Subtitle: Are you sure you’re not mocking my intelligence?
Qiweiya gazed at the sea of people around them. It was impossible to tell who was here for the spectacle and who genuinely intended to try their hand at pulling out the sword.
“Hey? Wouldn’t you say this place is only a slight step up from a vegetable market?”
Lysander shot her a sidelong glance. “Lady Qiweiya, this is the site of the sword-pulling ceremony, not a so-called market. Please try to distinguish between the two.”
With a bored “Tsk,” Qiweiya retorted, “But it really does feel like a market to me! Look, you’ve got the merchandise for sale,” she gestured at the sword, “and the sales clerks,” she pointed to the organizers. “And now, with all these… chaotic shoppers, how is this any different from a market?”
Lysander felt at a loss for words. “While your reasoning is sound, and I have no rebuttal… that doesn’t change the fundamental nature of this event as a sacred rite of selection.”
Qiweiya was left speechless. ‘How am I supposed to respond to that? I’ve got nothing.’
Fortunately, the master of ceremonies saved her. “The holy sword-pulling ceremony will now commence under the fair and just supervision of His Holiness, Pope Rylesdan! All who wish to participate, please proceed in descending order according to the number on the token you received upon entry!”
Hearing this, Qiweiya pulled out the crystal token whose purpose had previously eluded her (and which she had considered selling). “Hm? 360? What an auspicious number! Lysander, what’s yours?”
Lysander’s expression was flat. “110. My lady, are we truly participating?”
A smirk played on Qiweiya’s lips as she watched a vagrant on the stage strain with all his might. “Don’t you think it would be fascinating to see the looks on their faces if the very person the Holy Sword was created to smite—the Goddess of Ice and Snow—were to pull it out?”
Lysander seemed unable to grasp her logic. “While you are not wrong, my lady… I have a feeling you’ve misunderstood something fundamental here.”
Qiweiya waved her hand dismissively. “Don’t worry about it. It’s not like they can do anything to us even if they all attacked at once. We’re on completely different levels, after all.”
The Pope on the platform seemed to glance in Qiweiya’s direction. Sensing the subtle gaze, she smiled with amusement. “Though, now I’m starting to wonder if this whole sword-pulling thing is meant to select a leader or to lure a certain someone into a trap. Hehehe.”
“Number 360! Please come down and attempt to pull the sword!”
At the announcer’s call, Qiweiya tugged the brim of her hat lower, better concealing her world-famous face.
The Pope summoned a nearby guard and whispered in his ear, “Tell them to prepare for the third plan immediately.”
“Yes, Your Holiness!”
The Pope’s hand, hidden within his sleeve, clenched slightly. He could feel the sweat on his palm. ‘Goddess, I do not know if the Planetary Armament granted to us by the Lord Above can harm you… but this is our one chance to fight back. We will stake everything on this counterattack. Even if it means destroying Valkyrie, we will slay you, who stands in the way of the demon extermination!’
Qiweiya approached the so-called sword in the stone. As she looked at the simple, unadorned stone sword embedded within it, a cold glint flashed in her eyes.
‘A Planetary Armament? This world truly pulled out all the stops to deal with me… using the very foundation of their world to forge a holy sword? Hahahaha, how absurd! Are they really willing to hand over their own lifeblood to a subordinate race just to kill an outsider like me? And what is that Creator God thinking? Does he never coordinate with the world’s consciousness before sending people here? I’m supposed to be here to save the world, for crying out loud!’
“Miss, do you not intend to pull the sword?”
Qiweiya turned to the announcer, who was already trembling with fear, and offered a bewitching smile. “Don’t worry, you won’t get caught in the crossfire. I’m not the bloodthirsty type.” With that, she grasped the hilt of the sword.
She felt nothing out of the ordinary, and a strange expression crossed her face. ‘No trap? Have they set it up somewhere else?’
“Come out!”
*KRAKA-KRAK! SHING! BOOM!*
First came the grinding of stone. Then, right before her eyes, the stone sword transformed into a golden knight’s sword, radiating a sacred aura.
The moment she fully unsheathed it, Qiweiya finally sensed something was terribly wrong. The tenuous connection she had to this world’s source had been severed. Worse, she felt as if she were shouldering the weight of the entire world, her movements becoming sluggish and difficult.
“Quickly! Disperse the irrelevant crowds and initiate the second plan! Move, now!”
“Yes, sir!” came the chorus of replies.
Qiweiya watched Lysander leave with the crowd and felt like coughing up blood. ‘You’re supposed to be my support, aren’t you? So why the hell are you running off with them? Don’t tell me you’re going to get reinforcements! Are you kidding me? Figures. You can’t trust anyone the Creator God sends. Tsk.’
The Pope, dressed in holy white robes with gold trim, walked solemnly toward Qiweiya. “Lady Goddess, do you feel particularly helpless right now?”
Qiweiya tried to release the knight’s sword, which clung to her like a parasite, but it was as if the weapon had taken root in her hand; it wouldn’t budge.
“You didn’t go to the trouble of creating this precious sword just to imprison me, did you?” she said with resignation. “If I’m not mistaken, your next step is to obliterate my very existence and erase me from this world.”
A sneer appeared on the Pope’s handsome face. “Hehehe. To think the Goddess of Ice and Snow, said by our Lord Above to rival the might of an entire world, would be so easily subdued. Brought to heel by a sword born for the sole purpose of defeating you.”
Qiweiya secretly tried to mobilize the source power she carried with her, only to find it unresponsive. Her face instantly turned pale. “Your sword can even affect my own power? …Incredible. That a mere mid-tier world possesses the ability to influence a higher-order origin.”
The Pope took a dark-colored dagger from a guard and gestured with it toward Qiweiya’s body.
From that plain, almost ugly dagger, Qiweiya sensed a profound crisis. This could kill her. It would definitely kill her.
She feigned composure. “This dagger… another masterpiece from your ‘Lord Above’? I must say, I’m growing more and more interested in him.”
*Puchi!* The Pope laughed.
“Ah! How can this be! Why does it hurt so much? *Cough, cough.* I see… this dagger was your true ace, the killing blow you were so confident could defy me…”
The dagger was plunged into Qiweiya’s chest, its blade fully embedded. Given its length, another few centimeters and it would have passed clean through her.
The Pope was surprised that Qiweiya could still stand, that she hadn’t been annihilated by the god-slaying power of the black dagger. “To think you can withstand this holy blade, born specifically to kill gods. You truly are an existence with the power of a world.”
Feeling the agony in her chest, Qiweiya wanted nothing more than to tear the man before her to shreds. She hadn’t suffered a serious injury since her ascension to godhood. To be wounded by a mere mortal in this tiny, mid-tier world was the ultimate humiliation!
“Hehehe! You’re the Pope, are you not? If I do not die here today, then next year, this very day will be the anniversary of your deaths! Hahahahahahaha!”
The Pope panicked. He tried to pull the dagger out to stab her several more times and finish her off, but the weapon was stuck fast, as if it had taken root.
Resigned, he abandoned the idea and backed away. “Since the Holy Sword cannot be removed, then I shall have to destroy it along with you! Prepare the forbidden magic! Heroic Spirits! Prepare to unleash your strongest Sacred Relics!”
Qiweiya scoffed. “You are nothing but a pack of clowns! I’ll let you dance around for the short time it takes me to break free of this scrap metal. When I’m done, everything you have will be mine to control!”
While maintaining the forbidden spell, the Pope retorted, “Goddess! Don’t be so smug. You won’t be making such wanton threats for much longer! Activate the forbidden art: [Anti-Divinity · Morolian Purge]!”
Qiweiya was engulfed by the so-called forbidden magic. Still not reassured, the Pope commanded, “Summoned Heroic Spirits! Unleash the full might of your glorious tokens!”
An onslaught of attacks from Sacred Relics—each with its own unique properties, effects, and forms—poured into the magical aftershock.
The spell’s nature confined all attacks within its range, making them more concentrated and vastly more powerful. The Pope watched as the magic shrank and finally vanished, leaving nothing behind. He smiled in satisfaction.
A Heroic Spirit went to inspect the area. It returned with a sliver of metal, presenting it to the Pope, whose face had turned ashen.
‘You failed to destroy me. Since you plotted against me this time, you will surely suffer the grave consequences next time!’
*POW!*
The Pope, in his fury, struck the Heroic Spirit before him, shattering it and sending it back to the Throne of Heroes. “All of you, find me the Goddess of Ice and Snow! Search every suspicious location and leave no stone unturned! I’d rather kill the innocent than let her escape! I want her found, even if you have to dig three feet into the earth!”
“Yes, Your Holiness!” came the resounding reply.
****
“Cough, cough! Lysander, where did you run off to? I almost really kicked the bucket back there, you know that?!”
Lysander flapped the butterfly wings on her back and held the grievously injured Qiweiya tighter in her arms. “I know. But I left precisely to rescue you, my lady.”
Feeling Lysander’s soft chest pressing against her back, Qiweiya’s face flushed a deep red. “Hmph! Even so, I won’t forgive you for your deplorable act of abandoning a teammate without a word!”
Lysander touched the dagger still embedded in Qiweiya’s chest.
“Ah! What the hell! What are you doing? Don’t you know this is a wound?”
Lysander’s face remained impassive. “No. It’s just that you seem so full of energy for someone who was just injured. I was merely confirming. I hope you can forgive my rudeness.”
Qiweiya grimaced, rubbing the area around the wound as if to ease the pain. “I never realized you were secretly so malicious. I really should stay away from a jinx like you.”
“You misunderstand me, my lady. I was merely striving for perfection.”
Qiweiya was speechless. “Right, even if I’m at death’s door, is that it?”
“Yes.”
Qiweiya felt tears welling up. “Creator God! Get this jinx away from me this instant, you old bastard! I can’t believe I ever thought this thing was cute! I must have been blinded by my 24-karat titanium alloy eyes!”
PS: Qiweiya’s guerrilla warfare is about to begin~ Let’s see what other misfortunes she’ll encounter in this other world! Ohohoho~