Chapter 23 - goyya 1012-1023



Goyya's Four Brain Hemispheres

Chapter 1012 Unreasonable Power



'How to finish this in one go? Hmmm... But a fast defeat might just set him off more. In that case, he needs an undeniable defeat. Should I go for a flashy one?...' Those were the thoughts that went through Riveria's head and the first thing she came up with was summoning the Dragon King that was contracted with her.

But as soon as she found out that the dimensions are tightly closed and that even her improved Dragon Gate couldn't make a crack on it, she felt disappointed.

"Oi, Kisuke! You didn't teach her all the wrong things, did you!?" Yoruichi yelled as she elbowed Kisuke in the side.

"I didn't! She's quite free so she must have picked it up then! She even got addicted to TV dramas at some point!"

Riveria could hear their voices but ignored them and thought, 'Was finishing it in an instant not good?'

As she looked at Ottar again, she saw him frowning deeply with swords in front of him but it was also obvious to her the fear that he's emitting. Who wouldn't after hearing from bystanders that he could have been instantly killed from the failed spell just now?

'Since I can't finish it in an instant, it might destroy the house and the surrounding forest. Not to mention, attracting more trouble to this place. Hmmm... Let's go with that.'

Riveria then raised her right hand and a thick book adorned with gems appeared on top of it, "I should have started with this first."

The moment she said those words, a jade-colored mist bloomed from under her feet before it spread and covered everyone in the vicinity. Ottar thought that it was an attack and tired to clear the 'poisonous' mist by generating wind through his swords while holding his breath as his senses expanded in case of Riveria attacked directly.

However, no matter how much he swung his swords, the mist didn't move and he also finally remembered that his Goddess was also in the vicinity and thought that she was also in danger, "Freya-sama!!!" He shouted.

Nevertheless, his worries were useless as the mist soon cleared up and disappeared, revealing a monochromatic world of the previous colorful one, "!?... T-This is...?"

The Goddesses and Tsubaki also looked around, clueless as to what had happened to the world, though not for long as Serafall suddenly yelled, "...Dimension Lost!? Wait... Did it have the  form of a book?"

Yoruichi, on the other hand, rubbed her chin, "Does that mean that Georg of the Hero Faction is already dead? Or did you steal it?"

Kisuke just smiled and gave them a nonanswer, "Just watch. There will be more surprises~."

Riveria continued to ignore their reaction and explained what happened to Ottar, "This is an artificial space that I created. It's essentially a copy of the place we were standing at before and transported everyone here. In here, you need not hold back and can destroy everything in sight and it won't affect the real world."

"...Is something like that possible?" It was Tsubaki's question while looking at the Goddesses beside her.

With serious expressions, Loki, Freya, and Hephaestus looked around before verifying her words with the latter even taking off her eye patch to see the world clearer, "...It's indeed as she said. What a ridiculous power that's only..." 'available to the Gods', is what she wanted to say but stopped herself.

They then looked back at Riveria, seeing her in a different light, most notably, Loki, 'Just what did they make her do on that side?' Her curiosity was burning so bright and hot that it was suffocating her very being.

"With that said, please don't think about holding back... or I might accidentally kill you."

Ottar shuddered and immediately released everything he had with a single shout, "HAAAH!!!"

Under the pressure of his Ki and Magic Power, the ground under him caved in as his aura solidified and took a form around him. Most notable were the tusks that formed on the corners of his mouth and the steam he released from his breath signifying a very high body temperature.

Riveria's eyes went through a strange transformation and she was immediately able to see through his aura, 'Boosted strength and defense.' The moment Ottar moved, Riveria immediately leaned to the side calmly as Ottar instantly reduced the distance between them and swung down his sword at her.

The sword hit the ground and it created a shockwave forward that traveled and destroyed everything in its path for a hundred meters.

While falling to the side, Riveria pointed her finger at him and shot a Magic Bullet at his head.

Ottar immediately responded by blocking it with his other sword and deflecting it away before raising his leg for a kick to her abdomen.

However, a barrier abruptly stopped his foot before it could even reach its desired target.

Riveria skidded away from the surprising force behind the casual kick, though she wasn't very surprised, "I see... This is a largely improved Beastification without losing any of your sense and reason. But those instant momentum changes... Gravity?... No... Weight control. It's well hidden behind that beastly aura of yours."

Ottar was about to continue attacking but stopped when he heard her speak. With twitching lips, he said, "I never thought you'd see through it with just a single clash... Just what are you?" It was his well-kept secret that even his rivals only had guesses about his 'lightness and heaviness' Martial Technique.

"Well, I've seen something similar."

Ottar gritted his teeth and raised both swords before bringing them down and released a cross-shaped orange wave toward Riveria.

Riveria, instead of dodging, waved her hand in front of her and a single black hole appeared on the path of the sword wave and swallowed it in its entirety without it doing anything.

"W-what?" Not just Ottar but also Yoruichi and Serafall were stunned at her display.

The black hole disappeared in front of Riveria and reappeared at Ottar's side before it spat out the same sword wave, "!?"

Ottar hurriedly dodge back but his thigh and stomach was caught in its sharpness. The wave continued to travel for more than a hundred meters before exploding and shaking the whole forest with its devastating power.

"Abaddon's Hole!? How!?" Serafall's shout was heard by everyone despite the destruction that was going on.

But Riveria's done yet as she pointed her finger at him and muttered, "Byakurai (Pale Lightning)." White lightning emerged from Riveria's finger tip and instantly engulfed Ottar in it.

"Kidou!?" It was Yoruichi's voice this time.

"AHHHH!!!" Ottar immediately pushed his defenses to the limits but his aura was stripped off forcibly by the force behind the strange lightning. When the lightning disappeared, everyone could see Ottar struggling to breathe and stand up with his whole body scorched and supported by his sword stabbed to the ground.

Ottar didn't want to give up and glared at Riveria while he repaired his body with his Spirit Magic.

But his motivation instantly dropped when he saw Riveria conjured a swirling ball of black and red energy that sounded all the alarms in his head, 'If I get hit by that, I'll die!'

"Do you want to continue?"

"Bael's Power of Destruction!?" It was the last thing Ottar heard before he forfeited.

Editors:

28th00: Riveria is the most feared thief in DxD~! She steals racial abilities, schools of magic, divine authorities and bloodline traits LIKE NO TOMORROW! Worst of all? She's smart enough and strong enough to mix and match them too. She's basically THE PEAK of the "Imagination" part of Devil Magic, to the point other devils think she's bullshit. She totally is though.

Goyya: And that's the main reason why even Kisuke considers her as OP.

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Goyya's Four Brain Hemispheres

Chapter 1013 Prelude of the War

AN: Thank you for waiting and I'm sorry for the delay.

I've been traveling a lot for my work lately so I can't write as much. This my continue until the month of February and March but I'll still do my best to deliver. Especially now that I'm at the climax of this volume.



As soon as Ottar took back his weapons, the threatening ball of destruction also disappeared from Riveria's hand, "Very well."

With a snap of her fingers, jade-colored mist reappeared to engulf everyone before returning the world to its previous colors and as she said, it's as if their duel didn't happen at all with the environment still in its pristine condition.

Tsubaki still couldn't wrap her head around what was happening and just decided to stay quiet and observe.

Freya approached Ottar while Loki and Hephaestus went to Kisuke's side, "That's way more than I expected.", commented Loki with a large grin on her face.

"And it's way more than I imagined.", added Hephaestus with her eyepatch still on her hand, "Those abilities... were closer to a God's authority rather than Magic."

Tsubaki did her best not to react but she couldn't help but flinch and sweat nervously while looking at Riveria.

"Gods aren't the only one who possess unique abilities that defies logic.", Serafall shortly answered before turning her attention back to Kisuke and the approaching Riveria, "I heard she's called the Copy Mage, but she could copy abilities that are unique to bloodlines too?"

Yoruichi also added, "It wasn't just bloodline abilities, even unique techniques that use Spiritual Power as fuel and Sacred Gear abilities. How are you doing that?"

Riveria arrived and pointed at her eyes that flashed a strange light, showing a very complex Magic Circle embedded deep within, "This is what I got after becoming his 'Queen'."

"Queen you say... That's an exciting term." Loki knew that 'Queen' was referring to something else and although she wanted to tease her about it, it was not really the time for it since she wanted an answer more.

"There's no easy way to explain it, but although he may not look like it, Ki-tan here is a bonafide high-ranking noble in our country and he serves as the 'King' for his subordinates.", Serafall explained, "Becoming a subordinate for the 'King' brings benefits and changes that varied depending on one's potential." She then looked to Riveria and asked, "With an ability like that, I assume that it's a Mutation Piece?"

Riveria shook her head, "I don't know. We weren't able to get it checked."

Serafall's eyes widened and turned her eyes to Kisuke, "You're not getting along with Ajuka-chan?"

Kisuke shrugged his shoulders and gave an answer, "I respect what he does, but how we do our own things is far too different for us to cooperate."

'They are too preoccupied with the information they received from the 'future' and made their appropriate distance. They're not even aware that Great Red isn't dead yet. And now that I've come in contact with one of their leaders and the fact that Etouldes could potentially become an enemy if they want something else from Earth, it gives me even fewer incentives to cooperate with them.'

Serafall felt a bit complicated and she could guess that it wasn't just Ajuka that he didn't want to cooperate with but the entirety of the Tri-Faction Alliance, 'He can't trust them? What changed?' At this point in time, she was still not aware of the information that the Alliance received from Gasper Vladi.

'...Oops... I forgot to mention that to her.' And Kisuke finally realized this after reading her expression.

Loki got a bit impatient and took back the reins of the conversation, "You can talk about that among yourselves later. I just want to know how and where Riveria managed to get those abilities."

But just as Kisuke was about to explain it a bit more, also for Yoruichi and Serafall's sake, the three of them stopped and hurriedly looked to the southern sky. A few seconds later, Riveria also did the same and made a serious expression.

"...Hey, what's going on?" asked Hephaestus but she didn't need to get an answer from them to know what was happening as a minute later, all of them heard a loud roar full of malice and intent for destruction. It was very familiar for the Gods and children alike. It was the same roar that terrorized Orario more than 20 years ago and the monster that the Zeus and Hera Familia failed to defeat, the Black Dragon.

"Looks like we don't really have the time to talk." Kisuke muttered before looking at Riveria, "I'll leave it to you. And before I forget," he took out a candy from his pocket, "Give this to Wallenstein-san if she starts acting up."

Although confused about what it is for, Riveria nodded at him and Magic Circles under each, and everyone's feet emerged except for Kisuke, Yoruichi, Serafall, Hestia, and Artemis. Before they could react, Riveria's Magic started levitating them towards the sky and it didn't take long before they disappeared on the horizon towards Melen.

A few minutes later, a 20-meter-long black Dragon with a single flaming red eye flew by and was heading in the same direction that Riveria had left in.

"Looks like all we need to do is wait. Make sure you're in top condition. We'll need every advantage we can get." Kisuke instructed while inviting the disgruntled Hestia and Artemis, "Is it going to be alright?", asked the former.

Kisuke nodded, "Riveria can deal with the corrupted Spirit and Black Dragon without any problem."

"But the problem is what's going to happen next, isn't it?" Artemis asked again, "Are we going to be alright?"

Kisuke stayed silent for a moment before giving an answer, "It won't go smoothly, and please prepare yourself for a lot of excitement."

Hestia gulped, "We'll get to see a lot of 'excitement'? I don't think I'll be able to enjoy that..."

Kisuke then turned to them and with a large grin, he refuted her words, "Nope~ Prepare to join the excitement~!"

Hestia and Artemis were stunned for a moment and weren't able to understand him. But after thinking about it for a short moment, their faces became warped in shock, "Join!?" Both of them simultaneously shouted.

Kisuke only chuckled and didn't elaborate it further and instead explained to Serafall and Yoruichi what had really been happening on the other side.

Editors:

28th00: Apocalypse now~? Fear the High Demonic Erofu~! She's reached levels not even thought possible!

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Goyya's Four Brain Hemispheres

Chapter 1014 The Black Dragon part 1



"W-we're flying!?" Tsubaki exclaimed while in the sky as she tried to grab anything to feel secure.

But for the Goddesses who saw her abilities and Ottar who had already recalled everything, it didn't come as a surprise. Instead, they all looked behind them and could see a small dot with flapping wings, "Why did it come here at this timing?" asked Ottar.

Loki recalled that Kisuke passed something to Riveria for Ais and she was able to guess why, "Who knows? We should ask Zeus about it since he knew it best."

It didn't take too long for them to reach Melen and they could see the Adventurers and the very few citizens still left panicking at the sound of the roar. Their anxiety was so much that most of them didn't even notice people flying over their heads.

Riveria navigated and landed between the temporary residences of the Loki and Freya Familia and although they saw many questioning looks, they couldn't fancy asking as they were far too busy with their preparations.

The first thing they noticed was Zeus and Odin, acting like mortals, standing nearby. But instead of approaching them, Ottar suddenly asked Riveria, "What should we do now?"

Tsubaki was surprised at him but after thinking about it, this was the right call, and she planned to do the same.

"Dependson how the Black Dragon will act. If it comes attacking Melen, we could repel it. But if it goes straight to the Dungeon, it'll be bad news."

Ottar wondered why she only said 'repel' when it was clear that she was fully capable of taking it on. However, what caught his attention more was the 'bad news', "...Why is that?"

Riveria turned her attention to the Black Dragon that was getting bigger and bigger as time goes and with her power of observation, its flight path slightly avoided Melen and the frontlines, "As a monster that thirsts for blood and should always choose slaughter, it going to the Dungeon would mean that there's something far more valuable in it than all of the 'food' here."

They then could see the officers of the Loki and Freya Familia coming towards the point of intersection with the Dragon from the frontlines with each one of them ready to intercept it. But after ascertaining that there was no intent from the Black Dragon to fight, Riveria hurriedly called to them, "Stop! Let it pass! It's not looking for a fight right now!"

Finn was the first one who reacted and stared at the incoming Black Dragon for a moment before stopping and shouting a command, "Stop! Do not engage!"

Everyone was confused at his sudden contrary command and became even more nervous when they saw that the Dragon was rapidly approaching. Nevertheless, those apprehensions proved to be worthless when the Dragon ignored them and headed directly toward Orario. It was only a few moments later when its last roar was heard and it disappeared within the monster-overrun city.

"Couldn't you defeat the Black Dragon yourself?" Ottar asked without turning his head.

Riveria didn't immediately reply to that question. When she first arrived after her outrageous experience from the other side, she, without a doubt, wanted to show off what she could do. However, after seeing everyone's state, she could finally understand Kisuke when he said that he didn't want to get involved as much as possible since that would be taking the opportunity from someone else to grow stronger, especially when they themselves have nothing to gain from it, "It's every Adventurer's dream to subjugate one of the three Great Quest and if I just suddenly take its head, it might just leave a bad aftertaste."

As someone who experienced being on the top, even for a few short years, Ottar could understand where Riveria was coming from. He too wouldn't easily help newbies just because they are struggling a little.

'Besides, I have a feeling that the Black Dragon is a lot more troublesome than the corrupted Spirit.' Riveria thought while saying, "Let's go inside for now and talk about what we should do from now on.

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The officers of the Loki, Freya, Miach, and Hephaestus Familias convened with their Deities with the addition of Zeus and Odin.

As for the rest of the prominent Familias, they went to Orario as an elite group to investigate why the Black Dragon went straight that way.

But just as they were about to start, Loki noticed that Ais was having some difficulty breathing and a very thin miasma was surrounding her that wouldn't be noticed if one doesn't stare at her for some time, "Ais? What's wrong?"

Ais finally clutched her chest in pain and Lysa let out a worried roar on her lap, "...I... Don't know... I can't... Control my wind..."

Her friends finally looked at her and tried asking her what was happening. Sadly, Ais couldn't give any answer as she also doesn't know anything and it only started happening when she heard the Black Dragon's first roar.

Without answers to their questions, Loki turned to Zeus and asked, "Old Zeus, you should know what's happening. Isn't it about time you share what's in your head?"

Before she could even ask, Zeus was already having a complicated expression while looking at Ais, '...Will there be a 'Hero' that could save her?'

Zeus sighed and answered, "Alas... It really turned out this way. Let me preface it by saying that the Black Dragon isn't just a Dragon, but also a parasite."

Zeus could see everyone's confusion as he continued, "And its next host is Aria and Albert's daughter, Ais Wallenstein."

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AN: I'm sorry if I'm skipping a lot of character interactions here. As much as I want a natural flow, it would pad the sideshow too much and might become too boring. I also wanted to finish this arc within a certain timeframe so I'll be focusing on the incoming action and battle scenes before immediately moving to the aftermath.

Editors:

28th00: You just wanna get to the Banana Havoc arc, don't you? To be fair, I wanna get there too. I desire to see the untold anarchy of the Banana Havoc arc myself~!

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Goyya's Four Brain Hemispheres

Chapter 1015 The Black Dragon part 2



Even Ais, who was still struggling from the strange pain and sudden inability to control her 'Wind', stared at Zeus in shock.

"W-what do you mean by that?" Lefiya asked with a pale expression.

As soon as she asked, however, Ais' situation got worse with the black wind being ejected out and her groaning worsening.

"Ais!" Almost everyone from the Loki Familia shouted her name and even took out some elixir thinking that it'll remedy her problem.

Seeing that she won't be able to gather any more information from watching, Riveria called out to Tiona who's clutching a bottle of elixir to force it on Ais, "Stop it. That wouldn't help her."

"T-then what should we do!?"

"Calm down. I have something that might be able to help her."  Riveria then took out the candy Kisuke gave her and directly shoved it into Ais' mouth, "Swallow it. This was specifically made for you, though I don't really know what's going to happen."

Ais couldn't feel any reassurance from her words but she had no choice but to take in what was already in her mouth. For a few seconds, there's nothing but a few moments later, a warm relief started spreading, beginning from her stomach down to her limbs. The black 'Wind' began to disappear and soon ceased to exist as another type of 'Wind' replaced it.

Ais was stunned, not because of the instant relief, but because of the new 'Wind' flowing around her that wasn't hers, but someone very dear to her.

It was almost two decades from her perception of time, but she couldn't and wouldn't forget, the familiar gentleness that caressed her skin and the aura that filled her with a sense of security and happiness in the times of her innocence. Ais, with tears running down her cheeks, called out, "...M-mom?"

Everyone was happy that she already looked fine, however, their confusion didn't end when Ais suddenly called out to her mother. Though that confusion would soon turn into shock when the gentle 'Wind' started producing motes of golden light and soon a figure appeared behind Ais.

Golden long hair and golden eyes, she was almost the spitting image of Ais but much more mature.

The figure then gently hugged the tearful Ais from behind and whispered behind her ears, "I never thought that I'd be able to do this again."

Ais, just like everyone else in the room was stunned. Meanwhile, Zeus stood up from his seat with eyes wide open at this unbelievable scene, "...Aria?"

Aria noticed and looked at him before smiling gleefully, "Zeus? It has been a while. How are you doing?"

But the conversation between them couldn't continue as Ais hurriedly turned around to see the familiar face, "Mom!"

Aria turned her attention back to Ais' crying face, "My~ Still the same crybaby from before, I see."

"Mom!" Ais could only utter this one word over and over again while hugging her mother tightly, 'Even if this is just a dream... Please let me sleep a bit longer.'

Aria couldn't help but smile. Being able to guess what she was thinking, she raised her arm and gave her forehead a flick.

"!?" The pain on her forehead was able to push her from delusion and was able to make her think more clearly.

"Silly child. This isn't a dream. And as much as I'd like for us to stay like this for a bit longer, time isn't on our side." Aria picked up the confused Ais from her waist and sat down on her chair while settling her already grown daughter on her lap, "We still have to discuss how you'll have to subjugate the Black Dragon... The corrupted Wind Spirit Aria."

At the drop of such a bombshell, everyone was thrown off their seats, except for Zeus who was making a melancholic expression.

"Zeus!!!" Loki slammed the table, "What's the meaning of this!?"

"Please calm down, Loki-sama. This isn't any of Zeus' fault. It was our, the children's, arrogance that welcomed a tragedy that spanned for a thousand years. It was Zeus, Hera, and the future generation that had to shoulder our grave mistake." Aria defended Zeus while stroking the head of the stunned Ais.

"Stop it, Aria. I don't plan on shirking my responsibility for any of it.", Zeus sighed with heavy air, "But let's now dwell on the past now... My first question is, who are you? Because the Aria I knew just flew by and is currently in the Dungeon."

"Wait, wait, wait!!!" Interrupting their conversation, Loki shouted, "What the hell are the two of you talking about!? Start from the beginning!"

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A thousand years ago, the Familias that Zeus and Hera led were at its height of fame for subjugating one of the greatest monsters on the surface, the Leviathan, allowing the people of the Lower World to regain their footing and push back the remaining monsters back to the opening on the ground.

Way before the lid on the Dungeon was constructed, the Zeus, Hera and other strong Familias dived into the unknown to further push back the menaces and find the 'Kings', the King of Sky and King of Earth.

But despite their long search and extended attack of the unknown wide underground world, they couldn't find it both and only in recent years that they'll come across the King of Earth.

There are many strange happenings during that time, like the slowly disappearing high ranking Spirits. However, they weren't something unusual as many people kept dying from the war in unknown places. Furthermore, the main focus was defeating the last 'King' in the belief that the monsters would stop climbing from the abyss, or at least, weaken them significantly so that the people could thrive on the surface without the fear and threat of the monsters.

A few years later, they were able to successfully find the monster in question, however, it was already too late.

It was a monster that they never saw before nor could understand. Nevertheless, they were able to find out one thing about it and it was one of the worst news of that time, but only known to very few individuals to avoid panic.

"It could beguile Spirits and in some cases, fully control them." Zeus uttered with a heavy heart, "It was an unprecedented tragedy that pushed a certain Goddess and her Familia to attempt to save its victims in the depths of the abyss."

Editors:

28th00: We're in weird AU lore now.

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Goyya's Four Brain Hemispheres

Chapter 1016 A Story only for Her



It wasn't actually their first time coming across the monster that was going to be known as Black Dragon in their search for the 'King'. It was a unique small-sized reptilian monster that had the ability to enter and melt into the walls of the Dungeon and evade pursuit. Since it wasn't a particularly strong monster despite its unique ability, everyone was just warned of its ambush and evasion because despite it being weaker than most monsters of that time, it still continually and intelligently ambushed groups of Adventurers.

They hadn't realized it yet, but it was there that they made the mistake of letting it go on multiple occasions for its ability is not to traverse the Dungeon freely, but assimilation.

"As a living being, the Dungeon has the same properties that make up a Spirit. With its power of beguilement and assimilation, it silently and secretly, was able to amass its own strength by absorbing the power of Spirits. And when we found out about it, it had already broken through to the surface and wreaked havoc among its inhabitants without much contest.

"I won't go into detail on how we found out but it essentially 'farmed' the Spirits it captured deep into the Dungeon and after years of doing so, it gained strength and power that dwarfed the previous 'Kings' by a large margin. Even then my and Hera's children were able to defeat it after a great sacrifice."

"But it's still clearly flying around until now." Loki interrupted him, getting impatient from his long story.

"We weren't able to kill it..." Zeus sighed once again, "To be precise, it ditched its body and hid within Aria and was not able to be detected until it was already too late."

Ais was shaking and clenching her fist as a certain memory resurfaced in her head.

"After a few months of staying silent, the monster suddenly sprung into action and took over Aria's body while also assimilating Ais into itself. We weren't able to save Aria at that time but we were able to get Ais back thanks to Aria's consciousness still being present and Albert taking away one of its eyes... However, the weak child was strongly affected by its aura so one of my children sealed her in a barrier to let the aura dissipate slowly and naturally."

"More than twenty years ago, the seal was finally broken and we're able to save the child that Albert and Aria protected with their lives. However, the monster, now known as the One-Eyed Black Dragon and secretly known as Aria, felt the barrier going down too and tried to take her away. We don't know if it's Aria's lingering consciousness but it was very adamant to consume the child and we're only able to fend it off after another great sacrifice. It was that time that I entrusted Ais to Loki, hoping that she'd grow stronger and would have a chance to change her fate."

Zeus then looked at the frightened Ais directly in her eyes and said, "And now that the Black Dragon is calling out to you, it's causing the lingering aura to go uncontrollable. That monster is actually the source of your black 'Wind' and your skill 'Avenger'."

Silence then took over the entire room as everyone was trying to digest everything he just said. Zeus was about to ask how Aria was able to present herself here when something on Riveria's wrist started ringing.

With all eyes converging on her, Riveria was making a fed-up expression as she raised her right arm with the wristwatch that she's quite fond of, "You bastard... You even modified my watch."

She then took it off and placed it on the table and a slightly translucent screen appeared in the air showing the man with the striped bucket hat, "Hello everyone~ I hope I didn't interrupt something important~"

"Tsk!" Riveria clicked her tongue angrily, "Enough of your bullshit. You were probably listening to all of that so tell us what you want."

Though Kisuke couldn't reply to her as Aria suddenly exclaimed, "Ah! It's Kisuke! It has been a while. Thank you for taking care of my daughter."

"Ah, Aria-san. It has really been a while. Though I don't really deserve your gratitude since I didn't really do anything remotely like taking care of her. Your daughter is already a grown adult and doesn't need directions from a strange uncle."

Loki, on the other hand, gritted her teeth, "Kisuke... Damn you. You knew everything about this but stayed silent!"

Kisuke raised his palm at her and replied, "I know you have a lot of questions, but I don't really have much time on my side so I'll just say what I want to say."

After clearing his throat, he continued, "Most of you already surpassed the greatest Adventurer in history, Albert Waldstein, so if you all work together, you'll be able to defeat the Black Dragon. However, if you want to kill it, Wallenstein-san here would have to do it herself. Due to some requirements, whether you like it or not, that reptile would go after Wallenstein-san like how it did with her mother."

Finn wanted to say something but Kisuke stopped him by saying, "And regarding the corrupted Spirit, just leave that thing to Riveria. Alright, that's all. Have a good day, everyone." The screen disappeared leaving a group of unsatisfied people behind, but before they could let out their frustration, the screen went up again, "Oh, and before I forgot. Lysa, always be by her side. Even if it means dying together.", before disappearing once again.

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As Kisuke turned off the communication device, Yoruichi sat by his side and said, "How kind of you to not tell her that the one beside her isn't really her mother."

"It's not kindness." Kisuke answered back, "She needs to realize that herself, or else she's just going to be the next Black Dragon."

"That might be true, but it's also nice to let her swim in her fantasy one last time. And what Aria said is also true. You've been taking care of her."

Kisuke stayed silent.

"If not for your intervention, those Deities would blindly look for a 'Hero' to save her. Story-wise, it is amazing and moving."

Kisuke looked at her and said with a grin, "But we're in reality and the tragic heroine should also have a chance to fend for herself. I just don't like how boring these Deities think. What would you feel if you were in that girl's shoes?"

"With those Deities trying to weave a story for me? I'd cut them down once I'd realized it."

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A few days later at dawn, all the Adventurers and Mercenaries that came through Teleportation Magic heard the menacing roar of the Black Dragon and knew it was the signal for war.

Although everyone had already prepared as much as they could, they still couldn't help but feel nervous, "Is this how it felt when the monsters were still running rampant on the surface a thousand years ago?", Narvi Roll, one of the old Loki Familia members, asked.

"Who knows?... But I sure don't like this feeling." Her fellow Familia member, Elfy Colette, answered back.

"Want to know how to feel a bit less nervous?" Alicia Forestlight asked.

The other two looked at her with confusion and the latter just pointed at the man with short black hair at the distance holding the flag of Loki Familia, "Look at Raul, about to faint from nervousness."

The two looked at the executive that looked like he was about to soil himself and much of their nervousness disappeared and was replaced by immense worry, "Is he going to be alright?"

"Err... Probably. When push comes to shove, the inner leader in him pops up. He's going to be fine... Probably."

"Right. Raul has always been like this so there is no need to worry about him so much." Alicia nodded, "But have you heard, once the Black Dragon appears, we're going to focus our entire force on it, and if the corrupted Spirit decides to move at that time, Riveria-sama alone would have to hold it back?"

"Ah, we're also curious about that. However, it seems that Riveria-sama proposed this herself and the captains of the other Familias agreed to it. Riveria-sama probably has some secret weapon on her."

Editors:

28th00: Yeah, if I found out the gods are fucking with me by making my existence a tragedy because it'd be "Enteraining", I'd instantly want to kill them too. People absolutely despise being manipulated and controlled, especially for petty and/or pointless reasons.

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Goyya's Four Brain Hemispheres

Chapter 1017 The Beginning



A cloud of dust was rising up from Orario and those who were on the lookout immediately shouted about what they saw, "Monster rush!!! Most of them are small and medium class! Some large class in the back!"

Finn immediately appeared at the top of the temporary tower and used Magic to amplify his voice, "Archers! Once they are in range, fire the first volley! Mages, focus your attacks on the large monsters, and don't let yourself receive a Mind Down! First to fifth squad, get ready to meet the monsters after the first volley! Sixth to ninth squad, spread out and guard our flanks! Tenth to Fifteenth squad, get ready to pull out the injured and those who are unable to continue fighting and replace them!"

As Finn yelled out his first commands, the whole camp erupted into action. Thankfully, they didn't have to worry about their supplies as they were continually coming in from the rear through transport vehicles, 'Nevertheless, we can't really keep this up for a long time. Sooner or later, those behind us would soon exhaust themselves to the point that they won't be able to feed themselves. And surely, those who are looking to take advantage of this situation are watching this war closely so we can't really afford to exhaust ourselves either.' Thought Finn while watching the marching army of Adventurers and Mercenaries, 'Looks like we really have to create an elite team to reach the Black Dragon and the corrupted Spirit.'

Although it was a sloppy march, it's still better than just blindly rushing in and creating a very chaotic battlefield. Since they were at a disadvantage in terms of numbers, they couldn't let everyone just run around and do whatever they wanted.

"Anakitty."

"Yes, captain!" The cat person behind him hurriedly answered.

"Tell the others of the elite team that we're going in before sunset."

"This early?"

"The Dungeon will continually produce monsters while our supplies can only last for so long. It's better to do it now when we still have a chance to retreat and plan for another engagement after the information we could get from the initial one."

"...Understood."

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.

.

Before the sun sets, the sounds and warcry of the battle are still going without any signs of it letting up, "As you can see, we can't last like this. Although the supplies are coming in, the fatigue will set in first and no matter how careful, we're only going to keep losing our comrades. As such, I decided that we should strike now when things haven't gotten worse."

Finn looked around at the members of the elite team that comprised various Familias that are familiar with Orario and each one of them is at least Level 7.

Aside from the executives of the Loki Familia including Line, there's Tsubaki from the Hephaestus Familia, Ottar, Allen, and Hogni from the Freya Familia, Shakti and Ilta from the Ganesha Familia, Kashima Ouka from the Takemikazuchi Familia, Tenestra from the Astarte Familia, and Asfi from the Hermes Familia and finally, Bell and Haruhime from the Miach Familia. As for the rest of their members, they were left behind to take control and lead the battlefield.

"We'll go straight through the heart of the enemy territory and even though we'll have a window to retreat, we don't know what might happen and that might close as soon as we approach it. Nevertheless, we can't let a situation like this go on forever so those who are not ready to place their lives on the line, please leave as you'll just be a big detriment to the team."

Finn looked around once again and could see the determination in their eyes. He smiled and continued, "It seems that I don't need to say any uplifting speeches to rouse everyone's fighting spirit."

"Haah? We're not newbies. Why would we need something like that? You'll only snuff out my motivation for taking so long." Bete immediately answered with a click of his tongue.

Finn chuckled, "That's true. Well then, Black Dragon Subjugation Team... Move out!"

"YES!!!" Most of them answered.

Watching all of this as if she's not part of it was Ais. After yesterday's event, Aria also disappeared citing that she couldn't keep that form for too long, "...is. Ais!"

Ais woke up from her stupor with Finn calling out to her, "Are you alright? You also have the option to remain here."

Ais shook her head, "You know I can't do that."

"Then get yourself together or you'll get yourself and others killed."

Ais swallowed a mouthful of saliva and nodded thoughtfully at his scolding, "I'm sorry. I'm going to be fine."

But just as they are about to leave, "Hold up!" Loki's voice from behind them.

They turned around and saw that aside from her, there were Freya, Hermes, Hephaestus, Takemikazuchi, Miach, and Zeus behind her.

"Loki. What's going on?"

"We're coming too."

Finn and the others were frozen in an instant before he reacted with an unbelieving face, "...Haaah!?"

"You heard me. We're coming too."

"I can't allow that. We can't even guarantee our safety much less yours. If we lose any of you, it'll be a huge blow for us that we would have no way of recovering." Finn could also see that their respective children are persuading them against this and most notably was Asfi directly scolding Hermes.

"It's going to be alright. Riveria can protect us."

Everyone stopped and looked at Loki before turning their heads to Riveria. While Ottar and Tsubaki could agree, it's not the same for everyone else who doesn't know what she could do.

"Hold on, Loki. Even though I'm assigned to watch the corrupted Spirit and won't participate in the fight with the Black Dragon, I still can't risk it." Riveria immediately reminded her. Even though she could have leeway while fighting the corrupted Spirit, she doesn't know how things would develop and that unknown could pose a great danger to the Deities.

Loki looked at her seriously and contrary to her character, she suddenly pleaded, "Riveria... Please. I have to see through this until the end."

Riveria was startled and looked at the other Deities who had the same expression. Although most of them didn't know how Riveria would protect them, they really needed to watch this until the end.

Being bombarded by those intense stares, Riveria could only sigh before raising her arm and tapping the watch on her wrist, "Anyone there?"

A few seconds later, Kisuke's voice answered, [Riveria? What's up?]

"I need a bit of assistance here."

The wristwatch stayed silent for a few more seconds before a reply returned from Kisuke, [Sera-tan will help you out. You know the Sitri Clan's crest, right? You can summon her through that.]

"Thank you."

Riveria then brought down her arm and brought up the other to construct a Magic Circle. Within just a second, Riveria managed to complete a Summoning Circle with Sitri Clan's crest in the middle of it.

"Fast!" Tenestra exclaimed, "What are those parameters? Wait... What is this system in the first place?"

Riveria didn't answer her question as the same Summoning Circle appeared on the ground in front of her. Within a few seconds, a twin-tailed bubbly beautiful girl appeared in front of her, "The Devil King Serafall Leviathan at your service~☆! I can do almost anything for an appropriate price~☆! Who or what should I destroy today?"

"I don't think I could afford you destroying anyone or anything worthwhile so I'll just request an escort and protection service."

"And the protection target and escort location?"

"The Deities that are coming with us to Orario and the entirety of their stay there until this battle is over."

"Understood☆! Let's discuss the price at a later time in private. Is that okay with you?"

Riveria nodded.

Everyone forgot that they are trying to convince their Deities to not come with them due to Serafall's sudden appearance and the subsequent strange conversation. However, they were not ready for what was going to happen next.

"Then let's get this over with~! I'm expediting the escort request." Serafall turned towards the direction where Orario was and said, "Tell  them to stay out of the way, if they don't want to die."

Finn knew that she was talking to him but didn't understand what she was talking about, until a dense amount of Magic Circle suddenly descended from the sky and made it hard for everyone to even breathe, "I'm giving you fifteen seconds." Serafall turned to Finn with her shining blue eyes.

It was as if his thumb was about to explode into pieces and he didn't have to think about it any further, "Squad 2 and 3! Vacate your space! Now!!!"

The second and third squad heard his Magic Amplified voice but was confused. Nevertheless, they still followed his instruction and went left and right respectively, leaving a large hole on the front line.

But before they could receive their next instructions, a wave of blue light passed through the place they were standing just now and left a frozen path. It didn't stop and went through all the monsters, instantly freezing them before disintegrating into tiny pieces and being carried by wind. In an instant, a 10-meter wide ice path with a wall of ice on both sides and not a single monster in the way was created and directly connected to Orario a few kilometers away.

"Well then, let's go~☆!"

While everyone was speechless and terrified, Riveria could only sigh while muttering, "Can  I really afford to hire a Devil King?... Well, if I can't pay it off, I'll just sell Kisuke to her."

Editors:

28th00: Serafall absolutely heard Riveria say that. She'd take that deal instantly! No questions asked! Then she'd freeze at the realization that she took the deal.

Serafall has been training, but even if she wasn't… she had continental level range with her magic in the first place.

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Goyya's Four Brain Hemispheres

Chapter 1018 The Black Dragon

AN: Thank you for waiting and sorry for the late post! For some reason, my files became corrupted, a lot of them, and I prioritized working on them. Thankfully, I was able to recover most of them and already changed the disk.

Anyways, have a good day, and enjoy the batch~!



With the great divide in the middle of the battlefield, the movement of the monsters was greatly disturbed, allowing the Adventurers and Mercenaries to push the frontlines and give themselves some much-needed breathing time.

Serafall was waiting for everyone else to move out since her job was only to protect the Deities. Creating a pathway for them was already a bonus, "...What are you guys waiting for? Go!"

"Let's go." Ottar calmly uttered before he started running at full speed on the newly created path.

"..." Finn wanted to ask what just happened but knew that it was not the time for that, 'I don't know how Riveria got acquainted with her and how she was able to so easily teleport, but what we have to do hasn't changed.' He thought as he started following after Ottar.

Soon the entire group followed them, swallowing their shock and confusion while also clearing their minds to focus on their current goal right now. Although they were relieved that someone very strong was among their ranks, none of them thought of just handing over the Black Dragon's head. Even though they formed a coalition to ensure the safety of people and take back the land, they were still prideful Adventurers and Mercenaries.

Upon seeing them go, Serafall snapped her fingers once again and the Deities behind her started floating. But before they started following the group Serafall addressed something important without turning her head, "I'm going to make this clear, but I'm not involving myself in the actual fighting. Even if some of them start dropping dead."

Despite her very cold Magic, from her earlier interactions, Serafall seemed to be a very warm person. However, right now, there's this distinct coldness that's surrounding her that makes it seem she's a very cruel person. The Devil King was present.

"...But why? You obviously have the power." Hermes muttered softly.

Too bad for him, Serafall didn't deem to explain herself and they just started flying after everyone else.

However, Loki, Freya, and Zeus could tell that her cruelty was not directed to the children, but to something or someone else. Hence, they didn't ask.

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The elite team soon reached Orario, but the previously cleared path was already riddled by new monsters that came from the Dungeon. Though none of that was a problem since this is what they were expecting from the start even before Serafall helped them.

"Shakti, Ilta, we'll leave the rear to you two. Tsubaki, Gareth, Ouka, take the pressure from the monsters. Ottar, Allen, Hogni, you have autonomy on what you want to do. I trust your judgment. The rest of you, we'll go straight into the Dungeon and lure out the Black Dragon." Finn started gushing out with commands as monsters from all directions started besieging them.

The group was able to easily break through the crowd of monsters and was about to reach the Dungeon when a familiar roar resounded from deep within it causing Ais to shake.

[Ais... Don't listen to it.] Aria's voice deep inside her head sent a feeling of warmth and protection into Ais' mind and she was able to clear her head.

Meanwhile, the rest of the group stopped their steps and saw a 15-meter-long silhouette of a dark being flying up and taking the sky's supremacy. Its single working dark red eye looked down on everyone while it flapped its wings. "GRAAAHHHHH!!!!!"

Along with its dreadful throat-tearing roar was a cloud of poisonous Black Wind that brought about the curse of decay.

"Move as planned! But be careful. Don't ever let up your defenses! If your defense is breached, immediately inform everyone and retreat temporarily to get treated!" Finn shouted as the ground beneath him cracked and caved in before throwing his spear at the flying Black Dragon.

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"Amazing... To think they could easily endure its decaying breath..." Zeus muttered while watching the fight from the sky with others, "Back at our last clash, my and Hera's children had to constantly drink Elixirs and Antidotes while also casting anti-curse spells just to keep fighting."

"It was this Ki and the development of Magic that one could learn as long as they know how to manipulate Magic Power." Hephaestus replied, "It's an incredible tool that allowed the children to develop their powers that shouldn't have been possible without a God's blessing. It has been a while since it has spread through the whole world and there are even some children of the Lower World who could fight and defeat those who received a blessing without receiving it themselves."

"And because of that, the faith in Deities has significantly decreased." Hermes added, "Some Familia's even prohibited learning this as they saw this as a disrespect to the Gods."

Hearing that, Loki couldn't help but sneer, "Such fragile egos. Just because their children could live without their help, they wanted to deny their hard work."

"It's a real problem in some parts, though." Freya sighed, "There are some reports of Gods being betrayed by their children and abandoned, causing a great degree of resentment to the inhabitants of the Lower World before returning to the Upper Realm."

After that, everyone became quiet. They all tried to gauge Serafall's reaction since they knew that this method of gaining power originated from their group. Serafall could feel their gazes but chose to ignore it since no amount of explanations she had right now would satisfy them, much less take responsibility for those Gods who lost their children.

"Enough about that." Loki ended the topic and turned her attention back to Zeus, "You still haven't explained why you had to sacrifice your own entire Familia just to save and extract Ais from the Black Dragon."

"It was a promise from a thousand years ago. I promised Albert and Aria that I would save their daughter. Of course, I didn't force my children to go to such a length just to fulfill a promise. The main reason is that Ais was a child born out of a miracle. A miracle between the union of a man and Spirit. If Ais were to get absorbed by the Black Dragon, we have no way of knowing what's going to happen but we all agreed that it was going to be very dangerous."

"How did such a miracle come to be in the first place?" Loki asked again.

However, this time, Zeus refused to answer.

Editors:

28th00: Yeah, funny that. Looking at the personality of like 95% of Danmachi gods, the second they have a way to fight back and beat those with a Falna, without one? They'll take it within a heartbeat and probably kill the mortal avatars of the Gods they hate. They're unneeded and actively detrimental at that point, after all. GOTTA LOVE THAT FREE WILL TO DEAL WITH YOUR SHIT, EH?!

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Goyya's Four Brain Hemispheres

Chapter 1019 The Black Dragon part 2



While Serafall was blankly watching the elite team slowly push back the Black Dragon, she suddenly felt a significant movement from the Dungeon. Though the movement was big, all it did was split Riveria from the rest of the team as she went straight towards the opening of the Dungeon.

Since there was really nothing else she could do aside from listening to the Gods' boring talks about the past and their children, she chose to reminisce about what Kisuke had said before coming to assist Riveria.

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"Good timing. Sera-tan, do you mind if you go?" Kisuke asked while muting his communication device.

"I don't, but do you need me to do something else?"

Kisuke nodded, "From here on out is the territory of the unknown and I'm not really sure what's going to happen after the Black Dragon is defeated."

"Didn't you prepare for it? How did you prepare without knowing what was going to happen?"

At Serafall's question, Yoruichi couldn't help but smile. Nevertheless, she kept herself quiet.

Kisuke, as if Serafall was the abnormal one, looked at her strangely, "If I know what's going to happen then I wouldn't need to prepare and just tackle it normally. It's precisely because I have no idea what's next that I have to invent all the possible scenarios in my head and prepare a bit for each of those to give me a winning chance."

Serafall puckered her lips, "Forget I asked. So what exactly do you want me to do aside from fulfilling the request?"

"If something ginormous is about to pop out from the Dungeon, I'd like you to stop it, even for just a minute or two, enough for everyone to gain some distance for safety. Oh right, and please make sure they don't approach or attack Wallenstein-san while she's doing her thing."

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'A big thing, huh... If I could only stop it for a minute or two, it's probably around Trihexa's level. If it has regeneration enough to rival that monster, I wonder how he's planning to defeat it. And what about that guy up in the sky acting like he owns this place? How is he going to react?' Various questions swirled inside Serafall's head causing her to have some apprehension.

'Thankfully, Sona and the others were able to retreat early. Even if I could already qualify  as a Super Devil, I still can't be sure if we can survive this.'

An hour after the battle started and the darkness had already claimed the day, much of Orario was already destroyed. But among this destruction was the relatively fine elite team and the grievously wounded Black Dragon.

The elite team was shocked and so was the Black Dragon itself by how one-sided this battle had been.

It's true that the Black Dragon could be considered one of the strongest monsters that the team came across, but still not on the level of the corrupted Spirit that blocked their access to the depths of the Dungeon.

For the Black Dragon, it came as an extreme shock that this wasn't the usual surface dwellers that fought him the previous times. That's only natural as that's because the warriors that fought it in the past only gained their strength mostly through the Deities' blessings. It failed to take into account that a world would come where a blessing from up above is no longer a necessity.

The Black Dragon judged that the situation was not in its favor so it planned its escape. Although it still had an ace in the hole called the 'Spirit's miracle child', it'd rather not use it now, especially when it already came into an agreement with the corrupted Deity parasitizing the Dungeon.

With a plan in mind, the Black Dragon let out a horrific roar that released a shockwave that temporarily pushed back its aggressors and also asked for help from the Dungeon while letting out its last poisonous wind that was a hundred times more potent than when it initially released it.

"Everyone! Get back!" Finn shouted.

However, there were two individuals that didn't fail to see the opportunity when the Black Dragon suddenly unruffled its wings.

Braving the poison that could easily melt the flesh off anyone who didn't have protection against it, Ottar dashed towards it while clad in a thick orange aura that resembled a berserk boar.

With each of his steps increasing the weight of his war hammer on his hands, Ottar reached the Black Dragon that was about to take off and swung his blunt weapon under its belly, "HAAAAP!!!"

A deafening high-pitched sound rang out from the hit along with sparks that were sent outwards. The Black Dragon's scales and skin were impervious to most bladed weapons so Ottar chose to bring a war hammer to inflict internal damage to it instead.

As he felt the weight of his hammer in his hands increase multiple times, Ottar gritted his teeth and pooled most of his Ki into the path of his swing, sending the gigantic reptile flying straight upwards faster than it could fly.

The Black Dragon let out an intensely pained cry while its insides were uncontrollably churning. Fortunately for it, it was able to mitigate most of the damage by converting its fleshy insides into black goo. This is the reason why it was able to survive until now. Although it cried in pain, it wasn't disabled and was able to see a better chance of escape, if not for the white-haired, red-eyed Adventurer staring intently at it while his body was clad with arcs of lightning.

While up in the air and before it could even understand what was going on, a flash of light momentarily covered its sight for a second before it went dark. Another second later, it finally felt the pain that came from its remaining eye and let out another cry of panic. While it was not an irrecoverable injury like what had happened to its other eye, it was still the disappearance of one of its important senses. And another split second later, it lost the sensation of its wings.

From the outside perspective, Bell was standing on the ground with his Lightning Shift before disappearing and leaving a trail of lightning toward the Black Dragon.

Once Bell reached the Black Dragon, he first took out its remaining eye before moving towards its back and cutting off both of its wings as he understood that the Dragon was already trying to escape, 'I know that there's an agreement that Ais-san has to deal the final blow, but I can't let it escape and sow even more destruction in the future!'

With the conviction to end it all, Bell jumped off from its back and went up 50 meters higher than the already falling Black Dragon. As he reached the zenith, the arcs of lightning traveling through his entire body disappeared and were replaced by flames.

Bell clenched his teeth and gathered his Magic Power and Ki at a single point inside his body to ignite it. His skin instantly turned red and the specially-made clothes and armor that were very resistant to heat started burning. Soon, the flames began to change their hue, from red to blue.

Reorienting his body so that he'd fall head first, Bell gathered his blue flames under his feet before they exploded and propelled him downwards. With the unassuming dagger in front of him, Bell dived toward the Black Dragon as if he were a meteor that came from the sky to slay the terrible monster.

Everyone watching felt this scene very surreal and soon, the meteor went straight through the Black Dragon, punching a large hole through its abdomen in an instant.

Editors:

28th00: That gonna be a bad move? Seems like a bad move. Probably a bad move. Next chapter is gonna be named something like "Consequences" if he actually killed it.

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Goyya's Four Brain Hemispheres

Chapter 1020 Takeover



The 'meteor' reached the ground first and immediately left the spot where the Black Dragon would be dropping down.

Bell approached the rest of the group with his partially burnt armor and clothes. But before he could say anything, Finn started first with a frown, "I thought we agreed that Ais would have to be the one who gives the finishing blow?"

"I apologize, but I can't let it escape and cause harm somewhere else." Bell briefly retorted and didn't back down from his pressure. In fact, he was able to easily push Finn's pressure away thanks to the Black Dragon dropping behind him with a loud thud.

Finn clicked his tongue but couldn't say anything back. They indeed agreed that Ais would take the last shot but that's only because a strange man warned them that she has to do so and hinted that they'll face some unknown consequence if not. Truthfully speaking, those claims are dubious at most, and worst of all, Loki and Aria didn't tell them anything about this and only said that they'll leave the final decision to them.

And if he were to choose something, he'll take the sure subjugation of the Black Dragon over Ais taking the last shot.

Finn sighed and was about to issue a retreat order when Bell suddenly continued his words with a frown, "Is what I'd like to say... But that thing isn't dead yet."

Bell then turned around with arcs of lightning once again emerging from his skin. As they followed his gaze, they saw the unmoving Black Dragon start bubbling as if its scale started to boil over.

"W-what's happening?" Lefiya asked in a panicked voice. Although she's relatively fine, she's already spent and that's the same for most of them.

When they saw that the Black Dragon started melting and seeping through the broken pavement, Tenestra shouted while preparing her attack spell, "It's still trying to escape! Attack it now!"

Soon a barrage of Magic Attack bombarded the Black Dragon but it continued to seep through the ground.

"Dammit!" Tsubaki cursed and brought out her remaining assorted Magic Swords to break the ground it was trying to escape to, though in hindsight, that only made it worse for everyone as that only created a smokescreen of dust and debris.

The elite team kept attacking the spot where the Black Dragon is and has no intention of stopping until it was obliterated forever, but at some point, the small White and Gold Dragon that accompanied them didn't participate in the battle because her sole role was to watch Ais, suddenly let out a cry full of worry and panic.

"Lysa!?" Tiona hurriedly turned around, "What's happening!?"

However, she and the rest didn't need an answer from the Dragon when they saw Ais blankly staring at nothing and unmoving. The lights in her eyes already disappeared, being replaced by these lifeless ones as a black dot unknowingly emerged on her forehead. Lysa was roaring on top of Ais's head trying to wake her 'mother' up but to no avail.

Tiona and Tione went towards Ais' side since both of them couldn't really attack effectively and also tried waking her up, "Ais! What's going on? Answer me!" Tiona started shaking her shoulders but Ais kept unresponsive.

Seeing this, Asfi recalled the vague warning she received from Hermes about the danger that Ais posed, "Someone retreat with Ais Wallenstein and have Line Arshe look at her!"

Nobody knew what's going on, but Asfi's suggestion was a good idea.

Unfortunately, before Tiona could swipe Ais away and bring her back to Melen, black goo with a very dreadful aura suddenly erupted under Ais' feet, pushing away Tiona, Tione, and Lysa before engulfing Ais in this thick layer of goo.

"Wha-!?" Tione and Tiona were very surprised but immediately sprung into action by grabbing the goo with their bare hands and throwing it away in an attempt to free Ais from this very familiar substance. Nevertheless, it wasn't so easy as each time they touched the goo, their hands would be burned by the concentrated amount of the poisonous curse that the Black Dragon had. And even though they could remove a portion of it, the goo still returned to Ais, and more of it was coming out of the ground, completely negating all of their efforts and driving Ais deeper into this black goo.

"No, no, no!!!" The Amazoness sisters cried out in panic as others came to their rescue when they realized that the Black Dragon had already left its spot and was probably the one that was attacking the defenseless Ais right now.

Soon, just grabbing the goo wasn't doing it anymore since it began to solidify and form a giant black egg with Ais inside it.

The panicking members of the Loki Familia couldn't do anything but watch this unfold, but the members of the Freya Familia, they couldn't care less and Allen directly brandished his spear and Ottar swung his war hammer at the egg without any hesitation.

Tiona and Tione brought out their weapons and blocked Ottar's hammer while Bete also jumped against Allen and deflected his spear. All of them had furious expressions, "What are you doing!!?" Yelled the Werewolf at the top of his throat.

"You heard what Zeus said last night. The Spirit Aria was devoured and taken over by the Black Dragon and we can all see that this is what's happening right now." Allen answered in a calmer voice but there was an intensity behind it.

Ottar had the same thing in mind when he took action.

"We... We're not yet sure if that's the case!" Lefiya retorted from the distance, "We have to separate her from this black substance!"

"And how do you suggest we do that?" The silver-haired Dark Elf, Hogni, stepped out, "Isn't taking action and breaking that 'egg' the fastest and most sensible way we could do it?"

Finn and Gareth also agreed but they couldn't honestly go through it and attack the egg since they didn't have the same carelessness as the members of the Freya Familia, 'And I can't just make this a Loki Familia problem since the Black Dragon is involved... Is this what that man was warning us about?' thought the former while biting on his thumb nail.

Bell, on the other hand, was feeling a bit guilty because this could be technically because he landed the finishing move on the Black Dragon and caused it to act this way.

All of a sudden, Shakti raised her voice, "Stop arguing! Nothing would be done if we don't agree on something so instead of clashing, let's think of what we should do! And if there's someone who could help, it'll probably be them!" She then pointed towards the sky where Serafall and the Deities she's guarding approached the group.

Serafall and the Deities landed and all heard and saw what was happening. While only Zeus and Hermes knew what was really going on, they only had a guess as to what a solution could be. Serafall, meanwhile, immediately dismissed Shakti's words, "What are you talking about? I'm only here to watch the show closer~!"

"W-what?" Lefiya let out a dumbfounded voice and everyone else had the same reaction as her, wondering what else the 'show' is.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the 'show' revealed itself to them without them being able to do anything.

The egg first started cracking before the black shell was blasted through by a monstrous arm covered in black scales and had long and terrifying claws. Next was a pair of black wings spreading out of the shell before a black tail punctured outwards.

As the shell collapsed into pieces and onto the ground, the elite team could only stand frozen when they saw Ais with black hair, red eyes, sharp teeth, a pair of black wings, a tail, transformed Draconic limbs, and finally black scales that dotted her whole body. There was no reason that could be seen on Ais' face but only that it was warped in rage.

"GRAAAHHHHH!!!!!"

Only after she let out a roar that was most certainly impossible for her throat that everyone realized that it was already too late.

Editors:

28th00: Yeah, called it. Pretty obvious escalation too. Tanis would look at the OEBD in nothing but disdain for doing a "bitch move" like this. Truly, it's no Dragon. She learnt what Dragons are directly from Ophis and Great Red after all, and that thing is no dragon, it's a Parasite. Reminds me of a certain Evil Dragon that gnawed on the roots of Yggdrasil in that manner.

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Goyya's Four Brain Hemispheres

Chapter 1021 Takeover part 2



Ais swung her enlarged Draconic arms that have long and sharp claws toward everyone, causing them to jump back and dodge. However, one person still couldn't believe what she was seeing and could only stare blankly as the monstrous claws approached her.

"Lefiya!!!" Filvis, after getting out of the way, jumped back in to grab the frozen Lefiya. The sound of a palm hitting a face soon rang after.

Filvis managed to save the girl and immediately gave her a big slap across the face, "What are you doing!? Are you trying to get killed!?"

Lefiya touched her stinging red cheek and realized what just happened, "I-I'm sorry! I-I didn't mean it!"

The furious Filvis relaxed her face, "Just be careful. The situation is dire but we can't give up." All of a sudden, her face contorted once again but this time, with pain. She looked down to her left arm which was grazed by Ais' claw and saw that the small wound began to fester with black steam rising from it and the black pigment spreading out, turning both her flesh and blood black.

Lefiya also saw this and hurriedly pulled out both of her Elixir and Anti-Curse Potion and poured them on the wound simultaneously. But to their shock, it only slowed down the spread and slowly lost its effects soon after, "What!?"

Lefiya pulled out another set of restoratives while Filvis blocked the circulation of her blood using Magic Power and Ki before calling out to someone, "Gareth-san!"

Gareth is busy holding off the rampaging Ais but still looked in their direction and instantly understood their situation.

"Please do it!" Filvis added.

While Lefiya is confused about what she meant, Gareth only nodded solemnly after hesitating for a split second. The old Dwarf left his position after giving a signal to Finn and swung his axe towards Filvis, aiming precisely for her upper left arm. Lefiya couldn't react when the arm she was treating suddenly disappeared with a splash of blood smearing her face, "H-huh?"

"Arghhhh!!!" Filvis grimaced in pain but that didn't stop her from controlling her Ki to stop the blood flow.

Lefiya shouted in panic again and helped Filvis pressure her arm to further stop the blood.

Gareth's attention, meanwhile, was on the severed arm that completely turned black and melted into a black goo, "Finn! Be careful of any wound! The poison is way worse than before! Don't trust your own defenses to mitigate it!"

The others also looked at Filvis and at the black puddle beside her and shuddered.

"That poison is too dangerous! Keep your distance!" Finn relayed the information again while dodging the claws. Thankfully, there was no semblance of fighting style or skill in the current Ais and she was just wildly swinging her arms so it made it very easy for everyone to dodge.

Bell, while carrying Haruhime, raised his voice in question, "What should we do!? We can't keep this up and we can't exactly leave her here! What's worse, we don't know when the corrupted Spirit is going to come up!"

Finn and the rest of the Loki Familia were also internally debating on what they could even do in this situation as they knew that if they used the wrong words, the members of the Freya Familia would mercilessly attack Ais and the other members of the elite team would certainly not do anything about it because they would want to stay neutral. Finn also knew that Bell would take their side knowing his personality, but they couldn't just depend on that when they didn't even have any concrete solutions, 'Is the only thing we can do is buy time in the hope something else will happen? But what if this becomes even more irreversible the more we wait? Tsk... What should we do?'

In their distressed situation, someone finally offered them a path, "Someone has to enter the Black Dragon's stomach and pull out Ais Wallenstein from it." Hermes uttered while walking forward. He took a quick peek at Serafall and saw that she was not doing anything and concluded that she wouldn't be getting involved in this, 'Just watching the show, is it? How arrogant.'

Ever since Serafall threatened Hermes to send him to the other side of the world, he didn't like her and created a bias against her inside his mind. And his dislike of her only worsened when it became clear that they could easily resolve the situation before it ever came to this, 'They have the power to oppose the Gods, yet they're not doing anything substantial... What do they even want?'

Tenestra was finally able to lock Ais in place by constantly burying her under the spikes of rocks, "Please make it clear! We don't have much stamina left either!"

"Currently, Ais and the Black Dragon are fighting over the dominance of Ais' body. Aria couldn't survive the Black Dragon's takeover and it's much worse in Ais' case because it already imprinted her long ago in the form of 'Avenger'."

'That's why I'm asking what we should do!' Tenestra internally screamed while continuously pouring in her Magic Power to keep Ais at bay, 'That's why I hate these Gods who like to talk in circles!'

While Hermes didn't catch the expression on Tenestra's face because he was looking towards Bell, Zeus did and sighed, "On the initial stage of the takeover, the Black Dragon will be very 'hungry' and will devour anyone who it deems harmless. Although you were fighting it earlier, its mind also wasn't very clear at this stage so as long as you stand still in front of it without emitting any intent of harm, it'll quietly shallow you up."

Finn frowned at his words, "Are you suggesting that someone has to take Ais' place?"

Zeus shook his head, "Albert was able to pull out Ais by letting himself be devoured by it. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to live for more than a few minutes after leaving the Black Dragon because when inside, it directly attacks the mind and soul. We had to kill him before his soul changed into something unrecognizable."

There were a lot of missing details but it was detailed enough that everyone understood what they had to do.

Editors:

28th00: This is absurdly shounen. Hermes is such a massive hypocrite too, it's kinda amazing how he can't see the parallels between Serafall right now and himself… all the time.

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Goyya's Four Brain Hemispheres

Chapter 1022 Unlucky Dragon



"You want us to sacrifice one of us to save Ais?" Bete muttered with a contorted face, "Fine... I'll do it!"

"What are you saying? I'll do it." Tiona also stepped forward with a nervous laugh.

Tione also came forward, "Why don't we decide with rock-paper-scissors?"

"You kids are still young. Let this old man do it." Gareth didn't want to lose.

But before the entire Loki Familia presents themselves, Hermes immediately stopped their sacrificial contest by saying, "Sadly, none of you are going to survive much less save Ais right now. Albert was only able to save Ais that time because the Black Dragon hadn't fully gotten into her yet."

'Then what's the point of telling us that story!?' Was what everyone wanted to ask when suddenly an idea came from Freya, "I see... So we need someone whose mind and soul won't be corrupted no matter what the Black Dragon does. Then we really only have a single choice."

Already knowing his immunity against mental attacks and the gazes that Freya, Hermes, and his grandfather, Zeus, were giving him, Bell could only sigh.

"Bell?" Haruhime at his side became extremely worried at his strange reaction.

"I'll be fine. Trust me." Bell smiled gently at Haruhime and patted her head before leaving her side, "Grandpa... I can do it, right?"

Zeus hesitated for a brief moment before nodding, "Theoretically, you should be able to do it. However, you're the only person we found that has this kind of constitution and we aren't really sure of what other results could happen. More importantly, a battle within minds is an entirely different field so we're all essentially just guessing that you could do it."

Everyone became silent with only Ais' roars remaining in the background.

Haruhime looked around and saw that except for Serafall, Loki, and the small White Dragon who were intently staring at Ais, everyone else was looking at Bell, unknowing to what they were all thinking. She held her hand in worry and muttered his name while shaking, "...Bell... Please..." She wanted to stop him because his existence was much more important than the rest of the people here to her, but she knew that Bell wasn't the kind of person who'd abandon someone if he could do something about their plight. And that's what she loved the most about him.

"Wait for me." Bell touched Haruhime's hand and gently moved it, "I'll be back."

Aside from Bell's footsteps and Ais' struggle, no other sounds could be heard in this desolate place.

Everyone anticipated what would happen with bated breath when suddenly, a wall of ice suddenly appeared in front of Bell, stopping his tracks just before he could reach Ais, "Please don't interfere.", a few words came from Serafall.

"What are you doing!?" Hermes scowled at her, "Any further delays could prove fatal to Ais Wallenstein and the revival of the Black Dragon in a much stronger form! Aren't you the one interfering now when you said you wouldn't!?"

Serafall ignored him and just focused on the changes that were happening in Ais, "You can let go. I'll take care of it." She addressed Tenestra.

Tenestra hesitated and didn't know who to believe. Nevertheless, she didn't have much of a choice since she was running dry too and it'd only be a minute or two before she's fully depleted.

As soon as Tenestra's Earth Magic stopped, Ais' madness became worse as she broke through the spikes of hardened earth. But that didn't last long as ice instantly grew and encapsulated her entire body, leaving only her head free.

"GRRAAHHHHH!!!!"

Hermes lost his patience and approached Serafall to ask her face-to-face what she was trying to do. The rage he was feeling prevented him from noticing that Loki was already blocking his way until he almost crashed into her, "Don't interfere." Loki muttered the same words as Serafall.

"Loki? Why?" Hermes asked and those around her also had the same question.

Loki, however, didn't explain much and just said, "Don't interfere. This is her fight... Not anyone else's."

While everyone else was confused, Freya's eyes widened as soon as she took a glance at Ais. Her soul which was doused in complete darkness has now a golden tint in the middle and tries to fight back against the surrounding malice, "...Amazing." She muttered. This, for her, was a far more mesmerizing battle compared to what they were watching before.

Freya's expression prompted the other Gods to also look closer at Ais and it was then they finally noticed the minute changes in the rampaging transformed girl. Although they couldn't see as much as Freya, they could still tell that she was fighting back against the mind-eating Black Dragon.

Sadly, especially for Freya, she could see that the golden light was slowly being devoured and it won't be long before it disappears, '...She won't make it.' As much as she wanted her to reverse the situation and win, she couldn't look away from reality.

And as if the last dazzling light before its death, the madness from Ais' face was swept away for a single moment, and tears of blood started streaming down her face, "...P-please... Kill... Me... I... Can't..."

Loki clicked her tongue and Hermes instantly turned to Bell, "Bell-kun! Hurry!"

Meanwhile, contrary to everyone's expectations, Serafall chuckled and shocked everyone which caused everyone, especially those from the Loki Familia to lose it, "What's so funny!!!?" Tiona shouted and was about to jump at her in rage.

Still, Serafall ignored them and just focused on Ais' pleading eyes, "Lysa-chan~ We've seen it. She, at least, has the heart to fight back even if the odds are heavily stacked against her."

The small White Dragon nodded and contrary to everyone's expression, she seemed to see the entire situation positively, which just caused further confusion.

"Now go. That monster's luck ran out the moment it became a Dragon." Serafall pushed the Dragon towards Ais making the latter panic and despair, "...N-no... Don't come!!!" Immediately after, Ais lost consciousness and the 'Black Dragon' was able to emerge again, replacing her expression with utter madness.

But Lysa ignored her pleas and approached her. Meanwhile, the ice that had been encasing Ais, disappeared, freeing her and as soon as Lysa approached, disgusting black tendrils shoot out from Ais, intending to catch the 'food'.

Unfortunately for it, its approach awakened something deep inside the White Dragon and a snake that didn't reflect any light suddenly emerged from her forehead.

The snake opened its eyes that only consisted of purple light. The 'Black Dragon' that was rampaging inside Ais froze for a moment and the madness disappeared as if it was a lie, before it was replaced by fear.

"GRAAAHHH!!!" Ais roared at the snake before turning around in panic, flapping its wings to escape as fast and as far as possible.

Editors:

28th00: Ophis did personally bless(and rebirth her I think?) Lysa, so yeah, being a Dragon is a bad idea if you're gonna attack one of Ophis' broods. Just… A really bad idea…

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Goyya's Four Brain Hemispheres

Chapter 1023 'Aria'



"Haaahhh... Haaahhh... Haaahhh..." Catching her breath, Ais doesn't know how long she had been staying in this strange dark world where she could completely see herself despite the absence of light. Regrettably, she couldn't enjoy the insanity-inducing darkness as she was not alone in this world.

Sensing the danger on her side, Ais gritted her teeth and dodged while parrying the unknown threat using her rapier. A loud clang resounded and sparks erupted before she was thrown away from the force behind the attack. But no matter how much she waited, Ais never felt any walls and was able to stand back up while looking at the single red light that was reflected in the distance that had a row of sharp teeth below it.

As if mocking her, the mouth full of razor-sharp teeth smiled at Ais before disappearing into the darkness once again.

'How long has it been?' She asked herself. This kind of clash has already happened at least ten thousand times and she had already stopped counting long ago. Her body didn't seem to get tired but her mind was already about to snap. Still, she couldn't give up no matter how hard things became and how much this monster played around with her. She doesn't know when, but she had to wait for a gap to leave this place. It was her promise to her late mother.

.

.

.

She didn't know when it happened, but she was watching a 'meteorite' pierce through the hateful Black Dragon, and instead of feeling gleeful, she instead felt an immeasurable sadness that took over her heart. And before she realized it, she was already standing on a familiar small hill with a single towering tree on top of it.

"This is..." It was the hill that was near their house, the spot where she spent most of her childhood playing around. The scent of the air, the rustling of grass and leaves, the gentle touch of the sun, it was all the same as she remembered it. Closing her eyes to take in this moment, a single tear streamed down her cheek.

"Everything here is just an illusion that you created." Suddenly, a familiar voice came from behind the tree, and a second later, a figure stepped out from behind it.

"...M-mother."

Ais ran towards her and grabbed her into a big hug. The floodgates that were keeping most of her tears away were once again opened, "M-mother!" Although she was able to hear her words inside her head after she disappeared once again yesterday, she dearly missed her mother so much that she wasn't able to sleep.

Aria returned the hug and patted her head gently while smiling. However, that smile of hers has a tint of melancholy in it, 'This is the end, huh?'

'We still have some time.' Aria thought after taking a quick look at the sky so she entertained Ais to the best of her abilities.

After Ais calmed down, the two of them sat down under the shade of the tree and started talking about random things just like in the old time. Although her father was not present, she was incredibly happy that this was even possible. She was so glad that she wanted to stay in this dream forever.

But the more they talk, the more the illusion seems to break down, with Ais finding some discrepancies with her 'mother' Aria. There was a nagging feeling that she kept ignoring because she didn't want to end this blissful time.

"And Tione kept pestering me that I should soon find a man for myself since I'm already old enough. But I'm not really interested and she doesn't have one too after she gave up on the captain."

"Ara~ I failed to realize that you're already at that age. And Tione is truly an unfortunate woman, setting her sights on a man that would never reciprocate her feelings. It must have been hard."

Ais looked up at her and added, "I don't really understand those sorts of stuff. I'm busy enough to get stronger, so why should I waste my time on companionship? I've seen enough relationships that aren't so great and if its purpose is to leave an offspring, I already have Lysa that I want to take care of."

"Then let me ask you a question, what is Lysa to you?"

"Lysa? I don't really know what it means to become a mother but I consider her as my daughter. I'd sacrifice everything for her."

"You're already doing a good job. That's what it means to become a good parent to their child." Aria chuckled, "Now let me ask you a different question, what do you think of Tiona, Tione, Lefiya, Filvis, and the others close to you?"

Ais didn't know what Aria was trying to say but she still answered, "They are my important friends. They are my family."

"Finally, here's the real question. Did you choose Lysa to become your daughter? Did you choose those from the Loki Familia to become your friends and family?"

Ais immediately sat up and denied her words, "No!"

"Right? All genuine relationships are like that. You may choose who to approach first, but making them an important part of your life comes gradually and naturally even if you don't know how to. That's the same for love. You'll meet people and even without you realizing it, you might even be able to find the one." While saying all of this, Aria looked up.

"Is that how you got together with father?"

Aria looked back to her and now with a defeated smile on her face, "Yes... That is what I'd like to say, but I never really know what kind of person your father is nor do I even remember what he looks like."

"...What?" Ais became distraught and her heart rate started going up, "W-what are you saying, mother?"

Unconcerned with her confusion, Aria continued, "I only knew him for a brief moment, much less love him. In the first place, it's impossible for me to feel any love... Is what I thought eons ago."

A sad and longing smile then emerged on Aria's face, "You really are a child of a miracle... Making me betray my own origin and letting me feel what's impossible."

Ais' heart dropped and grabbed Aria's hand, "W-what are you saying? I don't understand..."

"Ais... You already know the truth but you're just ignoring it... I'm a mere fake... A mark to your downfall."

Editors:

28th00: Gotta hate dream sequence insanity scenes.

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