🔥 Hestia's Heartbreak and Bargain
Hestia's initial, righteous anger softened into a heavy, profound sadness as she absorbed the weight of Akira's confession and his subsequent counter-negotiation. His words—"I am the last chance"—echoed the burden she, as a goddess, understood intrinsically: the ultimate responsibility for a community's survival. Yet, his methods were a poison to her divine core.
She looked at the assembled beings: the cold, calculating Servants, the tense observers, and the other Awakened, all immensely powerful, yet all now prisoners of a desperate, selfish man's ambition.
Hestia stepped forward again, the soft fire of her divinity flickering with internal conflict. She didn't shout; she spoke with the quiet, devastating clarity of someone whose deepest principles had been violated.
"You speak of purpose, but you stripped us of ours to begin with," Hestia said, her voice barely a whisper, yet it commanded the room's attention. "You stole us from our heroes, from our followers, from the worlds that relied on our power. You see us as assets for survival. But we are the anchor of hope."
She met Akira's eyes, her own filled with an impossible mix of contempt and reluctant understanding. "You're right. We are more powerful than you. We could dismantle this ark and leave you stranded. But you also spoke the truth: the world is ending. And if there is one thing a Goddess of the Hearth, of the Family, cannot do, it is to simply allow death to win."
The Divine Condition
Hestia took a shaky breath, then stiffened her posture, the full weight of her divine mandate asserting itself. The fury was gone, replaced by the steely resolve of a leader making an impossible choice.
"I will not be your engine, Akira. I will be your regulator," she declared. "You offer this Domain as a canvas for our divine will. I accept that challenge, but with a non-negotiable condition."
She placed her small hands on her hips, her eyes challenging him.
The Power Mandate: "My power is the Hearth, the Bond, and the Family. If I am to lend my authority to this 'Ark,' it will not be for simple defense. My divine energy will be focused on sustaining and growing the lives within this Domain, especially the 'unimportant people' you dismissed. The food, the shelter, the community—these are not leverage. They must be the purpose. The Domain must become a true sanctuary, not a bunker."
The Redemption Clause: "You are a captor, but you are not yet a monster. If you wish to utilize the inherent hope that comes with my divine core, then you must accept that the facade must become the reality. The moment you use your power to purely exploit or unnecessarily sacrifice the lives you swore to protect—the lives within the Domain, the military, anyone acting in good faith—my cooperation ends. I will not be a source of power for a tyrant. This is your chance for redemption, not just survival."
The Unwavering Veto: "You will give the Spontaneously Awakened—Ristarte, Eris, Palutena, and myself—a collective, binding veto power on any strategic decision that fundamentally compromises the moral or physical safety of the Domain's population or fundamentally risks the concept of the 'Ark' itself. We are not your subordinates. We are your necessary conscience."
Hestia held her breath, her gaze piercing. She had not consented to his plan, but she was now attempting to shape its outcome. She had traded her anger for a profound, selfless moral leverage.
"If you accept these terms, Akira," Hestia concluded, "then I will begin to stabilize your little reality, and I will lend the power of my Hearth to this... last chance."
The ball was back in Akira's court, but now the terms were set by a Goddess who demanded morality alongside survival.