"Naaza, where is Lord Miach?"
"He's stepped out for a moment. He's likely speaking with Lady Hephaestus."
Akumo, having returned to Orario with his companions after repelling the bulk of the Rakia Army, had visited the Blue Pharmacy to speak with Miach. However, he found only Naaza there, busy preparing potions.
"...How much of the debt has been cleared?"
"Thanks to the Dual Potions and the new recruits, we're managing better than before."
"That's good to hear."
'Her arm...'
Akumo looked at her prosthetic, a bitter taste lingering in his mind.
That scar was forged during a past expedition into The Dungeon. She had been caught by a monster wielding paralysis magic; unable to lift a finger, she was forced to watch and feel as the remaining monsters gnawed her flesh while she was still alive. It was a trauma that transcended simple injury.
"...I am fine."
"..."
"As long as I can be of use to my Patron Deity..."
Thud—
"You're obviously not fine."
Akumo placed money on the table, the memory of that day resurfacing.
Though Akumo had rescued her immediately upon Miach's request, her arm was already lost to the abyss.
'I learned then that even my magic isn't omnipotent...'
One cannot mend a heart that has already shattered and surrendered. The moment her body was devoured and her limb severed, Naaza's life as an adventurer reached a brutal conclusion.
—'Aaaaagh!!!!!!'
—'S-Save...!! Please...!!!!!'
"..."
—'L-Lord Miach...!! Mr. Akum...o...!!!!!'
Shortly after she woke, she was a wreck of a human being.
Terror and trauma regarding monsters induced chronic nightmares, and she writhed in the agony of phantom pain, her fingers grasping for an arm that no longer existed.
—'Akumo-kun... please, I beg of you...!'
—'I understand, Lord Miach.'
—'Thank you... thank you so much...'
Miach had bowed his head, pleading with Akumo to ask Amid for a prosthetic. Together with Amid, Akumo succeeded in crafting the [Silver Arm - Agateram] for Naaza's use.
However, the cost left the Miach Familia burdened with an astronomical debt to the Dian Cecht Familia, which inevitably led to the desertion of their members.
"I am... truly fine."
"I'm sorry."
Step, step—
"..."
Akumo found himself unable to say more. Met through his ties with Miach, she was one of the juniors he had mentored since her rookie days. To see that she had been broken while adventuring out of admiration for him... he felt he lacked the right to even look her in the eye.
"Why is it you... who apologizes..."
Reality, which she had wished was merely a dream, remained a jagged pill that refused to be swallowed.
Walking out of the Blue Pharmacy, Akumo sighed deeply, feeling as though nothing—from the Rakia campaign to his reunion with Naaza—had been cleanly resolved.
"Sigh..."
'It's complicated... everything is complicated...'
—...!!
"Hm?"
While walking, Akumo spotted Bell, Miach, and Hephaestus conversing at a nearby establishment.
"Bell?"
"Brother? I thought the Loki Familia was supposed to be stopping the Rakia Army..."
"They were. But after a few spells wiped them out, those bastards retreated ages ago."
"Really!?"
"More importantly, what are you discussing with the Gods?"
Akumo took a seat naturally, but Miach, Hephaestus, and Bell could all sense the heavy shadows of concern lingering on his face.
"You look like you're carrying quite a burden," Miach observed.
"Lord Miach..."
"Would you care to share what's on your mind?"
"It isn't that much of a concern, Lady Hephaestus."
"Still, wouldn't it be better to speak? This child was just sharing his own worries as well."
"..."
Noticing the shift in the atmosphere, Bell explained the dilemma he had just confessed to Miach and Hephaestus.
It was a question about the love the Gods feel for the people of the Lower World—whether such love was acceptable, and whether a mortal like him even had the right to receive it.
"Hmm... quite a profound concern."
"Brother, what do you think...?"
"Ah... that? I..."
'How do I even put this...'
Akumo hesitated. Unlike Bell, he did not see an ultimate divide between Gods and mortals. His answer risked sounding borderline blasphemous.
"You may speak freely, Akumo-kun," Miach said warmly.
"Do I look like the type to get offended?" Hephaestus added.
Enouraged by their gentle smiles, Akumo finally opened his mouth.
"Ultimately, I think there is no difference."
"Just as there are things humans cannot do, there are things Gods cannot do either."
"Ever since I was young, I looked at the sky and wondered."
"Does God truly exist? Why must these trials befall me?"
"I asked hundreds of times. But after meeting countless people and various Gods, I found only one answer."
Scenes from his previous lives flickered behind Akumo's eyes—memories of being abandoned by his village, of killing to survive, and of wandering the world fighting monsters and men alike.
"Just become stronger."
"As long as we are under the same sky, we are beings living in the same world."
"Therefore, I want to become strong enough to carve out the future I desire."
"Love is the same. Just as you wish for the love you want, the Gods simply wish to love as they choose."
By the time he finished, Miach understood the source of the grief in Akumo's eyes, while Hephaestus touched her eyepatch, reflecting on why he had been able to accept her true face so easily.
"Akumo-kun, do not worry so much."
'Naaza's incident is not your fault.'
"You are already a sufficiently strong existence."
'Because of you, I too was able to become a bit more honest.'
Bell also fell into a deep silence, seriously considering how he should respond to the feelings Hestia harbored for him.
"What?"
"Hestia has been kidnapped."
"By whom?"
"Witnesses say it was Ares."
"Ares..."
Rumble—!!!
The report of Hestia's abduction reached a certain figure.
He remained remarkably calm, his interest piqued by the fact that it was Ares who had taken her.
"I was planning on paying a visit anyway. This saves me the trouble."
"...Do you truly intend to act?"
"She'll be worth it, wouldn't you say? Ein."
"..."
Ultimately, the figure accepted a perception-disturbing robe from Ein, threw it over his shoulders, and walked out the gates of Knossos, heading toward Ares' location outside Orario.
"..."
Step, step—
—'You're Ein? Nice to meet you.'
'No.'
—'I know you all want something from me.'
'Stop it.'
—'Just—'
Boom—!!!!!!!!!
"..."
Recalling the brief conversation shared after the night of the new moon, Ein hardened her heart, forcing herself to view him as nothing more than a tool.
"What I must do is exact revenge upon this world and repay the debt to my great Patron Deity."
"There is no need to think of anything else."
Walking back into the gloom of Knossos, Ein looked at the fanatics who were worshiping while chanting her name along with Revis and Thanatos, and at Thanatos himself, who stood before them with a nonchalant smile.
Though their eyes were filled with despair and tragedy, they sustained themselves through this twisted devotion. In contrast, Thanatos's gaze held only a pure curiosity for death and a strange, cold sort of benevolence for his followers.
"Oh...!! Lord Thanatos!!"
"Yes, I shall bless you all."
""""Ohhhhhh!!!!!!""""
Because that scene resembled a certain someone caught in despair, Ein could only pass them in silence.
—'They want something from you, but you won't grant it, will you? You won't even acknowledge it.'
"..."
—'You're just another believer who wants something. Same as me.'
"No. All I want is for my God's will to be done."
—'Is that so?'
"Shut up."
It was unclear whether Ein was even aware she was having this conversation.
Repeating empty cries addressed to no one, she merely descended deeper into the absolute darkness.