Folkvangr... the grand stronghold of the Freya Familia... lay proudly in the southern district of Orario.
The complex sprawled across a vast expanse, encircled by four towering walls.
Within it was a garden so large that the entire familia could gather comfortably for assemblies, ceremonies... and, infamously, their brutal training.
It was there, in that enormous garden, that the Freya Familia's combatants... the fearsome Einherjars... devoted themselves to relentless drills.
Their training session stretched from the moment everyone gathered at sunrise until the sun dipped below the horizon.
A brutal free-for-all.
A battlefield disguised as a garden.
They fought until their bodies were hardly recognizable, pushing themselves so close to death that only the miraculous healing magic of Heith Velvet and her team kept them from crossing the line.
Again and again, she restored them from the brink... just so they could keep training.
And right now, in that very place, a massive crowd had gathered.
The onlookers were neatly divided into two groups...
On one side stood the Loki Familia elites along with Loki herself, and on the other stood the entirety of the Freya Familia, with Freya lounging regally upon a throne her children had prepared for her.
All eyes... every single pair,,, were fixed on the center of the garden.
There, two sides faced each other.
Yet anyone who saw this scene would immediately furrow their brows in disbelief, because the difference in strength between the two sides was like night and day.
On one side stood a single figure: Judas Spade.
On the other side stood the full lineup of Freya's executives... everyone except Ottar.
"W-Wait... what is going on?"
Raul asked, goosebumps rising along his neck as sweat trickled down his back.
"What happened during the negotiation? Why is Judas facing off against the Freya Familia's executives?"
A reasonable question... because the scene before them made his head scratch in confusion.
"To be honest, we don't know either."
Tione replied, arms crossed tightly, a deep frown etched on her face.
The three Loki leaders remained silent.
Their eyes never once left the lone young man standing in the distance.
'Judas... since you proposed this idea, you must have a plan, right?'
Finn narrowed his eyes.
"What is that lad doing?"
Gareth questioned with a puzzled expression.
"Good grief, I thought he seemed mature... but he actually has such a childish side to him."
Riveria said as she shook her head.
"He's hogging all the fun to himself. Not fair, I want in as well."
Tiona was not shy about expressing her feelings as she grumbled with a pout.
Ais just silently stared, her eyes completely glued to the black-haired boy, not leaving him for a second.
It was as if, if she took her eyes off him, he might disappear forever.
'Judas...'
Although it might seem like a tense situation, in reality, they weren't worried about Judas' life.
For those present during the negotiation meeting, their minds couldn't help but drift back to Judas' words earlier.
...
"Let's play a game."
Judas had said, propping his chin over his hands.
At those words, Ottar and the others' brows furrowed as their minds drifted to a particular idea.
'A wargame?'
Of course, the misunderstanding was quickly cleared up by Judas' next words.
"Where I come from... we have a little game called Suntok."
He folded his arms, eyes sweeping lazily across the row of Freya's elites.
"Simple rules. I attack. Your executives... minus Ottar... do everything they can to defend."
"If I can make even one of them bleed, I win. If I can't... then I lose."
He gave a small shrug.
"Think of it as a miniature wargame."
Normally, the attacker was given three attempts... three chances to break through the defense.
"But," Judas continued, lips curving into a slow, confident smile,
"since our familias are supposed to be building a budding partnership..."
He raised one finger.
"...I'll only attack once."
Judas added with a light smile.
There were a few moments of silence after that as Freya's side tried to process his words.
Even those from Loki's side raised their brows in surprise.
"Keke, this is turning out to be interesting."
Loki snickered at Judas' boldness.
"Lady Freya, we don't have to entertain this nonsen—"
Hedin tried to speak up, but was immediately interrupted by Judas.
"What's wrong? Are you a chicken?"
The blonde elf froze, mechanically turning his head toward the black-haired boy.
"What did you just say?"
Are you a chicken?
Sometimes, the gods would toss around modern slang, often leaving the people of the Lower World utterly confused.
A perfect example of this was during the Denatus, when the gods would troll each other by giving absurd aliases to adventurers from weaker familias.
One such example is Burning Fighting Fighter.
To the gods, the nickname was cringe-worthy.
But to mortals, it sounded awe-inspiring... a "cool" title supposedly forged from the divine wisdom of the gods themselves.
'Chicken? Did he just call me a bird?'
Although the term was unfamiliar, seeing the mocking smile on Judas' face, Hedin and the others were astute enough to understand its meaning.
Hedin's jaw tightened, ears burning red.
It didn't take long for the elf to change his mind.
Glaring daggers, Hedin turned his head toward his goddess as if asking for permission.
"Very well... those terms, I accept."
Thus, the meeting between the familias concluded.
...
Reality returned to the present...
To Folkvangr's vast garden, where the stage had already been set.
A faint breeze blew across the field, sweeping dust and crushed petals from earlier training aside.
The Freya executives stepped forward, forming a loose defensive line.
Trying to assemble a proper formation was pointless... the Freya Familia was famous for its overwhelming strength... and infamous for its lack of teamwork.
With the exception of the Gulliver brothers, cooperation was a foreign concept.
An endeavor so hopeless that even Hedin, their master strategist, had long abandoned the idea.
'That is fine... what we lack in unity, we can make it up with our overwhelming individual abilities.'
Hedin adjusted his glasses, eyes narrowing at the lone opponent standing across from them.
'Whatever you've prepared... we'll break it apart and make you choke on your own confidence.'
The elf was confident.
From their battle against Judas a few weeks ago, he had meticulously analyzed every facet of the boy's abilities.
Every spell.
Every chant... or lack thereof.
Every movement, habit, weakness, and moment of hesitation.
Hedin replayed that fight in his mind countless times, breaking it apart piece by piece, until Judas's magic... once mysterious... became a set of studied patterns.
Yes, Judas Spade was terrifying as a mage.
His power was abnormal, his casting speed was absurd, and his mind reserves were far beyond what someone his level should possess.
But even so... in Hedin's eyes, it simply wasn't enough.
Not against the gathered strength of Freya's finest.
And today, each executive wore armor layered with anti-magic enchantments.
A perfect countermeasure... or so Hedin believed.
Hedin's fingers tightened around his staff.
'This time... there won't be a miracle.'
He thought, a cold glint in his eyes.
'Your arrogance ends here, Judas Spade.'
Even though they couldn't attack, Hedin's goal was clear.
There was no bloodlust... but there was absolute seriousness.
"You got lucky last time," Allen spat, leveling his spear.
"Don't think one fluke made you special."
He clicked his tongue, eyes full of contempt.
"Throw whatever pathetic magic you've got, you smug little rat."
A deliberate provocation... one he expected Judas to react to.
Judas, on the other hand, looked almost bored.
He stood relaxed with his hands in his pockets, chin slightly raised, as if he were waiting for a bus rather than preparing to fight some of the strongest adventurers in Orario.
His black hair fluttered gently as he tilted his head.
"Everyone ready?"
He asked casually.
Some Freya members clenched their teeth at his nonchalant tone.
The sheer nonchalance made several Freya members grit their teeth in irritation.
"Shut up and attack already!"
Allen barked.
"Patience."
Judas replied, raising a single finger to the sky.
And then...
A colossal magic circle bloomed above them.
Its edges stretched across the entire garden like a descending sun.
In Celestia, there was a well-known saying among Mages... one often repeated in academies, battlefield camps, and ancient towers alike:
When two Mages cross wands, the one who has prepared the most will always prevail.
Magic in Celestia did not rely on chants like the magic in Danmachi.
Instead, spells can be divided by activation time: short-activation spells and long-activation spells.
The majority of Judas' battles were fought with short-activation spells... quick, efficient, combat-ready magic that he could release in an instant.
They were ideal for sudden engagements, tight corridors, and high-pressure situations.
But long-activation spells were a different story entirely.
They could take minutes, hours, or even entire days to complete.
They demanded patience, precise control, and absolute focus.
Yet in exchange for that painfully slow casting time... their destructive power dwarfed anything a short-activation spell could hope to achieve.
That was why Judas was confident.
In a direct, unprepared fight, he knew he will not be able to overwhelm the Freya Familia's executives with short-activation spells alone.
Especially now that they were more aware of his current combat prowess.
In a way, it was reminiscent of Bell's charging period for Argonaut... an ultimate trump card meant to decide a battle in a single, overwhelming strike.
'Although, that's only if they actually stay inside the spell's attack range...'
He knew they could escape it if they truly wanted to.
They had the speed, the experience, and the instincts.
But given the rules of the "game" he imposed... and more importantly, given their pride... Judas already knew what choice they'd make.
They wouldn't run.
They would face his spell head-on, refusing to retreat even a single step, unwilling to stain their goddess's honor with the slightest hint of cowardice.
Which was why...
"Try to survive."
It wasn't bravado.
It wasn't arrogance.
It was a genuine warning.
If it had been any other situation, Hedin and the others would have scoffed.
But faced with the colossal magic circle expanding across the sky... so massive it swallowed the entire base beneath its shadow... they could no longer deny the tension twisting in their guts.
"What the hell is this...?"
As a mage, far more sensitive to shifts in magical energy than ordinary adventurers, Hedin felt it immediately. His facial muscles tightened, and beads of sweat rolled down his forehead.
"Why is it gathering such an insane amount of mind...?"
He spoke through clenched teeth, disbelief clear in his expression.
To him, that enormous magic circle looked like a black hole... devouring mind in torrents, absorbing power without restraint.
Even Riveria's composure cracked ever so slightly.
Her eyes flew open, and she almost stepped back on instinct, unable to tear her gaze away from the blazing light above.
"This is... insane..."
All across the battlefield, every mage felt the violent disturbance in the air.
Sweat streamed down their faces as if they had just walked out of a downpour.
"Hey... this is dangerous, right? That thing's huge."
Even Bete felt his instincts screaming at him, his sharpened werewolf senses warned him of the danger.
"Judas, just when I think I've finally grasped the limits of your strength... you show me something beyond it."
Finn said with a half-smile.
"Amazing..."
Tiona whispered, her voice faint with awe.
Ais didn't say a word.
But her fingers tightened around her sword as she stared upward, every muscle in her body tensing on instinct.
In her mind, she couldn't help but wonder whether her Ariel could withstand whatever spell was about to be unleashed from the magic circle in the sky.
....
Twilight Manor.
Lefiya, in the middle of practicing concurrent chanting... following Judas' advice from yesterday... froze when she sensed a surge of magic from the south.
Turning her head, she saw a distant radiance bloom like a second sun.
"Such a vast amount of magic power... wait— isn't that where the Freya Familia base is located?"
Her brows knitted in confusion.
Then her eyes widened in alarm.
"Hold on... Ais and the others are there! What in the world is happening!?"
And elsewhere in Orario, countless eyes turned to the sky as the strange glow spread.
"Mommy! Mommy, look! The sky's glowing!"
A little girl tugged at her mother's sleeve, pointing toward the distant, luminous spectacle
Gasps echoed through the streets, as citizens and adventurers alike stopped to turn.
"Is that... a magic circle...?"
"No way... no magic circle is that big! Not even her majesty Riveria from the Loki Familia could..."
"Is it a monster? A monster rex!?"
"That direction... that's Freya's territory!?"
"I heard from a friend of mine that the Loki Familia visited Folkvangr earlier."
"Are they having a faction war?"
Whispers turned into fear.
Fear turned into awe.
Awe turned into prayers.
Even in the Guild headquarters, advisors and executives stared wide-eyed at the phenomenon.
"This scale... this intensity... issue an emergency notice!"
One of the guild's top brass announced, however, that was when an order from head of the guild was issued.
"Leave it. Ouranous' orders."
That was all it took for the guild to be silenced.
While everyone was wide-eyed at the decision, no one chose to question it since it directly came from Ouranous himself.
Royman, who wore a mask of calm on the outside, was panicking on the inside.
'Please... don't let this end in a disaster.'
The fat elf thought as he wiped the oily sweat that had accumulated on his face.
...
Back at the Freya Familia's base, the air itself began to vibrate.
A deep hum spread through the air, resonating in bones, rattling loose stones, making even veterans glance around in unease.
What began as a shimmering disc of magic now pulsed with layered runes, rotating in concentric rings like a celestial engine.
Five minutes had passed... Judas sensed that the spell was nearing completion.
Noticing this, Hedin and the others had already begun chanting their magic.
Although the majority of them weren't mages, magic coming from first-class adventurers shouldn't be underestimated.
"Golden wheel, silver collar. Love of hatred, illusion of corpse, fate is here. Disappear, golden wheel, before the rut kills you...."
Allen began his chant, his body enveloped in an intense blue light.
It was his only magic, Gralineze Fromel, a spell whose attack power scales with his speed.
It was powerful enough to be a threat even to Ottar.
"By the power of the demon blade, bring eternal destruction..."
Hogni, the dark elf, spoke these words, the environment distorting around him from sheer power.
"Fight eternally, immortal soldiers of lightning..."
Hedin summoned nearly a thousand arrows of lightning, each carrying enough force to knock out a Level 3.
The Gulliver Brothers also chanted their own magic.
By combining the power of their spells, even the magical pressure alone rivaled the momentum of the Level 6s beside them.
High above, Judas floated a few meters off the ground
He inhaled deeply... slow, steady, collected.
His gaze drifted down to the figures below.
'This should be enough.'
He raised his hand.
And the sky responded.
The magic circle roared to life, flooding the battlefield with blinding light.
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(A/N: Some of you might've realized that this chapter was much longer than usual. That's because there won't be a chapter tomorrow due to personal reasons, but don't worry... I'll be back to posting the day after tomorrow.)