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Chapter 32
🕑 Added 2024-10-25 04:04:04 +0000 UTCCheat Original Protagonist Upheaval Compilation
The CV is ○○○○
(tl note: cv means character voice.)
One of the Ten Archangels, Chesed, who bears the name of “Mercy,” is deeply merciful as his name would suggest.
He’s incredibly strong, but also far too kind. He’s an archangel who is like a serene young man.
His face, too, has a kind and gentle expression, so much so that he feels self-conscious about it. Yes, he’s quite endearing.
To maintain his dignity as an archangel, he usually transforms into a giant bird.
He rarely takes on a human form, so his appearance is fluffy enough to alleviate any fears of him being an inhuman fraud.
──So, the inhabitants of the 4th island, "El," which Chesed governs, are divided into two extremes, the gentle holy beasts who are influenced by his calm nature, and the stricter holy beasts who keep the peace by being more stern.
The inhabitants are mostly winged tribes with the ability to fly, such as the "birdmen tribe" or the "harpy tribe," who have forms more like birds than angels, or the "dragonmen tribe," who possess the wings of dragons.
Due to the island's high elevation and cliff-like terrain, strong winds constantly blow through, making it a comfortable place for flying races to live.
Like Adonai’s island, it is a place where many different species coexist, but the common thread among all the residents is their adoration for Chesed.
──Yes, and with that, we've arrived at El.
Along the way, we were attacked by an Abyss that mimicked a bird-type holy beast as we flew through the sea of clouds, but unlike last time, we didn't face any assaults from the Ten Archangels of Sefirot. We safely reached our destination by noon.
When Chouta saw the full speed of my "Dark Phoenix," he excitedly fixed his pompadour and exclaimed, "That's amazing! Amazing!" like a child, making me feel quite proud. Eight-chan loves praises.
En also got a good sleep this time and didn't take any extra naps during the trip, so I had a great time in the air with the two of them.
"That’s Chesed's island…" [En]
"It kind of looks like an island where a legendary dragon or something lives." [Chouta]
"The holy dragon is in the World Tree, though." [En]
The two of them gulped at the sight of El’s entire landscape, which could be described as a cliffside island seen from above.
I get it... That terrain really makes you feel like you're about to zoom down from high up. I’m someone who likes high places, so this looks like a cozy place to live.
“Well then, as planned, I’ll take a break here.”
“Sure, good work, nee-chan!”
Not that I’m actually all that tired, but I want to stop by Chokmah's island for a bit. Since both of them are gentlemen, if I ask them sweetly, "Could you let me have some alone time during the break? Please?" they’ll let me without a word. I am a TS original protagonist who knows how to make the most of being a cute girl.
During that break, I’ll teleport to Chokmah’s island, "Yod."
Fufufu, a phantom thief is a liar by nature. I haven’t done anything thief-like since arriving here, but I still want to honor my initial setting.
My "Phantom Thief Notebook" steals people’s supernatural abilities, but I don’t know what would happen if I used it on a holy beast. Considering the origins of supernatural abilities, holy beasts themselves seem to be like living embodiments of those abilities.
Because of that, something dangerous might happen if I steal from them, or I might not be able to steal anything at all. It’d be pretty lame to announce a theft and end up with nothing, so I’ve been hesitant to try it out.
And including the the angels, everyone here are fundamentally good people. Knowing that makes it hard to take any drastic measures.
That aside, where should I land?
With a minimum elevation of 300 meters, it’s tricky finding a convenient spot to land. But how nice, Chesed’s island... Ahh, I really want to climb that lighthouse...! It’d feel amazing standing at the top. I’d love to visit it... Oh no, I’m not a moth drawn to a light! Control yourself, control yourself.
Let’s see, a good place to hide that’s far enough from town would be…
“...Hey, En.”
“What’s up?”
“What’s that?”
Hmm? What is it, Chouta? We’re in the middle of descent, so don’t move around too much.
Ah.
“That’s...!”
En gasped in realization.
In the direction Chouta was pointing, they saw two brilliant points of light flying, weaving left and right and colliding as they danced in the sky.
It looked just like comets streaking across the sky of El.
──Wait... isn't that an archangel?
The speed they were flying at was clearly far beyond any bird-like holy beast we’d seen before.
Alarmed, I activated "Clairvoyance" to confirm what we were looking at.
What appeared before me was a small angel with four wings and an orange knight with eight wings clashing in midair.
"Mea!" [En]
“What!? That’s Mea!?” [Chouta]
Ooh, as expected of En. To figure that out even without clairvoyance, your eyesight’s impressive.
Yes, the identity of the first light was Mea.
Long silver hair and heterochromatic blue and gold eyes. She was a beautiful girl original protagonist with a stupendous chuuni appearance.
And what’s more—her wings had increased by two since the last time we met, now totaling four.
As expected from the original protagonist who intervened in the original work before I did.
It seemed that she, too, had developed her own original storyline since arriving in this world.
How cool... Just as expected of a dream girl! Seeing Mea, who had leveled up her protagonist power, made me both shudder in fear and excited.
“You’ve really become more angelic, Mea.”
I couldn’t help but feel like a proud mentor watching her grow. Instead of crossing my arms, I ended up hugging Kabbalah-chan instead... But why are you always conveniently in a convenient place? But it’s fine since you’re so soft and nice to touch.
Mea, wielding a sword of pale blue light in her hand, approached while feinting left and right, charging at the orange-armored knight standing opposite her.
On the knight's back were eight wings, the unmistakable mark of one of the Ten Archangels of Sefirot.
I was more surprised by the fact that he was on this island than by Mea’s presence. I hadn't expected him to be here instead of Chokmah’s place.
"I see… So you’ve come here... The Sefirot of glory—Hod."
“Hod?”
The eight of the Ten Archangels of Sefirot. His name──is “Hod” of Glory.
Standing at about two meters tall, his entire body was always clad in orichalcum armor. As a knight through and through, he was a seraph fiercely loyal to the holy dragon Ein Sof.
...No, why are you here?
I called his name with a knowing expression in front of En and the others, but… to be honest, I hadn’t expected this at all.
I mean… his base is on the opposite side of here.
Hod's island, "Himtza," is practically on the other side of the world from this place. (tl note: I found the hebrew word ヒムツァ stands for. It’s himtza (חמצה)… which means chickpeas. It has nothing to do with the tree of life.)
Now that Chesed is dead, I thought it would either be Tiferet, who was close with him, or Chokmah, the local guardian, who would take over managing this island... but this was completely unexpected.
...Who said my assumptions are always shaky?! Fanfiction plots are fine when they break a little, you know!
That said, the archangel Hod was a character even in the original story whose actions were hard to predict.
Not considering that was my mistake. Sorry.
Hod first appears in the anime Fairy Savers in episode 23. Chronologically, that happens much later than right now.
When En and his team gather and head towards Ein Sof to confront him, they plunge into the World Tree, "Sefirot," where the holy dragon sleeps, and it is there that Hod makes his appearance.
He appears just as the story is about to reach its final showdown. For the protagonist En, Hod is an enemy to be fought before the final boss.
Hod appears at the lowest level of the World Tree, Sefirot, where he single-handedly obliterates the hordes of Abyss before challenging En to a duel to test his worthiness to have an audience with God──that’s how the story goes.
...Yeah, that probably sounds a bit confusing with just that explanation. The story leading up to that is completely skipped over. Don’t worry, I’ll explain it all properly later, but for now, just bear with me.
Well, to put it simply, all you need to understand is that Hod is a character who appeared only after the five members of the Savers were assembled and the story neared the final battle.
His stance towards humanity is neutral.
Unlike Malkuth, who is entirely devoted to Keter, or Chesed, who would stand as an ally, he was a knight who followed only the will of Ein Sof, a steadfast and resolute figure.
He rarely left his base, the 8th island "Himtza," but when he sensed a threat to his master and father, the Holy Dragon Ein Sof, he was said to rush to the scene faster than anyone else.
He saw himself less as an angel guiding the people and more as a knight of God.
In the original story, a threat to Ein Sof was represented by an unprecedented crisis in the Fairy World: a mass outbreak of the Abyss at the lowest layer of the World Tree… But more on that another time.
──Such a strict archangel has left his post to stay on this island.
That fact alone implied that something dangerous enough to harm Ein Sof was happening here.
“What should I do, this is...”
Hmm... this seems like it’s heading towards a disturbing development.
At the very least, it seems like I won't be able to go on my reconnaissance of Yod anytime soon, so I began to reconsider my next steps.
"Eight, get closer! Mea is in danger!"
Oh, right. Now isn’t the time to be lost in thought.
The opponent is one of the Ten Archangels of Sefirot. And personally, I think he’s second only to Chokhmah in strength: the Archangel of Glory, Hod.
He is strong. That much is obvious since he's an orange knight, but he's also purely tough and powerful. On top of having a tremendous physical presence, he wears a full set of armor made from the strongest metal often found in fantasy RPGs: Orichalcum, which makes him even more formidable.
In the original story, it was En’s insane burst of power that barely managed to break through… But even as an original protagonist, it's hard to say if Mea alone could win against such an opponent.
With that in mind, I was about to join the fray when something about the two of them caught my attention.
It seemed that Chouta had sensed the same thing.
"Ain’t it fine to not worry that much? She’s holding her own pretty well." [Chouta]
"No, but... that's...!" [En]
"…Certainly, it might be unnecessary to intervene right now." [Eight]
Yes, Mea had become clearly stronger than she was back on Earth. Just as Chouta had learned Fairy Burst, she, too, might have gone through some sort of original protagonist awakening event.
The two additional wings on her back were not just for show. She seemed to have tapped deeper into Chesed’s power since coming to this world. She was now firing beams from the blue light wrapped in her hands, wielding it as a sword, and even using a technique reminiscent of my own Kaiser Phoenix.
Yeah, it’s magnificent!
The original protagonist's stylishness and flashiness are both nice.
Perhaps the fanfiction written by the goddess-like person tells a nice story from her perspective.
The dual protagonist setup, an omnibus format.
The advantage of this format is that it allows for a detailed depiction of each character's situation, but if the quality of one side is significantly lower, readers may openly question, "Is this really necessary?" making it a challenging approach.
Also... there was one more thing that caught my attention during their battle.
"I wonder if Hod is testing that girl as well?"
"Testing?"
It was just a feeling, but Hod's attacks on her didn't seem to carry the same murderous intent that Chokmah or Tiferet had.
The bloodlust of the Ten Archangels of Sefirot is like this, it's something that tingles your sixth sense.
Compared to that, Hod's current demeanor... yes, it felt like he was imposing a trial on her.
Based on Hod's character from the original anime... that seems like a plausible possibility.
His position, being the one who fights the protagonist just before the final boss, is essentially that of the gatekeeper to Ein Sof.
He imposed a duel as a trial on Flame and the others that came to pass through the gate, and if the trial was overcome, he would humbly allow them an audience with Ein Sof.
Hod, a staunch supremacist of the Holy Dragon, was a rigid archangel who would resolutely reject anything that went against the will of Ein Sof, even if it was a decree from King Keter. He was an archangel who was incredibly difficult for the king to handle.
After parrying Mea's slash with the disc-shaped shield in his left hand, Hod struck her with the spear in his right. Using his brute strength, consistent with his larger frame, he sent her flying, and as he pointed his holy spear at her, he shouted loudly:
『The one who inherits the power of Chesed... Is that the extent of your strength? Then, the one who perished halfway through his goal must have been full of regret.』
Umu, what a great voice…
I was inwardly ecstatic at Hod's voice, unchanged from the anime. Though his screen time was short, the lines of this iconic character, voiced by a veteran voice actor who had starred in numerous masterpieces over the past 50 years, and although he only appeared for a short period of time, his lines left a lasting impact.
His range of voice acting was monstrous... He was a one-of-a-kind legendary voice actor who could flawlessly portray characters from young children to cheerful youths to gruff knights.
Though I’ve died, I hope he's still in good health. May he live long and remain healthy forever.
"...Not yet...!"
Mea, who was being looked down upon by Hod's solemn speech, braced herself with her four wings, holding her sword of light.
What kind of gaze Hod had towards her was hidden beneath the helmet covering his head, so it couldn't be discerned. In the original work, his face was never shown either, but I always imagined him as either a handsome man or a refined old man. Honestly, I'm tired of the trope where they turn out to be a cute girl, so I hope it's not that.
Even now, while I didn't feel any killing intent from Hod, there was also no leniency. He mercilessly raised his holy spear in his right hand.
『Mercury Saber!』
As silver light wrapped around the holy spear, it transformed into a massive sword of light, long enough to tear through the clouds in the sky.
The flash split the heavens, scattering the clouds, as Hod, with a mighty swing of his right arm, brought the light sword down. The violent slash, with its immense range and reach, came crashing down upon Mea.
"Stop ittt!"
At that moment, unable to stand by any longer, En leaped from my Dark Phoenix.
Normally, this would result in a fall to the ground and a fate worse than minced meat, but as he began to free fall, he immediately activated Fairy Burst.
Sprouting wings of flame, learned in the battle against Netzach, he flew forward, cutting in front of Mea, and caught the massive sword of light with his bare hands.
『What...!?』
"Ah..."
Both Hod and Mea were taken aback by this.
Hod was surprised that his finishing move was stopped, while Mea’s eyes widened at the sight of her dependable older brother coming to her rescue in this situation.
As for me, I was thrilled. Though the circumstances were completely different, the scene where En caught Hod’s finishing move with his blue flame-wrapped hands was a familiar one, reminiscent of the anime Fairy Savers, where after this point, En went on the offensive, shattering Hod’s armor with his fists.
Unlike me, Hod likely had no meta knowledge, but sensing something unsettling in En’s blue flames, he immediately canceled his special move, raised his shield, and kept a close watch on him.
『That power... I see, you must be Akatsuki En.』
"Don’t you dare lay a hand on Mea... on my little sister!"
"...!"
Kyaaa, onii-chan is cool yay!
...Anyway, let's set the jokes aside.
I see, Mea was a child taken in by the Mitsui family. In other words, she's Akari-chan's little sister.
And Akari-chan is going to become En’s wife in the near future. That means, when that happens, Mea will officially become his sister-in-law.
Mea really is amazing... To secure such a solid family position with the protagonist, something I could never achieve!
Choosing to coexist with her was indeed the right decision.
In the world of web novels, there are some irregular anti-works called “Original protagonist fanfiction that hates the protagonist’s original brother,'' but even though there are original brothers, you don't often see stories where they have original sisters. You do see it frequently in "serves you right, villainess" stories, but that's a different genre.
Fairy Savers is neither shoujo manga nor an gal game. So, going against her was never a smart move from the beginning.
"I'm your opponent from here on out!"
『Interesting. The power that defeated Chokmah... Show me how strong it is!』
Good luck, En. You're skipping ahead quite a bit from the original work, but getting to witness the two of them is a dream come true for an original protagonist like me.
Instead of helping, I pulled out my harp, like I was watching one of my favorite scenes from the anime, ready to cheer them on.
It was at that moment.
"Wait, En! Hod isn’t an enemy!"
...Yeah, I had a feeling that might be the case.
As expected from me. Oh dear, the perks of being a cheat original protagonist with sharp observational skills.
Meanwhile, En, who had just entered battle mode, was thrown off by this sudden remark from behind, turning a surprised gaze towards the armored archangel.
And there I was, behind them, playing my harp with a knowing look, like I had it all figured out.
