Astraea's gaze shifted slightly.
"Leon Vardenburg, Greatest of Knights..."
Artemis raised her hand and drew her bow, the arrow ripping through the air and cleanly skewering an Evilus fanatic who'd managed to flee the blizzard. She answered without turning her head:
"Mm, that's the one. The Knight of Knights."
"..."
Loki, standing nearby, caught sight of the longbow in Artemis's hand and, following her instincts, quietly shuffled two steps back to put Riveria in front of her, carefully widening the gap between herself and these two warrior goddesses. She narrowed her crimson eyes, her mind racing.
Lv.6? No... maybe even stronger...
Just who in the world is this? It can't be that lunatic hag Hera come back, can it?
The moment the thought surfaced, Loki shivered and hurriedly shook her head to drive the unlucky notion out of her mind.
Damn it! If our Finn and Riveria could take one more step forward, we wouldn't be this backed into a corner right now!
Beside them, Hermes silently tugged the brim of his hat lower, the shadow concealing all of his expressions, leaving no one able to glimpse what this god of messengers was thinking.
Ahh... beyond established hero candidates like the King, the Braver, and the Nine Hell, there are these eggs of heroes brimming with limitless possibility in Demeter and Astraea's familias... To take part in this magnificent age firsthand is truly...
"...Magnificent!"
Asfi: "..."
She propped her forehead in one hand, completely at a loss as to what her patron god was on about this time, how he'd suddenly slipped into such a fervor.
"Lord Hermes, please act normal."
"Huh?"
Snapping back to himself, Hermes lifted his head, his line of sight landing squarely on the arrow Artemis had nocked to her longbow and the longsword Astraea had just drawn from beneath her cloak.
"..."
The god made the same choice as Loki with a look of terror, swiftly retreating two steps to tuck Asfi in front of him, the motion so smooth it was as if he'd rehearsed it countless times. He stole a wary glance at the two warrior goddesses not far off, and only after confirming their attention wasn't on him did he let out a discreet sigh of relief.
Faced with the scornful look Asfi shot him, the god straightened his back without a shred of shame:
"This isn't cowardice. It's listening to my heart!"
Asfi rolled her eyes and gave a dry laugh.
"Sure."
Elsewhere.
Demeter, Margaret, Iri, and the rest had kept all their attention fixed firmly on Leon the entire time. As for the presence that had even the city's strongest on guard? Sorry, in their eyes, nothing mattered more than that figure standing in the middle of the field right now.
Yet Demeter and the others, wholly focused on Leon, failed to notice...
The figures of Rose and Kureha had, at some unknown point... quietly vanished from the chaotic venue.
...
Just as the gods were privately speculating with no leads to go on...
Leon slowly let his arms drop, the surging magic around him receding like an ebbing tide. He breathed out a wisp of cold air, the white mist slowly dispersing in the bitter cold.
"Phew..."
Leon glanced around, looking at the Adventurers Plaza he'd single-handedly remade into "Orario's Grand Ice and Snow World," a faint pang of unease quietly settling in.
Hss... I think I might've laid it on a little thick there.
He turned back toward Demeter a touch guiltily, meeting the goddess's half-smiling gaze.
Leon: "..."
His shoulders slumped, and he forced out a sheepish grin.
As a "gold coin collector" extremely sensitive to money, his mind was already racing through every possible penalty clause and sky-high fine the Guild might hand him. After quickly tallying up the string of potential losses, his sense of dread grew thicker.
"Um, Lady Demeter, I..."
"Look out!"
A streak of light, black as a shadow, suddenly shot out from the direction of Babel's entrance!
A sharp shortsword tore through the cold wind, stabbing straight for Leon's chest!
"?"
Time seemed to stretch out. Leon looked down at the blade tip drawing closer and closer to his chest, his eyes utterly calm.
In the assassin's eyes, the "ice-attribute enchantment magic" on the Shadow of Sorcery was no cause for concern at all. What could a thin layer of ice armor do? With the curse-enchanted shortblade in his hand, he could ignore that defense entirely and punch a hole straight through this man's chest!
That way, the culprit who'd cost them so many subordinates could finally end his sinful life.
A sharp crack.
"Hm?"
A trace of confusion crossed the assassin's eyes first, then turned to shock, and finally, in the instant his eyes met Leon's and he saw the nasty curve at the corner of the man's lips, his expression dissolved completely into terror!
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"
"How could a mere enchantment spell...?"
A loud slap.
Leon backhanded him across the face, leaving the assassin's eyes glazed and dazed.
Then, seizing the instant the man was stunned, Leon tapped his toe lightly against the ground, sprang backward, and slid swiftly across the ice to open up the distance.
At the same time, he raised his right hand, leveled his index finger at the assassin, and smirked:
"Scorch!"
With a crackling hiss, raging flames erupted from the assassin, who had been frozen in place by Frost Armor's passive effect. In a single instant, his whole body suffered both absolute cold and searing heat!
"Aaaaaaaaaah!"
And it wasn't over yet.
Leon flowed through the motion without a hitch, once again using the True Essence of All Magic for an instant cast:
"Frost Nova!"
White mist burst outward, and the assassin, who'd just begun showing signs of breaking free from the freeze, was once more pinned fast in the ice.
Leon's index finger jabbed out in rapid succession, twin rings of crimson magic circles spinning at high speed in opposite directions.
The next second, firelight burst forth one after another!
"Fireball, Fireball, Fireball!"
Three fireballs slammed home in a chained string of detonations!
Killed an Evilus member, Excelia +39
...
The clash between Leon and the assassin had looked drawn out, but in truth it was settled in mere seconds.
By the time everyone snapped back to their senses, that assassin had not so much as a corpse left. Even the last trace of his ashes had scattered into the bitter wind.
The gods: "..."
The crowd: "..."
Loki sucked in a sharp breath and yanked Riveria to her side, lowering her voice, her tone thick with disbelief:
"Riveria, that Demeter Familia kid... he really is a mage, right?"
Riveria watched Leon's figure with a grave look, her lips pressed into a tight line, and slowly nodded.
"He's a mage, no question. I always knew he had a lot of potential, but I had no idea... he'd already grown to this level."
At that, Loki slapped her own thigh:
"Aah! I misjudged him!"
"How could this be!"
...
...