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"Koneko, how is your special training going?"
Rias's voice came through the phone, deliberately light and casual.
The timeline in this world did not move at the same pace as the one Anos was currently in, so while Anos had already gone through reincarnation and grown far stronger on his side, Koneko here was only just about to reach High-Class Devil level.
Even so, that still made her an exceptionally gifted talent.
After all, before this, Koneko had only been a somewhat outstanding Mid-Class Devil, and most of her strength had come from her Rook piece.
Now, however, she had finally opened up her heart. In a very short period of time, her Senjutsu had advanced all the way to the limit her body could handle without harming itself.
"If I want to reach High-Class Devil level, I still need a few more days. Is that enough for you, Lady Rias, nya?"
Kuroka yawned as she answered for her.
"I see... Koneko, then you really have been working hard."
Rias could not help sounding impressed.
By a devil's standards, Koneko's progress in such a short time was remarkable.
"The time when we may need your strength is probably very close now. When that happens, I'll be counting on both of you."
After a brief pause, Rias spoke more seriously.
"Yes, President."
Koneko answered with absolute resolve.
Her thinking was simple.
The president had saved the girl she used to be.
Now it was her turn to repay that kindness.
"Has the President contacted Anos at all?"
Koneko suddenly thought of Anos.
With the power he could unleash, he might not be able to defeat Riser Phenex outright, but he should at least be able to crush him for a while.
After all, her senior had beaten even her sister before, so when it came to explosive output, there was no room for doubt.
In Koneko and Rias's eyes, Anos was undoubtedly powerful, but not built for long battles. Against someone like Riser, whose stamina and regeneration were absurd, whether he could actually win was still uncertain.
What they did not know was that Anos was no longer anything like the man he had been before.
"Anos... not yet."
"If he still hasn't sent us any word, then that just means he's still busy with his own matters. Once he's done, I'm sure he'll contact us himself."
Rias smiled as she said it.
That was the only way she could think about it for now.
What she was not willing to tell Koneko yet was that she had actually tried calling Anos herself, only for the line to tell her the number was out of service.
...
Someone's thinking about me.
On the night before the War Game, Anos stood beneath the moon and looked up into the sky.
"Maybe this really is what people mean by missing home under moonlight."
He shook his head with a helpless smile.
It was not that he truly longed for home.
It was simply that the day of parting was drawing near.
At most, Ophis's full power could support this mode for another ten days. But it was obvious he could not let her strength fall too far. If she dropped to the level of an ordinary transcendent, then neither of them would have any guarantee of safety left.
"Once the War Game is over, I'll start stepping into the background little by little. I did recruit all those new members, after all. I can't keep them sheltered under me forever."
Anos had already said as much to Hestia before.
What she did not know was that his way of stepping into the background meant leaving for another world.
Not that he would never come back.
But Hestia would absolutely be heartbroken.
And because of that, he would rather let her believe he was still somewhere in this world, just no longer in Orario.
"Hm?"
Anos noticed someone come up beside him.
Hestia.
Apparently, she had asked a few people in the Familia where he was and learned he was on the rooftop.
"Hestia, why aren't you asleep? What are you doing up here?"
Anos shook his head and asked the most obvious question imaginable.
"Because I can't sleep unless Anos is holding me."
Hestia bent forward slightly, puffing out her cheeks into an annoyed little pout, clearly dissatisfied that he would ask something so simple.
"Then you really need to improve a little, Hestia."
Anos smiled.
"The one who needs to improve is you, Anos. If only you already had the power of a god..."
Hestia stopped halfway through, then bit down hard on his shoulder in frustration.
She knew those words sounded selfish.
But still.
She did not want to be separated from him.
"If I had power like that, I would have scattered Apollo's ashes in front of all the gods."
Anos laughed softly.
Hestia wrapped her arms around him from behind and held him close, taking in his warmth.
"So you really are going to another world? To become a god there..."
She asked it quietly.
Anos froze for a few seconds.
Then a helpless, affectionate smile spread across his face.
He did not even need to use judgment to know who had told her.
There was only one likely answer.
Hephaestus.
Hestia's friend.
"Was it Hephaestus who told you?"
Anos quietly placed his hand over Hestia's where it rested at his waist.
Her hand really was small.
"Yes. She told me."
Hestia nodded.
She had been deeply shocked when she heard it too. She had never imagined Anos could actually travel between worlds, nor that he intended to become a god elsewhere and then come back.
And given his arrangement with Hephaestus, that she would forge for him using materials from another world, the fact that he could travel to other worlds was bound to come out sooner or later anyway.
"It's all right. I'll come back soon."
Anos held her hand gently, hoping she could feel his warmth and his certainty through it.
He had not made this decision recklessly.
Almost everything he did was the result of careful consideration.
"Soon... how soon?"
Hestia still asked anxiously.
She had never imagined that in such a short time, Anos would go from being a child who needed her milk and care to becoming someone like this.
No.
Not just someone like this.
A man like this.
Maybe from the moment he took Hestia's debt onto his own shoulders, he had already become a man in the truest sense.
That was the thought that came to her.
"Three months, maybe. I might be a genius, but even geniuses need time to grow."
Anos smiled as he answered.
"You really do call yourself a genius so casually, Your skin is way too thick, Anos."
Just thinking about being separated from him for that long made Hestia's eyes sting.
Anos was the only real family she had after descending to the lower world.
The only true member of her Familia in the deepest sense.
And now even he had reached the day when he would part from her.
But if Anos truly became a god, then maybe they really could stay together forever.
The moment that thought crossed her mind, her mood brightened a little.
As for whether he could actually become a god, she had never worried about that for a second.
If her Anos could not become a god, then what in the world possibly could?
That was the depth of her faith in him.
"Hestia, now that you know, I won't hide it anymore. I'm going to give everything I have to reaching that goal."
Anos made the promise once again.
"Mm... I believe in you, Anos."
Hestia tightened her arms around him and held him even closer.
Anos made no move to disturb her.
The two of them simply stayed there in silence, waiting for time to pass.
Or perhaps more accurately, waiting for the other one to let go first.
Neither of them wanted to be the first to release the other.
And then.
A dragon's roar tore through the night.
A vast, ancient, savage cry.
It was as though the sky itself had been swallowed whole.
Even the moon vanished.
"Hestia, something's happening."
Anos narrowed his eyes and looked toward the source of the roar.
That direction.
It seemed to be coming from the Pleasure Quarter.
And he knew exactly what creature that roar belonged to.
The One-Eyed Black Dragon.
The brutal dragon that had once defeated the great hero, devoured the great spirit, and annihilated Level 9 and Level 8 adventurers alike.
"Anos, why are you looking that way?"
Hestia noticed something strange.
His attention did not seem fixed on the Black Dragon itself, but somewhere farther beyond.
"I'm worried... someone who sees this won't be able to stay still."
Anos narrowed his eyes and ran a judgment.
The result came almost immediately.
As expected.
There was no way Ais could see the One-Eyed Black Dragon and remain calm.
At that very moment, Ais had already vanished from Loki Familia.
...
"Ais! Ais! Where are you?"
Tiona, Tione, Bete, Lefiya, and the others searched through Loki Familia for her.
Because of the Black Dragon's sudden appearance, Loki Familia had already decided to move out and stop it. Even if they had almost no chance of defeating it, they still had to try to halt its advance.
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~Support with 200 PowerStones = 1 Bonus Chapter
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