'Aquila? I see.'
After carefully pondering the Deities of the Spirit World for a moment, Ouranos found quite a few similarities, but there was no existence actually named Aquila.
This was normal. After all, until Ouranos felt the power of the sky, he had no idea an individual like Hyacine even existed in the world...
But now, he knew.
Organizing his words slightly, Ouranos tried to make his demeanor appear as gentle as possible. After all, these two humans before him shared some history with him, and might even be...
"So, children, you should know where the strength within you originates, shouldn't you?"
"...It's the sky. It's very similar to your own power."
Since Ouranos could discern the source of Hyacine and Barbara's strength from the nature of their power, the reverse was also true.
"Correct. The source of the power in your bodies is indeed the sky, and I... am the God of the Sky."
In that instant, Ouranos released his Divine Will. An intense pressure immediately swept through the entire altar, even causing the bricks within the altar to vibrate.
In the world of Danmachi, once a Deity uses Divine Power, they are forcibly repatriated to Heaven. However, Divine Will is not restricted. After all, it is a means of self-preservation for Deities when encountering danger, and it can also serve as a deterrent.
If the target were a mortal, they would surely be terrified into immobility by this Divine Will, their entire body trembling.
But this time, the situation was somewhat different.
Because the Deity releasing the Divine Will was Ouranos, and the ones sensing it were Hyacine and Barbara.
'Is this Divine Will?'
'It truly is a terrifying power. No wonder mortals lose the courage to fight after sensing Divine Will.'
In the setting of Danmachi, Deities are omniscient and omnipotent, possessing horrifying strength. Even if it is merely Divine Will, it is extremely terrifying to the humans of the Lower World.
Even Hyacine and Barbara could feel an unprecedented majesty within Ouranos's Divine Will.
However, besides majesty, there was more of... an indescribable sense of closeness?
"As expected. You truly are..."
Watching Hyacine and Barbara, who were completely unaffected by his Divine Will, Ouranos let out a sigh of admiration. His eyes grew misty as if he were reminiscing about the distant past.
From the start of the meeting until he released his Divine Will just now, Ouranos had been confirming one thing: whether Hyacine and Barbara possessed their power.
The 'their' here referred to none other than the Twelve Titans who shared a close relationship with Ouranos. And the final result was as expected; the two girls did indeed possess the Power of the Titans.
However, this Power of the Titans differed slightly from what Ouranos recognized... it seemed mixed with something else?
But that didn't matter!
As long as it was confirmed to be Titan-related, the identity of these two girls would not change. They were Children of God belonging to the lineage of Ouranos.
"Come closer, children. I shall tell you everything..."
Ouranos could not leave the altar, so he intended to have these two human children come before him so he could inform them of the true situation...
—
In the world of Danmachi, Deities are born of the world, existing as something akin to concepts. Despite possessing unprecedentedly powerful strength, they cannot produce offspring with any living creature, even if the other party is also a God.
Therefore, even if those male Deities spend all day wandering the Pleasure Quarter, situations where 'demigods walk the earth and Children of God are as common as dogs' would never occur.
Furthermore, Deities who share close relationships in mythology will be completely different in Danmachi.
Take Odin and Thor as an example; they are father and son in Norse mythology, but in the world of Danmachi, it's different—they might even be brothers. But even without the father-son relationship, Odin and Thor still have a better relationship than many other Deities.
And the Titans were Deities who shared an extraordinary relationship with Ouranos, belonging to the same lineage.
Hyacine and Barbara did indeed possess the Power of God—that much was true—but they were definitely not descendants of Deities, as Deities have no offspring.
In that case, what exactly were the so-called "Children of God"?
Naturally, they were people who had received a Deity's grace!
However, this grace was different from the mainstream Falna of the world; it was something of a much higher level...
As everyone knows, Deities can use their own Ichor to carve Falna onto a mortal's back, granting the mortal greater strength and providing them with more possibilities.
But that is only the most basic of basics. After all, in this era, Deities cannot use Divine Power in the Lower World and can only grant low-level things like Falna.
So what is a higher-level grace?
One only needs to look at Hyacine and Barbara.
They likewise had never received Falna, yet they possessed such powerful strength that they could easily defeat the Level 3 Hyakinthos...
Simply because they possessed a higher-level "grace," one that completely crushed the mainstream Falna of the world.
In a sense, this could no longer be called "grace"; it could be described entirely with the word "favor."
Indeed, Hyacine and Barbara were people favored by Deities; they even possessed the potential to become Deities themselves!
To use an analogy, if an old man compared the chickens he raised at home to his own biological grandson, which one would be more important?
Does that even need to be said?
You try touching my grandson and see what happens.
Wouldn't I have to pluck all your feathers and turn you into chicken soup to nourish my grandson?
Hyakinthos of the Apollo Familia, and everyone else in the world who had received Falna, were those chickens.
And Hyacine and Barbara... were the biological granddaughters!
"God's favor" wasn't just talk. It required a Deity to sacrifice everything they had, risking being repatriated, destroyed, or forgotten, just to create a Child of God.
From a close distance, Ouranos saw the essence of the two girls' power clearly, and only then did he feel completely at ease.
Hyacine was a pure Child of God from the sky lineage, while Barbara was a bit different. Although the power within her body was somewhat cluttered, she could barely be considered a Child of God.
"To put it descriptively, Deities reside within your bodies, but you are essentially human."
"Not only can you use the powerful strength belonging to a God at any time—with power rivaling that of a top-tier Adventurer—but you won't even trigger the Divine Power repatriation mechanism."
"These are perfect children!"
For a thousand years, Ouranos had remained within the altar praying to the Dungeon, suppressing the monsters while saving more children.
In this pitch-black altar lit only by faint firelight, this great Deity had almost never shown a smile, only continuously praying to the Dungeon and handling troublesome matters within The City.
Today, after seeing two Children of God appear before his eyes, Ouranos finally revealed a smile...
Perhaps they were the hope for saving the Lower World?
Though he didn't know which Titans had made the sacrifice, Ouranos sincerely thanked them for allowing these two children to be born.
"Children, remember this."
"You are both God and human."
"But most of the time, you possess the identity of a human."
"As long as you do not forget that, I will support you forever!"