The silence in Hephaestus's private forge became heavy and dense after Hachiman's unexpected request. Tsubaki stared at him with her mouth slightly open, shocked by the boy's audacity. Hephaestus remained motionless for a long moment, her single visible eye fixed on Hachiman, her expression unreadable. She seemed to be probing him, trying to decipher the motivation behind that incredibly personal and intrusive request. Why did he want to see? What right did he think he had? But there was something in his serious, determined expression, an absence of malice or morbid curiosity, that made her hesitate in her automatic refusal. She remembered the trust he had placed in her by allowing her to see his Falna, the courage he had shown to protect her.
Slowly, almost imperceptibly, Hephaestus nodded. "Very well, Hachiman-kun," she said, her voice low but firm. "If that is what you wish." With slightly trembling hands, she reached up to the side of her face and, taking a deep breath, untied and removed the dark leather eyepatch that was her trademark.
What was revealed underneath made Tsubaki gasp and instinctively look away, her face paling. Hachiman, however, forced himself to look. It wasn't just a different eye; it was... unsettling. The sclera, the white part of the eye, was a vivid, almost bloody red. The iris wasn't brown like her left eye, but a sickly, opaque yellow hue. And the pupil wasn't round, but a vertical slit, thin and reptilian, that seemed to pulse faintly with its own sinister light. It was an eye that screamed 'wrong,' 'monstrous.'
But it wasn't just the appearance. Hachiman felt a subtle pressure emanating from the revealed eye, an aura that caused deep discomfort, an instinctive urge to flee, to look away. He saw Tsubaki holding herself back from retreating further, visibly fighting against the passive effect the eye exerted. It was as if the very concept of 'normality' was repelled by the presence of that eye.
However, Hachiman stood firm. Perhaps it was his new Skill, 'Savage Determination,' hardening his mind against external influences. Perhaps it was his own analytical, distant nature. Or perhaps it was simply his focused determination on the goal. He didn't feel fear, only confirmation that there was something fundamentally unnatural there, something that could perhaps be undone. He observed the red and yellow eye for another moment, the slit pupil seeming to contract slightly under his direct gaze.
'This is it. A curse. A seal. Some form of distorted divine magic,' he concluded internally. Decision made, he raised his hand. "Trace On."
Rule Breaker, the iridescent, irregular dagger, materialized in his hand.
"Hachiman! What do you think you're doing?!" Tsubaki shouted, overcoming her revulsion to the eye and instantly placing herself between Hachiman and her goddess, her hand already going for the sword on her back. The idea of Hachiman summoning a weapon so close to a vulnerable Hephaestus with her eye exposed triggered all her protective instincts.
"Tsubaki! It's alright!" Hephaestus's voice sounded surprisingly calm, though her body was tense. She placed a hand on Tsubaki's arm, stopping her from drawing her weapon. Hephaestus's red-yellow eye focused on Hachiman, not with fear, but with questioning intensity and a newfound trust in him. "Let him."
Tsubaki looked from her goddess to Hachiman, suspicion clear on her face, but she reluctantly lowered her hand from her sword, though she remained on high alert.
Hachiman gave Hephaestus a brief nod, a silent thank you for her trust. He approached slowly, the iridescent dagger in his hand. He didn't point the blade at the eye. Instead, carefully, he touched Hephaestus's temple, beside the monstrous eye, with Rule Breaker's hilt. He concentrated on the dagger's inherent function: Nullify all sorcery. Break every rule. Dispel all magic.
And activated its effect.
For an instant, nothing happened. Then, the dagger began to glow intensely, the rainbow colors swirling frantically. Hephaestus's red and yellow eye widened, perhaps in pain or surprise. And then, an explosion.
It wasn't an explosion of fire or physical force, but of pure raw magical energy being released. A blinding column of multicolored light erupted from the point of contact between Rule Breaker and Hephaestus, shooting upwards with incredible force. The workshop ceiling was instantly pierced, rock and metal vaporized as the column of light shot into Orario's skies, visible for a brief instant before dissipating. The shockwave of released energy swept through the workshop. Hachiman was thrown backward like a leaf, hitting the opposite wall hard and collapsing to the floor, stunned. Tsubaki, despite being Level 5, was pushed back several meters, eyes wide in absolute shock at the magnitude of the released power.
Surprisingly, Hephaestus, who was at the epicenter of the energy blast, remained standing in the same spot. The light completely enveloped her for a second, but she wasn't pushed away, nor did she seem injured or afflicted in any way. When the light dissipated, she stood there, blinking, looking confused, but physically intact.
"Chief! Are you alright?!" Tsubaki yelled, recovering from the shock and rushing to Hephaestus, frantically checking her for any injuries. It was when she looked at her goddess's face that Tsubaki froze, her mouth falling open in shock for a completely different reason.
Hachiman, groaning in pain from the impact against the wall, finally managed to get up, his head spinning. He focused his vision on Hephaestus, fearing what might have happened. And then he saw it. Her face. The left eye, the familiar reddish-brown. And the right eye... it was no longer red and yellow. It no longer had a slit pupil. It was... normal. A perfectly ordinary reddish-brown eye, identical to the left one. The curse, the seal, whatever it was... had vanished.
A sense of relief so immense, so absurd, washed over Hachiman that he couldn't contain himself. He started to laugh. Not a low chuckle, but loud, almost hysterical laughter, out of pure relief and perhaps the sheer insanity of the situation. It worked! He had actually done it!
Hephaestus, still a bit dazed by the energy explosion and now completely confused by Hachiman's laughter, touched her own face. "Wh-what is it? Why are you laughing, Hachiman-kun? What happened?"
Tsubaki, overcoming her initial shock, a gigantic smile starting to spread across her face, acted quickly. She grabbed a highly polished metal shield leaning against a wall – polished enough to serve as a makeshift mirror. "Chief... look," she said, her voice choked with emotion, as she held the shield in front of Hephaestus.
Hephaestus looked at her reflection. She saw her face, her two normal reddish-brown eyes staring back at her. Her breath caught in her throat. She brought a hand to the right side of her face, touching her eyelid, disbelieving. The initial shock on her face gave way to trembling wonder, and then her eyes filled with tears. Tears she had likely held back for millennia. Silent at first, then deep sobs began to shake her body as the reality of having her 'defect,' her 'curse,' finally removed hit her full force.
Hachiman stopped laughing, watching the goddess weep openly, a vulnerability he never imagined seeing. Tsubaki also fell silent, placing a comforting hand on her goddess's shoulder, letting her release the emotion held back for so long.
After several minutes, Hephaestus finally managed to control her tears, though her eyes were still red and moist. She wiped her face and then turned to Hachiman. Her expression was something he had never seen before – an overwhelming mixture of gratitude, relief, and an affection so heavy, so intense, it caught him completely off guard.
Before he could say anything, she moved. With a speed that belied her usual composure, Hephaestus launched herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her lips against his. It was a long, deep, desperate kiss, laden with millennia of relieved pain and a gratitude that couldn't be expressed in words.
"OOOOOOHHHHH!" a cry of absolute surprise and amusement came from Tsubaki in the background.
Hachiman, meanwhile, was completely frozen. His eyes were wide, his body rigid. The soft touch of Hephaestus's lips, the intensity of her emotion... it was too much to process. His mind, usually so analytical and distant, completely short-circuited. The only thing he registered was: 'This... is my first kiss.' His mind went completely blank.