Clang-!
Clang-!
Meanwhile, at Hestia Familia's home, the forge hall rang with the continuous sound of hammering.
"...."
Clang-!
'Harder. Stronger...!'
The owner of that sound was Welf. With a straight, unwavering gaze, he was honing the iron before him.
Whoosh-!
Remembering the black flame he had seen that day, burning more fiercely than any fire he had ever witnessed, he fixed his focus on the iron in front of him.
Kiiing-!
As if responding to its master's will, the core of Kazuki placed beside him flickered.
To reach the supremacy he had to attain, the height he wanted to surpass, Welf lifted his hammer.
Rustle-
"Mm... This position is definitely better for a cave."
Meanwhile, in another room of the forge hall.
There stood the girl who had commanded everyone on that day's battlefield.
"What a commander needs to know above all else is the team's combat power...."
Remembering the gaps that had surfaced here and there while facing Nidhogg, Lilliluka was analyzing her own shortcomings.
'It's not some dreamy nonsense about commanding everyone there...'
Swish-!
"What I can do is trust them!"
Lilliluka picked up her pen.
Scratch, scratch-!
Then she began sorting through the Hestia Familia members' weapons, combat styles, skills, and even magic.
She started writing down various pieces of information, along with combinations that would bring out their synergy and strategies for different situations.
'Not just the combat power on Lilliluka's side, but everyone else too.'
It was not limited to that.
The Takemikazuchi Familia, with whom they had adventured together, the friendly Miach Familia, and even the fighting strength of the Hostess of Fertility.
"We can't leave our weak points to raw strength alone."
'We don't have overwhelming power like Akumo or the Loki Familia.'
She had made a firm vow never to endanger her comrades, her heroes, again.
Smirk-!
"But precisely because of that!"
'I'll never put you all in danger like I did that day again!'
That was why they had to trust one another even more, and everyone had to grow together toward becoming heroes.
Shhk-
"..."
Clang-!
Carrying that resolve, someone in the training grounds swung a sword sharply.
It was the same sword path filled with fierce passion as before, but the technique within it had changed slightly.
Whoom-!
'Heavier!'
Shazzzk-!
'Sharper and faster!'
Thud-!
The technique in Mikoto's sword had originally been taught by her patron deity, Takemikazuchi.
Now, within that technique, another intent was being layered on top of it.
"Still... not enough...!"
That day's supreme sword strike, embroidered across the sky.
Every sword path, every movement of line and plane and point.
Each blow, enough to be called the pinnacle, had been a valuable experience for Mikoto.
Boom-!
At last, the rock before her was split cleanly in two by Mikoto's slash.
Crack-crack-!
No, it was not only the rock.
"I learned a great deal from you, Lord Akumo!"
By overlapping his image with that of her patron deity, Mikoto was taking his battle into her eyes and growing through her own experience, for her own adventure.
"....?"
Rustle, rustle-
Could it be that those children's feelings had reached him?
"What is it?"
Akumo casually scratched at his itchy ear and reacted as usual.
But it was clear.
Smirk-!
"All right!"
The supreme battle shown by the Pioneer would never end as a dream of a single night.
The dreamlike figure he had shown would surely remain with the heroes for a long time, as the experience of a seed that had been planted.
**
"~♪"
At Miach Familia, one prophet was there.
With a bright face, she was organizing potions together with her close friend.
"Cassandra? You seem to be in a good mood lately."
"Do I?"
Cassandra and Daphne began sorting supplies together while talking about recent events.
"Things have been crazy lately. Are you okay?"
'Not only the earthquake last night, but you even went down to the Deep Floors...'
Daphne spoke to Cassandra as if just remembering her recent adventures was exhausting.
"Still, I'm glad everything was resolved safely."
Cassandra smiled and answered her friend.
"....Well, I guess so!"
At Cassandra's reply, Daphne felt a strange sense of déjà vu and fell into thought, but soon relaxed at the sight of Cassandra smiling and focused on her work.
Smirk-!
Unlike Daphne, however, the prophet's smile was not merely one of relief.
'It was truly... beautiful...'
The clash of radiant beings she had witnessed that day.
She had been able to face directly the existence from her prophecy, the one etched into her mind ever since she first met Akumo at the banquet hosted by Apollo.
An existence with the darkest power, yet shining the brightest.
'Countless lights, countless shadows, all mixing together to fill the sky...'
The two kings, and the colossal powers standing majestically behind them.
She had seen the dragon of great evil and the goddess of the heavens.
Ssshhh-
She had seen those beings smile at Akumo and return to his pioneering path.
Swish-
And she could also see it clearly.
No, she could feel it from them.
Smirk-!
The two kings who resembled Akumo had turned their eyes toward her.
For an instant, they had smiled brightly.
"Ahh~"
'What a beautiful smile it was...'
As if they had seen through her prophecy, through her courage.
It was a smile sent toward the path she had walked until now, and it was an incomparably warm smile.
Rustle, rustle-
Cassandra touched her flushed cheeks, hiding her face, and kept the figure of the king she had met that day deep in her heart.
**
Swish-
Time passed, and the restoration was completed safely.
People gathered back on the streets, and smiles returned to the faces of those walking along the road.
Clack-!
Akumo, having changed into his uniform in his room at Twilight Manor, walked through the streets of Orario and enjoyed the familiar scenery as always.
The cityscape of Labyrinth City Orario, woven by citizens and adventurers alike.
Step, step-
Enjoying that scene, he began heading toward Babel.
"It's the Pioneer!!"
"Mr. Akumo! Thank you so much for last time!"
"You're always working so hard."
The citizens who saw him immediately greeted him with smiles.
From the children who admired him, to the young man he had helped, to the old people who had watched his adventures for years.
"Take this with you."
An old man handed Akumo some bread made at his shop.
"You don't need to take care of me this much."
"No, no. When I think about everything you've done up to now..."
Akumo tried to refuse it, but the old man would not allow that.
He had watched this man named Akumo for more than ten years, and he knew how firmly he had held up Orario, and the people of Orario, all that time.
"....."
"It's such a small thing. Please, at least accept this."
"Well, this is something else...."
Faced with the gaze of gratitude sent to a hero, Akumo had no choice in the end.
Crunch-!
Biting into the freshly baked bread, Akumo moved his steps toward Babel once more.
'It's work I do because I want to, but....'
"Once people start giving me things, it gets awkward, you know~"
Walking down the street with a calm, easygoing tone, Akumo was nearly done with the bread when a very familiar shop came into view.
"Now that the restoration work's over, things are going to get busy again, nya."
"It'll be about time for the adventurers' injuries to heal, too."
Chloe and Ryu were outside the shop, moving goods and preparing to open.
"Hey there~!"
Akumo spotted them and immediately walked over.
"Is that Akumo, nya?"
"Akumo!?"
They noticed him too and reacted at once.
As soon as Ryu saw his smiling face approaching, her cheeks reddened and her feet stopped.
"Nya..."
'Ryu... that's way too obvious, nya...'
Chloe instantly caught the strange atmosphere flowing between the two, and just as she was about to quietly step aside—
Boom-!
"!?"
Chloe froze at the sudden, familiar pressure she felt.
'This feeling is...!!'
"Chloe? What's wrong?"
".....You, did something happen, nya?"
Only after seeing Akumo question her state did Chloe realize the identity of that pressure.
'It's the same feeling I had when I first met a furious Mama Mia...'
Back when she had first come to Orario, in her days as an inexperienced assassin.
She had grown even more since then, and because of that, she could feel it even more clearly now.
"In various ways...?"
Akumo answered with a look that said he had no idea what she was talking about.
To anyone else, he might have seemed defenseless....
'There isn't a single opening....'
An overwhelming strongman, an opponent against whom she could not see a path to victory.
It went beyond "more than expected."
Stare-
"....?"
'Well... I guess it doesn't matter.'
Akumo still looked puzzled at Chloe, who could not take her eyes off him, but then he spoke again.
"Anyway, is the shop okay? No one got hurt?"
At that answer, the two of them, suddenly snapping back to their senses, could only respond in a hurry.
Step, step-
After hearing their reply, Akumo smiled in relief and left the spot.
"....Ryu."
"....Yes."
"What on earth is Akumo going to do, nya...?"
Chloe stared blankly at his retreating back.
She was certain that the overwhelming spirit she felt from him was not something he was releasing without intent.
There was no way Akumo would fail to hide a presence of that level in the first place.
'Just what... is he...'
"Chloe."
"Y-Yes!?"
Chloe, who had realized Akumo was about to do something beyond common sense, felt her eyes tremble without meaning to, but Ryu called to her without a trace of wavering.
"I believe in him."
Ryu, by contrast, only smiled softly and affirmed Akumo.
"No matter how strong Akumo is, no matter how different he is...."
Smirk-!
"I love him."
========================
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