Inside the Hot Spring
Lioro wrapped a towel around his lower half and walked into the hot spring.
There were three people currently occupying the place — Princess Alexia, Lioro, and Pooch (a.k.a. Cid).
Lioro looked at Cid, who was standing naked without any shame and gazing philosophically at the stars.
Quickly retracting his gaze, he turned to the corner where Princess Alexia was located.
'Oh?'
Lioro's eyes narrowed slightly, seeing her perfectly plump boobs floating in the water.
They were like built-in airbags.
Only part of her upper chest was visible; the rest was hidden beneath the hot spring, leaving much to the imagination.
"How long are you going to keep staring at me?" Princess Alexia asked, looking at Lioro with narrowed eyes.
"Hm, a few more minutes perhaps?" Lioro replied with a smile.
Alexia grabbed a wooden tub and threw it at him, hitting Lioro's face — causing zero damage.
But it did send the message, as Lioro reluctantly looked away from her.
At the same time, Alexia got a better look at Lioro.
And as soon as she did, she couldn't look away.
Due to the increase in his level, the current Lioro looked perfectly muscular in all the right places with no excess fat.
(P.S. Imagine Garou from OPM.)
His strength, beyond mortal limits, had forged this body — akin to a Greek god.
Alexia stared with unblinking eyes.
"How long are you going to stare, woman?"
Lioro's harsh voice brought her out of her daze, but instead of feeling embarrased she simply smirked and looked away.
On the other hand, Cid had turned around and was also looking at Lioro with interest.
Suddenly, he took several steps and came beside Lioro.
"...What?" Lioro asked in confusion, taking a step away from him.
Instead of replying, Cid raised his hand and knocked on Lioro's abs.
ClankClankClank
It sounded like he was hitting metal…
Cid stood still for a moment before asking Lioro in a serious voice,
"Dude, do you have cancer or something?"
"...."
"Just how the hell did you train yourself?"
----
After the small fan service episode, Lioro and Cid separated from Alexia, who, as royalty, had some official places to attend before the event.
So Cid and Lioro went around the place like two directionless idiots.
"You're registering for the event?" Cid asked Lioro, who was giving his details to the employee.
"Yeah."
Lioro was interested in Aurora — her hand sealed in the ground seemed to contain demon blood, which appeared to be a race change item of sorts.
"You wanna register too?"
"Nah, I'm good."
Cid was currently acting as a mob and didn't want to reveal his identity as the Eminence in Shadow.
The Goddess's Trial event would be held tomorrow, so there was plenty of time.
At the end of the day, they even met Epsilon, who was beheading a random dude.
Seeing Cid, her eyes shone, then her gaze landed on Lioro, and she became more reserved.
"Epsilon, what are you doing here?"
"I was eliminating the Church's executioner, Lord Shadow... and Sir Lioro."
"Epsilon? Did Alpha tell you my name?" Lioro asked.
"Yes."
Lioro gave her a nod, then sneakily took a few glances at her fake slime chest.
It looked quite convincing!
Epsilon left after conveying some important information to Shadow — which he clearly didn't understand.
----
The Next Day
"The day of the Goddess's Trial is here. Due to the absence of the Archbishop, I, Nelson, will be taking over the duties of the opening ceremony…"
Cid and Lioro, sitting in the audience, were getting bored by the baldy's long speech.
Lioro glanced at the guest of honor's seat and saw three people there — Beta, Alexia, and Rose Oriana.
It was the same as in the anime.
After Nelson's long speech, the festival began.
The Goddess's Festival was an interesting event where a contender would go on stage and summon a heroic spirit of the past based on their level of strength.
Which also meant that if the contender was weak, no holy spirit would be summoned.
That's why, for the most part, the event was pretty dull, as most were unable to summon a holy spirit.
As for the selected few whose strength met the criteria, they more or less lost — since the Holy Spirit was more powerful.
Though there were some exceptions.
"Amazing!"
"Contender Annerose wins!"
Like the first contender, Annerose.
Most who came after were pretty lackluster, though.
"The next challenger to step forth... A young man from the Spell Sword Academy, Midgar… Lioro!"
"Woooh!"
Cheers erupted around Lioro and Cid.
Under everyone's watchful eyes, Lioro jumped from his seat and landed on the stage.
Even Cid's bored eyes lit up.
'Finally, something interesting.'
"Do you need a weapon?" the assistant asked.
"Give me a sword."
"Yes!"
Lioro took the common metal sword, then stepped forth and into the circle.
An ancient light enveloped the arena.
"Those runes... it can't be!" Nelson shouted in shock.
Beta widened her eyes and muttered in a small voice,
"Au...rora..."
"The Witch of Ruin..."
Lioro calmly looked at the stunning woman with violet-black hair and a captivating figure.
He wasn't surprised by the result, since the highest heroic spirit that could be summoned was Aurora.
Aurora floated down gracefully from the air, standing on the platform and looking calmly at Lioro.
Their eyes met.
And the next moment, they both moved at the same time.
Aurora created several weapons using her magic power.
[Tier 5 spell 'Shapeshifting Weapons' detected...]
Lioro learned the spell and raised his hands, summoning two small balls — one red, one blue.
Aurora waved her hand; her shapeshifting weapons attacked Lioro from every angle, leaving no escape route.
The audience watched in suspense and horror.
How was anyone supposed to survive this?
Then, under everyone's dumbfounded eyes, the weapons stopped just before they could reach Lioro.
But the one most confused was none other than Aurora.
'It's that technique again…' Cid thought as he closely examined the changes around Lioro.
As the blue and red spheres formed in his hands, Lioro brought them together — giving birth to purple.
Aurora's calm eyes widened unconsciously.
"10th Tier Magic: Hollow Purple."
With a flick of his finger, the sphere of imaginary mass rushed toward Aurora, swallowing everything in its path.
The weapons vanished, the floor disappeared — the very air turned to nothingness.
Crack!
With a powerful kick, Aurora jumped away from her position.
Alas, Hollow Purple was not a one-directional spell.
With a quick turn, it rushed straight at Aurora, who quickly summoned more magical weapons to defend.
Unfortunately, that was the end.
Along with her swords, Hollow Purple swallowed her, killing her in one blow.
"She's gone...?"
Just as everyone was getting confused, an ancient door appeared in the middle of the field.
"The sacramental ground has reacted…!!" Nelson said, staring at the door with a grave expression.
"The sacramental ground has reacted? What does that mean??"
----
While everyone was busy looking at the ancient door, a smaller, inconspicuous one silently appeared by Lioro's side.
Lioro looked at the metal door, then entered it without much hesitation.
On the other side of the door was a prison-like room.
And against one of the walls was a familiar figure — her hands and feet bound in metal chains.
It was Aurora.
Looking at Lioro, Aurora smiled and said, "Long time no see."
"Aurora? So you're the one who sent that metal door to summon me here?" Lioro asked, though he already knew the answer.
"Summon you? Nah, you came here of your own volition."
"Oh." Lioro nodded, then turned around to leave.
"Wait, you insolent brat!"
Lioro stopped and turned back to look at her.
"Look here, I'm a fair maiden in distress — would you mind rescuing me?"
Lioro looked at her chains, then replied,
"Haven't you read any stories? Releasing the chains of a bound individual always results in a bad ending."
Aurora fell silent, giving Lioro a confused look.
After thinking for a moment, she said,
"If you release the chains, I'll give you a maiden's kiss."
Lioro suddenly vanished and reappeared before her, then grabbed her metal chains and crushed them using his superhuman strength.
Having regained her freedom, Aurora raised her arms and stretched her body — making her melons jiggle.
"Thank you for saving me. It's been a thousand years since I tasted freedom... and as for your reward..."
Aurora took a step closer to Lioro, smiled mischievously, then raised her head and lightly kissed his right cheek.
"That was my first kiss in a thousand years. How was it? Are you satisfied with your reward?" Aurora asked.
But instead of replying, Lioro kept staring into empty air.
While Aurora was feeling confused by his reaction, Lioro's focus was attracted to the screen that popped up when he touched her.
['Special' grade Demonic Spirit 'Aurora' detected. Would you like to initiate a contract?]
It was due to his High-Class Spirit Master ability.
Damn, its been a long time since this class showed a reaction.
Lioro looked at the prompt, then at Aurora. After switching between them a few more times, he asked,
"You wanna become my spirit familiar?"
"Spirit familiar?" Aurora asked back in confusion.
Lioro raised his hand and summoned the fire spirit, Bruni.
"It's like this little guy."
The fire spirit looked around in curiosity.
This was the first time her unreliable owner had summoned her.
Aurora came near Bruni. Sensing the magic around her, Aurora couldn't help but be shocked.
"This is a spirit... like myself."
With a surprised expression on her face, she raised her hand to touch Bruni — who instantly threw a small spark of fire at her in protest.
No touching!
"My my, it's a feisty little one."
Looking back at Lioro, Aurora asked with a mischievous smile,
"So you want to make me yours? Young man, aren't you being a bit too straightforward?"
"I'm not forcing you. If you don't want to do it, then—"
"Alright, since you're so insistent, I'll agree to become your pet," Aurora said, cutting Lioro off.
She was staring at him with intensely shining eyes.
This could be her chance to leave this place!
She would grab it no matter what!
Aurora grabbed Lioro's hand and said in an enthusiastic voice,
"Let's do it. I can't wait."
"Alright…"
Lioro initiated a contract with her.
Sensing a clear magic connection reaching out to her, Aurora agreed without hesitation.
[Initiating contract... Error!]
Just then, something unexpected happened.
The space around them trembled, and a special force suddenly acted at full strength, severing the connection from Aurora's side.
[Anomaly detected... Spirit is currently bound... Free her to form a contract.]
Lioro glanced at the prompt before replying,
"It seems the sacramental is rejecting the contract."
Aurora's previously bright expression disappeared, replaced by an apathetic one.
"Even now, it's like this..." she said with a bitter smile.
Releasing a sigh, she smiled lightly, returning to her usual self, and said,
"The core of the sanctuary is continuously draining our mana. However, if we manage to destroy it, we'll be released from this space."
"I happen to know the way to the center. Follow me."
Aurora said as she stepped through a white door that suddenly appeared before her.
Lioro followed right after, with Bruni sitting on his head.
By the way, Mana Drain didn't work on him since he was covered by Infinity.
Only when he removed it briefly while touching Aurora did the mana drain work.
Passing through the door, they appeared before a young girl sitting in the middle of a forest, crying.
Aurora walked up to the crying girl, then raised her hand and slapped her head — making the girl crack and disappear.
Lioro came beside her and said in a plain voice,
"Didn't know you were a child abuser."
Aurora pouted in protest.
"I'm not a child abuser! To proceed further, we have to destroy these memory fragments of mine."
"Oh, so you're beating yourself?"
"Yes!"
"I see, a masochist then."
"..."
"It's alright, everyone has their preferences."
"Hmph! I'm not talking to you!"
Aurora made a sour face, then turned toward another young girl who had appeared.
At the same time, their surroundings changed to a battlefield.
Aurora pulled out a random sword and started walking toward the crying girl.
But just then, a corpse behind her stood up and slashed at her.
Swish!
Lioro grabbed Aurora's neck and pulled her back in time.
Then Fire Spirit Bruni opened her mouth and sent a fireball toward the corpse, burning it up.
"You... can use magic inside the sacramental ground?"
----
Ps: Tomorrow's the day.