LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 323: Ascension
[Luna POV]
With my face scrunched up in slight disgust, I tried biting into the apple only to hear unusual crunching noises. I toughed it out and once I completely swallowed the apple, I had to keep myself from throwing it up.
“Hugh.”
{What’s wrong?}
“Hugh…*Sigh* It was a literal golden apple. With emphasis on gold.”
{Ah. So it wasn’t just the taste that was metallic, but the apple was solid gold.}
“From skin to core.”
{Well, at least you didn’t break any teeth.}
“True. I mean, it’s not like-”
Before I could say anything else, my vision flickered, and I became very dizzy. It looked like the world around me was spinning in every direction possible at the same time. In my head, I started to hear an announcement like I did when I became a demigod.
[Conditions met: Race change from Kitsune (Eight-tailed/Demigod) to Kitsune (Ten-tailed/Goddess): Commencing]
[Authorization Granted: Releasing all seals and restrictions on Authorities.]
[Message from GC: Congratulations on your ascension, Luna. I look forward to working with you from now on and hope you and Tamamo the best. In preparation for this even, I’ve made it so that you won’t feel pain when your two new tails appear, so go and make the creation of stars a spectacle for the ages. Oh, but do know that even with the pain gone, you will still feel fatigued, so be ready to pass out at any time when your ascension is over.]
Once I finished reading the message, a massive magic circle appeared and spread from where I was standing out over the entire area of the shrine.
“What’s this!?”
{It’s part of the preparations for this. It makes sure that when the explosion of power happens, it won’t damage the shrine of the city outside the grounds. And now it’s time for my turn. I got special permission to do this just for you, Luna.}
“Do what?”
{Ufufufu.}
While I was trying to focus on what was happening, the ground started to shake.
“Ugh. Whatever you’re doing, it’s not helping!”
{Don’t worry, it’s almost over.}
True enough, a minute or two later, the shaking stopped.
“What…just happened?”
{Oh, just making your shrine a floating one. It’s an important place in the city, so of course it needs to be better than the royal castle. I made it so that it floats slightly higher than the castle island.}
“Fufufufu. AHahahahahahahahahahaha! UGH.”
I felt a massive surge of power welling up inside me. It burned hot enough to feel cold while simultaneously being so cold it burned. The magic circle under my feet started to glow brighter and brighter in tandem with the surge of power.
{I’ll be waiting for you, Luna.}
“See you soon, Tamamo.”
Deciding that I should do this sooner rather than later, I closed my eyes and focused on what I needed to do. I did my best to concentrate on my Star Authority. Once I metaphorically grasped it, I started to use it.
“Fu. Fufu. FufufufuahahahahahahAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!”
I made what I wanted to happen a reality once the power welling up inside me hit its peak and burst. With a content smile on my face, my consciousness faded one last time in the mortal world.
[3rd Person POV]
In the capital of the Celestia Kingdom, the people were in an uproar. Just a short while ago, a young kitsune woman with eight tails was seen walking through the city, heading in the direction of the recently constructed shrine. Most if not all people that saw this realized the implications of this and immediately tried to follow the woman to her destination.
When the kitsune reached the main gate of the shrine, she stopped and pulled something from out of nowhere and then vanished. Some people tried to enter the shrine to see if she had teleported inside, or if it was just an illusion, but they couldn’t enter, no matter how hard they tried. While the people were puzzled, a small troupe of knights from the castle, led by the famous Princess Knight Nia, arrived at the shrine and asked for the citizens of the city to move away for safety.
The people cried out with questions of what was going to happen and if the royal family knew of what was happening. This is when the Princess Knight announced news that caused the entire city over to cheer. In the midst of this cheering, a giant magic circle appeared around the shrine, glowing with a mix of every color, known and unknown, and the ground started to shake. The knights and citizens closest to the Princess Knight heard her sigh in exasperation while mumbling something, but the spectacle that was happening in front of them ignore whatever it was she said.
The entire plot of land that the magic circle covered started to lift out of the ground before ascending into the sky. The process took only seconds, but once the land stopped moving, those with the best angle possible noticed that it flew into a higher position than the Castle Island. Some people laughed at this with the thought that whatever god or goddess did this had a good sense of humor while others thought that it was disrespectful for a shrine to be higher than the castle.
While this spectacle was something that nobody had ever seen, they were rendered speechless by what happened next. The sun had just set and the moon was creeping over the horizon. This was the same thing that happened countless times since time immemorial. Tonight, however, was different. It was the people that were watching the island that noticed first. In the night sky, one by one, specks of silver light started to appear. It started slowly at first, but soon the speed picked up until the entire sky was filled with motes of sliver light that accompanied the moon. Some considered this to be beautiful while others feared that it was a sign of calamity. These reactions were the same for most people the world over, but to some individuals, they figured out what was happening.
They felt a change in their bodies. A mysterious magic affinity that appeared at some point a year or two ago that was deemed worthless due to having no spells or other effects finally became complete. As soon as the birth of stars seemed to stop above their heads, something else started to change. The brightest stars in the sky started to move and change color. They formed two shapes and faint lines started to connect them together. The image of two, ten-tailed foxes, one blue, one silver, formed. The images then started to move about in a beautiful dance before coming to a rest on either side of the moon. They would move every so often, but remains seated next to each other, staring longingly at each other.
[Nia POV]
“Hehehe. Luna, you always were one for theatrics. And I have to say, this was the best yet.”
I looked up at the sky that was once an empty void now filled with moats of light. I smiled with feelings of happiness for Luna before tearing my eyes away from the sky. I looked over at one of my knights who was next to me and was similarly looking at the sky.
“I know it’s beautiful, but I need you to focus.” (Nia)
“Ma’am!”
“Go and start your preparations. We need to go around and explain to the people that a new goddess has been born and that this is a sign of good things to come. Get the others to snap out of it and prepare as well, we’re going to be really busy soon.” (Nia)
“Yes Ma’am!”
The knight immediately set to work rousing his comrades from the collective stupor as I started to do the same.
[Amagi POV]
Shortly after Luna left, the rest of her party showed up at the shrine. They met us in the main courtyard of the shrine where we had set up a large blanket to watch the sky for Luna’s spectacle. To pass the little time before nightfall, we listened to the group as they spoke about the Island of Dragons. As we listened, I looked around at the everyone present. Sitting next to me was Deacon, while a little way away, Ana and Blake sat close together. The same was seen with Soleil and Velvet and Skadi and Ophidia. While Mio was sitting alone, we all knew that Fenrir was here in spirit, especially since Mio was excitedly chatting away into thin air. It started shortly after the moon rose. The sky was being filled with countless little lights. We all watched with rapt amazement.
“Big sis always did like making things flashy. I wonder what’s going on in the Celestia Kingdom right now?” (Soleil)
“A massive uproar, most likely.” (Velvet)
“Yes, but what about the other places master visited? She did say that she was going to walk around as much as possible just to get people excited.” (Ophidia)
“I kind of feel bad for the rulers Luna knows personally. King Drome and King Lobo are going to have a hard time dealing with all of the implications of Luna becoming a goddess.” (Skadi)
“Aren’t you forgetting about the Demon Emperor nya?” (Mio)
“We didn’t really stick around there long enough to actually become friends with him, so I doubt big sis took the time to visit him personally.” (Soleil)
“That’s nice an all, you guys, but you’re missing the show.” (Blake)
They all fell quiet again as they turned their gazes skyward once again. Two foxes had appeared in the sky and were dancing about.
“Fufufu. I know she likes to brag, but she’s really taking it all the way this time.” (Amagi)
“Yeah. Though I wonder just how many people will actually understand what this actually means.” (Deacon)
“Guess that’s the job of her Apostles.” (Ana)
“Goddess Tamamo’s as well, mom.” (Soleil)
“True. Guess we need to spread the word as fast as possible then.” (Ana)
“Worry about that tomorrow, for now lets look at Luna’s work.” (Deacon)
We all fell silent again as we watched the foxes dance in the sky until they came to rest beside the moon.
““Ugh.”” (Soleil and Ana)
“What’s wrong?” (Velvet)
“Stellar magic affinity just became easier to use.” (Ana)
“I wouldn’t say easier, but more like we can now use it without big sis’s domains. Honestly, it feels a little more potent too, though I don’t know if that’s just because I’m the Apostle of Stars.” (Soleil)
“…So, if all of us are Apostles except for Skadi, how long are we supposed to stay in the mortal world before we actually see Luna in her full divine glory? I mean, we still have things we need to do, especially now that she ascended.” (Velvet)
None of us knew how to answer that. While we sat there in contemplation, Deacon made a strange face.
“What’s wrong, Deacon?” (Amagi)
“Grey just contacted me. He said that we should wait for a little while before doing anything. He also advised that Luna’s party should make their way to the Celestia Kingdom, but they don’t have to rush.” (Deacon)
“Hmm. Then should we take the slow way?” (Ophidia)
“It’ll give Lunya and Tamamo time nya, so probably nya.” (Mio)
“Then we rest here for the rest of the night and start to move in the morning.” (Soleil)
“Always so hasty. You don’t have to leave that soon.” (Ana)
“I just feel like we need to. I feel like if we don’t leave as soon as possible, something is going to happen with big sis’s shrine that she won’t like.” (Soleil)
“Then we should probably take the fast way there after all. Set up camp there and make sure we keep anyone away that might do something.” (Velvet)
“Grey just told me that you don’t have to worry about that. Take your time.” (Deacon)
“How about we put this topic to rest? Now isn’t the time for this type of discussion, after all.” (Amagi)
The others stopped saying anything and they looked back up at the sky. While staring at it, I couldn’t help but feel happy at what my Little Luna made.
[Luna POV]
I didn’t know how long it was, but when I started to wake up again, I found myself in a nostalgic position. I was laying on my back looking up at the sky. This time, however, the moon was accompanied by stars.
“Hey Tamamo, doesn’t this remind you of the first time we met? Only without all the me being dead thing.”
{It is extremely similar, though I feel like this time is infinitely better.}
“I wholeheartedly agree.”
I slowly stood up and brushed off any dirt that was on me. I then turned around to face Tamamo. Her long silver hair and tails shimmered under the moon and starlight and her beautiful, shining golden eyes stared into mine. Tears of happiness were streaming down her face, and before I knew it, I was wrapped in an embrace and my lips were covered by hers. I started to kiss her back as I felt the same kind of tears start running down my face and mixing with hers. We stopped kissing for a few seconds to speak.
“Tamamo, I’m home.”
{Welcome home, Luna.}