Leon and the others knew nothing of these post-battle side dramas, of course.
If they'd known that Evilus was just as riddled with hidden agendas and backstabbing as any other faction, they'd have laughed themselves sick.
But still...
On the Order Faction's side... no, from any ordinary person's perspective, what they understood about Evilus's internal dynamics was barely the tip of the iceberg. The deeper details? All the Order Faction really knew was that these people had gathered at the call of rogue gods.
But that was enough.
The two sides were irreconcilable. For reasons too numerous to count, they'd long since passed the point of no return. It was kill or be killed, no middle ground.
Given that, whenever you ran into the enemy, there was only one thing to do: send them to meet the reaper.
And Leon had clearly taken that philosophy to heart.
"Leon, I'm begging you!"
Outside the hidden garden estate of the Demeter Familia, the goddess Demeter clutched Leon's hand tightly, her worried gaze boring into him.
How could Leon not understand what she was feeling?
As a benevolent goddess wielding dominion over love, earth, and abundance, there was no way Demeter could sit idle while ordinary people and adventurers were being slaughtered by Evilus.
But the strength she'd relied on in the past was laughably outmatched.
So what if her captain Persephone was Level 3? Evilus had no shortage of Level 3s. And besides, this captain had never been a fighter to begin with.
Much like Asfi Al Andromeda, the vice-captain of Hermes Familia and bearer of the title Perseus, Persephone had dumped every last stat point into farming.
From what Leon knew, this Level 3 captain possessed two ultra-rare Development Abilities: Harvest and Desolation.
The names said it all. Harvest fell into the same production-type category as Blacksmith and Mixing, granting comprehensive bonuses to all forms of cultivation.
Desolation, though, was something else entirely. It synergized deeply with Persephone's magic and skills, and might even be unique to her.
Leon could only think of a handful of abilities in the same class as Desolation: things like Night, Rivalry, Blaze, and Flash.
In other words, the captain of the Demeter Familia was a homebody farmer by trade. Dungeon crawling was just a hobby to clear her head.
Which was exactly why, without Leon and his party stepping in, Demeter had no way to involve herself in this storm. Her resistance would have amounted to nothing but a futile cry.
No... even without them, Leon thought, running through his memories.
Given Lady Demeter's compassion, she would have tried to intervene in this uprising no matter what. And the price she'd have paid would have been Persephone.
She probably fell during this very chaos.
These thoughts flickered through his mind in an instant. Leon's gaze subtly swept over the bespectacled beauty standing just behind and to the side of the goddess, her robes hanging loosely open. Then he looked Demeter straight in her amber eyes, hesitated a moment, and nodded.
"You have my word."
The goddess's face instantly lit up with a warm, loving smile...
But as Leon's tone shifted, her smile froze solid.
Leon pulled his hand free, stepped back, spread his palms, and shrugged.
"But..."
"Demeter, let me be real with you up front."
"You want my help? Fine."
"But I'm only rescuing people. I'm not throwing myself at enemies I can't handle for the sake of some hollow glory or bullshit ideals."
He looked her dead in the eyes and said with absolute seriousness:
"You get where I'm coming from, right, Demeter?"
Persephone: "..."
Jeanne and the others: "..."
Watching Leon deliver this declaration with the conviction of a man stating a universal truth, everyone's expressions darkened.
How afraid of dying can you possibly be?
Persephone pushed her glasses up out of habit, a glint of amusement in her eyes.
This guy. Same as always. Hasn't changed one bit since the day I met him.
She remembered how, back when Leon first arrived in Orario, he'd sneak around like a paranoid wreck just going out to buy groceries. The image was so ridiculous she couldn't hold back a snort of laughter.
Leon: "..."
I just set the mood perfectly, and you're laughing? What the hell is that supposed to mean!?
His gaze collided with Persephone's in midair, and he instantly read the mischief behind her eyes.
This woman has gotten way too cocky. Time for payback.
Just you wait, Persephone!
Internally, he was already plotting payback. His face stayed composed.
Demeter hadn't noticed the silent skirmish between the two. She lowered her lashes, gently tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, and said softly:
"You're right. Please, above all else, make sure you stay safe. Be careful out there."
Leon nodded, exchanged a wordless look of understanding with Jeanne, Rose, and Kureha, then waved over his shoulder as he turned to leave.
"We're off, Demeter."
She watched Leon and his party leap nimbly onto the rooftops, their figures cutting through the air like the wind as they took the shortcuts straight toward the incident site. Demeter clasped her hands before her chest, closed her eyes, and murmured a quiet prayer...
Persephone slowly pulled her gaze back from their retreating forms and glanced down at her own outfit, the "battle-damaged" state of her robes leaving almost nothing to the imagination. Something complicated flickered in her eyes.
That bastard... the way he looked at me. Exactly the same as the first time we met. Not a single thing different.
She cursed him silently, but an almost imperceptible blush crept up her cheeks.
"Lady Demeter..."
She drew a deep breath, a faint tremor in her voice she couldn't quite suppress:
"Did you notice? That bast... that guy. He seems to have gotten a lot stronger."
Demeter maintained her prayer, eyes still closed.
Her reply came light as air:
"Around Level 3, I'd say? If it were any other adventurer growing that fast, I might be surprised. Curious, even. Like that child from Loki Familia."
"But if it's Leon..."
A knowing smile tugged at the corner of the goddess's lips.
"It just seems natural."
Persephone fell silent.
In her mind, the memory surged again: the moment she'd glimpsed the information on Leon's Falna, and the way her pulse had spiked just looking at the numbers.
She pressed a hand to her heart without thinking, and sighed quietly.
"In just a short time, he's already caught up to me. Maybe surpassed me. With his abilities, once he clears that initial grind, his growth after that... it'll snowball out of control."
"I really can't imagine how high he'll eventually reach..."
...
...
Just as Leon and his party set out for the plaza to reinforce the Ganesha Familia and Astraea Familia...
Eighth District. The far end of the city wall.
Twilight Manor, the headquarters of the Loki Familia, had its usual tranquility torn to shreds.
A relentless barrage of fire and explosions erupted skyward, the savage shockwaves shredding the surrounding buildings like paper.
"Push harder! Concentrate fire on this section of wall!"
A ragged voice cut through the thunder:
"Mages, prepare! Magic Swords, stand by!"
Overlapping chants rose from the ranks of mages assembled at the front line. Spell circles in ominous, shifting colors wove together before them, layering on top of one another like a thicket of lethal thorns, pressing the weight of annihilation against the crumbling defense.
"Captain! Evilus's mage corps is preparing the next bombardment!"
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