novelraw Chapter 404: Judgment Approaches (6k)
Chapter 404: Judgment Approaches (6k)
Fisher initially wanted to ask more about the world Asuka Karasawa came from, but seeing her curled into a ball, sleepy-eyed yet forcing herself to scrutinize their surroundings, he couldn't bear to do it anymore. Perhaps she would truly become that great leader of the Creator's Society in the future, but right now, she was just a little girl who had recently arrived from another world.
He didn't continue asking. Anyway, the stories before her arrival likely wouldn't be of any help to their current situation, so he opened his mouth and said,
"You should get some rest. You look very exhausted. We can talk about the rest when you wake up... Don't worry, neither of us are bad people. We won't do anything strange to you."
Asuka Karasawa didn't know why she suddenly felt so exhausted either. Hearing Fisher's words, she pursed her lips, gave a somewhat embarrassed look at the handsome dark-haired man beside her, shook her head, and whispered,
"It's fine... So, we are locked up right now? By angels?"
"Yes, but they can't possibly lock us up forever. They must have a purpose for keeping us, otherwise they would have killed us the moment we were discovered. So, before that happens, you really should hurry up and rest—"
Before Fisher finished his words, he turned to see that Asuka Karasawa, still maintaining her curled-up posture, had completely fallen fast asleep, causing his words to come to an abrupt end.
He paused for a moment, then turned to look at Gou Wen, who was cupping his chin, and asked suspiciously,
"Her drowsiness is very unnatural. Was this your doing?"
Hearing Fisher's question, just like before, Gou Wen nodded frankly and admitted it again."Yes, this little girl is just an ordinary human. I was worried she might do something extreme and attract those bad-tempered angels, so I had to resort to this poor tactic. But, Mr. Fisher, you see, up until now I've practically been answering every question asked regarding your inquiries, yet you turn a blind eye to my questions. Is it because you worry I might interfere with you achieving your goal for coming to the Sanctuary? Or is it that, in your eyes, I'm so untrustworthy that I might harm you at any moment?"
"..."
Fisher leaned against the wall. After remaining silent for quite a while, he finally spoke again,
"Sorry, I was being paranoid. Actually, if we're being strict, like her, I am not a person of this time. But unlike her coming from another space, I come from the very distant future. I came to the Sanctuary for the 【Holy Grail】 managed by the angel named Pandora. I need to borrow that Holy Grail to fulfill a wish to escape death."
Hearing this, Gou Wen's expression blanked slightly. His long black ears twitched, then he hastily raised his hands and said,
"Wait, wait, wait... say no more, say no more, I understand now. So that's how it is... Mr. Fisher, I didn't know about this beforehand. I only asked because I suspected you were an outsider like this little girl. But now that I know, I must warn you: absolutely do not tell this to anyone else later."
"Why?"
Gou Wen's expression grew somewhat serious. He pointed toward the ceiling and warned Fisher,
"Although I don't know what methods Mr. Fisher used to achieve your goal, it definitely wasn't something the world's original operating rules could accomplish. And this is a very, very dangerous thing."
"Once the gods discover the fact that you disrupted destiny, there is a high probability you will face the disaster of destruction. Let alone achieving your goal, even returning will be a delusion... Therefore, absolutely do not mention this to anyone else, nor speak of things that might happen in the future. From now on, just treat yourself as a Transferred Person like this girl. Bear firmly in mind."
Fisher turned to glance at Asuka Karasawa beside him, then smiled faintly and thanked Gou Wen gratefully,
"I see, I understand. Thank you for the reminder. I will be careful of this and won't make this mistake again in the future."
"It's nothing, it's nothing. Although I'm also very curious about what happens in the future, thinking carefully about it, I'll pass. Keeping our lives is what's most important, isn't it?"
Fisher looked at Gou Wen before him. Perhaps because of Jasmine, he had quite a favorable impression of the Whale-kin race. Coupled with this doctor's own easygoing and gentle nature, Fisher felt no resistance or heavy guard against him...
But speaking of keeping their lives, being locked in this cage right now, they knew completely nothing about the outside, much like meat on a chopping block waiting to be slaughtered. Furthermore, the sudden appearance of the Transferred Person Asuka Karasawa beside him threw Fisher's composure somewhat into chaos, leaving him a bit unsure on how to face this long-missing President of the society.
The Lord of Fate wanted him to find her. He just didn't know whether finding her now would count, nor did he know if the Lord of Fate had transmigrated over right now.
Amidst such thoughts, Gou Wen and Fisher stopped talking, and the cell gradually fell into silence again.
Asuka Karasawa woke up approaching midnight that evening, having slept for about six or seven hours. Looking outside at this moment, at the edge of the planet's silhouette at the end of their line of sight, one could see the extremely dazzling sun slowly rising from the due east, illuminating the land brightly. But it was unknown whether the nights in the Eastern Continent were as pitch-black as Fisher remembered; after all, they had a massive World Tree there.
By the time Asuka Karasawa woke up, whatever tricks Gou Wen had pulled on her earlier had mostly worn off. Yet she still just blankly hugged her knees, curled up in the corner of the cage, occasionally pinching her finger joints hard until every one of them was rubbed a bright red.
She remained in this daze until several tens of minutes passed. Only then did she truly confirm she had transmigrated—she was not within her school, not even in Japan, not on Earth, but had appeared all alone in another world.
During these quiet tens of minutes, an immense sense of loneliness and helplessness suddenly washed over her. Staying like that, she began silently shedding tears. Her mind was a blank slate, having completely no idea what to do now.
Although her sobs were very soft, neither Fisher nor Gou Wen were ordinary people. They both noticed her abnormality, yet neither spoke up. Fisher was resting with his eyes closed, while Gou Wen was cupping his chin and staring at the ceiling, thinking about who knew what.
It was unknown how much time passed before the atmosphere in this cramped cage was interrupted by the sudden sound of the cell door opening. As the "clack-clack" noise echoed over, Asuka Karasawa, crying with her head down, hugged her legs even tighter. Fisher abruptly opened his eyes and, together with Gou Wen, looked toward the doorway.
"Hello, did you sleep well last night? I brought you a little something to eat... My, since when did an extra little calico cat appear here?"
Appearing at the door was the angel with short golden hair from yesterday. Fisher still remembered the other angel addressing her as "Helaire".
Her beautiful face carried a lazy and intoxicating smile. With arms crossed, her tone and attitude were extremely affectionate. Yet even upon hearing her teasing voice, the moment Asuka Karasawa saw the deep space outside—more real than anything—and the pairs of blue-gold wings hovering behind her back, she shrank her head like a little chick, not daring to look at her at all, which made the angel cover her mouth in amusement.
She hooked her finger, and many fruits and foods flew into the cage behind her. Gou Wen smiled, said "Thank you", casually grabbed one, and was ready to start enjoying it. Fisher wasn't very hungry, so he didn't move. Asuka Karasawa, likely terrified to death, made absolutely no motion to reach out and eat.
"Don't be so stubborn. I brought these all the way from very far below... Besides, if you don't eat now, you might not get the chance later on."
Fisher glanced at the cross-armed angel, seeing she had absolutely no intention of closing the cell door. He immediately realized the angels were about to start discussing how to dispose of them, these prisoners.
Based on what Fisher had heard previously from Eimhart and Eliog, this group of Angel-kin definitely couldn't be considered friendly beings. As Mythical Species, they naturally had no compassion for humans, so this upcoming journey was very likely extremely dangerous...
However, the angel in front of them was clearly a Mythical Species with a terrifyingly high rank, possessing an aura even more horrifying than the Base he had seen before. Moreover, she wasn't a mindless entity. Neither he nor Gou Wen were at the Mythical Rank; combined, they wouldn't even be able to withstand one of her hands. Furthermore, Eimhart was still in their hands. Even if he could run, he couldn't leave him behind.
Thinking up to here, Fisher no longer hesitated. He lowered his head, grabbed the food she threw over, and started eating heartily. While eating, he saved some, forcefully tossing it to Asuka Karasawa beside him, and said,
"Hurry up and eat. Stop crouching there."
"U-um, thank you."
Asuka Karasawa slowly reached out to grasp the fruit Fisher handed over. She had never seen that massive green fruit, let alone eaten it. She hesitated for a moment before bringing it to her face, taking small, nibbling bites of the soft, glutinous flesh.
"Not bad, not bad. Hurry up and eat. We'll leave once you're done. I'm taking you all to the 【Seventh Heaven】, the Archangels are already waiting for you there."
Gou Wen, having eaten several fruits, gave a bitter smile and raised his hand. Looking at the beautiful, radiant angel before him, he said,
"Um, Lady Angel, I only wanted to come up and see the angels' medical practices. That shouldn't count as some felony, right? Couldn't you just let us go?"
Helaire still maintained her smiling expression. Tapping her chin, she replied,
"Sorry, whether you can be released isn't up to me to decide. However, according to my understanding of the Sanctuary Laws, trespassing into the Sanctuary by other races is a felony. Lord Raguel and Lord Uriel seem quite angry about it. What, missing your home in the ocean?"
The bitterness in Gou Wen's smile grew deeper, but there was nothing he could do. He could only sigh and say,
"It's just that I didn't tell my wife I would be gone for so long before I left. She will worry about my safety."
Helaire didn't respond anymore. She stepped back slightly, flying outside the cage out of Fisher's sight, and he only heard her say,
"Come out once you're done eating. I'll take you up. Hurry up now."
Fisher chewed the sweet, cloying fruit in his mouth, his mind constantly pondering countermeasures, but no matter how he thought about it, every path was a dead end. Fleeing was impossible. Against a Mythical Species, a hundred of him wouldn't be enough to fight just one. He could only approach this from another angle.
"Um... where is she taking us? She just said... did we commit some crime?"
Gou Wen turned his head, considerately explaining to her,
"Just understand it as us presently trespassing into the lair of a bunch of very powerful folks. It's just that unlike Mr. Fisher and me, who came here intentionally, you arrived here accidentally. But they don't care whether you did it on purpose or not."
This single sentence scared Asuka Karasawa so much that she immediately placed her hands together in prayer, and her mouth started chanting those words Fisher completely didn't know the exact meaning of again.
"Then... then what do we do... A-are we going to die? I don't want to die yet... Namo Amitabha... Namo Amitabha..."
Fisher set down the half-eaten fruit in his hand. He gave a glance to Asuka Karasawa beside him, then stood up.
"You won't die."
"Eh? Eh?"
Asuka Karasawa stared blankly at Fisher's back and asked,
"How... how do you know?"
"... I just know."
If you were to die right now, the future Lord of Fate wouldn't have asked me to come find you.
Fisher thought this in his heart.
Asuka Karasawa, on the other hand, was choked by Fisher's non-answer. She had been crying just a moment ago, and now she sniffled, becoming somewhat at a loss for what to do.
"Hurry up and let's go. Are you done eating?"
But Fisher's voice rang out again. Raising her eyes, she saw that both Gou Wen and Fisher had already walked to the cage door. Even though just yesterday she thought they were monsters, seeing them about to leave now instantly made Asuka Karasawa feel frightened. She struggled to stand up and ran toward Fisher and the other.
"O-okay... sorry."
She silently followed behind Fisher's back. Perhaps she felt that since Fisher was also human, he was at least somewhat better than a Gou Wen with whale ears and a tail.
And so, they exited the cage. Outside the cell was a suspended pure-white path. This seemed to be the edge of the Third Heaven, so aside from the angel before them, Fisher saw absolutely no other angels.
Everything was dead silent. Once they left the cage, they immediately floated up as if they had lost their weight. But when stepping onto those white stone slabs, it was as if they were magnetically attracted to them, no longer drifting aimlessly.
"Everyone, watch your step, follow me."
"..."
The beautiful angel ahead spoke. Fisher pondered for a moment, then obediently followed her, heading toward the center of the Third Heaven along the path ahead.
Along the way, they passed by numerous ornately designed buildings of unknown purpose. Sitting upon them now were many angels with illusory wings, varying hair ornaments, and diverse appearances behind them. Their expressions also differed. The only common trait was that, from afar, they all seemed to possess an ambiguous, androgynous beauty, making it hard to immediately ascertain their specific gender.
Right now, they were all silently staring at Fisher's group down below. Up ahead, Helaire openly waved her hand at them, and many angels either nodded or waved back in return. This made Fisher subconsciously stare at the beautiful female angel before him, who was quite different from the others.
She was wearing a heavy robe, making Fisher unable to see her specific bodily curves, noting only that her figure was somewhat shorter than his own. Fisher pondered for a moment and was just about to ask about the origins of the angel in front of him when she, without turning her head, suddenly spoke up.
"Helaire... 【Morning Star】 Helaire, that's what they all call me. I'm a Power Angel responsible for a few minor affairs across the seven heavens."
Behind him, Asuka Karasawa blinked, but didn't utter a word, continuing to remain silent.
"Fischer Benavides."
"Oh, robust humans like you are truly rare... Not bad, not bad..."
"... Allow me to ask, is the talking book that was with me currently safe? He is very important to me."
"Oh, him... Don't worry, you'll find out shortly. He indeed is very important, remember that point."
"..."
Fisher stared at her back and pondered for a second or two. Unable to immediately grasp the meaning behind her words, he didn't press further because by now, they had arrived at the bizarre cylindrical tunnel connecting the various levels of the Sanctuary that Fisher had previously seen from inside the Cage of Sealing Curses. Helaire also paused her steps slightly before that tunnel, turning around to say to Fisher and the others,
"Everyone, please jump inside here. Don't worry, you won't fall down."
It would have been better if she hadn't said anything. The moment she did, Asuka Karasawa subconsciously poked her head out to look down the tunnel, only to see that beneath the massive cylindrical tunnel lay a gigantic planet extending as far as the eye could see. Her acrophobia instantly flared up, and she almost sat on the ground with weak legs.
"A-are we really jumping down? Hah... really?"
"Really."
Asuka Karasawa's lips trembled as she looked back at Gou Wen and Fisher. Gou Wen was the first to shake his head, taking a light leap forward into the cylindrical tunnel, subsequently hovering within it. But before he could even turn back to speak to Asuka Karasawa, he was instantly enveloped by a ray of light and shot upwards at a rapid speed.
"Ahhhhhh!"
Watching Gou Wen's figure fly upward with such speed it left afterimages, giving off a feeling as if he had just passed away, Asuka Karasawa was so terrified she didn't dare move anymore, plopping her buttocks onto the ground.
"S-so scary..."
Behind them, Helaire covered her mouth and smiled soundlessly in an extremely mischievous manner, prompting Fisher, who had witnessed everything, to suppress a sigh. He walked to Asuka Karasawa's side, stretched his hand out toward her, and said,
"It's okay, come with me."
"Eh... mm."
Asuka Karasawa wanted to cry again, but looking at Fisher's outstretched hand, she had just reached out to grab it when her entire body was uncontrollably sent flying toward the tunnel. Her face instantly went deathly pale. Before she could cry out, she turned into an afterimage and flew upward.
"Ahhhhhh!"
Her miserable shriek grew further and further away. Fisher's outstretched hand also froze in mid-air. He turned to look at the angel, only to see her saying very apologetically,
"Sorry, sorry, while letting her hold your hand and warmly overcome her fears is indeed nice, it's not fun that way..."
"Fun?"
Fisher furrowed his brows, and his hand extended in mid-air had just begun to retract when Helaire was almost instantaneously in front of his face. Her icy cold hand tightly grasped his. Fisher's pupils contracted slightly. Before he could even look at her, he only heard her single-word answer.
"Yes..."
Under her smiling reply, in the next second, Fisher's vision was instantly blanketed by countless extraordinarily dazzling rays of light. Then, as if weightless, he was violently dragged upward by some extremely light force.
In the dark universe, those eternally stationery stars seemed to turn into meteors at this moment, dragging long glowing tails behind them. This sense of displacement beyond human perception made even Fisher feel slightly uncomfortable. He gritted his teeth, the hand holding Helaire's gripping a bit tighter unawares, yet in the next second, the icy hand grabbing his own vanished entirely.
"Buzz buzz buzz!"
"Blergh!"
Fisher instantly appeared upon a massive and bright circular platform. Beside him, Asuka Karasawa was prostrating on the ground, dry heaving non-stop. Gou Wen's complexion was normal as he glanced at the pale-faced Fisher, whose brain was feeling somewhat dizzy.
"Mr. Fisher, are you alright? The angels' teleportation is a bit too violent."
"... I'm fine."
Fisher covered his head in discomfort. Looking around, he found the three of them were currently situated on a circular stone carving. A ring of bizarre, glowing patterns flickered at the edge of the carving. Just as Fisher was about to approach to observe the patterns closer, Gou Wen beside him quickly spoke up.
"Don't move, Mr. Fisher... we can only stay on this circular stone carving. Absolutely do not go near there, otherwise you'll instantaneously be burned to death by the flames of Angel Uriel. This thing is an instrument of torture used in the Third Heaven to punish angels. An implement meant for beings of their level is not something you or I could endure."
"..."
Fisher immediately froze in place, merely turning to look outside the stone carving. There, the white-robed Helaire was standing with a smile. She wasn't looking their way at all, but facing straight ahead where there seemed to be a gigantic elevated platform. The light radiating from the platform was far too blinding, rendering Fisher unable to look directly at it for the moment...
In the next second, the light from the platform was abruptly drawn and focused by some immense power, becoming distinct and stratified as it dispersed. The pressure on this blinding platform suddenly multiplied drastically. Fisher and Gou Wen both instantly paled, feeling heart palpitations. Acting purely on survival instinct, they naturally averted their gazes from the direction of the light ahead.
Because Asuka Karasawa was still dry heaving, she hadn't sensed the arrival of a terrifying existence over there at all.
Meanwhile, the smile on Helaire's face completely vanished. She knelt on one knee facing the direction of the immense light and spoke up,
"Archangels, the three prisoners who trespassed into the Sanctuary are here. We may begin discussing the methods for their disposal..."
As her words fell, the light before Fisher slowly receded until the terrifying aura was completely withdrawn and imperceptible to humans...
There, seated upon the elevated platform, were seven extremely dazzling, blurred figures.