As the sun set in the west and the sea breeze blew, St. Freya Academy, situated on the sea, welcomed its night.
Unlike usual, the villa located in a corner of the island was still brightly lit.
"Um, Takatsuki, thank you."
As Takatsuki was lying on the sofa in a relaxed posture, Siegfried suddenly walked over and thanked him.
"Hmm? Don't mention it..."
After all, he was his father-in-law.
However, Takatsuki didn't say it out loud.
And Siegfried didn't know what to say either, so he just sat on the sofa opposite Takatsuki.
It was clear that he had many things he wanted to say.
It was just that everyone else was present before, so he hadn't said it, but now that the girls had all gone to the hot springs, leaving only two males in the living room, he finally had a chance to express his gratitude.
"Actually, I've always struggled with how to face Kiana and Bianka. After Cecilia's sacrifice, I swore to take good care of Kiana, but I still failed to fulfill my duties as a father..."
Sitting on the sofa, Siegfried suddenly started talking to himself.
It seemed he was treating Takatsuki as a listener, or perhaps he just wanted to vent his emotions.
He didn't expect any response.
"I once thought that the two people I loved most, the two people who loved me, had left forever because of my mistakes. All this time, I've felt incredibly guilty..."
An old man sincerely expressed his gratitude to a young man he had only met today.
Thanking him for mending his past mistakes and for allowing him to regain the warmth of a home.
Watching Siegfried's heartfelt outpouring, Takatsuki remained silent.
He merely sat up straight, listening quietly to the other's words.
Sometimes, communication between men doesn't require explicit words.
Nothing particularly special happened afterward.
The only thing that could be considered special was that the house wasn't big enough, so the two sisters moved in together, and Rita originally planned to stay with Himeko, but Himeko's room was so messy that it took half a day to clean.
As for Siegfried?
Takatsuki directly "invited" him back to his Anti-Entropy.
He didn't want to sleep in the same bed as an old man, even if he was his father-in-law.
And rather than having Theresa arrange a place for Siegfried elsewhere, it was better for Takatsuki to directly send him back with a [Close at Hand Yet Worlds Apart] and pick him up the next day.
However, Siegfried said there was no need to pick him up.
Although he longed to reunite with his daughter, he still had his own matters to attend to, and so did Durandal.
Durandal couldn't stay at St. Freya Academy indefinitely.
Although the atmosphere here was good, it could easily lead to complacency; she still wanted to improve herself in the environment of the Destiny headquarters.
However, even a cultivation fanatic could rest during their leisure time.
It's worth mentioning the update to Takatsuki's strength.
Advancing from LV7 to LV8 was a qualitative leap; although no new magic or skills were added, a new development ability, [Lone Wolf], appeared.
Its effect seemed to allow Takatsuki to exert the power of his Blessing without being constrained by his affiliated main god, with the power exerted varying based on the development ability's level.
Hestia was astonished for a long time when she saw it.
Because Familia members lose the power of their Blessing when their affiliated main god is returned, this is a rule. Although they can regain the Blessing from another main god and inherit their previous level, this is a different concept.
And Takatsuki's development ability, in Orario, means that even if the main god is returned, he will maintain his combat power.
Fortunately, this wouldn't automatically update his ability values, otherwise, it would mean being completely free from the main god's restraint.
Takatsuki shook his head and said nothing.
The main purpose of updating his ability values was to fight the "Past Battle Echoes" tonight.
"Past Battle Echoes" are all enemies he has fought in the past.
Takatsuki basically had a thorough understanding of their abilities.
Except for Phantylia, from whom he only got 500 crystals.
He successfully obtained the full 1500 crystals from the others, bringing his crystal reserves directly to 14850.
Phantylia was truly helpless; after all, her abilities were all-encompassing, unlike Gilgamesh, who, despite having the invincible the Gate of Babylon, could be instantly killed by King Crimson's abilities. Takatsuki even fought Phantylia several times before winning.
Since he had money, he might as well spend it simply and also strengthen his abilities.
Takatsuki only stopped after continuously drawing six gold cards.
Three from the character pool, three from the item pool, costing a total of 2550 crystals, averaging eighty-five draws per gold card. His luck wasn't great, but it was much better than the hundred draws it used to take.
However, looking at the results of his draws, Takatsuki was somewhat dissatisfied.
Sure enough, just as his daughter said, current gacha draws offered very little improvement to his abilities.
Let alone the un-implemented SSS-rank, even SS-rank was hard to come by.
This gacha result had two SS-rank cards, one of each type, but Takatsuki felt that the item card's SS-rank was simply due to sheer quantity. However, Takatsuki couldn't really judge if the item was worth that rank.
[A Can of Senzu Beans]
[Description: A can containing thirty thousand beans.]
Takatsuki was speechless looking at this description. If he didn't know the effect of Senzu Beans, he wouldn't believe a can of beans could be rated SS-rank.
However, to confirm its effect, Takatsuki immediately lay down, fought a battle in the "Past Battle Echoes," and used one to confirm its effect before feeling relieved.
Items in "Past Battle Echoes" are essentially projections and do not result in actual waste.
The remaining items included a Universal Key that could be used one more time, whose effect was to open anything.
This effect made Takatsuki feel like he could do a lot with it, as the key didn't specify it could only open doors, but it could only be used once, making him abandon the idea of experimenting.
The last one was a Class Card (Berserker).
After limited deployment, it was Hercules' Nine Lives, seemingly containing Hercules' power.
And the three cards from the world of Fairy Tail: one was the protagonist Lucy, but without her Celestial Spirit Keys, so her only useful ability was the Super Magic: Star Dress, but Takatsuki didn't lack attack abilities! However, drawing this card made Takatsuki realize that this character pool could indeed draw female characters.
Before, even the miscellaneous character cards were all male. Takatsuki realized this might be a change brought about by Ai's birth.
Unfortunately, character cards aren't people, so they don't count as drawing a wife.
No, he already had a wife...
Shaking off distracting thoughts, Takatsuki looked at the next card.
The second card was also a female character, Seilah.
At first, when Takatsuki saw this name, his first reaction was Sella, the homunculus from Einzbern.
But upon seeing her voluptuous figure, which her kimono couldn't hide, and the iconic twin horns on her head, Takatsuki remembered who she was.
A member of Tartaros, a demon from Zeref's Book, Seilah of the Chill Moon.
Her abilities were simple: Macro and Demonification.
Macro allowed her to command anything weaker than or equal to herself. This ability was very strong but required a strong foundation of power, so it was rated S-rank.
And the last card, the SS-rank card, was...
Dimaria Yesta...
One of the Twelve Spriggan, a Wizard who received the power of the God of Time...