— — — — — —
Athena's mind conjured up Ryo's face.
But almost immediately, she dismissed the thought.
"It can't be…"
Leaning back against the stone chair, she let out a soft sigh.
Their meeting had been just two days ago—barely thirty hours had passed.
Whoever plotted against her had clearly been preparing for a long time—long enough to even meddle with the core, hiding the newly observed world beneath its veil. Every god, Athena included, sensed that a new world had appeared when the shift happened, but the core suppressed their sight.
Still, that restriction was slowly easing.
Anyway, it couldn't be Ryo Yagami.
To finish observing an entire world in thirty hours, and one qualified to give rise to a unique Divinity godhead at that… it was practically impossible.
There was no way Ryo could have predicted her future plans and prepared an entire world in advance just for that.
Even if he had such foresight, finding a perfectly matching world to execute such a plan would be nearly impossible.
Because that unobserved world would need to contain a Trinity-Queen Athena. A Pallas Athena.
One instance could be coincidence. Two, unlikely fate. Three? That was already a miracle.
"No—more than a miracle. It's basically terrible luck.'" Athena muttered under her breath, mood souring a little.
Eliminating Ryo as a suspect left her with no one who reasonably could have pulled that off.
"In that case… I'll broaden the search to secondary suspects."
Narrowing her eyes, she pulled out a slip of paper and began writing names one by one.
Zeus, Algol, Poseidon, Nyx… After listing more than ten names, she hesitated—then added "Ryo Yagami" at the very bottom anyway.
These were the ones she would keep under watch, the ones she would eventually test.
"A shame the godhead hasn't fully manifested yet—otherwise, I could squeeze out more information."
At that thought, a flicker of doubt crossed her face.
Because of the shift in Divinity Godhead, she couldn't sense its exact nature—only that it was a trinity of sky, earth, and underworld.
But the specifics refused to show, which was clearly unusual.
As the one directly involved, she could feel the Little Garden's observation progress.
And with the Little Garden's processing power, a divinity transformation should not be this slow.
Who was interfering with the central core's observation?
Athena frowned deeply and wrote down—"Two-Digits."
A Two-Digit being, having withdrawn itself within the observable universe, existed as a singular anomaly within the Garden.
Which was exactly why—though she suspected certain Two-Digits—she dared not write their names.
They would notice instantly.
If something was hindering the Garden's core, then at minimum… it involved a Two-Digit.
Leaning back in silence for a moment, Athena then rose and headed into the inner sanctum.
She needed a secondary source of information—and divination was one option.
The temple's inner chamber was spacious but sparsely furnished—just stone tables, a stone bed, and the bare essentials.
Yet it didn't feel empty.
Because most of the space was occupied by endless rows of bookshelves.
Rather than a bedroom, Athena's inner sanctum looked more like a library with a sleeping corner. And even then, the books here were only her commonly used volumes—the rest were stored in the massive library beyond.
Reading was one of Athena's few personal pleasures. It helped her set aside unnecessary thoughts for a moment—and often sparked new flashes of insight.
For someone prone to overthinking, this was her preferred form of relaxation.
Stepping into the chamber—
Athena paused briefly, then walked to the center and summoned a golden spear.
It was the Spear of Victory—the manifestation of her Authority, a divine weapon on par with Indra's spear, ranked among the Three-Digits.
Without hesitation, she sliced open her finger with it. Ignoring the sting, she calmly used her divine blood to draw intricate symbols on the ground.
For divination, nothing worked better as a catalyst than the blood of the Goddess of Wisdom.
And to Athena, that cost was negligible. All she needed afterward was some high-energy nourishment.
When the ritual circle was complete, she changed into a clean white robe, lay down within it, and whispered: "I seek the illumination of wisdom."
Then she closed her eyes—and soon drifted into a trance-like sleep.
In the hazy space between waking and dreaming, Athena's eyes opened again.
She felt it—a resonance echoing from the Divinity.
She stood and looked around.
A marble church stood not far away—no more than a few hundred years old.
"So, I've been noticed after all?"
A youthful voice spoke, tinged with a strange mix of resignation and amusement.
Athena whipped around.
In the forest shrouded by night, she spotted a small figure.
A girl—wearing a knitted cat-ear hat, dressed in a modern school uniform—with obsidian vertical pupils.
Snake-like eyes.
A quiet sigh drifted through the air.
The small figure crumbled—starting from the feet, her body turning into grains of sand that scattered in the wind.
Athena jolted awake with a sharp intake of breath, bracing herself on the floor, momentarily unable to think.
Her face turned pale. Her lips trembled as if she wanted to speak but couldn't.
Eventually, she forced out a strained whisper:
"Athena… Medusa… Metis. A trinity of the Celestial Mother-Earth…"
She stayed silent for a long time, then her expression twisted slightly.
"Why… why does it have to be Medusa?"
For a moment, she genuinely thought she might vomit—but she swallowed it back down. She and Algol becoming one? bleh
Standing, still deathly pale, she muttered under her breath, her tone hard to read: "Another Athena, then?"
After a moment's thought, she headed straight out of the inner hall, walked to the stables beside the temple, and took hold of Pegasus.
Swinging herself onto its back sidesaddle, she urged it eastward.
Toward the [Thousand Eyes] Station at Outer Gate 3345.
---
City at the Outer Edge.
After waiting ten minutes, Ryo finally sensed the first response to his invitation.
"Shame I'm not that good at perception interference."
He muttered this with a wry smile and turned his gaze to the eastern side of the sofa.
In the void, as if drawn by a colored brush, a silhouette slowly took shape stroke by stroke.
Silver-white short hair. A blue knitted cat-ear cap. A petite frame and a pretty, youthful face.
Seeing her, Ryo let out a small breath of relief—then smiled.
"Welcome to the Little Garden."
.
.
.