Bell carried the glowing cocoon back to the Hestia Familia.
"Hermes-sama, from this point on, I need to cut the feed for the rescue of Goddess Artemis."
He immediately shut off the projection feed. The luminous cocoon surrounding Artemis slowly opened, revealing the goddess's true form within.
Time, which had been suspended inside, began to move again.
Her breathing was so faint it was barely perceptible, and Bell's brows furrowed tightly. When he saw the Divine Core hidden deep within her soul—its radiance almost completely gone—he realized the situation was even more dire than he had feared.
"Bell, how's Artemis?"
Seeing the deep crease in his brow, Hestia felt a sinking feeling in her chest.
"As bad as I expected," Bell replied. "Her Authority shows signs of having been forcibly activated, but fortunately it didn't cause major damage to the seal. It wasn't something Artemis did consciously—she was devoured, and the interference came from the outside."
"Still, because that beast used her Authority while draining her divine power continuously, Artemis's Divine Core now has almost no energy left."
As he spoke, Bell traced a circle over her chest. A projection formed above her heart, showing the faintly beating organ and the dim, nearly lifeless Divine Core buried deep within her soul.
"I think Artemis used every ounce of her power to fight Antares during the battle. That's what caused this severe depletion of her divinity."
What a foolish goddess.
He thought it silently, but Bell could see she had fought with the resolve to die. She had gone all in, determined to drag the Scorpion down with her.
Artemis had never planned to escape alive—she only wanted to fulfill her duty before the end.
That kind of resolve was admirable. That kind of conviction was impossible to ignore.
But precisely because of that, a goddess like her shouldn't be returning to Tenkai so soon.
The world wasn't lacking in reckless gods, but it was sorely lacking in rational ones like Artemis.
"This looks bad. Can she even be saved?"
"..."
Loki couldn't help but voice her honest thought, while Hestia only bit her lip, saying nothing.
"The situation is grim," Bell said, "but if we can somehow replenish the divine power missing from her core, there might still be a way."
The biggest problem wasn't her physical body—it was the complete depletion of divine energy.
It was dangerous, yes, but not entirely hopeless.
Bell reached into four-dimensional space and retrieved the Divine Core that had once belonged to the god Ikelos. This was the moment it could finally serve its purpose.
When the core appeared, Freya, Loki, Hestia, and Hephaestus showed no surprise. But Artemis's eyes widened in shock.
"Wait! Whose divine core is this?"
"It was extracted from the body of the God Ikelos."
"Ikelos... extracted...?"
Bell's calm and matter-of-fact tone left Artemis completely stunned.
The divine core was the essence of every god, hidden deep within their being. It was both the source of their existence and the vessel that held their divine power. Under normal circumstances, such a core could never be removed—unless the god was completely destroyed.
The fact that Ikelos's divine core was here could mean only one thing: Ikelos was dead. And killed by Hestia's child, no less?
Artemis felt her vision darken, overwhelmed by the shock. She almost wanted to grab Hestia's child by the collar and shout, "Why are you so calm about this?"
"You… you killed a god! How can you be this composed?"
"And what kind of reaction do you think I should have?"
"Eh???"
Artemis could only stare, utterly bewildered by his answer.
"Perhaps every god in Genkai is special in some way. Gods possess power beyond mortal comprehension and command the laws of the world. That makes them existences above humanity. But besides that—what else?"
"Besides that? What do you mean?"
Artemis clearly wasn't following Bell's line of thought.
"I mean, apart from that power, is there really any other difference between gods and ordinary people?"
"This…"
For a moment, Artemis was at a loss for words.
Aside from their power and the nature of their existence, the gods of the lower world weren't all that different from mortals. She finally grasped what he meant—this child was telling her that gods, too, must face death.
Taking a slow, deep breath, Artemis's expression grew grave.
"Then do you realize that once the gods of Genkai learn about this, they'll see you as a target for eradication?"
"The death of a god is almost unheard of, even among the divine. The gods below would be curious how you managed it, but most of them would view you as a massive threat."
"To them, the lower world is just a playground—they wouldn't tolerate someone like you existing."
Are you worried about me? No... you're worried about Hestia being heartbroken.
Bell realized it instantly, but his tone softened, his voice sounding younger and almost confused beneath the shadow of his coat.
"The greatest threat? Me? I'm just a nameless nobody in Orario. And Artemis-sama, I didn't kill Ikelos—it was the Evilus."
"...Huh...???"
Artemis's entire expression went blank.
The four goddesses watching nearby couldn't help covering their mouths, struggling not to laugh.
"So please don't think of me as dangerous, alright? I've always followed the rules in Orario, never doing anything that draws attention. As for godslaying—that's someone else's business, not mine."
"Artemis-sama, I've only been an adventurer for half a year. How could I possibly have the strength to kill a god?"
That completely broke Artemis's composure.
Half a year?
She felt as if her ears had betrayed her. How could she have just heard something so absurd?