Kuoh.
After standing there for a while longer and rubbing my temples, I finally approached the bed where Griselda was sleeping. She was tossing and turning, sweating profusely and moaning as if she were suffering from intense heat, but even in this case, I did not rush to act.
- "The Almighty said I would receive an explanation," Grandpa said in a puzzled tone, standing nearby with his hands on the hilt of his sword. "Why did He stop my sword when the Evil of Humanity is trying to manifest itself in this world?"
- "You won't believe it, but I would have done the same thing, though for a different reason," I said and sighed. "He wanted me to change her, just like with Goetia and Tia, so that she could become someone who could get along in this world."
Grandpa did not comment on my words, but only continued to look at me with his eyes burning with blue flames.
Even I did not know what he was thinking, because Grandpa, in this variation of himself, was still the Grand Servant, whose purpose was to fight the Evil of Humanity. That is, in theory, he could disobey the orders of both the Biblical God and me in order to fulfill his duty. After all, neither I nor the local Biblical God were natives of Nasuverse, which meant that there was essentially no reason to follow our orders.
In any case, if we abstract ourselves from the situation with Grandpa and return to Griselda, the current circumstances were somewhat reminiscent of what happened to Sakura Matou in her original story, and in the official adaptation.
There, if Angra Mainyu had been able to finally unite with Sakura, he would have become a full-fledged Beast. And, if Griselda and the already formed Beast VI/S had merged, everything could have gone much more smoothly, and the situation could have been many times worse.
However, I did not rush and, looking away from Griselda, looked at Grandpa.
- "So, what have you decided, Grandpa?" I asked. "Considering all the circumstances, you..."
- "Fine," he said suddenly.
- "What, excuse me?" I froze.
- "Do what you must, Master. But if you do not succeed, my blade will fulfill its duty," Grandpa said in an even, deep voice, after which his hands moved from the hilt of the sword to the pommel.
- "Um... Okay?" was all I could say in bewilderment, after which I changed my appearance to Solomon. "One question. Back when Tia started to rage, why didn't you rush to act as you are now? I remember what you said then, but still..."
- "Back then, Beast II was restrained not only by the Servants, but also by Ouroboros and the goddess Tiamat of this world, with whom she had merged. My intervention was preferable, but not necessary until a certain moment.
- "Which I managed to arrive at, huh?" I asked, to which he replied with a short nod. "Thank you for that, Grandpa. Truly."
- "Get started, Master. There's little time," Grandpa urged me, and I took a deep breath.
- "The Time of Coronation has come, He is the One who Begins All..." I began to chant, and golden particles of light began to gather around me, forming a sphere around me and Griselda. "Ars Paulina."
Once inside the Soul Mirror, I approached Griselda, who was still asleep, and placed my hand on her forehead. A quick scan of her body provided some answers, but not the one I wanted.
As expected, her soul was untouched, and now I had to decide how to proceed. I could have pulled the Beast out here and forced it to obey in an extremely banal but effective way. Another option was to penetrate Griselda's mind and talk to both her and the Beast, that is, "talk-no-jutsu" from a popular anime.
I sighed, deciding to choose the second option because of the words of the Biblical God about the illogicality of this world, and placed my hand on Griselda's forehead, which allowed me to enter her mind.
- "Well, let's see how it goes..." I shrugged and, covering myself with a concealing closed field, entered Griselda's mind.
-0-
Once inside, I saw a huge cathedral with snow-white walls, majestic arches, ornate decorations, and a bell tower. And at the very top, I could see a statue of Gabriel in a praying pose, whose massive twelve wings enveloped the entire cathedral, as if protecting it from the slightest evil.
At one point, it seemed to me that this whole place was too "clean", as if even the slightest thought of any of their sins was not allowed here. But...
...they had a small nuance.
I smiled and opened the large doors, finding myself in the vestibule that connected to the middle part of the cathedral. The interior was also pompous and majestic, with many colorful frescoes, statues, benches, and other things. At the same time, the roof was made of glass, through which the statue of Gabriel was clearly visible.
Everything was beautiful, but it wasn't all of this that caught my attention, but the clang of metal echoing off the walls of the cathedral and creating a peculiar atmosphere, similar to a boss battle in a video game. And that was exactly what was happening in the middle section of the cathedral.
Griselda, whose nun's habit was cut in various places, from which scarlet blood slowly flowed, was breathing heavily and looking with cold fury at her almost exact copy, but with a couple of differences.
The dragon's features stood out, that is, the scarlet scales of the eyes and horns, slightly visible on both the face and body. The outfit was not much different from what Griselda wore, but it lacked a headdress, revealing long, wavy, light hair. There were also slits on the sides of the monastic robe, so that every movement of the Beast revealed her long, attractive legs.
Oh, yes. And the weapons in their hands were different. Griselda held the True Longinus, while the Beast held a sword similar to Excalibur Rapidly. I suppose it was the spear that helped the Beast incarnate in this world, because the Grand Order had the Holy Grail, a Christian relic of approximately the same power.
- "Why don't you give me that spear, dear? Just a moment, and eternity will be ours..." The Beast began, but suddenly stopped. "Ah, what a charming scent has begun to waft through this place? A magnificent intertwining of each of the seven sins in perfect balance."
The next second, a sword flew in my direction, which, of course, was automatically blocked by my magic circle. The sound of the impact and the spear crashing into the air made Griselda look over here, where the Beast was already smiling as if she was ready to devour me right then and there.
I rolled my eyes and dispelled the closed field, creating a cup of coffee and taking a sip. Seeing me, Griselda stared at me in shock, clearly not expecting my presence, and her smile became EVEN wider than before.
- "Are you talking about me, Beast VI/S?" I asked. "Well, I'm no saint, and saints, as history shows, aren't exactly 'saints' either."
- "What are you doing here..." Griselda was about to ask when Beast interrupted her.
- "Ah, Romani Archaman. The reincarnation of King Solomon himself and the man who made this silly girl taste the forbidden fruit. You're just in time."
- "Come again?" I raised an eyebrow.
- "Why don't you help me incarnate in this world?" Beast swayed her hips and showed off her legs as she walked towards me. "I promise to be as obedient as the other three whose leashes you hold."
With that, she approached me, ran her finger across my chest, and slowly moved it down, straight to my groin. I didn't care about that at all, but her offer was a different matter. After all, in such an outcome, Griselda would be "alive", and the threat of the Beast would be relatively reduced to zero.
- "And as a bonus, I will become your personal slave, ready to satisfy your every desire. And I am much more skilled than the Beast II," she continued, completely ignoring Griselda, who had understood the meaning of my words.
- "Beast?! The evil of humanity?!" she exclaimed, then coughed up blood and fell to her knees, clearly showing her fatigue and weakness. "You can't let that happen, Mr. Archaman! You..."
- "Quiet, dear," said the Beast dismissively and kicked the sword in her direction, which struck Griselda in the shoulder and pinned her to the floor, causing her to groan in pain. "I would like to hear an answer... Master..."
Of course, the last word was pronounced as sensually as possible, but my thoughts were occupied with another question... the answer to which was found rather quickly.
- "Initially, I planned to help Miss 'Nun with an Indecent Body' and persuade you to obey, but I suppose this will do."
- "Ah, I can't wait to thank you, my..."
- "And that's why I'll just do both," I grinned and snapped my fingers.
A moment later, the walls of the cathedral glowed with golden light, after which hundreds of golden chains burst out of them and immediately bound the Beast. For Griselda, it was just something she saw, but for the Beast...
- "Impossible! No one can influence the soul of another being like that, unless..." the Beast began indignantly, but suddenly fell silent and fixed her wide-open eyes on me. "Third magic... You're a Magician!"
- "You forgot to add 'Harry' at the end, but never mind," I smiled, and a pair of chains closed her mouth.
- "Mr. Archaman, I want answers," declared a fully healed Griselda, to which I smiled.
- "Then you shall have them," I replied and snapped my fingers again, and we left both her mind and Ars Paulina, finding ourselves in Seventh Heaven. "But not from me."
- "Lady Gabriel?" she asked, finding the eyes of the Biblical God, and then fell silent. "No, you're not her. But then who..."
- "Sit down, Griselda Quarta. We have a long conversation ahead of us," said the Biblical God, releasing his aura for a moment, which was more than enough for Griselda.
She just stared at him with her eyes wide open, clearly unable to believe what she was seeing, because...
- "...he should be dead?" I smiled. "Well, as you can see, that's not quite the case, eh?"
-0-
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