"—!?"
Alise jolted upright in bed.
Am I… still dreaming?
The purple-black monster shadowed her steps. No matter how she sprinted, she couldn't shake it. The instant it slipped from sight, her right arm was severed.
Alise sucked air in ragged gulps. Her heartbeat hammered, blood pressure spiked, and the overbreathing fogged her thoughts until the room swayed.
She forced herself to slow her breathing. After a while, the dizziness eased.
Only then did she look down at her right arm—whole, there where it should be, not the hacked stump from the nightmare.
Still here… still here…
"Bad dream?"
Alise turned. Her friend Kaguya sat in the corner hugging her knees, eyes faintly red.
"Kaguya…"
Her voice came out dry and thin.
"Did we… live through a nightmare?"
"We did. A vicious one. It took everything from us." Kaguya's gaze softened. "But we were lucky. Lady Astraea saved us."
"Lady Astraea…"
Prompted by Kaguya, Alise found the right memories through the haze.
Yesterday wasn't a dream—it was a death board the Dark Faction set for them. They should have died to that purple-black thing, but for some reason the monster that kept chasing them suddenly veered away. Then an adventurer pulled them into a strange world.
They were led out of danger.
In that person's power, as long as he moved, they moved with him—carried along through a gray-white space even if they stood still.
From there, he took them somewhere even more miraculous.
Alise had never seen a place so calm and gentle beneath the dungeon—no scent of danger at all.
There they met the "Nine Hells Princess," and—through a strange black device—saw both Goddess Loki and Lady Astraea.
"That part… wasn't a dream?"
"For us, it was a nightmare," Kaguya said quietly.
She lifted her right hand—treasured now that it had been lost and returned—knowing that return had been bought with Astraea's self-sacrifice.
"What we lost… Lady Astraea won back for us."
As memory unspooled to the end, Alise recalled Loki saying something about a "subordinate deity."
She sat back on the bedding, dazed.
"Kaguya… how are we supposed to face Lady Astraea now?"
"Don't ask me that." Kaguya exhaled. "I haven't found an answer all night."
They had wanted to be Astraea's pride, to make her familia's name ring through the city—and in the end, they were the ones Lady Astraea had to save.
"They're probably in the 'lost and drifting' phase right now."
Riveria, eyes on the ceiling, spoke to the quiet room. Too much had happened last night—too huge. For those who lived it, doubly so.
"For the Astraea Familia, last night really was a nightmare," Finn agreed. No one expected a Floor 30 push—with nine Level 4s—to go that catastrophically wrong.
"The Dark Faction's remnants really do find a way," he muttered. "And they uncovered a dungeon countermeasure like that."
"What about Lady Astraea's decision?" Riveria asked. "Was Loki too harsh?"
Becoming Loki's subordinate deity and placing the Astraea Familia under Loki's banner—Riveria couldn't help worrying.
"No," Finn said at once.
"What Loki decided is obviously best for our familia—bringing Astraea's under our wing. But it isn't bad for Astraea or her children either.
"Astraea and Ganesha keep the city's order. Because of that, Astraea has countless enemies already. The Dark Faction aimed at them because everyone's tired of their 'meddling.' Point a blade their way and few would help."
He folded his arms.
"But once they're formally attached to us, those same familias who resent Astraea's 'meddling' won't dare act rashly. And with Astraea under Loki, she can hand certain disputes up the chain."
"The malcontents won't just turn around and pick a fight with Loki," Riveria conceded. No one with sense starts a war with the city's second-strongest familia.
"And if someone is that blind," Finn added, "do you think they live long enough to 'face' Loki? Where do you think Tsuna stands in all this?"
That was the crux. If anyone chose to target Loki, the most versatile—and most merciless—man in their ranks would begin to move.
If Tsuna went to work, Finn doubted any investigator would ever trace what he did—just as he'd quietly pulled the Astraea girls back from the line of death.
Riveria fell silent at that.
"Then… what about the expedition?" she asked, changing the subject.
"We call it off," Finn decided on the spot.
"Now that we know the Dark Faction stirred up all this, and that they ambushed the Astraea Familia—nearly wiping them out—continuing would be irresponsible.
"Luckily, we prepared for contingencies. Our goal was to identify the cause of the dungeon's 'anomalies.' We have that answer. We don't need to waste more time."
Finn's eyes were no longer on this expedition. They were on the Dark Faction.
"From here on, their purge goes public," he said. "Lady Astraea will move. Loki won't let them go."
"And we have a score of our own to settle," Gareth rumbled.
Finn was no gentleman who swallowed humiliation and smiled.
Knock, knock.
Riveria opened the door. Sawada Tsunayoshi stepped in with Finn and Gareth.
One look at the Astraea girls told Finn and Gareth the truth: the reality was even worse than the report.
Tsuna glanced toward Loki's image on the screen.
"Miss Loki. All set?"
"All set. Astraea-chan agreed to be my subordinate deity, and her familia will affiliate under ours."
Subordinate deity… same rank as the stories tell of Freya.
Tsuna didn't bother parsing divine contracts. If Astraea had chosen this, it meant her girls mattered more than anything.
That was enough to begin.
"Subordinate… Lady Astraea, why would you—"
Kaguya nearly sprang from her bedding. It meant Lady Astraea would give up much of her freedom and live under Loki's will.
"Healing begins. Please keep the room as quiet as you can," Tsuna said.
The Healing Rabbit padded forward.
Two gentle claps. A translucent barrier settled over the girls.
May hope be granted in the most direct way.
"—pff!"
At every severed stump, slick white bone budded and pushed outward.
"What—what is happening?"
The grotesque sight froze them—but then the bones raced to completion, hands and legs knitting. Flesh flowed after, climbing to clothe the new frame.
In moments—through lancing pain and impossible growth—the maimed watched broken bodies made whole.
Silence fell like snow.
Limb regeneration…
Riveria's pupils tightened. She had never seen its like.
The girls, feeling it in their own bodies, moved on reflex.
It hurt—badly. The newborn limbs burned with afterpain; strength would take time. But sensation flooded back—vivid and undeniable. The feel of an arm returned. The feel of hope returning.
"It's back…"
Alise stared at her right hand and tried to clench. Weakness and pain answered, gloriously real.
"This is… real…"
Even Kaguya, usually composed, looked just as dazed.
A lost future had been stitched back in. And as joy flared, Kaguya understood exactly why Astraea had chosen as she did.
Lady Astraea… you did this for us.
Watching them, Astraea finally let herself breathe.
To protect her children's futures—and their dreams—no price was too high.
(End of Chapter)
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