Lucilla awoke in a bed completely healed. She stared at the ceiling in a daze for a few seconds before yelling out a curse. "Damn it! I swear I'll burn it all to as with the Flames of Creation!"
It's been a week since Lucilla found herself guarding the gates to Athrem. The part of the soul realm where souls that deserve punishment went. It was a horrible place. The air so hot you could feel it burn your lungs as you breath, and winds so harsh it can peal your skin off with all the dust it carried. The ground was uneven and hard to travers, and occasionally it'll just collapse on you. That was just the entrance. Apparently, it's one of the most peaceful parts.
She got out of the sturdy bed, grabbed the scythe leaning next to the doorway, and left the bedroom. She marched her way down the empty corridor until she reached a pair of double doors. She thought she would be sorting souls like Ovana had hinted at. That was for later apparently, her first task was actually here in this horrible place.
Opening the doors she entered an office with one occupant. It was the True Demon she first saw when she was transported here. When he saw her, he gave the disgruntled woman a small smile before gesturing for her to take a seat. Since he was fifteen feet tall, Lucilla couldn't help but feel like a child as she climbed onto the chair he gestured at. She didn't sit down but stood on top of it so she could at least look over the desk.
"How you feeling?" Asked the True Demon. Like Archangels, Archdemons were servants of the Celestials. They didn't appear in the mortal realm often, so Lucilla was experiencing something very few could imagine. Yet the angry look on her face made it clear she didn't really care.
"Why am I doing this?" Lucilla asked with clear frustration. "Seriously, if other Proxies or Apostles or whatever you want to call us didn't have to go through this, why do I?"
"That's not something I can answer." The Archdemon said apologetically. "From what I understand it's to strengthen your body, mind and soul to handle the raw power of Celestial energy."
"Then how does someone like the pope handle it?"
"That's mortal business, I don't have an answer. You're just going have to ask Ovana herself for that."
Lucilla frowned. She hadn't seen the Goddess since she got here. The next time she would be able to see her was unknown, and that meant she was stuck in this outpost for the foreseeable future. The one good thing about this was she couldn't die. She didn't know exactly why, but apparently as long as she's here she would always come back to life unless her soul was destroyed.
That didn't mean it didn't hurt. Even after waking up, the pain from the injuries she sustained lingered for a while before fading. She would spend this time learning how to control the Celestial energy inside her with limited success. The most she could do was slowly turn it into mana. Very slowly. Not practical in the slightest.
"Sigh, I need to eat anyway, I'll see you later Brek." Lucilla grumbled to herself. Complaining to him wasn't going to fix her problem.
Getting down from the chair Lucilla left the office. She made her way towards the dining room, the large hall lit by Hell Fire. Once there she found the table especially prepared for her already had a meal set atop it. Since this Pace was only occupied by Archdemons everything was larger than her. They ended up making a custom set of furniture made so she can at least be comfortable while there.
She sat down at her table, picking up the fork from the plate. Using the fork, she picked up some eggs and was about to take a bite when she was suddenly interrupted.
"I see you're doing well Lucilla." Said the annoyingly kind voice of the Soul Goddess. "I do apologize for the other day; I was terribly busy."
"You said you would explain things to me, then sent me here without an explanation." Lucilla said dryly.
"Well, I have time again now." Ovana spoke shrinking herself to be around Lucilla's Hight. She then taped the ground with her foot, summoning a chair from thin air at her table before sitting down.
"How long has it been? A month? A year?" Ovana asked once situated.
"... It has only been a week so far." Answered the disgruntled woman.
"Good, I haven't been away that long for you then."
"Then can you explain why I'm here then? I thought I was going to sort souls or something."
Smiling the Goddess asked Lucilla a question instead of answering, "Why do you think the Hero can use celestial energy Lucilla?"
Pondering the question for a moment, Lucilla tried and failed to come up with an answer. Shrugging her shoulders in defeat she said, "Because of the Light goddesses blessing?"
"Well, no, but also yes." Ovana said before explaining what she meant.
The Hero, like most otherworlder's are brought to this world through a rift in time and space. Most people that are brought to this world have their bodies partially broken down and rebuilt with only a chance of surviving the process. The summoning circle however uses celestial energy to break down their entire bodies down to the soul before rebuilding it all. This is what allows people from other worlds to possess the ability to use magic. The one difference is that the Hero's body is rebuilt to also withstand the pure cosmic power of Celestial energy.
She also explained those between the ages of sixteen and twenty-five are the most likely to survive the process, which explained why most Hero's show up as teenagers as teenagers. The reason they know this is the age range is for two reasons. One, the occasionally dead body of either a young child or an older adult would fall out of one of theses. Two, the surviving ones are usually in that nine-year age range.
"Okay, and what does that have to do with this then?" Lucilla asked. "Do other proxies have to go through this?"
"No. Other apostles don't have to." Ovana said smiling, taking a piece of bacon off her plate and eating it.
Lucilla glared at the Goddess who was eating her bacon with annoyance. "What do you mean by that?"
"Never mind that. Anyway, the reason why you're here is to basically forcefully do what the Hero summoning circle does and rebuild your body."
"Then what about other proxies like the Pope? How do they handle the Celestial energy in their bodies?" She asked annoyed. If they weren't going through something similar to her then what did they do to be able to handle the power.
"The Celestials that govern them just used their power to fortify their bodies a little."
"...." Lucilla shock outweighed every other emotion to the point she couldn't even get angry. Stunned speechless and not knowing how to even follow up on such an absurd sentence, she waited for the smiling Goddess to continue speaking.
"Well, you're probably wondering why I'm not doing the same for you huh?"
Apostles aren't able to fully utilize the Celestial energy inside their bodies. The best that they could do is turn that Celestial energy into Mana. They could also get around the limits of traditional magic on a small scale with some training. Anything created from mana would eventually dissipate, which is why mages use the natural elements in the environment when programming a spell. They could use their power to make whatever they create permanent on a small scale however with some effort.
Like she explained before, the Hero can use Celestial energy itself. Ovana wants to do something similar to Lucilla but is unable to directly alter her body to that extent without running into trouble with HIM. Putting the unfortunate Crimsoned eyed woman through a cycle of life and death was the most effective way copy the process while still staying within the rules set in place.
Within the soul realm Ovana has more freedom to do as she pleases, which includes allowing Lucilla to revive after death. This is temporary and only for the seven hundred years she's meant to be down there. Ovana did not explain why. She did explain however the process of Lucilla using Celestial energy and dying is a very crude and much slower version of what happened to the Hero. Every time she dies her body is reinforced by the Celestial energy, making it easier to use.
"... There wasn't an easier way to do this?" Lucilla questioned, her anger slowly over taking her shock and bafflement.
"There probably are some other ways. But the ones I know take too long, are much more painful or just aren't allowed." Ovana responded lazily.
"That just sounds like an excuse."
Shrugging her shoulder Ovana got up from her chair. "Believe what you want. I only came here to explain things to you."
"Sigh, can I ask one question before you go?"
"Sure."
"What made you agree to be my patron?"
Ovana smile ever so slightly larger as she looked at the young woman. "I'll tell you later. I have work to do."
Before she could say anything in response, Ovana sunk down into a pool of hell flame, disappearing from view.