Ryoji stood casually with his sword in hand, his figure dazzling enough to catch countless eyes.
"Can you… take her place?" Bache lowered her head, her voice coming in broken fragments. "Even if you're a… pretty boy… once you interfere with the ritual, you'll die!"
They had met three times so far. Ignoring their most recent encounter, they had only actually fought once, and during that battle, Ryoji had cut off one of her arms.
But that had been a sneak attack!
Bache firmly believed that without the element of surprise, a Level 5 could never defeat a Level 6.
Even against Ryoji, she was confident.
If he could use that Magic, things might be different. But the curse from the sealing spell needed time to wear off on its own. He shouldn't be able to use Magic yet.
She was certain she wouldn't lose.
"Looks like you've misunderstood me." Ryoji gave a mocking laugh and held his sword horizontally in front of him.
'Shuā!'
His body shot forward like a cannonball, crossing dozens of meters in an instant.
"So fast!"
"Tch!"
Bache was startled. She didn't even have time to hear her own frustrated click of the tongue before instinctively raising her fist to block.
She wore a pair of sturdy metal armguards. If she could block this strike, she could use the opening to counterattack.
'Clang!'
In the blink of an eye, the blade struck her armguard.
'It didn't have much force?'
Bache was slightly confused. The blow hadn't even pushed her back, let alone given her any real sense of impact.
But she didn't think much of it. Wasn't this what was supposed to happen when a Level 5 fought a Level 6?
She immediately prepared to counterattack.
Then a sharp pain suddenly exploded in her chest, and a large amount of blood poured from her mouth.
"Egh!" Bache cried out. "How…?"
All the strength left her body, and she collapsed to the ground like a broken rag doll.
"You thought I was really unable to fight above my level just because I played along with you for a while?"
A pair of eyes looked down at her from above, but Bache could no longer speak. Her vision went black, and she passed out.
Another instant kill!
"Oooooh!"
"As expected of Aurora Polaris!"
"The rumors really weren't exaggerated!"
Not only the members of Loki Familia, but even the surrounding Amazonesses erupted into cheers.
"Whose side are you people even on?" Alicia glared at the Amazonesses in disgust.
As an Elf with a strong sense of cleanliness, Alicia hated overly promiscuous Amazonesses the most.
"Whichever side has the handsome guy!"
"You shameless women!"
"Haha! Thanks for the compliment!"
"…Who was complimenting you?"
Aisha burst out laughing, leaving Alicia completely speechless.
"Ryoji! I knew you loved me!" Tiona burst into tears of joy.
"Unfortunately, I don't." Ryoji gave her an awkward but polite smile.
"You brat. You really had us worried." Finn and the others walked over with smiles, giving Ryoji a few friendly punches.
"Thank goodness you're fine. Otherwise, the girls in the Familia would have been frantic." Riveria glanced at Ais beside her, a knowing, auntie-like smile appearing on her lips.
"I was actually just going fishing. Things got urgent, so I had no way to notify you…" Ryoji smiled awkwardly.
He had his invincible charm, the Phantom Realm that could easily save his life, and Brave Sword Heart, which allowed him to ignore charm and Divine Power. Even if he had entered Ishtar Familia alone, he would have been able to walk out openly and safely.
"Don't run, you little brat!" Loki shouted.
She directed Raul and the others toward the loli goddess Kali, and they quickly swarmed her and successfully captured her.
And with that, Ishtar Familia became history, while Kali Familia was reduced to prisoners.
Half of Evilus's active forces had been wiped out in this single incident.
"Still, we've created another huge problem…" Finn looked toward Belit Babili in the distance.
The top floor of the palace had already been blown away by the pillar of light. After being exposed to the Divine Power within it, the entire temple had been left half-destroyed.
"Ishtar was sent back to the Heavenly Realm after being killed by someone from the Lower Realm. This is going to become a major incident. The Guild definitely won't let it go." Riveria narrowed one eye, her expression solemn.
"After all, Ishtar paid more taxes to the Guild every year than anyone else in Orario. The Guild relies heavily on that goddess for its funding!" Gareth wore the expression of a man who could already see trouble coming.
Running the Guild required enormous amounts of money. Aside from selling Magic Stone products throughout the world, most of its income came from taxes collected from the various Familias.
Ishtar contributed a huge amount in taxes every year, so the Guild had often turned a blind eye to her behavior. They had even allowed her to become one of the three gods permitted to freely enter and leave Orario.
That was also why she had been able to smuggle Kali Familia into the city so easily.
Now that their biggest source of income was gone, the Guild would be under tremendous financial pressure.
And killing a god was a grave crime to begin with.
If one god killed another, that was one thing. But if a human killed a god, it was an unforgivable offense.
The offender could be hunted by the Guild, ordered to have their Blessing and Falna removed, expelled from their Familia, thrown into prison, or even executed.
With a major source of the Guild's funding gone as well, there was no way they would simply let this matter slide.
"Are you going to leave the Familia?" Ais suddenly spoke. Her eyes were lowered, and she seemed troubled.
"Don't worry. Ishtar was clearly in the wrong this time. There's no way we'll let Ryoji suffer for something he didn't do!" Finn spoke firmly.
"That's right."
"Otherwise, we wouldn't deserve to call ourselves Loki Familia!"
Riveria and Gareth nodded proudly.
Loki Familia would never abandon a single one of its companions. That was something few other Familias could claim, and it was one of the most important reasons Loki Familia had become the strongest Familia in the city.
"More importantly, hand it over." Finn suddenly smiled and extended his hand toward Ryoji.
"What?" Ryoji looked confused.
"What do you mean, what? You put yourself in danger for a reason. You were after the key here, weren't you?" Finn gave him a look that clearly said he wasn't buying any excuses. "Kali Familia was hiding inside Ishtar Familia. That means they had already allied themselves with Evilus. They must have had one of the keys. That's what you came here for, right?"
Everyone suddenly understood. Their faces seemed to say, 'You really are something.'
The Pallum captain truly was clever.
Unfortunately...
"I didn't get the key." Ryoji's expression darkened. "Ishtar did have one, but her Familia's Vice-Captain, Tammuz, stole it three days ago. No one knows where he is now."
"It was stolen?" Everyone froze.
"We just missed it?" Riveria sighed in frustration.
"Looks like we won't be able to take revenge anytime soon." Gareth could only sigh helplessly.
"Increase the search for Tammuz," Finn sighed. "It's unfortunate, but that's all we can do. At least it gives us something to work toward."
Although they had successfully wiped out half of Evilus's forces, they had ultimately failed to obtain the key.
There was still a long road ahead before they could take revenge on Evilus and begin their assault on the artificial labyrinth.
(End of Chapter)
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