"What do we do? Is this the end?"
One counter girl collapsed, sobbing uncontrollably, teetering on the edge of hyperventilation when yet another holy light erupted outside the window.
A man's legs buckled beneath him. He fell to his knees, scattering papers across the floor.
The city was drowned in deafening roars. Reality itself shook. Hearing became meaningless, replaced instead by a hideous phantom, the mocking laughter of "evil" echoing in their skulls.
Seven pillars.
High above the ruined temple, the "heroes of the past" watched the spectacle.
Zald exhaled slowly. "Truly a magnificent sight."
"Mm. As scenery alone, perhaps." Alfia studied the hair ornament in her hand, her silver-gray hair swaying in the wind.
"But close your eyes, and it's nothing but noise."
Another flare ripped open the sky. The brilliance seared the eyes.
Eight.
"Hehe… hahahaha…"
Olivas led his soldiers with a deranged grin.
Drool ran down his chin as he quivered with ecstasy, convinced the great wish of the evil gods had been realized.
"Orario is finished… Hehe—"
The clash of steel did not stop.
"Olivas-sama! A situation!" Ten soldiers rushed forward, shouting nervously.
Moments later—
Nine pillars.
Nine statues of light now towered against the heavens. The count was wrong, far too many. Adventurers and gods alike stared blankly, hearts hollowed out. Even the masterminds behind this chaos exhaled in relief.
"The sacrifice is done. Let's withdraw."
"Wait. Aren't a few of ours missing?"
"Forget them. Probably off somewhere having fun."
The tremors eased. The sky's brilliance dissipated like fading mist.
"Tch…" Akira clicked his tongue in frustration, rubbing his temples.
"Damn it, only four evil gods found!? Shit!"
The first five beams were caused by the return of non-evilus gods. He couldn't intercept the evil gods before they struck, couldn't stop more deities from being dragged back.
The last four, however, those were all his doing.
Akira wasn't bound by local taboos. The rule of "don't kill gods" meant nothing to him. When one evil god lunged to finish him, Akira countered, turning the tables and forcefully sending them back instead, preserving the god of order so revered by the people.
As darkness swallowed the city once more, Astraea, Hermes, and Alise were left speechless.
"…"
"It's over… Orario."
Her face steeped in despair, Neze trembled, and Alise could only call her name.
They had witnessed the unthinkable—
"The simultaneous return of gods…"
Astraea's voice wavered as she muttered to herself, "Evilus' entire plan… it's been to cut off the gods' escape routes."
Then, a voice, heavy with malice, rolled across the city, drowning moon and stars alike.
"Listen well, Orario. Listen well, Ouranos, God of Creation. With my own hands, I shall seize the hope of the underworld, in the name of darkness."
The declaration spread to every corner.
Far beneath, in the altar of the underground temple, Ouranos slowly opened his sky-colored eyes. Through the eye lens of a skeletal servant, he listened in silence.
"You broke your oath. You broke your covenant. This land, forged in contract with the gods, shall be destroyed by me."
The voice dripped with arrogance, exalted in its evil. It poured contempt upon the gods of order who held their breath. It spat malice upon adventurers battered and bleeding. It mocked those too broken to even pray.
"Everything has been done for the sake of unveiling the unknown, even that which not even the gods can predict. The purest chaos."
The sounds of battle died completely.
Even the soldiers of darkness raised their faces to the black heavens, as if listening to scripture. Their eyes shone with ecstasy, their hearts brimming with anticipation.
The battle was over.
Akira finally broke through the maze of magic circles that had locked hundreds of sectors across Orario.
"Freya-sama, I'll be taking my leave."
His head felt heavy, weighed down as though with iron, but he still offered a wry farewell to Horn, who stood at the window listening to the evil god's proclamation.
"As for the conditions we agreed upon… I'll decide when the time comes. I only ask that you show some mercy."
"Morning Star. What do you make of that declaration?" Horn asked, her voice calm despite the circumstances.
Akira steadied himself and replied, "Well… no opinion. In the end, we came out on top."
But inside, his true thoughts were far less composed, 'Fuck, the enemy's leader and two trump cards are on my side. If we still can't win, I might as well die.'
With that, Akira turned toward the window.
"See you again, Freya-sama."
Without hesitation, he vaulted from the Tower of Babel, his silhouette vanishing into the night sky.
Only Horn remained, gazing into the shifting darkness, eyes fixed on the city's ever-changing fate.
Under the towering shadow of Babel, in the bustling heart of Orario, Syr clung to Mia's thick arm, hugging it affectionately. Her expression was bright with a flattering look, a faint smile curling on her lips as if she wanted to melt into the atmosphere of comfort and normalcy. Yet beneath that peaceful surface, chaos stirred.
"Astraea, your child is really interesting."
The voice came like a whisper, but its meaning pierced through the air with a heaviness that could not be ignored.
The evil god's declaration continued, each word echoing with a twisted delight.
"Arrogant? No problem."
"Violent? No problem."
"Please feel free to express your hatred and your complaints."
"That is the highest happiness for evil!"
The sound reverberated like a hymn of mockery.
"Be angry as much as you want. Cry as much as you want. And suffer under the disaster I have brought upon you for as long as you can endure. For I am Erebus—"
The proclamation carried itself across the city, drawing every ear, every trembling heart, to its conclusion.
At that very moment, a grand temple, an ancient relic of stone and faith, stood in the northwest of the city, its roof bathed in the pale moonlight. From beneath a black curtain of shadow, a man revealed himself. Cloaked in darkness, he stood on the rooftop, overlooking Orario as though the city were nothing but a stage for his performance.
Behind him emerged two figures, tyrants that had already shaken adventurers' hearts with their very existence.
"He is the original underworld, the god of the underground world!"
The declaration was followed by deafening roars. The army of darkness and the fanatical evil familias screamed themselves hoarse in ecstasy, voices rising as if welcoming their king, their long-awaited ruler of ruin.
"Ahh, he really said it so openly… amazing." Akira muttered dryly.
Perched on the roof of a ruined church some distance away, Akira sat casually, his long legs dangling as his toes brushed against the wall of a nearby villa. The scene before him was surreal, but he tilted his head with the expression of someone watching a comedy skit.
"Seriously, even if he's handsome, when someone says embarrassing things like that out loud in public, it's better to just… I don't know, keep it between friends. Play around in private."
His lips twitched into a half-smile, half-grimace.
"If I were like him, even someone as thick-skinned as me wouldn't be able to handle the shame of shouting about 'killing everyone' with a straight face, right?"
The muttered words slipped into the night. To Akira, Erebus's grand entrance and villainous speech gave off only one impression: a middle schooler afflicted with chronic eighth-grade syndrome.
A dark god yet his aura was less terrifying and more… laughable.
"Wait a second, do Astraea or Alise see me like this too?" The sudden thought stabbed at him. His entire body shivered, goosebumps crawling across his arms.
"I really need to cut back on the idiotic stuff in the future." He whispered, though even he didn't sound convinced.
Unlike Akira's playful commentary, the common people and lower-ranked adventurers were terrified.