With a single X-Burner, Tsuna blasted Phryne into the floor beneath them.
"I—Incredible…"
Having witnessed the sheer devastation of the X-Burner, Welf could only mutter in awe. The rest of the group was completely speechless.
Tsuna slowly floated down, landing softly on the dungeon floor.
"Tsuna… w-what was that attack…!?" Bell stammered.
"The X-Burner. It's my ultimate move."
"""""—!?"""""
Knowing that the apocalyptic blast they had just witnessed was Tsuna's trump card, Bell and the others couldn't hide their shock.
"—Please, stop this at once!!"
Haruhime suddenly stepped in front of the injured Aisha, throwing her arms wide to block Tsuna's path. She must have rushed over in a panic, as her hood had fallen back, fully revealing her beautiful face and golden fox ears.
"I do not wish to see anyone else get hurt!! So please, take my life and spare the others!!"
You useless fox… Aisha cursed internally.
Desperate to end the conflict, Haruhime offered herself as a sacrifice. Yet, her small body was trembling, and her voice shook with terror. Aisha felt a deep surge of irritation watching the girl, clearly terrified of death, still throwing her life away for them.
"I told you, I have no intention of fighting anymore," Tsuna said calmly. "Unless you all intend to keep this going. Then it's a different story."
Tsuna swept his gaze over the remaining Ishtar Familia members, but not a single one showed the will to fight.
And it made perfect sense. Phryne's personality was pure garbage, but her combat strength was undeniable; every member acknowledged her power. Yet, she had been utterly annihilated by Tsuna without landing a single blow. It was painfully obvious to everyone that they didn't stand a chance.
"And about your Captain… I held back, so she should still be alive. If you consider her an ally, you should probably go help her."
At Tsuna's suggestion, Aisha shot a quick glance at her subordinates. Catching her eye, the remaining Amazonesses immediately jumped down the massive hole Tsuna had created to search for Phryne. They hated her, but leaving her to die left a bad taste in their mouths.
"U-Umm, Master Tsuna…?" Lili spoke up timidly, a look of confusion on her face. "If my ears aren't deceiving me, did you just say you 'held back' on that last attack…?"
"If I fired the X-Burner at full power here, the entire floor would collapse," Tsuna answered honestly. "So I suppressed the output to about thirty percent."
""""""…""""""
The casual mention of "collapsing the floor" and "thirty percent" completely short-circuited everyone's brains. The room descended into absolute, stunned silence.
"Earlier, I said I wouldn't ask why you attacked us," Tsuna began, turning his attention back to Aisha. "But if you're the Ishtar Familia, that changes things. Why did you attack us?"
"…To destroy the Freya Familia," Aisha answered without hesitation.
"…I don't follow. What does taking them down have to do with ambushing us?"
"I don't know the specifics. We simply followed our Goddess's orders."
…She's hiding something.
Tsuna's Hyper Intuition flared, sensing that Aisha was holding back crucial information. But he also instinctively knew that pressing her further would yield nothing.
"But by doing this, you've drawn Lady Ishtar's attention," Aisha warned.
"What?"
"Normally, it would be impossible for us to lose. But you completely dismantled us by yourself. When Lady Ishtar finds out, she'll be furious. To wipe away the humiliation, she'll try to erase your entire existence."
"Are you kidding me!? You guys attacked us first!!" Welf yelled.
"Master Welf is right!! That's nothing but an unjustified grudge!!" Lili agreed.
"You're right. But there is nothing more troublesome than a Goddess's jealousy," Aisha sighed, her tone heavy. "That jealousy alone is enough to warp the very foundation of the lower world. It can derail people's destinies, and it can start wars. That is the kind of madness our Goddess carries."
"And that's the reason she's trying to destroy the Freya Familia?" Tsuna asked.
"Exactly. Despite being a Goddess of Beauty like her, Freya is considered superior and holds far greater military power. Lady Ishtar is intensely, deeply jealous of her. And she will use any means necessary to tear her down."
"So that's why she's using Haruhime."
"You catch on quick. So you know what her magic does."
"…It's a magic that allows someone to Rank Up, isn't it?"
"Spot on. Haruhime possesses the magic Level Boost. We're going to use it to annihilate the Freya Familia."
While Tsuna and Aisha casually exchanged world-shattering information, Bell and the others were left completely speechless, unable to keep up.
"I'd say that's impossible… but you must have a trick up your sleeve, right?" Tsuna deduced.
Based on Haruhime's behavior, Tsuna had realized her magic could only Rank Up one person at a time. Furthermore, when Phryne ordered Haruhime to buff her, Haruhime hadn't even attempted to cast it—or rather, she couldn't. This meant Level Boost could only target a single individual and required a cooldown interval between uses.
Even if they boosted Phryne, they would only have one extra Level 6. With the Level 7 Ottar leading the Freya Familia, destroying them was a pipe dream. Even without Ottar, it was highly debatable whether a boosted Phryne could defeat Allen or the Gulliver Brothers. Tsuna knew firsthand from his own clashes with them that the Freya Familia wasn't an opponent you could beat with half-baked schemes.
"…Have you ever heard of a Killing Stone?" Aisha asked quietly.
"!?"
"Aisha, please stop!!"
The moment the item Hermes had mentioned left Aisha's lips, Tsuna flinched. Haruhime frantically tried to silence Aisha, but the Amazoness firmly clamped her left hand over Haruhime's forehead, holding her in place. Haruhime struggled, but she couldn't budge the seasoned warrior an inch.
Realizing Tsuna didn't know the full details, Aisha began to explain. A Killing Stone is a forbidden magic item designed to trap a Renard's soul. By possessing the stone, anyone could utilize the trapped Renard's sorcery. The magic produced by the stone was identical to the original spell and required no chanting. To unlock this power, a ritual had to be performed on the night of a full moon to shatter the stone. By distributing the broken fragments, an entire army could simultaneously use Haruhime's magic.
But such overwhelming power came with a devastating price. The Renard trapped inside the stone would serve as a living sacrifice. Even if all the fragments were somehow gathered and the soul returned, the victim's mind would be permanently broken, reducing them to the state of an infant or a vegetative husk. They could never be fully restored.
"You'd sacrifice your own Familia… your own family!?" Bell yelled in horror. "Turn her into a weapon and throw her away!?"
"…Lady Ishtar promised that once we settle things with the Freya Familia, she will return the soul inside the Killing Stone to Haruhime," Aisha replied evenly.
"There is no way she'll keep a promise like that!!" Bell roared.
Bell condemned the act, but Aisha remained unfazed. Mikoto, too, knew perfectly well that Ishtar would never honor such an agreement.
"She'd go that far…!?" Welf muttered.
"What does she think human lives are…!?" Lili gritted her teeth.
Welf and Lili felt a deep, boiling rage toward Ishtar, terrified by a Goddess who would gladly sacrifice her own children just to soothe her bruised ego.
"…"
While the others shuddered at Ishtar's sheer madness, Tsuna simply lowered his gaze, remaining entirely silent.
"I told you earlier," Aisha repeated. "There is nothing more troublesome than a Goddess's jealousy."
"Are you really okay with this!?" Bell demanded, trying to find some trace of guilt in Aisha.
"…"
Aisha didn't answer right away. A heavy silence hung in the air.
"…Let me tell you a story about a foolish courtesan," Aisha finally spoke, her voice distant.
Aisha recounted the past. There was once a Renard who had completely given up on everything, always wearing a gloomy, depressing expression no matter how much people tried to take care of her. Sick to her stomach of watching the girl despair, a certain courtesan had smashed the Killing Stone Ishtar had acquired. Her defiance was immediately discovered. The courtesan was beaten to a bloody pulp by Phryne, and then magically Charmed by Ishtar.
From that day on, the courtesan could never defy Ishtar again. Even the mere thought of rebellion made her shake so violently she couldn't stand.
"…Ever since that incident, the Berbera have been united," Aisha concluded. "Some of us were originally against sacrificing Haruhime to start a war with the Freya Familia, but now… they're too terrified of Lady Ishtar to speak up. Though, there are still those who actively crave the bloodshed."
Learning the dark, twisted reality of the Ishtar Familia left Bell and the others utterly speechless.
Aisha appeared calm on the surface, but underneath, she was violently cursing her own powerlessness, gritting her teeth so hard they nearly cracked.
It was then.
"!?"
Haruhime suddenly vanished from beneath Aisha's hand. Aisha's eyes widened in sheer shock.
A faint footstep sounded directly behind her. Aisha whipped around.
"—What!?"
Tsuna was standing there, gently holding Haruhime in his arms. The shock wasn't just limited to Aisha; Bell and the rest were equally stunned by his blinding speed.
Tsuna vanished again, reappearing behind his friends. He gently set Haruhime down and turned his back to them.
"Take Haruhime and head back to the Manor," Tsuna ordered quietly. "Tell Reborn everything. He'll protect you."
"Tsuna…!? Don't tell me you're…!?"
Hearing Tsuna's command, Bell instantly realized what he was about to do.
"I'm going to the Ishtar Familia," Tsuna declared. "We've already crushed her Familia members, and we know about the Killing Stone. Ishtar has no reason to let us live. But she hasn't heard about this yet. Most of her combatants are currently out of their headquarters. Right now is the absolute best time to go on the offensive."
"What are you saying, Master Tsuna!? Do you really think you can do that and get away with it!?" Lili screamed in panic.
Even if Tsuna managed to crush the Ishtar Familia, Ishtar would absolutely retaliate later. Furthermore, he would be making enemies of every faction aligned with her. It would mean they could no longer safely live in Orario. As the pragmatist of the group, Lili naturally opposed the suicidal idea.
"This is sick…"
"Eh…!?"
"The fact that Haruhime has to die just for her selfish pride is fundamentally wrong… I won't forgive Ishtar. Never…"
Tsuna is… angry…!?
Bell's eyes widened. He saw Tsuna clenching his fists so tightly that the fabric of his gloves threatened to tear. It was the first time Bell had ever seen him genuinely furious.
In Tsuna's future, the original human from Earth, Checkerface, had sacrificed Reborn and the others, turning them into Arcobaleno to maintain the Tri-Ni-Sette. But Checkerface hadn't done it out of malice; it was a desperate, agonizing decision made to protect humanity and preserve the world. Tsuna never agreed that it was the right choice, but he could at least understand it.
But Ishtar was different. She was sacrificing Haruhime entirely for her own vanity. Tsuna couldn't forgive her for carelessly throwing away the lives of her own Familia members, and he absolutely refused to let Haruhime become a living sacrifice.
"Please, stop this!! I don't care what happens to me!! I don't have any value worth saving!! So please—"
Haruhime desperately screamed at Tsuna, trying to stop him from defying Ishtar for her sake. She had sold her body for money just to survive. She firmly believed a fallen woman like her didn't deserve to be saved.
"—Stop screwing around!!"
Tsuna snapped his head back and yelled at her. The sheer intensity of his anger left Bell and the others frozen.
"What do you mean you don't care what happens to you!? Look around you!! There are people right here who will grieve if you die!!"
"Ah…"
Hearing Tsuna's roar, Haruhime looked over at Mikoto and Aisha. Memories of her friends from the Far East suddenly flooded her mind.
"There are people who want to live alongside you!! People who want to laugh with you!! What happens to their feelings if you just give up!? You're trampling on the feelings of everyone who cares about you!! Don't you get that!?"
"Ah… ahh…"
Tsuna's words pierced Haruhime's heart, filling her with crushing guilt. She finally realized that she had been pushing away the very hands desperately reaching out to save her.
"…I'm leaving the rest to you guys," Tsuna said softly, his anger subsiding into cold resolve as he began walking toward the Ishtar Familia's territory.
"We can't just stand around!! We're going too!!" Welf shouted.
"…Don't."
Welf, snapping out of his daze, tried to chase after Tsuna, but Aisha stepped in his path.
"You'll only be dead weight," Aisha stated bluntly. "You couldn't even move to save Haruhime a second ago."
Aisha's words stabbed into Bell and the others, rendering them completely unable to argue back. After hearing how terrifying Ishtar was, the fear of her inevitable retaliation had paralyzed them all. None of them had been able to take that first step.
"Besides, even without you lot, he's going to destroy the Ishtar Familia. I guarantee it. You should stay put."
"But doing that doesn't solve the root of the problem!! If he does this, Lili and the others will…"
"He knows that perfectly well. But what if he procures hard evidence that the Ishtar Familia was willing to sacrifice their own members to start a war with the Freya Familia?"
"W-Wait, Master Sawada is planning to…!?"
"Exactly… His target is the Killing Stone. If he hands the stone over to the Guild, it's irrefutable proof of our conspiracy. Once our plan is exposed, Ishtar won't be able to stay in Orario anyway. More importantly, once the public knows how deep she's sunken, none of her allies will dare lift a finger to help her."
If the plot was exposed, Ishtar would instantly become a wanted criminal. Anyone who tried to assist her would be treated as an accomplice, and the Ganesha Familia would immediately intervene. All of Ishtar's political connections would be paralyzed.
"…Just who exactly is he?" Aisha asked, narrowing her eyes.
"Well… we don't really know much about him either…" Welf scratched his head.
"He seemed to want to keep his past a secret…" Mikoto added.
"And for some reason, he refuses to use his powers unless it's an absolute emergency…" Lili murmured.
When Aisha asked about Tsuna, the three of them could offer no real answers, realizing how little they truly knew.
"During the War Game, was he the one who suggested making the enemy betray their side?" Aisha asked.
"Yes, he was, but…"
"I knew it. It seems he really isn't an ordinary human."
"What do you mean?" Mikoto asked, failing to grasp Aisha's implication.
"This is just my intuition talking… but he has the presence of someone meant to stand above others. He has the absolute qualities of a King."
"A King!? Tsuna!?" Welf choked.
"Well, if that's true, it would explain why he wanted to keep his identity a secret…" Lili deduced.
"But assuming that is true, why did he come to Orario…?" Mikoto wondered aloud.
While surprised by Aisha's theory, Welf, Lili, and Mikoto felt it wasn't entirely far-fetched.
"Bell Cranel. You know something about him, don't you?"
Seeing Bell remain completely silent through the exchange, Aisha instantly knew he was hiding something.
"Yes… My Goddess and I know… but it's not my place to tell…" Bell admitted softly.
"Fair enough. Everyone has secrets they'd rather keep buried," Aisha conceded.
Aisha hadn't sunk so low as to force someone's secrets out of them. She didn't press the issue any further.
"Do as he said, and take the useless fox with you."
"What will you do, Miss Aisha?" Bell asked.
"I'm going to go save that stupid Toad. Letting a piece of trash like her die just leaves a bad taste in my mouth."
With that, Aisha jumped down the crater Tsuna had blown open to begin her search for Phryne.
I didn't tell him about 'them'… but he should be fine, Aisha thought as she fell. Images of two specific Amazonesses briefly crossed her mind.
─────
Meanwhile.
Is that…
That man…
On his way back up to the surface, Tsuna caught sight of Hedin. Though Tsuna's Hyper Intuition immediately flagged the elf as exceptionally dangerous, he sensed no hostility, so he ignored him and continued his ascent.
Hedin, on the other hand, was slightly surprised to run into the boy who had gone toe-to-toe with Allen, the Gulliver Brothers, and Ottar in a place like this. However, he also chose to ignore Tsuna and continued his descent into the deeper floors.
What is his objective…? Why isn't he with Bell Cranel and the others?
----
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