"We failed."
It was certainly disappointing, but Thanatos only felt a slight regret over losing his most useful pawn.
"That woman, Freya… so it really was a trap she laid for us."
This outcome hadn't been outside Thanatos's expectations. In fact, he'd already warned Valletta that it was highly likely to be a trap set by Freya.
Still, Valletta had chosen to go through with it.
Thanatos had doubted her plan from the beginning, thinking it too reckless and likely to fail. But it had been Valletta's decision to make.
"Thanatos-sama, what should we do now…?"
"Forget Orario for the time being."
Thanatos had no intention of clashing with Orario again at such a critical moment.
"Our strength is too depleted—we're in no position to confront Orario directly."
As the weaker side in this conflict, Evilus needed to rely on targeted, small-scale operations to chip away at Orario's power. Guerrilla tactics, hitting one faction at a time—that was the strategy.
Because the moment they stood fully in Orario's way, treating the city as one unified enemy, it would become nearly impossible to bring it down.
Twelve years ago, Evilus had led an assault on Orario with two Lv.7s—and even then, they had been repelled by the city's unified defense.
Thanatos understood there were other contributing factors, but the defeat was a fact.
It was that year that Evilus had gone completely underground in Orario.
The past decade had been spent rebuilding, preparing for the next strike.
But after suffering a string of recent setbacks, it was time to regroup. Otherwise, their next assault on Orario would end no better than the one twelve years ago.
Maybe even worse.
"Who's the one pinning all this trouble on us? Have you found anything?"
"...All we know for sure is that it appears to be our doing—but we don't know which member was responsible."
"Hmm... yeah, the style does seem like something we'd do."
Thanatos didn't deny it. In fact, when he first heard about the incident, even he had assumed it was the work of someone from their own group.
Everyone knew the internal ranks of Evilus were a mess—a blend of competence and chaos.
The siege twelve years ago had been a prime example of that.
But this time? Thanatos was convinced it had to be the work of some brainless idiot with more guts than sense.
Thanatos knew full well that the Black Dragon was a forbidden existence not to be touched, and he was certain none of his children would ever dare to defy that.
'Could it really be Enyo?'
That lunatic had never once revealed their true identity—even Thanatos couldn't be sure they were one of the divine peers.
Still, he could feel it—that madman was orchestrating something insane behind the scenes.
If someone were truly plotting to plunge the world into chaos, Thanatos wouldn't be surprised if it was Enyo. It felt entirely plausible.
Which was exactly why he would never touch the taboo that was the Black Dragon.
Thanatos only wished for a return to the past—when the children of Genkai preserved the purity of their souls, rather than existing on this land as living beings.
But even so, he understood that if the Black Dragon were touched, it wouldn't just be the lives of Genkai reverting to soul form. Tenkai might be affected as well.
He had always known his way of thinking was warped—at least compared to the children of Genkai. But he was even more certain that Enyo's original intentions were far more twisted, to the point of disregarding even the gods themselves.
"Hold off on any further investigations for now. Orario's situation is getting worse by the day... and then there's what happened with that woman, Freya."
Thanatos had never wanted to get tangled up with Freya. He had done his best to avoid antagonizing her. But the way things turned out was far beyond what he had expected.
"Who's the child Freya's taken an interest in?"
"...Lord Thanatos, Freya has been meeting someone at the tavern, but our people haven't been able to identify who it is. However, based on our analysis, this entire operation may be something Freya orchestrated herself."
"That woman has always been willful, even in Tenkai. But she's never so much as glanced at things that didn't interest her. Besides, we've never had a hostile relationship with her. If she's acting as bait this time, it's likely just to use us for some personal agenda."
The way things were unfolding only made Thanatos more convinced of that possibility.
Freya wasn't benevolent, but she also wasn't reckless.
Most of her actions were calculated, aimed at achieving some specific goal. To Thanatos, this situation was no exception.
"Keep looking into which Familias that woman's had the most contact with. She would never do something so meaningless. She's not baiting for no reason—she's deliberately doing it to observe someone's movements."
Thanatos couldn't help but feel curious. What kind of person could make that woman so invested?
Given that she was a future threat that would eventually have to be dealt with, if they could uncover Freya's weakness now, it might be possible to eliminate her as a problem ahead of time.
"All other matters are on hold for now."
"Don't recklessly use our people to attract attention in Orario. Lying low for the moment will benefit our future plans."
Thanatos needed time to assess the situation. He was well aware that Enyo couldn't be trusted.
He couldn't afford to put faith in someone whose identity—divine or mortal—was still completely unknown.
What's more, since Enyo had appeared, they had never once shown themselves. There was no way to confirm who they really were.
It was precisely for that reason Thanatos had chosen to respond cautiously.
He had no intention of becoming a pawn in Enyo's game.
Unless he could uncover Enyo's true identity, there was no way he'd place any real trust in that mysterious figure.
...
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