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MYTH:2 Divine Realm of the Sky

In the pristine expanse of the sky, robust war cries echoed.

Both in the heavens and on the ground, the battle intensified visibly, with explosions becoming more frequent and fierce.

It wasn’t just a melee with swords, spears, and shields.

Orbs of light formed in the hands or on the weapons of some, launching swiftly and exploding like bombs.

One stray projectile exploded near Teruma, scattering the brilliantly blooming flowers on the ground around him.

Watching the petals dance in the air and the goddesses fiercely battling ahead, Teruma felt disheartened.

“Why must the goddesses…?”

The glow from their wings illuminated the battlefield, standing out strikingly. Most goddesses had two wings, but those with four were also common.

However, like the goddess Teruma once met, there was not a single one with six wings.

“Damn… This must be an illusion! The Heavenly Realm should be free of conflict, a peaceful world, right?”

What he heard from the goddess in his youth, about the existence called the Heavenly Realm, was so close to his dreams.

Thus, learning he had finally reached the Heavenly Realm filled him with joy—

But reality, unmercifully revealed before him, scattered that joy with the blasts.

As Teruma’s indescribable anguish clogged his chest and he looked up again,

His eyes widened in shock.

—Above Teruma, there was a goddess.

Her lustrous, indigo hair, as if weaving all the azure of the planet’s sky into it, shimmered.

Ruby-red eyes sparkled like gems. Her lips, a soft pink, radiated warmth.

Her translucent skin was enveloped in a dress purer than white—reminiscent of an untrodden snowfield.

It was clear she possessed a sanctity not shared by any other goddess.

And most importantly, this goddess—had six wings on her back.

Just like the goddess of Teruma’s first love, whom he hadn’t forgotten a single day in six years.

“Could it be, that person is—”

Despite his desire never to forget, only his first love’s face remained blurred as if obscured by fog, possibly due to some special power. This, he could accept.

So at least, he committed to memory the fact of her six wings, as an indelible mark upon his soul.

Teruma couldn’t help but take a step towards her, and the six-winged goddess turned her gaze towards him.

Perhaps she noticed him. His heart raced.

However, the six-winged goddess seemed only to be assessing her surroundings. Then, her hands emitted a blinding light, so intense even she couldn’t look directly at it, and in the next instant, she held a black pistol in each hand.

The stark contrast with her immaculate white dress left Teruma speechless for a moment.

“——All of you, disappear from here.”

Despite the great distance between sky and ground, the goddess’s menacing whisper was oddly clear.

She then turned into an arrow of light, diving into the group of goddesses at a speed invisible to the naked eye.

The six-winged goddess danced through the air, pulling the triggers of her pistols.

Essentially firing wildly without aiming, her shots sent orbs flying chaotically, knocking surrounding goddesses away like paper.

If the previous explosions were like sparklers, the battlefield after her arrival was akin to a minefield detonating. It was a problem of another dimension.

“Eh——————————————what is she doing——————————————!!”

The unfolding tragedy compelled Teruma to scream.

Surely, he had mistaken her for someone else. He hoped it was a mistake. His first love, the goddess, would never do such a thing.

Despite clinging to the beautiful memories he had preserved to maintain inner peace,

“Ugh——————————————————!!”

“Ahaha————————————————!!”

Realistic screams around him tried to drown out these memories.

The prior equal struggle between the goddesses in the air and on the ground was now a one-sided massacre with the arrival of the six-winged goddess.

Her randomly fired orbs seemed to chase down all goddesses with a mind of their own, like pre-programmed to bring them down.

The stray orbs hit the ground, kicking up dust and explosions with significant force.

“Whoa!!”

Staying put meant likely being blown away. Teruma turned and fled in the opposite direction of the six-winged goddess.

This time, many goddesses rushed towards him, brushing past with murmurs of “Who is this guy?” while casting curious glances his way.

Even after escaping some distance, he heard surprised exclamations from newly encountered goddesses, but they seemed too preoccupied to pay him any mind, quickly joining the fray.

Teruma ran with all his might. The cries of agony he heard made him glance back, witnessing the goddesses he had just passed being blown away by explosions.

For some reason, the six-winged goddess in the air was slowly approaching this area. The explosions intermittently following Teruma seemed almost to be targeting him.

“This is the end!!”

A hopeless situation indeed.

If he were to die here, his body probably wouldn’t be found back in his original world.

Likely considered missing, Teruma imagined how the news would report his disappearance.

【Breaking News】Heir of the Sōjō Family, Mr. Teruma, Missing

Leaving only the words, “I’m going to the bathroom”

“Why didn’t I say something smarter?”

Wishing he had left with a cool line like, “I’m off to greet my destiny,” before heading to the bathroom. Regret flooded Teruma.

He must remember to act like a gentleman next time.

Perhaps as a reaction to such thoughts, the slight urge to urinate he felt upon leaving his room now swelled suddenly.

“I really need to go!!”

His own cry was drowned out by the explosions echoing in the sky.

Teruma ran, channeling strength into his lower abdomen, clenching his fists and tensing his body.

“At least not here… Absolutely not…!!”

At least, he couldn’t “break the dam.”

The roaring in the air continued, but ever since he focused on his urge, the catastrophic battle around him seemed less concerning.

After a desperate sprint, a stone building appeared not far ahead. Perhaps exposed due to the forest that served as a screen being partly burned down, this building stood solemnly like the “temples” he had often seen in mythology books.

Though uncertain if the temple contained a restroom, it was worth the gamble.

“It’s do or die now————!!”

If he hid inside, perhaps he could also avoid attacks from above.

With his life and dignity’s priorities in disarray, Teruma dashed towards the building.

The ground in front of him exploded, and even the area he dodged to blew up next. Teruma had to weave his way forward.

Then, caught in the blast from behind, he stumbled and fell, scraping his palms. Yet, he quickly got up and ran again.

Screams surrounded him. The goddesses’ shouts and cries blended like a symphony.

He saw women, like shooting stars, falling into his field of vision.

Running through this nightmare-like carnage, Teruma finally reached his destination—the temple. Even the long flight of stone steps couldn’t deter him, bolstered by the relief of arrival.

Just standing at the entrance, he could see the temple’s solemn interior. Teruma held his breath, ready to step inside—when suddenly.

A sharp noise from behind was followed by a strong shockwave hitting Teruma’s back.

“Whoa…!!”

Staggering to his feet and turning around, Teruma realized that the temple’s surroundings were, at some point, enclosed by a wall of light, woven like runes.

Outside the light wall, the six-winged goddess he had seen earlier hovered.

Unlike Teruma, who had reached the entrance without hindrance, the light wall tightly sealed the goddess outside the temple.

The goddess slowly distanced herself from the light wall and then charged fiercely at it. The wall caved significantly from the impact, causing a massive disturbance around. Apparently, that was the source of the previous shockwave.

The six-winged goddess pulled back again, this time firing continuously at one point on the light wall with her pistols while charging. Finally, using the momentum of her flight, she kicked at the bullet’s impact point, creating a large hole in the wall.

Cracks spread from the hole, and the light wall shattered. The temple was exposed to the air once again.

The goddess slowly descended, landing in front of Teruma at the entrance.

This time, their eyes met.

“…Who… are you?”

“————I, I am——”

Struggling to form words, Teruma’s consciousness was deeply captivated by the goddess’s crimson eyes.

His soul was enchanted by her, and his heart was numbed with sweetness.

Despite the barbaric acts he had witnessed continually denying this feeling, this burgeoning love affirmed itself helplessly.

I am Teruma. Merely shouting this out loud might instantly remind me… Perhaps due to excessive excitement, his throat trembled uncontrollably, unable to produce sound normally. This was certainly not because the sights he had witnessed were purely horrifying.

“I will not let you go to Mazaryi-sama, Elvina!”

The brave shout from behind snapped Teruma back to reality.

Goddesses flew out from the temple, rushing to Teruma’s side.

There were six of them, each with four wings on their backs. Their white garments incorporated other colors, distinguishing them individually like signature hues. Their attire looked much more splendid than the goddesses Teruma had seen earlier, suggesting their special status.

“Elvina…”

Teruma couldn’t help but utter that name. And in the brief moment he managed to say it,

Elvina’s pistols fired six bullets of light in succession.

Thunder exploded upon the earth. To describe the blast of light before him, thunder was the most fitting comparison.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!”

“Screams ensued. The moment the four-winged goddesses were hit by Elvina’s light bullets, they convulsed as if tased, collapsing one after another.

Natural thunder might at most strike once… Typically, it would only be lethal to those directly hit.

But the thunder she unleashed seemed relentless until it pierced every goddess in sight.

“She’s too powerful…”

Teruma never imagined he would express such admiration before a goddess.

Elvina, ignoring the goddesses on the ground, gracefully walked towards the temple entrance.

And at that instant— a straight beam of light flew towards her from behind.

“Damn you, Elvina——————————————!!”

The light hit Elvina’s back, propelling her swiftly into the sky as if to lift her up.

And upon seeing the figure emerging from the scattered light, Teruma was astonished once again.

“What…!!”

It was a goddess who looked about as young as Teruma. She had lemon-yellow hair, cut to shoulder length, with short ponytails on either side.

Despite appearing like a cheerful girl of his age, merely looking at her induced a slight unease.

Unlike Elvina, whose white garment was like armor, the girl’s white fabric spread out behind her like a cape. It was detailed with many black lines, almost making one wish they were dyed white.

But more notable than these was her back—adorned with six wings.

“No, my first love couldn’t have been a child, could it…?”

Although the clue of the six wings was all Teruma had, surely his first love wasn’t a child. Yet, realizing he had no basis for such a claim, Teruma felt fearful.

“Such a weak attack! There’s no need to knock out those goddess riffraff, just eliminate them!!”

The diminutive goddess expressed her discontent with Elvina, who had ascended into the sky.

“Besides Mazaryi, none are worth my serious effort.”

“Goddesses are as numerous as needed!”

“You’re quite bold to say that, just for yourself.”

Despite Elvina’s continued cold demeanor, anger was clearly mixing into her tone.

“The goddess war is ending! Before that, I wanted to have a fight with you!!”

“I knew it. I was wondering why you so readily pushed me forward as a representative, planning to snatch me away at the last moment.”

“I just want to fight you!!”

The two goddesses, enveloped in massive light, soared, their voices clashing fiercely in the air.

In an instant, the atmosphere burst open. The world itself seemed to shake, overwhelming Teruma with the illusion of intense turbulence.

“Your strength is truly fitting, Elvina. It excites me! Indeed, to decide the first of the Heavenly Realm, it must be between us, destined rivals!!”

“Your destiny is merely one-sided, Distim. To me, you’re no different from the goddesses lying there.”

“I love that about you!!”

Their dual orbs of light expanded further, accelerating.

They distanced, collided, intertwined in spirals, and then distanced again.

Like two planets colliding, their superhuman forces wrestled.

So strong.

So beautiful.

These simple, unadorned exclamations encapsulated all there was to their battle.

“…Ah!?”

Witnessing this overly beautiful scene, Teruma had forgotten his initial purpose. After all, he had rushed to the temple intending to use a restroom. Realizing this, he turned his back on the battling goddesses and ran into the temple.

The interior was not as cold as its stone exterior suggested. Instead, it was comfortably warm.

The goddesses’ screams and explosions were now far behind.

Leaning against a corridor wall, Teruma sighed in relief.

“————Who’s there!?”

A female figure approached from deeper within the corridor.

It was a goddess with chestnut-colored wavy hair and four wings.

She wielded a weapon almost as tall as herself, topped with a circular ring, resembling a scepter.

Compared to the other goddesses, the dignity she exuded was not of the same league, almost as if illuminated by light from behind.

But upon seeing Teruma, the goddess shouted in shock.

“A man…!? Impossible! How can a mere mortal appear in the Heavenly Realm!?”

Her reaction was as if seeing a ghost. Teruma, sensing an ominous premonition, hurriedly tried to explain.

“Please wait! I, um… Right! May I use your restroom!!”

“…Restroom? There’s no such thing in this temple, let alone the entire Heavenly Realm.”

“Ah? Why…”

“Because goddesses don’t need restrooms——”

The goddess bestowed her divine decree upon this bewildered human. Now, it wasn’t just behind her; it seemed as if her entire being was radiating light.

Just by looking at her, for some reason, my heart felt much more at peace.

“So that’s it… I see…!!”

For some reason, Teruma accepted this reality. But if what she said was true, it was indeed a crisis. Then where should I go to relieve myself next—

“Instead of worrying about that, where did you come from… What do you want to do with me!!”

The goddess hugged her scepter tightly and stepped back. Trying to explain that he just needed to use a restroom and was not a suspicious person, Teruma stepped forward.

Meanwhile, she seemed to have realized something and shouted at Teruma.

“Find somewhere to hide!!”

Following her advice, Teruma concealed himself in the shadow of a nearby pillar. Soon after, the direction from which he had entered the temple echoed with the sound of shattering, and this noise was gradually approaching.

The stone walls beside him burst like popcorn, and Elvina emerged through them.

It was unexpected that instead of walking down the corridor, she chose to break through the thick stone walls to get here.

How did her dispute with the six-winged goddess end? Could it be that even such a powerful goddess was easily defeated by her?

“Enough, this should end now, Mazaryi. Give up your ambition for the throne of the creator god.”

Elvina raised her pistols horizontally, naturally aiming them at the goddess she called Mazaryi.

“I refuse. I will not let you become the creator god! Even if it costs me this body, I will stop you here!!”

Mazaryi didn’t flinch. She tapped the ground with the base of her scepter, showing her determination to resist to the end.

“That’s impossible.”

Elvina pulled the trigger without hesitation.

—But before that, several rings of light opened at Elvina’s feet. They drew complex patterns reminiscent of magical circles, expanding regardless of the walls, and eventually covered the entire temple.

“…Is this…a forbidden spell…!?”

It was the first time Teruma heard urgency in Elvina’s voice. The bonds of light from the magical circle wrapped around her body.

“The barrier that stopped you from entering this place was the key to activate the magical circle cast upon this temple… The moment you shattered the barrier, you were identified as the target of the spell, Elvina!!”

Despite her bold words, even with the support of her scepter, she seemed to struggle to stand. Her complexion grew paler, as if the magical circle was draining her life.

“—I wondered why they were so desperate to protect you, yet you showed up so easily… To trap me, you even used your own life as bait, Mazaryi.”

“This is an ancient forbidden spell that I’ve managed to cast at the cost of the divine power I’ve accumulated over tens of thousands of years! It’s our last resort, something those who see power as everything would never use!!”

The light from the magical circle was eventually absorbed by Elvina’s body.

“Indeed, such a slow tactic would indeed not be used by me…nor is there any need to…!”

Elvina struggled to raise her arms and fired her black pistol.

Despite the surprise, Mazaryi managed to dodge the light bullet.

“…How is it possible… To move to such an extent while under the strongest forbidden spell in the Heavenly Realm!?”

“I will not be defeated by merely this—”

Elvina kept firing her guns. Her previous accuracy, now diminished, was nothing but a wishful thought.

“Ugh, uh…”

The pistols fell from her hands onto the stone floor, making a clashing sound.

Yet, Elvina continued to fight, throwing punches at Mazaryi, who desperately dodged. Missed punches easily shattered the stone walls.

This hand-to-hand combat didn’t last long; Elvina’s body began to emit a faint light, and her outline blurred.

“I warned you… Just accept being sealed by me! If you resist this spell further, you’ll completely vanish without even a chance for reincarnation!!”

“As long as I defeat you, I can become the creator god… Then there’ll be no issue of vanishing or not… I’m so close…!!”

Elvina’s final punch hit the wall, making no sound.

Like a beast using its last strength before being tranquilized, she fought desperately.

Watching her like this, Teruma felt no amusement. On the contrary, his heart was racing in his chest like never before.

Thinking at least to witness her until the last moment, as Mazaryi turned her head away—

Teruma sprinted towards Elvina’s side.

“——————”

Elvina staggered and quietly fell.

Her body, almost transparent, seemed like it would dissipate into particles of light before hitting the ground.

“Don’t go! Don’t vanish!!”

Teruma spread his arms, trying to support Elvina’s body.

Mazaryi’s wavering voice also reached Teruma’s ears.

Holding onto what felt like a weightless and warmthless being, literally becoming light, Teruma was hit by an unimaginable shock. This shock didn’t come from his arms but directly from his brain.

A flood of information—far more complex than a mere life flashing before one’s eyes.

Teruma’s meager twelve years of memories flashed through his mind in an instant.

Followed by a tsunami of images…perhaps Elvina’s memories.

But they passed too quickly for him to comprehend. The sea? Oasis? The swiftly passing complexions—what were they?

Living tens, hundreds, thousands of times longer than a typical human to accumulate such memories. Teruma’s brain capacity was instantly overwhelmed, nearly burned out. Yet, he remained conscious.

But unimaginable pain tormented his head, chest, and entire body simultaneously.

Help me, please let me pass out. Teruma prayed to the gods.

And realizing what he was embracing, attempting to save, was indeed a deity,

The long-awaited profound darkness finally engulfed his consciousness.

○　●　○　●

It happened when Teruma was in the third grade of elementary school. One day, he collapsed due to a sudden fever.

When he awoke, lying in bed, his parents, who were too busy to even come home often, were by his side.

Risa, Rin, and Shia were also present. Not just them, it felt as if all other butlers, maids, even the chefs and gardeners—perhaps everyone in the mansion—was surrounding him.

Even Risa, who usually maintained a cold demeanor, difficult for Teruma to approach, now had eyes filled with moisture. To this day, Teruma could not forget that scene.

They had all been silently witnessing his life. Each of them wore a smile filled with love.

At that moment, Teruma finally felt the deep affection those around him had for him.

Teruma’s consciousness gradually cleared. As he realized the many figures in his slowly sharpening vision, he remembered what had happened then.

And when he fully awoke and leaped up.

“Ah.”

He then noticed the women surrounding him wore expressions far from loving, rather suspicious smiles. Their smiles froze due to Teruma’s awakening.

“…You woke up… too quickly… surpassing my predictions…”

The goddess with chestnut-colored hair—Mazaryi’s movements froze. She had almost completely stripped Teruma’s shirt off, and her hand was still at the waistband of his pants.

The belt was already half undone… It seemed she was not very adept at untying it and was planning to simply pull down the pants. Wait, wait. It felt like fingers were touching the edge of his underwear.

Embarrassed by the situation, Teruma pretended to divert his gaze from Mazaryi’s hands and started observing his surroundings.

It appeared he was in a large room, lying in the center of the room on what seemed to be a stone bed.

Despite its stone appearance, the bed was surprisingly soft to the touch, as comfortable as lying on a high-quality mattress.

Aside from objects resembling stone lanterns evenly placed along the walls, there were no other sources of indoor lighting in the room. Yet, the entire room was exceptionally bright.

Upon entering the temple, Teruma had this thought. This place must be using technology completely different and wondrous compared to the world he lived in.

Around the bed was a circle of about 20 women. Their attire varied in design but shared the commonality of being white.

Even if their wings were not visible at the moment, there was no doubt, they were all goddesses. The goddess Teruma encountered six years ago was the same; unless she wished to show them, her wings were usually concealed.

However, observing them closely once more, it was easy to see that all of them possessed extraordinary beauty to be proud of.

This beauty was their proof of existence—the many women standing here embodied the essence of goddesses.

Coming back to Teruma, he should have been deep in thought by now, but up to this moment, Mazaryi’s hand showed no sign of moving away from his pants.

At this time, the six goddesses standing in the front row around the bed stepped forward.

They were the goddesses knocked down by Elvina at the temple entrance. It seemed they were unharmed. Teruma felt relieved.

“Mazaryi-sama, how much longer will you hesitate?”

“It’s just a little bit left…”

“I really want to see.”

“Why don’t you just forcefully pull it down? Can we?”

“We’ve come this far~ Just pretend you don’t know and keep going~”

“Please make a decision, Mazaryi-sama!”

The six goddesses seemed to be urging Mazaryi to overcome her hesitation, one after another giving her advice.

What exactly did they want to see? Teruma tried to ignore the reality that his pants were about to be pulled down.

“…My name is Mazaryi… I am a goddess and the eldest in the Heavenly Realm…”

Mazaryi seemed very nervous, introducing herself once again abruptly.

Though called the eldest, her appearance seemed to be of the same generation as Teruma’s mother.

First, he mentally noted her high status.

“It’s okay, I don’t mind. You’re just checking me for dangerous items, right? That’s why you want to frisk me?”

Teruma (12 years old) tried to speak calmly to the older sister figure as if soothing a child afraid of getting scolded.

“No, no, don’t look at me with those pure eyes! Gahhhhhhhhh!!”

Mazaryi, more like a demon splashed with holy water than a goddess, painfully pushed herself away from Teruma.

And because her hand finally left his pants, the surrounding goddesses expressed their disappointment with a collective “Ahhhhh…”

Teruma reached for his clothes left on the bed and quickly dressed himself. Perhaps due to the hurried undressing, a button from his vest was pulled off… It might upset Mazaryi further, so it’s best not to mention it.

At this moment, Teruma realized, for some reason, his need to urinate had completely disappeared. He momentarily feared the worst, but after confirming his pants were not wet, he was relieved.

“It seems you are awake now.”

A voice came from the entrance of the room. The crowd of goddesses parted, and a woman with a particularly strong presence stepped through.

“You are…!”

Teruma’s heart raced. It was the six-winged goddess—Elvina—who had fought fiercely alone and vanished into light.

Not just her swaying indigo hair but also her ceremonial white dress had regained its original luster.

“My name is Elvina. I look forward to being in your care.”

Though he had heard her name during the earlier battle… hearing it directly from her, Teruma couldn’t help but marvel at the beautiful name.

It felt as pleasurable as hearing an angel’s hum.

“I, I’m Teruma… Sōjō Teruma, Miss Elvina.”

Teruma swallowed, adjusted his voice that had become sharp, and introduced himself in response to her. Teruma felt a slight dissonance in Elvina’s words, but before he could figure out what it was, the conversation moved on.

“Just call me Elvina. And, you don’t need to be so formal.”

“I under… I got it. It’s great to meet such a kind person… Actually, I’m a huge fan of goddesses!!”

“Oh, is that so? But it’s regrettable that things have turned out this way.”

Elvina stood next to Teruma, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

“Teruma, you’ve already died.”

Then, without changing her expression, she dropped this bombshell.

“…………………………………………Huh?”

Teruma had many questions, but the answer came flying out the next second.

“You hugged me earlier, right? That’s when you died.”

“Wha-wha-wha-wha-wha-wha-wha-wha-wha-wha-wha-wha!? What’s going on here, can I get a moment to process this!? I wasn’t prepared for this!!”

Shocked, Teruma fell off the stone bed.

“Wait, you’re saying I’m dead… Wait, what do you mean!? I wasn’t shot by a gun, was I?”

He then panicked. He checked his heartbeat by pressing on his chest, measured his pulse, and even slapped his thighs to check if his legs were transparent.

“Calm down. When you hugged me just now, you were much more composed than this.”

Being reminded of the hug again, Teruma’s inner turmoil intensified.

“…Right, I… at that time…”

When it was mentioned that he had already died, Teruma indeed felt as if he had experienced it firsthand. The moment he hugged Elvina, his head felt like it was about to explode with pain, and then he lost consciousness. So, it wasn’t that he had merely fainted—

“Elvina! What shameless things are you saying… Consider this young man’s feelings! You’ve scared him to death!!”

Perhaps seeing Teruma about to panic, Mazaryi, who had previously been shivering in the aftermath of her own pain, finally snapped out of it and approached Elvina.

“You want to shift the blame to me? By your logic, you’re also one of the reasons he died, Mazaryi.”

Mazaryi’s gaze clashed with Elvina’s. However, soon Mazaryi was smiling again and turned to Teruma.

“Don’t worry.”

Teruma noticed why he felt relieved every time he looked at Mazaryi.

Although she appeared much younger, the aura she emitted was somewhat similar to Risa’s.

“Being dead just means you can no longer live as a human. You can’t continue your life as a human anymore, but you’re still very much alive, haha.”

And just as Teruma started to feel relieved, Mazaryi revealed this staggering truth.

“You just dropped an even scarier bombshell! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

“You should consider his feelings, Mazaryi. Look what you’ve done to him.”

Hearing Elvina sarcastically using her own words against her, Mazaryi huffed and shut her mouth.

Teruma struggled to calm himself down and looked at the arguing pair.

“Ah, right, I remember now! It all started because Elvina and Mazaryi were fighting—”

“And then you hugged me.”

If one were to pinpoint the real reason for his demise, it was indeed because he reached out to Elvina, who was about to die. And the cause of this situation was the battle between her and Mazaryi.

And indeed, the fact that he had simply hugged someone was being forcefully inserted into the narrative.

“…That battle is over. Or rather, there’s no longer a need to fight.”

Mazaryi sighed. Her profile looked exhausted.

“Although I don’t know how much you’ve seen… we goddesses are currently in the midst of a war. All of this is to protect the Heavenly Realm and the future of the human world.”

“The human world… Our world too?”

“How exactly did you come to this Heavenly Realm?”

“I’m not entirely sure… I just found myself outside, and then the goddesses started fighting…”

Mazaryi stared at Teruma. Perhaps judging his words to be true, she continued speaking, though it seemed she had more on her mind.

“If what you say is true, then the situation has become even more serious. In the millions of years since this Heavenly Realm was created, humans have never once set foot here.”

Learning that he had made history in such an extraordinary context made Teruma gasp.

“Perhaps, your ability as a human to come to the Heavenly Realm is not unrelated to the instability of the realm’s existence.”

“The Heavenly Realm… So, the world of the goddesses is in turmoil?”

“Did you see the sky of the Heavenly Realm? Seeing many Earths floating around, you must have been shocked.”

Facing Mazaryi, who pointed towards the ceiling and asked, Teruma honestly nodded in response.

“It’s not something easily understood, so I’ll skip the details… The human world exists with countless parallel worlds. Of course, you only need to be aware of your own human world…”

Although indeed difficult to grasp, Teruma had heard about “many worlds” from a goddess when he was younger, and having witnessed it with his own eyes, he now had a tangible sense of it. While he couldn’t fully comprehend, he was able to vaguely accept it.

“Perhaps because those worlds exist in such a form, the human world is easily influenced by external factors, making it fragile and easily damaged. Therefore, we goddesses use the divine power from the Heavenly Realm—goddess power—to harmonize and repair these worlds. Conversely, people’s prayers and sentiments towards the gods are transmitted to this Heavenly Realm, becoming our strength.”

A voice filled with self-importance. Considering Mazaryi claimed to be the eldest, she must see herself as a representative of the goddesses, expressing her words as the collective will of all goddesses.

The term “goddess power” sounded appealing. It seemed like a supercharged version of “feminine power.”

But precisely because of this, the noble aura did not match the tragic fights that had occurred earlier. Was there a deeper reason?

“However, human prayers have gradually decreased… In the past decade or so, prayers have significantly dropped. It’s as if faith in gods suddenly disappeared one day, with a dramatic plunge that seems unnatural.”

Teruma’s affection for goddesses was, on the contrary, on the rise… Such is the irony.

“Due to the sharp decline in human prayers, the Heavenly Realm has faced a crisis of existence. Thus, we must follow the will of the Heavenly Realm and select the long-vacant position of the Creator God, who will lead all goddesses. Of course, the initial decision was made through consultation.”

Creator God. The being that leads all goddesses. Teruma’s curiosity was ignited, and his lips naturally curved into a smile.

“However, that’s when the problem occurred. Although factions within the Heavenly Realm have existed for tens of thousands of years, the division became clear during discussions on future actions. Eventually, the goddesses split into two completely opposing factions.”

The surrounding goddesses showed sorrowful expressions.

Elvina lowered her head, silently listening.

“One faction believed it would be better to strive to become objects of worship for humans again, maintaining the existing relationship while peacefully deciding the position of the Creator God. This conservative faction of goddesses is known as the Sacred Goddesses of Savarid.”

Of course, this included herself. Mazaryi’s voice was filled with pride.

However, her tone became markedly heavier when mentioning the other faction.

“On the contrary, there were also goddesses who did not agree with this gentle approach, who liked to cause trouble. Believing that to become the Creator God, one must first dominate the human world, forcibly make humans worship them, and plan to gain the necessary power for battle with this radical approach. This is the faction of the Evil Goddesses of Zodiacs.”

When she mentioned this name, Mazaryi’s expression clearly conveyed her feelings towards this faction.

“The struggle between these two factions thus began.”

“It’s just a trivial matter. The struggle among our kind… is happening all the time in your human world, isn’t it?”

Elvina followed up, her voice carrying a hint of disdain for the conflicts that are a constant in the human world.

Teruma’s feelings were incredibly complex. Indeed, he had learned in social studies that humans have been waging wars throughout history. However, in the last decade, humanity had seen no major conflicts. The reason seemed to be that people had lost the energy even for mutual hatred and armed confrontation, making terrestrial disputes vanish. It was an ironic realization.

Teruma cast a glance at Elvina, pondering, “So, the Elvina who battles alongside Mazaryi-san is…”

He recalled the goddess who danced in the skies, her figure overlapping with his first love in his mind. Despite witnessing her devastating combat prowess, akin to a demonic force annihilating everything, he remained enchanted by her beauty, “That’s right, I am a member of the evil goddesses, Zodiacs.”

His heart sank as Elvina nonchalantly confessed. This meant Elvina… was not the gentle goddess he had hoped to reunite with. “Does this mean Elvina-san also believes in dominating the human world?” he questioned.

“It’s much better than both the heavenly realm and the human world collapsing. I’ve always advocated for this, but these people simply won’t listen,” Elvina replied, her light scoff hitting Teruma hard.

“You must be disillusioned. Even if you claim to be a goddess’s fan, your affection is merely for the fairy-tale versions conjured by human dreams. The real goddesses crave blood, ugly beasts indeed,” Elvina taunted.

“That’s just how you are…” Teruma retorted, refusing to accept her insult, “—Not ugly at all!!”

His defiance caught not only Mazaryi by surprise but also other goddesses who widened their eyes at his bold counter.

“Though your battles amaze me… everyone is indeed so beautiful…! This is not a fairy tale but the reality before me!!” Teruma finally recognized the true nature of his conflicting emotions.

Despite the many shocking events and the differences from his imagination, the goddesses’ beauty was undeniable.

Even after witnessing their bloody battles, his admiration for the goddesses remained unchanged.

“…Moreover, Mazaryi-san, you have an aura similar to someone I know… which makes me feel you are a very gentle person.”

Mazaryi’s cheerful smile froze, and her eyes widened in shock, “Are you—proposing to me?”

“Absolutely not,” he clarified quickly.

“No need for excuses. We goddesses are experts at reading hearts. I saw through your marriage intentions at a glance,” she teased, suggesting perhaps he should reconsider his claims of expertise.

“I just meant to say that I find you very beautiful…” Teruma tried to clarify.

“See! ——Right!?” After another round of compliments, Mazaryi, with a stern face, turned her upper body away, seeking affirmation from the other goddesses.

“How troubling… Ah, how troubling. I never expected a human boy to propose to me…”

“Look at yourself, Mazaryi. I can’t stand this,” Elvina commented coldly, met with Mazaryi’s furious glare.

“Mazaryi-sama is so cunning! I want to be proposed to as well!”

“Such vulgarity! Everyone, let’s line up!”

The goddesses, initially keeping their distance due to their wariness of Teruma, suddenly crowded around him, eager for proposals.

“Could you give me a moment? I’ll mark the ‘footprint’ on the ground,” Mazaryi said, wielding a scepter-like tool, marking the solemn stone floor with shoe-patterned engravings.

Her subordinates brought out odd implements like rubber bands and colored contacts from seemingly nowhere.

They then formed a neat, winding queue, all set on efficiently winning proposals through an assembly line operation.

“I won’t be proposing even if you line up…!!” Teruma attempted to protest, only to be met with disdainful glares through colored contacts, indicating he shouldn’t disturb the newly formed line.

It seemed he was being played with. Yet, even as a jest, Teruma would not propose to any other goddess.

Though he admired all the goddesses for their beauty, the goddess that truly captivated him was only the one in the council.

Nonetheless, engaging in cordial conversation was a positive development.

With a side goal of diverting the topic, Teruma decided to engage them in steady dialogue, “Could you possibly share more about the goddesses with me?”

○　●　○　●

The “information exchange” between Teruma and the goddesses proceeded smoothly.

“So, you met a six-winged goddess as a child… and fell in love. You’ve cherished that first love to this day, yet you shamelessly proposed to me. I can’t help but find that admirable,” Mazaryi remarked with a hint of sarcasm.

“I’m sorry… but let me clarify once more. I had no intention of proposing to Mazaryi-san…!” Teruma felt as though he was apologizing for an unreasonable accusation, but as a company president, he understood the necessity of humility even in unacceptable situations.

“So, you’ve learned quite a bit about goddesses since then.”

“Yes. I read a book about goddesses roughly every two days… so I’ve read about a thousand books now.”

“Even to us, the sacred goddesses of Sawaride, someone like Teruma-kun, who worships goddesses from the bottom of his heart, is truly grateful. What the heavenly realm needs now is someone like you.”

Being acknowledged by real goddesses like Mazaryi deeply moved Teruma.

Meanwhile, Elvina seemed inexplicably displeased as she glared at him.

Was he still under Elvina’s wary gaze?

“Hey, how old are you now?” a peach-haired goddess asked lazily.

The six at the front were Mazaryi’s personal guard goddesses.

“I’m twelve years old.”

“That’s so straightforward!!” the pink-haired goddess—nicknamed Pinky—exclaimed with joy.

“Shut your mouth!” Mazaryi demanded somewhat harshly, but Pinky’s eyes were fixed solely on Teruma.

Other guard goddesses followed with their questions.

“What do you like?”

“Goddesses.”

“Whom do you respect?”

“Goddesses.”

“What’s your motto?”

“Goddesses.”

Teruma answered swiftly, eliciting surprised murmurs from the surrounding goddesses, though their faces were flushed with bashful expressions.

“It’s said that passion for something can sometimes generate tremendous power. Legend has it that our ancestors, the goddesses, were also fervently in love with something. Perhaps, you too are stepping into such a world.”

Mazaryi looked at Teruma with a complex expression.

“I’m ready to step into a different world. If possible, I… even wish to become a goddess.”

“Is, is that so… Technically, this heavenly realm has a noble rule of treating everyone residing here as equals, as goddesses—”

“Yay! Then I’m a goddess too!!”

“Hey, calm down, will you!? You don’t live here, do you!?”

This time, Teruma’s true nature overwhelmed Mazaryi.

At school, his excessive enthusiasm for goddesses had caused others to distance themselves from him.

Elvina, who had been coolly observing the jubilant nurses, chimed in after hearing about the rules of the heavenly realm.

“Such a system only hinders progress. Weak goddesses shouldn’t be allowed to call themselves goddesses… There are far too many goddesses now. The goddesses you see everywhere, the so-called pedestrian goddesses, are being born in droves… No, they are being abnormally born.”

“Pedestrian goddesses, huh~…”

Teruma liked the sound of that term and easily accepted it.

“Speaking of which, goddesses have different numbers of wings. Does that signify anything?”

“Two wings for the initiates… four wings for the transcendents… six wings for the supremes… The number of wings that unfold when they exert their full power is the proof of their strength. Wings are the badge of rank for a goddess… Of course, I am one of the supremes.”

To not forget this explanation, Teruma widened his eyes with determination.

The goddesses with six wings held the highest rank… The goddess from his memories was known as a supreme.

“Um… Elvina. How many other supreme goddesses are there besides you?”

“There are twelve goddesses at the pinnacle of the evil goddess Zodiacs, possessing the form of humans while also being supremes.”

Even in a realm where goddesses were born anomalously, there were only twelve. This harsh reality was too much for Teruma.

“What about the sacred goddess Sawaride? And about a goddess you’re not too familiar with…”

After inquiring with a reliance on Elvina, she widened her eyes to respond.

“No, there’s no mistake. It means the goddess you met as a child is someone from the evil goddess Zodiacs—this is an irrevocable fact.”

A declaration that shattered the last sliver of hope without mercy.

“Is that so…”

If the gentle goddess from his memories differed from the real goddesses, he could accept that. If there was any discrepancy, it might just be his glorified memory.

But the fact that this goddess was part of those trying to dominate the human world was something he couldn’t accept, no matter what.

The turmoil within Teruma’s heart began anew… but eventually, his admiration for goddesses prevailed.

Even if it was a loss, there was nothing he could do. What was necessary now was to understand more about goddesses, believing that understanding them would lead to an acceptable answer.

“Therefore, without the supreme goddess Sawaride, my only choice is to stay closely guarded by you.”

Faced with the stern looks of all the goddesses, including the personal guard goddesses, Elvina casually ignored them.

“Speak your mind. We were never fond of conflict… Besides, even among the supremes, your strength is exceptionally unusual, Elvina.”

Mazaryi let out a bitter sigh.

“As a goddess, Elvina was called a demon, the wild horse of the heavenly realm. We suffered much at her hands. ‘Goddess of the End,’ ‘Consciousness of Destruction,’ ‘Barbarian Pretending to be Calm,’ ‘Middle-School Syndrome Flying in the Sky,’ ‘Such a Lewd Body Can’t Be That of a Goddess’… The list of her infamous titles is endless.”

Though some titles were unclear in meaning, Teruma grasped how feared Elvina was.

“But… I can hear that there are two factions, but why is Elvina the focus?”

“In short, it seems we were to send representatives for a decisive battle. The evil goddess Zodiacs sent me, while the sacred goddess Sawaride sent Mazaryi. Each camp needs to protect its representative, the general, and engage in battle. The side that defeats the opposing general wins. This goddess war was decided with such a simple rule.”

Hearing this rule, Teruma thought of the pole-toppling game in sports festivals.

(*Translator’s note: “Pole-toppling” is a common event in Japanese school sports festivals where teams compete to knock over a pole defended by the opposing team.)

“Though it’s frustrating, facing a supreme as an opponent in direct combat offers us no chance of victory. We decided to use the strongest curse passed down since ancient times in the heavenly realm to seal this violent goddess.”

Mazaryi was frustrated. After all, if the number of wings represents an absolute difference in strength, having a transcendental and a supreme as representatives for each side was inherently unfair.

The disadvantaged side devising strategies was only natural.

“But true to her reputation as the strongest supreme in the heavenly realm, Elvina continued her assault even after being subjected to the curse that should have sealed any goddess, used only once in tens of thousands of years.”

Elvina, assessed by Mazaryi in such a manner, slightly twisted her eyebrows as if expressing her complex feelings.

“However, because she focused on resisting the incomplete curse, her body began to disappear before the sealing was complete. Teruma-kun, when you reached out to help her, it was at this moment.”

“I…”

“You seem much calmer now, and it’s about time we talked about something serious.”

Mazaryi pulled away the personal guard goddesses who had closed in on Teruma during the conversation, tightening her expression.

“Teruma-kun. Know that everything we’ve discussed so far is merely the affairs of our heavenly realm. What’s most important to you is the calamity occurring to you right now.”

“Calamity… Don’t scare me.”

Teruma shivered involuntarily. Though unrelated to the current matters, he felt as if the goddesses behind him were caressing his bottom.

“I’m not trying to scare you. You must have realized by now. Elvina, who should have disappeared while resisting the curse, stands unharmed here. Don’t you find that curious?”

“That’s… now that you mention it…”

Because Elvina naturally blended into this setting, all he thought about was how glad he was that she was safe—

Mazaryi looked directly into Teruma’s puzzled eyes and revealed an unbelievable truth.

“Teruma-kun… you shared your life with Elvina, allowing her to survive. This life of yours is now shared between the two of you.”

“Eh… EHHHHHHHHHHH!?”

Until now, Teruma had considered all he heard as matters of the gods, events of a distant world. However, suddenly finding himself involved as a human stripped away his sense of reality.

“I don’t have any special powers, though!?”

“Of course… But that’s the truth.”

This was an extraordinary situation that even the supreme goddess couldn’t resolve. Realizing he was caught in such a vortex, Teruma was at a loss for words.

“However… Sometimes, the human heart can generate tremendous power. Your intense feelings for goddesses, Teruma-kun, caused a miracle… That’s the only explanation I have.”

Something warm surged in Teruma’s chest.

Initially shaken by being told he was both a human and no different from a deceased, Teruma was proud if his strong feelings for a goddess had indeed saved her.

“Now you understand why I stand so amicably with the sacred Sawaride, right? Though it was only for a moment, I had indeed died completely—meaning the goddess war ended without a victor, and we no longer have a reason to conflict.”

“Why are you so calmly declaring a draw, Elvina. Though it was only for a moment, if you had died even once, the victor of the goddess war would be me, the camp of the sacred Sawaride.”

“If that were true, the heavenly realm should have made you a creator god by now. But that hasn’t happened. This is the strongest evidence that the goddess war didn’t officially end due to the anomaly of Teruma’s involvement, but rather ended ambiguously.”

“What changes if you become a creator god?”

“Well, it’s said you’d gain two more wings. If I had become one, I’d have an unprecedented eight wings. Compared to Mazaryi, who would only have six, I’m sure it’d be better if I changed.”

Despite discussing serious matters, Elvina’s wish was too naive, causing Teruma to laugh.

“Anyway, even though I didn’t officially become a creator god, I’ve decided to exercise the rights of a victor of the goddess war. First, I’ll make sure conflict disappears from this heavenly realm.”

Though his initial impression of Mazaryi was somewhat marred by her attempt to remove his pants, seeing her dignified and authoritative demeanor reminded Teruma once again that she was the supreme goddess.

“And then, Elvina, I will banish you from the heavenly realm.”

The head goddess announced this with a stern expression to Elvina.

“Ah, that was my plan too.”

Before Teruma could react, Elvina readily agreed.

“Eh… Why!?”

“If you two, who share a life, are too far apart, both of you will die together. Therefore, you can only spend your lives in the world where one of you resides. Teruma-kun, are you prepared to stay in the heavenly realm forever?”

“To let me, live in the heavenly realm forever…”

For Teruma, who adored goddesses, the heavenly realm was paradise. Nothing could be happier than staying here forever. Moreover, he still didn’t know who his first love was.

“I want to…”

At the same time, this decision meant saying farewell to his important family, servants, and friends.

“Stay here.”

“There are many goddesses, you know?”

The elder sisters around him attacked the intensely conflicted boy with their merciless sweet nothings.

“Don’t confuse Teruma with meaningless questions. I’ve decided to go to the human world, and that’s the final answer.”

Elvina forcefully made her way to the front of the goddesses and patted Teruma’s shoulder.

“That’s how it is… So, lead the way to the human world for me, Teruma.”

“Wait! There’s no need to rush the decision… Although my family might be worried about me now, it’s okay if I stay here a bit longer.”

To be honest, Teruma wanted to linger here a while longer.

“Besides, Elvina, you must have someone you want to talk to one last time, right?”

“I don’t. I don’t have friends… and for a goddess, family doesn’t exist either.”

Elvina deliberately faced Mazaryi and the others as she said this.

“Isn’t there a goddess who called you a formidable rival?”

Teruma remembered the petite goddess who had fiercely battled Elvina.

“Those guys and I were merely lumped together in the evil goddess Zodiacs; our relationship wasn’t that close.”

“Those guys.” This term piqued Teruma’s curiosity. What had happened in the temple after he entered? For example… Although Teruma hadn’t seen it, perhaps another powerful evil goddess from the Zodiacs had appeared…

Mazaryi saw through Elvina’s determination… or rather, her frivolity, at a glance and sternly informed her.

“That’s perfect. Please leave this heavenly realm immediately before things get complicated.”

“Then I’ll dutifully comply.”

“But naturally, I’ll have to place you under temporary surveillance.”

“Suit yourself.”

“…Then you two go see the gatekeeper of the heavenly realm. I’ll send a telepathic message to the gatekeeper.”

When it was time to part ways with Mazaryi and the others, Sōjō Teruma pulled something out of his suit pocket.

“Um… I am the president of a company. If you ever visit the human world, please come see me with this business card!”

It was his company’s business card. As he was about to hand one to Mazaryi, the other goddesses expressed their interest and wanted one as well, distributing them one by one. Fortunately, there were just enough cards to go around.

“‘Meeting Goddesses Inc. (Tentative)’…?”

Mazaryi, with a curious expression, read the content aloud, causing Sōjō Teruma to shrug sheepishly.

Sōjō Teruma didn’t want this encounter to be a once-in-a-lifetime farewell.

Indeed, from the strict rules of the heavenly realm he had heard about earlier, it was not easy for goddesses to freely visit the human world. But that was only up to now.

She hesitated for a moment as if to retract her hand… but perhaps Sōjō Teruma’s enthusiasm reached her. Mazaryi smiled gently and accepted the card.

“Thank you, Sōjō Teruma-kun. You may face many difficulties in the future… Stay strong.”

Finally, Mazaryi offered Elvina a parting word, her tone softening a bit.

“Goodbye, Elvina. I hope you can find some peace in the human world.”

○　●　○　●

The journey from the stronghold of the sacred goddess Sawaride to the “device” that would take them back to the human world would take about fifty days without rest.

Therefore, Mazaryi used a teleportation spell to instantly move Sōjō Teruma and Elvina to their destination.

What Sōjō Teruma saw there was a gigantic gate towering high.

The gate, taller than the skyscrapers in the city of divine trees, had an exceptionally striking appearance.

“What is this? Its appearance is rather ominous.”

The gate was dark purple, with patterns that evoked images of horns, blood vessels, and eyeballs.

It made the world heritage sites of the human world seem more sacred by comparison.

“This is known as the Gate of Sighs.”

“Are you sure this gate wasn’t brought here from hell…?”

It was so out of place. It wasn’t something that should exist in a paradise for goddesses.

“It’s probably a warning that everything beyond the heavenly realm is hell. A goddess with ordinary sensibilities wouldn’t even want to come near it.”

“…Beyond the heavenly realm, does that refer to our world?”

What could be the reason for the goddesses to be so wary of the human world?

“By the way, this is the only entrance and exit to the heavenly realm. Though, technically, no visitor from the outside has ever come through, so it’s more accurate to call it the only exit.”

Elvina smiled smugly for some reason, looking rather pleased with herself.

“…In that case, it shouldn’t be a problem for this thing to be considered the only entrance and exit to the heavenly realm, right? After all, we’re about to go through it now.”

Perhaps because Sōjō Teruma matched her mood, Elvina’s expression seemed to brighten up for a moment.

Sōjō Teruma had a new goal. He intended to use the power of his company to turn this daunting gate into a bridge between the heavenly realm and the human world someday.

As he approached the gate, Sōjō Teruma noticed a truly divine presence in front of it, fitting of the heavenly realm.

It was a giant bird, resembling a peacock with its feathers closed around itself like it was warming its eggs, sitting quietly in front of the gate. Its eyes shone with a crimson light.

“It’s a shining, giant bird…”

Sōjō Teruma exclaimed in awe. The bird’s size was comparable to the pterosaurs he had seen in dinosaur encyclopedias.

It was said that stars, or rather, suns, emit their strongest light in red phases… This radiant crimson giant bird seemed to symbolize universal power.

Upon noticing Sōjō Teruma, the bird spoke with a noble tone.

“At last, you’ve reached the Gate of Sighs, human boy, and the strongest goddess.”

Because they had arrived instantly with the help of the supreme elder, the sense of having overcome a great ordeal to reach this point was somewhat perplexing…

“My name is Ekusutorīmu Mesaiya.”

Introducing itself, the bird spread its wings, wider than its own body, leaving Sōjō Teruma at a loss for words. What surprised him the most was the number of its wings.

“! Six wings! So you’re a supreme, Ekusutorīmu Mesaiya… Does that mean you’re also a member of the evil goddess Zodiacs!?”

The red bird snorted through its nose as if laughing and shook its dignified face.

“Such childish factions only emerged recently. I have existed since the beginning—since the birth of the heavenly realm. I am beyond any faction or minor conflict.”

Mazaryi had said that the two forces had existed for tens of thousands of years.

For this red bird, even tens of thousands of years were but a moment.

“Yet, you dare compare me to those mischievous little girls. You’ve wounded my pride, boy.”

Elvina frowned slightly, being directly mentioned.

“I’m sorry, Bird-sama…!!”

Not expecting to cause such sorrow, Sōjō Teruma hurriedly apologized.

“Not at all, I am not Bird-sama, but Ekusutorīmu Mesaiya.”

“*Ekusutorīmu Bird-sama…!!”

(*Translator’s note: The bird’s name is エクストリーム·メサイア in Japanese, while Sōjō Teruma’s nickname for it, エクス鳥, shares the same prefix sound “Ekusutorīmu” as its name.)

“Understood. Let’s compromise with Ekusutorīmu Bird-sama for now. Hmm, you’re quite the negotiator, young man.”

Although he hadn’t intended to make her compromise, it seemed she had accepted it on her own.

“Um… I don’t have any memories of passing through this gate. Can you tell me what happened at that time?”

“I’m afraid I cannot help you. The reason is that you did not come to the heavenly realm through this gate.”

Sōjō Teruma looked suspiciously at Elvina, but she ignored him with an indifferent expression.

“How could that be…! Because Elvina said, this gate is ‘the only entrance and exit to the heavenly realm’…”

“Indeed. That’s precisely why it’s so mysterious. Even the strongest supreme goddesses of the heavenly realm cannot directly teleport to the human world or summon humans to the heavenly realm. Could it be that you possess some special power?”

Ekusutorīmu Bird asked in a half-joking tone.

Mazaryi had asked him the same question, but Sōjō Teruma didn’t have any special powers. If anything set him apart from ordinary people, it was his fate with goddesses and his feelings for them.

“Six years ago, a six-winged goddess came to the human world… She must have passed through this gate. Can you tell me who it was? If it’s her, she might know why I came here!!”

“…You need to apply for disclosure based on the Goddess Personal Information Protection Law before I can tell you.”

Ekusutorīmu Bird reached into its feathers with its left wing, searching for something, and then pulled out a piece of paper.

“Then, young man, first, this document… Please fill in your information where I’ve marked in red.”

“Is this for real…? I haven’t seen a paper document in so long…”

For Sōjō Teruma, who was born into the fully digital age, writing anything on paper was a rarity.

But this also felt like interacting with a myth, which was exciting.

“However, even if you find that goddess, you might not get the answer you’re seeking. Is that alright with you?”

“Even so, she was my first love, and I want to understand her more…”

“…”

Elvina rudely snatched the document Sōjō Teruma had received from Ekusutorīmu Bird and tore it into pieces.

“Hey, what are you doing, Elvina!!”

“…The goddess from your memories is undoubtedly one of the twelve gods of the evil goddess Zodiacs. Among them, there are some with exasperating personalities. I can’t allow them to get involved with humans.”

“…How could that be…? I remember very clearly what that goddess was like…”

“The image of the goddess you described doesn’t match any of the twelve goddesses, including myself. The goddess you met on the ground likely disguised herself.”

Even Elvina, who loves battle and hesitates to defeat other goddesses, is considered an exasperating person by the evil goddess Zodiacs. Is there really someone with humanity… or rather, goddess-like qualities among them?

If so, am I really prepared to accept this…? Since Elvina dislikes them to such an extent, Sōjō Teruma decided not to insist here.

“…I understand. For now, I’ll heed Elvina’s advice.”

There’s no rush; the opportunity to fully understand will come eventually.

“You’ve regarded the goddess who descended to the earth years ago as your first love… And you still remember her?”

“Yes, I do remember…”

Ekusutorīmu Bird looked at Sōjō Teruma with some surprise.

“That’s strange. At least, the heavenly realm’s rules dictate that goddesses who descend to the earth through this gate and return to the heavenly realm will have their memories of the human world erased. Supposedly, this is to prevent polluted knowledge from entering here… Normally, humans related to the goddess would also have their memories erased.”

Ekusutorīmu Bird spoke casually, as if chatting about the weather, but the words shook the very foundation of Sōjō Teruma’s life.

“—In other words, boy, although the goddess in your memories undoubtedly exists among those twelve evil goddesses of the Zodiacs with six wings… I’m afraid she no longer remembers you.”

“…How could…?”

Sōjō Teruma was devastated by this shocking truth. A hand gently patted his shoulder.

“It’s enough that you remember, isn’t it? That’s already quite miraculous.”

“…Yeah.”

As Elvina said. In fact, the reason he only remembered the six wings and the content of their conversation was probably because these were supposed to be erased memories.

So, he was a man whose impressions of a goddess were so strong they surpassed the heavenly realm’s rules—just thinking positively like this was enough.

And the warmth of the hand on his shoulder seemed to grow stronger.

—If the memories of the human world were erased… then there’s a possibility that Elvina was my first love goddess. Perhaps she realized this and tore up the document earlier.

“I’ve become somewhat interested in you. Perhaps you truly are a human capable of miracles.”

Ekusutorīmu Bird noticed Sōjō Teruma’s newfound determination and smiled.

“In short, you’re the one Mazaryi mentioned, responsible for monitoring me, right…?”

“There’s no need for that protesting look; I’m also puzzled. Since the birth of the heavenly realm, I’ve guarded this gate. I thought it would be eternal, endlessly sitting here—”

“If you dislike it, you don’t have to follow, right?”

“That’s impossible to comply with. I follow the will of the heavenly realm. If it’s to monitor the heavenly realm’s number one troublemaker, no one else but me is fit for the task.”

Such confidence. Having seen Elvina’s unreasonable power up close, Sōjō Teruma thought that Ekusutorīmu Bird, who confidently claimed to be able to suppress her, must be a formidable force indeed.

“You can take what she says with a grain of salt. If I get serious, I can take down that kind of guy with one finger.”

“…Although confidence is a virtue for a goddess, you’ve far exceeded the limit. This is why you lost the goddess war, Elvina.”

Ekusutorīmu Bird responded to Elvina with an adult’s composure, raising a piece of its right wing like a hand.

Then, a colorful membrane attached to the inner side of the gate, and light spread out in an arc from the center of the door.

A hemisphere of light enveloped an area of about a hundred meters around them.

Before the gate connected to the outside world, something like a protective shield covered the area. This elaborate preparation was probably to prevent enemies from invading the moment the gate connected to other worlds, just in case.

Sōjō Teruma, Elvina, and Ekusutorīmu Bird floated into the air, approaching the light membrane on the gate.

Before entering the gate, Sōjō Teruma looked back, imprinting the heavenly realm in his eyes.

Mazaryi’s tone suggested he might never return… but Sōjō Teruma had always dreamed of coming to the heavenly realm with his own strength. So, one day, he would return here.

With an uncontrollable sense of loneliness, Sōjō Teruma’s consciousness was enveloped in light—

○　●　○　●

After passing through the light membrane, they arrived in a place dominated by greenery and flowers.

Sōjō Teruma recognized this place. It was a corner of a natural park near the Sōjō family’s villa. If it was this place, he could walk home.

Sōjō Teruma took out his phone and found it was already connected to the signal. Relieved, he immersed himself in the feeling of returning to the human world.

Elvina looked around, lightly moving her hand as if checking her body’s condition.

“The gravity on the ground is so light. The air is a bit murky.”

“Is that so? I didn’t feel like my body was heavy or the air was particularly fresh when I was in the heavenly realm… Ah, but is the flow of time more or less the same in any world?”

Sōjō Teruma checked the date and time on his phone. It was the morning of the second day after moving to the villa.

There was no situation like *Urashima Tarō, where decades had passed upon returning to the world he left.

(*Translator’s note: A character from Japanese folklore who, after staying in the Dragon Palace for a few days, returns to find that hundreds of years have passed in the real world.)

“That’s also true, I think the flow of time should be the same. Whether that’s good or bad is another matter.”

Elvina smiled meaningfully.

At that moment, Sōjō Teruma realized their other companion was missing.

“Hey, Ekusutorīmu Bird-sama is gone! We entered the gate together, right!?”

Elvina also briefly scanned the surroundings. Indeed, Ekusutorīmu Bird was nowhere to be found.

“…As a monitor, getting lost first is utterly useless… Well, given her excessive sense of mission, she’ll probably rejoin us soon enough.”

She concluded this, which was also a kind of trust.

“This is the human world—”

Murmuring thus, Elvina calmly gazed at the sky for a moment.

Even just being caressed by the breeze, her hair fluttered like feathers. Even upon descending to earth, her transcendent beauty remained intact.

What kind of thoughts were running through her mind?

“Is it really okay to leave the heavenly realm…? Isn’t it currently the time to decide the next greatest goddess?”

Looking at Elvina’s profile, Sōjō Teruma felt somewhat apologetic and couldn’t help but ask.

“It’s already over. I just wanted to fight; I wasn’t fixated on the seat of the creator god.”

“Is that so…”

Even now, knowing the situation, Sōjō Teruma didn’t like the idea of goddesses engaging in bloody battles.

Of course, he also realized that this was merely a human perspective. For the goddesses, this was an important ritual.

Elvina was just one step away from reaching the pinnacle of goddesshood in that battle.

But just half a step from the finish line, she was outmaneuvered by her opponent, or rather, forced to forfeit.

That regret was not hard to detect.

As if to erase Sōjō Teruma’s worries, Elvina let out a slightly joyful sound.

“So, what shall we do from now on?”

This wasn’t about what to do today or right now, but rather looking forward to a long life ahead.

Perhaps she was still putting on a brave face, but it felt like she had a positive attitude towards living in the human world.

Though it happened naturally, from now on, he would be sharing his life with her. Sōjō Teruma was determined to fully support Elvina’s life.

“I’ll assist you. I’ll make sure your life is just as happy, if not happier, than when you were in the heavenly realm.”

“Life in the heavenly realm wasn’t that happy.”

“Then the difficulty level seems pretty low!”

Hearing this, Sōjō Teruma breathed a sigh of relief.

“Yeah.”

Then, he wiped his right hand on his pants and extended it towards Elvina.

A handshake to welcome her to the human world and to take care of each other from now on.

“Hm…?”

Elvina looked puzzled, opening her arms as if expecting a hug.

“Don’t you know what a handshake is?”

Sōjō Teruma, acting like a guardian, took Elvina’s hand, ready to shake it—

“In the heavenly realm, holding hands like this means ‘I’m about to fight you to the death.'”

Hearing this just as he was about to shake hands, Sōjō Teruma quickly withdrew his hand.

After surviving a life-and-death situation together, turning their relationship into one of mutual killing was far too ominous.

He hadn’t expected to stumble so soon. The cross-cultural exchange with a goddess seemed to be just beginning.