Chapter 462: The War of the Divine Realm
Upon hearing Hikari's panicked voice, Ena rushed into the shrine at once.
She saw Yuri, who had just woken up, her face deathly pale, her pupils filled with terror, and her body trembling uncontrollably.
"Yuri, we're right here with you. Don't be afraid!"
She stepped forward and embraced Yuri, who seemed on the verge of a mental breakdown from fear.
At the same time, Ena's heart was filled with endless guilt.
In her view, Yuri's current state was entirely her own fault.
If Hikari hadn't needed to go to Mount Nikko, Yuri wouldn't have followed, and this situation would never have occurred.
"Sister~"
Hikari also embraced her, trying to drive away her sister's fear with her own warmth.
After holding each other for a while, she could feel the ice-cold body that had been trembling with fear gradually return to normal temperature and stop shaking.
"Hikari, could you get Yuri some clean clothes?"
"Huh? Oh, okay"
Her sister's clothes were soaked through with cold sweat.
Looking closely at her sister's expression, her face didn't appear particularly frightened but rather flushed with a hint of shyness?
What was going on?
Ah, so that was it. It wasn't just sweat that had dampened her sister's clothes—there was another reason.
Under normal circumstances, she might have teased her sister a little about this, but now she couldn't bring herself to do so, only feeling more heartache instead.
This showed just how terrified her sister must have been to end up in such a state.
Suddenly, Ena's expression shifted as she sensed something, summoning Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi.
"Th-that's the goddess who presides over love and beauty, the goddess born from sea foam"
Yuri beside her suddenly murmured these words in a daze, clearly her Spirit Sight had activated.
This meant the god approaching the shrine was Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty from Greek mythology.
"And... that's a Divine Ancestor? The eight-foot—crow?"
She then murmured in confusion.
"Oh, so these are the shrine maidens of this world? Impressive, you recognized my identity at a glance"
A clear voice rang out as a golden-haired twin-tailed girl of about twelve or thirteen, so beautiful she seemed otherworldly, floated in as if flying.
From this girl, Ena could sense a divine presence.
Was a Heretic God actively seeking them out?
Just as she prepared to position her sword for immediate attack, two more figures entered.
One was a beautiful girl with slightly wavy black hair, wearing feather-like hair accessories, with a slender figure appearing to be around sixteen or seventeen years old.
The other was a somewhat boyish short-haired beauty—Sayanomiya Kaoru, whom Ena recognized.
Seeing that Kaoru didn't appear to be controlled or threatened, but rather seemed to have brought them here for some assistance, Ena slightly lowered her guard.
"Kaoru, who are these—?"
"They are—"
"Let us introduce ourselves. I am Toba Riona, the reincarnation of Yatagarasu, and an advisor to the national agency Institution of Divinities."
This self-introduction left Yuri and Ena stunned—shocked that she was the reincarnation of Yatagarasu, and even more shocked that there was suddenly an Institution of Divinities agency in their country.
"Hmm, it seems you're unaware of the Institution of Divinities agency, right? That's normal, since this agency comes from a parallel world's version of our country"
This subsequent revelation made both of them widen their eyes.
"P-parallel world?"
Ena looked at Kaoru, who responded with a bitter smile and a nod.
This... this was too unbelievable.
"Y-you're not a Heretic God?"
Yuri suddenly exclaimed in astonishment toward the goddess who seemed somewhat arrogant.
Wasn't she a god?
"Of course I'm not one of your so-called Heretic Gods, I am..."
"Miss Stella comes from a parallel world like me, and her mythological name is Aphrodite."
"Hey, don't steal my lines! Why are you speaking for me?! And you even revealed my true name!!!"
The goddess from the parallel world glared angrily at the girl from the parallel world.
As a result, Yuri and Ena were also thrown into confusion.
"W-What is this situation? Kaoru"
Thus, after Kaoru's explanation, the two finally understood the current precarious circumstances.
The parallel world had connected with this world, and some gods from parallel worlds had entered this side.
During the conflict with Athena in the Divine Realm Troy, Miss Stella was left bewildered when Athena suddenly vanished into a cave.
She soon learned that this cave was a passage to another world, where one could achieve true immortality by devouring the same god in that other world.
Therefore, Stella, worried that Athena might gain greater power and return to destroy the Divine Realm of Troy, followed her through.
Miss Riona, who was assisting Stella in resisting Athena, accompanied her.
So why did Riona get involved in the conflict of Western mythology?
The reason was that the emergence of the Divine Realm Troy space was very close to the human world, with its distorted spatial passage located over the territory of Japan in the parallel world.
If not handled properly, the destruction of the Divine Realm Troy space would affect the human world.
Why would the Divine Realm Troy space be destroyed?
Because the Trojan War was taking place here, with the mythological stories woven by humans being enacted in this space.
In the woven narrative, the Trojan War ultimately ends with Troy's defeat and destruction, which would cause this space to collapse. The resulting shockwaves would impact the human world, bringing terrible disasters.
Thus, the Greek pantheon intervening in this war—Stella's side supported Troy and naturally didn't want its defeat, though her motives weren't purely about saving humanity.
Riona, wanting to prevent the human world from being affected, assisted Stella in attempting to alter the normal course of the Trojan story and reverse its outcome.
Therefore, they were concerned that Athena, who wanted to win this war, might gain greater power here and return to destroy the Divine Realm of Troy, so they came to stop Athena.
Incidentally, Athena didn't just want the Divine Realm Troy destroyed—she would continue seeking other divine realms, assisting gods who supported destruction in other divine realm wars, attempting to destroy those spatial realms so the destructive impact would reach the human world.
Because Athena and some other gods despised how humans had made the earthly world ugly and wanted to carry out purification.
"This..."
After hearing this, Ena didn't know what to say. Since the Mount Nikko incident, the world had become so messed up.
Ah, that Apocalypse Knight probably also came from a parallel world.
Otherwise, how could they be so overpowered!
So they could also ask the goddess from the parallel world about this.
Speaking of which, Yuri had seen visions of the Demon God sending the Beast of Revelation to destroy everything—these might be scenes of future collapse from parallel worlds..