A tense, buzzing energy rippled through the living hall as Ivory's declaration hung in the air. Lilith looked completely stunned, her eyes darting quickly over to Lustra and Bellona. Standing tall, both goddesses met her gaze and slowly, firmly nodded their heads in confirmation. They were indeed the Aventador.
Aside from those four, however, the rest of the room was left completely in the dark. Seraphine, Asobi, Rutherford, Toya, and even little Aeterna exchanged utterly blank looks.
Even Haruto found himself running a blank diagnostic search. Aventador? he thought, his eyes narrowing as he analyzed the syntax of the word. Is that a hidden faction name? A supreme title? An encrypted piece of system code I haven't unlocked yet?
The silence grew too heavy for Toya to handle. Driven by his natural instincts as a scholar who lived to uncover hidden data, he leaned forward, unable to contain his curiosity any longer.
"Wait, wait, hold on a second," Toya blurted out, breaking the quiet. "What exactly is an Aventador? Is it some kind of elite divine rank or something?"
His question voiced the exact same confusion running through everyone else's minds. Seraphine and the others leaned in, practically begging for an explanation. Yet, despite the intense curiosity filling the room, neither Lilith nor the three goddesses offered a single word in response. They kept their mouths tightly shut, leaving the true weight of that legendary title a total, unexplained mystery to the rest of the household.
Lilith shakenly shook her head, her eyes darting between the three goddesses as if she were trying to find a glitch in their story. "This is impossible! Haruto just told me you don't remember anything from before a hundred years ago! If your memory is formatted, how can you claim to be something as legendary as that? You're just making things up to get me to lower my guard!"
She then whipped around to face Haruto, her voice filled with a mix of fear and desperate warning. "Haruto, I'm talking to you too! You're a reincarnator, just like I was. Listen to me—these gods aren't loyal to anyone but themselves. You shouldn't even let a single god catch sight of you, let alone keep three of them living under your roof as your companions! You're playing with fire, and you're going to get burned just like I did!"
The room grew even colder as the tension spiked. Lustra, who had been relatively quiet, took a step forward. Her voice was calm but carried an authority that made everyone's skin crawl.
"You keep calling us gods, Lilith," Lustra said firmly. "But you're still not listening. We aren't just 'gods.' We are Aventadors. There is a massive difference in the hierarchy that you are completely ignoring."
Lilith suddenly went dead silent. The mention of the title again seemed to act like a physical weight, pressing down on her defiance. She opened her mouth to argue, but no words came out. She just stared at them, her breath hitching in her throat.
Bellona, seeing the princess finally falter, stepped into Lilith's personal space. Her red aura flickered slightly, not as a threat, but as a reminder of her presence.
"Tell us the truth, Lilith," Bellona challenged, her eyes locked onto the princess. "When you hear that name—Aventador—what exactly does your memory tell you? What is the data you've been hiding about that title that has you so terrified?"
Haruto still couldn't understand what this title meant, but he decided to hold back his questions and stay in full observation mode, watching everyone's faces to see how they would react.
Seraphine lost her patience, grabbed Lustra's arm, and demanded, "First of all, just tell us what this actually means!"
Lustra sighed, looking at her. "Well, giving out information is usually Ivory's job, but fine, listen up. Before you understand what we are, you need to know why the gods even need reincarnators in the first place."
The room fell completely silent as Lustra explained the core reality of the upper realm.
"We gods live up in the Heavens, which is the 99th layer," Lustra said. "Up there, there are no fights, no training, and no struggles. After thousands of years of doing nothing but enjoying a luxurious, lazy life, a god's power naturally starts to rust and weaken. But because gods are incredibly lazy and filled with massive pride, they refuse to do any hard work or training themselves."
She glanced over at Lilith, confirming the grim reality of her past. "So, their solution is to choose a reincarnator. They drop a human into the world to do all the dirty work—fighting, grinding, and leveling up to cleanse and purify that divine power. Once that human finally reaches Level 99, which is the default level for a god, the god slaughters them and absorbs all that perfectly refined power back into themselves."
Lustra then paused, her expression turning incredibly serious. "But that is where the real twist comes in."
Lustra took a deep breath and continued, "There are a few gods—like the three of us—who completely refuse to play that disgusting game. We refuse to hand our powers over to some random human just to have them do our dirty work. And that is exactly what the Aventadors are."
She looked directly at Lilith, her voice softening. "Instead of using a vessel, an Aventador voluntarily suppresses their own divine strength to the absolute minimum. We transform our powers, take on actual human forms, and drop down into the world to grind, level up, and fight through the struggles ourselves. So in reality, we live and fight just like humans do."
A wave of understanding finally washed over the room as the pieces of the puzzle clicked together.
"Lilith, your hatred is completely justified, but it belongs to those lazy, arrogant gods who look down on humans as mere playthings and use them like livestock," Lustra explained earnestly. "But the Aventadors are the exact opposite. We admire human life, we protect it, and we choose to walk right alongside humans, fighting the exact same battles. We aren't the ones who betrayed you."
Lilith shook her head, still looking highly skeptical. "Prove it. Show me your stats right now."
Without a word, Ivory, Lustra, and Bellona waved their hands, projecting their status screens into the air. On the surface, all three of them showed a normal, low-profile Level 6.
Lilith squinted at the screens and smirked. "Drop the hiding magic. I know you're masking your real data."
Ivory looked at the others, realizing there was no point in playing hide-and-seek anymore. "Fine. There's no hiding anything from you anyway."
The three of them canceled their concealment spells. Instantly, their status screens glitched and reloaded. Seraphine gasped loudly, completely stunned by the glowing numbers flashing before her eyes. The screens showed a massive Level 99, right alongside the official title: Goddess.
"Aha! I knew it!" Lilith shouted, pointing an accusing finger. "True Aventadors start all the way back at Level 1 when they take human form! But you three are sitting at Level 99 right now. You're just full-fledged Gods!"
Ivory didn't back down. She crossed her arms and stared right back at Lilith. "Oh yeah? If we're showing everything, why don't you show us your stats, Lilith?"
Lilith hesitated, looking around the room nervously, but knowing she was backed into a corner, she swiped her hand. A bright pink interface popped up in front of her. It displayed the title Goddess's Child and a measly Level 4.
"Now drop your hiding magic too," Ivory countered smoothly.
"Fine, whatever!" Lilith huffed. She snapped her fingers, releasing her restriction spell.
BOOM!
The pink screen flared up with blinding light as her hidden database unlocked. The numbers rolled up rapidly and slammed directly into Level 99.
Ivory threw her hands up. "Look at that! You're sitting at Level 99 yourself!"
"Which means you are literally a God too!" Bellona added, completely dumbfounded.
Lustra threw her hands in the air, utterly exasperated. "Unbelievable! You're a literal God yourself, yet you've been standing there lecturing and throwing a massive tantrum at us this entire time!"
"Shut up! I am a human!" Lilith yelled back, her face turning red. "I am a human who suffered, bled, and fought my way up to Level 99 with my own two hands!"
Ivory stepped forward, her voice softening with genuine sincerity. "Exactly, Lilith! And that is exactly what we are telling you. We did the exact same thing. We chose to become human and grinded all the way up to Level 99 just like you did. Haruto is in absolutely no danger from us. Our sole mission, the only reason we are here, is to protect his life with everything we've got."
Lilith went quiet, staring at the floor. They actually make a lot of sense, she thought to herself, her long-standing defensive walls finally cracking. If they went through the same human grind, they aren't like the monsters who betrayed me.
Seeing the tension finally break, Seraphine let out a massive, exhausted sigh. "Alright, enough! The drama is over. Go on, hug it out. I don't think there is a single reason left for you guys to keep fighting."
Before anyone could object, Seraphine grabbed the stubborn Lilith and practically shoved her directly into Ivory's arms. Lilith let out a surprised yelp but ended up awkwardly hugging Ivory, who smiled and held her back.
Lustra and Bellona, however, stayed exactly where they were, standing with their arms crossed and looking away stubbornly.
Seraphine rolled her eyes. "Ugh, seriously?" She marched over to Lustra, gave her a stern look, and pushed her into the group hug. Lustra sighed but gave in, wrapping her arms around the girls.
Finally, Seraphine turned her sharp gaze onto Bellona.
Bellona took a step back, her eyes wide. "What? No way. I'm not doing this."
Without a second thought, Seraphine lunged forward and forcefully shoved Bellona straight into the pile. "Just do it! A big ego makes a girl look completely ugly anyway!"
Caught off guard by the shove, Bellona stumbled into the group, and the four powerful Level 99 entities found themselves tangled in a chaotic, messy group hug in the center of the living hall, completely breaking the icy tension of the night.
While the girls were busy tangling themselves into a messy group hug, Haruto stood back, his analytical mind completely active. Their data doesn't add up, he calculated silently. They didn't grind their way from the bottom to reach Level 99. Their base stats were already set to max from the very beginning. There is a massive anomaly in their story, but I finally understand the true definition of an Aventador. The question is... are these three actually the real deal? Before he could process the thought further, Seraphine opened her arms and aggressively pulled herself into the massive huddle as well. The sudden, overwhelming burst of affection made all five girls immediately flush bright red.
Slowly breaking away from the awkward embrace, the heavy tension completely melted into a wave of mutual apologies.
Ivory rubbed the back of her neck, looking at Lilith with soft, empathetic eyes. "Lilith, after hearing what you went through 300 years ago, your anger was completely justified. We are incredibly sorry for being so harsh and rude to you earlier."
Lustra laughed softly, teasing her sister. "Look at Ivory being all sweet and mature for once!"
Bellona smirked and nodded in total agreement. "Right? It honestly doesn't suit her."
"Hey! Shut up, both of you!" Ivory huffed, her cheeks flaring with irritation, which immediately caused the rest of the girls to burst into genuine, lighthearted laughter.
Watching the chaotic scene, Haruto mentally sighed. This whole plan of sharing deep cosmic secrets to build household unity was honestly a massive pain in the ass, he thought, thoroughly exhausted by the emotional rollercoaster.
Realizing the girls were completely distracted by their new bond, Haruto turned his attention to the male scholar in the room. He pulled out his notepad, scribbled a fresh set of instructions, and handed it directly to Toya.
Toya blinked, taking the note, and read Haruto's sharp handwriting silently:
"Listen carefully, Toya. The fact that Rutherford is a weapon spirit and Asobi is an active spirit must remain an absolute, classified secret from the girls. It will keep the household balance intact. As for Seraphine's personal secrets, I will manually extract and analyze her data myself later tonight."
Toya immediately caught onto the strategy, nodding his head in total agreement. He crumpled the note safely into his pocket and decided to break the heavy mood with the best solution possible. "Alright, everyone! Now that the world-ending drama is temporarily paused, I am absolutely starving. Let's keep these secrets locked away for the night and go eat some actual food first!"
The note hadn't just been seen by Toya, though. Standing nearby, Asobi, Rutherford, and little Aeterna had already peeked at the text over his shoulder. Catching Haruto's silent command, the three of them gave him a subtle, collective nod of understanding.
Lilith wiped the remaining dust from her outfit and laughed, returning to her usual energetic self. "Haha, alright! But remember, everyone—the fact that I'm actually Level 99 stays an absolute secret from the outside world. Keep that file locked!"
Seraphine rolled her eyes but nodded in agreement. "Of course. To be honest, you're literally more powerful than my father, and he's considered one of the strongest men in the world. Meanwhile, look at me... I'm the absolute weakest link here at just Level 15. It's depressing."
Toya snorted, stepping into the circle. "Oh, please! If you're weak at Level 15, what does that make me? I'm literally sitting at Level 6! You're practically a boss fight compared to me. And besides, if we are talking about numbers, little Aeterna here is only Level 1."
Hearing her name, Lilith turned her gaze back toward Aeterna. The little girl shrank back slightly, a fresh tear welling up in her eye as she remembered how coldly Lilith had accused her just moments ago.
The sight of those tears completely melted Lilith's remaining defenses. "Oh my gosh, I am so, so sorry!" Lilith cried out, rushing forward and pulling Aeterna directly into her arms, lifting her up. "I was being such a rude, paranoid jerk! You are literally the sweetest, most adorable thing ever!"
Seraphine walked over, a soft smile on her face as she gently pinched Aeterna's chubby cheeks. "She really is incredibly cute."
"Alright, alright!" Lilith cheered, completely shifting the heavy mood of the room into high gear. "Cooking at home is going to take way too long. Let's not eat inside tonight—we are going out! It's a full party, and everything is on my tab!"
"Yes! Food!" Toya cheered, and the rest of the girls immediately chimed in with excited agreement.
Haruto, however, didn't look thrilled. His internal processor immediately flagged a disapproval warning; going out in public with a high-profile, volatile group after a massive energy spike wasn't a logically sound move.
But before he could even reach for his notepad to veto the idea, Lilith was already dashing toward the grand main doors of the mansion. She threw the doors open and made a sharp, commanding hand gesture into the hallway.
Instantly, eight highly trained guards dressed in formal maid uniforms marched into the hall in perfect, synchronized formation. They weren't carrying weapons; instead, they carried luxurious, heavy ceremonial robes.
Moving with practiced speed, the maids draped a gorgeous royal robe over Lilith's shoulders, smoothly transitioned to Haruto to dress him in a sharp, commanding cloak, and then perfectly fitted Seraphine with an elegant garment. Within seconds, the maids efficiently dressed every single member of the household, transforming the casual group into a high-status entourage.
Haruto raised his hand, his fingers twitching toward his pen to stop the sudden escalation. But as he looked around the room, he saw everyone—Seraphine, Toya, and the goddesses—smiling and buzzing with excitement. Recognizing that the party's collective morale was at an all-time high, Haruto lowered his hand and decided not to initiate a dialogue argument. He stood down, choosing to simply let the current script play out and flow with the team.
Lilith adjusted her new robe with a proud smile, looking back at the group as she led the way out. "Consider this a official apology party from my side! Let's go!"
Haruto looked at Toya, a subtle calculation running in his mind. He felt a brief sense of relief that Toya had kept his true level—Level 60—completely hidden from the rest of the group, playing along with the low-level facade to keep the peace. But right after, a heavy thought crossed Haruto's mind. He could feel it; something was looming over them. An unseen force or a hidden glitch in the system was actively trying to halt their progress, waiting for the right moment to strike.
Putting the warning signs aside for now, the entire household stepped out through the grand entrance of the mansion. Rutherford and Asobi followed closely behind, maintaining their perfect composure, while little Aeterna rested happily in Lilith's arms.
As they crossed the threshold and stood outside the massive gates, the cool night air brushed against their luxurious robes. The atmosphere completely shifted. Looking at one another, a mutual understanding passed through the group. Right there, outside the gates, they collectively took a silent, sacred vow: from this day forward, no matter what universe-ending threats or system glitches came their way, they would stand together as one unbreakable unit.
One by one, they all gathered closely around Haruto, looking at him with absolute trust and loyalty. Recognizing the solidarity of his inner circle, Haruto let his cold guard down just a fraction. He stepped forward and placed his hand into the center of the huddle, cementing their bond as the ultimate party ready to take on the game of reality.