Chapter 83 – A Promise: Helping Ddraig Be Reborn
For what felt like the hundredth time, Aisha found herself walking toward the man she least wanted to meet.
If she had any choice in the matter, she would have avoided him for the rest of her life. The pressure he exuded—the way a single wrong word felt like it could mean instant death—was suffocating.
But this was an order from her goddess. She had no right to refuse.
So, once again, she steeled herself and stepped forward.
"…So, Ishtar agreed?"
"Yes… Lady Ishtar has accepted your conditions. As long as cooperation can be established, Haruhime will be handed over to you as a gift."
"Hah. Don't twist my words, woman. I said I want the fox girl delivered to me first. Only then will I consider meeting your goddess. I never said she was to be the reward for any cooperation. Do you understand me?"
"Th-this…"
Aisha's eyes widened. She hadn't expected him to be this greedy.
Haruhime… just a gift for the first meeting?
Anger and frustration welled up inside her, but she swallowed it back. She knew—this was not a man she could provoke. Showing her temper here would be suicide.
"This is your second warning. You have one chance left. If you agree, bring the fox girl here. If not… don't bother coming back."
"…Understood."
Under that crushing pressure, Aisha stood, bowed slightly, and left. She could already imagine Ishtar's rage when she reported this.
As soon as she was gone, Hephaestus stepped out from within the room.
"So… you're really planning to work with Ishtar?"
"With her? Of course not. I know exactly how greedy that woman is. Even if she somehow managed to topple Freya—which she won't—she'd only betray me the moment she no longer needed me."
"Then why act like you're interested?"
"Because if she wants to fish, she has to pay for the bait. She thinks she's hooked a big catch… but she doesn't realize the hook and bait aren't even hers anymore."
"What's your plan, then?"
"Simple. I wait. I let her make the first move. Besides…" Shin Akira's eyes glinted with fire as he spoke, "…I want to test something. Whether I can kill a god with my own hands."
The moment he said kill a god, the air around him seemed to tighten. His ambition burned like a living thing.
Heaven's Chain—the legendary Mesopotamian weapon—had sparked his curiosity. Could it actually slay a deity in the Lower World?
He wasn't just curious. He wanted to try.
And even if he failed, there was another option: force the goddess back to the Upper World. He could simply order his Shadow Legion to attack her. Once her life was truly endangered, the world's laws would force her divine power to awaken—and at that moment, she'd be expelled back to the realm of the gods.
That was the rule of the game. The immutable law of this world.
Akira had learned all of this from Hephaestus herself. The gods didn't seal their powers willingly when they descended. They weren't benevolent beings content to live as mortals. They were rulers who had been forced by the system to wear chains.
The world's law demanded the gods remain above, watching the mortals who reincarnated below. Their true powers could never manifest here in full. If forced open, the backlash would eject them instantly.
Which meant… killing a god in the Lower World wasn't impossible. Here, their powers were restricted.
And with Heaven's Chain in his hands, Shin Akira felt confident.
But before that, he wanted to grow stronger still. Enkidu's power at one hundred percent wasn't enough. The King of the Shadowkhan's legacy—Tarakudo's power—was only at fifty percent. The remaining half would be harder to obtain, but the rewards would be immense.
Even though he'd only just reached Level 5, Shin Akira already had his sights set on Level 6.
If not for Hestia's request to train Bell, he would have plunged back into the Dungeon yesterday.
"Oh, right. Hephaestus, I wanted to ask you something."
"Hm? What is it?"
"If possible… could you help Ddraig rebuild his body and be reborn?"
— — —
Silence.
The room went utterly still.
Both Hephaestus and Ddraig—the latter sealed within the Boosted Gear on Shin Akira's hand—remained speechless.
Hephaestus stared at Akira in disbelief. A weapon of that magnitude… and he was willing to lose it?
Ddraig himself was stunned. The very man who had sealed him… now wanted to bring him back?
This was something no previous wielder of the Boosted Gear had ever attempted. Not once in all of history had anyone even considered freeing the dragon at the cost of their own power.
No one had ever been willing to give up such strength just to liberate a dragon.
"In theory… it's possible."
"In theory?"
"Yes. In theory, it can be done. But right now, I can't. My divine power is still sealed. As I am now, it's impossible."
"If you restored your divine power?"
"Then it wouldn't be a problem. But… to do it, I'd have to use the Boosted Gear as the core to reconstruct his body. The weapon was made from Ddraig himself. In other words, you'd lose it."
"That's fine. Honestly, I'm not comfortable having another creature watching my thoughts from inside me. Especially… a male dragon."
[Who the hell wants to peek at your thoughts? As if I had a choice.]
"You weren't spying?"
[No. Whenever it's about your privacy, I shut off all my senses.]
"Oh. Thanks, then."
[I don't need your thanks.]
"Consider it an apology."
[Hmph~]
No further reply came, but Akira could tell—the dragon was being tsundere.
Hephaestus gave a small nod. She was beginning to understand the bond between them.
"So… how do you plan to let me use my divine power? If I release it, I'll be forced back to the Upper World. At that point, I won't be able to finish anything."
"Don't worry. I'm the King of the Shadowkhan. Beyond this Lower World lies another space. I don't think the world's rejection will reach there."
"I'm not sure about that…"
"When the time is right, I'll take you there myself. You can test it directly."
"…Alright."
For now, Akira wasn't planning to do it immediately. Not only had he not fully mastered the Shadow Realm, he still needed the Boosted Gear a little longer.
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