Frondier left.
He was a little worried about Elodie, but every second counted. He had to confirm whether Athena had truly taken Carla’s body, and if so, where she was headed, and whether Pielot or Vasileo were safe.
In the meantime, Elodie simply sat still.
Bael and Andro were right in front of her, but she paid them no mind. Her own power was strong anyway, and she knew Frondier served as a check.
There was something more important to Elodie.
'Possession...!'
Crack.
Elodie ground her molars.
A god possessing a human—she’d known the possibility from before.
She’d heard how Senior Edwin had been indirectly controlled by Hephaestus, and how the Second Imperial Princess Salle had been controlled by Odin.
But she had never imagined it would happen to her.
Elodie’s five gods were her friends. Vishnu was no exception. They were all fickle, but none had ever truly been at odds with Elodie.
And yet, this situation.
Vishnu, who one-sidedly shattered the trust Elodie had built.
Elodie looked at her watch.
'...About five minutes have passed.'
It had taken five minutes from the moment she was possessed and her body was taken, to the moment she got it back.
Elodie rose from her seat.
“...I’ll be going too. Thanks for the information. Frondier would have said that.”
Without waiting for Bael’s answer, Elodie turned and left.
Right now, more than wanting to chase after Frondier, she had the stronger urge to move somewhere—anywhere.
She didn’t want to show her face to anyone in its current state.
'Five minutes...'
With Elodie’s mana and magic, in five minutes she could turn a town like this into a wasteland.
The only ones who could manage it would be, at best, Ospreet or Frondier. No—if one were willing to kill Elodie, Aster might be the quickest.
Halt.
Elodie stopped walking. She covered her eyes with a hand.
Frondier’s words came to mind.
─If by any chance I make the wrong choice—stop me.
Only Elodie could stop Frondier’s power.
And if it were Elodie, she could make ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) the right call better than anyone.
Frondier believed that.
But then—
“...Ugh...!”
Her hand trembled. The trembling soon spread through her whole body.
She bit her lower lip.
“What on earth am I....”
What was she even doing.
Before she could worry about whether she could stop Frondier or not—
She couldn’t even control her own body.
With what right had she thought about something like that.
“...Rudra.”
She called the god she was closest to among the five.
No reply.
“Rudra, if you don’t show up this time, I won’t ever call you again. I won’t accept your help either.”
A moment after Elodie said that—
[That’s a hurtful thing to say, Elodie.]
Rudra’s voice came.
Whoosh!
The instant she heard that voice, Elodie shot into the sky. Rudra was invisible to others; talking to herself would look strange.
“Rudra. I have something to ask. Answer honestly.”
[Why do I feel like I’m the one getting scolded? If you ask Vishnu—]
“Rudra!!”
Thoom!
Elodie’s mana surged once. The air around her danced once.
[...All right. I’m sorry for that just now. Even if you called Vishnu, that rascal wouldn’t come out.]
Rudra spoke in a somewhat deflated voice.
Elodie got straight to the point.
“Can all five of you do this?”
[...]
He didn’t ask “do what.”
Possession—seizing her body without Elodie’s consent. Could all five gods do that?
[If you mean what just happened, only Vishnu can. That one is a Primary God.]
“Because he’s a Primary God, it’s possible?”
[Right. Think of it as a foul that only a god of that rank can commit. Odin controlled Salle too, remember? It’s similar.]
A Primary God. A god who takes a lead role in myth, like Zeus or Odin.
“Then among the ‘Veda,’ only Vishnu can?”
In Indian myth, Veda is the general term for the gods as a whole.
[No, there are three: Vishnu, Shiva, Brahma.]
Three. One was more than enough, but three.
As Elodie’s face twisted, Rudra spoke.
[Elodie. The other two can’t possess you. Even Vishnu, who grants you divine power, only managed about five minutes, remember?]
“...Odin possessed Salle, and she doesn’t even have his divine power.”
[Elodie. You’re thinking in reverse right now. For a Primary God to possess a human isn’t all that hard by nature. They just don’t do it often because their faith plummets afterward. You, who can resist, are the unusual case.]
That didn’t make her happy in the slightest.
“Even so, why are there three who can do it? In Asgard, isn’t it only Odin?”
[No, it’s three there too: Odin, Thor, Loki. For reference, Olympus is also three: Zeus, Poseidon, Hades.]
“Do gods like the number three?”
[If you broaden the scope of ‘like’ even a little, they like it to a degree humans can’t even imagine.]
Elodie exhaled. Her eyes lowered.
“Fix it somehow.”
[...‘Fix it somehow,’ you say.]
“I don’t care if it’s a Primary God or whatever, I can’t tolerate anyone puppeteering my body. That bastard Vishnu has no intention of showing himself or even speaking to me. I’ll make him pay a price.”
[Elodie, hold on a moment.]
Rudra’s voice took on a warning edge.
Every word Elodie was uttering right now was imbued with mana. She was doing it naturally because she was consumed with anger, but when a mage of Elodie’s level speaks with mana imbued, it produces a kind of magical effect. The words themselves gain “meaning.”
It wasn’t as potent as true Word-Speech, but the spoken words acted with restraint and compulsion.
Words are like water that can’t be scooped back up once spilled. Words imbued with mana make their meaning very clear.
[For now, calm down and—]
Rudra, feeling that, tried to restrain Elodie—
“I don’t care. He’s not even showing his nose right now—just hiding. Coward. I thought he was shy since forever, but he’s just a scaredy-cat.”
Words hurled at a Triune Primary God. And with mana, at that.
Elodie wasn’t speaking in ignorance. She knew—and still spoke.
That words couldn’t be taken back meant they could not be brushed off as “lies” or “jokes.”
Which meant—
[Elodie.]
Another voice, not Rudra’s, came. Vishnu.
[Think before you speak.]
Elodie had just provoked him.
One of the Triune Primary Gods, Vishnu.
“Took you long enough. Coward.”
[Elodie. Your current anger is nothing but conceit.]
Vishnu’s voice turned stern. The atmosphere was entirely different from when he addressed Frondier.
[If you forget your place just because you are loved by five gods, that’s a problem. Elodie, you are but a human. When the five of us find you adorable, it’s best you behave.]
Vishnu had never said such things to Elodie.
Naturally. They were words that would define their relationship too clearly. Words that would plant only fear in a beloved human. Not pleasant at all.
But Vishnu had to say them. A human was trying in earnest to look down on a god. As a god, he could not tolerate it.
Even if the result was that Elodie would be frightened and unable to return to their prior relationship with him—so be it.
“Don’t make me laugh.”
But Elodie snorted.
Vishnu was surprised at Elodie’s impudent words—
But in truth, it wasn’t surprising at all.
Elodie de Inies Lishaé.
Had Frondier been beside her—or had anyone who knew Elodie been near—
“Behave yourself while I’m still calling you a friend, Vishnu.”
This was exactly the reaction everyone would have expected.
[—Now this is something.]
And at last, Vishnu—
“...!”
[Why must you be like this, our princess.]
—parted the veil of the air and stepped out.
A tall man adorned with all manner of precious metals. Yet the divinity he exuded dulled even the gleam of gold.
One of the Triune Primary Gods, Vishnu.
Facing him, Elodie smiled with just one corner of her mouth.
“...Heh. For a coward, that’s brave. Showing yourself.”
[Elodie. I don’t want to hurt you. Don’t get heated for no reason—behave.]
“‘Behave’... I can do that.”
Elodie’s provocative gaze stayed fixed on Vishnu.
“Right now, declare you won’t possess my body. Go on, repeat after me: From now on, I will not lay a hand on Lady Elodie’s body. Until the moment I am extinguished.”
[...]
Vishnu’s face hardened.
It wasn’t anger at her words—he was realizing reconciliation with Elodie was no longer possible.
He shook his head.
[Looks like I’ll need to teach you one more time.]
“...Ugh!”
Elodie suddenly felt a tingling in her hands. Her hands wouldn’t obey her will.
Possession had begun again.
[Earlier I took it easy—that’s why it was five minutes. I was worried about your mind, Elodie. But if I decide to—]
Elodie’s hands lifted, moving toward her own neck. As if to strangle herself.
[There’s a limit to how far you should look down on a Primary God.]
“Ghh—ugh...!”
Elodie clenched her teeth. In that instant, her eyes flashed.
Fwooooosh!!
The wind of mana rose again. Elodie threw her entire focus into controlling her body.
[...]
The corner of Vishnu’s eye twitched.
Elodie’s hands stopped. Before they touched her neck.
“‘Took it easy,’ so five minutes...?”
Elodie laughed. The look she shot at the Vishnu before her was murder, pure and simple.
The five gods who claimed to love her. Vishnu, said to be the strongest among them.
“Looks like you really do need some education.”
[...Elodie...!]
“I won’t allow even one second! You arrogant bastard!!”
Crack, craaack!
Elodie heard the sound of the air tearing. Each time her mana clashed with Vishnu’s suppression. The air pulsed around the hands she was trying to command.
Elodie had just been possessed a moment ago.
That sensation of something else taking her body in her stead.
Therefore, now—
Elodie was feeling something most humans would find difficult to perceive in their lifetime.
Something all who had fought in this world believed in and, with that one thing, separated all ranks—
Something almost no one could clearly recognize.
'The soul.'
“Vishnu...!”
Elodie slowly stretched out a hand.
The very hand Vishnu had tried to control.
[This is—!]
Vishnu sensed it instinctively.
This wasn’t mana. If it were merely the power of mana, Vishnu’s power would not be overcome. Not even by Elodie.
This—this power—
[No, at this rate—!]
—Pandemonium will open.
“We’re done—you and I!!!”
