Chapter 42: Shrink
Generally speaking, the power of the Gods was far too terrifying and could easily inflict catastrophic damage upon the mortal world.
For that reason, any God who descended to the Lower World would seal their own Arcanum, effectively reducing themselves to ordinary human beings.
However, Kazuma Yumesaki's action of vanishing into thin air and instantly reappearing behind them just now was absolutely not something an ordinary human could accomplish.
No, even high-level adventurers wouldn't necessarily be capable of such a feat.
Ais and Riveria instinctively assumed that Yumesaki had left his Arcanum completely unsealed.
Meanwhile, a God of Death possessing immense power would only need to unleash a single casual attack to reduce the entirety of the Labyrinth City of Orario to absolute ashes.
The two women immediately sensed that the situation had turned incredibly dire.
However, this was actually a completely mistaken assumption.
Because Yumesaki wasn't a deity belonging to this world at all, and he didn't possess a single drop of this world's Arcanum.
He possessed Devil Fruits, he possessed Chakra, and he possessed Magic Power, but he did not have an Arcanum.
As a result, neither Loki nor Hestia had detected the presence of an Arcanum within Yumesaki's body, which naturally led them to assume he was just like every other God who sealed their divinity upon entering the Lower World.
Who could have guessed that Yumesaki didn't possess such a thing in the first place?
What he had were things like Devil Fruits, Chakra, and Magic Power.
Seeing Ais and Riveria carrying themselves as though they were facing a mortal enemy, Yumesaki knew the two women had completely misread the situation. However, he offered no explanation, choosing instead to ask, "What exactly are the two of you doing by stalking me?"
Riveria took a deep breath to force herself to stay calm. Without drawing attention, she gently pulled Ais behind her own body to shield her, then offered Yumesaki a respectful bow.
"Please forgive us, Lord God. We did not intend to deliberately stalk you. Rather, our own deity suddenly remembered something and wished for us to come and inform you."
At a time like this, the best course of action was to invoke the name of her own God, and Loki was one of the absolute highest names available.
"Oh? Does Loki have some sort of business with me?"
"She wishes to invite you to join her for dinner."
Riveria began spinning a blatant lie with her eyes wide open.
Yumesaki saw right through Riveria's little trick in a single glance and said with a faint smile, "You've likely forgotten. The children of mankind have no way of lying in front of a God."
Riveria's heart skipped a beat. She instantly cursed herself inside her mind for letting her nerves get the better of her, causing her to forget something so fundamental.
In truth, it wasn't that humans literally lacked the physical ability to speak a lie in front of a God, but rather that a mortal's lie had absolutely no way of deceiving a deity.
Even though the Gods had sealed away their Arcanum, they could still easily peer right through human deception.
Consequently, as time went on, very few people ever dared to utter a lie in the presence of a God.
After all, deceiving a deity was never a wise move. If it ended up provoking a God's wrath, the consequences would invariably outweigh any potential benefits.
"We are..."
Ais, who was hiding behind Riveria, noticed that Riveria's body was trembling ever so slightly. She immediately opened her mouth to confess the truth, but in the very next second, her mouth was swiftly covered by Riveria, who possessed both quick eyes and even quicker hands.
"Just leave it to me."
Riveria gave her a meaningful look that silently signaled her to stay quiet and let her handle it.
Ais hesitated for a moment before finally keeping her mouth shut.
Riveria took another deep breath, then addressed Yumesaki, "I am deeply sorry, Lord God. I lied to you just now. Please extend your forgiveness to me."
Yumesaki let out a soft hum, "I am a God. Why would I hold a petty grudge against someone like you, who happens to be an Elf? Judging by your behavior, it must have been Loki who ordered you to come and spy on me."
Riveria's expression stiffened slightly before she let out a bitter smile, "As expected of a Lord God."
Yumesaki remained perfectly calm and threw a question back at her, "So, what exactly is Loki trying to accomplish?"
Today, if Riveria failed to provide him with a proper explanation, then she couldn't blame him if he didn't hesitate to mete out a small punishment to the two of them.
Riveria observed Yumesaki's aggressive pressing. She knew full well that this matter had become deeply complicated. However, as a member of the Loki Familia, she absolutely could not betray Loki, so she could only lower her head once more.
"I am incredibly sorry, Lord God. Regarding this matter, I cannot speak of it."
"You cannot speak of it?" Yumesaki looked at Riveria with a smile that wasn't quite a smile.
"Yes." Riveria's head drooped even lower.
Yumesaki gave a quiet snort, "Very well. If you're unwilling to speak, then forget it. I won't force you. However, I will be giving you a small punishment. Rest assured, it isn't lethal. At most, it will just make things rather inconvenient for you."
As soon as he finished speaking, he raised his hand and snapped his fingers, casting Shape Magic.
In the blink of an eye, Riveria was shrunk at an incredible speed by Yumesaki, transforming into an Elf roughly the size of a person's palm.
Riveria: "???"
Ais: "!!!"
Both of them wore entirely blank, bewildered expressions.
Riveria stared up at the massive figure of Ais with utter disbelief. She had never realized that Ais was actually this gargantuan.
This was far more imposing than any giant.
As for Ais, she had also never seen Riveria look so minuscule, literally fitting right into the palm of a hand. It was incredibly tiny, and it was also exceptionally cute.
The sheer cuteness of the shrunken Riveria was practically breaking the rules.
"After one week, you will return to normal," Yumesaki told Riveria. "For the duration of this week, you'll just have to remain like this."
Having delivered his piece, he turned around and walked away.
Ais watched Yumesaki's departing back, then crouched down, with extreme care scooping Riveria up onto her hand, and began sprinting at full speed along the road back toward Loki.
Before long, the two of them returned to Twilight Manor, the headquarters of the Loki Familia, and located Loki, who had only just arrived back herself.
Loki blinked, "Are? Ais, why are you back already? Didn't I tell you two to go spy on that God of Death? Where's Riveria?"
Ais very carefully opened up her palm. Riveria was sitting right inside her hand.
Loki: "???"
She stared with a completely dazed expression at the tiny figure in Ais's hand, "No way... are my eyes playing tricks on me? Why does this tiny little thing look so much like Riveria?"
Riveria looked up at the massive Loki with total helplessness and couldn't restrain a deep sigh, "Loki, it's me."
Loki instantly leapt backward in a single bound, treating the Riveria in Ais's hand as if she were some sort of dangerous beast or natural disaster.
She had to admit, she was thoroughly shocked.
"Riveria?"
"It is me."
Loki walked forward a few steps in sheer disbelief, leaning in close right over Ais's hand. She stared intently at the Riveria standing on Ais's palm, looking left, looking right, looking up, looking down, looking front, looking back...
Witnessing this, a prominent vein popped up on Riveria's forehead. Even someone with a temperament as stable as hers felt provoked by Loki's gaze, which looked exactly like someone inspecting a novel new toy. She swung the Magic Staff in her hand, bringing it down with a sharp whack right against Loki's eyelid.
"Ow ow ow ow ow... That hurts, that hurts, that hurts!"
Loki instantly hit the ground, rolling around in sheer agony from the strike. Even though Riveria had become tiny and her physical strength had shrunk accordingly, the eyes remained one of the most fragile parts of the body.
A Loki with a sealed Arcanum possessed no major differences from an ordinary human, so naturally, she couldn't take it very well.
Fortunately, a deity's innate recovery capability was unusually potent. Before long, Loki had recovered, rubbing her red and swollen eye. After scrambling up from the ground, she looked toward Riveria and Ais.
"What in the world actually happened? How did Riveria end up becoming this tiny?"
Riveria explained, "We were discovered by that God of Death."
Loki couldn't help but let out a low mutter.
Riveria continued, "He doesn't seem to have sealed his Arcanum. After he found us out, as a way to punish us, he transformed me into the appearance I have right now."
"Impossible." Upon hearing Riveria's words, Loki instinctively rejected the idea.
The Labyrinth City of Orario was a playground for the Gods and absolutely did not permit anyone to cause widespread destruction. The moment a God broke the rules by undoing their seal and releasing their Arcanum, they would be forcibly sent back to Heaven.
No one was an exception to this rule.
Therefore, absolutely no one dared to openly use their Arcanum within the Labyrinth City of Orario.
This was no laughing matter.
If that God of Death had truly released his Arcanum just to turn Riveria small, he would have been forcibly sent back to Heaven a long time ago.
Riveria countered, "But the reality is exactly as you see it."
Loki inspected Riveria seriously a few more times, and then she picked up on a slight clue, "This isn't Arcanum. This is Magic."
"Magic?" Riveria was stunned. She was considered an absolute master when it came to the field of Magic—not only was she a peak Level 6 adventurer, but more importantly, she was the woman who carried the title Nine Hell.
Ordinary adventurers were strictly limited to using three types of Magic, but Riveria could utilize three distinct categories of Magic—offensive, defensive, and recovery—along with three separate tiers within them, totaling nine unique spells through the use of Chant Connection. This was the exact origin of her title, Nine Hell.
Yet, even she herself hadn't realized that what Yumesaki had utilized was actually Magic.
"Precisely," Loki nodded with absolute certainty. "This is Magic, and it happens to be an incredibly miraculous type of Magic at that."
"No wonder that guy wasn't sent back to Heaven. It turns out he went out of his way to learn Magic."
"This guy is truly an oddity."
After the Gods descended to the Lower World, why did they bother sealing away their Arcanum? On one hand, it was because they themselves were far too powerful, and on another hand, it was because they genuinely wished to experience the life of ordinary mortals.
Consequently, once the Gods sealed their Arcanum, they wouldn't deliberately go out of their way to learn abilities like Magic.
However, if you were to ask whether a God was capable of learning Magic, the answer was an absolute yes.
Nevertheless, in the eyes of the Gods, doing so was completely unnecessary.
Once they descended to the Lower World and established a Familia, the burdens of daily life could be entirely shoulders by the members of their Familia. Even if life wasn't particularly luxurious, they could always work part-time jobs.
After all, the Gods had no way of entering the Dungeon themselves.
Learning Magic simply offered absolutely no practical use for them.
Yet, right under this overarching status quo, a God had suddenly appeared who not only learned Magic but wielded it with absolute mastery. This naturally made anyone incredibly curious.
What exactly did this guy intend to do by learning Magic?
Could it be that he truly intended to stir up some massive news?
Loki's eyes flickered, the curiosity burning within her heart toward Yumesaki growing significantly stronger.
But before dealing with that, the most urgent task at hand was to dispel this Magic and restore Riveria back to her original form.
Despite Loki being the God of lies and pranks, she was actually an exceptional shapeshifter and an incredible Magician in her own right. She had once relied heavily on Magic back in Heaven to execute countless pranks.
Her personal achievements in Magic were unusually profound. While she might not quite match the Goddess of Magic, Hecate, she certainly wasn't someone an ordinary God could ever hope to rival.
However, the moment she probed deeper into the Magic infusing Riveria's body, she discovered something that left her utterly shocked.
This specific Magic... she didn't recognize it at all.
Or rather, it wasn't so much that she couldn't recognize it, but that the Magic clinging to Riveria's body was fundamentally completely different from any Magic within her own cognition, bearing absolutely no relation to it whatsoever.
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