Campione! - Volume Ex - Chapter 5.3

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Just a little while ago, Kusanagi Godou went until Bordeaux and subjugated a beast of disaster.

The beast this time was a huge pig. However, that was a trivial matter. An even more serious incident was in progress behind the scene.

「So it’s not a waste to make Yuri stand watch for several days.」

『I’m happy to be of use.』

Around the same time when Kusanagi Godou returned back to Marseille──

Ena was sprinting through the mountain forest at the northwest area of Spain. She ran through wilderness with agility that wasn’t inferior to a monkey. She was jumping from branch to branch and ran the whole distance with astounding speed.

It was truly a performance that lived up to the reputation of the nature child Seishuuin Ena.

Originally, there shouldn’t be anyone who was capable to keep up with the princess shrine maiden of the sword in mountainous region.

However right now, Mariya Yuri──her ghost body was accompanying her closely. She was floating lightly in the air and flew with speed that didn’t lose even against Ena’s swiftness.

[Spiritual Body Separation]. By use [Psychic Sensing] and using ectoplasm or spirit body one can create something akin to a doppelganger of the soul. In the past, it was a technique that Princess Alice often used.

As a shrine maiden who possessed similar spiritual power of telepathy, Yuri also tried imitating it.

『When I climbed high in the sky with this form and looked down toward the ground, the “cloud of life”──the cloud that gave birth to the beasts of disaster appeared. It was truly a divine aid.』

Yuri who became a spirit body wasn’t affected by the availability of oxygen or atmospheric pressure.

She climbed until the altitude of 700 meters and observed whether there was the ominous cloud showing up at the area of southern Europe and Mediterranean Sea. She repeated that for several days.

(By the way, Yuri’s true body was in the mansion of Marseille even now. The body was laid down on a bed inside a bedroom and sleeping.)

The place where the cloud originated from was discovered from this kind of sequence of events──.

Ena rushed through mountains like wind toward that place.

Although it was a word that couldn’t possibly be known by European people in 19th century, but if descendant from a hundred years later witnessed the current Ena, surely they would yell 『Ninja!』.

Like that, the two princess shrine maidens arrived at northwest Spain.

They passed through the Catalunya region, and entered deep inside the Valencia region──there they finally caught sight of that disastrous spectacle.

「……Uwaa. In a sense, this is just as expected──or not I guess. This is without a doubt something that far outside our expectations.」

(To think that Madam Aisha will end up like this……)

Ena was exasperated, while Yuri was also in a state of lamentation.

.

……The girl who was born in India, Aisha was captured as sacrifice by the villagers.

The villagers belonged to the heretical Servitus faction of Christianity. However, that fact wasn’t important at all in this case. Later on they would be recorded simply as 『they』 or 『villagers』.

The holy grail that was passed down for generations among them, that pink colored lump of rock.

According to the village’s tradition──

One day the jet black holy mother who brought many lives on earth descended to the surface world.

But she was attacked by a warrior carrying a sword that shined bright and lost her life. Her corpse one day turned into rock and changed into the holy grail……. It was that kind of object.

Inside this mysterious rock, the girl Aisha was sleeping.

The villagers worshiped the holy grail and the girl as a set. They wildly adored her as the 『Holy mother!』.

During that time, a miracle started.

White gas puffed out from the holy grail, and surprisingly it climbed high to the sky and became cloud──it would then make a “beast of disaster” to descend at where the cloud drifted to.

One of the villagers asked the village chief who was also a pastor.

Why was this kind of miracle occurred?

「The jet black holy mother who we’re worshipping is the mother nature itself. She is also the queen of the bird and beast, the one who govern over both life and death──. It’s not strange at all that she dispatch her servant like that to the surface to scatter death and destruction.」

「Is that true, pastor!?」

「Umu. In order to purify the dirtied land, the goddess dispatched the raging beast to us. Rejoice, everyone!」

「OOOOOOOOOO!」

The beasts of disaster descended everywhere in south Europe, destroying cities and towns.

The villagers were terribly happy. The village was in excitement day after day like a festival.

It was because they didn’t only hold faith to heretical Christianity, they also studied evil sorcery and proactively carried out wicked ritual like sacrificing humans and the like. They were an evil magician cult. The misfortune of the people of the world was a happy matter for them.

The great joy and wild excitement of the village continued for around half a month──.

However, the days of supreme bliss ended suddenly.

The godslaying devil king Caesar Blandelli entered the stage.

Since that day the beasts of disaster were reduced into the “loser role”. South Europe that was turned into a melting pot of terror and chaos recovered peace with Caesar’s strength.

The magicians of the righteous faction that could only shake in their boots against the threat of the beasts until now.

When they recited the name of Caesar, that man would come flying from out of nowhere and consigned the beasts to oblivion like it was a chore!

.

「Oo, holy grail and saint!」

「Curse our resented enemy Caesar Blandelli!」

「Curse him! Curse him! Curse him! Curse him!」

「Damn you, accursed Caesar, our hateful enemy!」

Deep inside a mountain in Valencia region, in front of a precipitous cliff.

There, the villagers who imprisoned the girl Aisha were gathering.

They filled their body with blazing rage, killing intent, curse, and twisted sense of justice. They raised their voices loudly and spewed out their hatred to Caesar Blandelli.

It was late at night. The full moon was rising up until near the zenith.

The people were prostrating toward the holy grail that swallowed Aisha.

The pink colored lump of rock was half transparent. Inside it the brown skinned beautiful girl was lying down sleeping.

The shape of the lump of rock was vaguely similar with a large cow. The size was also around that big.

This holy grail was supported by wooden material that forcefully made it stood up. The villagers set it up like this in order to face the girl sleeping inside and offered their prayer to her from the front.

And then, very suddenly──

*Blink*. Aisha’s eyes opened wide.

(……My? I, what is it I have been doing until now?)

She hazily thought inside the transparent pink stone.

(If I remember correctly, I was attacked by strange gods in a place with name like『Temple of Infinity!』……. This place, where in the world is this?)

Aisha’s consciousness was still hazy.

But, her memory was recovering in fragments. Furthermore her half awakened body was brimming with unprecedented amount of mystical force.

A source of power that made her worthy as godslayer, the queen of the mysterious cave was──.

Right now, outside the holy grail that was containing Aisha, dozens of people were praying for something really passionately.

「O maiden of holy grail, we beg you to bring down the divine punishment to the enemy of justice Caesar!」

「The devil king Caesar is truly the root of all evil! I beg you, with your great power please do something about that person!」

「We offer our prayer to the mother of holy grail and saint!」

Aisha sorted out those earnest requests inside her hazy mind──

(I seeee. A person called Caesar-san is tormenting these people. It makes me a bit tearful. How pitiful they are……)

If it was her usual self, then Aisha would be moved to tears right now.

However, her flesh body was still half asleep. She still couldn’t move even a single finger. She couldn’t remember the particular but, right now she was being imprisoned inside a rock.

The rock that was called as holy grail by the people outside was accumulating a terrific amount of mystical force──

(Ah, I see. I understand!)

Aisha noticed.

(Because I absorbed a lot of power from this rock and got a lot of rest from sleeping for a long time, that the『seal』 Zurvan-sama applied on me got dispelled!)

She had never learned magic but, she had a lot of experience as godslayer.

Aisha easily saw through the mechanism of the matter and comprehended it. Even if Zurvan used her authority of time to return her back to her youth, as expected she was a “godslayer”.

Certainly both her body and memory were returned to the time she was seventeen years old who didn’t know anything.

However, thanks to an absurd amount of mystical force charging Aisha’s body and mind, even that『return to youth’s effect』 was negated.

The resistance to curse and sorcery that devil king Campione possessed was heightened──.

Aisha understood her situation in general.

But unfortunately she was still imprisoned inside the holy grail and couldn’t move. The people outside were praying zealously toward her who was in that state.

「O maiden of the holy grail, please grant us your divine protection……!」

「Please punish the hated enemy Caeasar!」

The kind Aisha was the heaven-sent child of love and virtue at any time.

Naturally, her heart was moved by their yell.

(They’re speaking that far, and they’re pitiful so……perhaps, I should give help.)

Certainly at this time it didn’t look like she could get out from the so called holy grail.

It would also become a way for her to kill time during that, and above all else she conveniently──could use the power of holy grail really easily…….

(Eii)

She tried sending her thought slightly.

White smoke puffed out from the lump of rock where Aisha was in. It climbed high to the night sky. It then turned into cloud and drifted to somewhere.

(That cloud, somehow it seems that it will create my friend……)

Aisha vaguely sensed the cloud’s role.

During the time she was imprisoned inside the strange holy grail thing, the power relationship between them got overturned.

Or rather, there was no way『an inorganic substance that wasn’t even heretic god』 would be able to imprison a devil king Campione for eternity. No, well, until just a little while ago Aisha was just a normal human so, it also felt like the particular was a bit inconsistent but──

(But in the past, someone told me this. We are『creatures that make the unreasonable to be passed in heaven using strength』, that person said. Is that perhaps because there is something like this?)

Even while questioning herself, Aisha began to do a trial run.

She heightened her focus and produced the cloud of life one after another. *Puff puff puff*. The clouds rising up from the holy grail were drifting to east, to west, to north, to anywhere without any order.

After it arrived at somewhere, it would give birth to Aisha’s『friend』 from it.

(My, how lovely! I have to fight with everyone against Caesar-san, and bring back peace to this world!)

「Oo, maiden of the holy grail!」

「Our gratitude to the miracle that you show us!」

「Glory to the jet black holy mother and her maiden!」「Glory to them!」「Halleluya!」「Praise be to god, halleluya!」「Halleluya!」「Halleluya!」

The people outside were rejoicing.

After the clouds of life were generated in succession for the seventh time.

(I have to work hard to prepare for the coming day of the decisive battle!)

Aisha completely felt that she had done a 『good thing』.

.

The princess shrine maidens witness this kind of event from the beginning to end.

Ena was hiding behind a cover. Yuri who transformed into ghost body climbed to the sky. This act happened in the middle of a mountain in Valencia region.

When the two of them joined up, they began to have discussion in whispers.

「The rock those evil magicians called as the holy grail──. It created the “beasts of disaster” and the “clouds of life”, Ena thinks.」

『I also felt that’s the case.』

Yuri immediately agreed with Ena’s hypothesis.

She was perceiving the event’s outline in general with her preeminent spiritual sight ability.

『The body of Madam Aisha who was swallowed for some reason──couldn’t be digested somehow, and from there it seemed that the rock became strange……』

「It got controlled by Aisha-san instead?」

『I think that’s the case.』

「Uuuun……the harm was still be smaller than when she ran wild with only her own strength.」

『Indeed……』

The shrine maidens nodded to each other with gloomy expression.

But, Yuri immediately raised her face with dignity and spoke with determination.

『I will return to my real body and inform Godou-san of this. We have to take a countermeasure immediately!』

「Then, Ena will stay here and continue to observe. This is becoming something outrageous……!」

『If it’s possible, let’s contact Madam Aisha and ask her to stop her folly──her barbarism……no, her terrifying act immediately!』

「Got it. I’ll try that. But that person, I wonder if Ena will be able to stop her……」

As expected even Yuri was so flustered that her tongue slipped.

Even the carefree Ena was unusually tensing her expression with heroic resolve.

.

──The 『devil king sealing』 by the King of the End Mithra and the god of time Zurvan. What overturned it was as expected, the unruly hidden reserves of strength of Madam Aisha.