Ch-85: The Ancient Queen of Gods
"King, the mission was successfully accomplished, this is what we unearthed from the ruins."
In a quiet ordinary villa among the mountains in Rome, Erica carefully put a suitcase on the table.
"Thanks for your hard work, Erica—and you too Lily."
Roy smiled at his two knights. Without further ado, he flicked his finger with a gentle smile, a brief uncatchable brightness flashed and with a 'cleeck' sound, the lock-cum-array, a proper state-of-art technology combining pinnacles of both science and magic turned to ashes.
He donned two speck white gloves enchanted with cleansing on his two hands like preparing to observe some prehistoric expensive antique.
Roy gently opened the lids of the heavy suitcase, in fact it was not just 'heavy' but very heavy, even a quasi Great Knight would find it arduous to creak it open but in front of a cheat-like existence even the 'unruly' suitcase was forced to opened obediently.
Inside, on a soft silky pillow lay rest a small plate made of rugged black stone, and the monsterical face on it seemed to be staring back with it's eerie hollowed eyes.
The stone plate looked very small, like a micro-chapter that could be grasped with one hand. The surface of the stone plate depicted a snake-haired banshee with a steely gaze, the legendary Gorgon in the Greek mythology—Medusa.
"Gorgoneion..."
Roy gently took out the stone medallion that was looked so ancient that it seemed like it would splintered under the slight pressure of his fingers.
In Ancient Greece, the Gorgoneion was a special apotropaic amulet showing the Gorgon head, used most famously by the Olympian deities Athena and Zeus: both were said to have worn the gorgoneion as a protective pendant.
However, the Gorgon portrayed on this ancient stone amulet was very rough and unskilled even from the standards of stone age, with only a few simple strokes, likened to be produced under the hand of an noob on his first try.
Roy fully believed that even the oddity of a thing that can be barely made out to be a clay seal he as a prankish child made to annoy his art and crafts teacher was atleast a notch better than this.
But Roy clearly felt a huge aggregate of divine power and origin on this stone amulet which clearly proved that it was something more than thousand levels above it's commoner brothers and sisters, a divine grimore, to be exact.
The divine amulet overflowed with earthly divine energy, oddly personifying an unyielding temperament.
This divine power bestowed intently on it's veins the immortal attribute of the Ancient Earth Goddess, so it cannot be destroyed by any ordinary external force, even if it was destroyed, it would slowly recover itself. Only beheading the owner of the Gorgon Stone will make it lose it's immortal characteristic.
"The gods believed by the Romans are consistent with Greek mythology, just like Aphrodite is Venus, Ares is Mars, Zeus is Jupiter, and Athena is Minerva—Goddess of wisdom, war, art, schools, justice and commerce."
"...how ironic."
"Athena was originally a Mother Earth Goddess originating in Africa and the prideful queen of the gods of her pantheon...."
"A goddess of darkness, snakes, owls, the earth, sky, life, death, and wisdom. But. Eventually, like many other Mother Earth Goddess denounced to their fate, she was overthrown by the male gods, led by Zeus..."
"Under one of her names, Athena, she was demoted to being Zeus's daughter, by another, Medusa, she was turned into a snake monster who turned those who gazed upon her to stone. We humans have quite a but stirred up with the myths of a Queen of Gods, huh. That's interesting...."
Roy played with the Gorgon stone in his hand. The pupil in his left eye had turned into a multicolored infinity symbol that ever now or then pivoted around his iris.
The 'Eye Of The Yore' mobilized Roy to directly use this Gorgon stone as a medium to trace the ancient myths and old happenings that where otherwise shrouded under the divine aura of Earth. In the torrent of history, he found its owner.
"King, the Gorgon Stone has been excavated for more than two hours, and its breath has been leaked under explosive aura expulsion when we broke the seal. This stone is the beacon of the Ancient Goddess, and it will definitely be desired by the Mother Goddess who shall may appear on the earth as she emerges under the calling of the divine artifact from the Realm of Immortality."
Erica possessing a wealth of knowledge of historical mythology knew how well that most probably Zeus's priests screwed over Athena's reputation making the Goddess may harbor deeper resentment for humans. She took a deep breath in complemention, then lightly lowered her knee while placing her hands on her chest and said:
"King, this is Rome, the capital of Italy, and it is also the region you command. Fighting here, it will ultimately be your personal property that will suffer unnecessary losses. So I dare to beg, asking the King to not make it as the epicenter of the battle."
"Liliana is also requests to the King. We hope you can bestow mercy and compassion to the your subjects."
Liliana knelt down on one knee, performing the ancient and formal chivalry knight salute.
Roy put away the Gorgon Stone in his hand. He stood up and waved his hand grandly like an ancient emperor granting his coutiers their wishes, then maybe amused by his own antics, he laughed loudly while shaking his head.
He walked beside his knights and pinched the delicate cheeks of both Erica and Liliana pulling them mischievously under the blushing of the two beautiful faces, he could swear, a silver headed cute knight of his had steam literally boiling from her head.
Seeing Liliana who was boiling red in bashfulness and might pass out in shyness, he reluctantly pulled back his hands.
"Well, you two get up. I will finish the play that should be done with you."
Roy raised his hand and motioned to Erica and Liliana to get up.
The two knight girls stood up under his enjoinings. Erica looked at her still blushing friend and finding her frolics cute, she snickered along with a hand on her mouth in her energetic lark like voice.
Roy laughed along with Erica. He cannot claim that he has seen all that there is to see and comprehend on human nature but with his eye that can peer through the past, he can unhesitatingly claim that nobody in this world would have tried to understand the human nature as much as him.
From what he has seen untill now, one adjective is enough to describe his findings— Unpredictable, not most times but surely on the most unlikely times. Coupled with the 'bitter' experiences he has seen his other compatriots face, one thing can be ascertained— to not let your subject led you by your nose.
But...
In regards of Erica and Liliana, they have accompanied him for more than a year, the boundaries of simple lovers have long been crossed with them sharing a bond of trust with each other.
The girls who have gradually become in touch with him have formed a tacit understanding, as long as they know how to abide by the bottom line, they will not step on his noses and faces, Roy also allowed them to be casual in front of them, stating themselves freely in front of him.
He even allowed them to call him by his name in private, just like he allowed Alice to but both the knight girls rejected on the base of their knightly values. But under his playful 'pokings' they put a little bit down to address him by– 'my king'.
"King. Do we need to call Yuri Mariya and that Ena girl from Japan?"
Erica asked. She didn't mention Princess Alice. It was because she knew that Princess Alice had much higher status in Roy's heart, not lesser to two of them.
"No need to call them, this time I don't need the spiritual vision of hime-mikoes and witches. Besides, since I got this eye, I am the number one in the world in terms of the ability of spiritual vision."
Roy pointed his finger at his left eye which glistered beautifully like a mysterious gem surfacing deep from the gaps of endless space.
The principle of spiritual vision is to use the power of the soul to connect with the Astral Plane, even a Campione, while in the Netherworld, can also access into the Memories of Void because of their heightened awareness and Roy with the clairvoyance from King Solomon is much stronger than any spiritual vision user. Moreover, for a solid single reason, there is no need for him to even hold a ceremony.
"Then Lord Roy, where are we going? Please tell us a specific address so that Lily and I can prepare for it."
As Roy's exclusive knight-cum-secretary, Liliana and Erica take care of Roy's daily life most of the time. Before their King travels, they will prepare more aspects from each and every angle.
Roy thought for a moment and said, "...Let's go to the Alps in the south of Switzerland. I have heard about Swiss Alps—home to some of the most dramatic scenery in the world, plus it's mostly far from human inhabitations."
"Yes, my King!"
Erica and Liliana responded together and began to prepare for their special plane and road trip in Italy, preparation for reception in Switzerland, etc.
Their beloved King's trip needs to be treated more seriously than any countries president's. And as his faithful knights and lovers, they feel it unworthy of them to leave even minor of imperfections.
* * *
The Italian Seven Sisters League has two sets of special teams, one strategic and one field operative for handling any issues for their King, form daily things to the complex of issues, complied of Great Knights and Grand Mages to specialized doctors and archeologists, named after the Italian Goddess of the Moon who is said to have 2 faces— Jana.
Soon after Roy issued the order, Erica and Liliana utilizing the resources of Jana, both human and materialistic to prepare everything. A luxurious car took three people to the newly made Angelistin Private Airport, ready to fly over to Zurich.
And not long after Roy left, the villa he had been living in was ushered in presence of a petite figure.
"...heew, I can smell it. This is the repelling breath of our enemy— a Godkiller and... the breath of the Gorgon Stone. It seems that the Gorgon Stone of mine has fallen into the hands of a Godkiller."
The petite figure murmured emotionlessly but voice carried a noble and authorative attraction.
"The stone of Gorgon, the ancient snake, what this goddess asks for is the stone of Gorgon..."
"..."
"Beneath The Earth, Beneath The Darkness, All Within Is My Possession! Grant Me The Wisdom Of Darkness, Earth And Heaven–Again!"
Under the spirit of chanting, darkness struck through nilhity. Then everything turned serene and calm like before, as if there was no one to disturb it's serenity ever before.
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