After discovering this, Loki could not help letting out a bewildered,
"Huh?"
She could barely believe her own eyes.
Seeing such a shocked expression on Loki's face, Riveria's heart skipped a beat.
The last time she had seen Loki this stunned was when the main forces of the Hera and Zeus Familias had been completely annihilated.
After that, Loki had joined forces with Freya and driven the declining Zeus and Hera Familias out of Orario.
Now, seeing Loki make that same expression again, Riveria's heart began pounding violently.
She forced herself to remain calm and asked,
"What happened? Is there something wrong with this magic?"
Ais, standing nearby, also looked at Loki nervously, afraid that she might deliver some terrible news.
Loki clicked her tongue.
"It's definitely a little troublesome. I've never seen this kind of magic before, so I can't undo it anytime soon."
Although Riveria was somewhat disappointed, she still comforted herself.
"It's alright. According to that God of Death, the effect of this magic will only last for one week."
"After a week, I'll return to normal."
Loki shook her head.
"You don't understand."
"What I mean is—I have never seen this kind of magic before."
Riveria hummed thoughtfully.
"A spell capable of shrinking a person is indeed rather unbelievable…"
Seeing that Riveria still had not understood her point, Loki bluntly interrupted her.
"No. What I mean is, I have never seen this kind of magic before."
Riveria froze and looked at Loki in confusion.
Loki stared at her with an unusually serious expression and repeated,
"This isn't any type of magic I know."
At that moment, Riveria finally seemed to realize what Loki meant.
Her pupils trembled violently.
"Loki, you mean…"
"That's right."
Loki nodded.
"This is a kind of magic completely different from the magic we use."
Ais looked somewhat confused.
"Loki, what does that mean?"
Loki explained,
"Simply put, this is an entirely new form of magic, completely different from the mainstream magic systems currently existing in our world."
"It's a completely different magical system."
Having her suspicion confirmed by Loki, Riveria could not help letting out a groan.
"How is that possible?"
The magic used by adventurers today came from two main sources.
Some were granted through the gods.
Others had been developed and refined by generations of mortal mages.
But both originated from the same source.
They were forms of magic born from the same fundamental framework.
Yet now, a god had suddenly produced a completely different kind of magic—something unlike the mainstream system of their world.
That was more than strange.
It was almost unbelievable.
Even the usually expressionless Ais revealed a rare trace of surprise.
"If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't believe it either."
Loki narrowed her eyes.
Her gaze flickered as her mind began working at tremendous speed.
One possibility after another surfaced, only to be eliminated one by one.
Before long, an absurd idea appeared in her mind.
"Could it be…? No, no, that shouldn't be possible."
"No matter how I think about it, that would be far too unbelievable."
Riveria stared at Loki, who was pacing back and forth through the hall and muttering to herself from time to time.
She was completely confused.
What was this woman doing now?
"Loki, you're being weird."
And then Ais bluntly complained about her.
The moment she heard her beloved Ais criticize her, Loki looked as though an arrow had pierced her knee.
"Ais!"
She cried out and threw herself toward Ais.
No matter what happened, she absolutely did not want Ais to dislike her.
Ais was far too beautiful.
Being disliked by her was absolutely unacceptable.
Unfortunately, Ais had already predicted this.
The instant Loki lunged toward her, Ais calmly stepped aside.
Loki missed completely and crashed face-first onto the floor with a thud.
"Ais! How could you do this to me?!"
At that moment, Loki was utterly heartbroken and began rolling around dramatically on the floor.
Seeing their goddess throwing a tantrum and refusing to get up, Ais could not help sighing.
There was definitely something wrong with their goddess's head.
"Enough!"
At that moment, Riveria stopped Loki from continuing her nonsense.
"You thought of something, didn't you, Loki?"
Riveria asked.
After being scolded, Loki slowly climbed to her feet and gave the palm-sized Riveria a thumbs-up.
"As expected of Mom. Your observation skills are as sharp as ever."
"That's right. I did come up with a possibility."
"But it's so absurd that even I don't know whether I'm right."
"What exactly did you think of?"
Riveria was extremely curious.
Although Loki often behaved as though something was seriously wrong with her, her mind was actually very sharp.
So Riveria genuinely wanted to know what possibility Loki had thought of—one so incredible that even Loki herself could not believe it.
After calming down, Loki said,
"A god I've never seen before."
"A magical system I've never encountered before."
"What kind of place could produce both of those things?"
Riveria was immediately startled.
Now that Loki said it like that, she realized it too.
A god Loki had never seen was already strange enough.
But now there was also a magical system Loki had never encountered.
Put those two facts together—
and an unbelievable answer suddenly emerged.
"Loki… you mean that God of Death isn't a god from Heaven at all."
"He isn't even from this world."
"Exactly."
Loki nodded without hesitation.
"That's what I'm thinking."
"But even though that's my conclusion, the answer itself is so ridiculous that I still find it hard to believe."
She crossed her arms over her chest, completely ignoring the hopelessly flat cliff beneath them as she devoted all her attention to thinking.
Riveria came back to her senses and sighed.
"No wonder you can't be certain."
"A god from another world…"
"That really is an unbelievable answer."
This world had existed for an immeasurably long time.
The gods alone had lived for hundreds of millions of years.
When the gods were born, mortal life had not even appeared yet.
One could say that nearly all life in the mortal realm had emerged beneath the gods' watchful eyes.
Yet throughout those hundreds of millions of years, they had never encountered humans or gods from another world.
If that God of Death had not used a form of magic that Loki had never seen before, Loki would never have considered such an absurd possibility.
But thinking back on it now—
that god truly was strange.
He possessed no divine power, yet could use magic.
If he really was a god from another world, then many of his contradictions suddenly made sense.
Even so, without undeniable proof, Loki could not bring herself to fully believe the theory.
The answer overturned far too much of what they thought they knew.
Riveria also fell silent.
A god from another world…
Was something like that really possible?
And if it was, how could he cross between worlds?
Even Hermes could not leave this world and travel to another one.
Seeing the two of them trapped in their thoughts, Ais tilted her head.
"If you're not sure, why don't you just ask him?"
"Maybe he'll answer."
Riveria froze.
Uh…
There was actually nothing wrong with that suggestion.
Loki's eyes lit up, and she clapped her hands.
"As expected of Ais! Great idea!"
"That's what we'll do."
"Instead of sitting here guessing endlessly, we'll just ask the guy directly."
Riveria asked,
"Will he actually answer?"
Loki rubbed her chin and revealed a sly grin.
"Sometimes, if you want an answer, you don't necessarily need the other person to say it out loud."
Riveria: "…"
She had no idea what Loki was planning.
But judging from that smile, Riveria knew the goddess was up to something bad again.
Well—
that was their goddess, after all.
…
Meanwhile, Luo Wei, who was wandering around Orario, had no idea that a single small spell had already caused Loki to suspect his origins.
At the moment, he was walking leisurely through the streets when he happened to run into Esdeath, Mez, and Suzuka, who had just emerged from the Dungeon.
Esdeath was covered from head to toe in blood as she walked down the street without caring about anyone around her.
Mez and Suzuka were not much better.
Their bodies were also covered in monster blood, giving off a powerful stench of blood and filth.
The adventurers around them instinctively moved aside.
Everyone here lived dangerous lives where bloodshed was commonplace.
But the killing intent surrounding those three women was simply too overwhelming.
Especially Esdeath.
She had just slaughtered her way through the Dungeon, and the murderous aura around her had not faded at all.
Or rather—
she had no intention of suppressing it.
Anyone who accidentally met her eyes would be struck by that terrifying killing intent.
Their hands and feet would turn cold, leaving them unable to move.
It was only natural that the surrounding pedestrians were terrified.
"You three…"
Luo Wei rubbed his temples.
With a casual gesture, he summoned a stream of water and washed all three women clean, rinsing away every trace of blood.
Then he created several fireballs and had them circle the women a few times, drying their wet clothes and hair.
"So?"
"Did you enjoy the fighting this time?"
After finishing, Luo Wei extinguished the fireballs and asked with a smile.
Suzuka and Mez both said they had thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
Esdeath, however, shook her head.
"Too weak."
"Those so-called monsters."
In her eyes, although the monsters had been numerous, not a single one had been truly worth fighting.
At first, slaughtering them had been satisfying.
But mowing down enough helpless enemies eventually became boring.
That boredom was precisely why the three women had finally left the Dungeon.
"Doesn't this place have anyone worth fighting?"
As she spoke, Esdeath looked toward the adventurers carrying swords and blades around them.
Hardly anyone dared meet her gaze.
"Tch."
"A bunch of weaklings."