Story ; Friendly Battle

Sensing no danger from the abrupt change in the atmosphere, I let it be and continue walking to Tiffa's room.

As usual, I directly open the door and walk inside.

"You're here again…" Matilda who is seated on a stool says with exasperation upon noticing me.

Ignoring her, I focus my sight on Tiffa who seems to be in the middle of casting some spell.

I wonder if the spell is a normal one or one from the Grimoire.

Deciding that it wouldn't hurt to wait a little longer, I observe Tiffa as she moves her hands around in a somewhat odd gesture while whispering some words that I can't recognize.

After a few minutes, Tiffa stops before looking in front of her with an expectant expression, only to let out a sigh shortly after nothing happens.

"Tiffa," I call out to her with a vibrant smile on my lips.

She gets startled by my voice as she looks over with a slightly shocked expression.

Upon realizing that it's me, she beams a smile and walks over to me before asking,

"When did you get here?"

"Right before you failed in casting a spell," I casually respond.

Hearing my statement, Tiffa's cheek redden a little as she hastily says,

"That was not my fault! It's the spell that failed not me!"

Seeing her trying so hard to fix the 'misunderstanding', I am unable to hold back from laughing.

Shortly, I stop laughing and look into Tiffa's eyes and say in a serene tone,

"I've gotten the other Grimoire, or, what I hope is the Grimoire."

"Really?" she says, strangely excited.

"Yes," I reply before pulling the Grimoire out of my storage ring.

Unfazed by the sight of a book appearing out of nowhere, Tiffa grabs the book and examines the covers before opening it and doing a quick scan of the pages in the book.

Just as I'm about to ask her about the credibility of the book, Tiffa closes it and places her palm against one side of the cover and mutters a series of peculiar words.

The next moment, the book in her hand seems to shine as a golden symbol appears on the cover on each side.

"I knew it," Tiffa mutters.

Intrigued, I say,

"Open it."

Doing as I told her to, Tiffa opens the Grimoire, revealing a series of pages filled to the brim with scribbles and symbols.

Before I can tell her anything, Tiffa swiftly closes the book and rushes to the drawer where she keeps the other Grimoire.

Taking it out, she opens both Grimoires and places them right beside another with excitement apparent on her face.

How odd… Why is she getting so excited over this?

"Tiffa," I say while walking over to her, "You seem to be enjoying this quite a bit."

"Ah," Tiffa says before looking up from the Grimoires and explaining, "Besides the spells written in the book, there is also a story being told."

"A story?" I ask, perplexed over the need for a story in a Grimoire.

"Yes," Tiffa says, "The story talks about four gods who were living among the mortals of a world. In the beginning, the four gods were worshiped and respected, however, one day, the humans managed to find out that one of the four gods had brought chaos upon the world.

"Filled with resentment and fury, the mortals wished to stand up against that god. Unfortunately, the chaotic god had already disappeared along with two of the other gods, never to be seen again."

What a strange story.

"So, what happened next? I assume that what you read was the first part that was written in the Grimoire of Truth."

"Right," Tiffa says, "Based on the way the first one ended, there should be more to the story, but I'm unable to find it in neither of the two Grimoires."

"I see," I simply say.

This story… Could it be a real one? If so, then who is the one who inscribed it? Who were the four gods? Why did they disappear?

There is a lot that needs further explanation, however, it seems like I won't be getting one anytime soon.

Anyway, according to the story, one of the gods remained. Why is that, I wonder?

Were they not getting along or was there something forcing the god from staying? Either way, there must be more to the story than what the writer is letting on.

---

As I walk in the corridors of the castle, I overhear two guards speaking about an intense fight between a dragon and a teenaged girl.

The dragon should be Tiamat, however, who is one she's fighting against?

I take a few seconds to think about it before concluding that her opponent should be none other than Saturnus.

Curious about this matter, I use Clairvoyance to check outside the castle, only to find the giant figure of a dragon battling against a much smaller figure of a girl.

What's strange is that the one that seems to have the upper hand in the battle is Saturnus, not Tiamat.

Deciding that it's worthwhile to check the battle out, I directly form a gateway connected to somewhere near their location and cross through it.

The moment I appear in the air, floating through the use of Flight, a plethora of spectators whom I hadn't noticed while using Clairvoyance begin cheering loudly.

Tiamat and Saturnus who are mid-battle both stop and look over in my direction.

The next moment, the two of them look at one another and nod once before Saturnus pierces the ground using her unusual weapon and releases a burst of energy that propels her into the sky.

Tiamat who had been staying in one location right above moves her head so that Saturnus lands right on top of it.

Then, Tiamat flaps her gigantic wings with enough force to blow the field under her away.

Fortunately, the spectators are all quite a distance away, so no one is hurt.

Shaking my head, I look over at the approaching dragon and overly excited Saturnus before utilizing Godspeed.

The next moment, I find myself right in front of Saturnus, ready to punch her off Tiamat, however, she unexpectedly has her weapon pointed at my stomach with the distance between the tip and my body being almost nonexistent.

Before I can use Vector Manipulation, a burst of energy escapes from the weapon and launches me back a dozen or so meters as I feel extreme pain all over my body.

Ignoring the pain, I focus my sight on Saturnus who's currently standing on Tiamat's back with a smug look on her face.

Looks like I have been underestimating Saturnus…

Shaking my head, I look down at my bloody body, only to find it regenerating at a rate much slower than normal.

"What the heck is that energy," I subconsciously mutter while thinking about the weapon that odd weapon that Saturnus carries around.

Suddenly, a shiver runs down my spine as a suffocating feeling overwhelms me.

Looking up, I find Tiamat right in front of me in her human form with her arm pulled back in preparation for a punch.

However, for some reason, she's moving extremely slowly.

Taking advantage of that I dodge her punch by moving to the side before preparing to kick her back.

All of a sudden, I feel intense on my back as a burst of energy is released into my body, forcing me to grunt due to the intense pain.

Knowing that I'm in a bad situation, I directly use Blink to move as far as I can before looking back at where I previously was, only to find Tiamat who's already back in her draconic form while Saturnus is on her back, spinning her weapon around.

Having gotten off-guard twice, I keep my attention on the two while taking a quick look at the state of my body.

From what I'm able to sense, my physical capabilities have somewhat gone down from these two exchanges.

{Correct.}

AI's voice startles me, but I quickly recollect myself and think if it's possible to know how drastic is the effect on my capabilities.

{All parameters have decreased by 20.}

Fuck. Seriously, what is that damned energy?!

I take a moment to calm myself down before looking down at my body once again as a notion appears in my mind.

Deciding that it's worth a try, I begin to make use of corporikensis to examine my internal organs, only to find them covered in the strange energy while my Code is attempting to expel it.

Placing my palm against my chest, I begin to extract the energy out, albeit at a slow speed.

Realizing that this will take some time, I create an Illusion before teleporting away, making it seem like I'm just motionlessly floating in my position.

Taking the bait, Tiamat flies over at an extreme speed toward the illusion as I continue to extract the foreign energy in my body.

All of a sudden, I feel another shiver down my spine, causing me to swiftly move to the side, just in time to avoid being pierced by the accursed weapon that belongs to Saturnus.

Seeing her attack miss, Saturnus looks into my eyes and beams me a smile as she moves falls toward the ground due to her inability to fly.

I should just start making use of my Effects.

As such, I begin to utilize Holy Slash to send a wave of light right toward Saturnus.

Hopefully, she won't get destroyed by this…

Such worry is rendered pointless as Saturnus simply lifts her weapon so that the tip of it is pointed at the light wave.

Once the two come into contact, a strange phenomenon happens, as the light wave turns into smaller motes of light before inevitably disappearing without so much scratching Saturnus or her weapon.

Seeing this, I remember Saturnus' statement when we encountered Theodon in front of the castle in Gallia.

'After all, this was what I was created for', is what she said. Did she mean that she was made to take Codes down or was she referring to something else?

Either way, I can't let my guard down.

So, I guess it's bad to hold back.

Ittou Shura.

Right after I activate the ability, my senses are immediately enhanced as my power multiplies.

Using my enhanced speed combined with Godspeed, I appear right behind Saturnus and kick her back.

The kick successfully contacts her back, causing her to get launched into the air at an extreme speed.

I crouch down before leaping into the air with just enough speed to catch up with her.

Surprisingly, Saturnus' body doesn't seem to be damaged at all as she swiftly turns her body along with her weapon.

Unfortunately for her, my stats current state makes it neigh-impossible to be struck by such an attack.

Just as I'm about to counter-attack, I sense Tiamat approaching me from behind while preparing to release flames from her mouth.

Letting out a small sigh, I mutter,

"Deification."

---

Teleporting to the lounging room in my castle, I place Tiamat on a sofa before taking a seat on it.

Saturnus takes a seat on another sofa with a small smile on her face.

"You seem like you enjoyed yourself," I remark.

"Of course!" Saturnus exclaims, "It had been such a long time since I've fought the Creator."

"We used to do this before?"

"Yes! The Creator would always personally keep track of our progress."

"Progress?" I say, "What was the aim?"

"Ah," Saturnus says, "Creating the perfect AI."

"Oh? What for?"

"Creator never said anything about that," she replies.

Creating the perfect AI, huh? I wonder what my real aim had been at that time.

From the visions I have seen so far regarding the past, I was obviously developing something major.

I wonder if the 'Alpha' and 'Beta' angels were part of my research as well...

Anyway, I'm somewhat relieved to know that Saturnus is this powerful. Her speed and strength aside, she can seemingly calculate future attacks and flawlessly dodge or counterattack them.

Once the battle had been over, I asked her something that had been bugging me a little: How did she see past the illusion.

As I had expected, Saturnus simply stated that she's completely immune to illusions.

Shaking my head, I intone,

"Codification."

-----

Str: 84>>86[33>>34] (11) | Agi: 78>>79[31] (11) | Dex: 71[28] (11)

Int: 74[29] (11) | Def: 67>>70[26>>27] (11) | Vit: 66>>68[26] (11)

------

Seeing the changes brought from fighting against the two girls, a comfortable feeling spreads within me.

I look over at Tiamat who's quietly lying on the sofa before forcefully pulling her along with myself as I mutter,

"Arena."