"Kami-sama really does know how to comfort someone."
"With just a few words, you've already cheered Warabi up. As expected of Kami-sama, who has lived for who-knows-how-many ages."
Nomura Satori clasped her hands behind her back and leaned in closer, smiling brightly.
She tilted her body forward slightly, and those eyes of hers—always curved into little crescent moons—glinted with an unmistakable hint of mischief. Her emerald-green hair slid down along her shoulder and brushed against Haimer's arm, stirring up a faint, ticklish sensation.
Haimer turned his head, looked at this smiling face pressed so close to his own, and without the slightest hesitation raised his right hand, deftly crooking his index finger.
"Flick." A crisp finger-flick landed squarely and precisely on Nomura Satori's smooth, fair forehead.
"Ow!" Nomura Satori let out a short cry of pain, immediately clapping both hands over her reddened forehead and shrinking back half a step.
"Stop making snide remarks."
Haimer withdrew his hand and pointed to the broad cloud-silk cotton bed beside him.
"Now, it's your turn."
Nomura Satori rubbed her forehead, and the lips that usually wore a smile now puckered into a slight pout.
"Kami-sama, you really show no mercy—you don't understand the first thing about being gentle with a delicate maiden."
Nomura Satori muttered under her breath.
Still, though she grumbled without pause, there was nothing the least bit sluggish about the movements of her hands.
She turned around, deftly reaching both hands behind her. Her fingertips expertly loosened her sash, accompanied by the faint rustling of fabric.
Her plain outer robe slid down along her rounded shoulders and at last drifted weightlessly onto the dark-red carpet with a soft sound.
Nomura Satori stepped forward, bent her knees slightly, and let herself sink down onto her front atop that exceedingly soft cloud-silk cotton bed.
Her long emerald hair spilled like an unfurled waterfall, fanning out wantonly across the snow-white sheets, just barely covering most of her smooth, fair back.
Seen from the side, the faintly exposed line of her spine did not brim with the explosive sense of power that Amou Kirukiru's did, nor did it carry the capable resilience of Onigawara Rin's.
Instead, it appeared unusually soft and well-proportioned.
A pure-white scabbard, a pitch-black heart within.
This was how she had been described back in their original world, and there could be no more fitting way to capture this body of hers, one that seemed so utterly harmless.
Even now, lying defenseless on her front and exposing her most vulnerable back entirely, she gave off not the slightest excess presence.
No tension—even the rhythm of her breathing was as calm as if she had sunk into a deep slumber.
He recalled the one and only—and most terrifying—skill on Nomura Satori's status board: 『Mindless Blade』.
On this path of erasing her own presence and concealing every intention,
she likely possessed a truly heaven-blessed—one might even say pathological—talent.
Like a predator lurking in the deep sea.
What determines the success rate of a fatal strike is often not how long the venomous fangs are, nor how sharp the claws.
Rather, it is whether, in the second before the prey's throat is torn open, one can maintain absolute dead silence, never betraying the faintest opening.
Haimer sat on the edge of the bed.
His gaze passed over Nomura Satori's spread-out emerald hair and settled calmly on her fair, delicate skin.
He lifted his fingers lightly, and a specially made silver needle slid into his palm.
A slight prick of pain at his fingertip, and a drop of dark-red Divine Blood seeped out, falling soundlessly through the air.
"Drip." The Divine Blood touched her skin.
A dazzling red light instantly rippled outward across the center of the cloud-silk cotton bed.
Ancient characters belonging to the gods raced and combined across Nomura Satori's back, weaving into the intricate pattern of a Grace.
Then, sensing the faint warmth rising from the girl's skin, Haimer pressed a blank sheet of parchment against the very center where the light shone brightest.
As the halo drew inward and sank into her body, the ink on the parchment surfaced clearly.
[Name]: Nomura Satori — [Level]: Lv.2 — Strength → C661 — Endurance → C698 — Dexterity → B789 — Agility → A842 — Magic → I0
"Your Agility has solidly entered the mid-range of the A tier, and your Dexterity is about to brush against the threshold of A as well."
"For a combat style that doesn't rely on head-on confrontation, these are very fine stats indeed."
Hearing Haimer's praise, Nomura Satori pushed against the mattress with both hands, rolled over, and sat up.
She reached for the clothing she had taken off and draped it carelessly over her shoulders, barely covering half of her exposed figure.
Her two slender legs dangled over the edge of the bed.
She craned her head and, peering past Haimer's arm, glanced at the numbers on the parchment.
Yet her expression did not look particularly pleased.
Instead, her pretty brows knit faintly together, creasing into three small vertical lines.
Nomura Satori turned her head and looked at Haimer, somewhat deflated.
"But, Kami-sama..."
"Compared to those monsters like Kirukiru and the others, whose stats are always shooting toward the S tier across the board, Little Satori's gains are so tiny."
"And besides... look."
Nomura Satori extended one fair finger and tapped the very bottom of the parchment.
Her lips pushed out even further, like a child who hadn't gotten the candy she wanted from the display case.
"In my skill column, there's still just a single, lonely 『Mindless Blade』."
"As things stand, in the entire Familia, I'm the only one who's had just one skill from start to finish."
"Isn't that just way too ordinary?"
"If I go out and tell people, then as a senior member I'd have no face at all."
With that, Nomura Satori heaved a heavy sigh, her emerald eyes filled with a gloom that would not dissolve.
In the Lower World, the number of skills an adventurer had could not absolutely represent their strength, but one more skill did mean one more means of dealing with danger.
Watching her companions awaken two or even three powerful skills one after another, while she remained in a state where no new skill emerged at all, could indeed easily breed self-doubt.
Haimer looked at this rare dejected side of Nomura Satori and was in no hurry to refute her.
He merely raised his hand and lightly brushed the pad of his finger against her pouting lips.
"Bite off more than you can chew, and you'll choke on it."
Haimer withdrew his hand, his tone calm.
"The number of skills doesn't decide everything—what matters is how you develop it to the utmost."
"Your 『Mindless Blade』 is, in itself, an absolutely specialized ability."
"It demands that your status sheet contain no impurities whatsoever."
"If, on top of that foundation, you were given all sorts of miscellaneous things, it would instead ruin the seamless, innate sense of concealment you now possess."
"Walk a single path all the way to its end."
Haimer looked into Nomura Satori's eyes.
"That too can create a miracle that would make even the gods look twice."
After hearing these words from Haimer, Nomura Satori, gloom still lingering in her eyes, stared fixedly at him for two seconds, then slowly curled the corners of her lips into that fox-like, cunning smile.
"Since Kami-sama puts it that way."
"Then Little Satori will believe Kami-sama's words for now and walk this one path all the way to the very end."
As she spoke, Nomura Satori briskly gathered up her slipped clothing and put it on properly.
She nimbly flipped off the bed, walked over barefoot, and obediently took her place beside Onigawara Rin.
With the Grace updates of Amou Kirukiru, Inaba Tsukuyo, Onigawara Rin, Hanasaka Warabi, and Nomura Satori all complete,
the atmosphere in the master bedroom eased slightly.
Amou Kirukiru and the others' stats were as astonishing as ever.
Everyone's gaze naturally turned toward the several people still standing off to the side, waiting.
The Holy Emperor, Tendou Kisara, Aihara Enju, and Hiruko Kohina, who had been fiddling with the hem of her clothes all the while.
After all, now that everyone before them was done,
it was time to see just what kind of outrageous foundation these newcomers—who had joined the Familia only a few days ago—had laid down.
Especially in last night's Monster Feast on the twentieth-something floor.
The terrifying lethality these newcomers unleashed in that desperate situation had secretly alarmed even Onigawara Rin and the others who accompanied them.
Tendou Kisara gripped the demon blade "Yukikage" hanging at her waist, drew a deep breath, and resolved to take a small step forward.
Just as she raised her hand, a faint blush beginning to color her cheeks, and her fingers touched the buttons of her black training uniform, ready to undo them—
Suddenly. "Grooaar——" A thick, heavy roar abruptly drifted in from beyond the master bedroom's half-closed door.
Right after came a muffled "Bang!" An enormous head forced its way in, pressed flat against the doorframe, squeezing through by sheer force.
Its rough, broad nose twitched violently twice, letting out heavy, snorting breaths—huff, huff.
A pair of glossy black eyes, looking especially small against its massive frame, stared pitifully at Haimer, who sat on the edge of the bed.
This endearingly clumsy yet somewhat reckless appearance—who else could it be but Kyoubou?
Looking at Kyoubou, who had jammed the doorframe utterly shut, Haimer suddenly remembered.
If he recalled correctly, the last time Kyoubou had its stats updated was already several days ago.
That had been just after it received its Grace and followed the party into the upper levels of the Dungeon.
Even back then, its Endurance stat had already defied the heavens, breaking past the ordinary S tier to reach an utterly outrageous SS1032.
Its Strength, too, had pressed close to the great barrier of S, resting at A885.
Although its Dexterity and Agility had still been somewhat lacking at the time,
after these past few days of frenzied sweeping through the middle floors—and especially last night's Monster Feast in the Great Tree Labyrinth—
this giant bear, which had always served as the frontline meat shield, enduring the frenzied biting and charging of countless middle-floor monsters, had drawn nearly all the firepower.
Its current stats had likely swelled to a jaw-dropping, astonishing degree.
"I almost forgot about you, too."
Haimer beckoned toward the enormous dark figure wedged in the doorway. "Come on over."
Hearing the command, Kyoubou immediately narrowed its eyes.
Its huge body shoved forcefully inward, and amid the doorframe's creaking, groaning protests, it finally dragged its entire bulk into the room.
Its four thick paws padded across the heavy carpet almost without a sound, trotting all the way to the bedside, where it nuzzled its big head against the side of Haimer's leg.
Haimer expertly pricked his fingertip and dripped Divine Blood onto Kyoubou's back.
The red light gradually shone through its fur, lighting up beneath its skin. The parchment was pressed on.
In an instant, the densely packed characters rearranged and recombined. The red light faded, and the parchment settled into an entirely new form.
Haimer picked up the parchment and ran his eyes over its contents.
[Name]: Kyoubou — [Level]: Lv.1 — Strength: SS1056 — Endurance: SSS1288 — Dexterity: SS1002 — Agility: SS1011 — Magic: I0
Four blazing-red SS's and one glaring SSS plainly proclaimed its terrifying potential.
Even Dexterity and Agility, which had originally been the weak points of its massive build, had both broken past the threshold of the limit during this period.
"Looks like you put in some hard work too."
Haimer patted Kyoubou's head, lavishing it with praise.
"Apart from Magic, everything has reached the SS tier or above."
"And the Excelia you've accumulated is already more than enough, brimming over."
As Haimer's voice fell, his palm pressed once more against Kyoubou's back.
Accompanied by a burst of dazzling red light, Kyoubou's level rose.
[Level]: Lv.1 → Lv.2.
In that instant, three brand-new options surfaced clearly amid the surging of Divine Power.
—These were precisely the [Development Abilities] Kyoubou could choose upon leveling up.
Haimer glanced over the three options derived from Kyoubou's combat experiences. They were:
『Abnormal Resistance』—Grants high resistance to negative states such as poison and paralysis.
『Thick Hide』—Greatly increases physical damage reduction.
『Hunter』—Boosts all stats when fighting again against monster species it has previously slain.
Haimer thought it over. "Let's go with this one."
"Working in tandem with Warabi, the two of you will only grow stronger and stronger."
"Roar!" Kyoubou seemed to actually understand, nodding happily.
And so, as Haimer confirmed the option, the new ability was carved into the Grace.
Kyoubou formally stepped into the realm of Lv.2.
It became an exceedingly rare exception in all of Orario's recorded history—an adventurer that, as a beast in the truest sense, had achieved a true Level-Up.
With all this done, Kyoubou shook its big head in satisfaction, walked over to Hanasaka Warabi's side, and plopped down onto the floor.
Haimer turned his head as well, about to look once more toward Tendou Kisara and the others and beckon for them to continue.
But then, the leg of his trousers was tugged lightly twice.
Haimer looked down. There he saw a round, fluffy little ball of flesh sprawled at his feet.
Its small, black-bean-like eyes gazed up at him longingly, while it let out soft, whimpering little cries.
—Kyoubou's child. —Little Bear.
"Oh, I almost forgot about you, too."
Seeing this, Haimer gave a helpless smile and bent down.
He pinched both hands under Little Bear's round little armpits and lifted it up with ease.
Little Bear flopped into Haimer's embrace, its four short, stubby paws clutching tightly to his arm, its fluffy head nuzzling back and forth against his shirt.
Looking at this little one, Haimer recalled that Little Bear actually carried a cheat-like skill.
—『Little Yearning』.
The skill's description was utterly idealistic: so long as the craving for growth is pure enough, and the yearning to grow stronger is profound enough.
"Let me see just how many sweet dreams of getting stronger you've had these past few days."
At this thought, Haimer chuckled softly and flipped Little Bear over in his arms.
He let it lie belly-down, comfortably sprawled across his thigh.
He lightly pressed a finger to its back. The Divine Blood seeped in. The light of the Grace flickered up in an instant.
Haimer picked up the sheet. The parchment was pressed on, then peeled off.
[Name]: Little Bear — [Level]: Lv.1 — Strength: SS1010 — Endurance: SS1010 — Dexterity: SS1010 — Agility: SS1010 — Magic: I0
Four SS stats, extraordinarily uniform—not even the ones digit off by a hair!
Sure enough. This little one, who had barely exerted itself and had hardly seen so much as a few drops of blood,
merely on the strength of that pure yearning kindled in its heart while watching its companions fight and kill,
had forcibly meditated its own stats up past the standard line for leveling up.
"You little cheating bear."
Haimer rubbed Little Bear's round ears.
"If those adventurers who risk their lives in the Dungeon for a year or half a year without raising their stats one bit ever saw your numbers, they'd probably all line up to jump off Babel Tower."
Tendou Kisara, Onigawara Rin, and the others waiting nearby for their updates didn't know the exact figures, but from Haimer's scattered words they could guess the gist.
Looking at this Little Bear that could do nothing but act cute, they all wore envious expressions one after another.
Still, since its Excelia had already met the standard and its stats were beyond reproach, then it was time to simply carry out the Level-Up.
Haimer laid his palm over it, his motion flowing like clouds and water, and a flash of divine light passed by, directly completing Little Bear's Level-Up for it.
And so, two Lv.2 beast adventurers were formally born within the Haimer Familia.
Haimer stroked his chin, beginning to look forward to the Divine Assembly a few days from now.
After all, when those fellows learned that both bears in his Familia had already become Lv.2 combat forces,
the expressions on their faces would surely be even more spectacular than if they'd swallowed a fly. It would absolutely be hilarious.
And so, after neatly finishing Little Bear's Level-Up and setting it down on the floor to go chase and bite its own tail—
"Alright."
Haimer clapped his hands, pulling his thoughts back, and his gaze finally returned to the few who still stood in place, as he patted the bedding.
"That little interlude is over. Next, it's time to examine the results of you few."
No sooner had Haimer finished speaking than— "Me, me!" "Kohina wants to, too!"
The figures of Aihara Enju and Hiruko Kohina leapt straight onto the broad cloud-silk cotton mattress.
The big bed swayed slightly. —Aihara Enju and Hiruko Kohina.
Two little girls of only a few years of age.
After these few days together, Aihara Enju and Hiruko Kohina had already grown fully accustomed to this way of updating their Grace.
Not only were they no longer as nervous and ill-at-ease as on the first day—on the contrary, having felt the god's almost doting tolerance, they had grown a great deal bolder.
"Kami-sama! It's our turn now!"
"Very well." "Then let me take a look."
Once Aihara Enju and Hiruko Kohina lay down on their fronts,
Haimer pricked the index fingers of both hands at once. Two drops of Divine Blood fell respectively onto the smooth backs of Aihara Enju and Hiruko Kohina.
"Hummm——!" The red light shone in mingled brilliance, completely enveloping the bodies of the two little girls.
Excelia converted, stats climbed. A moment later, two sheets of parchment appeared in Haimer's hands.
The second-born ones—terrifying to such a degree!
[Name]: Aihara Enju — [Level]: Lv.1 — Strength → SS1056 — Endurance → SS1022 — Dexterity → SS1105 — Agility → SS1110 — Magic → I0
[Name]: Hiruko Kohina — [Level]: Lv.1 — Strength → SS1045 — Endurance → SS1010 — Dexterity → SS1080 — Agility → SS1130 — Magic → I0
Hiss. The second-born ones—terrifying to such a degree! Haimer marveled inwardly.
This was the monstrous racial skill, born as a foundation when the Gastrula Virus factor—that mutation which shatters the limits of the human genome—was combined with God's Grace to fully realize its potential.
『Crimson Bane Factor』.
The growth rate of all basic stats is greatly increased, and in moments of extreme emotion it can even erupt temporarily.
With such a passive skill as their foundation,
plus the wild instinct for combat ingrained in the very bones of these two little ones, and the terrifying potential they had unleashed over these past days, repeatedly killing middle-floor monsters far above their level in an instant—
all their stats had soared clear up to the SS tier across the board!
Especially Agility and Dexterity, their areas of specialty, which had even both smashed without any resistance through the unfathomable barrier of 1100!
This suffocating rate of growth.
Apart from the word "monster," there was no more fitting language in the human dictionary to sum it up.
"Yay!"
However, before Haimer could even finish examining every stat on the two sheets of parchment in detail—
With two swift "whooshes," two fluffy little heads suddenly poked up from beneath his arms, fixing their eyes—one on the left, one on the right—on the parchment in his hands.
A faint milky scent, mingled with the fresh herbal fragrance lingering from their recent bath, instantly wreathed around the tip of Haimer's nose.
"Kami-sama, look! Isn't Enju really amazing now?!"
Aihara Enju sat right up, propping her little hands on Haimer's thigh and lifting her head.
Her orange twin-tails swished excitedly behind her head.
That delicate, adorable little face was now filled with an undisguised "praise me, quick," brimming with proud charm.
"Kohina got amazing too!"
Hiruko Kohina pressed in on the other side as well.
Aihara Enju and Kohina, one on the left and one on the right, pressed their petite bodies directly against Haimer's two sides.
Their fair skin brushed, whether by accident or design, against the fabric of Haimer's black shirt.
This overly sudden and utterly unguarded intimate contact
left Onigawara Rin, Hanasaka Warabi, and the others—who stood silently watching from the other side of the room—completely dumbfounded.
The air throughout the entire room seemed to fall silent for two seconds.
"Hey, hey, hey!"
Onigawara Rin, her face flushed, pointed at the two little girls on the bed.
"You two little ones, hurry up and put your clothes on!"
"What does it matter?!" "Kami-sama won't mind this kind of thing!"
"Right, right, Kami-sama is the best."
Hiruko Kohina chimed in, her little hand gripping the cuff of Haimer's black shirt, her cheek rubbing against the fabric.
Her undeveloped, flat chest and the contour of her waist—rendered unusually taut by the Gastrula Virus's modifications—were laid utterly bare under such close contact.
Onigawara Rin stood by the bed, her face flushed crimson, covering her eyes with both hands—yet unable to resist peeking through the gaps in her fingers.
"You two shameless little brats!"
"Even if you're young, this is still in front of... in front of a man!"
Haimer lowered his head, his expression helpless.
He casually grabbed a broad cloud-silk cotton sheet piled at the foot of the bed.
He spread his arms wide. With a "whoosh,"
the soft sheet arced through the air, then settled steadily over the two little ones' heads.
It wrapped them up tightly from head to toe, leaving only their two fluffy heads poking out.
"?" ×2
Aihara Enju and Hiruko Kohina poked half their heads out from the sheet, looking at Haimer in some confusion.
Haimer, for his part, placed both hands on their sheet-wrapped shoulders.
"Rin's right, you know."
"Inside this estate, even when you're facing me, don't be so utterly defenseless anymore, okay?"
Aihara Enju blinked.
"But you're Kami-sama. Aren't gods supposed to be lofty and above it all, with no interest whatsoever in human bodies?"
Hearing this innocent question—"If you truly believe that, then you're gravely mistaken."
Haimer sighed helplessly. "Don't take me and the other gods of the Lower World for those compassionate, desireless clay idols and wooden statues painted on murals and carved into sculptures."
"Quite the opposite."
"The gods not only have all the passions and desires of mortals—in certain respects, they are even more obsessive, even more extreme, than the ordinary residents of the Lower World."
"After all, in the distant Heavens, the gods lived for hundreds of millions of years."
"Over those endless ages, they experienced everything that could possibly be experienced, and chewed every emotion until it lost its original flavor."
"That kind of eternal emptiness and tedium can drive even the most rational soul to madness."
"And so, this is why the gods chose to seal away their Divine Power and descend to this Lower World, brimming with birth, aging, sickness, death, love, hate, and all the strife of passion."
"When bound within this mortal body,"
"those obsessions and desires—suppressed in the Heavens for countless eons—and even the most primal impulses, burst forth completely, like floodwaters breaching a dam."
Haimer's gaze met that of Amou Kirukiru, who leaned against the wall.
Amou Kirukiru raised an eyebrow and did not avert her eyes.
Haimer gave a helpless smile.
"Thus, the gods of the Lower World covet fine food, chase after beauty, come to blows over power and territory—and may even develop a boundary-crossing possessiveness toward their own children."
"Because within this mortal flesh, they can experience the real sensation of being alive."
"And so."
As he spoke, Haimer extended his index finger and lightly flicked Aihara Enju's forehead.
"Flick." A soft little sound.
"So, stop always assuming that Kami-sama would have no mortal stray thoughts."
"Out there, whether facing me or the gods of other Familias, you must learn to protect yourselves."
"Even toward me, you must seriously regard me as a dangerous member of the opposite sex."
"Understand?"
Once these words were finished, Haimer lowered his head and gave each of the two little heads—dazed from listening so intently—a rub with his palm.
"W-we... we get it."
Aihara Enju, wrapped in the sheet, had understood as well; her cheeks reddened, and a little embarrassed, she lowered her head slightly, tucking her chin into the edge of the sheet.
Hiruko Kohina, on the other hand, tilted her head, still seeming to work hard at digesting all this complicated information.
"Alright."
Watching their reactions, Haimer gave a faint smile, stood up, and made room for the two little ones.
"In that case, hurry up and get dressed—careful you don't catch a cold."
And so, Aihara Enju and Hiruko Kohina, still wrapped in the sheet, soon hopped off the big bed and scurried to a corner, rustling about as they put their clothes back on.
Onigawara Rin finally calmed herself down.
Haimer turned around as well, his gaze falling on Tendou Kisara and the Holy Emperor, who had been waiting quietly all along.
"Next, it's your two's turn."
"Ah... mm."
Hearing what had just been said, Tendou Kisara's face flushed even redder; she drew a deep breath, steadied her breathing, and stepped forward.
She took off her black training uniform. Fair skin.
Tendou Kisara, well familiar with the routine, lay down on her front atop the mattress.
She said not a word; only the faint rise and fall of her breathing betrayed the anticipation in her heart.
Seeing this, Haimer pricked her with the silver needle. The Divine Blood dripped down. The red light blazed up.
Once the parchment representing her Grace stats had been imprinted and rested in Haimer's hand,
its surface entered his vision clearly. His eyes swept over the figures upon it.
[Name]: Tendou Kisara — [Level]: Lv.1 — Strength → SS1011 — Endurance → S904 — Dexterity → SS1021 — Agility → S995 — Magic → I0
Extraordinarily splendid stats.
All four core stats had broken past the threshold of S across the board.
And in the two stats crucial to her iaijutsu—Strength and Dexterity—they had forcibly smashed through the barrier of one thousand, reaching the terrifying realm of SS.
Haimer was not surprised by this result.
In their original world, Tendou Kisara had possessed the terrifying combat power to slay Stage IV Gastrea with nothing but her mortal flesh.
After coming to Orario,
under the life-sustaining remodeling of the Divine Blood, the weakness brought on by her defective kidneys was made whole, and at the same time she awakened the extremely well-suited skills 『Tendou-ryu Menkyo Kaiden』 and 『God-Forsaken Pain』.
Add to that her tireless swinging of the blade over these past days,
and such gains were, for her, only to be expected.
"Please let me undergo the Level-Up, Kami-sama."
Tendou Kisara lay on the bed, her voice calm, as though she had already foreseen her own result.
She did not need to look at the stats; she could clearly feel that the power within her had already reached a critical point that might overflow at any moment.
—The bottleneck of breaking past the limits of a mortal.
Haimer nodded and laid his palm directly over Tendou Kisara's back. Force gathered in his palm. Divine light flashed abruptly across the master bedroom.
The radiance belonging to Lv.2 was instantly imprinted and formed upon her back.
Accompanying the Level-Up, three Development Ability options surfaced amid the divine light.
Haimer did not hesitate. His gaze locked onto one of them.
『Swordsman』—Greatly increases the power of sword-type weapons.
His fingertip pressed down. The choice was settled.
Tendou Kisara stood up and put her pure-white bodysuit back on. She withdrew to one side.
Her pale-purple eyes lowered, silently feeling the brand-new power surging wildly within her like a river bursting its banks.
In the instant she crossed into Lv.2, her whole bearing became more restrained, like a peerless deadly blade about to be drawn from its sheath.
With Tendou Kisara finished,
in the entire spacious master bedroom, only the last person remained who had not yet had her Grace updated.
—It was none other than the Holy Emperor.
In this moment, every gaze converged upon her.
The Holy Emperor stood where she was. A layer of crimson had visibly risen upon those exquisitely beautiful cheeks.
Carrying this unease, her slender fingers rested at the collar of her pale-blue dress.
She untied the dress's lacing. The soft fabric slid down along her rounded shoulders and pooled around her ankles.