When Frondier arrived in Olympus, an anomaly occurred in the Empire as well.
“Urk!”
“Guhk!”
In the Imperial Palace, where all the Zodiacs were gathered.
All of a sudden, the Zodiacs let out pained expressions and screams.
“W-what, what is this, what’s happening?”
Elysia, who had been going back and forth between the imperial palace and the covert division to organize the situation, looked around in shock.
In that moment, Philly narrowed her eyes. She immediately checked Ospreet.
“.......”
Ospreet nodded.
Which meant he was unharmed.
In that case—
“Possession.”
Aten, who was beside Philly, spoke.
“Since they’re Zodiacs who decided to abandon the gods, if the gods try to possess them, backlash is only natural.”
The energy in the palace boiled over. Not just as a feeling—each Zodiac’s aura filled the entire palace, pushing against each other.
Pressure so intense that even ordinary people could clearly feel it.
“Ospreet!”
Philly shouted, and the great mage had already finished his spell.
Space magic.
Chains of Bitter Cold.
Chwarrrk!
When Ospreet stretched out his hand, all the Zodiacs had their arms and bodies bound by black chains.
Despite the name, these chains were not particularly cold. But though they could be seen, they could not be touched; the more one tried to undo them, the more one only ended up grabbing at one’s own body.
To others, that looked like someone hugging themselves from the cold.
“Kr, uuuurgh......!”
Of course, the Zodiacs right now had no particular intention of undoing the chains. ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) Just resisting the possession was hard enough. If anything, thinking Ospreet would hold them if they failed was almost reassuring.
“Ospreet, can those chains really hold all of the Zodiacs?”
When Philly asked, Ospreet answered readily.
“It will be impossible.”
“.......”
“This is no more than a comfort. It is impossible for me alone to bind all the Zodiacs. But not all of them will have their bodies taken over at the same time, so we can only pin our hopes on that.”
Can the Zodiacs resist being possessed by the gods? Or will they be taken over in the end?
No one knew.
However, even if they were taken over, the odds of all of them being taken at once were slim.
In that case, Ospreet could focus his strength on those whose bodies had been taken. The chains right now were for that moment.
“Ospreet!”
Someone shouted then.
It was Ridwi.
Unlike the other Zodiacs, Ridwi looked to have a bit of leeway. Fighting hard to resist the possession, but with enough strength left to speak to Ospreet.
“Just binding them isn’t enough!”
“In that case?”
“You have to attack the Zodiacs!”
At those words, Ospreet’s eyes went wide.
“Are you serious?”
“Yeah! It’s the thing that worked best when I tried it!”
“......Don’t tell me you mean you hurt yourself?”
“Don’t make me say the same thing twice!”
Ridwi’s words meant, in short, that Ridwi had ultimately shaken off the god’s possession by themself.
But Ospreet hesitated. No matter what, being told to attack one’s comrades was not something easy to do.
“You’re so damned frustrating!”
Crackle!
Ridwi raised one hand. Blue strands of lightning shot out in sparks.
Pazzzzzzt—!
Then Ridwi poured those sparks into their own arm.
“......Hoo, see now?”
“.......”
Everyone else fell silent, staring at Ridwi.
Amazingly, Ridwi had stabilized. Proof that the possession had receded.
“Resisting possession is a fight between souls. Humans, for the most part, can’t consciously perceive their own souls. If you want to resist, you have to forcibly wake it up.”
“......By hurting oneself, you mean you wake up your own soul?”
“That’s right. When the survival instinct raises its head, it lets you faintly sense your soul.”
Ridwi opened and closed their hand. It was still faintly trembling, as if the tingling had not completely gone away.
Ospreet narrowed his eyes.
The survival instinct had to rise. In other words, that was how much damage you had to deal. A bit of pain would be completely meaningless.
“Urgh, uuuurgh......!”
But there was no time. The other Zodiacs could not even say anything, only groan. They were not in as relaxed a situation as Ridwi. And even for Ridwi, no one knew when the possession might come again.
“Osp... reet......!”
At that moment, Zodiac Daisy looked at Ospreet. She could barely manage to call Ospreet’s name, but her eyes were already saying everything.
With her eyes, Daisy said:
—Quit pretending to be nice and hurry up, you old geezer.
“......Mmm.”
A subtle expression came over Ospreet’s face.
“Don’t worry too much.”
Aten approached then.
“If it’s just about any ordinary injury, I will heal you.”
“Your Highness.”
Ospreet observed politeness with a small bow. Then he asked carefully,
“When you say ordinary, to what extent do you mean?”
To that, Aten placed a hand with regal grace over her chest and spoke.
“As long as you don’t die, I can manage somehow.”
“Understood.”
Ospreet raised his hand. On that hand, sparks like Ridwi’s arose.
No—lightning far more dreadful flickered.
“.......”
Ridwi shut their mouth at that sight.
Before Ridwi could say anything, Ospreet was already stretching out his hand.
What Ridwi had been about to say was simple.
'Isn’t that a bit much?'
Pazzzzzzzzzzt—!!!
***
The same situation was not happening to the Zodiacs alone.
Everyone who had received divine power was experiencing the same thing.
It was impossible to block all of them.
Some had already been possessed, and others were still fighting. Some were being subdued by their comrades, or had fainted.
However, among them, there was someone in a very peculiar situation.
“Pielot.......”
In Agoris, inside Frondier’s room.
Everyone inside was watching Pielot. Gregory and Arald, as well as friends from Atlas like Vasileo.
At first, Pielot had suddenly screamed like the Zodiacs in the palace.
But Pielot had instinctively known what to do.
It was just that the method was a bit extreme.
Pielot had drawn Pielot’s own sword and tried to cut Pielot.
Of course, Pielot had not intended to cut deeply enough to endanger Pielot’s life, but significant blood loss was guaranteed.
Right before the blade could pierce Pielot’s own body—
“......Is, is Pielot asleep?”
Vasileo examined Pielot from up close and asked.
“It seems so.”
Arald nodded in agreement.
With both knees on the floor, the drawn sword drooped powerlessly and Pielot’s body sagged. But Pielot’s shoulders rose and fell gently, and Pielot’s breathing was calm.
Having received information from Malia in the palace, Gregory immediately realized what was happening to Pielot. That a god had attempted to possess Pielot.
But this sudden state of falling asleep was incomprehensible. None of the Zodiacs had ended up like this.
'Pielot, what in the world happened?'
Gregory looked at Pielot with a confused face. Already on the verge of his head exploding from swapping information with the palace, Pielot’s abrupt change was more than he could handle.
'You’re going to wake up, right? Pielot?'
Everyone’s worry and unease was slowly growing.
“......This place.”
Pielot was standing inside a pitch-black room.
Pielot looked at Pielot’s own hand. Pielot looked at the palm, then flipped it to look at the back of the hand.
“It’s a dream.”
Pielot realized it at once.
Not long ago, because of the influence of the mana absorbed in the demon realm, Pielot had experienced a strange dream. For Pielot, dreams were something easier to recognize than for others.
Of course, the biggest reason for that sense was—
[......Pielot von Livanche.]
Because of Pielot’s god, “Hypnos.”
Hypnos, god of sleep. He was the one who had dragged Pielot into this dream.
“Hypnos.”
Pielot looked at Hypnos with lowered eyes.
In truth, it was the first time Pielot had seen Hypnos’s full form. Until now, only the voice had ever been heard.
Hypnos was a much older old man than Pielot had imagined. Can gods even grow old? That thought flickered by, but Hypnos really did look so old that even moving seemed difficult.
“What is it this time, Hypnos.”
Pielot looked at Hypnos with a face more fed up than anything.
Back when Pielot had fought the demon, when Pielot had stood against the swarm of demons like dark clouds, Pielot had thought Pielot had completely broken with Hypnos.
Pielot had said a great many things that one could hardly imagine saying to a god. Hypnos had every reason to be sick and tired of Pielot.
“This time, are you planning to take over my body.”
[......I am.]
Hypnos answered.
From Pielot’s standpoint, that single line was already a declaration of war, so Pielot took a stance.
'......If I kill this guy in a dream, will he really die?'
No, of course not.
But it should be enough to resist possession.
If Hypnos had personally entered the dream, there would be some effect when he was cut.
Whether Pielot could actually beat Hypnos was a problem for later.
[Pielot.]
Just then, Hypnos stretched out one hand.
[I will possess your body. And then,]
Grip.
Pielot took a drawing stance. Even within the dream, a sword hung at Pielot’s waist. Whether it had been there from the start, or appeared because Pielot thought it should be there, was unknown.
[Let’s run away.]
“......Ah, what?”
At the completely unexpected words, Pielot’s stance faltered slightly.
With that serious face, what nonsense was Hypnos spouting?
[Once I possess you, I will immediately leave this battlefield. We will go to a place no one can find, and if we stay there for a few years, the world will return to how it was.]
Pielot blinked.
Hypnos’s words were absurd, but judging by Hypnos’s expression, he seemed to be serious.
“Heh.”
In the end, Pielot dropped the stance. Pielot scratched Pielot’s head.
“I’ve really been curious about this for a long time. In the past, I thought all divine power was like you. But it turns out you’re even more extreme than the other gods. You help me way too much.”
No god was as devoted as Hypnos.
Even the relationship between Rudra and Elodie, where the god directly showed up to speak, was only a matter of communication method; even Rudra did not move as much as Hypnos did.
Hypnos had even gone so far as to steal Frondier’s necklace in the past for Pielot’s sake.
In the end, Pielot brought out the question Pielot had wanted to ask for a long time.
“What do you want from me.”
[.......]
“What do you want so badly that even now, in this situation, you’re saying you’ll save me.”
Of course, Pielot had no intention of listening to Hypnos.
Hypnos must know that as well.
Even if everything ended and Pielot came back, there would be nothing left.
A world after the gods had won. Pielot had not the slightest interest in such a thing.
[Pielot...... if you just listen to me now,]
“You’ll live?”
[.......]
“You don’t really expect that line to work on me right now, do you?”
Pielot’s unshaken eyes. At that, Hypnos let out a sigh. The old man’s sigh sagged like he was exhaling what remained of his short life.
[Pielot, I have an older brother.]
“......Ah, right. Thanatos. The god who killed Atjie.”
Pielot’s eyes sank.
Thanatos and Hypnos were twin brothers.
Frankly, just that much alone was enough to drop Pielot’s favor toward Hypnos to rock bottom.
Saying they had no connection just because they were merely brothers was easy enough in words, but Hypnos could at least have given a warning.
[Thanatos and I stand in positions very close to human fate. That’s our role.]
One side was sleep, the other side death.
Just hearing it like that, Thanatos who handled death sounded far more powerful, but Hypnos’s sleep could bring about results no different from death.
If anything, a “sleep from which you never awaken” could at times be more horrific than death.
[So we are among the few gods who meet the Moirai. That’s how Thanatos was able to target Atjie.]
“What a useless brag. And what am I supposed to do with that.”
[The three goddesses of fate knew this day would come.]
“......This day.”
[Ragnarok.]
At those words, Pielot fell silent for a moment.
Right. That could be. Since they were the three goddesses of fate, they might well foresee an event this large.
“So what, the Moirai made some kind of preparations in advance......”
[Only about you.]
“......Heh?”
[The Moirai prophesied the human who would survive after this Ragnarok.]
Hypnos looked at Pielot with sorrowful eyes.
Even that expression, Pielot believed was just acting—
but the voice entered Pielot’s ears whether Pielot liked it or not.
[You alone are the sole survivor, Pielot.]
