Ch.71Celestine Incident – Ship No. 3 (1)

“Huh?”

Eidel woke up from sleep and raised her head. As she looked around dazedly, a sentence caught her eye.

[Celestine Ship No. 3]

It was strange. She was definitely in the middle of carrying out a mission on Ship No. 1. She hadn’t walked here on her own.

Enabeth, who had recalled her past memories, was startled.

“That’s right, the student!”

Her stellar intuition was telling her. Eidel was in danger.

No, everyone near this trap was in danger.

Rushing to the deck of Ship No. 3, Enabeth grabbed the nearest inspector and shouted. That it was a combat situation right now. That an avatar had appeared. That they needed to order the entire army to prepare for battle immediately.

However, the response was lukewarm.

“Why are you here, senior?”

“Weren’t you assigned to Ship No. 1?”

“Avatar? Don’t say such scary things.”

Only then did Enabeth look around Ship No. 3. Students were diligently taking their practical evaluations, and S-class inspectors were supervising them along with their teachers. Teacher Karlen approached Enabeth, scratching his head.

“What’s the matter?”

“Well, that…”

Enabeth couldn’t answer otherwise. It would be presumptuous to say anything on a ship where nothing had happened yet.

Still, she needed to inform them of something. First, she needed to check on Eidel, whom she had left in the lobby. She hurriedly headed for the elevator.

Then, bump.

She collided shoulders with a female student with white hair.

“Ah, I’m sorr—”

“Haa.”

The female student sighed.

“Please watch where you’re going. Are you cross-eyed?”

“What?”

The cold voice. Enabeth’s expression turned dumbfounded. The white-haired girl glared at her fiercely and boarded the elevator. Ding. The elevator soon went up.

“What’s with her…”

Though she suddenly felt annoyed, she thought it was just bad luck. More importantly, going down to the lobby was the top priority now.

“Oh my, why are you coming from there?”

As soon as she came down to the lobby, she saw her superior, Captain Isaac Clarke, his adjutant Kibel, and several EX-class inspectors.

Among the group was Eidel von Rheinland, whom she had been escorting. Eidel, spotting Enabeth, waved his hand.

“Phew.”

Enabeth let out a sigh of relief.

Joining Isaac’s team, Enabeth received various reports. Ships No. 1 and 2 had encountered avatars but cleared them, Ship No. 4’s information and even location were unknown. Ship No. 3’s location was known, but communication was cut off, so the situation was ambiguous.

Since Enabeth had come down from Ship No. 3, she said she would take the lead.

“Good. Let’s form a team. Enabeth, Kibel, and our dear members. We’ll form three squads with only EX-class members and advance to Ship No. 3. The remaining five squads will stay here to protect the two students while continuously trying to contact Ship No. 4. If you find its location, report immediately via radio.”

Before leaving with Isaac, Enabeth looked at the face of the blonde girl. She was beside Eidel, sleeping with dry lips, perhaps having used up all her Aether.

Just as they were about to depart, Isaac said:

“Eidel, will you come with us too?”

***

Right after Enabeth joined. Isaac was looking at Eidel with a meaningful expression.

[— The constellation cluster ‘Sagittarius’ is trembling in fear.]

Strangely enough, whenever he approached Eidel, such anxious messages appeared.

It was too frequent to be a coincidence. He had taught Eidel swordsmanship more than a dozen times already. Each time, his constellations went wild with agitation.

“…Captain.”

Kibel whispered.

“It would be good to take that boy Eidel to Ship No. 3 as well. I was watching him earlier, and from the shape of the sword he uses and other things, he seems quite extraordinary. And also…”

“Also what?”

“I have an ominous feeling.”

Isaac kept his mouth shut for a moment.

“Are you serious about that?”

“It’s just a one-in-a-million possibility. There’s a slight chance, but could that student be a flesh avatar or a possession avatar?”

Isaac was quite surprised. Kibel also had several minor constellations in Sagittarius as his background stars. Perhaps that’s why he was thinking the same thing as himself.

“Ah. Of course, I hope that boy is just an ordinary student. Nothing happening would be best. But as they say, it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

Because of Kibel’s suggestion, Isaac asked Eidel, whom he had originally planned to leave behind, for his opinion. If he answered that he wanted to go, Isaac thought to protect him while letting him move freely.

“Yes, let’s do that.”

Strangely enough, Eidel answered that he would go.

***

The test on Celestine Ship No. 3 is conducted floor by floor. Therefore, all students had to move around the ship according to their designated floor order to take the test.

In Zernya’s case, the initial order was 1-4-2-8-5-7.

Then she went through floors 3-6-9, and finally, it was time for the 10th floor.

“What a terribly designed test.”

Moving around like this to take the test is the height of inefficiency. She had no idea what kind of idiot came up with this idea.

Zernya sighed and pressed the button for the 10th floor.

Sting.

“Ouch.”

Something just touched her index finger. Zernya opened her right hand and stared at it. Two dots, like snake bites, had appeared at the tip of her index finger.

“What is this?”

As she was looking at her finger in annoyance, the elevator door opened. Zernya raised her head to check the floor.

[11th Floor]

“What…”

She was bewildered.

She had clearly heard that this ship only had 10 floors. The elevator floors were set exactly to match that. But the 11th floor?

She looked beyond the wide-open door. Taking a step forward, she saw a dim space stretching endlessly beyond. It looked like a black hole.

It seemed like there would be nothing if she left the elevator. Or that she wouldn’t be able to return. A cool breeze blew from beyond the door into the elevator.

‘This must be part of the test too.’

Zernya judged it to be a test evaluating courage or something else. She confidently stepped in. She was sure she could get an excellent score on any task.

That’s when it happened.

Bang!

The elevator closed, creating a space where she couldn’t see an inch ahead. Startled by the sudden change, Zernya jumped.

[“To think you’d come in, huhuhuh.”]

Click, click, click. As the lights turned on, something appeared.

It was a giant golden snake coiled up. Its tongue was dark red, and its eyes were split into crosses. It had triangular horns on its head like a desert viper.

Judging by the gleaming of each connecting joint, it was a snake made of metal.

‘Quite elaborate for a model.’

Zernya let out a chuckle.

The snake spoke:

[“My name is Meirem. How interesting, a being who can see me despite not having a constellation. I’ll show you minimal respect. I was originally going to make you my food right away, but I’ve changed my mind. You shall become my toy.”]

The snake, calling itself Meirem, flickered its tongue and laughed.

This snake must be what she needed to defeat for the task. Despite the surreal situation, Zernya thought positively. She was about to draw her sword and take a stance… but.

“Ugh…!”

She couldn’t put strength into her right hand.

“Wh-what’s happening.”

When she came to her senses, her wrist was starting to swell. Her once milky white skin was now turning to a greenish color.

[“Uhuhuh! Can’t move, can you? I put poison on the elevator button. It’s not just any poison. It’s a deadly poison that slowly destroys the nervous system and turns blood hemoglobin into chalcogenide compounds. But don’t worry. It’s a curse that will be lifted if you defeat me within 30 minutes. Well, that’s up to you.”]

She could feel the poison spreading from her right index finger. Zernya recalled her medical knowledge. If the poison reached her forearm, she would have to prepare for death.

“This is the worst.”

This was beyond a mere test or child’s play. It was more realistic to think this was a situation created by someone from a collateral branch to assassinate her, the legitimate daughter of Adelbein.

Foreign god. Inspector. Aether barrier. Celestine ship. Combining all these keywords, her brain identified the entity before her.

‘Avatar.’

No doubt about it.

Zernya quickly unwrapped her scarf and compressed her right arm. Then she took her stance with the thin sword in her left hand.

[“Do you think that method will work?”]

“Don’t sass the lord of all creation, you lowly reptile. I am the legitimate daughter of the Adelbein main family, the first house of the Laniakea Federation. I’ll make you regret facing me today.”

Zernya stretched her neck and grinned. Around her neck were jade and black alien patterns. Looking at those patterns, Meirem laughed dejectedly.

[“Don’t tell me you’ve contracted with a fake constellation? Right, right. I suppose the physical structure is the same! Even a planet burned into plasma could be considered a star!”]

“Our family has been researching how to create the strongest constellations from the past until now. This is the result.”

An Adelbein must always excel in all fields. One of the projects pursued under this principle was the ‘Soulless Constellation’ project. It was the will of the ancestors to create a vending machine star that would provide infinite coins because it had no soul.

The research itself was successful, albeit imperfectly.

However, it was very difficult to embed an artificial constellation, and children who couldn’t adapt died young.

‘And among the main bloodline, only I survived.’

Zernya released the constellation corresponding to the tattoo on her left side. Drip. Bright red blood flowed from her mouth.

[“What’s this, there’s a penalty?”]

Meirem snorted. As she said, Zernya’s artificial constellation puts a strain on her body from the moment she uses it.

But there was no other way to defeat an avatar.

Zernya also released the constellation engraved on the right side of her neck. This time, her ears became muffled, and her left eye became bloodshot. Her mind was dizzy as if she had been hit with a hammer.

Nevertheless, to win, she had to end it in one go.

[— EX-class Conversion: <Heterogeneous-Multi-Sword Technique>]

[— EX-class Conversion: <Pseudo-Starification>]

Zernya rushed in instantly.