Gate Guardian - Song Of The Frozen Soul

After that grand battle between arch-nemesis, we had Diadem undergo the Anti-curse Therapy of the Kozukata Shrine. Same as when we treated Rikkun, that therapy involves chanting prayers and dancing while the Cursed Guardian stand or sit on a magical circle. This will continue for about three weeks, which means Diadem will be living in the shrine for a while.

The Anti-Curse session for this day has ended, so Rikkun and I went to the shrine to visit him. We waited for him on the mountaintop bench, and there, my twin brother greeted us cheerfully.

"Alaric! Sis Tiara! I"m glad that you visited me here!" Diadem had this child-like smile on his face.

Unlike his eerie Cursed Guardian form, Diadem is a simple yet handsome man. He has a long black hair reaching his waist, golden brown puppy eyes, and a child-like face. If only he has blue irises and large b.r.e.a.s.t.s, everyone would mistake him as me.

"How"s the therapy?" I asked.

"It"s quite boring. The shrine maidens only waved twigs and spin around me like an idiot. Good thing Alaric lent me a dirty magazine to read! That kept me up for a while." Diadem had this satisfied smile on his face.

"I think that"s not the only thing that"s "up" right now," Rikkun smirked.

"Y-Y-You, guys…" I muttered as I finally snapped.

Double bam! I made twin swift jabs straight to each of their noses! Then I sermoned the two of them.

"Diadem, stop doing that! Your inner l.u.s.t would be triggered, and that makes the anti-curse useless! And you, Rikkun, stop giving him weird things! If he becomes a Cursed Guardian again, it will be your fault!"

"S-Sorry, ma"am…" Rikkun and Diadem held their noses as they answered in sync.

When they noticed that they have been doing the same thing, they made a fistb.u.mp to each other.

I made a deep sigh.

It"s hard to believe that these two people used to fight and kill each other. Now, they"re best friends. It appears that my twin is also an otaku and an inner pervert by heart, and they even have the same video game interests.

"So… did some of your memories return?" Rikkun asked.

Upon doing the anti-curse ritual, the Cursed Guardian will temporarily lose their memories. It happened to Rikkun back then, and his memories came back a few days later (Though he decided to play a prank on Necchan/Jeannette which is really really bad of him).

Diadem"s first day here made him unable to remember lots of things including his name, his experiences as a Cursed Guardian, and even the color of his underwear. Memories lost will come back after a few days, so we"re expecting some kind of progress since it"s his third day.

"I can remember some, but…" Diadem held his chin. "I"ll tell you what I know. Maybe you can fill in the blanks."

Rikkun looked at me, silently asking if he can ask some questions. I just made a single nod.

"Let"s ask the most important one. Do you remember the name of your father?"

"Yes. He is the one who nurtured me until I became a Gate Guardian. His name is Frederick Solstice. Sadly, I have no idea about his whereabouts. He is considered a rogue Gate Guardian of the Black Cross, so I don"t have much news. We"ve fought several times already, but I don"t know where he is."

Frederick Solstice. I finally had the name of my father. It"s a big step forward for me. Reuniting my family is no longer a pipe dream of mine.

"How did you become cursed?" Rikkun followed up.

"The Outsider tricked me." Diadem"s eyebrows curled as he continued speaking. "I made a contract with him in the timeline my mother created. He promised me that I can finally meet my sister."

Diadem"s eyes stared at me. He made a faint smile that has a sign of guilt and happiness at the same time.

"Diadem…" I held my chest.

"He gave me the Fake G.o.d Core of Hastur, which has a defect of cursing the user. He said that fate itself forbids us, twins, to meet each other again, and the only way I can defy destiny is to use that d.a.m.ned Fake G.o.d Core."

Diadem"s eyes are telling me that he"s been in a lot of suffering, trying to meet me. On the past timelines, he has tried to kill me or the people dear to me. He did those because he didn"t know what he"s doing.

About that Fake G.o.d Core… I used my DemiG.o.ddess powers to drag that evil thing out of my brother"s heart. Then, Rikkun used the to shatter it to pieces. It serves no purpose to us since we can only use twelve legitimate G.o.d Cores in singing the .

"But on the bright side…" Diadem continued. "He seems to keep his promises after all. At last, I"m here peacefully sitting next to my dear sister."

It looks like Mister Outsider works in odd manners. He gives out defective G.o.d Cores to anyone who wishes to defy fate. Most of the time, it would end up b.l.o.o.d.y, but looking at the bright side, it really does have the power to change destiny.

Rikkun used the Fake G.o.d Core to prevent the death of Heushac, Mr. Kent, and me. He also saved Necchan during her first death flag.

"So… You think the Outsider is a good guy after all?" Rikkun said.

"I… I think he"s not good or bad. He"s a true neutral, and he only helps others for his own amus.e.m.e.nt. Well, there"s nothing we can do about him since he doesn"t exist. You can"t even have a decent talk with that man."

Rikkun just made a "Yeah, right." smile. Then he followed up a question once again. "How about the Frozen Soul? You know about the impending danger of the whole multiverse?"

"Frozen Soul?" Diadem tilted his head like a clueless pup. "I"m sorry, I don"t remember anything about that thing. Maybe I"ll have an idea if I recover some of my memories on the next days."

"How about Void Wolf?"

"Doesn"t ring a bell." Diadem said.

"Helena Efilion?"

"I have seen her, but I don"t remember anything about her."

"Mia Springfield?"

"Mia Springfield is one of the Generals of the New Order. I don"t have any info on him except that she was also contracted by the Outsider. She possesses the Outer G.o.d Core of Shub-something. That"s all I know… I heard that she was slaughtered by that Helena girl you"re talking about."

Rikkun is silent. It seems that he has run out of questions.

"I"m sorry if I failed to give some useful information to you." Diadem bowed. "I just seem to tell you my life story, that"s all."

"It"s okay, Diadem." I patted my twin"s head. "Knowing father"s name is enough for me."

Diadem"s face looks so o.r.g.a.s.mic when I pet his head. Are headpats my family"s weakness?

"You look and act like an older sister, darling." Rikkun chuckled.

"Ahahaha…" I gave out a forced laugh.

Diadem b.u.t.ted in. "According to father, even if we"re twins, Tiara came out of the womb first. So technically, she"s the older sister."

There"s a lot of trivial facts for this day.

<>

We three went to the office, and we were surprised that someone is there sitting. It was Heushac, who appeared to be waiting for us. He appears to be holding some kind of letter.

"Mister Heushac…"

"Yo! Long time no see, everyone! I"m sorry if I didn"t attend the musical play and your fight with Diadem."

Heushac has been missing for quite a while now, and we were surprised that he appeared. Last time we saw him is when Rikkun and I were recovering after Helena"s ambush.

"What are you doing here, idiot?" Rikkun asked with a sarcastic tone. "I thought you"ll be training your super duper spell to defeat your sister."

"Asumi told me to deliver this grim news to you." Heushac handed out the letter.

We were surprised by the news. We can read the letter, but Heushac dictated it to us anyway.

"My big sis… She killed the Legionmaster Amanda Cryst and robbed the G.o.d Core of Neptune… Now she possesses seven G.o.d Cores."

[Days before Helena"s Return: 14]