Luciana ventured down the stairs and found herself in a long and narrow corridor. In contrary to the Temple of Fortuna, the path in this underground structure was pretty straightforward.
Right at the bottom of the stairs was a carving of sentences. From the coloration of the gouge, the carving was made around the same time as when the entire structure was built. And the carver meant for those words to be read by anyone who entered the place. It went as follows:
[The path to harmony is narrow and treacherous. For only through strife and chaos that harmony is achieved. Just as well as when harmony is lost that strife and chaos were born. If one is to desire the guidance to my blessings, one must prove themselves that they are able to attain harmony.]
"(Words of the Forgotten Goddess. Eirene, the Goddess of Harmony)" thought Luciana as she looked at the carving. "(It is not my first time reading this.)"
She looked around the straight underground corridor she was in.
"(The Temple of Eirene. Back in my previous life, Fortuna ordered me to come here and destroy everything inside.)" thought Luciana as she reminisced the past. "(Of course, back then I didn't know what this place actually was for Eirene's existence was still forgotten by me and the rest of the world and Fortuna didn't exactly bother to fill me in with the whole truth.)"
Luciana giggled as she realized an irony.
"(And now, in my second life, I'm back to this Temple of Eirene I once destroyed to become its owner's apostle. What a good sense of humor life has.)"
The silver-haired woman then walked on forward into the depths of the straight corridor. As she treaded on, she felt the mana in the air getting more intense. It was the same as the Temple of Fortuna when one reached closer to the grimoire kept in the furthest depth.
The further she walked into the corridor, the denser the mana in the air. Normal people who was never exposed to magic nor had any magic training would had passed out by now.
Luciana, on the other hand, was not bothered by the environment whatsoever. She kept on walking relaxingly as if nothing was wrong with the environment.
"(To be able to regulate the mana inside and outside one's body is a basic skill a mage must have.)" thought Luciana as she observed the abnormally high mana density in the air. "(When the mana outside the body is overwhelming and in opposition to one's being –in other words, a state of chaos– then one needs to air out the mana inside and circulate it to prevent any harmful blockage and make it so that their presence blends in within the environment. In conclusion, one needs to be in harmony with their surroundings.)"
Luciana eventually reached the end of the corridor where she found a large door. Above the frame, there was yet another carving.
[Harmony is balance. Balance is harmony. Only when attaining perfect balance that one creates perfect harmony.]
The silver-haired woman opened the door and walked inside. She found herself inside a vast hall with large pillars and torches lit with blue fire. At the other end of the hall was yet another large door, immense amount of mana was pouring out from it.
"(That's where the Eirene Grimoire is kept.)" thought Luciana. "(But I bet She won't just hand it to me. Just like how She wouldn't just let me destroy Her temple back then.)"
The silver-haired woman threw her gaze to each side of the door. Standing by the large door were a human-sized stone statue of a knight brandishing a sword and a shield and another one of a hooded mage holding a magic staff.
The eyes of the two statues then lit up with blue radiance and they began to move toward Luciana.
"Of course it wouldn't be that easy even though I'm here to be Her apostle." said Luciana with a chuckle. "Seems like I have to destroy these two guardians in order to proceed."
Luciana hovered her palm facing the statues.
"Well then, let's see if they're still as annoying as I remembered."
[Lacrima Arts, Surya Ray]
A golden magic circle manifested in front of Luciana. Bursting forth from the magic circle was a huge golden ray, heading toward the two statues. The golden ray was so powerful that it immediately obliterated the knight statues into smithereens.
The mage one though remained standing for it had created a translucent shield around it to defend the attack.
As soon as the knight was destroyed, the mage statue glowed with blue radiance. A large amount of mana then emanated from the mage's surface and travelled toward the pieces of the knight, enchanting all of the fragments with magic energy. In an instant, the pieces reassembled as the knight again. It was as if nothing had been done to it.
Without showing any hint of surprise in her face, Luciana casted another spell.
[Lacrima Arts, Terra Barrage]
Four brown magic circles appeared around Luciana. Suddenly each of them shot out dozens of sharp projectiles made of earth toward the statues in a very high speed.
The mage statue tried to defend with its magic shield like before. But this time, the shield turned useless for it immediately shattered once it made contact with the earth sharp projectiles. The mage was then rained down heavily with the earth bullets that it immediately torn to smithereens.
The knight one though remained standing for it was not even slightly damaged by the projectiles.
And then, similar like before, the knight statue glowed up with blue radiance and it revived the mage statue the same way the mage did for the knight.
"The knight is immune to physical attacks. While the mage is immune to magical or energy-based attacks. And whenever one is destroyed, the other would restore it." uttered Luciana concluding what just transpired earlier. "They're exactly like they were in my past life."
The mage statue suddenly raised its staff and casted a spell.
[Lacrima Arts, Surya Ray]
Ten golden magic circles formed around the mage and it sent ten golden rays toward Luciana.
"You two may be as annoying as I remembered, but…"
With her face still looking as relaxed as ever, Luciana faced her palm over the incoming rays.
[Magic Technique, Deflect]
The ten golden rays coming for Luciana abruptly changed direction and went toward all over the hall but Luciana herself, destroying many parts of hall including the great pillars and creating a huge dust screen.
"…I've defeated you once before…"
Emerged from the cloud of dust was the knight statue with its sword raised, ready to slash Luciana.
Still maintaining her composure, Luciana casted another spell.
[Lacrima Arts, Teleportation]
A golden magic circle appeared under her and teleported her away right before the knight destroyed the ground where Luciana stood with its sword. She reemerged right between the knight and the mage.
As a portion of the hall was falling apart from the statues' attacks, Luciana stared at her animated inanimate opponents with a confident smile.
"And I shall gladly do it again this time." proclaimed the silver-haired witch. "After all, you two ancient rocks are nothing but small obstacles on my way back to my prince."