Still in the Training Grounds on Mount Olympus.
"So, while the gods and demigods were arguing and taunting each other, I snuck into the town without anyone noticing" Atalanta narrated, recalling the events. "Or maybe Susanoo allowed me to get through because, you know, I'm weaker than him." She remembered how the gods surrounding Susanoo were about to chase after her but then stopped and ignored her.
They all nodded in response to Atalanta's conclusion. "And I don't know if it's a coincidence or not, but I'll assume it is" Atalanta said in a confused tone. "When I went to investigate the school where the heiresses of Gremory and Sitri were attending, even though the school year hadn't started yet" she continued, shaking her head, "they were under attack at the time of my investigation." Her tone grew serious as she shared this crucial detail.
"No, it's not a coincidence" Athena said, shaking her head. "This might be why Susanoo was guarding Kuoh—to prevent others from interrupting whatever his allies were doing at the school." She nodded sagely, her expression suggesting she had pieced everything together just from Atalanta's narration. "Perhaps the attackers wanted to discover the origin of the power spike, and Susanoo, being clever, didn't want to dirty his hands, so he used his allies to do the dirty work."
"Yeah, about that" Atalanta said with a bit of a mocking tone. "I don't think they were really attacking them. It seemed more like they were just playing around without any clear objective based on their behavior while I was watching from afar." She spoke carefully, not wanting to offend Athena. "So, in my conclusion, I don't think they were allies of Susanoo, nor were they there to gather information about the power spike." She smirked, unable to resist as she saw Athena's face turning beet red with embarrassment.
Artemis, seeing Athena's face, couldn't help but laugh out loud, tears streaming down her cheeks as she held her belly. "Haha! The Goddess of Wisdom got corrected and embarrassed by my Huntress" she said between bouts of laughter. "Good job, Atalanta, good job." She gave a thumbs up to Atalanta while still laughing.
"Lady Artemis, please don't further embarrass Lady Athena with your un-lady-like laughter" Hippolyta said, trying to hold back her own laughter or even a smile. "And you too, Diana, stop copying Lady Artemis uncharismatic laugh" She glanced at Diana, who was laughing without a care in the world.
Artemis turned to Hippolyta. "Don't insult my laugh! That's part of my charm!" she retorted, ready to insult Hippolyta back, but Athena interjected.
Athena's face had returned to normal as she spoke in a casual tone, "Artemis, stop. You don't have to argue." She glanced at Artemis before taking a jab with a smirk, "You virgin goddess."
Artemis was about to explode, but Hippolyta covered her mouth and held her back. Ignoring Artemis, Athena looked at Atalanta and said in a gentle tone, "So who is the attacker of the Heiresses.?"
Atalanta shook her head in disappointment before explaining, "I don't know who or what they are because they were covered with some kind of dark shadow, preventing me from discerning their appearance." She spoke in a confused tone, struggling to describe what she had witnessed in words, but still managing to offer a detailed description.
"I see" Athena nodded in understanding. The attackers might have employed some form of magic protection to conceal their identities. "Understandable" she thought inwardly, recognizing the potential danger of the situation. "They don't want the devils seeking revenge on them."
"But I did manage to discern the appearance of the two attackers" Atalanta said with a hint of pride, though she wasn't certain if this information would be helpful. After all, the attackers seemed to be just ordinary pets, going about their business in a mundane manner.
"Go on" Athena and the group urged, their curiosity piqued. Atalanta glanced at the group, feeling embarrassed as she scratched her cheek. "Well, it's just that the two attackers were nothing more than a normal cat and mouse" she admitted, her tone filled with chagrin. "They were simply engaged in a typical fight with the devils at the same time beating them, nothing suspicious at all." She closed her eyes, cringing at the realization that the information she had gathered might be of little use.
"What kind of dumbass would bring a normal cat and mouse into a fight, even if they won?" Artemis exclaimed angrily, her frown deepening as she imagined the plight of the poor creatures.
"Did the normal cat and mouse get hurt at all?" Athena inquired of Atalanta, her curiosity piqued. Atalanta shook her head in response. "See, at least the perfectly normal cat and mouse didn't get hurt" Athena remarked, nodding sagely at the observation.
"What...?" Diana was utterly perplexed. She couldn't wrap her head around why they were so fixated on emphasizing that the cat and mouse were ordinary despite their ability to fight devils. Frustration bubbled within her, Why are you so insistent on making the cat and mouse normal when it can fight a devil?" she couldn't help but shout the latter half of her sentence.
Athena regarded Diana with a puzzled expression. "It's normal for a cat and mouse to fight a devil though" she explained, tilting her head in confusion. Then, turning to Atalanta, she sought clarification. "How did that cat and mouse fought the devils?" Athena asked, hoping to dispel Diana's confusion.
"The cat uses a rapier with some kind of weird swordsmanship" Atalanta explained, recalling the lightning-fast attacks she had witnessed. Then, with a casual tone, she continued, "And the mouse can grow its body as large as it needs to be" her memory conjuring images of the mouse's remarkable ability, the limits of which she was uncertain of.
Athena stared at Diana with a smile and said, "See, it's perfectly normal for pets if you ask me," her voice full of certainty.
"THAT'S NOT NORMAL AT ALL!" Diana shouted in frustration, earning weird looks from the group. She was about to argue further, but her mother, Hippolyta, interjected, "Diana, you should go train and reflect on your behavior in front of the Goddesses" she said sternly,
"Why am I in the wrong? Those cat and mouse are not normal" Diana shouted again, but her protest fell on deaf ears. The group did not agree with her, frustrating her even more. Instead of trying to convince them, she reluctantly followed her mother's advice and left the group wile stomping her feet.
"What was that about?" Atalanta and Artemis asked in confusion as they watched Diana walk off, clearly upset.
"Forgive her, Lady Athena, for questioning your..." Hippolyta paused, looking Athena in the eyes before saying, "wisdom." She coughed lightly and chuckled.
"Hey now, that was one time; it won't happen again" Athena replied with a smile, appreciating Hippolyta's joke. It seemed that Hippolyta was starting to treat her more like a friend than a goddess. She then looked at Atalanta and said, "Continue where you left off."
"After watching the fight for a while, I left because, you know, they were clearly just playing with the devils" Atalanta said with a shrug, indicating there was no point in staying. "So, I searched for information in the surrounding cities and towns, and this time I discovered what we wanted to know." She looked smugly at the group, waiting for their reaction.
"Go on" Athena said, not wanting to indulge Atalanta but knowing she needed to. She entertained Atalanta's demand for acknowledgment for the sake of it.
"I discovered that there are five clans blessed by the gods of that place, each given a sacred beast. I'm not going to explain all of them, but just one" Atalanta said with a shrug, as the Goddesses and Hippolyta awaited the big reveal.
"They say that this particular sacred beast caused the power spike" Atalanta paused for suspense before continuing. "That sacred beast is a Yellow Dragon, and I can confirm from my investigation that a Yellow Dragon appeared during the power spike in Kuoh Town. Additionally, the clan plans to recapture the escaped sacred beast. And that's it." Atalanta concluded, then sat down.