Boom!
Ether gathered wildly. One flying Rune after another appeared in the air, tearing open a twisted purple-lit fissure, and a torrent of violent magical light came surging out in all directions.
In an instant, the Goddess of Winter appeared amid the flickering, many-colored glow, her pale violet dress whipping in the wind, a staff made from a branch of the World Tree in hand.
"My dear husband, shouldn't you explain..."
She looked around. But as the lonely furnishings of the empty hall entered her sight, Skadi realized one crucial person was missing. Her cold voice of accusation cut off abruptly, and her face froze.
"Where is he?!"
"It seems..."
"He ran?"
Ana and Scáthach turned toward the empty throne, staring at one another in stunned disbelief.
"Sa. Ma. El!"
The icy roar shot into the skies above the Areopagus like the breath of an eternal blizzard, sweeping across half of Athens and bringing with it a chill that bit to the bone.
At the same time, a certain someone racing for dear life under the moonlight first felt his heart seize and his whole body go rigid. Then, carefully suppressing his presence, he plunged into the wooded mountain paths and started scrambling madly through the forest, leaping and darting at full speed to flee the scene of the crime as fast as possible.
What nonsense. If I don't run now, am I supposed to sit there and wait to be served up as snake soup for dinner?!
Only after getting farther and farther from the main hall of the Areopagus, circling through the woods, did Samael finally dare lie trembling in the bushes and cautiously check his surroundings. After confirming the enemy situation, he gradually relaxed, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, leaned against a tree trunk, and let out a long breath.
Under the cool moonlight, while enduring mosquito bites and the mountain wind, Samael looked back on everything that had happened and found himself at a loss for words.
Now he finally understood why "Scáthach" had been so proactive with him this time. Those two had switched identities again at some point. Of course the real wife had nothing to fear.
Wait a second!
When he dropped Nero off at the house at dusk, Scáthach just happened to be out. Don't tell me she had gone to pick up her dear wife?
That had to be it!
Somewhere on the road, the two of them, who never got tired of playing dress-up, had switched identities again. Then they had run into Ana and planned to give him a surprise reunion, which was how this absurd mess had happened.
And as a result, something that had been nothing between him and Tamamo-no-Mae had turned into something, and even his affair with Scáthach had been exposed...
But for something this important, how had nobody thought to tell him? This wasn't some pockmark. It was a pitfall!
Samael was both furious and aggrieved, so wronged he felt like crying without tears.
Come to think of it, wasn't Skadi supposed to be in the Celtic tribes helping hold off the Huns and Altera? How had she ended up coming to the Areopagus looking for her husband?
Then again, since he had apparently lured Altera over to Athens, it was not impossible that an idle Skadi would come knocking.
Altera...
The Ancient Serpent recalled the brown-skinned little girl stuck in a regressed child state, innocent and clueless, and at once his mouth twitched and his face darkened.
Trash fox. In the end, this really is all your fault!
Tsk, who knew how that malicious nuisance had been spinning the story behind his back.
Having found a new target for his resentment, Samael cursed inwardly for a bit, then looked around and confirmed that the Areopagus had not mobilized on a large scale to hunt him down. Only then did the anxiety hanging over his heart ease slightly.
Whew. I really got lucky...
The Ancient Serpent was deeply relieved, but the buzzing mosquitoes around him soon began irritating him again, and he frowned.
Forget it. This little grove really isn't somewhere I can stay long. I can't go back to the main hall or the houses, so I'd better find a safe place to lie low for a while. Once morning comes and Skadi cools off a little, I can think of a way back.
Having made up his mind, Samael stood, shook off the insects clinging to him, kept his aura suppressed as much as possible, and relying on his familiarity with the terrain, quietly made his way down the mountain path on foot toward what he considered the safest hideout.
At the same time, several rustling figures gathered in a dim patch of shadow out of the light and unwillingly stared toward the side hall, where a faint glow still leaked out.
"We already did exactly what you told us to do, so why hasn't that woman done anything yet?!"
With an angry snort, the tall man wrapped in a black robe grabbed the elegant, slender figure beside him and pinned her against the stone wall, demanding an answer in a cold voice.
"She actually refused to be awakened? Just as the Lord said, no matter how powerful a weapon is, giving it its own will is a flaw. It seems the [Whip of God] can no longer play the role it was meant to..."
From beneath the hood came a faint murmur out of the pitch-black depths. The elegant figure casually brushed away the arm clutching at him, utterly unconcerned by the man's rudeness.
"I'm not asking for an explanation! She's already been protected by that pack of bitches. Our people can't get near her the way they could before. The Areopagus has probably already grown suspicious. So what now?!"
"If we can't move against her, then we shift the target. In this war, there are still two wedges nailed into key positions that we can make use of."
"You want us to take that risk? Have you gone insane?!"
The man abruptly realized what was meant, and his face changed at once. Though he kept his voice low, it still rose several degrees.
"The hour of doom is upon us. Judgment approaches. Sinner, if you wish to be forgiven and enter the Kingdom of Heaven, then necessary sacrifices must be made. Or do you think that if what happened before comes to light, your returned Holy King will spare you?"
"You're threatening me!"
"It is not a threat. It is an answer grounded in fact, the final redemption offered to a lost lamb. So tell me. Do you wish to sink with this evil land, or do you wish to crawl up out of the abyss?"
As jade-white fingers shimmering with light came to rest on the man's shoulder, the vision of the end of days. The burning earth, the torn sky, the falling stars. Once more flooded his mind, leaving behind a terror beyond compare.
"We... we can't do it... there are too many divine-blood guards..."
The man's body trembled. He lowered his head slightly, his voice dry and hoarse.
"It does not matter. To those who labor for the Light, my Lord will bestow grace..."
With a lift of the elegant figure's hand, three feather-like shafts of light fell into the man's palm.
The man curled his fingers around them, feeling the surging Ether pulsing at his fingertips, and let out a long breath. Then, with flickering eyes, he cautiously asked,
"If this succeeds..."
"The waters and soil of Greece shall lie in your hands, and the nations shall be reborn..."
The elegant figure spread his arms as he intoned those words. In the darkness, jewel-like eyes flashed brilliantly, projecting into the man's heart-river a vision of a beautiful future.
"That's right! I'm doing this to save Athens's fate. I'm fighting for the democracy and freedom of Greece!"
The man muttered to himself, his tone growing heated, a flush of excitement rising on his face.
"That's right. No tyranny can defeat the free will of the people. We are the future!"
"By the goddess, Athens must not be dragged into the abyss by the tyranny of a usurper!"
"..."
The followers around him echoed the cry, each filled with righteous indignation. Then, amid the swelling fervor, the man led his companions into the darkness and made for some place farther down the mountain.
"How filthy. How sinful..."
The elegant, slender figure turned and looked down toward the retreating group, lowering his head and murmuring to himself.
A single crystal-clear tear fell with the wind into the dirt.
At that same moment, within the side hall, Brynhildr, who was holding the brown-skinned little girl in her arms and gently patting her back to lull her to sleep, seemed to sense something. Her brow knit, and with a beat of her swan wings, she descended onto the mountain path with blinding speed.
But before her lay only emptiness and silence, with nothing but the mountain breeze softly blowing.