"Oh?"
Heimdall crossed the threshold, his gaze falling on the petite figure sitting in the pillar of light.
Seeing the other party's posture, which was clearly that of someone who had been waiting for a long time, a flash of appreciation crossed Heimdall's eyes.
"It seems you knew I was coming?"
Heimdall didn't beat around the bush and walked straight toward the center of the hall.
"Yes, Kami-sama."
Tsukiyo leaned forward slightly, performing a standard ancient salute.
As soon as these words were spoken...
Hearing this title, Kirukiru Amou, who was following behind Heimdall, raised an eyebrow slightly.
Meanwhile, the panting Senior Rin and Nono Mozunono froze at the entrance.
"Kami-sama?"
Senior Rin and Nono Mozunono held onto the doorframe, their faces full of disbelief.
"You know who I am?"
Heimdall naturally ignored the commotion behind him and looked at Tsukiyo with interest.
"No, Tsukiyo does not know your name."
Tsukiyo shook her head.
"However, Tsukiyo can hear it."
"Hear it?"
"Yes."
Tsukiyo pointed to her ear.
"From the moment you descended, the sounds of the entire academy changed."
"The wind stopped flowing, the birds stopped singing, and even the dust in the air is trembling."
"That is the instinctive submission of all things when facing an absolute superior."
"Moreover..."
"I also heard you first defeat the Empress, and then use Student Nono Mozunono's baton to shatter Senior Rin's mask."
"I heard all of these clearly."
As Tsukiyo recounted the details of the battle that had just taken place in the teaching building one by one...
Kirukiru Amou stood to the side watching coldly, her brow furrowing slightly, clearly feeling quite disdainful of such eavesdropping methods.
However...
Deep within Kirukiru Amou's pitch-black eyes, more solemnity also appeared.
After all...
This was the gymnasium of the old school building.
The straight-line distance from the teaching building where the conflict had just occurred was at least several hundred meters.
In between were layers upon layers of walls and trees, as well as the never-ending noisy human voices within the academy.
In such an environment...
To not only hear it, but also accurately reconstruct every frame of the battle, and even distinguish the material of the weapons and the exact points of impact without a single error.
This feeling of being watched from the shadows, of one's every move being heard clearly while knowing nothing about the opponent...
For Kirukiru Amou, who was used to being in control of everything, it was undoubtedly an extremely terrible experience.
The ears of this rabbit were, as always, annoyingly sharp.
...
"Splendid."
Heimdall stopped five paces away from Inaba Tsukiyo.
He clapped his hands lightly.
He was not stingy with his praise, and the look of admiration in his eyes was even more intense.
"To be able to reconstruct the battlefield from such a distance based solely on hearing."
"This level of hearing would be incredibly rare even in a place like Orario where monsters run rampant."
There was unmasked appreciation in Heimdall's tone.
After all, for a god...
The value of a mortal is never one-dimensional.
Strength and the amount of mana are merely vulgar parts of the evaluation system.
This unique way of perceiving the world...
The keenness to extract key information from thousands of noises...
Its value far exceeds simple destructive power.
One could even say...
This talent is practically tailor-made for that Dungeon filled with mist, traps, and sudden crises.
"Kami-sama, you overpraise me."
Inaba Tsukiyo lowered her head slightly.
Her long silver-white hair slid down her cheeks, covering half of her face.
"This is merely a bit of cleverness forced out of me because I lost my sight and can only struggle to survive in the dark."
"If such a trivial trick can earn Kami-sama's praise..."
"Then, I am truly overwhelmed."
"However, I have a question."
"And that is, the reason Kami-sama specifically came to such a remote place."
"Could it be for me?"
Inaba Tsukiyo paused, a flash of confusion seemingly crossing those unfocused red eyes.
This was indeed what confused her the most.
After all, why would a god with such great power—one who could even subdue that proud Empress—specifically come looking for her?
Why look for a broken person who had nothing but swordsmanship?
Faced with the girl's question, Heimdall's answer was as decisive as ever.
"That's right."
"I have come specifically for you, Miss Inaba Tsukiyo."
"Precisely because I need your sword."
"Or more accurately..."
"I need you to become my family."
"Family?"
Family.
The word rippled through the air.
This direct strike...
Even though Inaba Tsukiyo tried her best to maintain her calm, unruffled appearance, a slight ripple couldn't help but surface in her heart.
A faint blush quickly climbed onto her face, which was as delicate as a porcelain doll's.
After all, no matter how precocious she usually acted, or how much she seemed like a transcendent expert...
In the end...
Ultimately...
She was still just a teenage girl.
Faced with such a blunt, sincere, and even somewhat preferential statement from a god...
That shyness unique to girls inevitably leaked out from her grandmaster-like facade.
"Family?"
Inaba Tsukiyo repeated the word in a low voice.
Although it was embarrassing...
She could clearly feel the god's gaze falling on her, burning and sincere.
For Inaba Tsukiyo, who was used to being feared or kept at a distance by others, this kind of gaze was exceptionally foreign.
"Since Kami-sama is being so candid..."
"Then I need not put on airs any longer."
"It's just..."
"I am still a bit curious."
"That is, Kami-sama went to such great lengths to descend to this world..."
"What exactly is that world you speak of like?"
Inaba Tsukiyo looked up and found her voice again. Although she couldn't see, her red eyes were still accurately locked onto Heimdall.
This question...
Was not just something Inaba Tsukiyo wanted to know.
It was also what everyone else was most curious about.
Even Kirukiru Amou, who had been standing behind with a frown, as well as Onigawara Rin and Nono Mozunono, who hadn't yet recovered from the shock, pricked up their ears.
"That world, huh..."
"If I want you to understand that world first..."
"I think first..."
"I need to explain to you what the greatest poison is for gods who possess infinite lifespans."
What is the greatest poison?
"For gods with infinite lifespans, stagnation is the greatest poison."
"The gods have spent hundreds of millions of years in the Heavens."
"Day after day, year after year."
"With the passage of time..."
"Life in the Heavens, for gods with eternal life, has become more and more like a long, suffocating torture."
"To the point that to escape the boredom of the Heavens, which is enough to drive one's consciousness mad, some gods choose suicide for fun."
"After all, for us, death is merely a slumber that lasts ten thousand years."
"However..."
"As time went on, some gods began to go mad, choosing to persecute other gods into brief annihilation as a luxury form of entertainment."
"Although the vast majority of gods do not encourage such entertainment..."
"It is enough to prove that the gods of the Heavens have already encountered an invincible enemy."
Hearing this...
Not only Inaba Tsukiyo...
But even Kirukiru Amou, Onigawara Rin, and the others behind her showed expressions of bewilderment.
Gods... can also get bored?
So bored they would kill each other?
This explanation, which completely overturned their understanding, had a huge impact.
However...
Heimdall ignored their shock and continued speaking:
"So, we made a decision."
"To seek unknown excitement, to fill the eternal emptiness..."
"We allowed gods to leave the lifeless Heavens and descend to the Lower World."
"Which is the world I keep talking about."
"We set rules: gods are forbidden from using divine power in the Lower World and must live like mortals."
"They can even be intoxicated by wine brewed by mortals."
"Then..."
"We bestow upon the chosen children of the Lower World a gift called falna."
"Making them part of our respective Familias, giving them the key to unlock the shackles of their potential."
"To explore the source of the vicious monsters scattered across the continent—the bottomless Dungeon, filled with unspeakable monsters."
"By fighting monsters, they obtain Magic Stones and harvest materials."
"Using these to exchange for wealth, fame, and the growth of their own strength."
"As for us..."
"We sit in the audience, witnessing with our own eyes the epics of friendship, courage, growth, betrayal, love, and hate performed by our chosen children."
"Perhaps you are curious why noble gods would be obsessed with such mortal games?"
"The reason is simple."
"It is precisely because of the uncertainty inherent in life."
In the Heavens, everything is known and omniscient.
It's like a movie that has been spoiled ten thousand times; it's dull and tasteless.
But in the Lower World...
At the beginning of evolution...
Life is a miracle born to resist the ultimate cosmic law—entropy increase.