The location of Mistilteinn had been explained in very simple terms.
‘Underground.’
It was such a simple description, but in truth, it was enough.
The Parthenon Temple wasn’t a particularly complicated structure. It had no need to be. It hadn’t originally been built as a place to enshrine Mistilteinn.
That was merely what it had ended up becoming; originally, in the literal sense, it had simply been a temple for the gods.
Instead, the gods had blocked everyone’s approach with that terrible miasma.
Conversely, if you could just pierce the miasma, obtaining Mistilteinn beyond that was an extremely easy matter.
And so Aster trudged down the stairs leading below.
“......This doesn’t feel great.”
Even if Aster was close to immune to Ecleksis, that only meant there was no actual damage; he could still feel it.
Ecleksis was the power of the soul. Within this space, Aster felt the dark, murky minds and emotions of the gods.
The dark emotions of gods were so similar to those of humans that, when it got to this degree, he almost felt a sense of familiarity toward the gods instead.
“Here it is.”
And Aster reached the underground.
He only had to go down about one level before it came into view.
However, it was a little different from the sight Aster had imagined.
“......This is less enshrined, and more like...”
Aster had thought Mistilteinn would be carefully placed at the dead center of the underground.
Contrary to that expectation, it had been jammed any which way into one corner.
If not for the strange power he could feel from it, it would have looked like nothing more than some junk lying around.
“Well, it’s not like the gods would lovingly enshrine this.”
Aster slowly approached Mistilteinn.
As he drew near, he could distinctly feel it. The miasma was fading away.
This powerful Ecleksis could not intrude on the area around Mistilteinn and merely circled on the outskirts.
Even after all these long years.
“......It really isn’t a branch.”
Aster stepped closer to Mistilteinn.
Standing quietly in the corner, it was unmistakably a spear.
To be honest, there wasn’t a single part of it that felt “branch-like”; it was simply a neat, single shaft of spear.
“Frondier was right.”
And that was a story from quite a long time ago.
Looking at the screen of Mistilteinn that had appeared on Wizerview, Frondier had said, “That is not Mistilteinn.” That Mistilteinn had literally been in the form of a mistletoe branch.
Aster had only heard that rumor indirectly, but thinking back now, that had been the very moment when Frondier had first stood out at Constel.
“You could be wrong about at least one thing, you know. You’re an annoying guy.”
Grumbling, Aster reached out his hand toward Mistilteinn.
[In the end.]
Just then, a voice was heard.
Aster wasn’t surprised.
He’d somehow had a feeling it would happen.
[In the end, it’s come to this, Aster.]
Aster lifted his head.
“......It has been a while, Baldur.”
[After I told you so firmly not to stay close to Frondier.]
Baldur revealed his form in front of Aster.
It was probably because this was a temple and the faith that had gathered here allowed him to manifest briefly.
[Aster, do you believe this war is right?]
Baldur turned a stern gaze on Aster.
[This war has all happened because of Frondier. Countless people will die now.]
Aster closed his eyes.
Baldur’s words were probably true.
This war had been started by Frondier.
And no one knew how many people would die from now on.
“Even so.”
Aster opened his eyes.
He knew.
If Frondier had started a war.
It was because this was how things had to be.
“They will die as people.”
As he spoke,
Aster gripped Mistilteinn.
[...You will regret this, Aster.]
“I’ll be seeing you soon, Baldur.”
Sst.
Baldur vanished.
Aster walked back up the underground stairs.
On his way, he lifted Mistilteinn and spun it lightly a few times.
“......Hm. No matter how you look at it, it’s just an ordinary spear.”
Well, it was certainly more useful than a tree branch.
But was this really something that could overturn a war against the gods?
Just as Aster began to harbor that doubt—
THUD─
“......!”
Aster lifted his head at the sudden, tremendous pressure he felt.
Far away.
Something was descending from the sky to the ground.
“......They’re here.”
Aster raised Mistilteinn and hurried his steps toward the outside of the temple.
***
Asgard, Olympus, and the Demon Realm.
In all of those worlds, those who were connected to Frondier were each fighting their own battles.
To slow the gathering of the gods even a little.
However, that was naturally far from perfect.
The Demon Realm had been held back with some effectiveness by Belphegor.
But Asgard and Olympus were not like that.
Their only main forces standing against the gods were Hela ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) and Hestia, respectively. They were strong, but they could not block all of the gods.
“Kh......!”
Hestia lost her strength and dropped to her knees.
She had fought as defensively as possible, and even though she was a god unrelated to combat, she had fought relatively well, but in the end her strength ran out.
In particular, she could not overcome Hermes’s speed. One-on-one, she might have managed, but against the combined assault of the gods with him as their core, she could not stand.
Clack.
The tip of Hermes’s sword touched her throat.
“Do not move, Hestia.”
“Spare me that kind of talk and kill me instead, Hermes.”
“......I cannot do that.”
Hermes answered.
His voice trembled.
Hearing that, Hestia saw the tip of the sword trembling as well.
“Hestia. Why is your gaze always turned toward humans?”
“.......”
“You are a god. You could have moved for the sake of the gods. Why did you not?”
At that, Hestia gave a bitter smile.
Yes, of course. Hermes had always been the “messenger.”
His role was to deliver the story, not to be the god who knew its full truth.
“Hermes, you know Makia, do you not.”
“.......”
“After going through the Titanomachy, what did you think? Or when the gods over there went through Ragnarok?”
At those words, Hermes closed his mouth.
Hestia spoke.
“Do you still not understand that we should have disappeared long ago?”
“Hestia, we overcame it!”
Zeus shouted in response.
“We overcame that calamity and only then finally stood tall as gods, and you truly do not understand that!”
“The one who doesn’t understand is you, Zeus.”
Hestia looked at Zeus. With a weary expression, she looked around them.
“Look at this state we’re in, Zeus.”
“.......”
“Are we really gods?”
Humans who knew the truth and fought to obtain freedom. The chief god who mobilized his entire force to kill those humans. Hestia, fighting to stop that. A civil war between gods.
“We are monsters, Zeus.”
“Hestia......!”
“All the things that should have died long ago are still alive and writhing. Baring their fangs at humans. What else would you call that but monsters?”
“Humans no longer need us!!”
RUMBLE!!
As if responding to Zeus’s shout, the sky let out a cry.
Lightning streaked down like a barrage, as if threatening Hestia, and the surging current made one’s skin prickle even without touching it.
“Hestia, if we leave things as they are, we’ll be reduced to nothing more than expendables for humans! They’ve forgotten the entire past in which they needed us, and they’re trying to wipe us out completely! Will you really forgive that? How can you possibly allow it!”
“Why could I not!”
FOOOOM─!
This time Hestia’s flames rose up.
Her flames surrounded her, burning blue, as if to threaten all the gods.
“Zeus, that was our promise! We are destined, in the end, to be forgotten by humans! Humans no longer need gods, you say? Is that really so frightening? After you’ve watched so many humans, so many tens of thousands of deaths, is that really so terrifying to you! We knew that was our role! Have you truly forgotten that we are beings who are completed by being extinguished, Zeus!!”
“No, I cannot accept it! Humans still need us! Look at their foolish state, Hestia! Will they calm the seas without us? Will they hold back disasters? Will they stop their wars, driven by selfishness, even for a single moment! No! Humans can never do that!”
“Zeus! It has already left our hands! Is their wisdom, and their foolishness to match it, really so different from ours? They are humans! If you truly care for humans—”
“I will not listen!!”
Zeus cut her off and strode past Hestia. His steps were so heavy they made the very ground tremble.
“Hermes, stay here. Watch Hestia and make sure she does nothing foolish!”
“......Yes.”
Leaving Hermes and Hestia behind like that, Zeus advanced with the other gods. Their destination was Bifröst. To descend to the human world.
Hestia watched that sight from the corner of her eye.
Her gaze sank sadly.
“......Zeus, you’ve lived far too long.”
***
“Heooh.”
Ospreet returned after linking the “gate.”
The forces that could come directly from the Imperial Palace crossed the gate one after another and gathered at Teiven’s barrier.
They looked beyond the barrier with faces armed with resolve and determination.
One of the knights who had arrived came over to Ospreet and reported.
“......All we can see from here is the pillar of light. To confirm when the gods arrive, shouldn’t we send out scouts?”
“There’s no need for that.”
Ospreet shook his head.
“The moment the gods set foot on this land, there’s no way we won’t know.”
“.......”
At those words, the knights who understood his meaning suppressed a shiver.
But Ospreet’s grave expression wasn’t because of that.
“However.”
He glanced around.
He was desperately searching for one person.
“I have no idea where Elodie has gone.”
Elodie was nowhere to be seen.
Elodie, who had definitely come here fastest together with Ospreet.
While he had disappeared briefly to link the gate, Elodie had vanished.
What worried Ospreet most in the current situation was Elodie’s absence.
It was the most unforeseen development.
One of the strongest mages on the human side was missing.
‘Against gods, it’s a cruel thing to say, but most of the forces gathered here won’t be able to put up a fight. Especially not against the Twelve Gods and the chief gods.’
With Frondier absent, a mage like Elodie was all the more desperately needed at a time like this. Her magic would surely be powerful enough that even the gods would watch out for it and fear it.
On top of that, Angfer was also not here now.
‘I’ve heard that additional forces from Agoris are coming this way as well, but since we can’t link a gate to that side, it’ll take time for them to arrive.’
So then, surely before that—
THUD─
“Tsk.”
At the pressure, Ospreet’s face twisted into a grimace,
And he alone had gotten off that lightly.
“H-huff, huff......!”
Most of the knights swallowed dry laughter, and the soldiers were already trembling in terror.
They still couldn’t see anything with their own eyes.
Only the distant pillar of light, Bifröst, had flickered for the briefest moment.
But even that alone was enough for them to feel this oppressive force.
The gods had arrived.
‘......The ones who came first are,’
Ospreet cast his gaze far into the distance.
Keeping the knights and soldiers from losing heart was important, but Ospreet had a different priority.
No matter what he shouted right now, it didn’t seem like their fear would vanish.
Ospreet confirmed the figure of the god at the very front.
‘Olympus, then.’
Whoosh.
Ospreet rose into the air. It was to focus all the gods’ gazes on himself.
Ospreet raised his hand to about the height of his chest. His thumb touched the center of his chest.
With his combat stance complete, mana began to whirl from the point where his thumb touched.
In that state, Ospreet spoke to the one at the very front.
Who that was went without saying.
“Zeus. Stop there.”
At those words, Zeus looked at Ospreet.
“So you are the Archmage.”
“Not yet.”
“This war was started by humans. It’s no use telling me to stop. Why don’t you go complain to Frondier instead?”
“That’s not what I meant, Zeus.”
Ospreet’s eyes gleamed coldly.
“I meant, stop so I can aim more easily.”
“......! Everyone!”
Just as Zeus was about to shout for them—
DUDUDUDUDU-BOOOOM─!!!
A chain of explosions erupted in midair.
Magic that didn’t fly out from near the mage’s position, but whose entire process from casting to manifestation exploded at the enemies’ location.
Ospreet’s specialty was displayed without reserve.
“An Archmage,”
Ospreet said,
“starts from here.”
