Alfia swatted aside the captain of the Apollo Familia as casually as one would swat an annoying fly.
She hadn't even bothered to use magic.
To her, someone like Hyakinthos simply wasn't worth the effort.
The crisp crack of her palm colliding with his face echoed across the area.
Everyone who heard it instinctively flinched.
Some even turned their heads away, their own cheeks tingling in pain just from watching.
'...That sounded painful.'
The thought crossed everyone's mind in unison.
Their gazes slowly shifted toward the unconscious Hyakinthos lying in the distance.
His body twitched sporadically, and a vivid handprint had been branded across the side of his face.
'Strong!'
'Our captain... a Level 3, was beaten so easily!?'
No one moved.
No one dared rush to their captain's aid.
More importantly, no one dared charge forward.
Unlike the mindless lackeys in other stories who blindly threw themselves at an overwhelmingly powerful opponent for no reason...
The Apollo Familia members possessed just enough survival instinct to recognize sheer hopeless death when it stood before them.
'Are you kidding me? Fight her? No fricking way.'
It didn't take a genius to realize the woman standing before them was monstrously powerful.
Even if their patron deity, Apollo were to order them to attack at this very moment...
They would gladly accept the punishment for insubordination rather than throw their lives away in a hopeless fight.
An oppressive silence settled over them.
The members of the Apollo Familia lowered their heads instinctively, not daring to meet Alfia's gaze.
Meanwhile... Alfia paid them no attention whatsoever.
To her, they were no different from blades of grass by the roadside.
She slowly turned her head toward Apollo.
Then... she began walking.
"N-No... Stay away from me!"
Apollo let out a terrified shriek.
His legs were shaking as he scrambled backward, dragging himself across the ground in a desperate attempt to put distance between them.
Daphne and the others remained frozen where they stood.
None of them stepped forward.
At this point, all they could do was pray that the mysterious woman had no intention of killing their god.
After all...nNo matter how powerful a mortal was...
Slaying a deity remained one of the greatest taboos in the Lower World, and the consequences for doing so were unimaginable.
Eventually, Alfia came to a stop directly before Apollo.
Looking down at him as though he were something scraping off the bottom of her shoe, her voice fell like ice.
"This..."
She paused.
"...is repayment for destroying our home."
Apollo looked up at her, his face devoid of color.
His entire body trembled uncontrollably.
He looked as though he were on the verge of crying and about to piss himself.
No...
Judging by the spreading yellow stain on his trousers... he already had.
"D-Don't tell me..."
Apollo swallowed hard.
"...You're from the Hestia Familia?"
The moment she mentioned "our home," his thoughts immediately drifted to the abandoned church his children had demolished earlier that day.
'Impossible...'
Cold sweat poured down his face.
'I checked the Guild's official registry beforehand... The Hestia Familia should only have three people... Hestia, Belle Cranel and Liliruca Arde.'
It was then that something clicked inside his mind.
There was indeed another person living in Hestia's home, someone he had dismissed as a regular person, someone he hadn't paid any attention to.
'This is... the Little Rookie's mother?'
His eyes widened as he looked at her.
Although her cold expression completely contrasted with Belle's warm demeanor, there was indeed some resemblance.
There was also the fact that they nearly had the exact same hair color.
'But that doesn't explain why she is so strong!'
It couldn't be helped that he didn't know anything.
Apollo hadn't been around when the Zeus and Hera Familias were still active in Orario.
But there was one thing he knew at this moment...
'We are screwed... my Familia is completely done for!'
Regret washed over him.
If he had known the Hestia Familia was being protected by a monster like this...
He wouldn't have dared lay a finger on them.
Not even if he had a thousand lives to throw away.
The members of the Apollo Familia overheard the exchange as well.
They didn't have time to care about Apollo's undignified appearance as cold sweat ran down every member's body, to the point that their clothes were completely soaked.
'I am not here, I am not here... don't look for me, don't look for me...'
Especially the pallum, Luan, who had badmouthed Belle and her Familia in the past.
He quietly shuffled backward, cowering behind his taller companions in hopes the terrifying woman wouldn't notice him.
"I-If that's the case... then you've already had your revenge, haven't you?"
Apollo forced himself to calm down.
"I swear... from this day forward, my Familia will never trouble the Hestia Familia again."
"I'll personally bring my children to apologize to Hestia and her children."
His voice trembled despite his best efforts to remain composed.
At this moment... nothing mattered more than making peace.
His plan to try and take Belle away had already been discarded from his mind.
The abandoned church had been destroyed by his Familia.
In return...
This woman had reduced his magnificent estate to ruins.
Even if the value of the two couldn't possibly be compared, Apollo desperately hoped that, with both sides having suffered losses, she would consider the score settled and leave.
Alfia simply looked down at him.
Her expression never changed.
"Silence."
Her voice was calm.
Yet the single word carried an overwhelming weight.
"Only speak when I permit you to."
"I have no desire to hear your unpleasant voice any more than necessary."
"If you speak out of turn again..."
"...I'll make you experience pain beyond anything you've ever imagined."
"...Understood?"
Apollo's body stiffened.
Whatever words had been on the tip of his tongue vanished instantly.
Cold sweat poured down his face as he nodded frantically.
"G-Got it..."
Alfia looked away from him.
"You are in no position to negotiate. I will be the one making demands."
A brief silence followed.
"If you fulfill them..."
"...I may reconsider erasing the Apollo Familia from Orario."
Hearing Alfia speak so arrogantly, a few hotheaded members of the Apollo Familia couldn't help but grit their teeth in frustration and anger.
But they held themselves back.
Knowing the woman's strength, they knew they could only endure.
Hearing Alfia's words, Apollo's eyes lit up a little, clinging to the small branch of hope she had given him.
"T-Then..."
He forced a flattering smile onto his face.
"If this beautiful lady has a request, my Familia and I will gladly fulfill—"
BAM!
Before he could finish...
Alfia's foot slammed into his stomach.
Apollo's eyes bulged.
The impact sent him hurtling backward before he crashed into the trunk of a nearby tree.
"Lord Apollo!"
The members of his Familia cried out in alarm.
Fortunately for him, Alfia had adjusted the power of her attack.
Otherwise, Apollo would have been sent back to heaven in a pillar of light by now.
She walked slowly toward the groaning god, who was curled into a tight ball and clutching his stomach in agony.
"What did I just say about being quiet?"
Looking down at him with complete indifference, she finally revealed her demand.
"From now on, the Apollo Familia will cease to exist here in Orario. If you don't leave this city by tomorrow's dawn… the consequences that follow will make today look like a tea party."
Tears fell down Apollo's cheeks, but in the face of Alfia's icy stare, he could only nod reluctantly.
…
Later that day...
After having a rather "civil" discussion with the Apollo Familia, Alfia found herself walking through a quiet alleyway.
She glanced behind her.
After making sure that no one was following her...
Cough!
A mouthful of blood spilled onto the stone pavement.
The crimson liquid slowly spread across the ground.
'I guess using [Genos Angelus] was a bit too much.'
She thought as she wiped the corner of her mouth with her thumb.
[Genos Angelus]
It was her ultimate magic, which could be considered her trump card.
Its destructive potential was such that it was even capable of killing the Leviathan.
However, its usage carried a serious disadvantage, since it worsened Alfia's health condition to the point that it could reduce her physical prowess to Level 4 or 5.
"You really overdid it this time, Master."
Alfia froze.
That familiar voice...
It had been a while since she had last heard it.
For the briefest moment...
A genuine smile bloomed across her face.
One so soft and natural that almost no one alive would believe the Witch of Silence was capable of making such an expression.
Another cough escaped her lips, but this time, it was a fake.
When she raised her head again...
The smile had already disappeared, replaced by her usual stoic composure.
Out of all the people she had met, he was the one person who would make her feel embarrassed if he saw her smiling.
"So…"
A subtle, almost imperceptible trace of amusement laced her voice.
"Now you decide to call me 'Master'?"
She turned around slowly.
"As cheeky as ever… my dear disciple."
Standing next to her was a young man with a pair of familiar purple eyes.
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