Episode 3: Knight Ren
“……!”
The goddess lifted her body, drenched in green blood.
The usual cleanliness maintained by her divine body was nowhere to be found. Instead, she was covered in filth and discomfort, yet such trivial matters didn’t concern her in the slightest.
A hero cutting through the battlefield, wrapped in brilliant light as she slaughtered monsters.
Despite being the kingdom’s strongest knight and commander—an indispensable figure in warfare—she drew the monsters’ attention with her radiant presence, saving her allied soldiers.
Though her body accumulated wound after wound as she threw herself into danger, she pressed on without hesitation.
And that hero, Knight Ren, was none other than the past incarnation of the divine being known as Constellation Ren.
“Was that… me?”
It was a life from before she had ascended to become a constellation.
“…I remember.”
The goddess recalled the faint, distant memories of her past life.
When she was still human, the kingdom she protected had been invaded by monsters emerging from the abyss.
These monsters, created by a power of unknown origin, swept across the continent with nothing but an instinctive urge to slaughter all sentient beings, including humans.
Driven by a hive mind connected to a queen, the monsters recklessly tore through humans, their sheer madness making them the embodiment of fear itself.
“……”
Ren blankly stared at her past self, who wielded an aura blade to cut down the monsters.
A hero who prioritized victory on the battlefield and the preservation of her allies over her own safety.
“To think… I was… like this.”
Her nobility was so striking that even she couldn’t help but admire her past self.
Before her stood humanity’s hero.
It had been centuries since she was elevated to the status of a constellation.
Dulled by the languor of the divine realm, her very soul now stirred with waves of emotion she had long forgotten.
She remembered.
What she had accomplished in her past life.
The kind of person she had been.
Chitter.
At that moment, a mantis-like monster with a sleek, agile appearance suddenly emerged from the pack.
“…Elder Guardian.”
According to the goddess’s memory, only three of these monsters existed, serving as the queen’s royal guards.
‘Why is it here now?’
However, in her memory, this creature had not appeared in this battle.
Something about this battlefield was different from her past.
Chitterrr!
The Elder Guardian ignored the smaller monsters entirely, flapping its wings as it charged straight at Knight Ren.
Clang!
The sharp, blade-like outer shell of the monster clashed with Knight Ren’s aura blade.
As a testament to the abyss’s heavy investment in creating it, the monster’s weapon rivaled the strength of the aura blade.
Screech!
Meanwhile, a massive monster began preparing to unleash a breath attack toward the cluster of soldiers.
If the breath, filled with corrosive acid, struck them, every one of them would dissolve on the spot.
“Tch!”
Clicking her tongue, Knight Ren swung her blade, sending an energy slash that cleaved the massive monster in two.
But the price of taking her attention away from her current opponent was substantial.
Crunch.
“Ugh!”
The Elder Guardian’s blade severed the arm holding her sword.
Ren’s sword was flung into the air, landing right in front of the goddess’s avatar.
!!!
“This can’t be….”
The goddess was horrified.
This was something that had never happened in her past life.
The Elder Guardian had not appeared on this battlefield, and her body had never suffered such a grievous wound at this point.
“This should’ve been part of the queen’s lair infiltration mission….”
[Trial]
[Story]
[The Abyss’s Corruption]
The goddess finally understood.
The Administrator had mentioned that this story, containing her tale, had been corrupted by the power of the Abyss.
At first, she thought it was simply because the monsters in the story originated from the Abyss, but it seemed that the power of the Abyss had twisted the very fabric of the narrative itself.
As a candidate for the Administrator’s position, the task assigned to her in this trial was to resolve these distortions.
The goddess gently grasped Ren’s sword.
This sensation, both chilling and warm—it was her cherished weapon from long ago, now forgotten.
Crackle.
At first, the sword emitted a burst of energy, rejecting her because she was no longer its master. But upon sensing her will, it calmed and accepted her once more.
Screech!
The countless monsters noticed that she had taken hold of the sword and swarmed toward her.
[Swing the sword.]
The intangible power emanating from the blade tried to guide her movements. A tutorial for a beginner’s first combat in a virtual reality game.
“No.”
The goddess unleashed the sword’s power, shattering all of its assistance.
“I don’t need it.”
This was a battlefield she had already experienced once before.
The time she had spent in the celestial realm had not dulled her skills in the slightest.
Whoosh!
The goddess swung her sword and launched herself off the ground.
The moment she gripped the blade, her entire body surged with mana.
That power was more than enough to support her swift and extraordinary movements.
Screech!
Screech!
Roar!
A radiant path of destruction carved through countless monsters.
At the forefront of that path, the goddess finally reached Knight Ren.
Boom!
There, her past self was fighting the Elder Guardian with only one arm, having lost her sword.
Though Knight Ren was stronger than the Elder Guardian, she was growing steadily weaker.
The wounds she had sustained while protecting others in the earlier battles were draining her, and the massive blood loss from her severed arm was taking its toll.
[Save Knight Ren.]
“You don’t need to tell me that.”
Clutching the sword tightly, the goddess intervened in the duel between the two powerful beings.
Screech!
The Elder Guardian trembled with rage, its wings quivering at the sudden appearance of a new, powerful foe in a battle that had been nearing its conclusion.
Knight Ren appeared briefly surprised but soon smiled and began coordinating with the goddess.
When the Elder Guardian’s blade was blocked by Knight Ren, the goddess struck with her sword. When the goddess parried an attack, Knight Ren smashed it with her remaining fist.
Despite meeting for the first time, their teamwork was seamless, as if they were one.
The Elder Guardian lasted no more than thirty seconds.
Screeech…
Its shattered body parts scattered across the battlefield.
Rumble.
With the death of the Elder Guardian, the highest-ranking monster present, the remaining monsters began retreating.
The queen had recognized the defeat and issued an order to withdraw.
“Lieutenant! Do not pursue them! Secure the battlefield and tend to the wounded!”
As expected of the supreme commander, Knight Ren swiftly issued a series of commands before walking toward the goddess with a bright smile.
“Soldier! Your actions just now were remarkable. Without your help, I would’ve been defeated by that disgusting creature!”
“……”
The goddess remained silent.
She had much she wanted to say but couldn’t bring herself to voice it.
Facing her past self overwhelmed her with too many emotions.
Without a word, the goddess extended the sword she was holding.
“Hmm?”
Knight Ren looked at the sword, her expression shifting to one of slight surprise.
//“So it was my sword. I thought it looked familiar. Amazing. I never imagined there’d be anyone besides me who could wield this cursed blade.”
Knight Ren reached out and took hold of the sword.
Then she paused, lost in thought for a moment.
“Come to think of it, it might be better if you use it.”
“…Pardon?”
“I’ve lost my dominant right hand, but you haven’t. More importantly, considering your skill in handling this sword is comparable to mine, it seems more practical for you to wield it.”
With those words, Knight Ren handed the sword back to her.
“Here. Take it.”
The goddess reluctantly accepted the sword once more.
Even though it was her cherished weapon, an essential part of her strength, Knight Ren’s noble decision to entrust it to a mere soldier for the sake of humanity’s protection left her stunned.
‘…Was I truly such a person?’
The comparison to her current self—wasting time in the divine realm—was too stark.
***
The battlefield had been cleared, and a strategy meeting was being held in the general’s tent.
This meeting was meant only for high-ranking officers of lieutenant rank or higher, but the goddess, still in the guise of a soldier, was dragged along by Knight Ren and seated in a corner.
“With this battle, we’ve destroyed their main forces and secured a key strategic point that leads to the heart of their territory.”
Knight Ren unfolded a large map and began the briefing.
Her severed arm had already been replaced with a sleek, chrome-colored artificial arm created through alchemy.
“However, these creatures function like cells under the command of a single entity. Simply reducing their numbers won’t deal a decisive blow. They’ll quickly replenish their forces and come at us again.”
Using a long pointer, Knight Ren indicated a red circle drawn on the center of the map.
“We must eliminate the queen who commands them. Only then will the war end.”
The plan was to deploy an elite strike force to assassinate the queen while the main army drew the monsters’ attention.
This was the same strategy that had been executed during her past life. They had succeeded in killing the queen, which ultimately drove back the Abyss.
‘Though it cost me my life.’
In the end, she had sacrificed herself in a mutual destruction with the queen.
That noble act saved humanity, etched her name into history, and led to her being elevated to godhood.
The contrast between her as a incompetent goddess now and as Knight Ren then could not have been greater.
Knight Ren continued her explanation and pointed to another spot on the map.
“And the key to this operation lies here.”
Everyone in the tent—generals, officers, and strategists—turned their gaze to where she was pointing.
“Eh? …Me?”
At the tip of her finger was none other than the goddess herself.
Thank for the chapter
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