The three of them knew that Fron needed rest right now, so they weren't in a hurry to ask what exactly he had seen that left him in such a mentally drained, listless state.
With his experience and strength, there shouldn't be many things in this world capable of making him look like this…
Then could it be… beneath the "Knossos," something like powerful Fallen Spirit was hidden?
The more Finn thought about it, the more shocked he became, even scaring himself with his own speculation.
Looking at Fron gulping down water beside him, he felt like an ant on a hot pan, unable to sit still at all.
Thankfully, Fron had already recovered somewhat from the earlier impact.
Gesturing that he didn't need Gareth's support, he sat down on a pile of rubble without complaint, rested his arms on his knees, let the cool autumn breeze calm him down, and then, under the three's heavy gazes, slowly began to speak.
"It was a song. Peaceful, yet chilling. Six overlapping 'voices.' That's the evidence I've been looking for. And now that the proof is right in front of us, it directly confirms that my line of thinking was correct."
"Although that's worth celebrating, we finally know the enemy's goal and their methods, the sad part is… with our power, we fundamentally cannot stop what's about to happen."
Fron had a heavy look on his face.
"Unless… we unite with other powerful familias, right? Like the Freya Familia."
Fron nodded.
Clearly, having Loki Familia and Freya Familia join forces only ever happens when facing external threats, like other countries or an impending invasion.
But for an internal "affair" within the city, they were well-known mortal enemies.
[T/N: Seriously mortal enemies? ]
It wasn't only Fron who understood; Finn knew even more clearly how difficult this would be.
What's more… this time they would have to go ask for help themselves. That naturally put them at a disadvantage, they would need the other side's goodwill.
"Fine. Leave this matter to me."
"Alright. As for the details, let's explain everything when we get home. Gather the other executives and start a meeting."
...
"Shakti, we'll be counting on you all from here."
Finn gave the woman a bitter smile through his expression. She looked at Fron, then at Finn, her face turning subtly sour.
"Alright. It's an emergency, I get it. But I still hope that next time something unexpected happens, you could be a little gentler with your methods. We need to give the citizens an explanation too."
"Uh… sorry, Shakti."
"My ears have grown calluses from hearing that line."
"..."
"Seems like back when you were younger, during Orario's 'Dark Age,' you all caused her plenty of trouble."
"Hahahaha, that's all in the past. Who hasn't been young and reckless? Kid, once you reach our age, you'll be sighing the same way!"
"…" Fron pursed his lips at Gareth's comment, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
After bidding farewell to the Ganesha Familia's guards, the group hurried straight toward their base, taking the shortest route to Loki Familia headquarters.
...
Reception room of the Twilight Manor.
All the pillars of the familia were seated.
From the four top executives to the second-tier squad leaders.
A dozen people filled the room.
Some sat properly on the sofa, like Ais.
Some leaned against the wall with their arms crossed, baring their teeth in annoyance, like Bete.
Anya and Raul stood along the wall, waiting for Finn's orders.
...
"Everyone's here, right?"
Finn sat in the special chair made for Pallum, looked around, and confirmed.
"Then let's begin. The theme this time is the enemy's objective."
"The good news, Fron has confirmed their target and their methods."
"The bad news, we cannot stop them with our current strength."
"..." Everyone immediately turned their eyes toward Fron.
"Hey, Fron! Hurry up and say it already! You're killing us with suspense!"
Tione bounced over to Fron's side, pounding his shoulder with her hand.
"…"
'Good thing my stats are all abnormal. Otherwise being smacked like this by a Level 6 berserker, I'd be heading straight to the hospital…'
"To properly explain this, we need to start from the beginning."
As he spoke, he took out a hand-drawn illustration and hung it on the wall.
A black evil dragon, and six young girls surrounding it.
"This drawing?"
Fron took Tione's ponytail out of his face and explained calmly.
"This is a legendary fairy tale. Of course, if not for the current incident, everyone would probably treat it as nothing more than a beautiful story."
Then, relying on his incredible memory, Fron recounted the entire story to the group.
There was no hero in the tale of Nidhogg.
Instead, the ones sent by the gods were six Great Spirits and a God.
Those Great Spirits gave their lives to defeat Nidhogg.
...
The group exchanged bewildered looks, but the mages present had already noticed something terrifying.
"They sealed the dragon with a powerful barrier, then wove the 'song'… That sounds like chanting."
"And at the end, they unleashed a 'Grand Art,' annihilating the monstrous evil."
"Then the girls in the painting aren't sacrifices or children of prayer."
Everyone turned to Fron.
He spread his hands, standing beside the drawing, and nodded.
"Yes. I believe they were the six ancient Great Spirits who wove the Ring Spell and destroyed the evil dragon, Nidhogg."
The six Great Spirits.
The Ring Spell.
What these represented was,
"…They want to awaken the ancient Grand Art used to destroy the evil dragon Nidhogg, here, in Orario."
Ais' flat, emotionless voice echoed through the reception room. Even though everyone knew she had little emotional expression to begin with, at this moment… her words still sent chills down their spines.
"The Ring Spell."
Seeing the pale faces around him, Fron continued without pause.
He unfolded a map of the Knossos drawn by the familia cartographers, hung it on the wall, then used red ink to draw six circles on the map.
One to the north, one to the south.
Two to the east and west, northeast, northwest, southeast, southwest.
These were locations on the 14th floor of the artificial dungeon.
After connecting the six circles with a line, what formed was one perfect ring.
The "Ring."