Dungeon.
The battle began not with my attack, but with Loki's. She stretched out her arms and clapped her hands, and in the next moment a wave of power burst forth from her. Blurred silhouettes of various creatures began to appear around us, which later took on distinct contours.
These were not only monsters such as dragons, basilisks, and other magical creatures, but also people dressed in armor and holding weapons. Moreover, the vast majority of their weapons resembled Noble Phantasms. They were roughly C-rank with several interesting properties, and although they weren't that powerful, they were impressive.
In other words, Loki was essentially summoning heroes she had once seen herself, who had walked this earth before. And, funnily enough, I immediately felt a foreign influence in my head.
Both people and monsters formed a perfect circle around me. None of them showed any emotion, as if they were mere puppets, but they did not attack, instead waiting for orders. And perhaps this was indeed a fitting ability for the goddess of deception.
- "Oh, so this is your Arcanum, Lady Loki? The embodiment of illusion into reality. Impressive," I said, looking at the creatures she had created, and applauded briefly. "However, I would only call your attempt to get into my head entertaining. What did you hope to achieve with that? I hope it's not just a trivial study of memory?"
- "Last chance, Romani," Loki ignored my questions. "Give up and tell me what I want to hear."
- "After you showed me your Arcanum?" I smiled. "Why should I give up the opportunity to have a little fun, huh?"
- "You really are too arrogant for a mortal," Loki said coldly, then waved her hand. "If you won't give me answers, I'll just get them from your dead body."
- "As you wish," I said with a theatrical bow.
Well, let's get started...
-0-
As quickly as the alien presence had suddenly appeared, it disappeared just as quickly, and Hestia's vision cleared again. There was no time or point in thinking about this detail at the moment, so she immediately began to look for a way to stop this madness.
But in the next second, both monsters and humans rushed towards Romani, presenting a single wave of claws, fangs, sharp blades, and magic that sought to carry out the orders of their goddess. However...
There was a soft snap of fingers as it all was torn to pieces. Golden chains burst from under my feet, piercing, cutting, and staining the ground with various colors of blood. The entire battlefield turned into a single dump where the entrails from the slaughterhouse were thrown... which disappeared in a couple of moments, leaving no trace behind.
- "H-how...?" whispered Hestia, because only gods were capable of something like this. And she felt no divinity in the chains or the magic circles.
She knew before that Romani was strong, because he had easily completed one of the Three Great Quests, but this much?
This impossible turn of events shocked not only Hestia and the others who were watching, but also Loki herself, whose expression changed from cold indifference to surprise, shock, realization, and seriousness in that order.
- "Who are you?" she asked. "Where does a mortal get such power?"
- "As if that matters now," Romani smirked and looked at her Familia. "And yet, it's still not enough. I suppose you're holding back because of their presence. But!"
- "But?"
- "But you, as a goddess not only of deception, but also of cunning and treachery, must understand the consequences of having weak spots on the battlefield, mustn't you?" Romani chuckled as Loki rushed to her children at that very moment, though it was too late.
She was a millisecond too late, as each of her children was pierced by a golden chain that shot out of the ground and into the ceiling. Now they resembled a peculiar installation, their bodies impaled on chains like skewers.
- "Nooooo!" Loki fell to her knees and let out a heart-wrenching cry that echoed off all the walls of the Dungeon floor. Tears of grief and loss began to flow from her eyes, and she couldn't take her gaze off those who had once been part of her Familia.
Hestia watched in horror at the cruelty and perversity displayed by Romani. Her lips trembled, and her fingers clenched the staff she had been given so tightly that her white gloves began to wear away under the pressure of the goddess's strength.
She physically felt the pain that the goddess felt before the dead bodies. Loki's words subconsciously re-entered Hestia's mind, causing her to feel something foreign again, but this time she heard a female whisper unknown to her.
- "The world is cruel, isn't it?" something whispered. "The same fate may befall you, goddess Hestia."
- "N-no," Hestia began to deny uncertainly. "Romani wouldn't..."
- "I'm not talking about him," something continued. "Romani is only a consequence, not the source. If this happens in the future, you alone will be to blame."
- "Th-that's not true! How could I..."
- "You're holding back. You could have long ago forced sweet Bell to submit to your will, enjoyed the warmth of his body, and..."
- "I'm not like that! Love should be..."
- "...and conceive his child.
As soon as the thing uttered the last word, Hestia froze, not only her body, but her mind as well.
- "B-but that's impossible..."
- "With my help, it will be possible," the thing said in a seductive voice. "Just you, him, and your child. Or maybe several children. Doesn't that sound... wonderful? The goddess of the hearth, supporting the hearth surrounded by children with the blood of her beloved and herself flowing in their veins. A wonderful picture, isn't it?"
- "Th-that's... Th-that's..."
- "I see you're not ready to accept my offer yet," the voice continued. "But know this, goddess Hestia, as soon as you're ready to give your answer, I will gladly listen to you."
At that moment, the focus of attention was forcibly shifted by Romani's voice, causing Hestia to shake her head and dispel unnecessary thoughts. However, she remembered the words of this stranger, even if she tried to deceive herself.
- "Hmm..." Romani's thoughtful moan was clearly tinged with mocking indifference. "You cherished them so much, Lady Loki? But you know, don't worry, they died instantly. So you can rest easy."
Loki was still on her knees and did not react to Romani... until the last sentence.
Her body jerked once, and then even more power burst out of it, blowing Hestia away and causing the goddess to crash into a cold wall. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Loki's divine power growing stronger and stronger, and then...
- "I'll kill you..." Loki said quietly, almost in a whisper. "I'll kill you, Romani... even if it means I have to die for real..."
- "You can try," Romani commented mockingly, and in Hestia's mind, an already existing thought began to grow with new strength...
What should she do?..
-0-
About five minutes had passed since the last word was spoken, and every second of that time was accompanied by a literal bombardment. Now Loki spared no effort, sending whole hordes in my direction.
I even had to increase the number of chains to several hundred to cope with the onslaught, and the closed fields I had set up began to crack at the seams.
And, of course, I didn't completely kill the members of her Familia, but only partially, pulling their souls out of their bodies a moment before their "death" and moving them around me in the form of chains. They didn't move, but simply watched, because I wanted to see what the real Loki was like. Which is what I started to do.
- "You know what's funny, Lady Loki?" I began, while the goddess herself was obviously preparing something else beyond my field of vision. "Gods who embody deception usually end up deceiving themselves. And not only gods, mind you. So here's the question: did you really love the members of your Familia as individuals, or as a vase in your room?"
In response to my question, the pressure only intensified, as did the speed of something behind me.
- "After all, the gods descended to the Underworld to dispel boredom, didn't they?" I continued. "And boredom, like hobbies, is a constant but transient thing. How soon would you lose interest in your Familia to do something else? How soon would you throw your Familia aside to get rid of the boredom that all gods suffer from? After all, the lifespan of..."
- "Shut up!" Loki shouted, and her attack with living flesh suddenly stopped, revealing her tear-stained face and a hand holding a sphere of immense power, definitely above rank A+++. "You know nothing! I loved them! Every one of them! And I was ready to take care of them until the very end, even if it took thousands of years! And you, mortal, took them away from me! And now you'll pay for it!"
Loki continued to scream at the top of her lungs, and I raised an eyebrow, because I didn't detect a single lie.
- "Oh? So I was wrong about you, Lady Loki?" I tilted my head to one side and asked myself, looking into Loki's red, tear-filled eyes. "Well, then..."
The third magic instantly responded to my call, and then...
- "Stop!" Hestia suddenly interrupted me with a shout, accompanied by her Arcanum, which looked like a wave of warm but not burning flame...
- "Stop!" Now I could hear the collective cry of Bell, Liliruca, and Griselda.
...the entire space of the seventeenth floor was engulfed in a flash of white light.
-0-
A/N: How's the chapter? Give us your opinion. You may well be able to influence future chapters.
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