Loki wanted to run, but at that exact moment Hestia moved with astonishing speed.
She fled, Hestia pursued—there was no escape.
"Loki, didn't you say that if I didn't show up to the victory feast, I was a flat little bean? Well, I'm here now, so why are you trying to run?"
Hestia wrapped herself around Loki with a grip so tight it might as well have been an unbreakable seven-day binding spell.
"Who's running? I just suddenly remembered something important. And you—dressed that poorly? What, couldn't afford a new outfit? If you kneel down and beg, I might be merciful enough to give you a couple."
Even now, Loki's mouth remained as stubborn as ever.
A god could be killed, but never defeated.
Yet with Hestia clinging to her, Loki could already feel that crushing weight pressing against her, and her face went black.
The most terrifying part was that among the goddesses present, Hestia was not even the heaviest hitter in that department.
No.
Loki knew she had to retreat at once.
This was absolutely no place to stay.
"Poorly dressed? How could I possibly be poorer than your chest?"
Hestia was not polite in the slightest, aiming straight for Loki's greatest weakness.
Realizing she was not getting free anytime soon, Loki snapped. She grabbed Hestia's face with both hands and began swinging her around in a wild flurry.
"You wanna fight? You really think a shut-in like you can beat me?"
Loki's combat ability was indeed above Hestia's.
Once she got serious, she grabbed Hestia by the face and spun her like a weapon.
Hestia's feet left the ground. Even with the especially prominent part of her body included, she was not actually that heavy.
But as Loki swung her around, those not-so-heavy parts still delivered a devastating blow.
They even jiggled!
Loki finally could not take it anymore and dropped Hestia back onto the ground.
"I'll let you off for today."
"Don't run, Loki! If you run today, don't you dare show that pitiful body in front of me again!"
"I told you, I've got urgent business. I'm just letting you have this one."
With tears streaming down her face like noodles, Loki turned and fled.
Finn watched his goddess leave and somehow managed not to laugh as he led his group inside.
"At this point, let's just order first."
Orario had won the Great Struggle, but the cost had been terrible.
Some might think that after such grievous losses, they should not be celebrating so loudly.
But Orario had always been a place unlike any other.
They held the victory feast the night before.
The funerals began the next day.
Watching adventurers crying their eyes out, Filvis closed her own eyes and silently prayed for the companions she had lost.
Perhaps funerals were never really for the dead.
They existed so the living could find peace.
Even Filvis, now a creature no longer truly human, could still gain a brief measure of calm by standing before the graves of her fallen comrades.
After becoming what she was, and awakening her new magic, Filvis had realized that she did, in fact, possess talent.
How absurd.
Her talent as an elven mage had only been average.
Yet her talent as a monster was top-tier.
And because she was now effectively split between herself and a double, the gains she received seemed to be more than twice what they had been before.
Even Shadow had sounded impressed when he updated her Falna.
If this rate of growth continued, then within a year at most, she would be able to avenge her Familia.
"Shadow, what should we do next?"
Filvis rose to her feet and looked at the most magnificent Shadow with reverence in her eyes.
The Great Struggle had already been won.
The two Tyrants had also been defeated by Shadow.
Other than personal grudges, it seemed their only remaining goal was to defeat the One-Eyed Black Dragon.
Faced with a target that immense, Filvis felt completely at a loss.
She wanted Shadow to point the way forward.
"I already told you. There is still other darkness hidden in this world. We of Shadow Garden should rule over darkness and become the necessary darkness of the world."
Cid had already realized that Orario would need more trials if it hoped to keep up with him and become a force capable of fighting the Black Dragon.
At its current level, it was nowhere near enough.
A true eminence in shadow did not need companions.
But that day, he had heard the words of the god called the Greatest Evil.
Cid wanted to show respect for that love of humanity—and inherit it.
In any case, with Shadow Garden in place, these things would not need his personal involvement, nor would they interfere with his own growth in strength.
"Shadow, do you mean we should bring those remnants of the Dark Faction under our control? They won't obey."
Filvis did not believe those wretches were worthy of understanding Shadow's greatness.
They had no right to join Shadow Garden.
"They will not join Shadow Garden. They are nothing more than tools... Tell me this—when heroes grow, what kind of motivation drives them best besides life and death?"
Cid paused, then continued.
Before Filvis could answer, another voice interrupted her.
"Other than life itself, the only thing that can make them fight with everything they have is their pride. So what do you intend to do?"
Alfia stepped out of the shadows on her own.
Only when she revealed herself did Filvis realize she had been there at all.
The moment she saw her, Filvis was overcome by a strong sense of danger.
"Shadow, is she one of Shadow Garden?"
Filvis regarded Alfia with naked hostility.
Shadow had already told her everything about the so-called Greatest Evil.
Strictly speaking, she should not have hated this woman so much.
But certain facts were right there in front of her, forcing her to remain on guard.
First, this was a Tyrant whose strength could keep pace with Shadow.
Second, she was extraordinarily beautiful.
And finally, the way she had concealed herself just now seemed almost identical to Shadow's own methods.
How shameless.
She was clearly trying to imitate Shadow.
"She is not one of Shadow Garden. Though—are you interested in joining?"
Cid looked at Alfia, not entirely sure why she had appeared all of a sudden.
Other than their duel, there seemed to be little between them.
"No. My goal is to learn from you and become stronger. If you ever fall behind, I will defeat you. Consider it my way of thanking you."
With that, Alfia vanished back into the darkness.
She had not left. It was simply that, aside from Cid, no one else could detect where she was.
Even Filvis, who knew for a fact that Alfia was still there, could not sense the slightest trace of her.
"What a lovestruck lunatic."
Cid muttered, then chose not to dwell on it.
When he played the role of mob Cid, Alfia had never been around him.
Judging by the way she behaved now, just as in their duel that day, unless she defeated him, she would not investigate his double identity.
That was fine.
"Shadow, please tell me what I should do next."
Filvis unwillingly pulled her gaze away.
In terms of battle power, she was nowhere near that Tyrant.
But she was the one closest to Shadow.
She would prove her worth.
"Gather the remnants of the Dark Faction. Expand Shadow Garden. Then, in the end, we will hold a tournament between good and evil."
Cid looked toward the Second District.
There stood a circular arena, the site of monster festivals and other large-scale events.
It had also served as one of the five shelters during the Great Struggle.
Cid's thinking was not so different from Alfia's.
Alfia had spoken of humiliating the heroes' pride.
Cid, meanwhile, wanted to inflict the ultimate humiliation.
"If Orario wins, then the champions of the Dark Faction will be executed on the spot."
"If the Dark Faction wins, then Orario's people will have to release those villains with their own hands, and allow them to leave through Knossos and flee beyond Orario's borders."
Filvis felt a chill run down her spine.
Allow those scoundrels to walk out of Orario alive?
The Great Struggle had only just ended, and the facts had already proven that those people could devastate even Orario, the center of the world.
To release such people with their own hands would be a crushing blow to the heart.
And if the match were a public spectacle, then the entire world would know the result.
The more a person longed for justice, the more they yearned to be a hero, the more impossible it would be for them to accept such an outcome.
For heroes—or those who aspired to become them—that level of humiliation would be worse than torture.
Lose even once, and they would live with regret for the rest of their lives.
As for the Dark Faction, letting the tiger return to the mountains would indeed be dangerous.
But as long as Orario remained under Shadow's control, it would not be too serious a problem.
If they dared come back, they would only become Shadow's tools once again.
Filvis was certain of one thing.
If such a contest were truly established, both sides would fight with everything they had.
"Orario would never agree to that, would they?"
Filvis thought the proposal was excellent. She just did not think it could actually be made reality.
"I, Shadow, am now the ruler of darkness—and also the strongest in Orario. All they need to do is obey the will of the strong."
After saying that, Cid could not help imagining himself entering the tournament in disguise.
To fight in such an arena, win against the strong while appearing weak—that too was a classic scene for an eminence in shadow.
Besides, Cid could already feel that Orario's rate of growth was beginning to lag behind his own.
He had a premonition that when he eventually reached Level 7, he would awaken a very special skill.
As for the future, Cid still looked forward to it.
....
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