by Fujino Omori
“OUTTA MY WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!”
She charged forward like an enraged bowling ball, knocking Berbera out of the way as she made a beeline for the white-haired boy. Bell froze for a moment as he watched the bodies hit the stone floor in her wake.
Grand battle-ax and broadsword collided in an explosion of sparks a second later.
“…!”
“I had a soft spot for you, but no morrre! YOU DIE NOWWWWWWW!”
Fueled by pure rage, she spun into a swing that sent Bell arcing through the air.
Landing close to the wall at the edge of the Floating Garden, Bell barely had time to get on his feet to block the Amazon’s follow-up attack.
“Ai-Aisha, what do we do? Those two are almost outside the garden!”
“That toad…She’s completely lost it.”
Phryne drove Bell back onto the bridge amid sharp clashes and showers of sparks. At this rate, they would be in the main tower before any other Berbera could catch up. A younger Amazon came to Aisha for orders.
Aisha watched the battle for a moment before looking down at Haruhime’s head resting on her chest.
Trails of dried tears crisscrossed the unconscious renart’s cheeks. Aisha closed her eyes.
Then she set the girl who had asked for help for the first time in her life gently on the floor and immediately stood back up.
Just as she was about to issue orders to the Berbera still able to fight—something exploded.
“What was that…?”
Searching for its source, Aisha ran to the edge of the garden to look over the Pleasure Quarter.
“Mr. Welf, that explosion just now…!”
Hestia and her familia saw the flash of light burst out from the Floating Garden as they ran through the brothel-filled streets of the Pleasure Quarter.
Lilly knew that sound and had seen that color of flame many times before. She quickened her steps to catch up with Welf and made eye contact as they ran.
“Ignis Fatuus…!”
Welf groaned under his breath. He knew out-of-control magical energy when he saw it.
Something or someone with magical energy was in a dire enough situation to trigger Ignis Fatuus on top of the building behind the palace.
Hestia wasted no time in declaring that Bell and Mikoto were there. The entire group veered right and set a course directly for Belit Babili.
“Stop right there, intruders!”
“Tsk, not again…!”
Yet another group of Amazons arrived to bar their path through Orario’s third district.
Ouka spat in frustration at barely making any headway. Even so, he charged into battle with ax held high.
“Luckily, the opponents aren’t strong enough to keep us back!”
“Yes, their forces are spread too thin…!”
Lilly shot her bow gun to distract the closest Amazon while calling out in an attempt to raise morale. Chigusa added her own voice from the middle of the formation as she jumped into the fray, spear a blur.
Ishtar Familia’s forces had been split between protecting the Killing Stone Ritual and capturing Bell. Street patrols, the lowest priority, had been assigned to the weakest of the Berbera. It wasn’t long before Welf and Ouka carved a path through the lower Level 2 Amazons and the Level 1 animal people and humans sent to support them. Slowly but surely, the patrol guards fell by the wayside.
Thanks to Welf’s unusual anti-magic Magic and Takemikazuchi Familia’s incredible teamwork, the group worked their way through waves of enemies.
“Can we make it through?”
Takemikazuchi called out to Hestia from behind the protection of his followers. The goddess, however, was silent and in deep contemplation.
Why—why did it come to this…?
The War Game against Apollo had just ended. So why was Bell being targeted by so many gods?
Of course his quick growth would perk their interest…but was this really a coincidence?
Welf and the others rushed to meet the next wave of enemies as Hestia ran through the sequence of events in her head once again. “Outta my way!” the red-haired young man yelled at the Amazons who blocked his path—KA-BOOM.
“Huh…?”
Hestia, Lilly, Welf, and all of Takemikazuchi Familia looked over their shoulders to find the source of the latest explosion.
They immediately spotted a column of smoke emerging from a completely different direction. Flames licked the sky as the pyre rose even higher.
It was the same explosion that caught Aisha’s attention in the Floating Garden. An eerie silence continued for a few seconds before…BOOM, KA-BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!
More explosions came from around the Pleasure Quarter—no, the entire third district.
That’s when the first screams reached their ears.
“What is going on?!”
Ishtar herself had joined the hunt for Bell in the main palace when the explosions started going off outside. She was quick to demand a report.
Without her most trusted servant at her side, she addressed the first member of her familia she could find. The unlucky passerby dropped to his knees and hastily strung words together.
“S-some intruders are attacking the Pleasure Quarter…!”
“Attacking…?”
Pausing for a moment in shock, Ishtar then ran out of the hall and onto the closest balcony where she could see all of the Pleasure Quarter. Waves of hot air washed over her bronze skin the moment she stepped outside.
The condition of her territory made her jaw drop.
Loud noises, flashes of light, screams, and explosions erupted from every corner of the Night District under the moonlight.
Countless human figures advanced through the streets, her streets, under the cover of smoke and darkness. Shadows of the invading adventurer army flashed in every direction as new explosions went off all around them. Ishtar was lost for words.
Her familia was under siege.
The invading adventurers were moving swiftly among the brothels. Members of her familia fell one by one with each swing of a blade, each Magic casting, each flash of a magical sword. Ishtar could see it all.
What is this, what is going on?! Her mind raced as she tightened her white-knuckled grip on the balcony railing.
Her voice trembled as she watched the flames of war dance their way through the Pleasure Quarter.
“Wh-what? Nobody would have the gall to…!”
She was the grand and mighty Ishtar, head of Orario’s feared Ishtar Familia.
Who would show up with this many warriors, unannounced, weapons drawn, and start a fight with someone as powerful as she? That was as far as her train of thought needed to go.
The color drained from her face.
“It…it can’t be…?”
“E-ENEMY ATTACK!”
“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!”
Yells and screams laced their way through the buildings.
Moonlight and the occasional magic-stone lamp cast light on the golden seal of a nude female warrior in profile—the symbol of Ishtar Familia.
It could be found on discarded armor and weapons scattered throughout the streets. Another flash of steel brought another Berbera to her knees, buckler rolling to the middle of the street and coming to a stop with her familia’s emblem facing the sky.
They had been overrun. Elves, dwarves, animal people, prums, Amazons, all types of demi-human and human warriors surged into the Pleasure Quarter. They took over strategic positions, kicked over barrels in the streets, advanced over rooftops and eliminated Berbera resistance with ruthless efficiency. The invading men and women didn’t try to hide their faces—quite the opposite. They wore the beautiful and handsome features that had captured the attention of their goddess like badges of honor. They wielded the power that kept them in her good graces without any hesitation. An elf with a fluid spear, an animal person with pulsing magical energy in the palms of his hands, a dwarf with a war hammer that overshado
wed him in size—every single one of them showed no mercy to the opposition.
Swarms of noncombatants and prostitutes ran for their lives in the face of this one-sided assault. Male customers, literally caught with their pants down, cowered in fear as the invaders pointed their weapons toward only those who attempted to bar their advance.
“E-Eina? EINA! Big problem—really, really BIG PROBLEM!”
—The onslaught was being monitored from the Guild Headquarters northwest of the Pleasure Quarter.
Caught off guard by the panic in her coworker’s voice from outside, Eina jumped up from her desk and went to join her. She wasn’t prepared for what was waiting for her.
Joining the masses of Guild employees who had gathered on the front garden, Eina saw that every set of eyes was glued to the flashes of magical light, billowing smoke, and orange-red glow emerging from the southeast.
“That direction—the Pleasure Quarter…? Could it be—Belit Babili is burning?!”
Eina found her coworker Misha pacing back and forth among the nervously chattering staff of the Guild. Coming to a stop next to her, Eina cast her unsteady emerald-green gaze toward the pandemonium on the other side of Orario.
“An outbreak? What familia would be powerful enough to launch an offensive against Lady Ishtar?”
Eina thought out loud, unable to shake her disbelief.
Then it hit her like a jolt of lightning.
“It can’t be…”
“It can’t be…”
Other deities living in Orario watched the flames rise from the southeast.
“There’s no way…”
Some watched from their homes; others climbed to the tops of tall buildings for a better look.
“She wouldn’t…”
From the Shopping District, from the engineering wards, from trading outposts, deities young and old watched from a distance.
“Could that be…Ganesha?”
The divine beings all had the same reaction as Eina. A certain vermilion-haired goddess watched from the tallest tower of her home, Twilight Manor. Her thin eyes opened wider than usual; Loki kept a sharp vigil on the events taking place on the opposite side of the city.
Windows beneath her swung open as the heads of her followers appeared one by one. They yelled to one another, trying to figure out what was happening. Loki whispered to herself:
“Couldn’t be…Freya?”
Loki’s tongue snapped at the thought, vermilion eyes opening wider.
“That airhead, makin’ a move…”
Ker-tap. Ker-tap.
The sound of high heels on stone echoed through the scream-filled streets.
The bodies of fallen Amazons littered the streets, their faces illuminated by the flames reaching to grasp the sky. And yet her beauty managed to remain intact, a diamond traveling through the rough.
With her warriors clearing a path before her, she advanced through the Pleasure Quarter at her own fast pace.
“The Pleasure Quarter is under our control.”
“Ottar’s team has reached the palace.”
A man and woman appeared at her side to bring her up to speed. Freya kept walking, only saying, “I see,” without looking at the messengers.
The invaders showed no remorse for their actions. They traveled north through the third district with either an air of arrogance or resignation to the knowledge that their goddess’s will was absolute.
“Both of you, go to the front. That boy, he should be there.”
The goddess’s unblinking silver eyes remained focused on her target: the gleaming golden palace in the distance.
The first explosion hadn’t alerted only Hestia and Takemikazuchi to Bell’s position, it showed Freya exactly where to go.
“But My Lady, your escort…”
“Not needed.”
Freya didn’t listen to her follower’s concern.
“Eliminate all who stand in your way.”
And find the boy. Those were her orders.
The two gave a quick bow and left her side. Freya kept walking, speeding up.
Her straight silver hair swayed in the breeze. The sounds of battle around her never ceased. Surrounded by clashes, screams, and roaring flames, Freya continued to walk down the middle of the street, all the way to what was left of Belit Babili’s front gate.
Passing by a crater with random poles of warped steel littering the ground, Freya could feel the traces of magical energy on her skin as she passed through the front garden and stepped up to the palace. Then she just happened to look up.
Her silver eyes caught a glimpse of a bronze-skinned deity looking down at her with amethyst eyes from a balcony.
Freya returned the scowl with a glare menacing enough to intimidate a hawk, an ice-cold grin on her lips.
The other Goddess of Beauty’s face took on a ghostly shade of blue.
—Mere minutes had passed since Freya Familia began the invasion.
“…”
The mountainous frame of the boaz with the title of warlord stood with a human girl lying limp in his arms.
The hair band that kept her black ponytail in place long gone, her singed hair listlessly drifted in the breeze. She had fallen from the top of the building behind the palace. The large man saw her in time and caught her before she hit the ground.
“…Self-sacrifice to protect your allies, was it?”
Ignis Fatuus—the unique markings of internal burns gave Ottar a clue to the young girl’s fate.
She lay motionless in his gentle embrace, eyes closed.
The girl’s actions had earned her the boaz warlord’s respect. He lay her down on the ground and brought out an elixir from his item pouch before carefully pouring it on her skin.
The girl’s body, which was on the verge of falling apart due to the sheer number and severity of her injuries, started to heal on the spot. Life once again took root within her.
“Hey, Ottar. Quit playin’ around.”
“Don’t waste time on that girl,” a catman—Allen—snapped from behind him. Glaring coldly at his ally as he walked past, the top-class adventurer flipped a spear over his wrist.
Four more 120-celch-tall figures emerged from the shadows behind him: four prums. Two more sets of eyes were lurking in the darkness, those of an elf and a dark elf.
“We’re going to say this only once, Ottar.”
“The boy who has taken over her favor—Bell Cranell. We don’t like him.”
“We will follow the goddess’s will and eliminate all threats.”
“But we refuse to help him.”
“…Do as you will.”
The four prums showed no fear in speaking frankly with their familia’s commander. The other three said nothing, their silence indicating they shared the same opinion.
Ottar’s expression remained stoic despite his borderline insubordinate allies. However, he did draw a line.
“Goddess Ishtar does not escape. Block the exits.”
“And the ones who get in our way?”
“—Obliterate them.”
Ottar’s tone remained cool and collected as he led the team of seven adventurers toward the golden palace.
The strongest battle party in Orario, composed completely of top-tier adventurers, entered Belit Babili.
Roaring flames illuminated the streets of the Pleasure Quarter in place of the broken magic-stone lamps.
The flames worked in unison with other adventurers to isolate the third district, keeping everything inside. It was indeed the final hours of a once-proud fortress. Even more explosions were still ringing out in the distance, signaling the battle was not over yet.
Of all the spacious districts in Orario, the one that had given in to desire and adultery was now burning red under the full moon.
“To think it would come to this…”
A dandy deity stood on the southeastern portion of the city wall that wrapped all the way around Orario. He stood right up against the guard wall, looking down over
the carnage.
Feathered hat planted firmly on his head, Hermes watched the flames rise with Asfi standing a few paces behind him.
“The one who told Ishtar about Bell in the first place was none other…than me…”
The words fell out of Hermes’s mouth, his eyes tracing the ring of flames around the once thriving district.
His orange hair wavered in the blasting heat, the precisely laid inferno reflected in his orange eyes. His breaths were short, as if he was struggling to hold back tears.
“I’m the reason all this happened…Ahh, what is this piercing guilt in my chest…?”
He opened his arms wide and shook them, as if trying to cleanse himself. The deity looked down and quietly brought his hands together in front of his chest.
Directly behind the deity, his follower looked at his back with a cold stare through her glasses.
She sighed to herself at the same moment the light from a large explosion washed over them.
“So, how much of this was according to plan?”
Hermes lifted his head and looked over his shoulder. An unmistakable grin grew in the corners of his lips.
The remorseful aura was gone. Dropping the dramatic act, Hermes turned around to face Asfi and give his answer.
“First off, I wasn’t trying to make something on this scale happen. I just thought that something interesting might be set in motion if I provided a spark…That’s all.”
Asfi’s eyes twitched, a sure tell that she was keeping her opinion to herself.
Hermes had sown the seeds.
All he did was tell Ishtar about Bell under interrogation.
All he did was alert Freya out of concern for Bell’s safety.
That was it. They were very small seeds in the bigger picture.
Hermes once again turned around to watch the battles unfold amid the flames and moonlight.
“I’m not saying they’re dancing in the palm of my hand. This completely outdid my expectations. Ishtar’s jealousy was far more intense than I expected, just as Lady Freya was more attached to him than I thought.”
He had no idea something this big would happen so soon.
His grin grew wider with each word.