All along, on Syr's side… whether as the Goddess of Beauty, Freya, reigning over Orario's strongest familia, or as "Frigg," working quietly as a small-time waitress in a tavern… under normal circumstances, she rarely interfered too much in Renjiro's daily actions.
Thus, this time as well, Syr did not directly accept Loki's proposal. She merely replied calmly,
"This kind of matter is best left for the children to discuss among themselves."
On the surface, this attitude seemed no different from that of certain laid-back, do-nothing gods.
But in essence, it was a manifestation of Syr's absolute trust in Renjiro.
In short—
"Fair enough."
Loki didn't push the matter. "Let Finn and the others worry about it."
"We'll just sit back and enjoy the show~"
The red-haired, flat-chested goddess slightly opened the eyes she usually kept half-lidded.
"After all…"
"Your little monster clearly has other plans, doesn't he?"
Hearing this—
"Who knows~"
Syr neither confirmed nor denied it, merely smiling faintly.
Everything was left unspoken.
=======
At the same time…
"BOOM~ BOOM~ BOOM~"
From the start of today's War Game until now, the so-called hide-and-seek rules had become increasingly bizarre.
I mean… this was supposed to be a scenario where a nearly two-hundred-man group hunted down a mere three people. Logically speaking, the former should have held an overwhelming advantage.
And yet—
[Harbinger of the end, the white snow.…]
The adventurers of the Soma Familia were instantly startled.
"Run!"
"How does this guy even know the Nine Hell' magic?!"
"You'll die—anyone hit by that is dead for sure!"
"I'm done, I'm done fighting!"
…
How should one put it?
Why could sobbing even be heard nearby?
"Hah, just kidding~"
The man who casually interrupted his own chant laughed like a bona fide devil.
"I'm not going to burn the place to ashes."
So… people turning to ashes would be fine, then?
At this very moment, less than ten minutes had passed since the start of the match.
Yet among the Soma Familia, fewer than thirty members were still standing.
And this was the result of Renjiro merely messing around.
On his side, the casting of magic had never stopped.
Not only that—he kept changing things up, performing all kinds of tricks. Chant after chant, spell after spell…
Up to now, he hadn't even repeated a single one.
After witnessing all of this firsthand—setting aside what the other familias might have been feeling—
Zanis, the unlucky idiot involved, was utterly dumbfounded.
Even the so-called "Black Cat" and "Black Fist", whom he had hired at great expense and who had stayed by his side the entire time, still hadn't made a move.
Because this had long since gone beyond something that could be solved with a "we'll need more money.jpg" discussion.
A monster of this level… even if the real Black Fist and Black Cat showed up, they probably couldn't take him down, right?
The two fake Lv.3s felt their hearts tremble.
And to be fair—they weren't wrong.
Over the past few days, Renjiro had gone from being completely beaten black and blue under the joint assault of Ryuu, Anya, Chloe, and Lunoire…
To later move with such ease it was like a casual stroll.
And Chloe and Lunoire—both Lv.4—were none other than the genuine Black Cat and Black Fist, once infamous throughout the underworld.
Now then—
"We're abandoning this commission."
The two impostors finally prepared to withdraw.
The moment those words left their mouths—
"N-No, you can't do that! How can you break your word?"
Zanis panicked immediately. "I paid Terry a huge sum as a hiring fee!"
"You'll get every bit of that money back."
The fake Black Fist replied coldly.
"Frankly, as the employer, you were the one who violated industry rules first by giving us such absurdly false intelligence."
"If you keep spouting nonsense, we wouldn't mind helping that monster save some trouble."
As he spoke, the fake Black Cat at his side slightly drew the dagger at his waist—threatening in every sense of the word.
Zanis was in despair.
And yet, right at that moment—
"Yo~ how interesting!"
A devilish voice rang out not far from the three of them.
As Zanis and the other two jolted in shock and instinctively turned toward the source of the voice—
"So these are the legendary Black Cat and Black Fist, huh~"
Renjiro's mocking gaze swept back and forth over the trio.
Deliberately adopting an exaggerated look and shook his head and sighed,
"So scary!."
"After all, that's two Lv.4s, right~? Looks like I can only tuck my tail between my legs and run away."
That's what he said.
But he clearly had no intention of doing so.
On the contrary—
"Two Lv.4s?"
Zanis froze. "Aren't they two Lv.3s?"
Subconsciously, the bespectacled man with the center-parted hair looked at his two hired hands.
By pure reflex, both of them averted their gaze.
Zanis understood instantly.
He might be arrogant, but he wasn't a brainless fool who could only babble nonsense.
When not drunk on himself, he still possessed basic judgment.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to seize the position of captain of the Soma Familia back in the day, nor maneuver so smoothly within Orario in recent years.
At this moment—
"You two are impostors?"
Zanis realized he'd been duped.
But what he didn't know was that the people being duped weren't limited to him.
Even the impostors' original employer—the owner of the Grand Casino El Dorado Resort, Terry Cervantes—had been fooled as well.
In fact, the truly dramatic part was that he himself was also an impostor.
His real name was Ted, a con artist once spared by the Astraea Familia.
The real Terry Cervantes had already been assassinated by Ted on the road from the entertainment city Santorio Vega to Orario, his identity stolen.
Recently, this guy had even begun trafficking beautiful women…
Since I've run into him anyway, might as well wipe him out tonight, Renjiro thought.
But for now…
Naturally, he wouldn't casually reveal Chloe and Lunoire's true identities at a time like this.
After all, this War Game was being broadcast to the entire world.
And at this very moment, Renjiro intended to make use of that fact—
"If I'm facing two Lv.4s, then little old Lv.3 me does look a bit outmatched."
Mm. That, too, was complete nonsense.
The reality was—
"Don't call me underhanded, okay~"
Renjiro grinned mischievously.
"After all, you guys just had nearly two hundred people chasing me around, right? That scared me half to death."
"So now, don't blame me for using numbers to bully the few."
As his words fell—
[O stars, gather here—]
In that instant, with this short chant spoken aloud, the greatest bait Renjiro had prepared was finally cast.
The very next moment—
"WHOOOM~"
First came one.
Then—
"WHOOOM~ WHOOOM~ WHOOOM~"
More than ten streaks of golden and violet light descended from the heavens, transforming into human forms and perfectly surrounding the three unlucky men at the center.
Faced with this kind of terrifying imperial treatment—
"T-This is the Twin Stars'…"
By the time the War Game reached this point, no one bothered paying attention to the Soma Familia anymore.
Across the continent, countless people and gods grasped only one truth.
"He can even use that magic?!"
Oh—and there was one god who saw even more of the truth.
"Wielding and able to use every art in the world… and most importantly, that atrocious personality."
Far across the seas, the goddess Prometheus clenched her fists.
"There's no mistake. That bastard is Solomon."
Once a god of foresight who always appeared calm and in control,
A deity famed for her impeccable acting, who never revealed panic even at heart—
Now stared fiercely at the black-haired youth in the Divine Mirror, grinding her teeth.
"I've finally found you."
"It's truly wonderful that you're not dead."
Her voice dripped with resentment.
"I made you call me 'Pomade Hands' back then—this time… I absolutely won't let you escape from me again."
…..
Completed version available on [P]atreon.[c]om/Veltoria [remove brackets]