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They actually beat him that badly?
A sudden sense of dread hit Loki.
If that little runt found out her captain had been beaten into that state by one of Loki Familia's members, would she snap and unleash her divine power on the spot?
Hestia Familia had only just been founded, and now this kind of disaster had happened. It would look like Loki had deliberately crushed Hestia's new Familia before it even had a chance to grow.
It might look that way on the surface, but she really was not that petty.
"Anos!"
A much shorter goddess with blue ribbons in her hair came rushing up from behind her.
Her legs might not have been as long as Loki's, but powered by pure maternal instinct and overwhelming devotion, Hestia somehow made it to the scene first.
Nothing could happen to her Anos.
If someone had really hurt him that badly, then even if it meant being forced back to Heaven and never descending again, she would still take revenge for him.
But the moment she actually saw the scene, she froze.
Unlike Loki, who had only seen pictures of Anos, Hestia could feel the connection between herself and her child.
The person lying on the ground obviously was not him.
Anos was right over there, gently stroking Bell's hair while saying something to her.
"Uh…"
Then it hit her.
It was not Anos who had been bullied.
It was Anos who had successfully knocked someone else out.
The second she realized that, all the tension left her body.
"Haa…"
Her chest rose and fell rapidly as she hurried toward him.
By now, Loki had also realized something was off.
Why was that little runt not running toward the red lump on the ground?
And why did she suddenly look relieved?
On top of that, from the people gathered around that red, blood-soaked figure, Loki could hear voices calling out:
"Bete?"
"Bete, are you okay?"
"…So the one who got wrecked was one of mine?!"
At last, Loki understood the truth.
…
Not long after, Loki marched straight up to Hestia.
"So, shortly, you do not feel even a little bad about what your precious child did?"
Using her height advantage, Loki looked down at Hestia from above.
"Hah? Wasn't your Familia the one that started it? The fact that I am not demanding compensation from you is already proof of my generosity."
Hestia puffed out her chest and looked up at Loki with complete confidence, making full use of an entirely different advantage.
Even though she was looking up, there was nothing submissive about her expression.
Her face was full of pride and smug satisfaction.
Her chest beat Loki's.
And her Anos had beaten Loki Familia's member.
Both facts made her feel fantastic.
The two goddesses kept bickering, but their Familias remained perfectly calm.
This kind of arguing between them was as normal as breathing. No one felt the need to intervene.
Ais, meanwhile, walked directly over to Anos, her expression more serious than it had ever been.
"Do you have time to spar with me?"
The question caught Anos off guard.
But after a few seconds, he understood.
He had already worked out why she was asking.
"A spar? Do we have any grudge between us? If it is just a friendly match, I do not see any reason I have to agree."
He answered with a smile.
"Ah… that is true…"
Ais blinked, looking as though she had only just considered that point.
He really did make sense.
Then a silver light appeared above her head.
[Ding!]
[Congratulations: Treasure chest triggered. Chest rank: Silver.]
[Unlock condition: Ais's heart< Become the emotional pillar of Sword Princess Ais Wallenstein.]
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Anos: ???
"What kind of condition is that? If we are talking about physical support, I have no problem with that at all But 'emotional pillar' is way too vague."
"Yes... It is very vague."
That was the result of Absolute Dichotomy.
Which meant it was not just his personal impression, From every objective angle, the condition itself truly was absurdly vague.
"Ais, do you even hear yourself? There is no way Anos would just fight you for no reason."
Tiona said helplessly.
She understood that Anos and Bete had fought because they genuinely rubbed each other the wrong way.
But Ais was different. With her personality, how could she possibly make someone feel, "I need to beat this girl down"?
"No, not fight, Spar."
Ais corrected what she thought was Tiona's word choice.
"Right, right.. Spar, Sure."
Tiona sounded exhausted.
She knew perfectly well what Ais had meant, She also knew why Ais wanted the spar.
She wanted to learn Anos's swordsmanship But that was practically asking to steal his techniques.
By bluntly saying she wanted to spar without any deeper excuse, she was making her intentions painfully obvious.
That was why Tiona had deliberately changed the wording to "fight," hoping to soften the implication.
And Ais had immediately corrected her.
"Do you want to spar with me because you want to learn my swordsmanship?"
Anos asked.
It was the simplest possible conclusion.
And both he and Ais were direct enough to say it aloud without hesitation, which made Tiona feel like her stomach hurt.
Was she getting old?
Had she already lost the ability to understand how young people talked to each other now?
"Yes."
Ais gave her answer.
There was no trace of her usual absent-minded softness in her eyes now.
Instead, there was a quiet, burning determination.
She had her own reason for wanting to become stronger.
Ais had always fought with the sword. Sword techniques, methods, forms, every way a blade could be used.
Those were the things she cared about most, because they were the fastest path to greater strength.
And today, for the first time, she had encountered someone she could not read at all.
Someone whose swordsmanship was completely beyond her understanding.
While evolving inside Hestia's divine power, Anos had not been idle either.
He had improved nearly every skill he possessed as far as his current stage allowed.
In the past, all his calculations and refinements had been based on the assumption that he was human.
Human physiology had always been one of the key conditions in his analysis.
But now he had become something closer to a new form of humanity.
Many of the previous conclusions about spiritual flow, bodily optimization, and physical operation no longer applied.
They all had to be re-evaluated from the ground up.
His strength, his potential, the amount of force he could unleash, even his calculation ability, all of it had changed.
Naturally, his techniques had to change with them.
Once he altered the way his power circulated and the way his body moved, the techniques that matched that body also needed to evolve.
His Seven Secret Swords were no longer the same as before.
Calling them Seven Secret Swords Revised, or even True Seven Secret Swords, would not have been an exaggeration.
At that level, his swordsmanship had completely conquered Ais.
"If you want to learn, that is not impossible, You just need to join my Familia."
Anos said it with an easy smile, as though he had not just said something absolutely impossible.
"No way!"
As if she had been watching the entire exchange from the start, Loki shot over at lightning speed, abandoning her argument with Hestia in an instant.
There was absolutely no way she would let anyone talk her Ais into switching sides.
In the next second, she had Ais wrapped in her arms like someone clutching their most precious toy.
Her beloved child would never become part of Hestia's Familia.
No.
She was never going to become part of any other god's Familia.
"I… I see... Is there another way?"
Ais looked like Loki's grip around her head was physically uncomfortable, but she still quietly supported Loki's stance.
"Another way…"
Anos paused, seeming to think it over seriously.
To everyone else, that hesitation made perfect sense.
They had all seen how powerful his swordsmanship was. Even the famous Sword Princess herself had openly acknowledged it.
A style strong enough to defeat Bete so cleanly was not something anyone would casually teach just because they were asked.
"Hmph! My Anos would never agree to that, Wallen-something."
Loki had stepped in to protect her child, so naturally Hestia rushed in to protect hers.
She grabbed Anos's head and pulled him down into her chest in almost the exact same possessive pose Loki was using with Ais.
But while the two goddesses made similar moves, the experience for their targets could not have been more different.
For Ais, it just felt uncomfortable.
For Anos, it felt warm, soft, and extremely familiar.
"Actually, it is not impossible for me to teach you."
Anos's voice, muffled at first, became clear again as he finally managed to pull himself free from Hestia's embrace.
"Really?"
Hope lit up in Ais's eyes.
"But there is a condition, right?"
Loki narrowed her eyes.
She did not believe for a second that Anos would just give away his swordsmanship for free.
There was no one in the world that stupid.
Absolutely no one.
He had definitely set his sights on something of Ais's.
"I will protect Ais from being tricked by some shady man from outside."
That was Loki's resolve.
"Of course! Otherwise, I would have made my swordsmanship public already."
Anos smiled.
How could there ever be such a thing as a free lunch?
Unless you offered yourself up as the price.
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