My honest reaction while rewatching season 2 you ask? Disturbed.
Zeus my eyes, I was caught off guard since I haven't watched Danmachi for so long when those unholy scenes rolled in. Especially the part when Bell is trapped in the secret room of Phryne? Genuine nightmare fuel xd
Hell if you show me an image of Phryne for the first time and told me she's an eldritch horror, I would believe you xd
Like, Apollo is just plain creepy alr? But Phryne? Shit the type of entity that even your sleep paralysis demon wouldn't want to see in their sleep.
I actually have two other ideas for the title of this chapter due to how disturbed I am.
Option 1: The Beast and The Bitch.
(Beast = Phryne) (Bitch = Ishtar)
(But to be honest? Phryne could be both. Nah, she is both.)
Option 2: The Lion, The Witch, and The Audacity of This Bitch.
(it's a classic)
∆∆∆∆
2 Month and 14 Days Since the MS Begins.
∆∆∆∆
The wind through the deeper staircases of the labyrinth didn't howl; it hissed, a freezing draft cutting upward from the Glacier Territory as a blurred silhouette tore through the dark.
Yuuya moved with a frantic, rhythmic speed that left the stone beneath his boots completely untouched by his full weight.
He was running late.
As his boots crossed the threshold into the pale, vaulted cathedral of the 37th floor, a sharp, familiar chime echoed inside his mind. The bright blue interface materialized across his vision, pulsing with a distinct, amber warning hue.
[Yuuya, we're cutting it dangerously close.] the System's voice rang out. [The time on the surface is near sunset. The Ishtar Familia's is locking down the Pleasure District. You need to hurry up if you wanted to be there.]
"I know." Yuuya muttered through the thick folds of his Goliath scarf. "No more playing around in the arenas. We're going straight to the top."
Ahead of him, the pale stone corridor suddenly fractured as a massive Lizardman Elite tore through the weeping wall, its heavy halberd raised in a sweeping, defensive arc meant to intercept any trespassers.
In his previous run, Yuuya would have stepped inside its guard, ignited his knuckles, and pulverized its core structure into ash. This time, his dark eyes didn't even lock onto the beast.
It was a waste of time. He already has stats maxed out, he didn't need the stones, and he certainly didn't need the distraction.
With a fluid tilt of his torso, Yuuya shifted his center of gravity. His boot caught the edge of a decorative pillar, launching his body horizontally through the air.
The halberd whistled through the empty space beneath his coat, cutting nothing but a phantom draft. Before the monster could even turn its heavy, reptilian head to locate the source of the wind, Yuuya had already vanished down the descending staircase toward the upper floors, a trail of displaced dust the only proof of his passage.
Floor 30, Floor 24, Floor 18.
He bypassed the safe zones like a ghost drifting through a sequence of vivid dreams. When a pack of Hellhounds spawned along the rocky ridges of the floors, their throats glowing with internal fire, Yuuya merely activated a brief burst of his agility.
He became a streak of dark fabric and silver-lined armor, weaving through the pack so quickly that the beasts ended up discharging their flames into each other's faces, completely disoriented by the vacuum left in his wake.
"System, how's Bell's looking from here?" Yuuya asked mentally, his breathing steady despite the vertical mile he had just scaled in a matter of minutes.
[His health is stable, but the stress levels are spiking.] the System replied, its voice analytical. [He's already in the district. The gears are turning. If you don't break through the surface soon, you'll miss out on some quite the decent show.]
Yuuya's jaw tightened beneath his scarf. The familiar weight of responsibility settled comfortably on his shoulders—not as a curse, but as a purpose.
"Hearing the way you describe it, then nothing abnormal would happen yes?" Yuuya whispered, his boots striking the final staircase leading toward the grand foundations of Babel. "Then that's good enough for me. I'll just be there to make sure nothing out of the ordinary happens."
The transition from the damp, oppressive warmth of the dungeon to the cool evening air of the surface was jarring.
By the time Yuuya emerged from the central plaza of Babel, the sun had already slipped completely beneath the western mountain ridges, leaving the sky stained with twilight.
But the city of Orario wasn't settling into its usual evening rhythm. The typical bustling murmurs of adventurers returning from the labyrinth were entirely absent, replaced by a suffocating, electric panic that vibrated through the cobblestone streets.
Groups of mid-tier adventurers were huddled near the alleyways, their faces pale under the flickering lamplight, their voices hushed but frantic.
"Did you see them? The Freya Familia... they're actually marching."
"The whole familia. Ottarl was leading them from the front. They aren't just looking for a skirmish; they're going to level the entire southeastern gate."
"The Freya Familia is going to burn the Pleasure Quarter to the ground tonight..."
Yuuya caught the fragments of the rumors as he glided past the crowds, his hand resting casually near the hilt of Kurotsuki. The timeline was perfectly aligned. Ishtar's desperate, arrogant plotting had finally crossed the line, and the Goddess of Beauty atop Babel had officially unleashed her army to erase her.
He didn't slow down to listen to the gossip. Turning his body toward the southeastern district, Yuuya launched himself into a low, controlled sprint, navigating the narrow back avenues to avoid the blockades that the Guild was frantically trying to establish to keep civilians away from the impending war zone.
At the main stone archway serving as one of the primary entrances into the Pleasure District, the atmosphere was a volatile powder keg waiting for a single spark.
Standing directly in front of the threshold were two Amazon guards belonging to the Ishtar Familia.
Their revealing leather armor gleamed under the torchlight, their hands resting aggressively on their spears. Their expressions were filled with a vicious, mocking arrogance.
"I said turn back, you little pests!" the leading Amazon sneered, spitting onto the cobblestones right in front of a frantic, bouncing figure. "Goddess Ishtar's orders are absolute today. The entire district is under total lockdown. No one goes in, and no one comes out. Especially not a joke of a small goddess and her stray dogs!"
"You let us through right now, you oversized alley cats!" Hestia shouted back, her face flushed with pure, unadulterated fury as she vibrated on her heels, her fists clenched tightly at her sides. "My Bell is inside that den of vipers! If a single hair on his white head is harmed, I will personally drag your goddess down by her ears!"
"Step back, Hestia." Takemizuchi said, his voice grave as he shifted his stance, placing a calming hand on her shoulder while his sharp eyes monitored the guards' hand placements. "Angering them won't open the gate. We need to find another way."
Behind them, the small assembly of the rescue team was already preparing for a breach. Welf was loosening the straps of his heavy greatsword, his expression uncharacteristically grim, while Lili adjusted the inventory straps on her smaller frame, her eyes darting across the stone walls to calculate a climbing trajectory. Ouka and Chigusa stood shoulder to shoulder, their weapons partially drawn.
"Lili doesn't like this." the small prum hissed, her ears twitching with anxiety. "The longer we take our time here, the more dire Master Bell and Mikoto-sama situation becomes..."
"Then we force our way in." Ouka grunted, his large frame tensing as he stepped past Takemizuchi, his hand firmly gripping the hilt of his massive axe. "We don't have time negotiation. If these two won't let us through, I'll drop them myself."
"Oh? You want to try your luck, big boy?" the second Amazon laughed, a cruel, mocking sound as she prepares her spear. "We'll turn you into a swiss cheese before your boots even cross the line—"
BOOM
A colossal, deafening explosion detonated from the deep interior of the Pleasure District, the sheer kinetic shockwave rattling the heavy wooden gates and causing the nearby stone lanterns to shatter. A massive plume of crimson fire and thick gray smoke billowed into the evening sky, illuminating the silhouette of the district in a hellish, artificial glow.
The Freya Familia's assault had officially begun.
"Damn it! That's it, we're going in!" Ouka roared, his muscles swelling as he prepared to launch his full weight into a frontal assault against the Amazon guards.
"Hold your ground, Ouka."
The voice didn't arrive with a shout. It was a calm, level, and slightly exhausted drawl that cut through the panic of the explosion with the absolute precision of a blade.
The entire group froze. Hestia's breath hitched as she frantically turned her head toward the dark alleyway adjacent to the gate.
From the shifting shadows, Yuuya smoothly stepped into the flickering light of the torches. His dark coat was slightly dusted with white permafrost flakes that were rapidly melting into vapor, and his Goliath scarf was pulled down just enough to reveal a tired, slightly amused smirk playing on his lips.
"Y-Yuuya?!" Welf blurted out, his jaw dropping so low it looked ready to unhinge. "Where the hell have you been?! You've been missing for nine entire days!"
"Yuuya-sama!" Lili cried out, her eyes widening with an immense, overwhelming wave of relief. "You're back!"
"Yuuya!" Hestia screamed, running toward him and clutching the edge of his coat. "Where did you go?! We looked everywhere for you!"
Yuuya casually tilted his head, rubbing the back of his neck with a small, quiet sigh.
"Calm down, Goddess, everyone." Yuuya said smoothly, his voice carrying that familiar, dry cadence. "I just went for a quick walk to clear my head. The dungeon air was nice this time of year."
"A walk?!" Ouka yelled, his brow twitching. "For nine days?!"
Before the group could press him for any further details, the two Amazon guards finally recovered from their shock, their faces twisting into pure malice as they noticed the newcomer ignoring them entirely.
"Hey! I don't care who you are, brat!" the leading guard shrieked, lunging forward with her scimitar aimed directly at Yuuya's chest. "You're all trespassing under Ishtar-sama's territory! Die—"
Yuuya didn't even draw Kurotsuki. His expression remained completely unbothered as he casually extended his left hand toward the two lunging Amazons, his fingers spreading wide in a simple, fluid motion.
"Step aside." Yuuya murmured. "And for your information, we aren't trespassing. Yet. We are still at the entrance you know?"
•Gospel.•
He released a controlled output of Satanas Verion, only intending to knock out the guards and not cause any more unnecessary damage.
The spell struck both Amazon guards simultaneously right in their chests. The sheer speed of the sound wave bypassed their defensive guards entirely.
Without even a chance to scream, both women were instantly launched backward through the air, their weapons slipping from their fingers as the spell cleanly disconnected their consciousness.
They crashed heavily against the reinforced wooden gates, sliding down onto the cobblestones, completely knocked out cold.
The entire rescue team fell into a stunned, breathless silence. Ouka slowly lowered his weapon, his eyes darting from the unconscious guards to Yuuya's completely casual, unbothered posture.
"Well... that saves us some stamina." Welf muttered, a weak, bewildered chuckle escaping his throat.
Yuuya smoothly pulled his hand back, adjusting the folds of his Goliath scarf with a sharp, determined flick of his wrist. The lazy, relaxed demeanor vanished in an instant, replaced by the focused, unyielding intensity of a guardian ready to protect his family. He looked at the smoking district ahead, his dark eyes reflecting the crimson fires of the raid.
"We don't have any more time to waste standing around out here." Yuuya said, his voice low and steady as he stepped past the group.
"Let's get moving." He said, a confident smirk breaking across his face. "We have a white-haired rabbit, a ninja, and I believe a fox to rescue, are we not?"
∆∆∆∆
The grand hallways of the Ishtar Manor were a stark contrast to the absolute chaos erupting on the streets outside.
Instead of the usual Amazon's , the cavernous corridors of red wood and silk tapestries were eerily hollow, echoing only with the distant, muffled thuds of the chaos outside.
Takemizuchi kept his pace steady as his eyes scanned the high, vaulted ceilings and empty alcoves.
"Something isn't right here..." Takemizuchi noted, his brow furrowed as they rounded another vacant intersection. "The perimeter was tight, but the interior is practically abandoned. It's too quiet. Something's definitely wrong.."
Hestia kept close to Yuuya's side, her small fists clenched as she looked around the ominous, shadowed halls.
"Take is right." Hestia agreed, her voice tight with a mixture of anxiety and anger. "The air feels heavy. We definitely have something much more dangerous to worry about right now than just Bell's chastity. We need to find him now."
"Lili agrees." the small prum murmured, her ears twitching as she kept her eyes glued to the upper banisters. "The Ishtar Familia wouldn't just leave their main headquarters undefended unless they were consolidated somewhere specific—"
"Die, intruders!"
The air tore open with a vicious shriek. From a shadowed decorative ledge directly above the group, a Amazon dropped like a bird of prey, her heavy greatsword raised in a brutal, descending arc aimed squarely at the unsuspecting Lili.
"Lili! Watch out!" Ouka roared.
With instantaneous reflexes, the large warrior threw his shoulder into Lili's frame, shoving the small prum completely out of the drop zone.
Ouka braced his feet and raised his axe just in time. The Amazon's blade slammed into the metal with a deafening sound.
"Get away from him!" Welf yelled, lunging forward with his greatsword to capitalize on the guard's landing recovery.
The Amazon didn't even blink. With a terrifying display of what appears to be Level 3 physical strength, she simply twisted her torso and delivered a savage, backhanded horizontal swing with the flat of her blade.
The sheer momentum struck Welf's guard like a battering ram, shattering his posture and sending him stumbling backward until he crashed heavily against the lacquered wall, completely winded.
The guard didn't waste a breath. Reversing her grip, she raised her sword to plunge it directly into the downed blacksmith's chest.
"First one down!"
THWIP—BOOM
A silver streak cut through the dim hallway with the speed of a localized meteor. Before the blade could descend, a heavy, ornate spear struck the Amazon squarely in the sternum.
The sheer, overwhelming velocity of the projectile didn't just stop her—it lifted her completely off her feet, dragging her backward across the corridor until she was pinned brutally into the opposite wall.
The stone fractured around her as she coughed up a spray of saliva, her eyes rolling back. She was severely injured, the wind completely forced from her lungs, but definitively alive.
A crisp, arrogant click of heels echoed from the adjoining corridor.
Walking out from the shadows was Allen Fromel. The feline member of the Freya Familia moved with a terrifyingly casual grace, his appearance entirely unblemished by the war raging outside.
He didn't even look at the Hestia Familia as he walked past them, his feline ears twitching with utter disdain.
He reached the pinned Amazon, effortlessly ripped his spear from the stone with a sickening sound, and flicked the blood off the tip onto the carpet.
Allen paused, turning his cold, slitted eyes toward the group. He was about to say something, a familiar, mocking sneer as his gaze landed on Welf, who was still trying to catch his breath on the floor.
"Pathetic." Allen drawled, his voice dripping with venom. "What are you guys even doing here? Go back to your forge smith—"
His voice abruptly cut off.
Allen's eyes had shifted past Welf, finally locking onto the tall, dark coated figure standing silently at the back of the group.
Yuuya stood with his hands loosely crossed at his chest, his dark eyes meeting the level 6 captain's gaze with a calm, entirely unbothered expression.
The air between the two instantly turned ice cold, a heavy, suffocating pressure radiating through the hallway as Allen's grip on his spear tightened until his knuckles turned white.
Allen was well aware of the talk about how Yuuya brought their captain, Ottar, to his knees. Something that even their own goddess confirmed.
For a tense, silent second, it looked like the Vana Freya was going to raise his weapon. But then, remembering the absolute anomaly he was looking at, Allen simply clicked his tongue with a sharp hiss of irritation.
"Tch. Out of my way." Allen muttered, turning his back completely on the group and sprinting down the corridor, disappearing into the depths of the manor in a literal flash of silver speed.
"W-Whoa..." Welf wheezed, pushing himself up with Ouka's help. "That guy's pressure is insane... but why did he just walk away?"
"He didn't walk away from us, Welf-sama," Lili whispered, her eyes wide as she looked at Yuuya. "He walked away from him."
Before anyone could speak further, a sharp, metallic chime echoed inside Yuuya's consciousness.
[Yo, I've got some news for you.] the System's voice echoed in his mind. [Bell has just managed to break the Killing Stone blade.]
Yuuya blinked, a small, genuine spark of relief lighting up his eyes.
'As expected, I was a bit late. But that's good, it means the timeline is holding up.'
[Oh, it gets better.] the System continued. [Right now, he's currently standing in Phryne Jamil's face, absolutely roasting her. He's bringing up her toad like appearance and completely venting about the trauma of being tied up in her secret chamber and almost getting violated. He is absolutely ripping into her self-esteem.]
Yuuya's steps faltered for a fraction of a second. His brow raised so high it nearly vanished into his dark bangs.
'He what?' Yuuya muttered aloud, a look of pure, bewildered amusement breaking across his face.
A low, involuntary chuckle escaped his lips, the sudden burst of humor completely shattering the tense, urgent atmosphere of the dark hallway. Hestia and Takemizuchi looked at him like he had suddenly grown a second head.
'Well...' Yuuya thought, shaking his head with a wide, lazy smirk playing beneath his scarf. 'I guess that time with Hyakinthos back at the War Game wasn't a one time event after all. Alfia really did influence that boy a lot.'
"Yuuya?" Hestia asked, tugging on his sleeve, her face frantic. "What's going on? Did you find something out?"
Yuuya's expression instantly snapped back into a focus. He looked down the long, twisting corridors of the manor, mapping out his route.
"Bell just broke the ritual tool." Yuuya said, his voice dropping into a low, commanding tone that instantly commanded the room's attention. "He's alive, and he's currently keeping the captain of the Ishtar Familia distracted. But he's running on borrowed time, and Phryne is going to try to tear him apart."
He stepped away from the group, his body lowering slightly.
"I'm going on ahead." Yuuya told them, looking back over his shoulder with a sharp, reassuring nod. "I'm the fastest one here by a wide margin. You guys take care of the stragglers and follow the path down to the ritual chambers."
Before Hestia could even yell out a warning to be careful, Yuuya exploded forward.
There was no sound—only a violent blast of displaced air that caused the tapestries along the walls to rip from their brass rings.
Just like that, Yuuya was gone.
∆∆∆∆
The upper levels of the main tower dissolved into a grand, open-air stone pavilion. Surrounded by towering ivory pillars that arched toward the heavens like the ribs of a giant beast, the terrace offered an uninterrupted, dizzying view of the Orario night sky.
High above, the full moon hung like a massive, brilliant silver coin, casting a cold, ethereal glow over the entire platform, contrasting sharply with the chaotic orange flickers of the fires burning down in the streets below.
A faint ripple in the air stirred the dust atop one of the high, shadowed archways overlooking the terrace.
Yuuya materialized silently, crouching on the cold stone ledge, his choice of color for the majority of his attire, makes him blend into the darkness.
His dark eyes instantly swept the layout of the pavilion. The shattered fragments of the Killing Stone lay scattered across the central ritual circle, their cursed purple luminescence rapidly fading into nothingness.
Haruhime was huddled near the base of an altar, trembling but physically unharmed.
Directly in front of her stood Bell. His white hair was disheveled, his breathing heavy, and his hand gripped Elucidator with a white knuckled intensity. Opposite him loomed the massive, grotesque, and bulging frame of Phryne Jamil.
[Are you going to step in, Yuuya?] the System's voice murmured quietly in his mind. [With your current strength, you could paste her across this terrace before she can even blink.]
'No.' Yuuya thought back, his eyes narrowing slightly as he watched the scene unfold. "I'll just watch for now. Bell needs the experience of fighting that frog for his growth. But I'll step in when the situation becomes dire."
Besides, as Yuuya adjusted his scarf, he realized he had arrived just in time for the opening act.
Down on the stone platform, Phryne was practically vibrating with a mixture of catastrophic rage and absolute, delusional disbelief. Her massive, heavy lips pulled back over her teeth, thick strings of saliva snapping as she gestured wildly to her own towering, flabby body.
"You worthless, ungrateful little brat!" Phryne shrieked, her voice echoing through the open air pavilion like a dying water buffalo. "How dare you break the stone! How dare you reject me! I am the pinnacle of beauty in this city! Goddess Ishtar herself envies this body! Men throw themselves at my feet just for a taste of this absolute perfection! You should be begging on your knees to be consumed by a goddess of love like me!"
Bell stood his ground, but his shoulders were trembling. It wasn't just the residual fear of a Level 3 facing a Level 5; it was the raw, psychological horror of the past few days.
The memory of being strapped down in that damp, stinky secret chamber, staring up at that colossal, shifting mountain of flesh and fat while she tried to force herself upon him, had left a deep, searing scar on his fragile psyche.
The pure, innocent, polite rookie rabbit of the Hestia Familia was completely gone. In his place was a severely traumatized teenager who had officially reached the absolute end of his tether.
Bell's head snapped up. His crimson eyes, usually wide with wonder or hesitation, narrowed into a glare of such pure, unadulterated venom that even the stone beneath his boots seemed to chill.
"Beautiful!?" Bell roared, his voice cracking slightly with raw, manic intensity as he took a heavy step forward, pointing the tip of his sword directly at her nose. "Bitch, look in a mirror, you're a fucking frog! And even then, a toad still looks better than your face!"
The words bounced off the stone pillars with the force of a physical concussive wave.
'Da... dayyum...' thought Yuuya.
The intensity radiating from Bell and his insult was so fierce, so completely uncharacteristic of the Little Rookie, that it would have made an evil god blush with envy and make Alfia proud before joining in to roast the toad. Literally. Like cook the frog.
Even I, the narrator, is deeply touched.
Behind Phryne, a dozen Ishtar Familia Amazons were stationed as a secondary containment unit. Among them stood Aisha and the younger Lena.
The moment Bell's insult echoed across the terrace, Aisha's eyes widened to the size of saucers.
"Oh... Oh my god..." She muttered as clamped both of her hands over her mouth, her shoulders shaking violently.
She looked down at the ground, her eyes watering as she desperately tried to swallow the massive, explosive laugh bubbling up in her chest.
Lena wasn't doing any better.
The Amazon had physically doubled over, her face buried into the shoulder of the other amazon next to her, her hands muffling her frantic, snorting gasps for air.
The rest of the generic Ishtar guards were exchanging panicked, wide eyed glances, their lips twitching violently.
It was a well known, dangerous fact within the Familia that mentioning Phryne's appearance resulted in a swift, brutal execution.
"W-What did you... what did you just call me?!" Phryne staggered back a half-step, her massive hands clutching her chest as if she had been shot through the heart with an arrow that made Bell shudder in disgust. Her face cycled through three distinct shades of purple before settling on a horrific, mottled crimson. "A... a frog?!"
"Bitch did I stutter!?" Bell fired back. "You look like something that crawled out of the swamp on Floor 49 and got hit by a visual curse! And the 49th floor doesn't even have a swamp! It's a fucking wasteland! Every second I spent trapped in that room with you felt like my soul was being corroded by toxic waste! You think people desire you?! Bitch no! They're running for their lives! The only thing 'divine' about you is the miracle that my retina still hasn't disintegrated!"
"Pfff—hahaha!" a generic guard in the back row accidentally let out a loud, high pitched snort.
Phryne's head snapped toward the sound like a broken spring, her bulbous eyes practically popping out of their sockets.
"Who laughed?! Who laughed?!"
The guards immediately went rigid, staring at the ceiling with sweating, terrified, but intensely amused expressions.
Aisha was now biting down on her own forearm to keep herself from roaring with laughter, her entire body vibrating with the strain.
"You... you little... white haired worm!" Phryne bellowed, her raw Level 5 aura finally exploding outward in a heavy, suffocating wave of pink and crimson energy that cracked the stone floor beneath her colossal feet.
She drew her massive, oversized axe, the heavy steel whistling through the air as she pointed it at Bell.
"I am going to peel the skin from your bones! I am going to break every limb in your body and make you watch while I flatten your precious little goddess into paste! I will make you beg for the mercy of that swamp!"
Bell didn't flinch. He adjusted his stance, his fingers tightening on his sword as he glanced back at Haruhime, who was looking up at him with a mixture of awe and terror.
"Haruhime-san." Bell said, his voice dropping into a low, determined growl, the manic anger refining itself into the focused intent of a warrior. "Please. Give me the strength to put this monster back in the mud."
Up on the ledge, Yuuya smoothly slid his hands back into his pockets, his grin widening as he watched Haruhime begin to chant.
"Well that was something." Yuuya whispered into the cool night air.
[It's a treat.]
The light of Haruhime's spell settled, leaving a brilliant, golden aura clinging to Bell's skin like a second layer of armor.
The Uchide no Kozuchi had done its work. For the next few minutes, Bell was no longer a Level 3, he is now a level 4.
Bell didn't wait for the magic to settle. In a fluid, practiced motion, he reached behind his back and drew his primary weapons.
In his right hand, the jet black, obsidian smooth length of Elucidator caught the moonlight, its perfectly balanced edge humming with an innate, dangerous sharpness.
He is currently dual wielding. In his left hand was his knife Ushiwakamaru, settled firmly into his grip.
"You arrogant little brat!" Phryne roared, her face twisted into a grotesque mask of fury as she hoisted her massive, double-headed battle axe over her shoulder. The iron head of the weapon was nearly as wide as Bell was tall, but she swung it with the terrifying ease of a veteran warrior. "Level boost or not, you're just a fragile little rabbit! I'm going to break those pretty little swords and swallow you whole!"
She lunged forward, the flagstones fracturing beneath her heavy boots. The battle axe descended in a vicious, vertical cleave that sheared through the air with a deafening whistle.
Bell's crimson eyes tracked the trajectory perfectly. Utilizing his speed, he didn't try to block the blow. Instead, he spun his body horizontally, his dark coat flaring outward as the massive iron blade slammed into the stone exactly where he had been standing a millisecond prior.
The impact threw up a violent spray of stone shards, but Bell was already moving through the debris.
He moved like a streak of white lightning. Ushiwakamaru flashed in a defensive parry, deflecting a sudden, desperate backhanded swing from Phryne's but it wasn't enough to cut her, while Elucidator cut through the air in a counter offensive arc.
Clang
Sparks flew into the night sky as steel clashed against steel.
Bell darted beneath her guard, utilizing his smaller stature to completely bypass her massive reach. He pivoted on his heel, his boots sliding across the smooth terrace floor, and delivered a swift, crossing strike with Elucidator.
This time, the black blade bit deep. It didn't pierce her throat, but the razor sharp tip cleanly dragged across Phryne's left cheek, leaving a deep, crimson laceration that immediately began to pour blood down her flabby jaw.
Phryne froze. Her massive, bulbous eyes went wide as her fingers slowly rose to touch the warm, sticky fluid leaking down her face. She looked at her bloody fingertips, her entire body beginning to tremble with a hysterical, catastrophic level of vanity driven madness.
"My... my beautiful face..." Phryne whispered, her voice dropping into a low, terrifying register before exploding into a glass shattering shriek. "You ruined my beautiful face! You filthy, disgusting little worm! I'll kill you! I'll tear your heart out through your throat!"
Completely abandoning any semblance of martial form, Phryne raised her massive battle axe with both hands and slammed the heavy iron butt of the weapon directly into the center of the stone pavilion with all her Level 5 strength.
BOOM
The entire terrace buckled. A violent shockwave rippled through the stone floor, fracturing the solid masonry into a chaotic web of rising boulders and crumbling debris.
Bell, caught mid-stride as he prepared for another passing strike, completely lost his footing. The shifting ground threw off his center of gravity, causing his boots to slide as he tumbled backward onto the fractured stone, his dual blades scraping against the rubble.
"Die!" Phryne bellowed, her shadow completely eclipsing his fallen form.
She stood over the downed boy, her face covered in blood and rage, and brought her massive battle axe down in a final, crushing executioner's strike aimed directly at Bell's chest.
The sheer weight of the descending weapon threatened to flatten everything beneath it into a red smear.
Bell braced himself, raising Elucidator and Ushiwakamaru in a desperate, crossed guard to catch the blow, knowing the sheer force would likely fracture his ribs even if the blades held.
Snap.
The sound that followed wasn't a scream or an explosion. It was the distinct, sharp sound of massive momentum instantly dropping to absolute zero.
The colossal iron blade of the battle axe stopped. The rushing wind generated by the swing tore at his white hair and caused his coat to rustle violently, but the weapon itself didn't move a single millimeter further.
Bell blinked, his breath hitching as his eyes traced the silhouette of the person who stopped the axe.
Standing right in front of him, completely relaxed and unbothered, was Yuuya.
His left hand was casually placed on the handle of his sword, while his right hand was extended upward.
The massive, heavy steel edge of Phryne's battle axe was firmly caught directly between his index and middle fingers. He hadn't used a weapon. He hadn't even used his palm. He had simply caught a Level 5 executioner's strike like a piece of falling paper.
(Author: gotta do the aura farming side quest.)
The sheer, absurd display of raw strength left the entire pavilion in a suffocating, breathless silence.
Phryne's veins were bulging along her arms as she pushed down with all her might, but Yuuya's fingers didn't even tremble.
Yuuya casually turned his head downward, ignoring the screaming captain above him entirely as his dark eyes locked onto the wide eyed boy on the floor. A small, tired, but genuinely warm smirk played on his lips.
"Yo." Yuuya said smoothly, his voice carrying its familiar, dry cadence. "How have you been, Bell? Still coughing your lungs?"
Bell stared up at him, a massive, overwhelming wave of relief washing over his face, completely replacing the lingering terror of the secret chambers.
"Y-Yuuya-bro... you're really back."
"Yeah, I'm back." Yuuya replied, his fingers giving a slight, casual twitch that sent a violent vibration up the handle of Phryne's axe, nearly dislocating her wrists. "Sorry I took so long. Had to handle some business down in the deep zones."
"You... you bastard! Let go of my weapon!" Phryne shrieked, her face turning an ugly shade of purple as she tried to wrench the axe free, only to realize it felt as if it were welded into a mountain. "Who the hell do you think you are?!"
Yuuya didn't look at her. His focus remained entirely on Bell as he reached down with his free hand, gripping the boy's shoulder and effortlessly pulling him up back onto his feet. He patted the dust off Bell's shoulder armor with a firm, grounding thud.
"I'll take care of this oversized swamp dweller." Yuuya said, his voice dropping into a low, serious tone that carried an undeniable weight. He pointed his chin toward the altar where Haruhime was still huddling, her tear-stained eyes wide with hope. "You've got a different job to do, Bell. Go do what you have to do. Save the fox girl."
Bell hesitated for a fraction of a second, his grip on Elucidator tightening.
"But Yuuya-bro, the Ishtar Familia—"
"Don't worry about them." Yuuya interrupted smoothly, his dark eyes locking onto Bell's crimson ones with an intense, unyielding clarity. "Think about why you're here. Think about what you want to be. That's what heroes do, isn't it? They save people. No matter the cost, no matter the background of the person they are about to save, and no matter who stands in their way."
Yuuya stepped forward, his shadow completely shielding Bell from Phryne's furious gaze.
"Don't forget the promise you made to your mother, Bell." Yuuya whispered, his voice carrying the sacred memory of Alfia. "Become the hero you promised her you'd be."
The mention of Alfia's name struck Bell's core like a physical jolt. The lingering self-doubt, the residual trauma of the past few days, and the fear of the Level 5 captain completely evaporated, replaced by a roaring, golden fire within his soul. His expression hardened into that of a true adventurer.
"Yes!" Bell shouted, a fierce, determined nod snapping his head forward.
With his dual blades held tightly at his sides, Bell pivoted on his heel and sprinted across the fractured stone platform, bypassing the stunned Ishtar guards as he rushed toward the altar to secure Haruhime's safety.
Yuuya watched him go for a brief second before slowly turning his torso back around to face the roaring mountain of flesh. His right hand finally let go of the battle axe blade and went back into his sides.
Phryne stumbled back a step from the sudden release of tension, her chest heaving as she glared at Yuuya with pure, unadulterated hatred.
"You little piece of trash! You think you can just ignore me?! I am the captain of the Ishtar Familia! I am the most beautiful—"
"Shut up."
The words weren't loud, but the sheer, freezing malice behind them caused Phryne's voice to instantly catch in her throat.
Yuuya looked up at her, his bangs casting a dark shadow over his eyes.
As he stared at her arrogant, self-absorbed, and utterly delusional expression, a violent wave of pure, visceral disgust surged within his chest. The twisted, narcissistic entitlement leaking from her every pore didn't just annoy him—it triggered a deeply rooted psychological reflex.
Her face, her voice, her absolute certainty that she could force herself upon whoever she wants... it reminded him completely of Apollo. It was the exact same sickening aura that had disgusted him during the War Game.
"Your face is seriously pissing me off." Yuuya murmured, his voice dropping into a cold whisper.
Before Phryne could even raise her axe to defend herself, Yuuya's legs flexed.
BOOM
The stone beneath his boots didn't just crack—it completely disintegrated into fine powder as Yuuya launched himself vertically into the air.
He soared directly above her, his dark coat billowing against the backdrop of the massive, silver full moon.
Time seemed to slow down as he hung in the air, his right arm drawing back, his fist clenched tightly.
He wound up the punch, his torso twisting to channel the entire weight of his descent into a single point.
"Get out of my sight." Yuuya growled.
He brought his fist down with the velocity of an orbital strike.
The punch connected cleanly right in the center of Phryne's massive, flabby face. The sheer, ungodly kinetic force of the impact didn't just break her nose—it created a violent, concussive shockwave that rippled through her entire colossal frame.
CRACK-BOOM
The structural integrity of the high terrace completely gave way. The thick stone floorboards beneath Phryne's feet shattered into a million fragments as she was driven vertically downward like a human meteor.
The force of Yuuya's punch tore a massive, gaping hole straight through the center of the pavilion, sending the screaming, bloodied captain plummeting straight down through the lower floors of the main tower.
Dust, debris, and shattered mortar billowed upward into the night sky like a volcanic eruption.
Yuuya landed gracefully on the remaining solid lip of the fractured stone, his boots striking the ground with a soft, perfectly controlled thud. He didn't even have a scratch on his knuckles.
He looked over his shoulder at Bell, who had just reached Haruhime's side.
"I'll leave the rest to you." Yuuya said, his voice echoing clearly over the settling dust.
Without waiting for a response, Yuuya stepped forward and casually dove headfirst into the smoking, shattered hole, descending into the dark lower chambers after the falling toad.
He wasn't done yet. He held himself back on that punch just enough to not turn Phryne into a fine red mist with his level 9 strength. That remaining, lingering disgust from Apollo's memory needed a proper outlet, and Phryne was about to learn exactly what happens when you make the phantom of the deep floors feel genuinely dynamic irritation.
∆∆∆∆
The structural flooring of the fourth floor parlor exploded outward in a shower of splintered mahogany and shattered stone as Phryne cratered into the ground.
A sickening thud echoed through the deserted lower chambers. Any ordinary adventurer would have been reduced to a fine red mist after falling through multiple ceilings.
But Phryne was a Level 5 adventurer. Her monstrous, dense physical frame possessed a terrifyingly high endurance, a stubborn evolutionary shield that kept her heart beating even as her broken body dragged itself through the debris.
Coughing up a thick spray of crimson, Phryne rolled over, her breath coming in ragged, wheezing gasps.
Her face was an absolute mess—the center of her nose completely flattened, and her left cheek leaking a continuous trail of dark blood from Bell's earlier slash.
"Damn it... damn it all!" she wheezed, her sausage like fingers clawing at the ruined floorboards as she dragged her massive weight toward a shattered exterior balcony.
As she pulled herself up against the stone railing, her bulbous eyes went wide with a mixture of shock and unadulterated horror. The majestic, neon lit avenues of the Pleasure Quarter were gone.
In their place was a roaring, tempestuous sea of orange and crimson flames. The high pitched screams of Ishtar courtesans and the rhythmic, terrifying war cries of heavily armored invaders echoed through the smoky night air.
"The district... our territory..." Phryne stammered, her jaw trembling. "Who... who would dare?!"
"The verdict has already been passed."
A voice, deeper and more resonant than the shifting of tectonic plates, cut through the crackle of the surrounding fires.
Phryne stiffened, every primitive survival instinct inside her giant frame violently screaming at her to run. She slowly turned her head toward the grand arched doorway of the parlor.
Emerging from the thick, rolling smoke was a mountain of a man.
Standing well over two meters tall, with dark fur tipping his ears and a colossal black broadsword strapped to his back, Ottar stepped into the flickering light of the flames.
The captain of the Freya Familia moved with the absolute, quiet certainty of a god of war, his eyes locking onto Phryne with a cold indifference.
Phryne's mind frantically pieced the fragments together. The burning district, the overwhelming chaos outside, and now the appearance of the city's only Level 7.
"Freya..." Phryne hissed, her shock instantly twisting into a blind rage that completely bypassed her logic.
The ruin of her face, the loss of her territory, and the humiliation of the night converged into a single, suicidal impulse.
"You bastards think you can just take everything from us?! Die!"
With a hysterical scream, she hoisted her massive double headed battle axe from the rubble beside her and swung it downward with all her remaining strength, aiming to split Ottar's skull in two.
Thud.
The air didn't even ripple. Ottarl didn't bother to draw his sword. With a movement so blindingly fast it left a phantom trace in the air, his large, gauntleted hand shot forward and clamped directly around Phryne's thick wrist.
He caught the full momentum of her Level 5 strike with a single hand.
Phryne's eyes widened to the size of saucers as she realized her arm was completely immobilized. Ottar's gaze remained perfectly flat, his expression unchanging as his fingers slowly tightened their grip.
CRACK
The sound of shattering bone and tearing tendons echoed sharply through the room. Ottar crushed her wrist with the casual ease of a man snapping a dry twig.
"AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Phryne shrieked, a high pitched, agonizing wail tearing from her throat as her fingers involuntarily forced themselves open.
The massive battle axe slipped from her ruined grip, clattering loudly against the stone floor.
Without breaking eye contact, Ottar casually raised his boot and kicked the heavy weapon aside, sending it spinning across the parlor until it crashed through the outer railing and fell into the burning streets below.
Phryne took a few steps back, clutching her mangled, purple swollen wrist against her chest as cold sweat poured down her flabby neck.
The raw, suffocating pressure radiating from the Level 7 adventurer completely crushed her spirit. She was broken, disarmed, and facing an executioner she couldn't hope to scratch.
The rage instantly evaporated, replaced by the pathetic, sniveling desperation of a cornered beast.
"Wait... wait!" Phryne begged, her voice cracking as she looked up at him through bloodshot eyes. "I'm sorry! I'll do anything! Just let me live! Goddess Ishtar can find another captain, I don't care about her!"
Ottar remained silent, his shadow completely enveloping her as he took a single, heavy step forward.
Seeing his lack of response, Phryne resorted to the only currency her twisted, narcissistic mind understood.
"Oh I know! I can give you my body!"
She then began rubbing her body in Ottar, her back against his frame, slightly, trying to project a seductive expression through her shattered, bloody features.
"Look at me! I can offer you my body!" she rambled frantically, her words tumbling out in a nauseating rush. "I'll let you have a go whenever you want! You can do anything to me, I won't resist! My body... it's a masterpiece! It's a treasure that can drive any man insane with pleasure! It's more than a match for any goddess in this city! Even that whore Freya can't match what I can give—"
The temperature in the room instantly dropped to absolute zero.
Ottar's crimson narrowed, a sudden, terrifying flash of pure, murderous intent igniting within his pupils. The stoic, unbothered warlord vanished, replaced by a loyal beast whose sacred owner had just been defiled.
"You... You Insolent toad!" Ottar roared, his voice causing the very foundations of the tower to tremble. "How dare you blaspheme the name of our virgin goddess!"
Before Phryne could even process the sudden shift in the air, Ottar raised his massive right hand, curling it into a fist that held the raw, concentrated weight of a Level 7 apocalypse. He brought it straight down onto the top of her head.
BOOM
The impact was catastrophic. Phryne didn't even have time to scream as her skull took the full brunt of the hammer fist. The sheer force drove her entire massive body directly into the reinforced floorboards, creating a deep, human shaped crater in the center of the parlor.
Her eyes rolled back into her head, thick strings of foam escaping her lips as her consciousness was instantly obliterated. It was her second massive, skull rattling punch of the night, and it left her crumpled in a heap of broken meat, barely clinging to a thread of life.
Ottar stood over the unconscious captain, slowly unclenching his fist as he pulled his arm back, his expression returning to its usual, mask-like stoicism as he prepares to turn around and leave the chamber to continue his objective.
Shhh-thump
From the massive, smoking hole in the ceiling above, a dark silhouette dropped gracefully through the air, landing perfectly on his feet amid the settling dust.
Yuuya smoothly slid, his dark eyes instantly scanning the ruined parlor. He looked at the massive crater, then at the twitching, deeply embedded form of Phryne, and finally up at the towering figure of Ottar.
Yuuya's shoulders visibly slumped. A deep, heavily disappointed sigh escaped his lips beneath his Goliath scarf.
"Aww, come on." Yuuya muttered, his voice carrying a dry, thoroughly annoyed cadence. "You beat me to it."
Ottar quietly turned his gaze toward the newcomer. He didn't raise his guard, recognizing Yuuya's familiar, distinct presence.
The two powerful adventurers exchanged a long, silent look across the ruined room—one a legendary Level 7 peak, the other a rule breaking vanguard who had just scale tipped the deep floors.
Yuuya walked past Ottar, his boots crunching on the shattered mahogany as he approached the edge of the crater.
He looked down at Phryne's swollen, pathetic, unconscious face. The lingering taste of disgust from his memories of Apollo was still burning in the back of his throat, and he had spent the last three floors looking forward to using this giant target as a personal stress ball to completely clear his head.
Seeing her already neutralized by the King was genuinely frustrating. But her mangled face was good enough compensation.
"Seriously, what a waste of a good run." Yuuya grumbled.
With a small click of his tongue, Yuuya lazily raised his right boot and delivered a sharp, petty kick directly into Phryne's exposed ribs.
The type of annoyed, frustrated kick a person gives to a cheap piece of broken furniture when they accidentally stub their toe on it in the dark.
Phryne's massive, unconscious body merely shifted an inch in the dirt, letting out a low, involuntary wheeze.
(Author: She's lucky that it was Ottar who catched her. If it was Yuuya, she would've discovered what the ash baby word means lol.)
∆∆∆∆
The internal spiral staircase of the main tower was a choked vortex of thick black smoke and ascending heat.
Ishtar sprinted down the smooth stone steps, her elaborate silks tearing against the rough edges of the masonry. Her breathing was frantic, a sharp contrast to the slow, methodical rhythm of the destruction echoing outside.
In front of her were two Amazon's who accompanied her as she hurried down the descent, their eyes scanning the shifting shadows for any of the adventurers of the Freya Familia.
"Hurry! We need to reach the tunnels before the Freya's adventurers locks down the courtyard!" Ishtar hissed, her face contorted in an ugly mask of panic. "If we can just make it to the southeastern exit—"
Ishtar's voice caught violently in her throat. She skidded to an abrupt halt on the wide marble landing, her high heels scraping against the stone.
Standing directly at the base of the next flight of stairs was Freya.
The Goddess of Beauty stood perfectly still, a vision of pristine, unearthly elegance amid the ruined, smoky corridor.
Her long, silver hair cascaded over her shoulders like a curtain of moonlight, completely untouched by the soot and debris falling around them.
Her cold, lilac eyes stared up at Ishtar with a detached, chilling serenity that made the temperature in the stairwell drop instantly.
"Y-You..." Ishtar stammered, her voice trembling before her pride forced her to snarl. "What are you doing here?! How did you get past the main gate?!"
Freya didn't answer. She merely stood there, tilting her head slightly with an air of profound boredom.
"What are you two doing?!" Ishtar shrieked, pointing a trembling, manicured finger at the silver haired deity. "Grab her!"
The two Amazon's didn't hesitate. They launched themselves down the steps.
Freya didn't blink. She didn't draw a weapon, nor did she call for her guards. She simply raised her eyes, letting her divine gaze lock onto the approaching warriors.
A subtle, silent ripple of light pulsed from her pupils—the absolute, crushing weight of her Charm.
The effect was instantaneous. The two Amazons abruptly froze mid-stride, their hands slipping back to their sides.
Their eyes rolled back into a soft, glazed silver sheen, their expressions turning completely slack and vacant. They stood perfectly still on the steps, completely captivated, reduced to mindless dolls in a single fraction of a heartbeat.
Ishtar's face drained of all color.
"No... impossible... with just a glance?!"
Realizing she was completely outmatched, Ishtar didn't waste another second. She pivoted sharply on her heel and scrambled back up the stairs, her breath coming in ragged, terrified gasps as she fled toward the upper levels of her own burning palace.
Eventually, Ishtar rounded the final curve of the spiraling staircase, her heart hammering against her ribs. She desperately reached for the heavy iron doors leading to the upper observation deck, but as her boots cleared the threshold, she froze in sheer horror.
The staircase ahead was gone.
A massive, gaping abyss tore through the center of the tower floor, the thick stone supports fractured and crumbled away into a vertical drop that plunged straight through the lower levels.
The structural integrity had been completely pulverized from within, a direct casualty of Phryne's catastrophic vertical descent. It was a complete dead end.
A soft, rhythmic click of heels echoed from the smoky corridor behind her.
Ishtar whipped her head around, her back pressing hard against the ruined, crumbling stone railing of the precipice.
Freya smoothly stepped into the open air of the ruined chamber, her silver hair fluttering in the wild drafts rising from the abyss. She let out a small, delicate sigh, dusting a speck of ash from her pristine sleeve.
"Our game of tag is over, Ishtar." Freya said, her voice carrying a calm, level melody that resonated through the burning room. "Truly, I am exhausted. You have forced me to walk up far too many flights of stairs tonight."
Ishtar's eyes darted frantically around the room, searching for anything she could use. Out of the corner of her eye, tucked neatly behind a fractured ivory pillar near the entrance, she spotted the silhouette of one of her male guards.
He was pressed flat against the stone, a heavy iron chain wrapped around his knuckles, his muscles tensed as he prepared to lunge out and restrain Freya from behind.
A vicious, desperate smirk cracked across Ishtar's face. She needed to buy him just a few more seconds. She needed to keep Freya's attention locked forward.
"You think you've won, Freya?!" Ishtar spat, taking a deliberate step to the side to realign Freya's back to the hidden guard. "You think you can just come into my territory and take whatever you want?! That white haired boy... Bell Cranel! I know why you're here! But guess what? My charm didn't work on him! He's completely immune to us! He looked at my face and felt absolutely nothing! He's a broken, useless piece of trash who completely rejected a goddess of love!"
Freya paused. The cold, aloof mask on her face suddenly shifted. For a brief, fleeting moment, the terrifying, absolute sovereign of the city's strongest Familia vanished.
Her lilac eyes widened slightly, a soft, dreamy, and intensely radiant expression coloring her features. Her cheeks flushed with a delicate, pink warmth that made her look less like a primordial entity and more like an innocent, entirely infatuated teenage maiden experiencing her very first crush.
"I know..." Freya murmured softly, her voice dropping into a tender, breathless whisper as she placed a delicate hand over her heart. "And that is exactly what makes him so wonderfully, beautiful. The fact that he remains untainted by the divine... it is truly magnificent."
Now!
The hidden male guard exploded from the shadows behind the pillar, his face twisted in determination as he lunged forward, throwing the heavy iron chain out to bind Freya's arms and pin her to the floor.
Freya didn't even turn her head. Her expression didn't change from its soft, lovesick warmth. She merely tracked his approach through her peripheral vision.
With a faint, almost pitying sigh, her eyes caught his for a microscopic fraction of a second.
The pulse of her Charm flashed like lightning.
The man froze mid-air, his momentum dying instantly as he landed heavily on his knees right at Freya's side. His weapon fell from his hands, his head dropping as his entire consciousness was rewritten by her absolute beauty.
"Step aside." Freya instructed gently, her voice completely casual. "Go away."
Without a single word, the man stood up, bowed blindly to Freya, and walked away into the smoke, completely abandoning his goddess.
Ishtar's jaw dropped, her mind shattering under the absolute absurdity of the display.
"He... he was bound to my charm! How can you just... how can your charm override my own children?!"
The humiliation, the loss of her territory, and the effortless theft of her followers finally pushed Ishtar past the brink of sanity. Her face contorted into an expression of pure, unadulterated venom as she screamed at the silver haired goddess.
"What is so damn good about you?!" Ishtar roared, her voice cracking with hysterical rage. "What makes you better than me?! What makes your charm so special?! I am the Goddess of Love! I rule the desires of this city! What is the difference between you and me!? Why does everyone look at you?! Why does that boy belong to you?!"
Freya's dreamy, teenager like expression instantly evaporated. Her lilac eyes went completely cold, a chilling, unyielding stillness settling over her face that made her look like an ancient, lethal statue.
"Because your charm is born of vulgarity and lust, Ishtar." Freya said, her voice dripping with absolute disdain. "It is a cheap, forced imitation that demands chains to exist. True beauty doesn't need to conquer; the soul simply kneels on its own. And you dared to bring your filthy, vulgar desires near him."
"Die, you arrogant whore!" Ishtar shrieked.
Blinded by absolute madness, Ishtar lunged forward with all her weight, her manicured hands extended to strike Freya's chest, intending to violently push her off the fractured edge of the ruined floor into the burning abyss below.
Freya didn't even raise her hands to parry. With a fluid, incredibly casual motion, she simply took a single, precise step to the left.
Ishtar's hands caught nothing but empty air. Her own forward momentum carried her straight past Freya, her boots slipping on the loose debris as her body tipped completely over the edge of the ruined masonry, plunging toward the vertical drop.
Before Ishtar could even begin to fall, a slender, pale hand shot forward with blinding speed.
Smack
Freya clamped her right hand firmly across Ishtar's mouth, her fingers locking around her jaw with the terrifying, deceptive physical strength inherent to a deity.
Ishtar's entire body was left suspended in the open air, dangling precariously over the burning abyss, held aloft entirely by Freya's single, unyielding grip. Ishtar's eyes widened to the size of saucers, her muffled screams dying in her throat as she stared up at her captor.
Freya leaned over the edge, looking down at her with an intensity that caused the air around them to vibrate.
"Do you know where you have gone wrong, Ishtar?" Freya asked, her voice dangerously low.
Suddenly, an overwhelming aura erupted from Freya's frame. It wasn't an aura of divine anger or martial malice; it was an absolute, suffocating tempest of pure, unadulterated love.
But it wasn't a gentle, comforting love—it was a terrifying, all consuming, and deeply possessive obsession that leaked from her soul like a physical weight. Her yandere side, carefully hidden beneath layers of elegance, was on full display.
"You dared to touch him." Freya whispered, her silver eyes glowing with a brilliant, unhinged light that made Ishtar tremble. "Bell... my precious, innocent Bell. He is my Odr. My destined partner. For eons, I have watched the souls of the lower world fade and rot, while I remain entirely pure and untouched, waiting only for the one who could truly see me. Do you honestly think I care that he is immune to a goddess's touch? It means his heart is entirely his own to give—and he will give it to me!"
Freya's face flushed again, a momentary flash of bashful, inexperienced maidenhood mixing violently with her terrifying possessiveness.
"I don't care about your vulgar games or your bedroom... Actions! I am inexperienced in such crude matters, and the very thought of... of such things makes me..." She bit her lower lip, her voice trembling with an intense, innocent romance before shaking her head and snapping back into absolute gravity. "But just the thought of him holding my hand, of him looking only at me, of his soul entwining with mine for eternity... it is a sacred reality that belongs to me and me alone! He is mine, Ishtar. Mine completely. No matter what happens, no matter how many rules I must break, he will become mine. And a wretched, defiled existence like yours had no right to even speak his name."
Freya slowly pulled her arm back, dragging Ishtar's trembling frame just enough to set her boots back onto the solid edge of the fractured stone ledge. Freya let go of her mouth, stepping back into the shadows of the room.
Ishtar collapsed onto her hands and knees against the crumbling masonry, coughing violently as she clutched her bruised jaw. Cold sweat poured down her face, her chest heaving as she looked up at Freya.
For a brief, intoxicating moment, seeing Freya step back, Ishtar genuinely believed she had been spared. She thought the silver haired goddess was going to leave her bound or let her flee the city in exile.
"You... you're not going to..." Ishtar stammered, a weak, desperate hope flickering in her eyes.
Freya looked down at her, her expression returning to a cold, pristine, and entirely unbothered stillness. The intense, unhinged passion vanished, replaced by the mechanical indifference of an executioner.
"Goodbye, Ishtar."
SLAP.
With a swift, entirely unceremonious backhand, Freya struck Ishtar across the face. The physical force wasn't a display of maximum Arcanum, but it was more than enough to completely shatter the off balance goddess's footing.
Ishtar's eyes widened in a final, silent scream of terror as her body tipped backward over the edge.
She fell. Her silks fluttered like a dying moth as she plunged down through the hollowed out center of the main tower, her screaming form quickly disappearing into the thick, rolling smoke of the lower courtyards until a distant, heavy impact echoed from below.
A long, heavy moment of absolute silence followed.
Then, from the deep interior foundations of the ruined manor, a colossal, blinding pillar of pure, golden divine light erupted.
The massive beam of energy tore straight through the ceilings of the tower, piercing the dark clouds and illuminating the entire sky of Orario in a brilliant, artificial noon.
The Arcanum had automatically activated to protect the deity's soul upon the destruction of her mortal vessel. The pillar of light pulsed violently one last time before shooting upward into the heavens, signaling Ishtar's forced, permanent banishment back to Tenkai.
Freya stood at the edge of the ruined terrace, the golden light reflecting off her silver hair.
∆∆∆∆
The golden pillar of divine energy slowly fractured into shimmering, incandescent feathers of light, dissolving against the dark tapestry of the Orario night sky.
Yuuya stood near the outer perimeter of the ruined parlor, his dark eyes tracking the last remnants of Ishtar's forced ascension back to Tenkai.
The sheer weight of a god's departure always left a brief, suffocating vacuum in the atmosphere, a quiet reminder of the boundary between the lower world and the heavens.
Ding.
A sharp, pristine chime—clearer and deeper than any sound a Guild Status update could ever produce—reverberated directly through the core of his consciousness.
Across his vision, the familiar bright blue interface materialized, glowing with a brilliant, celebratory emerald luminescence.
~~~~
EXCLUSIVE SYSTEM QUEST: COMPLETED.
Reward: Instant Level up.
~~~~
Yuuya let out a slow, measured breath, feeling the immediate, violent surge of raw divine energy restructuring his meridians.
The leap of a Level up rippled through his muscles, the sheer density of his newly unlocked limits settling into place.
[Well, mate, you're officially a Level 5 now.] the System's voice rang out. [But don't get too comfortable celebrating just yet. I've got another update for you. While the gods were busy playing with fireworks, I managed to manually slip into the world's mechanics and manipulate the spawn settings a bit more.]
Yuuya's brow raised slightly beneath his scarf.
'Manipulate them how?'
[The Monster Rex of the 37th floor—Udaeus.] the System explained, a faint hum of digital static accompanying its words. [I've bypassed the standard dungeon cooldown metrics. I forced a manual overwrite on its respawn interval. The throne room is officially active again. It's waiting for you right now.]
Hearing the news, Yuuya didn't look excited. Instead, a slightly complicated, almost weary expression crossed his face.
He adjusted the collar of his coat, leaning his shoulder against a cracked ivory pillar as he ran the numbers through his head.
'A manual spawn for Udaeus...' Yuuya murmured mentally, his tone dripping with a touch of dry skepticism. 'System, think about the current math. With my Limit Of active, my parameters are pushed to a maxed out Level 9 standard. I am conceptually a pseudo Level 9. Udaeus, at his absolute strongest, scales at a Level 6 benchmark—maybe a low Level 7 if he pulls that black bone broadsword out of the ground. If I walk down there right now, I'm not fighting. I'm just completely steamrolling a pile of old bones. It won't even be a warm up.'
[Yeah... about that...] the System paused, the text on the interface flickering uncharacteristically. [Some things have changed regarding the parameters of that spawn, Yuuya.]
Yuuya's posture instantly lost its casual lean. His dark eyes narrowed in the gloom of the parlor.
"Changed? What do you mean changed?"
The System stayed completely silent for a long, heavy second. The blue interface dimmed slightly, pulsing with an unfamiliar, cautious amber rhythm.
[I... am not allowed to say anything. At least until you reach the throne room.] the System finally replied, its voice carrying a rare, tightly controlled hesitation that sent a cold drop of intuition down Yuuya's spine. [As an exchange for tinkering with the settings, the world's mechanics demanded me to not disclose the details until you cross the threshold of the 37th floor. But one thing is absolutely concrete, mate: if you manage to defeat whatever is waiting down there, you'll become a level 6. How? Because it's an unofficial challenge from the dungeon, the world, and a unofficial quest from me.]
'Unofficial quest?'
[Yes. I used the remaining power that I have to alter reality just a little bit more. So that I can guarantee you'll reach that level 6.]
Yuuya didn't say a word. He stood perfectly still in the burning ruins, his sharp mind dismantling the System's unusual hesitation.
The System had never kept secrets from him unless the dungeon's autonomous will or the laws of the world were actively push backing against the interference.
For a standard Level 6 Monster Rex to trigger a data lockdown, it meant only one thing.
The entity waiting for him in the deep white palace of the 37th floor wasn't a normal Udaeus. The dungeon had enough of his existence, and it was preparing a nasty, custom tailored surprise to erase him from the script. Thus the System's emphasis on the word 'challenge.'
"Less than a week." Yuuya whispered to himself, his fingers tightening.
Bell's incurable, black spotted necrosis was a ticking clock. The boy had just fought like a hero to save Haruhime, but that raw physical exertion would undoubtedly accelerate the corruption within his veins.
Yuuya had less than six days before the disease took a terminal, irreversible turn for the worse.
If the dungeon was planning an elongated, brutal meat grinder of a trap down there, he couldn't afford to waste a single hour waiting on the surface. He might be trapped in those deep zones far longer than he initially anticipated just to survive the encounter.
He needed to move. Right now.
"You're leaving."
The deep, rumble like voice cut through the sound of falling masonry.
Ottar stood a few paces away near the ruined balcony, his massive arms crossed over his chest, his eyes fixed entirely on Yuuya.
The Level 7 adventurer hadn't missed the sudden shift in Yuuya's vibe.
Yuuya slowly turned his head, his dark eyes meeting the King's level gaze through the thick haze of smoke. The tired, casual smirk returned to his lips, though it didn't quite reach his eyes this time.
"Yeah." Yuuya said smoothly, his voice level and entirely resolute as he pulled his Goliath scarf back up over his nose, completely obscuring his features. "That's my cue, big guy."
Ottar didn't ask where he was going. He simply gave a single, slow, and deeply respectful nod of his head—a silent acknowledgment from one warrior to another.
With a sharp, decisive flick of his wrist, Yuuya turned his back on the burning ruins of the Pleasure Quarter.
His boots caught the edge of the fractured floorboards, and with a single burst of speed, he dissolved into a phantom streak of black fabric.
∆∆∆∆
Author:
And that concludes Haruhime's rescue.
Next chapter,
Yuuya vs Udaeus.