"That's a lot of people, nya." Anya stood on the roof of the Guild, dressed in adventurer clothes, holding her trusted golden spear. She looked down to see many cloaked figures running through the streets, all converging toward the Guild.
"Hermes Familia will take care of them. Please watch over us for now and help if we get in danger," Asfi asked.
"No problem. Big Sis Anya-nya will look after you." Anya patted her chest confidently.
With that, Asfi jumped down and joined the fight. Anya watched the battle, seeing Hermes Familia easily defeat the cloaked figures, and quickly grew bored. She looked toward Babel Tower and saw flashes of magic lighting up the sky.
Thinking Ryuu was fighting there, she really wanted to go help her. But she had to stay here per her boss's orders. Thinking about Ryuu reminded her of their temporary cook—she had heard he left with his goddess. Maybe she could ask him to cook pancakes for at least a year in exchange for saving the city.
'I am so smart,' she thought proudly.
Looking back down, she saw Hermes Familia was almost done.
Her enhanced senses picked up a new sound—starting as a slither. Looking toward its source, she spotted a figure in a black cloak and a black mask.
The figure opened its arms, and five green plant-snakes rose up, destroying the houses around it. As if responding to a signal, she sensed movement from the previously defeated enemies of Hermes Familia.
"Get away from them, nya!" Anya shouted. Hermes Familia, experienced as they were, immediately tried to jump back.
BOOM! xN
The bodies around the Guild blew up in massive explosions of fire magic.
With fire and destruction surrounding the Guild, the masked figure placed its palm forward, and the vine-monster slithered ahead.
"NOT ON MY WATCH!" Lunoire landed in front of her. Placing her left foot forward, she pulled her right fist back and, using her whole body's strength, punched.
BANG!
Her fist crashed into the bulbous head of the plant monster. Unable to pierce it, she instead knocked it back—straight into the masked figure. As the masked figure was forced aside, a black-haired catwoman appeared next to it. The masked figure punched her in the stomach, but the catwoman dissolved like an illusion. Behind the fading illusion, another catwoman was already swinging her knives.
SHING!
Her knives slashed down. The masked figure blocked with its arm, new gashes appearing. It counter-punched, but the catwoman jumped back just in time.
Landing beside Lunoire, Chloe declared proudly, "And that is why you attack from behind, nya."
"Ah! Where's the fun in that?" Lunoire dismissed.
"It's fun because you can actually wound your opponent—unlike someone who couldn't even touch hers, nya," Chloe teased.
"Huh?! What wound? That's just a scratch! If it weren't for that monster in my way, I'd have finished her in one hit!"
"If you just listened to me, that would be true. You muscle-head brute, nya."
"What did you say, you shotacon?!"
WHIP!
The monsters attacked the distracted duo.
BANG!
"It's hard," Lunoire grunted as she punched one bulbous head away. She didn't stop, punching the other heads to keep them back.
SLASH!
The vine attacks were sliced apart by Chloe's knives. The duo worked in unison, clearing a path for their spear-wielding partner.
A sprinting Anya shot past them, spear lowered. She reached the masked figure. The masked figure raised its palm toward her—
TING!
A purple octagonal barrier blocked her charge. Her spear bent under the pressure. Lunoire appeared beside her and punched, only for the barrier to expand and stop her too.
CRACK!
The ground beneath them shattered as vines burst upward. Anya rescued them, slicing the vines apart.
The masked figure closed its palm and pulled back as if grabbing invisible cloth—layers of barriers appeared behind the first one. As she pulled, the distance between the barriers stretched.
The three waitresses sensed danger and jumped back for distance.
The masked figure released the spell—the barriers slammed together like a released spring.
BANG!
A wall of air smashed into the trio's faces, blowing them off the roof. They crashed through half a dozen buildings before stopping.
"Ah… where am I? Am I dead?" Anya opened her eyes to total darkness. No pain. And she felt like she was lying on the comfiest bed ever. Closing her eyes again, she decided to rest before thinking about the future.
"Ge… up." A faint voice called, irritating her.
"Clumsy… cat… get…"The voice was louder. Anya lazily replied, "Let me sleep…"
"GET UP OR I WILL KILL YOU!"
The booming voice blasted her awake. She shot upright—ears raised, eyes wide. She looked around and saw dust and rubble everywhere.
A force under her pushed her up, and she fell face-first into rubble. Rubbing her backside, she looked for the culprit.
Chloe climbed out of the same hole, coughing up dirt. "I swear, one second more and I would have died…"
She shook dust out of her hair, pulled out a health potion, and drank it. Standing, she looked around and spotted the Guild building across the road.
"Looks like we're back, nya."
"Lunoire! Where are you hiding, nya?" Anya called.
"HERE!" came the reply.
The two catwomen pushed away broken wall pieces and reached Lunoire. They pulled her out, slinging her arms over their necks to help her walk. The battered Lunoire muttered, "Now I remember why I retired… every bone in my body hurts."
"Here, nya." Anya handed her a potion.
As Lunoire drank it, her eyes shone. She finished it in one go. "It's sweet and fruity. Where'd you get this?"
"This is a special blend-nya. I-Nya and Akira made it—choco and berry mixed into a health potion from Dian Cecht Pharmacy, nya!" Anya boasted.
"Idiot cat.""Dumb cat." Chloe and Lunoire stared flatly.
"Anya is not dumb or idiot, nya! You can ask Akira-nya—he drank it and gave me a thumbs up!" Anya protested.
Chloe and Lunoire shook their heads at her innocence. Chloe pulled out another potion and offered it to Lunoire.
Lunoire shook her head. "Somehow I feel a lot better. I think that potion was good."
"Of course it was, nya." Anya beamed, her tail wagging.
"I think I can walk on my own now." Lunoire released them, then frowned. "Isn't the Guild too empty? Where are the guards?"
They looked around to see craters everywhere. The Guild—once surrounded by luxurious buildings—was now the only building still standing. Everything else was broken, burned, or both.
"It's good you are here." Asfi, limping forward, reached them. Chloe helped her stand. Gone were her glasses; her right leg had suffered major burns, causing her to limp.
"We are in no position to defend. So I request you all to defend the guild and especially Hermes-sama." Asfi bowed her head.
"You don't need to do that. Hermes-sama is in the safest place in Orario. Here, drink some potion." Anya confidently replied and handed her a special brew.
Asfi drank it, having already used her stash while rescuing her familia. Tasting the unique flavor of chocolate, she drank it faster. Finishing it, she felt unsatisfied with the portion size. "Delicious."
"I knya, right." Anya smiled. "Let me tell you a secret—"
Anya suddenly froze. Her ears twitched as she heard a familiar sound. "I will tell you later…"
BANG!
The five-headed monster tore through a building. In its shadow walked the masked enemy.
"That earlier hit didn't hurt even a little bit. I hope that wasn't all your strength, nya." Anya readied her spear to attack.
The masked figure looked at her and pointed forward. The five bulbous heads opened to show mouths with teeth, and in the center of each mouth, a red crystal. The crystals shone with an ominous red light.
"Dumb cat." Lunoire sprinted to get out of its line of sight, followed by Anya.
"I am not dumb-nya!"
"That's our cue." Chloe put Asfi over her shoulder and ran with them.
Looking back, they saw the heads not moving at all. Asfi looked at what they were aiming at and her expression shifted to shock. She desperately tried to get off Chloe's shoulder.
"What are you doing? Stay still, nya." Chloe said.
"Let me down. It's aiming for the guild. We have to do something." Asfi wriggled out of her grip.
"What?" Chloe released her as making her fall to the ground. Chloe threw her knife at the masked man. Beside her, Anya had the same idea and threw her spear.
CLANG! x2
A purple octagonal barrier wall stopped their attack.
"Tch." Chloe clicked her tongue. Asfi stood up, leaning on her one good leg, and limped forward.
"Hey, wait." Chloe grabbed her arm from behind.
FLASH!
A flash lit up the area. They could see the walls of the guild melting. A thin beam of light vaporized a hole through the molten walls.
BOOM!
A blast at the guild blinded them. As their eyes adjusted, they saw the aftermath. The monster closed its mouths, a constant stream of steam leaking from their teeth.
In front of the monster, a straight river of lava flowed toward the guild building— or where the guild was supposed to be. White smoke obscured the vision, but the glow of lava was all Asfi needed to see as she fell to her knees, eyes filled with tears.
"Hermesss-samaaa!" she cried.
"Oh! I think Asfi-chan is calling out to me." Asfi heard Hermes' voice, making her stop crying.
"Hermes-sama?" Not sure if she was hallucinating, she called out again.
"It's really Asfi-chan. Can you get him to clear the smoke?"
This time she was sure it was Hermes' voice. She wiped away her tears.
"Is that how you ask for a favour, Hermes?" A sweet voice that made Asfi shiver sounded in the fog.
"Sorry, my lady, the most beautiful and generous goddess in the two realms of Tenkai and Genkai. Please grant the request of this plebian." Hermes asked.
"Oye, did you call her most beautiful? I am standing right here, you know." A third voice complained.
"It is not your best work. I might request something in the future, and I am sure you will fulfill it." The sweet voice returned. A desire to see the face behind it rose in Asfi's heart.
"Of course, I will."
"Oye, you two are ignoring me now."
"Ottar, if you will," the sweet voice said.
SLAP!
A rapid blast of wind cleared the fog away, showing the guild—or what was left of it: a sofa and a table.
The man who cleared the fog stood tall in front. The river of lava was divided in two by the land he stood on, marked by his two swords glowing red with heat.
Behind him stood Mia Grand, the proprietress of the Hostess of Fertility, with her trusted shovel.
Behind her, on the sofa, sat three gods: Hermes on the left, the red-haired Loki on the right, and in the center, the most beautiful goddess in Orario—Freya.
"This… how…" Asfi was not told about this.
"I told you, nya. He is in the safest place." Anya answered.
TANG!
A shock rang out as Mia struck the hexagonal barrier wall with her shovel. The full strength of a Level 6 created a massive shockwave, blowing rapid winds as the ground cracked. The trio jumped back, Chloe pulling Asfi along.
Mia's shovel made a sliver of a crack in the barrier, but the shovel got stuck.
"That's tough, but…" Mia put her hands in the gap and, with her full strength, tried to tear it apart like cloth.
The masked individual, seeing this, turned to run away.
"Where do you think you are going?" Mia roared as she ripped the barrier apart.
The response came from the monster as all five heads opened their mouths to fire red beams.
Grabbing her shovel, she placed it in the path of the beams. The five beams hit the face of the shovel and dispersed into thin beams, bending around her and firing in random directions.
"NYA!" Anya cried in shock as the thin beam she dodged sliced a house behind her. Performing acrobatics worthy of a medal, they dodged the beams.
Freya watched the thin beams turn to sparkles in the air as they were smashed by Ottar's sword.
As the beam attack ended, Mia lunged forward, punching the bulbous head of the monster in the chin, blasting a hole straight through it.
Another head struck its tough head against her stomach, pushing her back. She swung her shovel down, slicing the head in two.
As the other three heads opened their mouth for another beam attack, she jumped, closing the distance in an instant, swinging her shovel horizontally and beheading them.
Running toward the masked man's escape path, she saw an open manhole. Seeing the water flowing inside, she knew it would be fruitless to chase someone there, so she decided to head back."What was I even thinking... I had already retired from adventuring."
WHOOSH!
A cold wind blew around her. Feeling ominous, she looked toward the direction it was flowing to.
A massive tornado of black wind was forming near Babel Tower. It swallowed the last lights around Babel, turning the city into darkness.
Loki felt the wind as there were no walls or roof blocking it. The wind felt familiar, but the wind she knew had never felt this cursed. With only the lava's glow around her, she couldn't see the tornado.
'Ais', she thought.
Switching open the broadcast, she saw Brohmier's palm wrapped around Riveria's neck, a staff piercing her chest.
The screen switched to the other side: Ais wrapped in black winds, her eyes showing her broken mental state, filled with the only thought of revenge.
................