Tonight, Orario was more than a battlefield for mortal warriors, it had become a vast chessboard where gods themselves maneuvered in shadow.
Behind every clash of swords and cry of defiance lay another, quieter war: the war of divine minds. A misplaced queen, an overextended king, one wrong move could mean swift beheading.
Every god calculated with care, searching for the elusive move that might turn the tide.
Every god, except Astraea.
While others contemplated and strategized, she strode unhesitatingly into the center of the battlefield, a beacon that shielded both adventurers and civilians alike.
From her high tower, Freya's lips curved faintly as she saw the Goddess of Justice standing upon the Tower of Babel beside Hermes.
"Truly… so carefree." She murmured, the words carrying a rare tone of respect.
Akira, beside her, also spotted the trio of figures and couldn't suppress a faint laugh in his heart.
'Astraea-sama… Even if I could shield you both, you cannot simply walk before evilus with such lofty confidence.'
And yet, mingled with his concern for her safety, there was something else, a quiet admiration.
However, on the other hand, an indescribable pride welled up, pride that only members of the Astraea Familia could feel when they saw their own god shine.
"Really?"
Akira shook his head. Although he looked helpless, his tone was filled with pampering affection. "It's really hard to serve a willful goddess."
After saying this, he looked down at the massive crowd of enemy soldiers, the burning city, and the rushing figures of adventurers from various familias coming into view.
Finn had instructed everyone to form a defensive circle around the central square, with their own members at the core. Ising rubble and wine barrels salvaged from a nearby bar, they piled together a chaotic yet clearly defined fortress, hastily built but functional.
The White and Black Knights, Hedin and Hogni, famed warriors of the Freya Familia, were locked in battle. Although neither side wanted to admit it, for them, even the elf sisters Dis had become enemies to face head-on.
Similarly, the four pallum quadruplets were engaged in fierce combat with the spirit soldiers, several of whom Akira himself had already taken down.
In short, every adventurer had their own task, their own battlefield.
Akira spread his hands toward the sky, releasing magic power freely. Though he had been channeling magic all day, not even a hint of fatigue crept in. Instead, the energy within him began to boil.
Whoosh—
Beside him, Freya's long silver hair caught the breeze, flowing like liquid moonlight. Her violet eyes narrowed slightly, watching with keen interest the waves of magic surging around Akira.
'Such powerful magic… even Hedin, who has already reached Level 5, can't compare. Astraea, where in the world did you find this… troublemaker?' Freya sighed silently to herself.
Even she, a deity only interested in the purest light of mortal souls, found it difficult to resist the urge to claim this one for herself. If other gods learned of this, the Astraea Familia might find themselves forced into war games every single day.
Akira clenched his fists, and ribbons of deep blue light slipped from his body, darting into the clouds above like nimble serpents. In the next instant, the entire sky warped unnaturally.
From the clouds, once blackened and stained with smoke, countless points of light began to glimmer. They intertwined and overlapped, sketching the shape of a massive magic circle across the heavens.
On the ground, adventurers in the midst of rescue efforts froze. Evilus soldiers, ready to self-destruct in the chaos, hesitated. Even the gods felt an unfamiliar, suffocating weight bearing down upon them.
The magic circle above was gathering an immense volume of power, so much that some wondered if a god had lost too many followers and was about to use their arcanum to destroy everyone outright.
All motion across Orario slowed, eyes drawn upward to the oppressive sky that seemed ready to collapse upon the city.
The suffocating presence of dark clouds pressing down, threatening to crush everything spread through the streets like a living force.
Freya's pupils contracted sharply. The magic radiating from Akira's body distorted his form, making his figure waver before her eyes. She bit her lip lightly, her fingertips sliding across the windowsill, leaving shallow scratches in the wood.
'This is beyond a mere monster. He is a hero who could overturn the gods themselves.'
At that very moment, the skies over Orario shifted. A storm was coming. Above the burning city, thick dark clouds gathered in a suffocating shroud.
Crack—!
Bolts of lightning ripped through the heavens, their blinding light tearing open the darkness. A strong wind swept through the streets, the herald of a tempest. Then came the downpour.
A deluge crashed down from the heavens, hammering the earth with unrelenting force. Thunder roared as the rapid rain wove an endless net across the city, drawing a curtain of shadow and water over the flames.
The storm was merciless, like a titanic wave crashing over Orario, extinguishing the raging infernos, stripping away the heat, and smothering the choking smoke. It quenched the adventurers' parched throats and eased the anxious pounding of their hearts, granting them a moment of respite amid exhaustion and peril.
Snap! Snap!
Bolts of lightning crashed down like divine judgment.
Villains who had watched the chaos with smug expressions were reduced to drenched, shivering wrecks, some unlucky enough to be struck directly by the storm's wrath.
The charged air buzzed with electric currents. Each time lightning tore across the sky, the soldiers of Evilus screamed, scattering for cover.
For most, anyone not within Akira's immediate vicinity, the identity of the miracle's source was unknown.
But a miracle had indeed occurred, and the effect was undeniable. Morale soared, and the tide of battle began to shift.
The lightning was never meant to kill, it was the rain that mattered, the quenching of the fires.
Akira turned away from the skyline and back toward the tower's heart. His task was not yet complete.
The veil of rain created momentary blind spots in the battlefield. Within one of these hidden spaces, a lone, almost transparent figure stood.
In the shrouded night, he first concealed the adventurers, then, when the rain eased, shifted into the role of healer. Whether adventurer or civilian, all within his reach were restored with magic and potions.
Those on the brink of despair, their spirits fraying, their hands trembling toward desperate acts, he subdued them with enchanted tools, forcing them into gentle slumber.
In the rain, he tilted his head toward the sky.
"Ouranos… this rain—"
...
Beneath his transparent cloak, a communication crystal shimmered, sending back a reply that made his eyes widen.
"Morning Star? Ouranos… are you certain?" Fels murmured.
Elsewhere, Astraea too noticed the transformation. She gazed upward, recognizing the familiar signature of the magic, and the corners of her lips curved into a warm, gratified smile.
"Akira, you always manage to surprise me… and thank you for the umbrella."
"Hey, did Akira-sama do this? So amazing." Lili's voice brimmed with awe at Astraea's words.
Astraea and Lili stood in the center of the battlefield beneath a massive blood-red umbrella, untouched by the rain, dry even down to a single strand of hair. Hermes, however, was far less fortunate. He tried to slip under the umbrella, but it resisted entirely.
"How could you? Isn't this too stingy? Akira, do you have no respect for your idol?!" Hermes wailed in despair.
A blood-red hand pressed against his face, shoving him a full meter away, only half his body sheltered beneath the umbrella's edge.
"Orario is too much, meow…" Chloe muttered to a nearby assassin.
Evilus had set the city ablaze, but then, without warning, heavy rain began to pour from the sky.
Under the eaves of a tall building, the bounty hunter girl Lunoire murmured to herself, "Orario is really terrible." as she fought back against the advancing evilus soldiers, her gaze fixed on the cooling city around her.
Nearby, the tail, a distinctive trait of cat people, twisted restlessly, while the fur of a nearby cat bristled and fluffed up in an instant. Her right hand, encased in a bloodstained glove, kept opening and closing repeatedly, almost as if by long habit.