Chapter 373
But if she is a true Goddess... then perhaps she, who controls fate and karma, is...
It is very likely...
Is this the root they've always dreamed of finding?
Chapter Thirty-Nine: The Song of the Goddess
Never underestimate Belldandy.
Because Belldandy is First-class God!
The original work, being a heartwarming comedy-romance anime, did not show how strong Belldandy was in combat, but Belldandy strength was revealed in some settings and dialogues.
As First-class God, her power was enough to destroy the world Ying Yi lived in. This was also demonstrated in the manga version during Urd's exam to become First-class God.
If First-class God doesn't control his power, he could easily destroy the Earth.
If we were to find a better analogy, Belldandy's strength would be at the level of the God of Destruction in Dragon Ball Super.
Therefore, for First-class God like Belldandy, the real difficulty lies not in how to release this power, but in how to control it! A single misstep in controlling it can have devastating consequences.
Kiritsugu never considered just how powerful the Goddess's power should be.
What he knew was that the Sea Demon, which had begun absorbing the power of the Earth Vein, had become a true catastrophe, something they could hardly destroy. The Goddess seemed to be their only hope in eliminating the Sea Demon.
It wouldn't be a bad idea to use that wish here, would it?
When Kiritsugu made the wish, he realized he had seriously underestimated the Goddess's power; he thought he had overestimated Goddess strength. But when she truly unleashed her power, Kiritsugu discovered he had completely underestimated her.
When she broke the seal, heaven and earth changed according to the Goddess's will!
"Is this the power of the Goddess?" Rider looked up at the sky, which seemed to have changed because of the Goddess's power. He never expected that he would have the opportunity to experience the Goddess's power up close.
"This power!" Waver exclaimed in horror as he sat on the oxcart. "Rider, you should abandon those unrealistic ideas! This power is not the power of a true god that we can handle!"
"Idiot!" Rider smacked Waver on the head. "This is the power worth conquering! If a Goddess can't even do this, what's the difference between her and a deceitful witch?!"
"This is the kind of place I should conquer!"
People's physical constitutions are different from each other, and Archer shared the same idea as Rider.
However, this was, after all, Goddess with such immense power. It seemed his previous plans had to be completely overturned, and he would have to devise a new plan.
But for Li Pu, the feeling was far more complex! The most direct sensation was that she dared not move. This was for real! She dared not move; such immense power, if not controlled properly, could lead to some tragedy.
It's a complete tragedy right now. She can feel that the Great Sea Demon on the river is like an insect to her.
Even if you absorbed the seemingly limitless power from the Earth Vein, so what? Before the Goddess, you're nothing more than a slightly larger insect. Destroying you would be an incredibly easy task.
But...
The problem is that if I were to take action, it wouldn't just be that I killed the Great Sea Demon, but the entire Fuyuki City might also be wiped out.
He now possesses immense power but dares not use it lightly. However, Kiritsugu's desire compels him to use this power, which is so great that it can destroy an entire city with a wave of his hand.
This...
This really is...
'Don't worry!' A voice, a voice that could quickly reassure Li Pu, rang in her heart.
It was Gaia's voice. This time, she appeared behind Li Pu on her own initiative. She gently placed her hands on Lip's shoulders and said, "It's not as difficult as you think, Li Pu. Relax. If you doubt yourself, if you're nervous, you definitely won't be able to do anything well."
"Believe in yourself, you are Goddess," Gaia whispered comfortingly. "You can do it."
"And this matter isn't very complicated," Gaia continued. "The reason the Sea Demon grew so large so suddenly is entirely due to absorbing the power of the Earth Vein. Furthermore, its actions have polluted the power of the Earth Vein, so our first step is to adjust and purify that power."
"The second step is to defeat the Sea Demon, which only requires a little bit. I believe you can control your power."
The third step is to repair the city destroyed by the Sea Demon and save the innocent people.
These steps seem simple, but they are actually very difficult to do! Even with the support of angels, Li Pu is worried that he might not be able to control his power.
"Relax." Gaia noticed Li Pu's tension and comforted him, "Just relax. You inherited all of Belldandy's power and knowledge. So you know what to do."
Sing out loud! This is Goddess's song~
Sing out loud; that's all we can do now.
Perhaps the appearance of the angel reassured Li Pu a little; she had no other choice. All that remained was to resolve the matter! She had already accepted Kiritsugu's wish; she had no other option.
Sing! Sing with the angels.
Purification, Divine Art, Chant!
The moment Li Pu sang the first note, he sensed something different! The sealed state and full power were completely different things. Although Divine Art were techniques built upon vocal rhythms, this placed high demands on singing, especially high-level Divine Art where the changes in vocal rhythms were not only complex but also incredibly fast—sometimes dozens or even hundreds of changes per second.
Furthermore, Divine Art requires a very high level of mental strength from the caster.
In just a few seconds, Li Pu felt she was reaching her limit; she could barely keep up with the angel's voice!
"Don't overthink it. If this is a trial, then give it your all." The angel noticed Li Pu's lack of energy and immediately said, "By the way, our guess was right. After breaking Belldandy's seal, the system's seal was also broken. I bet the system is waiting for you to ask for her help right now. If you don't want the system to laugh at you, then give it your all."
Only by passing this trial will you be a qualified Goddess!
Upon hearing Gaia's words, Li Pu immediately focused all his attention on the singing.
Although she didn't care whether she was a qualified Goddess or not, if she asked the system for help this time, all the advantages she had accumulated over the system would be gone! This was no longer a matter of Kiritsugu's wish.
She had no way out! If she didn't want to be controlled by the system, she had to fulfill Kiritsugu's wish on her own.
'This singing voice...'
On Vimana, Golden Flash, for the first time, completely lost his composure and covered his ears. The singing wasn't exactly unpleasant, but the rapidly changing rhythms were an immense strain on anyone who wasn't God Race.
Fortunately, he still had one-third of divine blood in him, which made it somewhat acceptable to him.
Meanwhile, Tohsaka Tokiomi, who was on Vimana, was in an even more disheveled state. He was completely sprawled on Vimana, his buttocks sticking up high, his hands covering his ears and pressed tightly against the ground. To ordinary people, this singing might just be considered strange.
Because the rapidly changing rhythms are beyond the ability of ordinary people to recognize, at most they will only feel a little uncomfortable.
But it's different for these Magecraft, because the offensive power contained within Divine Art, even if it's not directly aimed at them, is still a tremendous pressure at such a high and fast frequency.
It could even be described as torture!
Li Pu barely managed to keep up with Gaia's singing.
Accompanied by the Goddess's song, light descended from the sky like waves. The seven-colored light dispelled the purple mist that shrouded the river. The once dim river now became beautiful.
The river surface reflected the starlight, and the river that had seemed completely dead just moments before was now reborn.
On the sea, dolphins leap out of the water, and on the river, dragonflies gently skim the surface.
Although the giant Sea Demon still existed, it could no longer threaten anyone. The small tentacles that accompanied the Sea Demon withered and died rapidly under the beautiful light, turning into dust and disappearing into the air.
The Great Sea Demon's body was also rapidly shrinking, as it weakly waved its tentacles in a final struggle.
However, this struggle seemed so powerless compared to the power of the Goddess.
This struggle was so futile, so futile that nothing could be done.
The Goddess's song quickly ceased, but Goddess power did not dissipate. Li Pu, watching from the sky as the Sea Demon on the river finally returned to its size from the animation, remained completely unmoved.
Although it was a struggle to keep up with Gaia's singing, I managed to purify the Earth Vein that had been corrupted by the Sea Demon, while also adjusting the flow of the Earth Vein to bypass the Sea Demon. It was difficult, and several times I felt like I was about to fall behind.
But she felt it was all worth it after barely managing to get through it, and if she had to go through another round, she wouldn't feel as strained as before.
She had surpassed her previous self in every aspect, and while she wouldn't dare say she could easily control the power at full capacity, she could at least control over 60% of the power.
She looked at the Great Sea Demon on the river.
'Gaia? Should this Caster be given another chance at redemption?' Li Pu asked. 'This wicked fellow only deserves utter destruction, doesn't he?'
"You are Goddess, you make the decision," Gaia said. "I just feel that your salvation is the real punishment for him."
So the decision is yours, whether it's direct destruction or salvation.
I will support your choice.
Chapter Forty: The Song of Rebirth
Destroy her, Li Pu is tired.
I don't want to try to redeem him anymore. Even if redemption is punishment for him, he has already degenerated into such a villain. If we redeem him, what about the children he tortured to death?
Who will save them?
Besides, I had already given him a chance before, and he had already chosen to refuse.
Then I won't give it a second chance.
"Be mindful of your power." Gaia didn't say much more, only that, "Don't overexert yourself. Since you've decided to destroy, then give it a try. As First-class God, you must control your power at full strength."
'Just a tiny bit is enough to deal with it~'
"I understand!" Li Pu said. "Just a little bit."
"Heavenly Thunder!"
Just a tiny bit... Li Pu really only used a tiny bit of his strength. As a result, a beam of silver light, accompanied by lightning, crashed vertically into the river. How thick was this silver beam of light? It was as thick as the river itself.
The Great Sea Demon, along with Caster inside, was instantly vaporized without any chance of struggling.
The impact of this powerful Heavenly Thunder strike directly caused a giant wave to surge towards both banks.
Seeing the situation was dire, Saber immediately fled with his wife, and Rider also took to the skies in his vehicle to avoid being hit by the giant wave! Seeing this, Li Pu immediately stopped. She really only used a tiny bit!
I never expected that such a small thing would have such a big impact.
"But it seems Kiritsugu's first two wishes have already been fulfilled," Li Pu said. "It's this third one... Gaia, do you think Kiritsugu's wish includes resurrecting people?"
In the original story, the only victims of the Great Sea Monster were two unlucky guys from the Kūji.
However, this time, because the Sea Demon absorbed power from the Earth Vein, its body was several times larger than in the original story before it was destroyed by Li Pu. The damage it caused was also dozens of times greater than in the original story!
Not only in the foggy areas, but also within a radius of several kilometers radiating outwards from the river, the Sea Demon's influence extended.
They were either directly destroyed by the tentacles, or suffered casualties due to the impact.
At first glance, it looks like the place has been carpet bombed, with ruins and horribly gruesome corpses everywhere.
Restoring the buildings Li Pu be relatively easy, but bringing the dead back to life...
"Yes," Gaia said. "Kiritsugu's explanation isn't entirely accurate. Broadly speaking, resurrecting those innocent victims is also a form of salvation. Therefore, only by completely restoring this place to its previous state can we truly fulfill our wish."
'Ah... this...' Li Pu was now a little stumped.
So... all she remembered was that in the original story Belldandy used her power to restore the destroyed city, but there was no scene showing her bringing the dead back to life.
"Stop thinking about that," Gaia said, seemingly reading Li Pu's mind. "You don't think that in a disaster of that magnitude, only buildings collapse and no private individuals are affected, do you?"
That's simply because the animation didn't show it.
After Gaia said that, Li Pu didn't argue. She remembered the horrific scene in the anime. If it were truly a disaster of that magnitude, it would be impossible for people not to die! So it might really be as Gaia said, only it wasn't shown in the anime.
"Can we do it?" Li Pu asked.
"It's perfectly possible in our unsealed state," Gaia said. "Both the Song of Healing and the Song of Rebirth can do this, but our only problem is that it will consume a lot of divine power. This is different from combat; we truly need to intervene and distort reality to some extent."
"Doing it isn't the problem; the problem is the consequences," Gaia said. "Once we decide to do it, we'll be in a long coma."
It can take anywhere from two or three days to a week or two.
"Why?" Li Pu asked, somewhat puzzled.
"Because of power," Gaia explained. "Killing and resurrection, wounding and healing, destruction and reconstruction all come at different costs. For example, building a skyscraper might take months or even a year, but destroying it only requires a single shell. A person takes over a decade to grow into a skilled warrior, but killing them only takes a single bullet."
"And manufacturing bullets and producing shells takes far less time than a person growing up or building a skyscraper."
'Similarly, destroying Fuyuki City would be incredibly easy for you. But rebuilding it would require many times more effort and patience.'
There's really no room for rebuttal to this explanation.
The price is falling into a coma for a period of time. Is this the crisis that the system really wants to see?
"Moon Stone, what else do I have?" Li Pu asked again, "Isn't having Moon Stone enough?"
"To use an analogy," Gaia said, "If the power you exert were water, it could turn the Sahara into an ocean, but the Moon Stone can only restore a cup of 500 milliliters of water. It's of no use."
"Of course, if you really don't want to, you can just leave it at that," Gaia said. "Because Kiritsugu's wish for 'salvation' here is very broad, with a wide range of possibilities. Defeating the Sea Demon could also be considered as you saving the people here."
'Really?' Li Pu looked at the street beneath his feet and the people on it.