The Continent of Olazha.

  Region of Pluvia, southeast of the Yiras Mountain Range.

  The Great Empire of Panacea.

  The Imperial Capital, Elantra.

  0900, Twenty-First Day of the Seventh Month, Year 667.

  The young girl sighed.

  She was barely of age, having just that morning turned six years old. As per the traditions of the Great Empire, she was to be formally introduced to the other members of nobility, regardless of their rank as the third princess of the Great Empire of Panacea. While this was all fine and well, her formal débutante would also mark her first proper exposure to members of the opposite sex, something she was greatly looking forward to, however, the fact that she was forced to sit through practically three hours of outfitting was a main source of general annoyance for her. Of course, as a princess of the Empire, she understands that she should not appear before others in a manner that would besmirch the name of her family but she is still but a child of six. Her attention span notwithstanding, sitting still for so long was beginning to grate on her nerves.

  She had been bedecked in so many carats of jewelry, she thought she was going to get crushed beneath the pressure of all of the precious gems adorning her body. Her dress was of simple but elaborate design consisting of a shoulderless evening gown the color of midnight; according to her handmaidens and stylists, little to no makeup was necessary as she was already a beauty, sculpted by a divine artist who idolizes perfection. Her flowing silver hair was like a tranquil snowcap across the crown of her head. All of her hair strands seem to possess a constitution that disallows tangling and they all gently cascade down her shoulders and back, ending around where her waist meets her hips. To top off the look, her two-toned eyes, her left being blue and her right having no set color (due to a certain spell placed on the eye itself, the eye’s color is indiscernible; the best way to describe it is the eye is a rainbow, naturally drifting from one shade to the next) pierced through the mirror she was currently staring into, baffled by her dolled-up appearance.

  “Oh…!” came a muffled exclamation. “Star of the Empire, you look stunning!”

  The girl sighed again as she said, “Once the ceremony is over, you are once again helping me escape from this heavy clothing, understood?”

  “But of course, my princess,” the maid, Frédérique von Fournier, replied and took a knee. “I, Frédérique von Fournier, vow to always remain at your side!”

  “—I don’t think I was asking for that?” Tilting her head in confusion, she blinked a few times, her rainbow eye clouding over into a deep gray. She then sighed and straightened herself. “However, I suppose I do not mind if you remain my servant…”

  “Oh—!! Princess…!” Frédérique’s eyes immediately began watering as she comically bawled loudly, furiously rubbing her face to stop the tears. “I will follow you for the rest of my life!”

  “Ugh, would you please stop it!? This is embarrassing!”

  “My sincerest apologies!” Immediately, Frédérique staunched her tears and straightened up. Clearing her throat, she continued with a completely serious tone. “Now, it is time for your introduction, Star of the Empire, Her Highness the Third Princess.”

  —She’s going to pretend that never happened, huh. Frédérique opened the room’s door, gently waving the young lady through as she faithfully followed her from behind. The girl continued confidently onward with this corridor directly leading to the Acropolis of Panacea’s grand staircase and massive main audience hall. It was here where many of the capital’s most high-profile social functions were held. Today’s function was of exceptional importance as this is the day the Empire’s youngest Star is to turn seven; she would be formally introduced to the Empire’s high society as the Sun of the Empire’s—that is, the Emperor’s—fifth child and the Imperial Third Princess. She stopped at the head of the staircase which went down a level and meets at the center with the staircase on the opposite side before the lower level meets the ground level with another gracefully curving staircase. Having already spotted the princess’ appearance, the master of ceremonies cleared his throat. “Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please! It is with great pleasure that I announce the arrival of our most esteemed guest. With the magnanimous leave granted to me by Our Magnificent Sun, I hereby proclaim—the Empire’s Sixth Star, the Third Princess, Her Imperial Highness, Ophelia Yolande-Desideria Alberta-Melody Reina-Panacea!”

  That served as her cue as the named personage—Ophelia—stepped balletically onto the stairs and began to slowly descend. Frédérique, the handmaiden chosen to assist the princess for her débutante, dutifully held the six-meter train of Ophelia’s formal dress, slowly matching her large strides with the princess’ short ones to prevent the train from touching the stairs. Despite being unable to see the stairs, Frédérique had gone up and down these very same stairs so many times in her life that she has essentially memorized where every step is. On the other hand, Princess Ophelia cannot see her feet so she has to very carefully guess every single step she takes. Fortunately, she did not embarrass herself and reached the center level with no accidents. There, she stopped, standing beside the master of ceremonies with Frédérique slightly further off to the side with the train in hand. Ophelia soon focused on her parents, the Day and Night of the Empire, Sun Emperor Regulus Cornelius-Desiderio Adalbert-Melody Reyes-Panacea and Melisende Yolande-Desideria Alberta-Melody Reyna-Panacea. Her mother said nothing and simply hid her face behind her fan while her father—with a smile that only Ophelia could tell was fake—greeted her. “Ophelia! My daughter! You look absolutely spectacular!”

  “Many thanks, Father. As always, you are quite dapper in your imperial formalwear.”

  “I do not need flattery from you today. After all, all of this is for you.”

  “Then I shall try not to heap on anything extra.” Ophelia kept her smile plastered onto her face as she continued to exchange pleasantries with her father. The master of ceremonies stepped to the side and bowed to the princess, urging her to descend to the banquet hall. Ophelia closed her eyes and took a deep breath before opening them and slowly walked down the stairs. Each and every step she took was even more deliberately calculated than the last as she wanted to ensure she left a good impression; within the imperial family, Ophelia’s treatment was very lackluster. She wasn’t regarded with disdain but she wasn’t respected much either. Ophelia hoped that she could use this opportunity to connect with the other imperial nobles and use them for her own benefit. Just as she reached the halfway point, Ophelia’s thought process cut out.

  “Do you hear me?”

  With those four words, something inside of Ophelia was unshackled. Suddenly, Ophelia found herself remembering things that did not happen to her. In her mind’s eye, she saw the visage of the goddess, Lady Ereshkigal, who was the sole ruler of this world. “Ah… Goddess Ereshkigal… We meet once more.”

  “Yes, indeed, Suzuka, my dear lost sheep. The time has come for your seal to come undone.”

  “And so it has. Lady Ereshkigal, what name should I call myself?”

  “Hmm. I shall leave that up to your own discretion. Your other half asked me the same question too and I gave him the same answer as well. I’m sure you can imagine his choice.”

  “In that case… I shall choose the opposite. I shall forsake my name of Suzuka until I meet him once more. I have the feeling that he chose to refer to himself as Soushirou even in this new world…”

  “Hahaha, you sure are quite scary. Is it because you are a reincarnation of her?”

  “What do you mean, Lady Ereshkigal?”

  “You shall know in due time. Without further ado, I shall borrow your body for a few moments.” With that statement, Ophelia’s mind’s eye reverted to a third-person view of herself, courtesy of the goddess as she saw her ‘possess’ herself. Slowly, Ophelia watched as her body levitated into the air and an eight-tiered halo appeared to adorn her head. Squinting her eyes, she made out adorably cute designs of the eighty-eight constellations with each of the eight tiers carrying eleven constellations. She saw that her eyes had transformed from their usual amber into a polychromatic rainbow that shimmered from one color to the next and her silver hair billowed around her person, like a halo around her body. “Greetings, descendants of Sir Arthur. I am most certainly overstepping my bounds here but this is an emergency. I sense the revival of the Divine Demon Lord. This is outside my purview as I do not have the power to sense the wheels of fortune but this hardly seems like a coincidence.”

  The goddess pauses there as she notices how everyone present had immediately dropped to their knees, including the Sun and Moon. “I am quite displeased with keeping all of you down for too long so I shall make this quick. The revival of the Divine Demon Lord is imminent which is why the Hero and the Great Saintess too have reincarnated. I know where the Hero’s reincarnation is but I cannot tell you where he is; I’ve already interfered far more than I should. However, I shall tell you who the Great Saintess is. She is this very girl I am possessing; the proof is the fact that I can manifest through her. Please ensure to find the Hero’s reincarnation; he is at the moment powerless as this girl has his Seven Origins. Oh, by the way, I have set a restriction spell on the Great Saintess’ reincarnation. You have exactly one year to create magic-sealing devices that will lower her mana output to a manageable level before the seal breaks; she has a mana capacity an order of magnitude larger than the Hero’s. I wonder how that works.” With that, the possession disappeared yet Ophelia remained floating in the air, her polychromatic eyes still glimmering.

  The eight-tiered halo reducing in size to a three-tiered halo—the very same halo that had manifested on the Great Saintess’ crown as described in the historical texts, Ophelia raised her left hand, control having been returned to her. “Origin Magic: Astéria Prostasías.” From within her, seven stars blazed to life, shining through her clothes as they manifested in multiple locations; one appeared on her forehead, two manifested in each of her eyes—the reason behind their rainbow-hued iridescence, one on her throat, three in her heart, and one in her womb. As she spoke the name of a forbidden spell, the Origin in her throat broke apart and vanished, its power channeling into her left hand as she brandished it over the assembled people. A rain of pure magical energy soon engulfed them and Ophelia descended from her unseen perch in the air. Upon landing on the stairwell, she held up her dress and curtsied. “My apologies. The goddess had told me to prove myself.” As Ophelia looked up, she felt the Origin that settled in her throat regenerating before vanishing back inside her body. “I’m sure I do not need to explain the effects of this spell; after all, it was the spell the Great Saintess sacrificed herself to use to bless the Hero.”

  The Empire’s Sun recovers first as Ophelia notes a most obvious shift in attitude. “This calls for a baptismal name.”

  “No, surely no name we can give her would fit her esteemed status,” argues the Empire’s Moon.

  “Certainly not, Mother. I am not that prideful; I would taint the magnificent name of the Great Saintess if I was. However…” Ophelia continues descending the stairs and finally stands on the same level as the ones who have come to greet her. It was now quite obvious that Ophelia was currently only a shadow of her past life. “I am but merely seven years of age. Surely I do not yet deserve the respect owed to the Great Saintess as I am no more inexperienced as the rest of you when you were my age.”

  “I suppose you would be right. In that case, what name should we give you?”

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “If I may, Father, I have a suggestion. According to Lady Ereshkigal, the name ‘Arianna’ is one of many possible derivatives of the Great Saintess’ name. By your leave, I would like to be christened with that name.”

  “Hmm. If that is the wish of the goddess, it shall be done.” In a flourish, Regulus threw out his arm. “Lend me your ears, great nobles of the Empire! On this day, our beloved Goddess of Creation, Lady Ereshkigal, has given us a divine revelation! My daughter, the Empire’s sixth Star, is the reincarnation of none other than the Great Saintess, Lady Ariadne Mylona, wife of the Hero, Sir Arthur Kingsleigh! This is the Empire’s greatest crisis since our founding! We must make haste to find the Hero’s reincarnation.”

  Melisende brandished the arm opposite that of her husband’s as she continued, “As per the words of the Goddess, my daughter Ophelia shall be baptized with the name ‘Arianna.’ Bishop Rinaldo, would you please do the honors?”

  “But of course, Moon Empress.” The one singled out was an exceedingly tall man—perhaps surpassing two meters in height—in priestly garb. If Ophelia were to speak her thoughts aloud, she would inquire why a professional world-league-level volleyball player would seek out the priesthood. Hoisting a crozier with him, he knelt down to get close to the young princess who was most certainly a half-meter shorter than him. “Greetings, Star of the Empire. My humble name is Rinaldo Scarsi. I am but the ordinary bishop of the ecclesiastical province and diocese of Elantra as granted to me by our great Pope Anastasius. I may not be worthy but I shall do the honors of baptizing you.”

  “No offense taken, Bishop Rinaldo,” Ophelia replied. She knelt down herself, right hand over her heart and her head bowed low.

  The bishop reached out his hand and muttered a spell. Magic circles formed around his hand and around Ophelia’s feet before she was doused by a light wave of water. “In my name as Rinaldo Scarsi, I grant thee, Oprhelia Yolande-Desideria Alberta-Melody Reina-Panacea, the baptismal name of ‘Arianna’ out of respect for the Great Satiness.”

  “This humble girl modestly accepts the name and its associated weight.”

  Ophelia then felt herself being dried off by a second spell cast in sequence. “The baptism is complete. Welcome, Saint Arianna.”

  She returned to her feet and smiled at the bishop towering over her. “Please, Bishop. ‘Ophelia’ is fine. I do not quite feel like a saint just yet.”

  1340, Fourth Day of the First Month, Year 668.

  The Villa del Santa della Rinascita, residence of Saint Arianna, the Imperial Capital, Elantra.

  “Lady Ophelia, how is the water?” called Frédérique von Fournier as she organized her charge’s used clothes that will be sent to the laundry later from behind the closed door of the changing room connected to the great baths.

  “Mhm. Just fine. As always, Frédérique, you are an expert at drawing baths.”

  “Your words of praise are wasted on me, Lady Ophelia!” she happily replied. Her joyful hums soon vanished into the distance; Ophelia assumed she had left with the dirty laundry and will soon return with a clean pair.

  Lounging back in the bath, she stared up at the ceiling, constructed out of mithril and enchanted with transparency. She raised her right hand and muttered, “Undine. Sylph.” A great magic circle formed in front of her—one series rested on the surface of the water while the other series floated unfettered in the air. From each one, a woman of ethereal beauty emerged. The one who came from the water was dressed in an aquamarine vestment that flowed and ebbed like the water from whence she came and the one who came from the air was dressed in a verdant vestment that roiled like the wind.

  Both women hovered over the surface of the water, kneeling down in front of the relaxed princess. “ “We have answered your summons, Great Saintess.” ”

  “Enough of that. I am a reincarnation. I am not the Ariadne Mylona that you know.”

  “If you say so, Princess Ophelia.” Undine, the Origin Spirit of Water, took a seat on the water’s surface, her deep blue eyes softly caressing Ophelia. “For what reason have you called us?”

  “Mmm… Well…” Ophelia’s gaze wandered off to a certain point in the distance. “Sylph, the winds should tell you. There is something in that direction, no? I cannot properly sense anything more than a presence.”

  Sylph, the Origin Spirit of Wind, cocked her head in confusion before closing her amber eyes. “I see what you mean. I can sense a band of ten people—most likely men—entering the bounds of the mansion. They must be well-prepared if they manage to sneak past this construction’s magical barrier.”

  “Haha, I am still reeling from the fact that this whole palace was built just for me in three months flat.” Indeed, this Villa del Santa della Rinascita—or more commonly, Rinascita Villa—was a residence built by the hands of the Empire’s greatest architects and engineers by the edict of Sun Emperor Regulus to house the Saint of Revival, as Ophelia soon came to be known. It was completed in a mere three months with the help of the court magicians of the Order of the Holy Sparrow. Ophelia was greatly surprised that some noble families volunteered to relinquish some of their properties for the construction of Rinascita Villa as there were no open lots large enough to accommodate the required one square kilometer dictated in the plans. She spent much of the time the villa was under construction speaking with and personally thanking the noble families who gave up their holdings for her, performing trivial things like protection spells for them or their living spaces; such mundane uses of the Great Saintess’ arsenal was met with quite the hilarious fainting spell from her father when he was informed by the grateful families. “This mansion is far too large for just me to live in…”

  “I’m sure the great Sun Emperor was thinking of the future. After all, you are to live with the Hero’s reincarnation, right?”

  “Oh! You’re right, Undine. I guess the extra room was included as preparation… Still, I feel rather bad for Frédérique. Why exactly does she refuse to have Father provide additional servants?”

  “You underestimate her devotion to you, Princess,” Sylph supplied. “Ah, it seems they’ve gotten inside. What should we do?”

  “Protect Frédérique and lead them to me. I’d like to see what they have ‘prepared’ for such a brazen act against me, the Saint of Revival.” Ophelia stood up as she looked at the door, the movement causing the priceless jewels adorning her person to jostle around. Still, I cannot believe Father managed to get the Empire’s artisans and jewellery designers to finish this set in less than a quarter of the allotted time the goddess had set.

  “ “Yes, Your Eminence.” ”

  The girl was amused.

  Any other girl in her situation would panic and try calling for help.

  This girl did not even flinch.

  Just several hours ago, Ophelia had gotten out of her bath and moved to change in the spacious changing room. As stated previously, the only servant living in this house was Frédérique so she had no maids to take care of her personal needs; this was completely fine by her as she has experience with looking after herself (this greatly upsets Frédérique who only fails to care for Ophelia because she worked herself into a sickness). A small fraction of the Empire’s nobles look down on her for not relying on an army of servants as someone of her status is obligated to have but they cannot openly speak against her because of her status as a Star of the Empire and as the Saint of Revival.

  However, as those that do not like her personality are in the minority, they cannot afford to speak out lest they be the first to taste the Great Saintess’ attack spells. As seen when they were testing the jewelry set, removing just one piece already releases enough of Ophelia’s mana to emanate a crushing pressure. If she so feels like it, she could easily eliminate dissenters with nothing more than a yawn. As she lost herself in thinking about useless things, she was halfway through putting on the underwear set that Undine had deposited after directing Frédérique elsewhere when she heard the shattering of glass. Multiple hooded adults jumped into the changing room with great urgency; she did absolutely nothing as they roughly grabbed her and dragged her away.

  In other words, Ophelia Yolande-Desideria Alberta-Melody Arianna Reina-Panacea found herself kidnapped.

  If she wanted to, she could reduce these ruffians to dust by simply blinking but she decided against it. Even in her past life, this was the first time she had been kidnapped and she was currently in the body of a seven-year-old girl. She simply let the childish curiosity of her body restrain her from striking back because she wanted to know what comes next; after all, even if it gets really dicey, Ophelia has the strength to save herself from anything anyway. No amount of sorcery could restrain her as she has been blessed by the goddess herself; with the Divine Protections of Wind, Water, and Creation—courtesy of the Origin Spirits of Wind and Water and Lady Ereshkigal, Ophelia is immune to all negative status effects and doubly immune to any wind and water magic cast with the intent to harm against her.

  This does not serve reiterating but it is for these above reasons that Ophelia did not resist, even when she was dragged away with nothing but her underwear she had just worn. Her eyes widened very slightly when she felt something—a pill, perhaps—shoved into her mouth. Forced to swallow it, she contemplated. Hmm, I suppose this is a magical drug concocted for the purpose of rendering me unconscious… Haha, unfortunately, I’m immune to all negative status effects. I’m not even sure what this one was supposed to do. Speaking of which…

  Your Eminence!? You weren’t joking!? Undine yelled in her mind.

  You’re having way too much fun at their expense... Sylph sighed.

  Bahaha, I apologize, you two, but please, I want to entertain my curiosity.

  —Such an inexplicably morbid curiosity, Undine and Sylph concluded at the same time.

  Ophelia decided to fake being affected by the drug even if she received none of its adverse effects; hilariously enough, she actually did even manage to fall asleep for a nap only to be jolted awake some hours later chained to a dank dungeon wall. Ooh, they’re going straight for the prize, huh? Ophelia looked down to find her underwear missing; some vestiges of torn fabrics left on her body and around her were the only signs that told her that they had been torn off of her body. Focusing mana into her eyes, she activated her Mystic Eye of Sagacity—a power dormant in her right eye—and peered through the walls of her cell. Ophelia then scrunched her eyebrows in disgust before smoothing it over; her underwear were currently being used as masturbation material by her captors. Quickly deactivating her ocular power, she sighed. Wowie, they aren’t holding back… Should I be happy to know that they’re getting off to me (lol)? She subsequently shook her head as she answered her own question. —Nah, the only man I’d allow to masturabate to me is Soushirou. Perhaps some of the other boys in our inner circle too but none of them are here…

  She looked up at the ceiling, manifesting her ocular power again. Now, where are we…? I could escape now but I’ll behave for a little longer. They seem to have finished their ‘business’ and are heading this way anyway. Surely they’ll want a piece of me. I’m a child, I’m unsullied, and I’m a Star of the Empire.

  Not a few seconds after she thought that, she heard the jangling of keys being fumbled around before being inserted into the keyhole and turned to open the doors of her cell. Six men stepped inside with one of them having a much more significant presence than the others. Ophelia assumed the balding man was their leader as he gloated, “Oho, I see our little princess is finally awake! Thank God I didn’t waste my money on that draught. That sorcerer wasn’t lying when he said it’d even work on the affluently protected Imperial Princess!”

  Hmm, I see, so that was supposed to have been really strong…

  Undine supplied, Yeah, that drug was powerful enough to render even a State-Authorized Hero unconscious.

  Sylph added, Our divine protections aside, Goddess Ereshkigal’s Divine Protection of Creation is the true ultimate blessing.

  “Hey, boss, lemme have a taste of her… I’ve been helping you out a lot—can’t you let me break one in for once, especially a prize as priceless as her?” asked a guy who seemed to be a lieutenant.

  “Fuck no, bro! Even if it’s you asking, I’m not relinquishing the right to break this one in myself!” the boss denied. “I mean, just look at her! Despite being only seven years old, she’s already a sight for sore eyes...!”

  Ophelia quips internally, Why thank you.

  “Fine… but you gotta at least give me her jewelry…!”

  “Fine, fine, grab them.”

  “Hehehe…” The lackey approached Ophelia’s naked body, her important parts hidden by her long flowing hair. Around her neck was a necklace of priceless value.

  As he got closer, Ophelia actually began to panic. Hey, wait, that thing—!

  By then, however, it was too late as the man reached out and tore off the necklace from her neck. The necklace itself remained intact save for the thread that connected it together that was broken upon being forcibly removed from her person.

  The two Origin Spirits sighed in exasperation as Undine and Sylph simultaneously stated, Oh dear/Welp, he’s done it now.

  The goddess had placed a delayed time-based seal on Ophelia’s mana as she has mana of such capacity and potency that she considered them to be an order of magnitude larger than even the Hero’s. Should the jewelry set Sun Emperor Regulus commissioned not been finished in time, unimaginable amounts of magic would constantly leak from her body with this released magic erecting a barrier around her person and forcing everyone who is not a State-Authorized Hero or a person with strength and constitution equivalent to that of a State-Authorized Hero to be unable to approach her whatsoever due to the instinctual fear the mana-filled air instills in them. Regulus thought that a small number of these items would not be enough and so commissioned an entire jewelry set that Ophelia has to wear at all times.

  Their power to suppress her mana was approved by the goddess who had visited Ophelia in a dream the week following the jewelry set’s completion to prematurely lift the seal on her mana, however, the goddess warned her that the set can only work in tandem and that if even one set is missing, she could no longer maintain a normal life. In total, the jewelry set consists of twelve ornaments: a circlet, a necklace, a pair of earrings, six armlets—three on each arm, and two anklets—one on each ankle.

  One of those pieces of jewelry had been taken off of her person, meaning only eleven remain on her body. Consequentially, a mere silver of her power was unleashed and this was enough to force everyone in the room to take several steps back.

  “Ahh…” Ophelia sang as she wordlessly cast a fourth-order dark-attribute spell to corrode the chains holding her to the wall. “You’ve done it now. If you went to all this effort to kidnap me for your malicious ideas, you should’ve known what my jewelry does…”

  “Eek...!” The leader of the gang panicked, taking several more steps back as Ophelia directed the brunt of her unleashed magical energy in his direction.

  “Well, that was fun while it lasted but I guess I’ll need to punish you somewhat for your transgressions…” She sighed as she began invoking a different fire-attribute spell. “Incinerate All and Leave Nothing Behind一Sixth-Order Magic: Imperium Flammae Funus!” Simultaneously, she cast a fifth-order light-attribute spell, Servum Revoco; this dual incantation’s purpose was to “kill” her assailants then revive them into her obedient slaves as the light-attribute magic binds their Origins to her. If the combined spell succeeds, she can then interrogate them as she pleases as they would indubitably inform her of who they worked for.

  Once she finished, the seemingly cremated men were haphazardly strewn across the floor, completely untouched. Satisfied, she mumbled, “I guess the spell was successful.”

  The Origin Spirits finally manifested as they looked at the prone men with nothing but pity in their eyes. Undine stated sorrowfully, “Their luck ran out the minute they thought they had a chance.”

  “It doesn’t help that Her Eminence is a very whimsical person,” Sylph added.

  “You know I can hear you, yes? I suppose I will have to report this incident to Father… Ugh, I can only imagine the fit he’ll throw.”