"Kali-sama, why did we have to run off?" Argana looked at her goddess in confusion. "Isn't this basically the same as hiding from that Goddess?"
"That's because I 'am' hiding from her!" Kali clicked her tongue, her expression unusually wary.
"Ishtar is a Goddess of Beauty. She has the power to charm others. Even without using her divine power, she can easily drive mortals mad, strip away their sense of self, and turn them into obedient dogs."
"Like Freya, the other Goddess of Beauty?"
"Exactly."
"Then what about that pretty boy...?" A powerful wave of jealousy surged through Argana, her face twisting as if she had just bitten into a lemon.
"Forget about taking him back with us. He's fallen into Ishtar's hands. His life is basically over." The loli goddess let out a frustrated sigh.
Of course she regretted it too. Who wouldn't want to keep a handsome boy like that locked inside their home forever, hidden away from the rest of the world? Even a goddess like her wasn't immune to those kinds of desires.
"We should be happy we got a taste at all. I only got the leftovers, you know!"
"I know, but still..." Argana couldn't help feeling cheated. She was the one who had worked so hard to capture the pretty boy, yet in the end, she barely got anything out of it. They couldn't even keep him in the Kali Familia. Ishtar got all the benefits.
Still, there was nothing she could do. Against the charm of a Goddess of Beauty, unless you managed to kill her in a surprise attack before she could act, getting caught meant becoming her dog and spending the rest of your life under her thumb. Argana was fearless, but even she shuddered at the thought of becoming someone's obedient pet.
Besides, ordinary mortals would never dare violate the dignity of a god in the first place.
"Kali-sama, Argana-sama." Before long, an Amazon girl approached and reported, "The Wrathful Serpent and the Crusher from the Loki Familia have arrived at the entrance."
"Oh! They're finally here!" Kali's eyes lit up immediately. "Since we can't enjoy the pretty boy anymore, we might as well enjoy the taste of blood instead!"
Argana's lips curled into the exact same bloodthirsty smile.
...
"That's not quite accurate." Now that she had decided to come clean, Ishtar stopped holding anything back. "You should say that the Kali Familia, just like me, has been working with Evilus."
Ryoji narrowed his eyes. "So that means...?"
He already had a rough idea of where this was going.
"It means I made contact with Evilus a long time ago. I even provided them with a huge amount of funding." Ishtar pressed herself against him, her hands wandering freely over his body. At the same time, an impossibly alluring light shimmered in her eyes, the kind that could make a person throw everything away just to drown in her presence.
"Oh... You're not nearly as innocent as you look." Ishtar glanced down at the thin fabric over her chest and giggled. "Not bad."
"I practice."
"By the way, that artificial labyrinth you entered earlier? I helped finance its construction, too... Hey! Don't hurt me!" Ishtar had been proudly recounting her achievements when she suddenly yelped and shot him an annoyed glare.
"Sorry. Got a little excited. Didn't realize you were that rich," Ryoji answered with complete calm.
"Hmph. You don't even need to imagine how much money I have. Just know it's more than you think." Ishtar was clearly proud of that. "If you join my Familia, you'll have more money than you could ever spend... Anyway, that's beside the point."
She lowered her head and left a kiss mark on Ryoji's neck.
"I formed an alliance with Evilus a long time ago. I was the one who brought Kali into it, and I even helped smuggle the Kali Familia into Orario."
That was right. All of it had been Ishtar's doing.
She had funded Evilus's terrifying artificial labyrinth.
She had helped the Kali Familia enter Orario in secret.
She had gathered humans and demi-humans with unusual talents and rare abilities.
And from beginning to end, there was only one reason behind everything she did.
"I'm going to drag that smug woman down from the top of Babel!" The moment Ishtar thought of that silver-haired Goddess of Beauty, she gritted her teeth. "She looked down on me in Heaven, and even after coming to the Lower World, she still has to stand above me! That damn bitch! What makes her so special? Why is she always more popular than me?!"
"Not long ago, she even came to my Familia in person and killed my captain! I don't care that Phryne is dead, but I'll never swallow that humiliation!"
Hatred burned in the goddess's heart. After Phryne's death, Ishtar had become far more cautious.
She strengthened her connection with the Kali Familia, bringing them into her territory the very night they reached Lolog Lake.
She pressured Evilus to speed up their plans.
She even went in person to inspect what they had prepared.
Everything was for a single purpose: revenge against Freya.
And it wasn't some impossible dream. There were gods who disliked thinking, but there were no truly stupid ones. Once a god seriously set their mind to something, the consequences could be far more terrifying than anyone imagined. Ishtar was no exception.
She had spent years gathering power from all sides: a curse that nullified magic, a rare sorcery capable of forcibly raising someone's strength by an entire level, Evilus's labyrinth, a Corrupted Spirit avatar with power at least equivalent to Level 7, and on top of all that, the formidable Kali Familia.
If she combined those forces, destroying the Freya Familia would be easy.
But Ishtar still didn't think it was enough. She would never underestimate the power of another deity, especially Freya.
That was why she had set her sights on one final trump card.
"You." Ishtar stared at Ryoji with feverish excitement. "That spell you used to defeat the Corrupted Spirit avatar, once you unleash it, nobody can stand against you! Not even Ottar! If I have you, the Freya Familia is finished!"
Exactly. As long as she claimed Ryoji and forced him to use that attack, Ishtar would become invincible in the Lower World. Freya? She could crush her with one hand. Even ruling the entire Lower World no longer seemed out of reach.
The sight of Ryoji destroying the Bull of Heaven had given Ishtar that level of confidence. And along with that confidence came an overwhelming desire to possess him. No matter what, she had to have this boy, not just as a woman wanting a man, but for the sake of her revenge and her ambitions.
That was the main reason she had ordered the Kali Familia to capture Ryoji, even at the risk of exposing Shale's curse and Haruhime's sorcery.
And getting him to join her Familia would be ridiculously easy. All she needed was a single use of her Charm. Once he became her obedient dog, she would never have to worry about him defying her again.
As for retaliation from the Loki Familia? If she could crush the Freya Familia, why on earth would she be afraid of Loki?
"Wait... Why haven't you...?" Ishtar lowered her gaze.
She had been admiring what she imagined would become her greatest prize, already picturing the glorious day she would trample Freya underfoot.
Then she suddenly noticed something strange, something that should have been completely impossible.
There wasn't the slightest trace of desire or confusion in Ryoji's eyes. His gaze was crystal clear.
The moment Ishtar met his eyes, a chill ran down her spine.
(End of Chapter)
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