Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.
"So, that's why you KNEW how I would act." Freya finally said once the final chapter of the Great Faction War arc was over. She didn't even seem annoyed; it was simply an acknowledgment.
We were both sitting inside the screening room within the mansion in Pentagram City. The tent I had brought to Orario definitely had no way of watching any series or movies, so I created a portal to the underworld and immediately placed a time bubble over us.
We had now seen all the seasons of Danmachi up until the end of the Freya arc. The Great Faction War was fought to see who would keep Bell Cranel.
"Yes," I said simply. Freya hummed.
"And do you really think I would have acted that way?" Freya asked slowly. I stared at her.
"You would have," I said without hesitation. "There are thousands of versions of this world. Each contractor may know a different one, but thanks to the... benefits of The Company, the worlds I enter will follow the entire plot and events that I know, with a few different details here and there, but it will definitely happen."
"The Great Faction War? It's such a significant event in the series that it's impossible it wouldn't have happened if my group and I hadn't come," I said confidently. I pulled out my phone and showed her the Benefit, Universal Calibration. Just as I'd said, the only things that changed were the ages, genders, and sexual orientations of the targets, giving me a chance to "conquer" them. But the overall plot, all the important events, everything remained as close to the canon as I knew it.
"I see," Freya finally said as she finished reading and handed the phone back to me. "But you're right, I would have," Freya said finally before making a face of disgust. "But seeing me so... desperate," Freya said with a grimace.
"Not too different from now," I said playfully. Freya snorted and glared at me. I just chuckled. "Should I put on the next episode?" I asked, grabbing the remote.
"It's not necessary," Freya said easily. "As entertaining as Bell Cranel's story is, it's no longer one I'm interested in watching. My part in his brilliant story is over, and someday I'll watch its conclusion from afar, but I don't need to see any more," Freya said honestly. "Unless some members of my old familia get involved or are in danger," Freya added. I shook my head.
"There are some issues with the 60th floor; there's a kind of Corrupt Spirit inhabiting that floor that makes it more dangerous than normal, but they should be more than prepared for when that time comes, if they ever have to face such a thing."
"Bella and Becca are still around the 56th floor and are making slow progress because they insist on killing everything in their path, but once they reach the 60th floor, they'll definitely face the corrupted spirit. It's not something they'd ignore, and I don't think either of them is capable of losing, so the dungeon will be safe thanks to your family members. Or, well, as safe as the dungeon normally is." I said with a grimace. Freya nodded.
"Well, then, there's no need to watch any further. I understand you're... helping the Loki Familia with some magical items. May I have some for my Familia members? " Freya asked meekly. "I may have disbanded the Familia, but I still care about them. I want to make sure they're fully prepared for anything." She added with a sigh. I nodded.
"Of course, though I'll have to ask you to keep it a secret. The Loki Familia will know, but no one else in Orario should find out. Especially the new Familias they'll be joining, okay... is that settled? " I asked curiously. Freya shook her head.
"I didn't have time. I knew you were leaving, so I acted quickly to find you. I still have a lot to take care of, and I'm sure my familia members must be looking for me," Freya said sadly. "I... how long can I stay in Orario?" Freya asked, looking at me. I looked at her, surprised.
"Why are you asking me that? All the time you want," I told her honestly. "I'm going to Night City soon, to Lucy and Becca's home world. We have business to attend to there, but that doesn't mean I can't travel back and forth between worlds. It's really easy for us once we have access."
"Well... not for you. Since you're not sealed, you don't have access to that. You'll have to ask one of us for help. But Bella and Riveria will be staying in Orario for a few more weeks. She'll still be helping the Loki Familia, so she'll be there for a long time, possibly years," I said honestly. Freya shook her head.
"However good that information is, it's not necessary. I WANT to spend time with you. I'll follow you to any world you go to. It might take me a few days to finish all my business in Orario, but after that? I'll be by your side without hesitation," Freya said firmly. I just nodded.
"Take all the time you need. I'll stay long enough to make a few more visits and then return to Night City. After that, talk to Riveria or Bella, and they'll take you to me or call me to pick you up." I said honestly. Freya sighed and nodded.
"Well, do you think I should let them join the Loki family? It's really the only familia where most of my members could receive the help and treatment they deserve," Freya said with a hum.
"Maybe, I don't think Loki will complain. Her familia would become the undisputed strongest in Orario. Maybe she'd get a little bored, but she's too busy managing everything to complain." I said, shrugging. Freya laughed slightly.
"We'll see, I have to convince the members of my former familia, but it's a good option," Freya said with a hum before staring at me intently.
"You know that you coming with me doesn't mean you have to abandon them completely, right? The Loki familia, well, their executives, know about my nature as a demon, a very diluted version obviously, and they too have been to the underworld, just like Loki."
"It wouldn't be anything strange, although we'd have to prevent them from finding out that they're actually in another world," I said easily.
"Seriously?" Freya asked in surprise, and I snorted playfully.
"Of course, I told you, I have no intention of restricting or forbidding my family members from doing anything. If you really want to stay in touch with them, it will be easy to do so, or you can return to Orario occasionally, whichever you feel more comfortable with." I said honestly, and Freya smiled slightly.
"Thank you," Freya said, taking a deep breath. "Even so, I will dissolve the Freya Familia. I'll stay in touch with my executives, but I really don't want anything tying me to Orario, and they deserve a more present goddess than someone who spends all her time in another world." Freya said honestly, and I just nodded.
"Really, if that's your decision, go ahead," I said with a smile. Freya just nodded before smiling back.
"Now, what about catching up on everything else? I'm really curious to know more about your life," Freya purred. I snorted in amusement.
"Yeah, don't expect much, it's not as interesting as you think." I said curtly, but I started flipping through the channels anyway. There was a lot to catch up on. And Freya didn't even seem to care. She was staring at the screen, completely engrossed and entertained.
Even when it was too obvious and she tried to lean on my shoulder, I snorted at the blatant attempt. Still, I didn't push her away; I just shifted to make it more comfortable for both of us. Freya was overjoyed just by that.
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Serena's POV - Day 26 since Bella joined Miach
The following days were easy; I tried to maintain a low presence in Orario. I could see how Ishtar's death had shaken Orario, but it was nothing compared to the news of the Freya Familia's dissolution; everyone was going crazy.
They were all terribly panicked about it. Even so, that wasn't my concern. I left Freya to handle it; I followed my plan to hire Dian Cecht for Airmid's magic demonstration. It cost me 100 million Valis, but I was finally able to obtain Mystery and Airmid 's magic without any further problems.
Mystery… was rare. Any magical object created could count towards activating Mystery. That ranged from magical weapons to potions. While Blacksmith was the one normally used to create magical swords, Mystery wasn't far behind; the only reason it wasn't used was that it was rare for a blacksmith to obtain Mystery.
Airmid was a pharmacist; she used Mystery to create potions. Fels and Asfi were alchemists and, basically, magical engineers; they created useful magical objects such as flying sandals, invisibility helmets, long-distance communication devices, and much more.
The only one who couldn't be considered was the fourth possessor of the Mystery development ability in Orario, Barca Perdix, a descendant of Daedalus, the creator of Knossos. And Barca, as a master blacksmith, was able to create cursed weapons thanks to Mystery, so yes, Mystery could be used in any discipline one wished.
Now, what Mystery actually did was ridiculous. The ability was described as the capacity to perform miracles and create magical objects. The ridiculousness of that description was matched only by the ridiculousness of its capabilities.
And once again, just when I thought my potions could no longer be improved, Mystery goes and does it. But not in a direct way. Mystery can add a completely different effect to the potion if necessary; I had to actively concentrate to make the ability as close as possible to an 'enhance the effects' enchantment.
But once I succeeded, the potion improved even more, and that also influenced my other creations.
My medallions and harmonium grenades were both completely temporary. My medallions had a time limit on how much of a magical ability could be stored, which was the time the object could be used. Similarly, the harmonium grenades only held the same amount of magic that the divine metal absorbed.
But by tinkering with Mystery here and there, I managed to make the harmonium grenades permanent. Yes, somehow it had worked. It was ridiculous. I still needed Harmonium; it was the key piece. Without the divine metal to work with the absorbed magic and Mystery, it would fail miserably.
Yes, if the harmonium became 'unusable' as such, it would normally be reusable; once the magic absorbed within the harmonium was used up, it could absorb other magic and continue to be used.
But using Mystery to place permanent magic made it unusable; most of the harmonium's properties were lost. What would be a divine metal became practically inert as a divine metal, but in return, any magic used would be permanent.
And it worked the same way for the Medallions; all the magic stored within Nicrosil's Metal Mind became permanent. Anyone with a medallion would retain that power indefinitely as long as they wore the medallion. The only problem was that it remained completely fixed.
Nicrosil could not be pushed to make the magic stronger at the cost of time; it was simply as strong as the first push of the stored magic.
Even so, it was still really useful; there was no point in continuing to accumulate rings and bracelets with the same magic multiple times as disposable objects.
And most importantly, I was able to create both versions using the Danmachi magic I had replicated. Kokonoe and Uchide no Kozuki were now medallions and harmonium grenades.
The first ones were easier; they granted the ability to use those two magics. The only downside was that the person needed to use Haruhime's chant to activate the magic, so the long chant remained.
I really had to find a way to shorten the chants, especially for Riveria.
That… was actually quite easy to fix, wasn't it? The mages of the Nasuverse had something called High-Speed Incantation and High-Speed Divine Word. The former was the ability to pronounce magical incantations at an accelerated speed. Although it normally worked for Magecraft, it should work for the magic chants of the mages in Danmachi.
And if that failed, Divine Word would do the trick. It was the use of the language of the Age of Gods; they wielded a fraction of a god's authority to activate magic with just a few words or even a single action. One of the most notable users was Medea.
I would have to talk to Riveria about it; Medea's template was interesting. Medea's magical abilities were not at all negligible; she was a magus from the Age of the Gods, known as the Witch of Colchis, a student of Circe. Medea's magical repertoire was truly extensive.
The only downside would be that Rule Breaker would be completely useless since I could project it through my Reality Marble. I believe the younger version of Medea, Medea Lily, also possessed Divine Word, along with other abilities based on her love for Jason, but most of them were entirely healing-based.
And then there was Circe herself, or Nitocris. I couldn't quite remember what Circe from Nasuverse was capable of. Still, Nitocris, the beloved daughter of Horus, had talents focused more on summoning and creating creatures, like scarabs and mummies. She wasn't really good in a head-on fight; Medea was still the best.
I would really have to talk to Riveria about it.
But putting that aside, placing Kokonoe in a medallion was truly impressive; it greatly increased Riveria's power. On the other hand, the harmonium grenades containing Kokonoe were practically useless. She would try to replicate any magic that contained the same harmonium. Still, since she couldn't absorb any other magic besides Kokonoe, they were empty, so Kokonoe activated without any effect.
Now, Uchide no Kozuki was better as a grenade than as a medallion. The harmonium grenade instantly increased everyone within its range by one level, while the medallion simply allowed you to use Uchide no Kozuki, with the same restrictions as Haruhime.
Yes, there was a lot to try. I still needed time to experiment, but for now, I had to finish the errands I had left to finally finish Orario and return to Night City.
Author's Notes: Great! As I mentioned last week, I'll be taking a week off, so there won't be a new chapter next week, on Friday, March 6th. New chapters will resume on Friday, March 13th. As always, thanks for reading and your support!
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