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Why did that dragon have to show up right when she and Anos were having such an important moment together?
Honestly, if Anos had scattered its ashes afterward, that would have been completely justified.
Hestia knew the dragon's death was probably Anos's doing.
After all, he had been the one who said he was going to deal with the One-Eyed Black Dragon before they parted for the night, and in her eyes, he was the only one qualified to handle something like that.
Someone else solved it?
Please.
No god had openly unleashed divine power, so who else in the world could be stronger or better than her Anos?
"Wait... How is Anos doing right now?"
Hestia suddenly felt like the conversation they had earlier should have gone much deeper, so she set off once again to find him.
She searched the whole Familia home and still could not find him anywhere.
In the end, her eyes landed on Anos's room.
"Hm? Hm?"
Click!
Hestia tried the door and found it locked tight.
No matter how hard she pulled, it would not open.
"That's not normal."
The thought exploded into her mind instantly.
The reason was simple.
Even though Anos knew perfectly well that she climbed into his bed every night, even though he always looked completely exasperated every morning when he woke up and found her wrapped around him, he had still never locked his door.
"Wait... that sound..."
Maybe it was just her imagination, but from outside the door, Hestia thought she could hear something faint.
It sounded.
It sounded a little like Wallen-whatever's voice.
"No! No way! It can't be."
Her twin tails trembled.
Was someone about to steal her Anos away?
Absolutely not.
Hestia might have been short, but when it came to acting quickly, she was incredibly efficient. She soon borrowed some lockpicking tools from one of the Familia members.
She was getting into that room no matter what.
After quite a bit of fumbling, she finally managed to pry the door open.
Anos had not set up any magic on it, so in the end, forcing it was not difficult.
"Hestia..."
Anos did not even look surprised.
He had known she was there from the moment she started listening outside the door.
But by then, setting up magic would only have made her more determined to come in.
"Hestia, I may be leaving very soon..."
Anos let out a soft sigh.
"Anos..."
The moment she heard that, Hestia's whole expression melted.
But then she saw the exact situation in the room, and her face turned strange again.
You cannot say something like that while Ais Wallenstein is literally right there under you.
Hestia honestly felt that Anos was being wildly disrespectful to Wallen-whatever. If you were doing something like this, should you not at least focus on it properly?
Still, that was only what she complained about in her head.
The moment Anos said he might be leaving this world soon, every other thought got swept aside.
"Going to another world and becoming a god... that path is bound to be full of thorns."
Hestia closed her eyes. She could already imagine the dangers and hardships waiting for him.
"So, Hestia, before I go... could you stay with me a little?"
She suddenly heard those words.
And then she was pulled over.
Pulled right over beside Wallen-whatever.
How was that even possible?
With Ais clearly still taking the brunt of his attention, how had Anos still managed to drag her over like that?
"What does... staying with you a little even mean...?"
Hestia asked the most obvious question in the world.
"It means I think it's time to switch things up a little."
Anos's face looked almost serious.
The words coming out of his mouth, however, were anything but.
"Switch things up...?"
Hestia's mouth twitched.
This was not the Anos she thought she knew.
But then again, he had just said he was about to leave, so maybe acting a little strangely at a time like this could be forgiven.
Hestia immediately started making excuses for him in her own head.
"Hestia... I want you."
That one simple sentence turned her into a curled-up little hamster on the spot.
She had never really been able to refuse him.
No matter what she thought at first, he always ended up talking her into it somehow.
Maybe this time would be the same too.
That was the thought that drifted through her mind.
She was already surrendering before the battle even began.
Self-deception was setting in beautifully.
"Can you give me a goddess's blessing?"
Anos asked the question softly.
He really was a little different right now.
He had been maintaining Divine Overmode ever since earlier.
As long as he was not forcing it to perform high-level calculation work, that state could be sustained for quite a long time.
"Anos... I could never refuse anything you ask of me..."
Hestia looked away under his gaze, but she still gave him her answer.
"Lady Hestia, I'm honored."
Anos gently turned her face back toward him and spoke with absolute sincerity.
...
Mm...
What exactly is this?
Inside Anos, Ophis watched the entire thing unfold in total confusion.
What was her contractor even doing?
Why did he look so happy?
So pleased.
So slightly mad.
"This feels... uncomfortable somehow..."
Ophis pressed a hand to her chest.
He was using her power right now, and yet for some reason she felt like an outsider.
No.
More like an excluded dragon.
And so Ophis spent the entire night watching the live performance.
The amount of power Anos borrowed for all this was nothing compared to what she spent every day maintaining Forbidden Spell Paradise, and yet for some reason, she felt completely drained.
...
The next morning.
It seemed a rainstorm had come during the night and extinguished the sea of flames that had spread across Orario.
The scorched land had blackened like charcoal, and everything had fallen eerily silent.
"Ah..."
Anos stretched lazily, got out of bed, and looked toward Babel Tower through the window.
Even Babel had taken some damage in last night's battle. It now stood partially ruined.
He knew perfectly well who was responsible for all this.
Only Freya would do something this insane.
But unfortunately for her, he had no intention of playing along right now.
He was leaving first.
"Anos...?"
Ais stirred when she realized she was no longer holding onto anything and finally sat up after a brief struggle.
Since she had been the first one to drop out, she actually did not look sleep deprived at all.
"Ais, you're awake."
Anos came back from the window and, as naturally as could be, pulled her back into his arms and lay down with her again.
Ais might have slept well, but he had been holding on all the way until morning.
Hestia had turned out to be far tougher than Ais, and halfway through, her refusal to lose led to a burst of divine power that had nearly broken him on the spot.
If Ophis had not still been there backing him, last night definitely would have ended in Hestia's victory.
"Anos..."
Curled in his arms, breathing in his scent, Ais closed her eyes and pushed her lips forward ever so slightly, clearly waiting for something.
"You really do love being spoiled, don't you, Ais?"
Anos smiled helplessly, but he still gave her what she wanted.
How could he possibly dislike a girl who knew how to ask so sweetly?
If anything, the fact that Ais had become the kind of girl who could act as this gave him a certain sense of accomplishment.
"Ais, actually... it's not that there's no way to deal with Aria's situation. It's just difficult."
A few minutes later, Anos lifted his head and said it quietly.
"Huh?"
Ais froze.
For the first few seconds, she did not even understand what he meant.
Not impossible.
Just difficult.
Did that mean.
Did that mean her mother was not truly gone after all?
Or that there was still hope of bringing her back?
"As long as the soul remains, there's still hope..."
Anos deliberately did not state it too plainly yet.
"Is that... true?"
Ais lowered herself onto his chest, trembling silently.
Anos could feel the warmth of her tears turn cold where they landed on him.
...
And just like that, the One-Eyed Black Dragon incident came to an end.
For Orario, it was an event of tremendous significance, one that completely reshuffled the city's power structure.
Many Familias were destroyed in that disaster.
And the strongest Familia of all, Freya Familia, gradually disappeared from the public eye in the wake of it.
No one knew what had happened to Freya Familia.
No one knew what Goddess Freya was thinking.
And no one knew whether the One-Eyed Black Dragon had truly died or merely retreated back into the Dungeon.
Everything, it seemed, had been washed thin and blurred away by the rain that fell in the night
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