"General, look down there—it seems like there's something else," Esdeath suddenly said.
"Something alive?"
Selene tilted her head slightly, puzzled. She couldn't sense any trace of life energy below.
Peering down into the depths, she noticed something—a mass of pitch-black material at the bottom of the crater. Faint luminescent light seeped out through the cracks.
"What's this..."
Pulling Esdeath along, Selene descended slowly to the bottom of the pit.
"Simulation—Gravity."
The solid rock and soil loosened, and soon, a rectangular structure roughly ten meters long, five meters wide, and four meters high was drawn up from the debris.
"A vault?"
The original shape of the structure was almost unrecognizable. Its surface was jet black, scorched by intense heat, covered in cracks from metal carbonization. Melted metal residue clung to every surface, the uneven exterior making it impossible to identify where the entrance once was.
This was the very bottom of the crater—over a hundred meters deep. The rebels must have placed this vault in the deepest part of their headquarters basement to protect something extremely important.
"So this is the loot drop from clearing the rebel headquarters dungeon, huh..."
CLANG, SCREEECH...!
Selene curled her fingers, and the ear-splitting sound of twisting metal filled the air. With a sharp pull, she tore open the wall of the vault facing her.
"Oh? They really went all out on security."
Her eyes narrowed slightly. Under her superhuman vision, thin metallic filaments—barely visible—crisscrossed the entire vault interior.
Even after such a massive explosion, these threads hadn't been destroyed. That alone spoke volumes about the vault's defensive mechanisms. Had Selene not leveled the entire fortress beforehand, the traps protecting this vault would likely have been far more troublesome.
Unfortunately for them, they encountered her—the ultimate infiltrator. Against someone like Selene, all such tricks could be summed up in one word: Boom.
Without hesitation, she yanked apart all the metal filaments. No alarms sounded—naturally, since the entire fortress had been reduced to ash. There was nothing left to trigger any warnings.
The interior of the vault resembled a bar counter, lined with an assortment of weapons. Judging by appearance alone, Selene couldn't tell which were Teigu and which were Shingu.
Closest to her was... a long-handled staff? Or maybe a war hammer? The head was shaped like a skull—eerily human in design.
She couldn't help but grimace at the craftsman's aesthetic choices. If you're making a staff, slim the handle down; if you're making a hammer, replace the skull with an actual hammerhead, for heaven's sake.
After twirling it in her hand a few times, Selene lost interest almost immediately. It really was a hammer-type Teigu—but far too ugly for her taste. "Forget it."
"You try it," she said, tossing it dismissively to the Esdeath behind her. "A hammer-type Teigu."
Long-bladed Shingu.
Hand-cannon Shingu.
...
Mask-type Teigu.
And even one shaped like... a flashlight? Or maybe a monocular telescope? A Teigu, apparently.
Opening a Spatial Transfer Gate, Selene began tossing the artifacts inside one after another, clearly uninterested.
"They're useless to me. I'll just take them back and distribute them to the legions."
Finally, as she threw the mask-type Teigu into her storage space, Selene turned her gaze toward the last object inside the vault—a massive cylindrical containment unit sealed under a thick metal shell. It was the largest object in the entire vault by far.
The cylindrical structure stood nearly three meters tall, and as Selene approached, she already had a hunch about what it contained.
Grabbing the metal cover, she tore it open with brute force.
"As I thought."
Inside was a biological-type Teigu—a humanoid one. Within a large transparent tube, submerged in preservation fluid, slept a two-meter-tall man dressed in white traditional clothing, with curved horns growing from both sides of his head.
The Speed of Lightning · Susanoo.
In the original records, this was the Teigu that would one day be assigned to Najenda by the Revolutionary Army headquarters.
For centuries after its discovery, no one had ever managed to awaken or tame it. Only when Najenda appeared did it finally respond, and she was granted its use.
But right now, Najenda was still somewhere deep within the Imperial military's ranks—oblivious. Naturally, Susanoo had remained dormant here in the rebel base.
And now, it had fallen right into Selene's hands—saving it from the fate of being battered to pieces by Esdeath in the future.
Seeing the words Speed of Lightning · Susanoo engraved on the containment unit, Selene couldn't suppress the smile curling at the corners of her mouth. "Finally, something interesting."
Having obtained Susanoo, Selene had no intention of using it for battle like Najenda once would—that, to her, was far too shallow a purpose.
Indeed, this Teigu was designed specifically to serve as a personal bodyguard, its combat power optimized for close protection. As such, it excelled in hand-to-hand combat, capable of fighting independently to shield its master.
It also possessed a unique hidden ability—Magatama Manifestation. Through the magatama-shaped gem embedded in its chest, Susanoo could absorb its master's life force to enter a berserk state, thereby unlocking its full power. In this mode, it wielded three sacred artifacts: Ame no Murakumo (an immense spirit sword of overwhelming offense), Yata no Kagami (a mirror for absolute defense), and Yasakani no Magatama (which granted extraordinary speed and mobility).
But to Selene, its combat abilities were trivial—she hardly needed protection.
What truly intrigued her was Susanoo's impeccable domestic capabilities—especially its cooking. It was said to be a master of over a thousand recipes!
In other words, a perfect all-purpose household Teigu—indispensable for any home or expedition.
"Activate," Selene said softly, shattering the glass of the containment tube. Placing her palm against the magatama on Susanoo's chest, she infused it with power.
Boom.
With the activation of Speed of Lightning · Susanoo, the glass tube exploded under the surge of energy. Emerging from the shattered remains, the towering humanoid Teigu stepped forward, gazing at Selene with piercing blue eyes—the eyes of a warrior awakening from a long slumber.
Moments later, after a brief calibration, Susanoo knelt down heavily before her, bowing his head.
"Master," he said in a deep, resonant voice.
...
Meanwhile, to the northwest of the former Revolutionary Army headquarters, a squad of rebel soldiers stood frozen in shock. Their captain stared at the blazing inferno rising from the basin where their headquarters once stood, his voice trembling. "T-that... that's the direction of the headquarters!"
Rubbing his eyes in disbelief, he screamed, "Impossible! What the hell happened?!"
"I think... I know who did this," murmured the intelligence officer they had been escorting.
"It's Selene... it has to be Selene!" he said through gritted teeth. As a senior member of the Revolutionary Army's Intelligence Division, he knew far more than the common foot soldiers. The violet-red sky, the thunderous detonations—all matched perfectly with the reports of Selene's God's Wrath. No one else could produce that kind of devastation.
"Everyone, move out immediately... we must continue the escort mission!" he barked, his voice trembling as he forced the words out.
In his arms, he held a small, frightened Mine. Tears welled in his eyes—he wanted nothing more than to turn back and see what had become of his comrades. But his instincts screamed at him: if Selene was still there, returning would mean certain death.
"Uncle... what about Uncle Timothy?" little Mine asked softly.
"..."
The intelligence officer fell silent. Holding the trembling child close, he turned away without another word and disappeared into the forest, leaving the blazing ruins behind.