"Except Athena, shoot all the others!"
Ryou could have used telepathy to give orders, but he chose to speak aloud, clearly targeting Kelly's previous orceful attitude.
This time, neither Atalanta nor Ishtar held back; without hesitation, they raised their bows and shot.
It seemed as if they had coordinated in advance, for both Venus Arrow and Moon Goddess Arrow were aimed directly at Athena.
"!"
Athena was both shocked and furious. She never expected anyone to dare attack her at the risk of completely offending the guild.
Facing two arrows targeting her heart from above and below, Athena felt a sudden fear of death, almost ready to unleash her seal and revert to her full goddess form.
Fortunately, her followers were loyal enough to die for her without hesitation.
Leo and Cancer, despite their severe injuries, acted as human shields in front of Athena.
Meanwhile, Aquarius, despite the severe backlash from overusing her magic, released defensive spells almost instantaneously, blood trickling from her mouth.
At the critical moment, just as the arrows were less than half a foot away from them, a water-blue magic circle suddenly appeared on the ground in front of them. A powerful stream of water surged out from the circle, forming a rotating water shield.
This was the strongest defensive magic Aquarius could cast, disregarding her body and the backlash: the Vortex Water Shield.
Perhaps it was a prearranged agreement to hold back.
Atalanta's arrow pierced through the Vortex Water Shield but lost its momentum and fell weakly to the ground.
Ishtar's light arrow, after piercing through the two flesh shields, also dissipated into the air.
The Zodiac Twelve sacrificed themselves to protect the goddess from this attack.
The guild's chief, Kelly, was livid with rage.
Never before!
Never before had anyone ignored the guild's presence to such an extent! Even after she had stepped in to stop the conflict on behalf of the guild, someone still committed violence right in front of her, and the target was the goddess.
Unbelievable!
"Iron Guards!"
Kelly screamed shrilly, her voice so agitated it sounded like a frantic cry.
Boom!
The Iron Guards stepped forward in unison, their synchronized movements producing a thunderous sound.
"You! For the crime to act against the goddess is death!"
Perhaps bolstered by the presence of the Iron Guards, Kelly directly pointed at Ryou and loudly rebuked him.
Ryou just scoffed.
"Do I look like someone who cares?"
Then, speaking to himself in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear, he said:
"And do I know you?"
As he spoke, Ryou spread his hands helplessly.
"Hahaha!"
Ryou's words, combined with his gestures, caused many adventurers to burst into laughter.
This laughter seemed to snap the last thread of reason in Kelly's mind.
Her cheeks turned red, and she could no longer hold back. She screamed.
"Arrest this lunatic!"
The Iron Guards followed her orders, marching in unison towards Ryou to surround him.
Ryou directly gathered magic in his eyes and shot a scaled-down version of Brahmastra in front of the advancing Guards.
Then Ryou slowly adjusted his angle, drawing a horizontal line in before the Guards.
Everyone instinctively turned their gaze to the horizontal line, and to their astonishment, the line was made of crimson magma.
"Anyone who crosses this line... dies!"
Ryou coldly spat out the words. As if to echo his promise, his contracted heroic spirits drew their weapons and aimed them at the Guards.
The Iron Guards were indeed disciplined and brave. But no matter how strong they were, they were still human. Facing an invincible enemy, the Iron Guards' steps noticeably hesitated.
Ryou scoffed inwardly. They were nothing but a group held together by severe punishments and high rewards, without any true belief. Vulnerable and weak.
If Lady Kelly knew Ryou's evaluation of the Iron Guards, she might be so furious she would spit blood. But she was already nearly that angry.
Facing Ryou's hardline stance, Kelly had no choice but to order an attack to maintain the guild's dignity.
"No retreat! Attack! Attack!"
With Kelly's command, the Iron Guards, pressured by their strict discipline, quickened their steps and charged toward Ryou and his group.
Facing the advancing guild, Ottar firmly chose to side with Ryou this time. Under his command, the adventurers of Freya's Familia quickly took up their positions with a rebellious attitude against authority.
Ryou and his group also prepared themselves. Both sides, seemingly wary of Loki's Familia, gradually distanced themselves from them, showing clear signs of vigilance and exclusion.
Seeing this, Finn couldn't help but smile bitterly. From today onwards, the unbreakable alliance between Loki's Familia and Freya's Familia might no longer exist.
As the Iron Guards crossed the line, Ryou immediately kept his word and unleashed a full-powered Brahmastra at the center of the Iron Guards.
Although Ryou's move was lower than that of the Heroic Spirit Karna, it was still a powerful B-level Noble Phantasm. Against these Iron Guards, whose average level was 4 or 5, it was a massacre.
The scorching sunlight swept through, and not a single Iron Guard could withstand the terrifying attack. The top-tier enchanted armor, which the Iron Guards prided themselves on and spent a fortune to create, was a complete joke.
Any Iron Guard within the attack range was reduced to ashes before they could even scream. Even those standing a meter away from the light were affected, the high temperature spreading along their armor, causing them to scream in pain and hastily strip off their armor.
With this one strike, Ryou had wiped out nearly fifty of the formidable Iron Guards.
Before Kelly could even feel the pain, Ais, Atalanta, and Ishtar launched their attacks.
In an instant, wind blades, iron arrows, and light arrows rained down on the Iron Guards like a storm, turning the battlefield into a river of blood and leaving the Iron Guards in disarray.
In less than a minute, the two-hundred-strong unit had been more than halved, with the remaining members all wounded. This powerful force that once dominated all Familias was on the brink of annihilation.
Kelly no longer maintained her earlier composed and strong businesswoman demeanor. Her expression was vacant, her eyes held a hint of despair, and she looked utterly broken as if she had been subjected to unspeakable torment and destroyed completely.
Regardless of what happened to others, as the leader, she was definitely done for.
The elite troops that the organization had spent a lot of manpower and resources to train had suffered nearly half their losses under her command.
No matter who took over as leader, they would never use such a subordinate again in their lifetime.
Those with slightly better luck might find a lenient boss and have a decent end, but with bad luck, they might just disappear without a trace.
"You! Do you have any idea what you've done? You barbarian from the snowy mountains, you maggot from the sewers, you goblin from the wilderness! How dare you! How dare you! You're finished! Finished! You will be hunted by the guild until you die!"
Kelly, slowly coming to her senses, pointed at Ryou and shrieked hysterically.
Beside her, Athena's face was equally ashen.
She had calculated almost everything, but she hadn't accounted for someone so crazy, someone who dared to so thoroughly offend the guild.
As the first god to descend to the lower world, Ouranos had far more cards up his sleeve than those who came later.
Even a war goddess who always held herself in high esteem wouldn't dare underestimate such an old god.
The guild he established was no exception.
The loss of the Iron Guards would be crippling for any Familia, but with the guild's resources, they could easily muster several more such units.
Annihilating one Iron Guard unit would achieve nothing but enraging the colossal guild.
But someone did it, and did it so thoroughly.
Was he mad, or had the world changed so quickly that even the goddess of wisdom couldn't keep up?
In any case, in Athena's mind, Ryou's danger level skyrocketed.
Facing Kelly's accusations, Ryou nonchalantly brushed off imaginary dust from his body. Then he said calmly,
"Continue, kill them all."
Following Ryou's order, Atalanta and the other heroic spirits moved again, launching an attack on the surviving Iron Guards.
"You! You! You!"
Kelly shouted three times, then her eyes rolled back, and she fainted on the spot.
Ryou curled his lips. People who seemed tough on the outside often had a more severe mental breakdown when faced with setbacks.
At that moment, a familiar voice came from afar.
"Stop!"
Two figures appeared at the street corner—it was the goddesses Loki and Freya, who had been hiding behind.
Seeing the blood-soaked scene, Loki's face also turned grim.
After a quick scan, she noticed that her Familia wasn't involved, and she breathed a small sigh of relief.
Then she looked Ryou up and down as if seeing him for the first time.
"You're ruthless."
Loki couldn't help but admire him from the bottom of her heart and then advised,
"Before things get completely out of hand, you should stop."
"Goddess Loki, do you think we can stop now, looking at this scene?"
With a smile, Ryou drew an arc with his palm facing up.
Following his hand's movement, Loki saw the blood-soaked ground filled with severed limbs and broken bodies scattered across the nearby streets.
Faced with this gruesome scene, Loki was silent for a moment before saying,
"Ouranos has agreed that if you let Athena and the others go, he can suppress this matter."
"Suppress it? So that means it can be brought up again whenever it's needed."
"So what do you want!? You've killed so many people in one go. Do you think that nothing happened?"
Loki's face showed an angry expression as she questioned him.
"It seems the goddess has received quite a few benefits for being so eager to mediate," Ryou suddenly remarked.
"You!? You ungrateful! I'm doing this for your good! Completely opposing the guild is of no benefit to you!"
Loki's face showed a hint of anger as if her secret had been exposed.
"Then I must thank the goddess for her concern. But I'm naturally a bit stubborn. I remember the kindness others showed me for a lifetime. But if someone attacked me, I will make them pay back tenfold!"
Ryou said resolutely.
"You are completely unreasonable! Enough! Loki Familia will not get involved in your mess anymore!"
Ryou's tough stance made Loki's anger rise, and she spoke harshly.
"From the moment the Loki Familia chose to stand by and watch, there was no longer any friendship between us. This is the end! I won't see you off!"
Ryou dismissed her with a wave of his hand.
"Well then, can you listen to me?"
Freya's gentle voice sounded from the side.
Compared to her earlier lost state, the goddess of beauty was now much better. Her eyes sparkled with an enchanting allure, her unparalleled charm silently drawing people in, making them want to kneel at her feet just to be her loyal servants.
"Thank you for saving my other half," Freya's eyes showed sincere gratitude.
"You're welcome, Syr is also my employee," Ryou replied politely.
"Is she really just an employee?"
Freya smiled charmingly, observing Ryou closely. Her gaze was like that of a beautiful woman looking at her lover, filled with a contradictory emotion that he couldn't understand.
"Ahem!"
Ryou quickly pretended to clear his throat.
After the pleasantries, Freya spoke solemnly, "I am not speaking as a goddess or as the leader of the Freya Familia. I am speaking as Syr herself and the familia family members, pleading with you to stop."
Although Freya didn't say it explicitly, it was clear that Ouranos had used the relatives of Familia members as leverage, while superficially offering some compensation.
Seeing a hint of plea in Freya's eyes, Ryou pondered for a moment and agreed.
"Alright."
"You may leave now."
"!"
Athena almost exploded with anger at Ryou's dismissive tone.
Fortunately, reason forced her to calm down. Athena knew very well that this crazy guy in front of her would absolutely be willing to keep her here, and unless she completely unsealed herself and returned to her full goddess form, she was no match for him.
Nguyen Ryou, just wait! This time I lost! But you let me escape today, I, Athena, I swear I will make you regret it! Not only will you die, but your soul will be eternally imprisoned in the icy hell in the deepest part of the underworld! And your companions, I will train them into my pets that only beg at my feet!
Athena maintained a calm exterior, but inside she was screaming furiously.
Just as she was about to leave with the three severely injured members, Ryou stopped her.
"Wait."
"What now!"
Athena's forehead veins bulged, but she had to suppress her anger.
"You can leave, but they must stay. Do you think you can leave without paying any price after hurting my people? Where in the world is there such a good deal?"
PS: Ryou: I'm stronger, I'm smarter, I'm better! I'm Homelander! (proceed to shoot Eye Laser Beam at everyone!)