At the top of Babel Tower, before the windows.
Silver hair fell gently down her shoulders, divine robes rustling in the breeze.
Freya stood at the highest point in the city, gazing down at Orario. But her exquisitely beautiful face—so often smiling—was, for once, devoid of its usual charm.
Her eyes no longer held the usual seductive gentleness and fervor, but a cloud of frustration and unease that refused to dissipate.
In the still air behind her, it was as if Ottar's voice still lingered:
"...He didn't show a single sign of exhaustion."
"He bulldozed his way up from the fifty-ninth floor, even wiped out the entire swarm of Valgang Dragons…"
"Freya, the plan failed. We didn't manage to wear him down as intended."
Letting out a breath, Freya sank back onto the crimson leather sofa behind her.
Propping her cheek on one hand, she stared off into the distance, murmuring softly:
"...So we failed?"
Freya had thought that this "expedition" would be enough to drain that man completely.
Then, at the moment his guard was down, she'd deliver the "final blow" herself.
But Ottar had brought her an unexpected truth—
Ryota had become even stronger than he was during the War Game.
Not only was he not exhausted, he even seemed to have full control over that terrifying power—so naturally that it instilled instinctive dread.
"Could it be you really weren't charmed, Ryota…?"
"How could that be…"
In the depths of the goddess of beauty's eyes stirred an unusual trace of panic.
She wanted all of Ryota.
His body, mind, and soul—every part of him!
She couldn't accept losing her hold on Ryota. She simply couldn't accept it!
Suppressing the roiling emotions within, Freya turned her head slightly, her gaze falling on the silent Ottar behind her.
"Go, call Ryota here—"
But just as the words left her lips, she suddenly seemed to think of something and changed her tone:
"No… forget it. I'll go myself."
The moment those words landed, the room grew noticeably quieter.
Ottar kept his head bowed and said nothing.
Of course he understood what Freya meant.
As Orario's LV.7, he still couldn't summon Ryota.
Ever since they'd ventured into the Dungeon together and he had witnessed feats that no human should be capable of, Ottar had understood one thing:
That boy was no longer someone he could predict, assess, or even converse with.
He might not even have the courage to look him directly in the eyes anymore.
Freya's lips curled faintly, and deep within her eyes flickered a tangle of complex emotions.
Infatuation, yearning, obsession—
And the collapse of her need for control.
She stood up and walked to the door.
"Ryota…"
"What are you hiding?"
This time, she would uncover the truth herself.
…
Clack—clack—clack—
A crisp sound of mechanisms shifting rang out sharply in the quiet night.
Then, a heavy stone wall slowly moved aside, revealing the hidden exit of a secret tunnel.
Ryota stepped out of the shadows, stretching lazily as if the cataclysmic Dungeon battle he'd just fought had been nothing more than a long, boring stroll.
"Orario air really does feel nicer."
He murmured to himself. He'd originally planned to teleport straight to Hephaestus's forge for a quick nap, but on second thought, he decided to take a walk instead.
After emerging from the Dungeon, he'd been stopped by Fels and met with Ouranos.
All the running around had left his head overheated. A bit of cool night air might help.
So he began strolling slowly in the direction of the Hephaestus Familia, following the street as he wandered into the night.
Yet deep in his consciousness, Ouranos's heavy, resonant words continued to echo:
"You completed the mission, and your performance was outstanding… but the Black Dragon's silence may be only temporary."
Ouranos hadn't spelled it out, but Ryota could hear the faint unease in the old god's tone.
Yes—though the seal had stabilized again, that crack on the sixty-first floor—pulsing faintly like a heartbeat—told Ryota one undeniable truth:
The Black Dragon hadn't given up.
It was waiting, biding its time for the next chance to break free.
It could be tomorrow—or right now.
"Hmph… I'll be the one to end this commission."
Ryota patted his forehead lightly.
"This new DanMachi world… sure is exciting."
He zigzagged through the streets of Orario.
The Hephaestus Familia headquarters was just across the next block.
But just then, Ryota suddenly stopped walking.
—Too quiet.
It was as if the entire city of Orario had stopped breathing in that instant.
His brows furrowed slightly as he looked toward the end of the street.
There, from the shadows ahead, a figure slowly emerged.
No doubt about it—it was Freya.
She walked toward him, step by step, until she stood directly in front of him.
The two locked eyes in silence.
"Ryota, you… weren't charmed, right?"
Ryota gave her a glance, then replied:
"You already know. Why bother asking?"
Freya's lips curled slightly, her expression somewhere between a smile and not. She stared at him as though trying to peer into his heart through his silence.
Then she asked again:
"Then why did you go into the Dungeon?"
"Why complete the Guild's commission under the Freya Familia's name?"
Ryota didn't respond.
Or rather, he didn't know how to respond.
Should he say it was to complete the mission? That he had struck a deal with Ouranos?
He'd probably be mistaken for a lunatic…
But his silence was like a single drop of water falling into a still lake—rippling straight through Freya's heart.
Her eyes lit up, a joy and conviction she couldn't hide blooming at the corners of her mouth and eyes.
"I understand now…"
"You went… for me."
"You accepted the expedition because of the Freya Familia, didn't you?"
Ryota's brow twitched, his expression turning to one of are you serious right now?
"...Huh?"
"What nonsense are you spouting?"
But Freya acted like she hadn't heard him and smiled to herself.
"Ryota, deep down… you've always been watching me, haven't you?"
Ryota: "…"
A faint blush crept up Freya's cheeks, her lips curving gently.
She locked eyes with Ryota, her gaze gradually softening into a girlish shyness and hopefulness.
"I don't know why you weren't charmed."
"But you clearly knew everything that had happened. Yet you didn't try to return to the Loki Familia to completely cut ties with me."
"Instead, you followed Ottar and the others into the Dungeon, completed Ouranos's commission, and now all of Orario… is singing praises of the Freya Familia's achievement."
Her voice grew quieter the more she spoke, the blush on her face deepening, her gaze shifting from probing to fervent.
"This is… your way of expressing it, isn't it?"
"Using actions—to show how much you care?"
"So it really was… for me, right?"
She stepped closer, her voice as tender as a lover's whisper, yet trembling like a first confession.
"Ryota…"
"If you just nod…"
Her voice quivered with something she could no longer restrain.
"I'll give you everything right now."
"As long as you say yes."
But just before her dream could be realized, Ryota spoke.
"You've got it all wrong, Freya."
"I hate your charm."
Freya froze, her smile solidifying in place.
"I hate the Freya Familia."
"And—"
He paused for emphasis, as if worried the lunatic in front of him hadn't heard clearly.
"I hate you."
The air froze in that instant.
Freya's body trembled slightly, the motion she'd been about to make forward stuck in place.
It was like being slapped awake—or thrown into an ice bath.
The bashful girl-like expression on her face shattered into fractured confusion and loneliness.
Ryota tilted his head, the purple glow of his nearly-complete Rinnegan gleaming starkly against the night.
"Don't flatter yourself."
"I will eventually…"
"No—soon, I'll destroy this false world you've built."
Freya stood there, stunned.
She stared blankly at Ryota, the color draining from her face all at once.
Each of his cold, cutting words pierced straight into her heart like a blade.
Freya instinctively stumbled back two steps.
It took everything she had just to keep from collapsing on the spot.
But still, her body trembled uncontrollably.
Those eyes—the ones she'd gazed into so many times—now looked so foreign, so cold, so utterly distant.
That wasn't the Ryota she remembered.
That was someone she'd never truly had in her grasp.
"You…"
She whispered, her voice no longer like a goddess, but like a lost, panicked girl.
"You really… think that, Ryota?"
Ryota didn't reply. He simply stared at her with cold detachment.
Freya bit her lip and said:
"Don't you realize? With just a word from me, all of Orario… the entire city, would turn against you!"
"No matter how strong you are, they'll hunt you down, surround you, hate you!"
"Do you… understand?!"
In that moment, she wasn't a high-and-mighty goddess—
But just a woman—terrified of losing control, terrified of losing someone.
Ryota continued to look at her quietly, the Rinnegan in his eyes void of anger or pity—only a chilling, absolute scorn.
"I know."
"But I don't care."
With that, Ryota turned and walked toward the Hephaestus Familia.
Freya simply stood there, staring at his gradually retreating figure.
She was Freya—the goddess of beauty who could make mortals, gods, even whole cities fall at her feet.
But Ryota was different.
He had never once put her on a pedestal.
Not even from the beginning.
It was only when his figure finally disappeared into the night that Freya slowly looked away.
The girlish panic and broken expression on her face faded as if they'd never been there.
She lowered her head slightly, hair falling over her eyes to hide all emotion.
"…You hate charm, hate the Freya Familia, hate this false world."
"Then I'll make you—you—lift it to the divine throne with your own hands."
"The more you resist, the more I want to make sure you—can never escape."
"Ryota,"
She whispered his name like an incantation.
"You can't escape."
The night breeze stirred.
At the peak of Babel Tower, the goddess raised her head once more.
Gone from her gray eyes was love.
What replaced it was possession, obsession—
And madness.
…
The next morning, sunlight streamed through the window into the Hephaestus Familia's forge.
The metal on the anvil hadn't yet warmed. The furnace hadn't been lit. But someone was already awake in the spacious workshop.
Ryota.
He sat motionless on a bench in the corner, staring at the ceiling.
He looked like he was zoning out, but his mind hadn't stopped turning for a second.
Though he hadn't slept a wink, his eyes showed no signs of fatigue.
"I've pretty much acquired all the Rinnegan abilities."
"I even got a good chunk of Wood Style."
But—
The one thing he wanted most—Infinite Tsukuyomi—still hadn't appeared.
"Do I have to beat the Black Dragon for the remaining 20%?"
"Or… do I have to slay a god? Kill Freya?"
Ryota shook his head.
"I'm being too impatient."
He thought back over everything that had happened these past few days.
From the moment he ate the Chakra Fruit until now—it had only been five days.
Yet in those five days, he had:
"Cut" the charm strings of Hephaestus, Ais, and Lefiya;
Treated the fifty-ninth floor like the first and swept it clean;
Controlled a Demi Spirit and made it his puppet;
Reinforced the seal on the Black Dragon and held off the Valgang Dragon swarm;
And singlehandedly integrated the expeditions of both the Loki and Freya Familia.
This level of progress was downright absurd.
"Just wait a little longer."
"The system wouldn't have set this up without a follow-through."
He had just started to stand when the door suddenly clicked open.
Hephaestus hadn't even entered yet, but her voice came first:
"Did you hear?"
"Hear what?"
Hephaestus shrugged, her tone odd and slightly repressed:
"You've been named a divine envoy—and not just any envoy, but Freya's exclusive one."
"She's building a statue of you, Ryota, right in Central Square beneath Babel Tower."
The air went silent for three full seconds.
Ryota: "?"
He was completely stunned.
"A statue of me?"
He had to ask again—he thought he'd misheard.
But Hephaestus only nodded.
"Tomorrow—no, construction starts today. It's expected to be finished by this afternoon."
"What did you promise her? It's beneath Babel Tower! Every Adventurer passing by will see your statue!"
Ryota fell silent.
This lunatic woman… what the hell was she playing at?
The next second, the system prompt quietly chimed—
[Ding—Main Branch Quest Triggered]
[Objective]: Destroy the statue Freya is building in Central Square (0/1)
[Reward]: Unknown
----
Join my Patreon for early access to chapters: Patreon.com/rivyura