The following day arrived. The adventurers, having finalized their preparations to storm the Ruins of Elsos, gathered at the base camp.
"While the diversionary force draws their gaze, we will infiltrate the interior and eliminate Antares!" Artemis declared.
"We?"
Akumo, catching the dissonance in Artemis's strategy, directed a sharp, concerned gaze toward her.
"The inner gates will not yield unless subjected to my Arcanum. Therefore, I must accompany you."
"...It is too perilous. It would be more pragmatic to wait for the enemy to emerge."
Akumo moved to veto the plan and requested an immediate tactical revision, but before he could finalize his counterargument, Hestia and Hermes intervened.
"I'm going too. I won't let you face this alone," Hestia stated firmly.
"Then, naturally, I'm tagging along as well," Hermes added with a light shrug.
""Lord Hermes!""
"Artemis is one thing, but for Lord Hermes and Lady Hestia to join as well...!"
"Akumo is right. How can you be so reckless...!"
Asfi and Akumo were stunned by the deities' foolhardiness. For a god to enter a temple where a monster of unprecedented scale like Antares lay dormant was an invitation to catastrophe.
Pat—!
"Asfi, you knew it would come to this, didn't you?"
"Seriously..."
"This is my choice, so don't be too hard on me. If things go south, Akumo will save me, right?"
Hermes spoke with nonchalant ease while patting Asfi's head. Akumo's worry didn't subside, and he prepared to argue further, but Hermes stepped forward and locked eyes with him—his gaze suddenly devoid of its usual playfulness.
"Akumo-kun. Just as you seek to pioneer the path ahead, I wish to witness the birth of a Hero."
'And for that, I am prepared to face death itself.'
"So, if the situation demands it, you have my permission to abandon me!"
"What nonsense are you talking about..."
'That's a look of a man who won't back down... Fine.'
"I won't be abandoning anyone. So, do your best to keep up!"
"Haha! That's the Akumo-kun they call the [Pioneer] for you!"
Facing Hermes's absolute resolve, Akumo responded with a declaration of his own: no god would die under his watch. That vow rippled through the gathered adventurers, bolstering their morale and instilling a grim, steady faith.
"Let's do this right!"
"I'm expecting a hefty special bonus, you hear?"
"We're quite particular about our coin, after all."
The Hermes Familia joined in with lighthearted banter, diffusing the tension. Seeing them, Artemis offered a genuine, soft smile.
"Thank you, children."
"This will be a grueling struggle... many may fall..."
"But I ask this of you!"
"For the Lower World that we love!"
""""OHHHHHH!!!!!!!!""""
As the roar of the adventurers peaked following Artemis's decree—
RUMBLE—!!!!
"An ambush!?"
"Monsters attempting a preemptive strike...!! Not that it matters!"
"Everyone, CHARGE!!!!"
Even a surprise attack couldn't dampen the fires of war that had been lit. Fear was incinerated by their collective will.
Leaving the diversionary force to handle the exterior, the core strike team—comprising Akumo, Riveria, Alfia, Bell, Welf, Lili, Hestia, Ryu, Asfi, Hermes, and Artemis—commenced their breach into the ruins.
"This is the Sealed Gate I spoke of."
"...Everyone, stay sharp."
'This sinister aura... it's swelling...'
As Akumo and Ryu raised their guard, Artemis placed her hand on the gate and released her Arcanum.
GROAN—!!!!!
"....This!"
"Is it... parasitizing the temple?"
'So this is where the monsters are being manufactured...'
"Everyone! Storm the interior before the eggs hatch!"
CRASH—!!!!!!!!
SLICE—!!!!!!!!!
The battle erupted as scores of scorpion-like monsters hatched and swarmed toward them. Akumo's blade danced with lethal efficiency while Riveria's spells detonated through the ranks, clearing a path through the onslaught as they surged deeper.
SHRED—!!!!
"[Gram]!!!"
"[Winn Fimbulvetr]!!!!"
K-BOOM—!!!!!!!
"Disregard their numbers! Riveria and I will maintain the perimeter!"
"Move, everyone! Pay no heed to these vermin and advance!"
Akumo and Riveria operated as a dual engine of destruction, carving a wake for the others. However, noticing the unnatural rate of spawning and the parasitic nature of the temple, Akumo's mind—tempered by a thousand wars—began calculating a more efficient slaughter.
"Everyone! Conserve your Mind! I will intercept as much as possible!"
SLICE—!!
SLICE—!!
"Push forward!"
'Riveria, Bell, and Ryu are expending too much mana... They've already downed several Mind Potions... And Alfia needs to save her strength for Antares...'
Without a moment to dwell, another wave—numbering over a hundred—erupted from the walls. Seeing this, Akumo didn't reach for Gram. He reached for his other masterwork.
—SKREEEE!!!!!!!!
"Here they come again!!"
"Don't look back! Just run!!!"
Whoosh—
"[O bloodstained shadow of darkness, let your power become my blade. Thrust forth a lustrous abyss toward the sublime!]"
"That weapon...!"
"[Critical Shade]!!!!"
Akumo's [Balmung] revealed its serrated, saw-like teeth as he vanished from sight. In a blur of hyper-accelerated motion—
SHRE-RE-RE-RED—!!!!!!!!!!!!
"In a single strike...!"
'So that is the sister-blade of Akumo-san's [Gram]... [Balmung]!'
By the time Akumo's form remanifested, the monsters had already been systematically dismantled, their remains oxidizing into ash instantly.
"Incredible...!"
"The path is clear! Go, now!!"
STOMP—!!!
"There! The entrance to the inner sanctum!"
Thanks to his intervention, the group breached the inner ruins safely, navigating the tunnels until they arrived at a colossal subterranean hollow.
"Is this...?"
Twitch—!
GROAN—!
At the center of the hollow, a titan of shadow and malice had made its nest: a gargantuan black scorpion. Its chitinous carapace seemed to swallow the light itself, and the pulsating veins stretching along the walls made it clear—this was an ancient nightmare made flesh.
"Wait..."
'The gem in that thing's heart... the person inside is...'
"No way..."
"It can't be...!"
"How is this happening..."
Trapped within the jewel embedded in Antares's chest was Artemis herself.
—SKREEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
FWOOSH—!
With a deafening roar, Antares vented a torrent of black energy toward the crescent moon. After a fleeting moment of silence, the heavens themselves wept arrows of incandescent light.
"[Gram]!"
"[Gospel]!"
THOOM—!!!!!!!!!!!!
The barrage of Arcanum-fueled arrows decimated the hollow, producing shockwaves that rendered traditional Levels irrelevant.
Akumo reflexively drew [Gram] to unleash a wall of protective flame, while Alfia, struck by a visceral sense of dejà vu from a past nightmare, instinctually deployed her magic to intercept the light raining down on the group.
SKREE—!!!!!!!!
"Riveria!"
"[Gather, breath of the earth—My name is Alf.]"
"Everyone! Focus purely on survival! This is no ordinary monster!"
"[Veil Breath]!"
For Akumo, the scene overlapped with memories of ancient horrors. A pitch-black void... a creature designed to deliver a despair that insulted the very existence of the Gods...
Only then did Akumo realize the true nature of the Irregulars he had seen until now.
'The natural enemy of the Gods...!'
"Lord Hermes, what in the world is that!?"
"....The one inside that gem is the original Artemis."
"What...!"
"The real Artemis was captured by that thing to serve as a host—a battery providing Arcanum. The Artemis we've known all this time is... merely an avatar, similar to a fragment contained within that spear."
The revelation struck like a physical blow. The fact that the creature had consumed a God, and the goddess they had been following was but a shadow of the host, left them paralyzed.
"That! That's impossible, right!? The gods have to do something...!"
"....I am so sorry...."
"I truly am sorry..."
At Lili's desperate plea, even Artemis—let alone Hestia—could only lower her head and offer a whispered apology.
"....Then this spear is...."
"It is a Divine-Forged Weapon, created for the sole purpose of shattering that gem."
"..."
Following Hermes's words, the children's anger and the crushing weight of the contradiction reached its zenith.
"You're telling us to kill a God!?"
"You're placing the sin of deicide on the shoulders of a child!?"
"Bell-sama is... going to kill... a Goddess...?"
"Don't screw with us!!!!"
Asfi, Ryu, Lili, and Welf erupted in screams of anguish. It was a cry symbolizing the children's despair, overflowing with sorrow and a righteous fury toward the Divine.
However.
Step—
"Akumo... san?"
Step—
"Akumo..."
Step—
"Lord Akumo...!"
Not everyone present had surrendered to despair.
"Lord Hermes."
"....Akumo-kun."
"You said... you wanted to witness a story, correct?"
"..."
"Then tell me, is this story destined to be a tragedy?"
Akumo walked until he stood directly before Hermes. He looked the god in the eye—eyes that still held their characteristic, unflinching certainty. He asked if the story they were currently writing was meant to be tragic.
"Let me tell you one thing for sure."
"This isn't a tragedy about killing a God. This is... just a story about the desire to save a single girl..."
Hermes, who until now had played the roles of the trickster and the conspirator, looked at the sincerity radiating from the man before him. For the first time in an age, he answered with a voice free of any deception.
Grin—
"Then that's all that matters."
Hermes saw it. He saw the bright smile Akumo wore, and the luminous light of resolve that refused to succumb to the darkness.
Grip—!!!!
"Alfia!"
"No need to tell me. I am ready."
"Riveria!"
"Understood!"
"Bell!"
"Yes!!"
Heroes who had known despair, heroes who stood before despair, and heroes who were meeting despair for the first time.
Once again, they ignite their light.