The campfire was burning low. Only a few thick logs remained alight, crackling softly in the darkness.
Sparks rose into the air, tracing brief red lines across the night before disappearing.
Genichi sat beside the fire with a cup of tea that had long since gone cold. His face was calm, but he couldn't quite hide the frustration in his eyes.
His fingers tapped rhythmically against the cup, betraying his irritation.
Demeter sat beside him, watching him as though she wanted to say something but couldn't find the words.
Across from her, Astraea sat in silence, her expression composed.
Artemis sat opposite Genichi with her arms folded, staring at him. Her gaze was sharp enough to cut.
"You're saying the authority I obtained is useless?"
Genichi's voice was level, though anyone could hear the strain beneath it. "Artemis's hunting authority can't make me immune to the goddess of beauty's charm?"
Demeter sighed and nodded.
"It can't. Hunting governs tracking, accuracy, and survival in the wilderness. It has nothing to do with charm, which affects the mind. You can use it to track prey, shoot arrows, or survive outdoors. But trying to counter a goddess of beauty's charm with it is like trying to catch the wind in a fishing net. You're using the wrong tool entirely."
The corner of Genichi's mouth twitched.
Disappointment, resignation, disbelief, and a bewilderment he couldn't quite put into words passed across his face.
He had put so much effort into this. He had spent so long planning, arranging every piece: Ouranos's commission, the annihilation of the Artemis Familia, her imprisonment inside Antares, drawing the Arrow of Orion, the battle deep within the ruins, and finally obtaining her authority beside the lake.
Every step had been accounted for. Everything had gone according to plan.
And the result?
He had obtained her authority, only to discover it couldn't do the one thing he needed.
What was this supposed to be?
Was fate playing a joke on him?
Artemis sat across from him, her arms still folded and her eyes cold.
She already knew everything he had done.
Ouranos's commission. Antares's awakening. The slaughter of her Familia. The sealing of her true body. Drawing the Arrow of Orion. The battle in the ruins. That kiss beside the lake.
Genichi had told her about every calculation, every arrangement, and every deception.
He had concealed nothing, softened nothing, and made no attempt to paint himself in a better light.
Immediately after obtaining her authority, he had resurrected her fallen Familia members.
He hadn't done it to win her favor. He had simply done what he wanted to do.
Her children had returned from death, bewildered and overjoyed to be alive, and stood before her once more.
Artemis had held them and cried for a long time.
She had wept like a child.
She had thought they would never come back, that they would remain forever among those ruins, never to return to her side.
But Genichi had brought them back.
She was grateful to him for reviving her Familia.
That didn't mean she could forgive his deception.
He had used her. He had exploited her despair, her helplessness, and her trust.
He had treated her and her Familia as pieces on a board, used her life as a bargaining chip, and turned her feelings into a tool.
She should have hated him. She should have gotten up and left.
But she hadn't.
She simply sat there, staring at him with eyes like knives.
"So you were manipulating me from the very beginning?"
Artemis spoke quietly, but her voice was cold. "The Guild's commission, Antares awakening, my Familia being slaughtered, my body being sealed away... all of it was part of your plan?"
Genichi looked at her. After a moment of silence, he nodded.
"Yes."
She pressed her lips into a thin line and gripped the edge of her clothes until her knuckles whitened.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"If I had, would you have agreed?"
His voice remained calm, as though he were simply stating a fact.
"Would you have let your Familia go to their deaths? Would you have allowed yourself to be sealed away? Would you have let me gamble with your life? And would you have fallen in love with me?"
Artemis fell silent.
She knew what he was saying was true.
Had she known beforehand, she never would have agreed.
She would have refused the Guild's commission, taken her Familia away from the Great Forest, and searched for another way to deal with Antares.
But then Antares would have continued absorbing her divine power, growing stronger until even the gods could no longer stop it.
By then, her Familia wouldn't have been the only ones to die.
Countless others would have perished.
"I know you hate me."
Genichi's voice was quiet.
"But I had no other choice. I needed your authority. I needed the power to resist charm. Your Familia died, and I brought them back. You were sealed away, and I rescued you. Antares threatened the Lower World, and I destroyed it. I've repaid what I owed you."
Artemis looked at him, conflicting emotions filling her eyes.
Anger, disappointment, resignation, and a trace of heartache she hadn't even recognized.
She knew he had done all those things. In his own way, with his own abilities, he had made restitution.
But she still couldn't accept it.
She couldn't accept being treated as a pawn, her Familia being used as sacrifices, or her feelings being turned into a tool.
"Artemis."
Demeter's voice broke the silence.
"What Genichi did was wrong, but he had no other choice. You know what Ishtar is like. You know what would happen if she took control of him. He wasn't doing this out of simple self-interest. He was trying to survive."
Artemis bit her lip and said nothing.
Of course she knew what Ishtar was like.
That goddess of beauty, that woman who would sleep with anyone, had never been one to show restraint.
If Genichi fell under her control, he would become her puppet, her plaything, her tool.
He would lose his sense of self, his freedom, everything.
Artemis didn't want to see that happen.
Even after he had deceived her.
"Enough."
She sighed, resignation creeping into her voice.
"It's already happened. Going over it again won't change anything. I won't forgive you, but I'll leave it at that."
Genichi looked at her and nodded.
"Thank you."
Artemis turned away.
Something churned inside her.
It wasn't anger or disappointment, but a tangled feeling she couldn't put into words.
All she knew was that she didn't want to leave him, even though he had lied to her.
She still wanted to see him, even though he had manipulated her.
She knew that she...
She didn't dare follow the thought any further.
"Let's get back to the problem."
Her voice had regained its composure.
"Hunting can't give you the immunity to charm you're looking for. Virgin goddesses can resist a goddess of beauty's charm because of what we are, not because of the authorities we possess. It's because we're chaste, because we haven't been tainted by men, because our very nature is opposed to her power. Obtaining my authority won't give you that nature."
Genichi frowned.
"Then what am I supposed to do?"
Artemis considered for a moment before answering.
"If you intend to obtain a god's authority to protect yourself from a goddess of beauty's charm, then the authority itself has to be capable of counteracting it."
She paused.
"In that case, only Hestia's sacred flame can help you. It is a flame of purity and purification, a power that drives out all that is unclean. It can burn away corruption and dispel charm."
Genichi's eyes brightened slightly.
Hestia, goddess of the hearth.
Like Artemis, she was one of the virgin goddesses.
Her authority governed the sacred flame, the protection of the home, and the warmth of the hearth.
But that flame was also a formidable weapon. It could burn away impurity, cleanse corruption, and dispel curses.
If he could obtain her authority, he could resist Ishtar's charm and finally free himself from that threat.
"Hestia's authority won't be easy to obtain."
A note of warning entered Artemis's voice.
"She's different from me. She won't readily trust someone or agree to share her authority. If you want it, you'll have to pay a greater price."
Genichi was silent for a moment, then nodded.
"I know. But I'll find a way."
Artemis watched him, something complicated flickering in her eyes.
"Aren't you afraid of failing again?"
He smiled faintly, a trace of self-mockery in the expression.
"I've already failed plenty of times. One more won't make much difference."
Artemis fell silent.
Yet he had never given up. He had never backed down.
She didn't know whether to call that determination, stubbornness, or stupidity.
But she knew she admired that part of him.
"If you need help, you can ask me."
She spoke softly, with obvious reluctance.
"I may not forgive you, but I don't want to see Ishtar take control of you either."
Genichi looked at her and smiled.
"Thank you."
Artemis turned her head away again.
A faint blush colored her cheeks, clearly visible in the moonlight.
Watching them, Demeter's lips curved into a small smile.
She knew Artemis could insist she hadn't forgiven him all she liked.
What she needed was a way to relent without feeling humiliated, a reason she could accept, an excuse to make it hurt a little less.
And Genichi had given her that excuse.
(End of Chapter)
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