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At first, she panicked.
She was so nervous that day she ended up eating two extra bowls of food without even realizing it.
Afterward, she made a firm decision.
No matter what, Hephaestus and the other gods must never learn that she was pregnant.
Once she decided that, the next step became obvious.
She had to leave Orario, the city where the gods gathered, and go somewhere far away.
During pregnancy, she couldn't take care of herself properly. And she absolutely couldn't let anyone she knew discover the truth.
So…
She secretly took one of Hephaestus's divine weapons.
With something like that, she could sell it and have enough money to prepare for the birth.
The idea of ending the pregnancy never crossed Hestia's mind.
She understood clearly.
As a virgin goddess, there was only one circumstance in which she could conceive.
It meant the child was God-sent.
Even setting that aside, she would never have chosen to abandon it.
The moment she realized there was a life inside her, something awakened within her.
A powerful maternal instinct.
She had already resolved that if anyone threatened her or her child, she would even use divine power to protect them.
"Don't worry," Hestia whispered gently, resting her hand over her abdomen.
"I'll protect you."
Her eyes shone with a soft maternal warmth.
Whether the child was a miracle from the Got or not, she would guard it with everything she had.
"Come to think of it… this might be the first real family I've ever had."
The thought made her pause.
When gods descended to the mortal world, they lived among humans, granting their blessings and forming familias.
But even those bonds were closer to contracts than true family.
Even the warmest familia was only described as "like family."
But this…
This would be different.
When the child inside her came into the world, she would no longer be alone.
…
What she didn't know was that the life growing inside her wasn't some heaven-sent child.
It was simply a carefully planned reincarnation.
A small.
Fragile.
Human.
Compared to the gods of the Dungeon world, who lived for hundreds of millions of years and possessed unimaginable power, the life inside her could only be described as weak.
"Twenty-five days since I arrived in this world."
Anos slowly opened his eyes.
He had just withdrawn his attention from the world of Akame ga Kill.
Inside Hestia's womb, Anos was not sleeping all the time.
Aside from constantly adapting to the changes in his body, he also used his abilities to send divine guidance to Asia and Jeanne in that other world.
In just a short time, the Holy Church they were building had already gathered several hundred followers.
Their progress was impressive.
"Let's see how Ophis is doing."
Remembering her, Anos used the Ark Sphere to observe her situation.
The Ark Sphere could establish a connection with anyone who traveled through the dimensional passage, allowing them to locate them.
Originally it had been designed to track human survivors across different worlds, but it worked just as well for other races.
Ophis had gone to the world ruled by the Vampire Primogenitors.
In that world, no one knew who she was.
As long as she appeared harmless, no one would target a seemingly innocent girl.
"…Hm?"
Anos raised an eyebrow.
Ophis's situation seemed… unexpectedly interesting.
A few minutes later, he withdrew his attention.
"It looks like she's fine. She's even recovered part of her strength already. Hopefully, she won't cause any trouble."
According to the Ark Sphere's analysis, Ophis had recovered nearly half of her full power.
At that point, she was already roughly on par with the God of the Bible.
Her life was no longer in danger.
"Ah…"
Thinking about Ophis made Anos sigh.
He regretted not convincing her to join him.
If she had entered the World Dragon's Jewel willingly and lent him her power, many problems would have solved themselves instantly.
"Well, Time for today's calculations."
He pushed those thoughts aside.
Because his race was gradually changing, his ability Absolute Dichotomy was beginning to evolve as well.
Its duration had increased from three minutes to a little over three minutes.
But that wasn't the most important improvement.
The real change was the speed of his calculations.
The time required for each prediction had dropped to one-third of what it used to be.
In other words, within a single second, he could now analyze three times as many possibilities as before.
And as the Ark Sphere's transformation approached completion, Absolute Dichotomy would last even longer.
The number of events he could evaluate in a single moment would continue to rise.
In just twenty-five days, Anos had already upgraded his entire combat system by half a tier.
"Simulating holy swords and other weapons, improving and refining my secret sword techniques. Experimenting with draconic power and creating new transformation modes…"
"There's still so much to do."
Technically, he wasn't even an infant yet.
But the things occupying his mind were more complex than the concerns of most gods.
After all, most gods were simply thrill-seekers who descended to the mortal world for entertainment.
A goddess like Hestia, devoting herself wholeheartedly to raising a child, was rare.
"My little one," Hestia murmured softly, stroking her stomach.
"You have to be born safely, grow up strong and healthy, okay?"
Her face glowed with motherly warmth.
And finally, the day she had been waiting for arrived.
Though the birth itself turned out nothing like what she expected.
One day—
While she was daydreaming about how she would raise her baby—
A wave of golden light suddenly spread across her body.
Then another.
And another.
The pulses grew stronger.
Faster.
Finally, a radiant sphere of light separated from her body and slowly drifted down into her arms.
For a moment, Hestia was completely stunned.
But when she looked down at the tiny life resting in her hands…
A smile she couldn't suppress spread across her face.
"This must be the beginning of a new life."
That was what she believed.
And in that moment, she embraced the future.
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