"You came quickly. But you sensed our presence long ago, didn't you?"
"Haha, what a pretentious queen."
Napoleon simply turned toward the throne—though there was no one there.
"So-called gods—"
It was unmistakably Scathach-Skadi's voice, yet she paid no heed to Napoleon's mockery.
Instead, she continued speaking to herself.
"Are eternity. Are absolutes."
"They have been so since long, long ago."
Mash raised her shield as well, standing before Fujimaru Ritsuka.
The source of the voice was no longer vague and intangible, instead beginning to gather upon the throne.
"Humans find their gods within the laws governing all things, but—"
"In my Scandinavia, there is only one god."
"Me."
A shadow appeared upon the throne.
"I heard that the gods of your Proper Human History have all vanished?"
"At the very least, most people can no longer catch a glimpse of them."
"Ah. How painful it must be to live in such a world."
The queen, the goddess, lamented that fact.
"They must bury the objects of their reverence within their hearts, forced to rely on so-called idols."
"But—here, there is me."
At last, she revealed her true form before Chaldea.
Without question, she was a beautiful, dignified, imposing goddess.
She resembled Scathach, the Queen of the Land of Shadows whom Chaldea had once fought alongside in Proper Human History, but she lacked that same sharp edge. Clad in magnificent formal attire, the aspect of Skadi, the Scandinavian goddess of ice and snow, undoubtedly made her seem even nobler and more untouchable.
She stood atop her own throne, looking down upon the people who needed love.
"I permit you to bow before me, children of man."
"Let me, Scathach-Skadi, grant you my love."
"Scathach..."
Fujimaru Ritsuka looked somewhat dazed, but he knew full well that she was not Scathach.
"You