"Hahaha! Vena, the surprised looks on their faces is hilarious."
Dina doubled over, her laughter echoing sharply against the walls.
"That's right, big sister… should we tell them? Should we? Should we?"
Vena spoke with a bright smile.
"Lord Hermes, what is going on? Did they actually just find a way to control a monster like Antares?"
"None of them are Tamers... this shouldn't be possible!"
Asfi questioned as she turned towards her god.
"There is no way, right? How is something like that even possible? It must be a coincidence."
Lili said with a strained expression.
"…"
Hermes narrowed his eyes, his gaze drifting towards the gem on Antares' neck.
"Unfortunately for us… it is not a coincidence."
He muttered, to which everyone turned to look at him with disbelief.
"Hahaha! That's right, adventurers!"
"When the boss told us that there was a monster capable of handling arcanum… Evilus couldn't sit still and wanted that power for themselves."
"Thankfully, Evilus had developed a magic item that can help control monsters."
"However, to control something like Antares, it was not enough."
The Dis Sisters spoke before Vena held up something that looked like a medal, with a red orb embedded in it.
"It is thanks to this artifact that this kind of thing is possible."
Vena said, before the red orb suddenly flared with a sickly golden radiance.
As if responding to her command, Antares let out a roar, lifting one of its giant claws before smashing it towards Judas and the others.
"Move!"
Artemis shouted as they leapt aside to avoid the attack.
When the massive claw struck the ground, the impact was deafening, causing debris to fly in every direction.
"Kyaa!"
Everyone had to shield their eyes and were nearly blown away by the force.
Thankfully, Judas had already cast protective spells over them, catching their bodies with telekinesis before they could be thrown off balance, gently setting them back onto the ground.
"Dammit! Antares is already hard enough to deal with, and now these crazy sisters getting involved just made things worse."
Welf growled, pushing himself up.
"Belle?"
He turned to see Belle staring at the Dis Sisters, more specifically at the artifact in Vena's hand, her brow furrowed in deep concentration.
"Hey… doesn't that thing look like… the Key of Lakyus?"
She asked quietly.
As everyone turned towards her, Belle began to explain.
"Ah… my grandpa would often write and tell me hero stories."
She said, pointing towards the artifact.
"That thing looks a lot like the key of Lakyus from one of his stories."
"It is said to have been created by a group of spirits in ancient times that helped the hero Lakyus save his kingdom from being wiped out."
"Just like in the story… it can greatly amplify magical effects, which strengthened the hero Lakyus."
After Belle finished speaking, a brief silence fell over the group as they processed her words.
"I see… a magic item that controls monsters, combined with an artifact that amplifies its effects… to think Evilus would use this method to take control of Antares."
Hermes said, rubbing his chin.
He did not doubt Belle's story in the slightest, especially knowing who her grandfather was.
'Zeus… you really taught her well.'
Hermes thought with a small smile.
"Oh? To think there is someone here who knows the artifact's name… how unexpected."
Dina remarked as she and her sister turned their attention toward Belle.
"Hey… big sister, don't you think she looks like a rabbit?"
Vena said excitedly, almost bouncing in place.
"Good timing! I wanted a new stuffed toy! Big sister, I want to kill her, hollow out her corpse, and stuff it!"
"My very own personal plushy made from a real rabbit… wouldn't that be wonderful?"
"Oooh… a stuffed rabbit plush made from an actual rabbit corpse, you are so smart, Vena."
Hearing such disturbing words spoken so cheerfully while being stared at so ominously, Belle flinched and took a step back, her face going pale.
"W-What?! Y-you guys are insane!"
"Why does everyone call me a rabbit? I am not even a hume-bunny, I am a human!"
Belle scrambled as she quickly hid behind Judas' cloak.
"These two… they aren't Elves."
Lili muttered under her breath.
"They're more like demons."
The air in the room suddenly turned ice-cold.
The moment those words left her mouth, the Dis Sisters' smiles vanished.
A cold, furious expression replaced them as they glared at Lili with pure hostility.
"She said it. We heard her say it."
Both Dina and Vena spoke in unison as dark veins bulged on their foreheads.
"Eh?"
The sudden shift caught Lili completely off guard.
Feeling their killing intent surge, the little Pallum let out a terrified 'eep!' and hid behind Judas alongside Belle.
Despite their twisted nature, the Dis Sisters still held a deep obsession with elven purity and beauty, just like most of their kin.
In the past, because of how heretical they were to their race, they were often called "apparitions" rather than "fairies" like other elves.
This deeply bothered them, as they saw themselves as true "fairies."
More than anything, they despised being called "demons," viewing it as the ultimate denial of their identity.
As a result, hearing those words pushed them into a state of unrestrained rage.
"We'll kill you!"
The Dis Sisters screamed as if possessed by the goddess of wrath herself.
Vena thrust the Key of Lakyus forward.
"Antares! Shoot them down! I want every single one of them dead!"
The moment her words fell…
Antares let out a piercing roar.
A dark light surged from its body and shot into the sky, striking the false moon above.
A second later, thousands of rays of light began raining down, like a relentless aerial bombardment.
'It's another attack made from Arcanum!'
Judas thought as he looked up.
『Light Cannon』
He raised his arm and fired a spell to intercept.
'Even if it's made from Arcanum… it's still incomplete…'
For a fleeting second, the two energies clashed in a blinding stalemate.
But even with his power, Judas felt the pressure mounting.
The Arcanum, though incomplete, was a force of a higher dimension.
His attack began to falter, the rays of light overwhelming it before breaking through and continuing their descent.
"Tsk!"
In that split second, Judas abandoned offense and shifted to defense.
『Earth Dome』
He slammed his hands into the floor and raised a massive dome of earth around them before turning his head and shouting...
"Brace for impact!"
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