Upon hearing this, Aglaea gazed at the expectant young woman (god) before her and asked, "But what does it matter whether I agree or not? We have no way to communicate with each other normally, do we?"
Helena smiled. "That's true. Even if we become friends, we might not be able to chat or share joys together. But still, the mere fact of becoming your friend would make me happy for a long time!"
"Besides, I don't have much time left anyway. I want to spend my remaining days doing whatever I please and living a little more freely."
Aglaea was silent for a moment, then nodded. "Alright," she said.
Helena immediately stepped forward, grasped Aglaea's right hand with both of hers, and exclaimed with a grin, "Wonderful! I've gained another beautiful and powerful goddess as a friend. Please guide me well in the future!"
Then, Helena's expression froze in that radiant smile. The rainbow light in her eyes gradually faded, and all traces of divine power vanished. Clearly, the Divine Descent had ended.
Helena, now a golden-haired girl and the Archbishop of the Goddess of Love, blinked in confusion, staring blankly at Aglaea, who stood close by. She tilted her head slightly, her expression utterly adorable. "Eh... eh? Lady Aglaea?"
Only then did the golden-haired girl realize she was holding Aglaea's hand. As if jolted by electricity, she immediately let go and clasped her hands behind her back. "I... I'm sorry. I don't know... what was I supposed to be doing again?"
It had to be said, the little one looked exactly like a golden retriever puppy—fluffy and utterly endearing.
Aglaea said, "Let's go. We need to return to the city first."
A Century Gate materialized before them. After watching Aglaea step through, the golden-haired girl hesitated for a moment before following suit. As she entered, she exclaimed, "Ooh~ it's so cold! Where are my shoes?"
Beyond the Century Gate lay the entrance to Perseus's mansion, on the street flattened by the Sea of Flesh. Seeing the pair return safely, nearly everyone present breathed a sigh of relief.
The commotion from Helena's hand-to-hand combat with 'Vic' outside the city had been audible even here. Perseus and the others had been on tenterhooks, with only Grey maintaining an air of complete composure.
Grey wasn't entirely sure of Aglaea's true strength. Her lack of concern stemmed from her unwavering trust in Okhema and the Holy Maiden. After all, Tribios was known as the Prophet; perhaps everything unfolding now had been foreseen by her long ago, leaving no room for surprises.
Perseus stepped forward, bowing deeply and sincerely. "Lady Aglaea," he said, "I am truly grateful for your intervention, Your Majesty, Goddess of Romance!"
The most astonished was the blonde girl standing beside Aglaea, who visibly gasped in surprise. "Eh... Eh?!"
Perseus then bowed to the blonde girl as well, saying, "We're also indebted to you, Archbishop Anna. Thank you for using the Divine Descent Consciousness."
Anna, the blonde girl, still looked utterly bewildered. "Huh? Did the Goddess of Love just use Divine Descent... through me?!"
Perhaps this was a minor side effect of Divine Descent? For Anna, it felt like waking up from a drunken blackout, with no memory of what had transpired earlier. All she felt now was a throbbing ache throughout her body and overwhelming exhaustion.
At that moment, Aglaea looked up and saw the crimson moon still hanging overhead, like a colossal eye silently observing everyone.
After a while, the crimson moon gradually shrank, and the night sky faded into a normal blue sky with white clouds.
The unconscious Councilors on the ground began to wake up one by one, their faces showing either confusion or bewilderment, until Perseus explained what had just transpired.
With everything that's happened, the proposal to purge the Artemis Believers should pass easily now, right? Seeing that there was nothing more for her to do here, Aglaea took Grey and left immediately.
That afternoon, several Councilors attempted to visit her, but to avoid such troubles, Aglaea had already left the city, returning to Okhema with Grey.
Finding no one, the Councilors quietly retreated. The following afternoon, the Council convened as usual, and Perseus's proposal naturally passed unanimously. With no objections, it was immediately implemented.
The Alliance acted swiftly. On the very day the purge order was issued, troops entered the cities and began searching houses door-to-door, inevitably sparking widespread public resentment.
People resented the military's rash actions and couldn't understand why Artemis Believers were being arrested. This led to significant unrest, including several physical clashes between soldiers and civilians.
Despite the unrest, the High Councilors, who had personally witnessed the battlefield outside the city, remained steadfast in enforcing the policy. Within just one month, at least several thousand Artemis Believers had been found and arrested.
However, many more Artemis Believers seemed to have received advance warning. They began dispersing into smaller groups and fleeing beyond the Alliance's borders.
Another month passed, and the Alliance remained in a state of relative chaos. Just then, the Dragon Ember Empire mobilized troops to the Alliance's border, declared war, and launched an attack!
This was easily understood. The Empire had long coveted the Alliance's territory. Now that their enemies were embroiled in internal turmoil, they saw the perfect opportunity to strike, regardless of the underlying reasons.
This sudden declaration of war caught the Alliance completely off guard. Within mere days, numerous cities fell to the Empire, forcing the Alliance to halt its internal purges and focus all its efforts on repelling the Imperial onslaught.
Taking advantage of the chaos, the Artemis Believers within the Alliance fled to the border between the Alliance and the Arcane Federation. With the Alliance and Empire locked in war, they couldn't risk heading toward the Empire. To the east lay towering mountains, ruling out the Eastern Ancient Kingdom.
The frigid Far North was too harsh, and the Great Forest to the south required traversing the entire Alliance, making it too dangerous. Both options were immediately dismissed, leaving the Arcane Federation as the only viable choice.
Tens of thousands of Artemis Believers and over a thousand Artemis Priests gathered at the border. After conferring, they agreed that since the Arcane Federation was a secular nation, they couldn't enter as religious followers. Given the ongoing war between the Alliance and the Empire, they might face hardship as refugees, but infiltrating the Arcane Federation under this guise shouldn't prove too difficult.
A leading Artemis Priest declared, "Then it's settled! Everyone, act the part convincingly. Let's move out!"