After finishing his conversation with Goddess Artemis, Bell began channeling the divine power from the Divine Core into her true body.
The vast surge of divinity demanded his complete focus. If he lost concentration for even a moment, the power would never flow smoothly into Artemis's vessel.
The Divine Core, drained of so much energy, had lost its radiant brilliance and now appeared dim and lifeless.
Since a Divine Core only functions as a vessel for energy when housed within a god, this one—stripped of most of its power—could now only serve as a research specimen.
A pity.
Bell tucked the core away with a faint sense of regret. Gods like Ikelos, who practically delivered themselves to death's door, were exceedingly rare. He might not encounter another one for a very long time, if ever. Finding such a resource again would be uncertain at best.
"Hm?"
As he guided the divine energy into Artemis's body, the flow suddenly stalled.
"It's jammed."
"Artemis-sama, do you have any idea why?"
"Eh? You're asking me?"
"Since you are the self-awareness of Goddess Artemis, you should be able to sense something, shouldn't you?"
"....."
Artemis felt a headache coming on at his insistence, but if she wanted to remain in the lower world, she had no choice but to concentrate and sense what was wrong.
Placing her hand over the heart of her physical body, she connected directly with it to examine the issue.
"Hmm... It feels like my body has lost a portion of its consciousness."
Lost a portion of consciousness?
After a moment of thought, Bell understood immediately. The monster's act of devouring had created a physical and spiritual link between it and Artemis's soul. When the creature died, part of Artemis's connected soul was severed along with it.
'That's troublesome.'
'A god won't die from losing a fragment of their soul, but in her current condition, Artemis's situation is far from good.'
The loss of a soul fragment wasn't fatal for a god—normally, it would only take some time to recover.
However, Artemis's conscious mind was still dormant, and the missing fragment was disrupting the flow of divine energy into her body. That was the real issue.
Her body itself was unharmed by the devouring, but her soul had been damaged—partially erased by the connection with the monster.
That missing soul could, in theory, be replenished. But Bell could clearly sense that within the Divine Core remained another soul—one that didn't belong to Artemis. If he channeled that energy into her body, he risked transferring the other soul into her vessel as well.
His gaze flicked toward Hestia, whose earlier smile had faded into anxious worry. Bell made up his mind.
'Looks like I'll have to take a risk.'
But bringing out another Divine Core would draw far too much attention.
Earlier, he'd been able to use the Ikelos core openly since everyone knew he possessed one. Now, however, that same core's divine power had been entirely consumed to restore Artemis's strength.
With its power spent, the core had lost its former brilliance. Producing a brand-new one now would only raise unwanted suspicion.
With that in mind, Bell immediately erected a barrier around Artemis's body, halting the flow of time within it for the moment.
"Hestia, I need to make some preparations."
"Mm… Oh!"
After saying that, Bell immediately turned and left for his room.
As she watched his departing figure, a faint gleam flashed in Freya's eyes.
"Hestia, calm down and take a seat. Bell has his own plan. Artemis can be saved."
"...Alright."
Hestia forced herself to steady her emotions. She trusted Bell completely—so she believed he could bring Artemis back.
But Artemis herself, who understood all too well what losing part of one's soul meant, felt no such reassurance.
'The missing part of my soul... it's because of the connection with Antares.'
If Antares had continued devouring her divine power, or worse, fused himself entirely with her body, she would have perished along with him. In truth, the fact that only a small portion of her soul was destroyed was already the lightest possible outcome.
The loss itself wasn't fatal for a deity, but the real problem lay elsewhere. Her true body had wagered almost all of its divine power to resist Antares's devouring and to slow his reaction speed.
When Antares could no longer suppress her power, she used that chance—pouring everything she had into a single strike. She scattered all of her divinity in that one gamble, solely to prevent him from acting further.
Though her main body had ultimately won, the moment Antares died, unpredictable side effects followed.
'Now the only way for me to recover is to restore my soul—to awaken from this unconscious state. Once I awaken, my divine power will flow back to the divine core, and I'll recover.'
'But...'
That part of her soul had completely vanished with the final strike. The force of destruction had far exceeded her expectations—retrieving it was impossible.
The light in Artemis's eyes dimmed.
...
In Bell's room, he had already taken out the Divine Core from four-dimensional space.
The soul within was still dormant, showing no sign of awakening—just as it had been from the beginning.
"The soul of a god from another world... to be precise, Artemis, the Moon Goddess from Fate."
"To return the goddess Artemis's divine power to her core, I'll first have to mend her soul."
This was Bell's first time attempting something like this—and his first time taking such a dangerous gamble.
The soul inside the core might be motionless now, but once used to fill the gap in Artemis's spirit, it could awaken at any moment. If that happened and it turned violent, he would be in real trouble.
Still, to save Artemis, he had no choice but to take that risk.
He carefully began to draw out the slumbering soul from within the Divine Core, layering it with Cognitive Obstruction spells one by one. Whether they would work or not—he couldn't be sure.
For now, this was the only path forward.
...