The number of Olympus soldiers closing in on the temple wasn't large, only twenty or thirty at most.
They had no idea anyone was already inside, and against Shiomi's sudden strike they were utterly helpless. They didn't even have time to react before they fell to his red spear.
"How strange…" Shiomi muttered.
He pulled the red spear from the last Olympus soldier's neck, and the moment he noticed something off, the words slipped out again under his breath.
"Something wrong?" Skadi asked, coming up behind him and carefully stepping around the bodies sprawled across the ground.
"Compared to the soldiers from Odysseus's fleet, something about the feel is… odd," Shiomi said, scanning the corpses around them.
"I didn't even get a chance to act," Skadi said with a shake of her head, unable to answer his unease. "Were these soldiers simply too weak, or…"
Suddenly, a powerful Mana reaction swept over them, and both Shiomi and Skadi looked up at the same time.
It wasn't just Mana.
That sudden sensation was something Shiomi, who had faced gods before, and Skadi, a goddess herself, both recognized.
It was the presence of a god.
Tap… tap… tap…
Slow footsteps climbed the stone stairs outside the temple, rising one step at a time.
The one who appeared before Shiomi and Skadi was a blonde woman dressed primarily in emerald green. Her expression was gentle, her figure full, and she carried the soft, maternal warmth of someone who made others think of a kind mother.
And yet, the scythe in her hand made it clear she was not as fragile as she looked.
"A divine spirit?" Shiomi said quietly, then shook his head.
"It seems that for some reason, an Olympian goddess has appeared before us," Skadi said, drawing closer to Shiomi and readying herself alongside him.
"Oh my…" The scythe-bearing woman spoke in a mournful, tender tone, lamenting the deaths of the soldiers as she looked over them. "I thought this was only a routine inspection, and yet it's come to this… The ones who killed the Olympus soldiers—my precious children—were you, weren't you?"
"Yes," Shiomi replied. "So what?"
His eyes narrowed, and the ink-black of his gaze slowly brightened, transforming into Star Eyes.
"Wait… you two…" The woman's expression shifted in surprise. "You're not human?"
"We're certainly not human," Skadi said, staring at the blonde woman without emotion. "So… who are you? A god from Olympus?"
"My name is Demeter," the woman answered calmly, giving it without hesitation. "I am the elder sister of the great god Zeus, the earth goddess who governs fertility and life."
At her name, Shiomi's brow knit even tighter.
Skadi's grip on her staff also tightened.
"On one side, a strange goddess. On the other, an unfinished god," Demeter said, seeing through them at a glance. "So you are the foreign invaders Zeus's friend spoke of?"
"If that's the interpretation that's easiest for you, then believe it," Shiomi said. "Goddess Demeter."
He didn't know why Demeter had appeared here, but an unpleasant feeling crept up his spine.
As someone who inherited the nature of the mother goddess Gaia, she was undeniably a true earth mother goddess.
Even with that, there was still an unnameable sorrow clinging to her.
But it was obvious Demeter hadn't truly listened to Shiomi's answer. She simply continued on, pressing forward with her own line of conversation.
"Those eyes… Star Eyes," Demeter said, noticing it with a hint of surprise.
"To possess even something like that… an unknown child who stirs pity in one's heart. Who are you, and why have you come to the homeland of us Olympian gods?"
Her voice was filled with an indescribable tenderness, yet carried an unquestionable, overbearing authority.
This was the true nature of most gods.
Before them, only beings of comparable power were deemed worthy of dialogue.
If Shiomi were still merely human, he was certain Demeter would never have asked such questions.
"My name is Tenkei Shiomi. I'm with Chaldea—"
Out of courtesy, and also as a probe, Shiomi started to give his name, only for Demeter to interrupt him.
"What a strange child. I didn't ask for your name. I asked about your origin. Whose child are you? Are you my child?"
At that moment, Skadi spoke up to remind him, "It seems this goddess is asking about your lineage…"
"The Mother, the Sea of Life, the great Earth Mother Tiamat!"
"Tiamat?" Demeter looked startled, then her expression softened into an even warmer smile.
"If that is so, then you are my child."
"What?" Shiomi froze, completely unable to follow her logic.
He could feel Skadi's gaze turn subtle, and she muttered in a low, lingering tone, "Is there something strange about you that makes every goddess get drawn to you?"
"Do you really think so?" Shiomi immediately felt sweat bead on his back. "Do you honestly think you just fell for me for no reason at all?"
"…"
Skadi's face flushed faintly, and she said nothing more.
Calling it inexplicable wasn't quite accurate.
Ever since the Nordic gods vanished thousands of years ago, after Odin left behind his prophecy, Skadi had often wondered what kind of man the great god had promised her as a partner.
If he turned out to be too awful, she would have erased him without hesitation.
With nothing to do but maintain the Nordic world, Skadi spent her idle hours dwelling on such thoughts. Without realizing it herself, her anticipation for the prophesied one had reached its peak.
Even so, Shiomi hadn't disappointed her. Falling for this unfamiliar man during their brief yet profound time together wasn't an unexpected turn for someone who had always been alone.
More than that, it was an outcome she herself had hoped for.
"Since you are my child, you should not be wandering here," Demeter said, extending her hand toward Shiomi as she issued her invitation.
"The matter of killing other children can be settled after you return to Olympus with me. Is the goddess beside you your partner? Then bring her along as well. Come—"
Cold sweat seeped down Shiomi's cheek as he finally realized just how wrong this situation was.
"This goddess… something about her isn't right," Shiomi whispered to Skadi.
It wasn't simply a difference in values between gods and humans. Something had been off from the very beginning.
"I feel the same," Skadi replied quietly.
Even as a goddess herself, she couldn't understand what Demeter was thinking.
"I refuse," Shiomi said firmly. "I am not your child, and you are not my mother, the goddess Tiamat."
Even if this presented a chance to infiltrate Olympus, Shiomi didn't consider it a good one.
And so, he flatly rejected Demeter's words.