"What? With Lady Astraea's strength, she shouldn't be in danger, right?"
Ryuu swallowed the words back down the moment they reached her lips.
This wasn't something she could pretend she hadn't heard.
"Something's definitely about to happen. Alise's intuition is like a hero's—can't ignore it."
Lyra's head ached, but she still explained it to Ryuu.
Alise's premonition wasn't like Finn's thumb—stinging whenever danger approached. It came only from time to time.
But every time it did come, it was never something small.
"Then… can we spare one person to go to Cid's side?"
Ryuu wanted to volunteer.
But unfortunately, she was one of the stronger fighters in Astraea Familia.
If their goddess was about to face danger, Ryuu had to be there.
By the same logic, Alise had to go too.
"I'll go find Cid. You all be careful."
Noin stepped forward on her own.
She wasn't outstanding in any particular area—Cid had once tried to use her as a "mob character template."
Too bad she was a girl, which made her inconvenient to "observe."
"Then I'm counting on you."
Alise took a deep breath and turned toward the direction her intuition was pointing.
If Lady Astraea fell, everyone in the familia would lose their blessing.
And with it, they'd lose the ability to fight.
"Cid… I've kept getting pulled away by other things and left you alone. After this is over, you'd better complain to me hard."
Just as Alise was about to leave, she spotted Ahti.
More importantly—
Cid wasn't with her.
"Alise…"
Ryuu noticed Ahti too, and couldn't help looking at Alise.
"We're moving. First, we protect Lady Astraea."
Alise's hand loosened—then clenched—then loosened again.
At a time like this… should she look sad?
No. There was still something urgent to do, so she should look serious.
Or maybe optimistic—after all, they hadn't seen Cid die yet.
Ryuu tried to speak, but Kaguya grabbed her and stopped her.
"Don't say anything right now. Execute the mission first."
Kaguya shook her head.
She'd lived through something like this before.
She knew pain doesn't always hit immediately.
Alise still looked normal because right now she'd only guessed that something painful had happened.
When she finally started tasting that pain properly… even breathing would be asking too much.
So while Alise could still move, they had to do the most important thing first.
It sounded cruel—almost like using their own comrade.
But the familia needed Alise as their captain.
As vice-captain, Kaguya could only make the cruel decision… and pray Alise wouldn't break too soon.
"But…"
Ryuu couldn't accept it.
If an important comrade might be dead, were they really supposed to act like it didn't matter?
That wasn't what justice was supposed to look like.
Still, for now, Ryuu could force down the pain and the self-doubt.
If Alise hadn't started suffering yet, Ryuu felt she wasn't "qualified" to show her own suffering first.
"I'll take it from here."
Noin patted Ryuu on the shoulder—she didn't dare pat Alise's.
She was afraid she might knock the captain's soul right out of her.
Nearby, Ahti simply stood there, waiting for someone from Astraea Familia to approach her first.
Some words were too cruel.
But she had to say them.
Unexpectedly, only Noin came to speak with her.
Everyone else hurried away.
Facing Noin's grave expression, Ahti bowed deeply.
"I'm sorry!"
......
On the other side—
Filvis followed behind members of the Dark Faction, carefully concealing herself.
She wanted to find Lord Shadow… but she had no idea where he was.
Still, she believed Lord Shadow was righteous.
If she followed these vicious criminals, she was sure she'd eventually find him.
She didn't dare tail the high-end battlefields. She could only track weaker enemies.
Even so, the whole way was dangerous. She nearly got discovered more than once.
Luckily, the chaos around them was loud enough that nobody cared about a small child.
More than once, seeing the Dark Faction commit atrocities, Filvis wanted to rush out and fight.
"No… I'm too weak right now. I can't do anything."
Clutching the strange-colored crystal in her hand, she forced herself to suppress the urge again and again.
Oddly enough, once she truly accepted how weak she was, her thoughts quieted.
Even if she joined the battle, she wouldn't matter.
Better to find Lord Shadow as fast as possible.
And it hardened her resolve to use that crystal.
If she didn't want things like this to ever happen again, she needed greater power.
Once she calmed down, something started to feel off.
The Dark Faction she was tracking didn't seem to be fighting.
They were searching for something.
After following them for a while longer, they reached a secluded corner.
They broke into someone's home—then burst into delighted laughter.
"So you were here! Die!"
A terrified man tried to flee.
The Dark Faction killed him.
Filvis was confused.
He didn't look like a fighter. Did they really need to hunt down and murder an ordinary person?
And then—
A blinding pillar of light erupted.
Right from the man's corpse.
In Filvis's horrified gaze, the man sighed… and was taken away by the beam.
"This game in the Lower World is so interesting. I'm not done playing yet."
In the black night, the pillar was dazzling—visible to all of Orario.
"H-He was a god…?"
Filvis hurried into hiding, shaking all over.
The Dark Faction… dared to do something like this?
Before she could even recover, a second pillar appeared.
Then a third. A fourth…
For a while, Orario's night sky held no stars—only those harsh columns of light.
The battlefield, which had been stuck in a tense stalemate, suddenly turned into chaos again.
"Is that the pillar that takes a god back…?"
"No way… that rotten god actually got killed?!"
"Crap—our blessing is gone!"
A battlefield that had begun to stabilize boiled over once more.
"Congratulations—you lot really have terrible luck!"
"Without a blessing, adventurers are nothing!"
The Dark Faction wouldn't pity their enemies.
They'd strike while the opponent was sick—and finish them.
Adventurers who'd lost their blessings reverted to ordinary people on the spot.
Meat on a chopping board.
Filvis shut her eyes and covered her ears.
She didn't dare look at the glaring pillars anymore.
She didn't dare count how many gods had died.
And she didn't dare listen to the screams of the adventurers—only knowing the casualties on their side were horrific.
At the same time, Filvis remembered what Dionysus had once said.
He'd known all along that tonight would turn into this.
"Lord Shadow… Lord Shadow…"
She kept whispering the name.
As if only that name could give her even a sliver of courage.
"Ah!"
A scream rang out again—so close it might as well have been at her ear.
Filvis snapped her eyes open and saw that the person she'd been tailing was dead right in front of her.
She'd been found.
And the one who killed the enemy—saving her life—
"Was it you who called for me, little elf?"
"Lord Shadow!"
Filvis didn't care anymore.
She lunged forward and hugged the figure she'd yearned for.
....
My Patreon : patreon/RuneA
If you want to read the novel in advance, you can subscribe for early access. I also have many more novels in my collection that you might be interested in
I upload ten novels a day, with 3 to 4 chapters per title depending on the length. If you're following a particular series, please wait your turn a little
If there's a particular novel you're enjoying on Patron, please give it a 'like' so I know to focus on it