Midnight.
Dim lights flickered between rows of buildings, while a faint trace of moisture hung in the air.
The streets that were normally overflowing with lust were unusually quiet tonight.
No...
Calling them quiet was not entirely accurate.
"How could you do this to us?!"
"Ishtar! My Ishtar! How am I supposed to live without you?!"
"Life goes on without the Pleasure Quarter? That's just something people say while forcing themselves to survive! Waaaah! Amazons, come back! I can't survive even one day without Amazons! 😭😭😭"
Countless adventurers, along with male gods who had secretly slipped away from their Familia homes, wailed in despair at the wooden sign hanging outside the entrance.
[Closed Today]
This was Ishtar Familia's headquarters.
At the same time, it was a red-light district fundamentally different from any ordinary collection of buildings in the city.
The Amazons who normally burned with passion and seemed ready to drag passing adventurers inside and devour them now wore serious expressions.
Ignoring the grieving crowd outside, they focused entirely on the work in their hands.
"How are the preparations?"
Standing on the balcony of the towering palace, Ishtar looked down at the Battle Prostitutes moving various supplies back and forth below.
Behind her stood Aisha.
"The Fire Stones have already been placed throughout the city."
Aisha paused.
The Amazon wore a daringly revealing outfit, with long black hair falling all the way to her hips.
She lowered her head, her blue-violet eyes wandering restlessly rather than meeting those of the patron goddess famous throughout Orario for her beauty.
"Um... Ishtar-sama."
"There are still several days before the Killing Stone can reach its maximum effect."
"Wouldn't attacking Freya Familia now be a little too...?"
"Are you questioning my decision?"
Ishtar narrowed her eyes.
"I wouldn't dare."
"Aisha."
Ishtar turned slightly toward her.
"Do you know why the Killing Stone only reaches its greatest effect on the night of the full moon?"
"Because the Killing Stone is made using Tamamo Stone and Moon Tear Stone."
Although Aisha did not understand why Ishtar was suddenly asking, she answered honestly.
"Moon Tear Stone changes when exposed to moonlight, so its properties can be brought out most strongly beneath a full moon."
"Heh."
A mocking smile appeared on Ishtar's lips.
"The Renards wanted enough power to resist other races, so they dug up the remains of their own children and used them to create Tamamo Stones, greatly strengthening Renard sorcery."
"Then they discovered that combining Tamamo Stone with Moon Tear Stone allowed even non-Renards to use Renard magic."
Ishtar looked down toward a girl with brilliant golden hair somewhere beneath the palace.
"A power originally created to protect their own people instead became the reason for their destruction."
She chuckled.
"The children of the Lower World really do know how to keep us gods entertained."
Then Ishtar glanced back at Aisha.
"Since there's no longer enough time to seal her soul inside the Killing Stone, you think there's no reason to keep placing all those restrictions on her like before."
"That's what you're thinking, isn't it?"
"I don't think someone like Haruhime belongs among prostitutes like us."
Aisha did not deny it.
She simply spoke what she genuinely felt.
Her past experiences had already taught her that lying to a god was one of the most pointless and foolish things a mortal could do.
So she exposed as much of her true feelings as possible, hoping to draw out whatever trace of mercy might remain in Ishtar.
"Sure."
Aisha froze.
Unexpectedly, Ishtar had actually agreed.
Before joy could even rise within her, however, Aisha suddenly realized that something about the way Ishtar was looking at her was wrong.
That was not the gaze someone used when looking at another person.
It was more like...
In Ishtar's eyes, Aisha was not human at all.
She was an animal trapped inside a cage.
The realization immediately filled Aisha with a terrible premonition.
Ishtar ignored her reaction and raised the smoking pipe in her hand, pointing toward somewhere below.
"I was just wondering what I could use to test its strength."
Her smile deepened.
"If you can survive five minutes against it, I'll let you decide what happens to Haruhime."
Aisha followed the direction of Ishtar's pipe.
What she saw was a monster restrained by countless chains.
At first glance, its appearance was not terribly different from the animal people called a cow.
But twisted, enormous horns rose from its head, carrying an unmistakably ominous air.
And that was not all.
Growing from its forehead was a woman's body identical to the Corrupted Spirit Loki Familia had encountered on the fifty-ninth floor.
At that moment, beneath the horrified gazes of the surrounding Amazons, the female body rolled its grotesque oversized eyes and devoured every Magic Stone around it.
When nothing remained, its throat wriggled.
A shrill, unsettling laugh emerged.
One glance was enough to soak Aisha's entire body in cold sweat.
The instincts she had cultivated through years of Dungeon exploration screamed a single answer at her.
That was not an enemy she could currently fight.
Forget surviving five minutes.
The instant battle began, she would probably lose her head.
This was not a trial Ishtar was offering her.
It was a warning.
If Aisha dared question Ishtar's decisions again, then next time it would not merely be Magic Stones that monster devoured.
"Well?"
Ishtar's voice drifted beside Aisha's ear.
"Would you like to try?"
The sound was like a gentle breeze brushing across her heart, making her want to drown within it.
As Ishtar whispered, an inexplicable desire welled up inside Aisha.
'If I agree...'
'I can keep listening to the goddess's voice forever.'
Under Ishtar's amused gaze, Aisha's mouth began opening on its own.
Then...
"S-Sorry..."
"Tch."
Ishtar clicked her tongue.
"So you used pain to break free. Boring."
The moment Ishtar spoke, the intimate atmosphere filling the air vanished completely.
Only the faint taste of iron on Aisha's tongue and the lingering sting reminded her what almost happened after defying the goddess.
She looked at Ishtar with lingering fear.
The goddess treated manipulating people's hearts like a casual game.
A little closer.
Just a little closer, and Aisha would have stopped being herself.
Remembering the miserable experience she had suffered the previous time Ishtar charmed her, Aisha involuntarily shuddered.
She never wanted to experience anything like that again.
"Go."
Ishtar showed no frustration over the failed charm.
To her, the entire attempt had been nothing more than a little entertainment after a meal.
"Yes."
Aisha immediately prepared to leave the place that now made her deeply uneasy.
"Oh, right."
Ishtar suddenly stopped her again.
Aisha turned back in confusion.
Then Ishtar slowly raised one hand and gently stroked her cheek.
"You won't disappoint me in tomorrow's Familia war, will you?"
"No."
Aisha lowered her head.
"I will offer the fruit of victory to Ishtar-sama."
"Heh. Words alone aren't enough to reassure me."
Ishtar's fingertip slowly traced across Aisha's cheek.
"How about this?"
"You care about that Renard girl so much."
"If, with her assistance, you manage to defeat any one of that woman's Level 6 adventurers..."
"I'll give the girl her freedom."
Ishtar smiled.
"What do you think?"
"...I understand."
"Excellent."
The goddess looked satisfied.
"Then I'll look forward to your performance tomorrow."
To prevent the unpredictable goddess from suddenly inventing another outrageous demand, Aisha hurried away from the top of the tower the moment Ishtar finished speaking.
…