The twilight wind blew slowly across the Great Plains, carrying the volcanic dust from the magical clashes that was slowly settling to the ground. In the center of the giant crater whose surface had melted and cracked, Alfia stood alone. Her dark gothic-style dress didn't touch the dust at all, draping elegantly as if she had just attended a tea party, rather than flattening the strongest defensive line Orario had ever birthed.
Around the crater, thousands of adventurers from various Familias stood petrified. Their weapons—swords, spears, axes, and magic staffs—trembled in their respective hands.
They had just witnessed a reality that shattered common sense. Alfia didn't use continent-scale mass destruction magic. She didn't cast the legendary Genos Angelus. The Silence purely utilized high-level martial arts combined with the absolute frequency manipulation of Aegis Harmonia and Resonance. In a matter of seconds, she dismantled, paralyzed, and brought down two Level 9 existences, a line of Level 8 commanders, down to the healer line in the rearguard without breaking a single drop of sweat.
A chill crept up from the soles of the mid-level adventurers' feet. There were no more roars of morale. There were no more combat formations. When Alfia's heterochromatic eyes swept their ranks with a piercing, flat gaze, their survival instincts screamed one absolute conclusion: surrender.
One by one, the clatter of metal rang out as weapons were dropped to the ground. Without any command, the ranks of Orario adventurers lowered their heads. They surrendered completely in the face of a power beyond their reach that they could not comprehend.
Seeing that response, Alfia pulled back the pressure radiating from her body. The atmosphere that initially suffocated their lungs slowly faded, letting fresh air flow back into the battlefield.
Right at the second the last weapon was dropped, the voice of God Ganesha, broadcasted through the Oculus crystal network, echoed from the 30th Floor of the Tower of Babel, cleaving the silence.
"All frontline fighters have lost consciousness! The remaining forces have dropped their weapons!" God Ganesha's voice boomed across the city and the plains. "With this, the Orariopiad Festival is officially over! The absolute winner of this peak battle is... the Barbatos Familia!"
Inside the meeting room of the Tower of Babel, silence briefly enveloped the gods before it was finally broken by cheers and satisfied laughter. Even though their proud Familias had just been slaughtered one-sidedly, the gods and goddesses couldn't hide their satisfaction. For immortal beings who lived for entertainment, today's battle stage was an epic masterpiece that would be talked about for thousands of years.
Hermes laughed the loudest. The feathered-hat god clapped his hands while holding his stomach, tears of joy welling up in the corners of his eyes.
"Hahaha! Perfect! Truly perfect entertainment!" Hermes laughed freely while slamming the table, unable to hide his excitement. "Seeing Ottar flattened without a fight... Amazing! The Incarnation of Talent's level is truly different from the Alfia we used to know!"
At the end of the round table, Venti sat leaning back comfortably while twirling his wine goblet. A faint, mysterious smile adorned the Wind God's lips. He looked at the Divine Mirror projection displaying the battlefield with an appreciative gaze.
To Venti, this Orariopiad finale was much more satisfying than he had expected. He didn't expect Bell Cranel's coordination with the future pillars of Orario to go that smoothly. Specifically, Venti's eyes caught crucial details that escaped the other gods' views. If he had to give the title of Most Valuable Player (MVP) from Orario's side, he wouldn't give it to Ottar or Leon.
That title purely belongs to the healer girl of the Freya Familia and the Renard girl of the Hestia Familia, Venti thought.
Without Heith Velvet's Zeo Gullveig magic timed precisely, and Sanjouno Haruhime's Uchide no Kozuchi Kokonoe, Zald would surely have ended the battle much sooner. Both of them were the main pillars that almost made Orario's miracle a reality. Unfortunately, Alfia didn't let her enemy's rearguard keep breathing.
In a remote village far from the hustle and bustle of the Labyrinth City, an old man sat on the porch of his wooden hut. The twilight wind blew his white beard as he stared intently into the glowing Oculus crystal ball on the table.
Zeus, the former leader of the strongest Familia in the world, took a deep breath. His wrinkled hand wiped the corners of his eyes, wet with tears of emotion.
He had just watched his adoptive grandson, Bell Cranel, stand face-to-face directly against Alfia. He saw how the white-haired youth refused to run, using his agility and intelligence to lock Alfia's arm, and was even willing to sacrifice his own body just to create the slightest opening.
Although Bell ultimately fell easily at the hands of his own aunt, Zeus didn't feel a speck of disappointment. Instead, his heart swelled with overflowing pride.
"You've grown up very well, Bell," muttered Zeus with a hoarse voice. A warm smile bloomed on his wrinkled face. "You didn't run from your fear. You faced the storm with your eyes open. Grandpa is truly proud of you, boy."
For Zeus, seeing Alfia put Bell to sleep without fatally injuring him—a form of mercy rarely shown by the Silence in the past—was proof that Barbatos's presence in another timeline had brought a very beautiful change for Alfia's family.
Back to the center of the Great Plains.
Outside the crater's edge, several elite adventurers assigned as observers and perimeter guards stood stiffly. Bete Loga the Grey Wolf of the Loki Familia, Alicia Forestlight the Elf from the mage ranks, and the four Prum brothers of the Freya Familia—Alfrigg, Dvalinn, Berling, and Grer.
They were Level 4, Level 5, and Level 6 adventurers whose names were respected throughout Orario. But right now, under the gaze of Alfia who had just turned to face them, the air around them felt frozen.
The hairs on Bete's neck stood on end. His animal instincts writhed, warning that one careless move would have him share the same fate as the fallen pillars. Alicia held her breath, while the Gulliver brothers gripped their weapons tightly with cold sweat running down their temples.
Alfia looked at the six adventurers. Her flat face looked at them one by one. She remembered these faces. In her timeline, the six of them were the kids brought by Hedin, Hogni, and the Elf sisters under Venti's orders to the Barbatos Familia headquarters. Seeing those kids now grown into tense and wary adult adventurers gave Alfia a strange sensation.
"You six," Alfia's voice broke the silence. Her tone of voice didn't radiate any killing intent at all, but rather an absolute authority that couldn't be argued. "Don't just stand there like statues. Come down here and gather the wounded. Arrange their bodies properly so they are easy to treat."
The command was spoken in a casual tone yet accepted no refusal.
Bete gritted his teeth in annoyance. His reason wanted to argue, but his body moved automatically obeying the command. Alicia nodded obediently with the formal attitude typical of an Elf, while the four Gulliver brothers immediately ran down into the crater without a word.
The six adventurers worked in silence, lifting Ottar's massive body, dragging Leon Vardenburg, and lining up Finn, Gareth, and Riveria in one spot. In between their tasks, Bete and Alicia exchanged glances full of confusion.
Why is this woman looking at us like an aunt watching over naughty kids? Bete thought with a furrowed brow. Alfia's gaze just now didn't contain killing intent, but rather a familiarity that made them feel awkward and gave them goosebumps.
Alfia didn't care about their confusion at all. She ignored the Orario executives being carried and walked straight towards her nephew. She knelt beside Bell Cranel, gently checking his pulse, then moved to check on Zald, Dina, and Vena who were sprawled not far from there. Alfia purely only tended to her own family and familia members.
After the fallen bodies were successfully gathered in one flat area in the middle of the crater, Alfia stood up straight.
"The announcement has finished echoing. This festival is officially over," Alfia stated, her voice ringing clearly in the air. She turned towards the ranks of the Loki Familia adventurers in the distance. "Do any of you carry high-grade recovery potions?"
Alicia Forestlight immediately stepped forward. She reached into the supply pouch at her waist and pulled out a glass bottle filled with a thick green liquid. "I have it. It's the highest quality High Potion supplied by the Dian Cecht Familia."
Alfia nodded, accepting the bottle. She didn't feed it to Bell or Zald. Instead, Alfia walked over to Heith Velvet, who was still unconscious in the corner of the crater. Alfia forced the healer girl's jaw open and poured the entire contents of the potion down her throat.
A few seconds later, Heith coughed hard. The potion liquid reacted instantly, repairing her nervous system that Alfia had paralyzed.
Heith opened her eyes dazedly. Her vision blurred for a moment. "What... what happened?" she mumbled softly.
"You fainted at the beginning of the fight," answered Alfia flatly, towering over Heith. "Get up. Your task is not done yet."
Hearing that cold voice, Heith's memories returned like a sledgehammer blow. She gasped, scrambling back in panic until her back hit the crater rock. As her eyes swept the surroundings, she saw a sight that broke her heart. Ottar lay with his eyes closed. Leon Vardenburg was deathly pale. Finn, Gareth, Riveria, down to Bell Cranel were lined up unconscious.
Not a single pillar of Orario remained.
Severe trembling seized Heith's body, but her sense of responsibility as a healer overcame her fear. She quickly forced herself to stand up, grabbed her magic staff lying on the ground, and focused all the Mind she had managed to recover from the potion earlier.
"Grant life to the barren land! Dance, light of salvation! Zeo Gullveig!"
The highest restoration spell was chanted once again. A warm and soothing golden light exploded from the tip of Heith's staff, spreading like a wave of water sweeping the entire crater area. The light particles seeped into the fighters' bodies, repairing damaged cells, rejoining fractured bones, and replenishing their life energy.
The magical miracle worked instantly.
A heavy cough broke the silence. Ottar opened his eyes, staring at the sky with a long breath before slowly sitting up. Leon Vardenburg held his chest which no longer felt tight, although his eyes reflected a profound defeat. Finn Deimne rubbed his neck, smiling wryly seeing Gareth and Riveria also regaining consciousness beside him.
In another corner, Ais Wallenstein and Ryuu Lion blinked, slowly getting up assisted by Tiona and Tione who had just woken up with dizzy heads. Asfi, Lefiya, Haruhime, Mikoto, and Welf also began to regain their consciousness. Even Hedin and Hogni, who had been unconscious earlier on the east wing due to their crushing defeat by the Elf sisters, now began to open their eyes.
Bell Cranel groaned softly. He opened his eyes and the first thing he saw was Alfia's face standing not far from him. The white-haired youth smiled tiredly, realizing his aunt's words before the fight had proven true—they were all flattened helplessly, but this was an absolute lesson.
The wave of healing light didn't only treat the Orario side. On the side of the crater, Dina and Vena finally took a long breath and sat up, stretching their stiff bodies after spending all their energy in extreme resonance.
Zald laughed heavily as his consciousness returned. He rubbed his face, feeling the torn wounds on his body had closed tightly. He turned to Heith who was panting after forcing her magic capacity.
"A truly potent healing magic," praised Zald with his echoing baritone voice. "Girl from the Freya Familia, you have a very precious talent. Your healing talent is the lifeline of your formation today."
Heith only nodded politely accepting the praise, maintaining her composure as the main healer of the Freya Familia in front of the veteran.
Zald then looked down, staring at the ground near his feet. His sword, Grattor, lay in a pathetic condition. The blade was broken in the middle, and its surface was full of deep cracks from withstanding the impact of four ultimate attacks at once.
The Gluttony picked up the hilt of the sword. Instead of being angry or disappointed, a wide smile adorned his heavily scarred face. The destruction of this giant sword was absolute proof that the power of the new generation truly could not be underestimated.
It's a shame Grattor has to break here, Zald thought, his thumb brushing against the cold sword hilt. But it's fine. When we return later, it seems I'll have to ask a blacksmith to forge a new weapon. Yes... a black greatsword just like my favorite sword back then.
Orario might have lost terribly today on paper, but this Orariopiad stage had successfully carved a new history. The wall of absoluteness from the past had stood before them, not to destroy, but to become a stepping stone that would mature the heroes of the future.
Under the twilight sky that was beginning to turn into night, the silence in the Great Plains was slowly replaced by quiet chatter, sighs of relief, and unspoken acknowledgment between two generations of heroes who mutually respected each other. A perfect ending to the grandest festival that had ever shaken the Labyrinth City.
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