Becoming The Strongest Angel With A Saintess System-Chapter 35: Relics

Grace sat on the edge of a healing bed, swinging her legs back and forth. The private healing chamber looked way nicer than the regular medical wing, all shiny marble instead of plain white.

Mara had left a few minutes ago to talk with the others outside. Grace could hear voices through the door. Celestia talking calmly, Seraph yelling every now and then, and Venus saying something back.

While she was waiting, Grace stared at the floating quest completion notification that only she could see.

「Quest Completed! The Gathering Storm」

Reward:

+10 Bravery

Bravery: 25/100

Special Equipment Gained! 

Stardust Veil

A lightweight, shimmering silver arm guard that extends from wrist to elbow. When activated, it hardens, able to deflect or absorb a single strike before needing to recharge.

Status:

Grace Lightsinger

Bravery: 25/100

Compassion: 20/100

Love: 12/100

---

Traits:

- Saintess System

Can see System information

- Touch of the Saintess

Able to kill demons

- Divine Attraction

As Grace's attributes increase, she will become more attractive to everything around her. 

---

Skills: 

「Blade of Eternia (Lvl. 2)」

Able to wield equipment made of divine light

「Soothing Hands (Lvl. 2)」

Able to pour divine energy into wounded bodies to heal them

「Golden Tongue (Lvl. 2)」

Able to raise a person's morale through intimacy

「Aura Sight (Level 1)」

Ability to see corrupted auras. Cannot see corrupted auras around subjects with too high a level. 

---

Equipment: 

1. 「Blade of Dawn」

A rapier made of divine light. 

「Equipment Synergy: Power grows with Bravery attribute (10/100)」

2. 「Stardust Veil」

A lightweight, shimmering silver arm guard that extends from wrist to elbow. When activated, it hardens and is able to deflect or absorb a single strike before needing to recharge. 

Recharge time: 30 seconds

[So... A defensive thingy? Can I try it out?]

She looked down at her arm, surprised to find the silver arm guard already there. It wasn't there a minute ago. It fit perfectly, not too tight, not too loose, unlike the bulky junk Seraph had given her for her first mission.

Grace poked it. It felt cool and surprisingly light, like it was barely there at all.

"Activate?" she whispered, feeling dumb talking to an arm guard.

Nothing happened.

"Um... on? Go? Defend me?"

Still nothing.

[Right, I should probably use my energy. Same as healing.]

She focused, pushing a tiny bit of her power into the arm guard. Right away, it got hard and started to glow with a soft silver light.

"Whoa!" Grace waved her arm around, watching the shield move with her. "That's actually pretty cool!"

The door opened. Grace quickly stopped using energy and the whole thing dissipated into golden embers. Mara walked in first, followed by Celestia, Venus, and Seraph.

"Feeling better?" Mara asked, looking Grace over.

"Much better," Grace said. "Thanks for the healing."

"It's what we do," Mara smiled. "Though I'd rather not have to fix stab wounds on you too frequently, my dear."

"I-I'll try not to get stabbed often..."

"THAT WAS SOME PARTY THOUGH, EH!?" Seraph shouted, dropping into a chair that looked too small for her. She laughed loudly. "Nothing like a good fight to make things interesting!"

Venus sighed.

"Most people like dancing more than fighting at parties, Seraph."

"Boring people, maybe!"

Celestia stood next to Grace, her rainbow wings folded behind her.

"How are you really feeling, Grace?"

"I'm okay. Just... a little confused." Grace looked at the four angels. "Is everything okay with the Veil? Sariel looked really mad."

The four older angels looked at each other.

"The Veil is looking into why Isolde did what she did," Celestia said carefully. "Sariel told me it was just one angel acting strangely. Not all of them."

"Ha! Yeah right," Seraph scoffed. "They're just trying to hide that their angels are going crazy!"

"We don't know that," Mara said. "That's all just rumors."

Venus nodded.

"Mara's right. The Veil have done, and still do, good work frequently. We shouldn't just assume they're all evil all of a sudden."

"Really?" Grace asked, surprised.

"Oh yes. Some even argue that their methods are more effective against demons than ours are."

"Some fools, yes," Celestia said.

"But, well," Venus continued, "we can save those stories for other times."

"Indeed." Celestia put her hand on Grace's shoulder. "What matters now is that you're safe. And you did pretty well with a tough situation. I commend you for that."

"I got stabbed a bunch of times," Grace pointed out, muttering. "Don't think that counts as doing well."

Mara checked Grace's wounds one last time.

"Seems you're all healed up, but you should rest for a day or so. Even if we can't die, our bodies still tire and your energy needs a little bit of time to come back after getting hurt."

"I'll make sure she doesn't do too much," Venus offered with a wink.

"Actually," Celestia cut in, "I need to talk to Grace alone for a minute. Could you please...?" She gestured at the door.

The others got the obvious hint. Venus blew Grace a kiss as she left, Mara patted her shoulder, and Seraph slapped her on the back so hard it hurt.

"DON'T GET STABBED AGAIN!" was Seraph's advice before the door closed.

Alone with Celestia, Grace felt nervous. The Archangel walked to the window, looking outside.

"What Isolde did tonight was quite strange," Celestia said after a bit. "Angels attacking other angels... it happens, but from the looks of it, what you said felt different."

"... Is it true that angels can become corrupted?" Grace asked, though she felt like she already knew the answer. She mostly just wanted more information.

Celestia sighed.

"There are... theories," she said. "If what you saw was corruption, then it would make sense. Those angels get their power from human sins instead of good deeds. Of course, something so unnatural would come with a price."

"Like what Azrael found out about?"

Celestia smirked as she turned and looked at Grace.

"You're learning fast."

"Not fast enough, I guess," Grace muttered, remembering how easily Isolde beat her up.

Celestia smiled.

"Even Eternia didn't know everything when she started."

[Right... Celestia is the only one who remembers what Eternia was like. The only angel alive who lived during Eternia's own time.]

"How did she handle things? When she was here, I mean."

"Well," Celestia began to respond, amused, "our three Virtues are such for a reason, Grace. They are not arbitrary. Eternia, as a mortal, was brave. She took action when she needed to, wielding all sorts of weapons to strike evil down. Eternia was compassionate. She helped everyone and everything that needed her help. And," Celestia smiled in a way Grace could only describe as seductive, "Eternia was loving. Endlessly so. I'm sure I can leave what that entailed up to your imagination."

Grace blushed. But, she did have a question.

"Wait, wait... As a mortal?"

"Ah, yes," Celestia nodded. "Her passion was in creation, but of what fun is creating things if you never get to experience them? After she made this world of ours and everything in it, she briefly set her wings aside and walked the lands as a normal person would."

"Wow..." Grace was surprised. "It's hard to imagine that."

Having been born and raised on the countryside, she didn't know about any of this.

"You don't have to. Well, in a way. See, it is precisely these adventures... and occasional misadventures that make up the majority of scripture."

Right on cue, new text appeared in Grace's vision:

「New Quest Activated: Echoes of Eternia」

Category: Knowledge

Objective: Research Eternia's scripture and relics

Reward: +3 to all attributes, New Skill Unlock

[Well, that's convenient timing.]

"Holy books?" Grace asked, trying to sound normal.

"Yes. The Eternal Codex. Eternia's collection of tales, from which she derived her wisdom and rules."

Grace nodded slowly.

"Hm... Makes sense. Should have figured a goddess would leave behind some kind of how-to manual."

"She did," Celestia giggled warmly. "Though I was planning to have you study it after you learned more basic angel skills. After all, and I will say this bluntly so you know I am not trying to pull one over on you, we are all rather desperate for you to get out and start fighting demons."

[Not hard to see why.]

"I appreciate the honesty," Grace muttered. "Can I, uh... Learn more about those books somehow?"

Celestia looked thoughtful.

"Maybe it's time to speed up your learning."

"OH! And, what about relics?" Grace asked, remembering the second part of her quest. "Did Eternia leave those behind too?"

Celestia's eyes narrowed a bit. She smirked and asked:

"My my~ Is our precious Grace perhaps greedy?"

[Oops. Too obvious.]

"Just... curious," Grace said quickly.

Celestia paused for a moment and then sighed.

"Well, to answer your question, yes, there were relics. Magic items Eternia made herself throughout her adventures. We keep them in the Vault of Relics, deep inside the Dominion."

She paused, her wings twitching a little.

"At least, they should be there. Over the years, several have gone missing."

"Missing?" Grace sat up straight. "You mean stolen?"

"We don't know," Celestia admitted with a shrug.

"YOU DON'T KNOW!?"

Celestia smiled wryly.

"W-Well, let me explain." She cleared her throat. "The first relic to disappear was the Crown of Stars, which allowed the user the ability to befriend the wildlife of Linaria easily. From horses and wolves to dragons and griffins."

Grace pulled back.

"Dragons? Griffins? Those are real!?"

Celestia tilted her head.

"Well, yes."

"..."

[Scary.]

To think, all this time she'd been preparing solely to fight demons. Those things were out there? Just roaming the land casually???

"Anyway, that disappeared. Then, the Chalice of Truths, the Mantle of Whispers, the Stardust Veil, the Boots of Swiftness, the..."

Celestia kept going. Grace, however, completely froze.

[... The Stardust Veil?] She thought, as Celestia kept going, using her fingers to count now. [The Stardust Veil was a relic, it was here, and it went missing? And...] She blinked. [And now I have it?]

"... Among others," Celestia continued, clueless. "We, of course, tried to look for them, but we've seen no trace of any of these objects."

"Huh. Weird," she said, her voice way too high.

"In any case, the more I think about it, the more I agree. I think you should learn more about Eternia and what she left behind," Celestia said finally. "You can go to the Archives if you want to read the Codex. You have my blessing to enter and leave as you wish."

She waved her hand in front of Grace, divine energy making a bit of a humming noise before she brought her hand back down.

"I'd like that," Grace said, actually interested now.

Celestia smiled.

"Do have fun with the scriptures, then. The tales you will learn aren't without their own bit of humor."

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"Really?"

"Well, Eternia was..." Celestia looked away. "An intriguing person, with her own unique interests. And, even she messed up sometimes. You'll see."

After Celestia left, Grace brought her arm guard back out, the Stardust Veil, and looked at it with new thoughts racing through her head.

[So I just got a missing divine relic as a quest reward... From Eternia herself? If that's the case, then... They didn't "go missing". She's been taking them back as she amassed power.]

It was a curious thing to think about, but for now, she had a new quest to do.

It was time to see what this Eternal Codex was all about.