I was painfully aware that what I was going to do, was in all terms of the word. Utterly fucked.
But in the end, these women had no life left in this world, their souls had literally dissolved within their bodies when they couldn't kill themselves after being captured by the surface monsters that ran around Gekai. I was basically just overthinking things.
"Well... Got to at least try." I muttered as I laid my hand on a clean part of one of the women's arms and then I tried to mentally take her into my inventory.
And with a soft popping noise of displaced air, she disappeared instantly into my inventory with Tina exhaling from behind me. "That's interesting." Tina then dragged the other women towards me via their leash and I silently took them into my inventory while scanning them.
[Human Female- Age 26, No Falna, No Soul- Fusion Material]
[Amazon Female- Age 23, No Falna, No Soul- Fusion Material]
[Renard Female- Age 19, No Falna, No Soul- Fusion Material]
Only the Renard was of decent note and after taking them all into my inventory I took a breath of air as Tina patted the crook of my arm as she said. "Alright, let's get out of here. Go home so we can wash off the day's events and then in the comfort of home you can try to fuse them." She said and I nodded as it was truly a good plan.
I walked home with Tina walking by my side but as we continued home, I swear I could feel someone was watching or even following us. But with the thick crowd of people on the main streets of the Red Light District and the other main streets, I couldn't pick out who was watching us.
'Or hell... Could it be Freya using that enchanted mirror she watched Bell with later on?' I thought as I instinctively looked towards the Tower of Babel before shaking my head as Freya didn't live in the tower and instead lived with her Familia in the Folkvanger manor.
Then I had a different thought. 'Oh hell... It's probably one of the Hera girls following me around to make sure I am still making Alfia and Materia's potions.' I thought as I was reminded of Shenhe who had probably already stolen that Goliath kill to pay for more materials for my 'help'.
So I swerved around with Tina and made sure to pick up some herbs, materials, and even some of the less expensive potions I could pick up as I felt the presence following us become heavier.
Finally though as we entered the north side of Orario where the reputable smithing, crafting, and other high-end service-based Familia's were located. I could hear shouts ringing out and I froze and my eyes widened as we reached the Hephaestus Familia compound.
Mounted atop the fenced-in wall around the apartment-like buildings for the Hephaestus Familia members she rented out to us. Was a head, but not just any head... But the head of the retired Familia Captain who I didn't really interact with due to him being firmly within retirement.
"The Hephaestus Familia will just leave Orario then you uppity shithead mortal!" I heard Hepheastsus roar and I took off into the Familia ground to see what had happened and my eyes widened at the carnage.
Dozens of smiths, from level one and up were laid out on the large park with many of them missing limbs or even fucking just dead in general while my goddess Hephaestus was standing protectively in front of Tsubaki who had lost the eye she had kept behind an eyepatch to match her goddess.
"What the fuck..." I whispered taking in the carnage even as my eyes snapped at the male voice who spoke to Hephestus coldly.
"You were warned to lower your smith's prices... The Zeus Familia and neither should any Adventurer have to spend millions of Valis on a weapon without powerful enchantments like Durandal." The male voice spoke and I took in his form and saw he was wearing thick but plain black armor with spiky pauldrons while resting across his shoulder was a brutal mace with gore sticking to the spikes on the top-mounted spike ball.
Even as my goddess's leather gloves creaked loudly in her wadded-up fist the Zeus Familia member continued. "Now with the Hephaestus Familia humbled. We will hopefully not need to make an example out of the other crafting Familias... As after all, the strong rule. And your entire Familia couldn't keep two of our weakest level fives from butchering your weak Familia, so bow your head, little craftsman. Behave or we will have another god under Zeus's umbrella send you back to Tenkai." He bluntly threatened the smithing goddess.
There was a long moment of silence and then Hephaestus's head tilted to the side and she slowly removed her eye patch from her face and my very soul retched as sheer vile hatred and cursed filth assailed my mind. As Hephaestus's cursed eye was unveiled in the back of my mind, I heard Tina retch her stomach's contents onto the ground before collapsing onto the ground.
The man however just staggered in place matching my own mental strength if not exceeding it as I almost wanted to collapse at the mind-bending revulsion I felt looking at Hephaestus's fiery glowing pit that was her cursed eye. "Oh... And what if I decide to rip your skull off your shoulders and then before Ouranos sends my ass back to Tenkai. I make the Olympus Manor a purgatory of flames?" Hephaestus coldly threatened and I couldn't help but finally vomit in front of myself as her Arcanum and the curse became more and more powerful as the forge goddess was about to show how petty a Greek Goddess she was.
The reason mortals didn't fuck with gods and goddesses directly was for one simple reason. Those divines knowing that their time and games in Gekai were about to be ruined, could be petty as hell... So if they were going to lose and get sent back to Tenkai. Why not just say 'fuck it' and with a wave of their hands just smash all their opponent's chess pieces as a final fuck you.
And it was clear that the Zeus Familia member was just realizing that he had pressed Hephaestus entirely too far as crimson and azure flames escaped her form as Hephaestus's Arcanum shed its leash with her 'normal' eye glowing crimson and her cursed eye a haunting soul-crushing azure.
"Enough Hephaestus!" A male voice roared and I barely looked behind to see a man running into the property and feeling his aura I easily felt it was a god.
And without a beat Hephaestus's power increased as she hissed out. "Zeus... Are you here to finish the job then?"
'Am I going to die here?' I thought shuddering as the dungeon below Orario rumbled shaking the world as Zeus's own divinity leaked as he pushed back the flames leaking from Hephaestus's form from her simply taking off the bindings to her divinity.