Above Your Head

Chapter 84: A Bouquet of Roses (3)

"Consensual Divorce Agreement?" I asked.

"Yes, please do me a favor." Celestia bowed her head and elaborated, "Marry me for just three months."

In response to her calm and composed request, I answered in the same manner, "No."

"…"

She looked at me with a stiff expression for a moment. How was I supposed to react? It wasn't as if things had changed at all just because she asked for a favor.

I looked at Celestia with an expression that seemed to say, 'What are you staring at?' and Celestia placed her head in her hands with an exasperated sigh.

"No… Wow. What an impregnable iron wall."

"I'm not an iron wall, this is just a matter of course."

I rejected her request in a single stroke and Celestia became sullen.

"My heart aches because I've never been rejected before… Ugh, so resolute. Did the men who were rejected by me feel like this too? Now that I think about it, I was a little too harsh on them. What goes around comes around huh." Celestia shook her head after the sudden self-reflection.

"That's enough nonsense. Anyways, I refuse. I don't see any benefit in agreeing."

"What do you mean there's no benefit? If you tie the knot with a member of the Imperial family, that alone would bestow you the authority of a Count. In addition, the Imperial court will pay an astronomical amount of money each year as a stipend for maintaining the dignity of your noble class. Furthermore, you would be provided with either a terraforming planet or a personalized battleship of your choice."

"But you said we'll get a divorce after though?"

"It doesn't matter since it's a gift and not a lease! Even if the divorce is due to your negligence, all your rights and authority will remain the same, okay? I'm not boasting, but it's an amazing feat to marry a member of the Imperial family! You can even return home to Earth in glory by riding on a Giga-class battleship!"

"…It can't be seen by others anyway, so what use would it be to return home in honor?"

My heart slightly gave in at the talks that I would be able to obtain my own battleship, but I shook my head.

Celestia put on a sulky face at my reaction, "Then what exactly should I do so that you'll do me this favor? Do you perhaps want this?"

She took off the earrings she was wearing. The sparkly gold cross-shaped earring had the power to prevent others from perceiving it; the same power the key that hung on my neck had. It was an item that even Morne, a transcendent, couldn't perceive. So, it wouldn't be an ordinary item.

"What's that?"

"What else? It's the most valuable treasure I have on me now. It's an item I received from birth and I carried it with me all my life. Perhaps because I am still not qualified, I can't awaken it. It's an unlucky item that put me through all sorts of trouble because there are a lot of people after it… Anyways, it's still a treasure."

'What does she mean it's still a treasure…'

I knew it was a precious item, but it had all kinds of eerie descriptions attached to it, so I could only laugh in vain. In other words, though it was precious, it was an item that was basically equivalent to a walking-bomb.

"What on earth is it used for?"

"I'm not sure myself. It's one of the Godly Artifacts that the First Emperor had. There was a testament that stated that if someone from the Imperial household could awaken this, the Leonhardt Empire's name would spread throughout the entire universe. So it costs more than most Numberings…"

Whooooosh------!!!

Just then, the earrings on Celestia's hand resonated loudly. Celestia was startled and tried to grab the earrings with her other hand. Yet, a ball of light emitted from the earring blasted her away first.

"Uwahhhh?!"

I could hear Celestia's scream as she was blasted away. However, I couldn't afford to pay any attention to it as the pair of earrings floating in the air flew towards me like a bullet before I could react. Of course, there wasn't any room for me to escape.

Schlooook!

The earrings penetrated my heart. I curled up reflexively and groaned, but there was no pain.

Badump.

My heart was beating, but it wasn't my physical heart that pumped blood throughout my whole body. The Essence of Napoleon, who had died for my sake, began to awaken in response to the Aura of the earring that penetrated my heart. No, to be exact, the earring that dissolved in my heart.

Badump.

It was pulsating. My spirit was enhanced and my whole body began to overflow with power. There was light radiating from behind my back. I was no longer surprised or amazed by the afterglow.

'I see.'

Then, at that instant, I realized the hidden identity of Celestia's earring which was considered the treasure of the Imperial family.

'It's a Divine Spirit Fragment.'

I didn't know how he came to acquire this, but the First Leonhardt Emperor most probably witnessed the death of a high-ranking God, no, perhaps it might've been the death of a First-Tier God. In that instant, he probably recovered the Divine Spirit Fragment that dispersed and dissolved in the flow of the world and created these earrings. Now, the huge Divine Spirit Fragment had spread throughout my whole body and stabilized my incomplete Divine Spirit.

"Oh my God."

I groaned as I became disoriented by the surging power in me. Of course, it wasn't as severe as the time I awakened as a God through the key. It wasn't even comparable to that time. The Divine Spirit dissolved in me and what happened next truly surprised me.

Flap flap--!

A book appeared in front of my eyes and opened by itself. I didn't know the title because there weren't any letters written on the cover, but the subheading that appeared on the open page was a word I was very familiar with.

-Napoleon.

My eyes moved along with the words. There were only three sentences below the subheading.

It was a list of Napoleon's Abilities. The moment I read them, I realized what I could do with it.

"In my dictionary…"

My heart was beating hard. The Iron Heart in me began to pulsate.

"The word impossible doesn't exist in my dictionary."

Groaaaarrrrr-----!

The surrounding air turned dense. Aliken to an aimless Amplification, the amplified soul energy started to rage inside me. That alone was enough to affect the surroundings.

'This makes no sense.'

I was flustered in such an unexpected situation. I had never properly learned any sort of ability, but there was a tremendous amount of soul energy overflowing in my heart. So, of course, I would be flustered. However, what really took me by surprise was what came next.

You got your hands on what you wanted huh.

I could hear a muffled voice that was slightly whimpering, and it seemed to belong to someone around my age.

This is all I can do for you… From now on, you have to get through it yourself.

The voice was very familiar. It felt like that even though I've never heard this voice before. Most of all, the voice full of affection made my heart throb.

Cheer up.

The voice faded away with those final words. Only then did I realize whose voice it was.

"…Mother?" I muttered under my breath, but the voice was already long gone. The voice playback in my head was from the moment when I was born and she had foreseen my future.

"What the? Dae-ha, are you okay?"

Initially watching from the sidelines, Celestia approached and asked if I was alright, but I was not in the right mind to answer her.

'No fucking way. She foresaw this? This exact moment? She sent me into space just for this moment?'

It was impossible. I wasn't able to see my own future even when I obtained the powers of a high-rank God by releasing the seal of the Godly bloodline with the key that my father left behind. My future was a complete darkness that no one could see.

However, I couldn't believe what just happened. She was actually able to predict my future so accurately. It wasn't just a wild premonition. It wouldn't be weird if she was able to forebode the Godly bloodline flowing in me. However, let alone foreboding the bloodline in me, she was even able to accurately foresee that I would meet the Imperial Princess of the Leonhardt Empire in this vast universe and come in contact with the Divine Spirit Fragment. Furthermore, the only reason why the Divine Spirit Fragment could integrate with me was thanks to Napoleon's Essence. This was all possible because Napoleon sacrificed his own existence for my sake. If Napoleon's Essence had not been in my heart and served as a vessel, the Divine Spirit Fragment wouldn't have been able to stay in my body.

If it weren't for Napoleon's Essence, the fragment that was attracted and reacted to my Divine Spirit would simply dissipate into nothing or caused an energy explosion by compressing its enormous power. If that had happened, I definitely would not have survived.

'That means... Mother foresaw the whole situation and everything that would happen?'

That's right, she foresaw the whole situation. From Napoleon sacrificing himself to save me, to me coming into the universe and meeting Celestia… If she didn't accurately prophesize all these, then it was impossible to induce this outcome. If she was slightly off the mark, that would obviously be the end of it.

'But how is this possible?'

It was unbelievable. Even when I possessed the power of a high-rank God, I wasn't even able to peek through my future. However, Mother was able to foresee the distant future. Of course, Mother was born with the talents of a Great Witch, but even so, wasn't she just a human being at the end of the day?

'No, wait a minute.'

Just then an idea occurred to me.

'Now... It's okay to go back to Earth.'

It was because of Mother's prediction that I came to the universe. She foretold that there was no way for me to live under the sky and hinted to go to the universe. Hence, I had no choice but to leave Earth as if I were kicked out so that I could stay alive.

However, I wandered around. It was a good thing that I came to the universe, but I didn't know when I would be able to go back. Be that as it may, the few words she left behind was proof of it. It seemed that the Divine Spirit Fragment that I had just acquired was the objective for coming to the universe. In other words, I no longer had to wander around the universe since I achieved that objective. Of course, the distance from here to Earth was astronomical, but the God-rank Gigas, Ares, was capable of flying in space alone. So as long as I desired for it, it would be possible to return to Earth.

"Dae-ha? Are you okay?"

Just then, Celestia came close and I nodded my head.

"Ahh… Yes. I'm fine."

"You sure? It feels like you're kinda burning up right now. It doesn't feel ominous, but it seems like there's some sort of danger."

"There has just been some changes to my plan." I got my act back together.

Seeing me acting in such a manner, Celestia asked, "Ah, you look a little disoriented so I didn't want to say this, but…"

Celestia continued hesitatingly, "What happened to my earrings?""

"…"

I came up with something about the earrings. It was something that Celestia had been carrying around with her since birth, and it was an unlucky item that put her through all kinds of troubles because she had to protect it from those who were aiming for it. Nonetheless, it was a treasure of the Leonhardt Imperial family that she protected with all her life. Although it wasn't very effective by itself, it was more expensive than a Numbering because of the symbolism it represented. Yet, that treasure completely dissipated into me and disappeared from the face of the world…

'Oh dear.'

I couldn't help but let out a groan. Needless to say, I couldn't be a shameless human and just say something like 'What's that? I don't know, tsk!'. I didn't want to be that kind of person either. No, putting that aside…

'That treasure is gone, and there's no way I would be able to get out of this by acting like I didn't know.'

It was said to be a treasure that cost more than five or six decent-sized planets, so they would obviously open an investigation if that treasure disappeared. There might be a chance that Celestia might keep her lips sealed, but I couldn't just shift all the burden to her one-sidedly.

"Haihhh, oh dear… I'm still young though. I'm just a high schooler."

"Dae-ha?" Celestia wondered at my weird and incomprehensible remarks, but I looked at her and let up a deep sigh. It seemed that I was destined to divorce even before I became a senior in high school.