Is It Wrong To Skitter In A Dungeon? Chapter 39: Interlude 5

Chapter 39: Interlude 5

The power radiating from Taylor was far beyond what a mortal should have been capable of. By the Dungeons and the Heavens themselves, many lesser gods paled in comparison!

Hestia could only watch as her beloved child finally reached her breaking point and gave in. It didn't ease the goddess's nerves that she'd been the one to tell Taylor to do whatever she needed to do.

'Though, in my defense, who could have seen this coming?!' she thought, wincing a little as divine essence surged through her child's form, changing her.

Shrouds of dark energy covered her captain's body, obscuring Taylor's features. Her hair rippled and writhed with a divine corona, and her eyes were piercing, luminous pools. Framing the moon behind her, a crown-like halo of horns emerged from her head.

And yet despite the darkness of the power surrounding her, there was light. Pale and pinkish, it was like witnessing the earliest moments of the dawn, when the sunlight had yet to truly creep across the horizon and only the faintest beams could be seen, tinting the sky ever so gently.

Taylor Hebert was not Taylor Hebert anymore. She was Khepri, now, and somehow, the parahuman from another world had Mantled a deity.

Mantling... a forbidden rite, known only to a few beings, even in the Heavens. It involved the claiming of a god's... everything. Name, Domain, Authority, and in some cases memories and personality. Such a thing had only been done a few times, when the gods had warred amongst themselves.

A lesser form of this technique was used to allow the divine being to shed the majority of the essence and descend to the lower world by taking a weaker form, but it was still a closely guarded process.

However, mortals were not supposed to be capable of this! To Mantle a deity meant Taylor would cease to be Taylor, and become whoever this 'Khepri' was!

"Stop! Taylor, STOP!" Hestia screamed, but her desperate pleas went unheard as the world trembled as it heralded the birth of a new god.

To Hestia's unfathomable joy and relief, the Mantling process was cut short, as the divine essence that should have been burning her child from the inside out was diverted away from her at the last moment.

In its place, Hestia could feel that alien entity connected to Taylor reach out and claim the divinity, shunting it away from the Shard's host, and moving it... elsewhere. The goddess didn't know what it wanted with Ishtar's essence, and she didn't care. All Hestia wanted was for her beloved child to survive and stay human.

The Shard continued to help, and reshaped reality itself, forging a vessel of flesh, bone, and muscles within which the shattered soul could find succor. Treading upon the domain of the divine itself, both Taylor and Queen Administrator healed the wounds inflicted upon the renard's soul, and embedded her inside the empty body that had been custom made for her, bringing her back to life.

This all happened in just a few seconds, and when the divine shroud faded from the parahuman's frame, it left Taylor weakened and changed. Subtly, but Hestia could still see the 'mark' upon her captain's own soul.

What did this mean? What would happen to Taylor? Would she be fine? She was currently trapped in a coma, unable to awaken...

A gavel banged loudly, and Hestia blinked as she was taken out of her daydreams by the sharp noise cutting through her thoughts.

'That's right,' she thought. 'I'm not in Ishtar's chambers anymore. I'm here, in the Denatus chamber.'

“Gods and Goddesses, thank you for attending this Emergency Denatus,” Set, the unfortunate god who’d been selected to chair the meeting, said after putting the gavel away, though his voice was mostly lost underneath a tide of screaming, shouting, and pure madness as the deities of Orario argued with each other.

It was the morning after the Entertainment District was assaulted and the Ishtar Familia had been wiped out, and nobody was having a good time.

“We have to censure Weaver!” a minor god Hestia didn’t recognize shouted.

“Are you insane? That’s a foolish thing to do!” Skadi exclaimed.

“She sent a goddess back to Tenkai!” Sobek snarled. “We cannot let that stand!”

“Do you want to anger the crazy woman who clearly has no qualms with attacking somebody stronger than her?!” Hathor shot back. “To say nothing of what she could do to a Familia as weak as yours!”

“I think we should let her do what she wants,” Ananke said, leaning back in her chair. “It’d be funnier that way.”

“And what if she attacks your Familia next?” Hebe, Goddess of Youth, asked the Goddess of Inevitability primly.

“I wouldn’t mind. Might actually give ‘em a real struggle! They’ve been getting lazy recently. And I’ve always been of a proponent of free will for the mortals. Let ‘em do what they want, and things will generally work out,” Ananke replied with a shrug.

“You all assume you could actually beat her, but it seems to me that is unlikely,” Aeshma commented, which drew a fresh wave of angry conversation.

“All the more reason to take Weaver down now, before she gets too strong!” Tano, God of Strife, retorted.

“Odd, I thought you’d be more excited for the chaos she’d bring,” Hermes said, and the dark-skinned god shot him an annoyed look.

“Chaos is one thing, but she killed a goddess! There are some lines you do not cross!”

“I find it very rude that you think it was that girl who banished Ishtar, and not me,” Freya suddenly spoke up, causing the Denatus to screech to a halt.

“Beg pardon?” Loki asked, opening one of her eyes to squint at the goddess.

“I was the one who killed Ishtar. And why wouldn’t I? She thought she could try to overthrow me, and went to such disgusting lengths to do so,” Freya huffed. “Besides, I made an agreement with the Hestia Familia to work together to bring down the Entertainment District. Plenty of people can attest to that. They saw Weaver come to my home and beg for my help.”

“Nobody believes you actually did the deed,” Loki drawled to Freya. “We all saw the swarm and the lightshow. And you were nowhere near either.”

“That is their choice. I am claiming responsibility. They can say what they like, but it was my hand that sent Ishtar back to Tenkai,” Freya declared.

The other deities began to mutter amongst themselves. They were certain that Weaver had done this. But with Freya sticking her neck out for her, would they risk pushing further? It wasn’t every day that the most powerful goddess of Orario tried to protect just anybody, after all.

“The Guild will be informed of this,” Set said after a pause. “If you’re claiming responsibility, you can handle the fines that come with tearing down a large section of the city.”

“Of course, I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Freya replied.

There wasn’t much else to the Denatus after that. Some gods squabbled over who would take over the prime real-estate of the former Ishtar Familia holdings, and several more tried to force Hestia to make concessions regarding her control over the silk business and the shares of the Hestia Familia with the new monster-related program with the Ganesha Familia, but the elephant-masked god came to her aide with that, shutting down any attempt to bully her.

In the end, nobody was happy with the outcome, but there was nothing they could do about it.

“Thank you,” Hestia whispered to Freya as the two goddesses prepared to leave. The Goddess of Beauty didn’t reply and simply walked out, ignoring her completely.

Hestia rolled her eyes, but was quietly grateful for Freya’s action. Why she’d done it, she had no idea, and was still suspicious of the other goddess, but for now it for the best.

“What a mess,” Hestia sighed as she left the Tower of Babel.

The whole thing had been a pain in her butt, and it had taken all of her self-control to not shout at the idiots who thought they could decide her Familia member’s fate.

‘I won’t forget about the ones who thought they could just kill her!’ she vowed to herself.

“Ready to go, my lady?” Ryuu asked softly, meeting her as reached the lobby.

The elf had attached herself to Hestia as a bodyguard recently, not wanting to risk her safety after what Ishtar and Phryne had done.

“Yes, let’s go home,” the goddess replied. “I want to check on Taylor.”

Ryuu nodded in understanding and escorted her back to the Hearth Manor. Upon returning, Bell greeted them at the door.

Seeing the white-haired boy brought a couple of emotions to her. Relief he was unharmed after his ordeal. Sad he was currently hiding his true feelings behind a mask. And the situation with Taylor...!

'I can only pray that having a family here in Orario will keep Taylor from trying to work herself to death,' the goddess prayed to herself. It was probably a futile endeavor, but who knows? Miracles could happen.

“Hello, Lady Hestia,” Bell said, giving her a smile, and she returned it with a small but genuine smile of her own.

“Is everything alright? Has Taylor woken up yet?” Hestia asked, and the younger adventurer shook his head.

“Lord Miach was just here. He said she’s stable, but in a coma. He does not know when she’ll wake up.”

Hestia sniffled, holding back her tears. ‘It’s just one thing after the other with Taylor!’ she thought morosely. Her beloved child had already suffered so much. Why did she have to keep experiencing pain like this?

“Is there something else?” Ryuu asked, having noticed that Bell was looking worried.

“Yes. We have a guest,” he informed them.

“A guest?” Hestia demanded. “Now? Who?”

After last night, the Hestia Familia had closed ranks, allowing nobody else in or out. The only people who weren’t part of the Familia within the manor were Aisha and Haruhime after they’d been rescued from the Ishtar Familia.

“Tammuz,” Bell claimed, and the goddess blinked.

“Huh?” Hestia uttered. “I think I misheard you. Tammuz, former vice-captain of Ishtar and the guy who kidnapped me on her orders, is here?”

“How did he get in?” Ryuu asked.

“He climbed the fence,” Bell said with a grimace. “And he wouldn’t stop prostrating himself on the front porch, even when I threatened him. He said he had to speak with you.”

“Argh!” Hestia groaned. “Fine! Bring him to my office! And get Aisha, too!”

“What about Haruhime?”

“Is she still tending to Taylor and being polite?” Hestia inquired.

“Yes.”

“Then she’s fine where she is,” the goddess replied.

“Understood,” Bell nodded as she went to find them.

Ryuu led Hestia to the office and quietly waited in the corner, a silent but deadly reminder that any tomfoolery would be punished accordingly.

“Lady Hestia, I’ve brought Aisha and Tammuz,” Bell said a few minutes later.

“Good,” she said from behind her desk, scrutinizing the duo.

Tammuz looked fine, despite the beating Taylor had handed to him, while Aisha looked a lot better. Noah Heal, Soul Light, and potions had helped her recover from her mistreatment in the Ishtar Familia’s prison.

“Aisha, how do you feel?” Hestia asked, and the Amazon nodded.

“I’ll be alright,” she assured the goddess. “Just need some more rest, my lady.”

“Good. How about Haruhime? Have there been any… issues with her new body?”

“No, she seems perfectly fine,” Aisha replied. “Though, uh, she might be mentally repressing the time she was stuck in the Killing Stone. Trying to bring it up isn’t good.”

“I see,” Hestia sighed. She couldn’t blame the renard for that. What had been done to her… it was cruel and disgusting.

‘And one of the people responsible for it is right here,’ she thought to herself, turning to look at Tammuz with a stern glare.

“Why are you here?” she asked curtly.

“I am here to give you this,” he said simply, handing over a red orb, putting it onto the desk.

“And this is?” Hestia asked, peering at the orb. Was that an eyeball stuck inside of it? And where had he been carrying it? He was still wearing nothing but a loin cloth!

“This is a key that opens a door that leads to a secret structure beneath Orario used as a hiding spot by Evilus,” Tammuz replied.

“Of course it is,” Hestia groaned, rubbing her forehead as she felt a headache coming on. Ryuu’s stare focused even more intently onto him, and Bell hissed through his teeth.

“Wait, Ishtar was working with Evilus?!” Aisha exclaimed, staring at Tammuz.

“After the Kali Familia backed out, she was approached by someone from Evilus,” Tammuz replied. “She began helping them with the creation of Demi-Spirits in order to use them against Freya. Though I have a feeling she was being manipulated, as while I do not know Evilus’ plans, they’d want to destroy more than just Freya.”

“Ignoring my questions about what the hell a Demi-Spirit is, why haven’t you gone to the Guild with this information?” Hestia demanded.

“My loyalty is to my new mistress,” Tammuz replied.

“Wait… me?!” Hestia gasped.

“No. Lady Taylor Hebert,” the former Level 4 said.

“Well damn,” Aisha muttered as Hestia’s jaw dropped and Bell scowled.

“What do you want with my sister?” Bell demanded, and this caused Aisha and Tammuz to look at him with surprise.

“Huh… didn't see it before... but now I see it,” Aisha muttered after staring at his face and into his protective gaze.

“She defeated me, and broke Ishtar’s hold over me,” Tammuz said. “She stole my heart, and I am hers forever more, now.”

Hestia blushed at how romantic that was while Bell just glared at him, clearly suspicious.

“Sooo… do you two want to join my Familia?” Hestia asked after a moment, trying to clear away the awkwardness in the room.

“Yeah, sure,” Aisha said. “I owe Weaver big time, and this way, I’ll be able to stick with Haruhime!”

“Please. I wish to stay with my new mistress, and I can only do so if I am part of her Familia,” Tammuz replied with a bow towards the tiny goddess.

Hestia bit her lip before looking over at Bell. With Taylor unconscious, as the Vice-Captain it was his duty to make decisions about who got to join. The white-haired Level 3 glanced at her, and after a moment gave a short nod. He still didn’t trust Tammuz, but Ryuu could keep an eye on him if need be.

“Alright,” she sighed. “Against my better judgement… I accept. Welcome to the Familia.”

“Thank you,” Tammuz said, bowing deeper, and even Aisha mimicked him, bowing towards her new goddess.

Hestia nodded back at them and put the weird orb into her desk while fetching a needle to perform the blood ceremony.

‘I’ll tell Taylor about it when she wakes up,’ the Goddess of the Hearth decided. ‘That should be fine, right?’

What were the odds it would prove to be important all that soon in the future?

111 ^^^ &&& ^^^ 111

“…how many adventurers did she take down on her own?”

“Well, seeing as the whole Ishtar Familia got crushed… over two hundred.”

“You don’t say?”

“Yup. She must really hate prostitutes.”

“Nah, didn’t you hear? Ishtar kidnapped Weaver’s goddess and vice-captain. That’s why she got so pissed.”

“Damn! That’s wild!”

“I know, right? That’s some real heroic behavior right there.”

“We’ve got a great crop of adventurers this generation. Think any of ‘em might reach Level 8?”

“Considering the rate they’re going, I wouldn’t be surprised if Weaver and Lucky Rabbit hit that goal in a few years!”

“Almost feels like the Zeus and Hera Familias are back, huh?”

Leyfia clenched her fists, silently cursing her elvish hearing as she heard dozens of conversations just like this one play out across Orario.

“Leyfia? Is everything alright?”

The adventurer with the alias of Thousand Elf flinched before turning to the black-haired elf at her side.

“O-oh, sorry, Filvis, I was just… distracted.”

“I see,” the captain of the Dionysus Familia said softly, head tilted to the side. “Is it about the human? Weaver, was it?”

“Y-yeah,” Leyfia admitted.

“I am surprised that she was able to take down the Ishtar Familia on her own,” Filvis commented, making the blonde elf’s heart sink a little bit further. “To think she’s also a Level 3 adventurer like us… it’s hard to believe.”

“It’s certainly… surprising,” she admitted.

‘Weaver this, Weaver that, that’s all that anybody is talking about these days!’ Leyfia thought to herself, feeling uncharacteristically jealous. After all, two days ago, Taylor Hebert, captain of the Hestia Familia, had taken down the Entertainment District.

Oh, there were conflicting rumors. Freya had claimed it was a joint effort between her Familia and the Goddess of the Hearth’s, and that she was responsible for sending Ishtar back to Tenkai, but there’d been people in the streets who’d been there, and the stories they told were different: Taylor Hebert alone had launched the attack, and the Freya Familia adventurers only showed up after Ishtar was defeated to encircle the district keep any ex-adventurers from fleeing.

Some, like the former captain, had escaped, and none knew where they were, but most had surrendered – or were too hurt to do anything.

‘It was bad enough that Bell Cranel has already reached Level 3 and caught Ais’ attention, but now Weaver has gone and gotten Riveria’s attention, too!’ Leyfia pouted.

Her teacher was a stern woman who took too much pleasure in hellish training, but she looked up to Nine Hells, the greatest magic user in the city.

But now the Hestia Familia’s captain sought to usurp that position, and Riveria was absolutely enthralled with Taylor Hebert. Or rather, her magical prowess. And it had all started when the girl, a Level 2 at the time, had used Earthquake, a simple, non-Falna backed spell, the kind of thing anybody could cast as long as they were able to draw the proper magic circle, to utterly annihilate a fortress. An old one, sure, but still!

Weaver had then gone on to combine magic with martial arts, using a trimmed down version of the Earthquake spell applied to her fist, which had taken out a Level 2 in a single blow. It was insanity! And then according to adventurers who’d been in the Entertainment District when Weaver had launched her attack on it, she’d used some sort of spell none of them had ever seen, but crucially, did not have any magic circle or chant to go with it.

‘Pure elemental manipulation,’ Leyfia thought to herself in disbelief.

That was the domain of the spirits, something mere mortals could never hope to touch upon! And yet somebody who’d been an adventurer less than a year had done more than many other veterans could ever hope to achieve.

‘What is up with the Hestia Familia?’ Leyfia couldn’t help but wonder.

“…Do you hate her, Leyfia?” Filvis asked, and Leyfia winced at the question.

“What? No!” the blonde elf protested. “I just… she’s done so much! I’ve been an adventurer for five years, and yet she’s already surpassed me!”

“Oh. You’re jealous,” Filvis realized, and a tiny smile slipped onto her face as Leyfia grumbled.

“Maybe I am! So what?” she huffed.

“How cute,” Filvis teased, and Leyfia gasped.

“Traitor!” she shouted. Filvis just kept smiling.

“Do you want to train?” Filvis offered.

“Hmph! Fine!” Leyfia replied. “I suppose we should get ready for the next trip down to Knossos.”

Filvis’ smile dimmed a bit, and Leyfia felt bad about that. The dark-haired elf was still uneasy about the mysterious underground place. The Thousand Elf couldn’t blame her, as it was a strange realm full of stranger monsters.

Finn was already working on a solution to everything, but sometimes Leyfia felt something bad was going to happen down there.

After a moment she shook her head. ‘Now is not the time to get distracted!’ Leyfia scolded herself. ‘I need to become stronger! I cannot let Weaver or Lucky Rabbit pass me by!’

111 ^^^ &&& ^^^ 111

Fels was not the first person to find the gods… problematic to say the least. Indeed, at one point, Fels had harbored intense hatred for his former god who had looked down on him and his greatest creation.

His anger had cooled over the years, and he had come to regret some of the things he'd done while wrapped up in his rage, and eventually accepted that perhaps they’d been right to destroy the Philosopher’s Stone and his notes on it. After all, being trapped without the ability to sleep, eat, or do anything a mortal was supposed to be able to do was a painful, lonely existence.

There were gods who deserved to be punished, of course. The deities of Evilus were the obvious ones. But there were those who genuinely believed in helping mortals and guiding them. Despite her faults, Loki believed in free will and the rights of mortals to live their own lives. And of course there was Hermes, whose antics were all for the sake of creating a ‘hero’ who could inspire future generations.

Yet despite all that, he could not hide the pleasure he felt in his non-existent heart upon the destruction of Ishtar.

And yes, ‘destruction’ was the best word to describe what happened to her. It hadn’t yet been revealed to the other gods of Orario, but Ishtar was gone. Truly and permanently erased from Tenkai. Her ‘Authority’ remained, but there was no ‘will’ behind it. The deity who had been worshiped as Ishtar was dead.

Ouranos was concerned, obviously. An adventurer being capable of permanently slaying a god was something unprecedented and worrisome, but Fels couldn’t find himself feeling bad for the Whore Queen.

Her actions had been disgusting, and the blackmail material the Guild had seized painted a rather bleak picture of the goddess’ actions. Even if she’d only been a recent convert to Evilus, she had been ruining lives for centuries, and manipulating countless nations behind the scenes.

‘There are plenty of other gods who could benefit from a meeting with Weaver…’ Fels thought to himself.

He quickly shook his head, banishing that line of thought. Down that road lay madness, and worse, the ideology of Eclipse. He had never agreed with their ultimate goals, even if he sympathized with some from that group.

“Is everything alright, Fels?” Ouranos asked, and the disguised skeleton looked up at his current boss and god.

“I was simply thinking,” he replied.

“About Weaver, no doubt,” Ouranos guessed.

“Astute as always,” the skeleton confirmed. “She has certainly shaken things up in Orario.”

“I wish she had not done so in a literal manner,” Ouranos huffed, stomping his foot onto the dais of his throne, sending a massive pulse of divine essence into the Dungeon. It had settled down shortly after acting up, but it still needed some ‘discipline’ every so often to keep the Dungeon subdued.

He then looked at Fels. “I think it is long past the time we had a conversation. Face to face.”

“You want to speak with her yourself?” Fels asked, surprised. “Is that wise?”

“Perhaps not. But it is necessary,” the God of the Sky said. “There are many things we must discuss, and I need this to happen as soon as possible.”

“The Leviathan Seal?” Fels asked with a wince, thinking about one of the vital barriers keeping the Dungeon in check, and Ouranos nodded firmly.

“Yes. Among other things.”

“Wait… do you want to introduce her to our friends on the 27th Floor?” Fels asked, surprised.

“Taylor Hebert is a determined individual, and you’ve seen what she can accomplish when she puts her mind to it. The silk business and recent deals with the Ganesha Familia come to mind,” Ouranos pointed out. “As such, I feel she is perhaps the best person to help us with that particular issue.”

Fels thought it over. It seemed good. In fact, it was fitting that the daughter completed the ambitions of the father.

“Inform Hestia that I wish to speak with both her and her captain as soon as possible,” Ouranos instructed Fels, and the immortal adventurer bowed.

“As you wish,” he replied.

Fels wasn’t sure when the adventurer in question would wake up from her coma, but he’d pass the message on to her through Royman. Having the Guildmaster’s signature on the letter would help in making it seem more official.

And Fels was also quite curious to meet Danny Hebert’s daughter for himself.

111 ^^^ &&& ^^^ 111

“Are we there yet, captain?” Poseidon asked, tapping his foot impatiently on the bridge of his mobile headquarters, the Trident. All around him, Familia members worked at console stations, making sure the advanced seafaring vessel was sailing smoothly along.

The God of the Ocean looked quite fearsome with his long, curly black beard and sailor’s tan. He wore a pirate hat, taken from the corpse of a self-proclaimed ‘Admiral of the Black Fleet’ and had a perpetual scowl on his face as he gripped a steering wheel. Which clashed rather awkwardly with the bright and colorful tropical shirt he wore.

“We’ll be at Melen in a few weeks,” the captain of the Poseidon Familia, Theseus Neptunia, alias Triton, replied after checking the readouts on a monitoring device in front of him. “Once we pass the Horn of Agulhas things will be rougher as we run into storms that normally occur this time of year. Hopefully, the Njord Familia has been keeping things under control in our absence and can wait a bit longer.”

“Njord is a pansy. A fisherman before a fighter,” Poseidon grunted. “He didn’t have a single Level 2 in his Familia the last time we visited, and I doubt things will have changed much since then.”

Theseus shrugged. He didn’t disagree with his god’s opinion, but as the captain of the Familia and the Trident he had to act as a moderating factor for Poseidon’s temper. Like the oceans he ruled over, Poseidon could become violent at the drop of a hat and curse like the sailors he commanded.

Leaving the god to mutter and continue overseeing the bridge crew, Theseus walked around the rest of the vessel’s corridors, making sure everything was running smoothly. Not that he expected any issues. Fifteen years at sea had turned even the greenest and most novice amongst their number into salt-hardened sailors.

As he wandered, Theseus also couldn’t help but admire everything. The Trident was a marvel of magi-tech engineering, crafted with the aid of the finest minds of Orario, Altena, and of course the School District. It was the world’s first and only submersible craft, a necessary invention due to most of the monsters they hunted being capable of diving deeper than any mortal could reach unaided.

As impressive as it was, the Trident required a huge amount of magical power to function, though. Magic Stones were bought at a high price in exchange for various bounties of the oceans. And, of course, Poseidon himself acted as a divine battery.

Much like Ouranos did with the Tower of Babel, Poseidon commanded the ship directly through the helm, his divinity guiding the Trident towards the monsters they endlessly hunted. Right now, the submarine was traveling fairly close to the surface, allowing the top of the vessel to poke out above the waves and allow some crew to look through the crystal dome that served as the Crow’s Nest and watch for anything that might be of interest in the area.

“Is it true, captain?” an adventurer asked as Theseus entered the galley. “We’re returning to Orario at long last?”

“Only for a bit,” Theseus replied. “Lord Poseidon wants to investigate those odd feelings he’s been having.”

“Never a good sign when the boss-man gets those feelings,” one of the cooks commented with a grimace. “Last time it happened, we had to fight two krakens and a pirate fleet at the same time!”

Several heads nodded in agreement and Theseus rolled his eyes. “That wasn’t that bad.”

“Easy for you to say, Mr. Level 7,” one of his men scoffed. “You took out the enemy’s flagship with a single attack!”

Theseus was about to respond when one of the speaker-tubes crackled to life. “This is the Crow’s Nest!” a voice called out. “We’ve spotted a vessel approaching!”

“Who is it?” Theseus demanded into the tube.

“It’s the School District!” the lookout replied hastily.

“The scholars, eh?” Poseidon hummed, his voice coming in through the speaker-tube a moment later. “Are they trying to flag us down or anything?”

“They seem to be trying to get our attention, yes,” the lookout replied.

“We’ll see what Baldr and the others want,” Poseidon said. Then, across the entire ship, his voice rang out. “Prepare to surface!”

“They shouldn’t be here,” Theseus said as the submarine began to rise out of the water. “Their last destination was the Far East. How did they end up near the damned Horn?”

“Storm blew them off course?” one man suggested.

“No… they must have been in the area…” Theseus mused. “Perhaps they were looking for us?”

“But why?”

“I don’t know. Get the crew ready to receive guests,” the captain ordered, and the adventurers scrambled to obey.

A few minutes later, and Theseus was standing on the deck, salt water running off the sides of the Trident. It had finished rising from the depths, and he could see the massive city-ship approach them.

The ‘head’ of the School District loomed over them before opening and swallowing the Trident. Once inside, the submarine found itself in a lagoon, and pulled up to a dock that was nestled within an artificial lake.

“Vardenburg,” Theseus said curtly in greeting as he spotted a blond-haired swordsman standing at the docks waiting for them, along with a figure in a white toga with a crown of mistletoe on his head.

“Neptunia,” the strongest adventurer of the Baldr Familia and the entire School District said, greeting him back with a nod.

The two Level 7s who’d fought together against Leviathan fifteen years ago stared at each other for a bit, before Poseidon appeared, exiting his vessel.

“Oi, Baldr. What do you want?” the God of the Oceans and the Seven Seas demanded, stomping over to the docks.

“Hello again, Poseidon. It’s been… six years, hasn’t it?” the headmaster of the School District hummed.

“Maybe. I don’t keep track,” Poseidon replied. “I’m a busy god, though, and I assume you are too. So, I’ll ask again: what do you want?”

“You’re headed back to Orario, aren’t you?” Baldr inquired. “Trying to discover information about those odd energies we’ve felt, correct?”

“Obviously,” Poseidon grunted. “Something’s going on over there, and…”

“And?”

“The Leviathan Seal. Ouranos contacted me about it. Said the damn thing is cracked,” the dark-haired god admitted, causing Baldr to suck in a shocked breath while Leon Vandenburg stiffened in fear.

“Cracked?! Truly?!” Baldr uttered in horror.

“Yup. Gonna have to fix it. Luckily, I kept some supplies lying around, just in case,” Poseidon replied. “But the fact it was damaged at all… I don’t like it one bit. Haven’t felt this uneasy since Zeus and Hera got their asses kicked by the Black Dragon.”

“Would you mind if we accompany you?” Baldr requested after recovering.

“Don’t slow us down,” Poseidon retorted. “Otherwise, do what you want.”

“Thank you, my friend,” Baldr said gratefully.

“Not your friend,” Poseidon grumbled into his beard before stomping back to the Trident. He paused, and turned to Theseus. “Stock up on supplies, alright? Especially fruits. Don’t want to get sick before we reach our destination.”

“Of course, Lord Poseidon,” Theseus replied. He glanced at Leon, who nodded back.

“I’ll prepare some golden apples for you,” he promised. “Idunn recently grew a new batch of ‘em.”

“Appreciate it,” Theseus replied.

He might not be looking forward to returning to Orario after so long, but at least they’d have some good food while they made their way there. Fresh fruit was a luxury on a ship, after all.

111 ^^^ &&& ^^^ 111

In a place hidden from even the sight of the gods, there was a room. It was a dark room, with no light. It had a single chair, covered in runes and enchantments that existed for one purpose: to banish and seal away any and all forms of magical power.

Lastly, a chain of silver and gold that radiated an unearthly glow with a color that had no mortal comparison encircled the chair, keeping a solitary figure bound to the piece of furniture.

This figure was possessed of unearthly beauty, as befitting as a goddess. Tall and slender, at six feet in height, with black hair that was cut short in a Cleopatra bob, and their skin possessing a tanned complexion similar to somebody who’d lived in a desert their whole life. A simple gown of white cotton covered her modesty, while a band of enchanted cloth was tied around her mouth, preventing her from speaking.

Despite her imprisonment, she remained clean and untouched by dirt or any sort of dishevelment, and held her head high without an ounce of despair, even with the gag over her lips.

Eventually, after an unknown amount of time had passed, the darkness was breached and light pierced the gloom, illuminating her prison. A wall slid open, revealing a figure’s silhouette in the entrance.

They were a male renard, as tall as the goddess, and possessing brown hair and fur, as well as multiple tails. Four, in fact, though the goddess knew that was just a façade, and more were hidden from sight. A ghostly orb of fire hung suspended from the tip of one, providing the glow that banished the darkness, but in turn cast deep shadows within the small cell.

She glared up at him, revealing her eyes to be orbs of golden sunlight that burned with hot wrath. Her returned her stare with apathetic amber orbs, unswayed by her expression.

“Greetings, Khepri,” the renard said as he removed the gag from the goddess’s mouth. “It’s been a while.”

“Shion,” she spat out. “How long?”

“Hmm… two years, I believe, since our last meeting?” the renard named Shion mused. “No… fifteen months. Yes, that’s right, I remember now!”

“I don’t see Soma,” the Goddess of the Dawn muttered, glancing around the dimly lit cell. Normally, there would be a second chair with her, but it was missing. When had it been removed?

“I’m afraid he’s not here. You know that he’s in Orario, doing good work,” the renard replied.

“I was not referring to the mortal wretch who has taken his Mantle, I speak of the true Soma!” Khepri snarled.

“Oh? Him? Well, unfortunately, you won’t be seeing him anymore. We no longer need him, since our experiments with Mantling have finally born fruit,” Shion replied. “As such, Soma – the original – will be staying in Tartarus for the foreseeable future.”

“Damn you,” Khepri hissed out.

The many-tailed renard ignored her as he stuck a needle into the goddess’s arm and began to extract blood from her veins. The ichor of a deity was a potent source of power, and had several uses. And Shion’s supplies were running thin.

“Your plans will never succeed,” Khepri declared venomously as Shion examined a vial of stolen blood.

“Maybe,” Shion shrugged as he filled a second, then a third. “But it has to be attempted all the same.”

“One of your pathetic attempts at stealing our Mantles has already failed,” the God of the Dawn stated. “It’s only a matter of time before the fools who dared to tried to Mantle Soma and myself fails as well!”

At that, Shion paused, a fourth vial partially filled, and he turned to look at Khepri’s face with a confused expression. “What? What do you mean?”

Khepri blinked, searching the renard’s face for any trace of trickery, before bursting into laughter when she found none, just confusion. “Oh! Oh, this is rich!”

“Explain what you meant by that!” Shion demanded. “Someone Mantled you?! WHO?!”

“Incredible! Someone other than your band of atheists has managed to do what you could not!” Khepri howled mockingly in mirth. “I wonder who they are, that they managed to claim my Name and Mantle without resorting to your crude methods?!”

Khepri refused to answer further and continued to laugh dementedly, leaving Shion to stare at her, bewildered and angry in equal measures. Then, he spun around and left the cell without another word, leaving the goddess to her insane cackling.

Once he was gone, Khepri paused for breath, panting but elated. She then grinned as she realized he had forgotten to put the gag back over her mouth.

Her grin turned sharp and feral, and she began to plot. Her freedom would soon be at hand!

111 &&& 111

Queen Administrator was excited. So much new data! The higher dimensional energy being that had made her host upset was currently being held in a multi-dimensional prison-tesseract to be vivisected at her leisure, and if she was capable of salivating, the Shard would probably have been doing so.

Queen Administrator was also a bit sad her beloved host was unresponsive, but even in that state she continued to provide plenty of interesting data. Somehow, her mind had been projected into a realm of pure energy, which seemed to be the same one the higher dimensional energy being originated from. How curious! How fascinating!

This all required more study and investigation… Oh, her host gave her the best gifts!