to levitate. Without it he would've been forced to head straight for Gederick even while the Mimic Beast is at his rear.

After unleashing his final attack on Gederick, he'll be left vulnerable and easy prey for the Mimic Beast.

'I need to act fast before Gederick explodes. I didn't fight with my life on the line only to receive nothing in return.'

Arnold lifted his free hand.

Immediately after, hundreds of swords appeared in midair, all of which gleamed with a glow equal to that of Gederick's suicide skill.

·        Sword Tribulation has been activated

·        More than half of user's aura has been applied to the skill, increasing its power by 10% and speed by 15%

If he can't kill one or the other without putting himself at risk or losing his precious XP, why not take both down at once?

Arnold could feel his second multiplier rune snap into pieces after its power ran out. He activated the last one.

·        The total number of manifested weapons have been doubled

·        Bonus Power increase > 12%

·        Bonus Speed increase > 16%

He could feel most of the aura being sapped out of his body.

To think this was what he's now capable of. He could probably take on Lancelot again and win this time without the need for the Factor.

The Mimic Beast charged at Arnold immediately after the light swords appeared in the sky.

'Shit, I can't defend myself without breaking concentration.'

Normally that wouldn't be an issue since this is an [Area of Effect] skill. In this case, Arnold was trying to kill only two targets so he wants to focus all the swords on them.

It would've been unnecessary and wasteful to have used all that power if he just let the swords go in any direction.   

The Mimic Beast's giant claw aimed from Arnold's mid-section.

It was suddenly pushed away by the energy surrounding Arnold.

Both of them were surprised at this. However, the Mimic Beast charged at him again, this time with its giant maw aiming right for his head.

It was knocked back again.

Arnold smirked. This was probably one of the few times that his smirk looked akin to that of a devil's that had caught its prey.

'Thanks, Ceru. I promise to buy you a lot of holy water once we get back to the empire.'

The hundreds of light swords surrounded each other, creating two gigantic spears. The power was so immense that the clouds parted and the ground below them crumbled.

The Mimic Beast roared before its body transformed again.

It grew larger. Soon it turned into a gigantic dragon with golden scales and black horns covering its body.

A multilayered barrier appeared in front of it when it roared.

Fully-matured dragons have one of the strongest natural armor—its scales—in the game. Couple that with a barrier that was stacked hundred times over and you have yourself a fortress that can withstand most level 50 skills.

"We'll just have to see if that will hold!"

Arnold swung down his arm. The giant spears above his head shot at Gederick and the Mimic Beast with incredible speed.

"And to top it off…"

A raging blue aura surrounded Luxtivin.

·        [Storm of the Water Dragon] has been activated.

A dragon, equal in size to the Mimic Beast, shot out of Arnold's sword.

At the same time, the light swords effortlessly broke through the multiple barriers.

It was like watching arrows going through thin leather.

The dragons curled around Gederick.

The final barrier was broken down by Arnold's skill.

…

Soon, a clash of yellow and blue lights could be seen in the sky.

A powerful rumble followed after the golden beams stopped falling onto the world.

A dragon's body could be seen falling from the sky. It crashed onto the ground in a pool of its own blood.

·        Gederick, the Silver Majestic has been defeated!

·        Death flag avoided!

·        Experience points gained: 90 000

◇◇◇

Arnold landed back on the ground. He collapsed on his knees when Ceru's power faded into nothingness.

Now that the adrenaline was gone, he could feel his body aching in all sorts of places.

To think he went toe-to-toe with a demigod… and won.

Normally he would've burst into uncontrollable laughter and mock Gederick for being a weak piece of shit but now he could only groan as he tried to bear the pain.  

Arnold could sense Rafaela running towards him through the bushes and trees.

Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to land in the middle of the forest where all kinds of monsters are prowling around. Most of the monsters had been killed in the battle while others just fled. The rest were too far away to get injured by Gederick's skill.

The monsters he could sense were probably the latter group.

It would be a good idea to leave this place as soon as possible. He isn't confident in fighting hordes of monsters while protecting Rafaela.     

Rafaela finally arrived where Arnold was at. She slowly walked over to him and sat down next to him silently.

Arnold was calmly sitting on the ground, looking up at the gigantic dragon's body that was blocking the sun.

Seeing as how he didn't receive any XP from the Mimic Beast, it's safe to say that it wasn't dead yet.

Arnold didn't have it in him to kill it yet. He just needed to rest a little.

"…How are you feeling?" Rafaela spoke softly.

"Honestly, I'm feeling better than ever," he glanced at her, "This fight made me realize that I need to fight strong foes if I want to reach level 70. The only XP I got was ninety thousand, a long way from levelling up."

It's a nightmare for Transcendents to have their potential locked by the stupid game. He could remember all the frustrations he had to deal with when trying to level up Luke.

"…So, it's true then…" Rafaela stared into his eyes, "You're one of the highborn… I recall my master saying that Highborns have these unique gifts calls systems that help them level up by distributing expee."

"Yeah, I'm a player. No use hiding it if you know that much already."

"…Excuse my bluntness but why are you so weak for a Highborn? All highborn that have ever set foot in the realms were god-like beings."

Arnold chuckled.

"It's a long story. Frankly, even I don't know why I ended up transmigrating into this body."

"Eh? You're actually just from their world?"

"I was a player once and definitely possessed god-like powers. I ended up in this body one day. Like I said, looong story."

Arnold stood up.

"It's about time we look for that portal off this world."

Rafaela sighed and muttered something, "I wish that was something to look forward to…"

Just as Rafaela stood up, Arnold could hear a "ding" in his head.

'What is it this time?'

He opened the status as the two of them walked down the forest path.

Arnold came to a stop, prompting Rafaela to look back at him.

"What's wrong? Do you need to rest some more?"

Rafaela stood behind the status screen as she asked.

"Arnold?"

Arnold's dead eyes were reflected in her own.

·        Warning!

·        Experience points have been revoked!

·        -90 000 

·        All bonus stats that received 5% increase have been reset to level 60 base stats.

·        Death Flag has been restored

Arnold looked up at the sky. He could see a small figure levitating in front of the sun. The figure's armor reflected the light of the sun.

Even at this distance, Arnold could feel him looking straight at him.

'…Show me his status screen…'

·        Gederick, the Golden Majestic

·        Life Phase: 3

·        Level 99

-Survival rate based on raw stats has been calculated: 3%

·        System has been updated!

·        Patch notes: Is continuing this fight really worth it?

Arnold fell on his knees.