"There's no way someone like you is a Human!", shouted Syr at his face.
"My~ Did you see something that says otherwise?", asked Kisuke with an intrigued tone.
"That..." Syr was about to answer but after thinking about it further, aside from those halo rings, his soul wasn't much different from the residents of the mortal world. It also didn't have any parts that were present in a Deity's soul, nor was it similar to a Monster's broken soul, "But how come your soul could exist within those two extremely opposing forces?"
"Two opposing forces?", asked Kisuke in curiosity, "Could you possibly tell me what you saw?"
From here on out, everything was already beyond the Goddess' control and it was already very far away from any of the predicted outcomes she could possibly think of. As such, after a short but serious contemplation, Syr decided to answer him, "Two halo rings surrounding your soul... Each of those rings was constituted of, without much better words for it, 'white' and 'black' powers."
"Hmmm... Those two opposing forces were clearly visible?", muttered Kisuke as he rubbed his chin, 'So it was visibly separated from her perspective. I have already confirmed that the core of my soul and Benihime were able to separate themselves from any influence of either my Shinigami and Hollow powers, but it is interesting to hear that it was visualized that way.'
Different from the route that Aizen took, instead of integrating the powers into his soul, Kisuke chose to be 'independent' from it and aimed for total control without losing the original form of his soul. Although it was not Aizen's 'Absolute Power', 'Absolute Control' suited Kisuke so much better, even more if Benihime was added to the equation.
"Could you answer my question now since I answered yours?", asked Syr after seeing Kisuke nodding repeatedly to himself.
"Fair enough. The answer to that question is because those two powers, while exuding opposing attributes, are not so different."
"...Not so different?" The Goddess became even more confused at his answer, but Kisuke was unwilling to say any more than this.
"Enough of that. Please forget this little incident." Regardless of what Syr wanted, Kisuke resumed cleaning up and was able to take away everything except for the table and a box with a handle on top of it.
"W-wait!" Syr tried to stop him but Kisuke didn't listen and continued walking away, intending to go back to the party.
But Syr hadn't given up, "Come to my Familia! I can offer you much more!"
Kisuke stopped walking and turned his head, "Are you seriously hoping for a positive answer?"
Hearing that, Syr could only bite her lips in frustration.
"Please don't overthink this incident. It's not like this is our last time meeting, right?" Kisuke then pointed towards the box he'd left on the table, "And please take that. It's a box of cupcakes. Share it with Mia-san and the rest after closing."
Syr looked towards the box and Kisuke resumed walking. But after a few steps, Kisuke turned towards her again and said, "Ah, I almost forgot. Someone will come from the Loki Familia and give you a little present. Please accept it and have your children follow their instructions."
"What?"
Waving goodbye, Kisuke replied, "It'll give Ottar-san a shot at Level 10."
Due to so many things happening at once, Syr couldn't keep up and it was only after Kisuke disappeared from her sight that she finally managed to get hold of herself and regret her inaction. While looking at the box, Syr heaved a large sigh, 'Haah... That was beyond unsatisfactory. I didn't expect that I would be frozen that much. But he sure has some weird considerations.'
Picking up the box and opening it, the smell of freshly baked cupcakes of different flavors whiffed through her nose, and Syr smiled before closing the box again before looking up to the moon, 'As he said, this isn't the last time we would be meeting. I want to know more about you, so I won't give up.'
"Now the future has become even more unpredictable. I wonder what sort of revolution he would bring in this stagnant world? Will he become the Hero or the Devil?", murmured Syr to herself before walking off in the direction of the main road.
.
.
.
Kisuke reentered the hall where the party was being held and came into a tense atmosphere. After hearing the muttering from his surroundings, Kisuke immediately figured out what was going on and it had indeed developed into the situation that he'd predicted.
But before he could reach where everyone was , Kisuke heard Hestia's irritated voice, "No! Why would you think that I'd even accept your challenge!?"
'So she rejected him. Well, I doubt he'll give up with just that, so I'll wait and see what he's going to do next.', thought Kisuke as he reached Hestia's side and saw two Apollo Familia members full of bandages. Of course, it was just a farce that the Apollo Familia concocted to corner the Hestia Familia into accepting 'their responsibilities'.
Seeing Kisuke, Hestia immediately grabbed his arm and pulled him away, "Let's go home!"
As they exited the building, Kisuke could feel the majority of Apollo Familia's sneer on their backs while Loki could barely hold herself from laughing out loud.
Once they managed to get away from the mansion, Kisuke asked Hestia, "Why didn't you just accept it? We wouldn't really have a problem with them."
Hestia didn't turn her back and continued walking, "Accepting his challenge would also mean accepting their allegations towards Aika-kun and Koneko-kun. You may be able to take them on, but that doesn't mean I'm fine with them smearing your reputation."
"You're just overthinking it. We wouldn't really mind appearing a bit violent to others."
"True, you may not mind.", Hestia then stopped walking and faced him, "But I won't tolerate false accusations! I know you're strong, but at least, let me stand up for you when needed. After all, you're already my family."
Kisuke's eyes widened a bit before he smiled cheekily and patted her head, "Alright~ I won't question your decisions anymore regarding this~ Thank you very much for protecting us, Hestia-sama."
Hestia pouted and slapped away his hand while complaining, "Stop treating me like a child!"
"Yes, yes." Kisuke ignored her and proceeded to walk back home while accompanying the angry small Goddess.
The next morning, however, Kisuke and Hestia were standing in front of their candy store with the former making a dark expression while the latter didn't know what to do.
If yesterday the store was so immaculate that it stood out from its surrounding, then right now, it was almost blending in with the surrounding ruins with it being almost destroyed and vandalized to the ground.
In the distance, members of the Apollo Familia were snickering at them and making loud comments, "Hey, I heard that there's a candy shop around this God-forsaken place, but it seems that I can't find---!?"
But before he could finish his words, something hit his face without knowing how, broke his nose, and detached his entire front row of teeth, before he lost consciousness. The two others who were with him also received a similar treatment, but since it was very early in the morning, no one else was there to witness this invisible assault.
Still standing in front of his broken store, Kisuke muttered in a dark tone, "Hey, Hestia-sama..."
Not waiting for him to finish, Hestia immediately answered with what he wanted to hear, "Let's accept his challenge! Mess with them any way you want! You have my full support!"
With an evil smile that gave Hestia chills, Kisuke replied, "Thank you very much~!"
"J-just please don't kill anyone."
"No worries~ I won't need to do something like that."
However, little did Hestia know, that death would've been the best mercy which he could give them.
Editors:
28th00: Ironically, he is a Devil, there’s a few devils and a literal angel here too. Some Dragons too. Conflicting worldviews are fun. Hestia is Bestia with her familia being her quite literal family. You touched the candy shop. You Deserve to Die for that. ESPECIALLY WHEN CLAIRE, OPHIS AND KONEKO FIND OUT! Oh fuck man, Phis-chama!? HER CANDY STORE?! They vandalised the sweets… SOMEONE RUN INTERFERENCE WITH THE DRAGON LOLI! APOCALYPSE INCOMING!
Alexander: Do you see this my friend? That's where they fu$%ed up. So let's go and ask them,
“You've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky? ' Well, do ya, punk?”
Within the Apollo Familia mansion, every member was suiting up for battle. Since Hestia wouldn't agree with his proposition, Apollo decided to besiege their Familia to either destroy them or force them to accept their challenge. All for the single purpose of obtaining the three rising stars from their Familia.
Just to make sure of their success, he also hired some outside help to attack them. More specifically, those from the Soma Familia, who were very desperate for money and would do almost anything for it.
Of course, Apollo was aware of the heavy sanctions that he may receive from the Guild after doing this, but it was not something that he couldn't pay.
Aside from that, he also invited numerous Gods to watch this 'entertainment' and would ask for some 'compensation' to recoup his potential losses after this.
Within Apollo's study room, his executives were gathered while waiting for their members and the Soma Familia to get ready, "We received some intel that said that two of their members had left Orario the other day and our targets, along with the new members of the Artemis Familia, seem to have stayed in the Dungeon last night, so we can expect weaker resistance from them.", reported Daphne.
Apollo's smile widened, "Great. How about your little plan, Hyakinthos?"
"I sent some of our members before daybreak, Apollo-sama. Since their store is their only establishment, they won't be able to use it if by chance there's an escape route from it. I've also asked the people who have records regarding the basement level of that ruined church and we've been reassured that it isn't connected to anything, so escaping from there is also impossible. They won't be able to escape, Apollo-sama.", replied Hyakinthos.
"Good. You should depart now."
Hyakinthos bowed his head and said, "As you command, my Lord."
But before they could actually leave the door, the window of the room suddenly opened up with a loud bang, allowing the cold wind to come through, "So this was your plan! How dirty, Apollo."
"Hestia!?", exclaimed Apollo. Beyond the window, Hestia was staring down at him with her arms crossed, "How did you come from there!? This is the third floor, you know!?"
While sneering at him, Hestia replied, "How? Are you not aware of the existence of ladders? You ought to learn more about the Lower World."
The mocking aura that came from Hestia instantly pissed Apollo off, "How did you come here anyway!? What you're doing is trespassing!"
"Heh? You complain about me trespassing when you're here about to attack my place? Are you really that stupid, you damned punk?"
"What!?" Apollo lost his patience and was about to command his children to catch her when she continued speaking.
"Well, enough of that. I'm actually here to tell you what you wanted to hear from me." Hestia then pointed at his face with a smug expression, "I accept your challenge."
The instant she said that, something flew by her left shoulder with an amazing speed and hit Apollo square in the face, creating a loud slap, "Gahh!!!"
That something covered Apollo's head with red ink and the splash it created on the wall behind him created a message, 'Whatever your rules are, we'll accept! As long as you can bet everything in the name of the Apollo Familia and never set foot in Orario for at least 100 years~!'
While everyone was stunned and Apollo was busy wiping off the ink, Hestia jumped down while shouting, "The War Game is on! So you guys make sure Apollo won't do anything that will upset our chances of winning or that'll be extremely boring!"
From below, a small maid with purple hair jumped up and caught Hestia midair to slowly cancel her momentum, before running towards the front gate to escape, "Apollo~! Don't make these people wait for too long~!"
Soon enough, the Deities that were inside the mansion cheered in unison, "It's finally here!"
Since there weren't any people guarding the gates due to them being busy, Hestia and Medusa were able to escape without any problem and returned to their place. When they arrived, both of them saw Kisuke and Artemis standing in front of the supposedly destroyed store.
"Welcome back~." Kisuke greeted them.
With a twitching mouth, Hestia asked, "Since when did you rebuild the store?"
"Rebuilt the store? What do you mean?", asked Artemis.
"Y-you didn't see the state of the store this morning?"
"Hmm? I helped out with making breakfast and waking up the kids. I came out not long ago since you were taking your time to come back down. Did something happen?"
Hestia sighed and shook her head, "Haah, it doesn't matter. He already created that giant cavern so a small store shouldn't be a problem. Anyway, we've declared war on the Apollo Familia."
Artemis paused for a moment before replying, "I feel that I should be worried, but I can only feel pity for them."
Putting his fan in front of his face, Kisuke laughed out loud, "A free mansion will be good~! We can't have Claire and Ophis always staying underground."
"I guess you're right about that. We should just use the Denatus, but since you told him that he can make any rule, Apollo would surely go for borderline shamelessness."
"It doesn't matter. As long we can kick them out, anything's fine."
.
.
.
The Denatus to discuss their War Game was scheduled two days later. During that time, all sorts of rumors started floating around regarding the Hestia Familia and them being just a group of Level 2s going against a Familia with at least a hundred members and multiple of them being Level 3.
Due to this strength difference, many people assumed that they'd be skipping the town and those from the Apollo Familia seemed to believe the same thing as their members were guarding the gates of the city to prevent them from skipping.
The news regarding what Apollo wanted from the Hestia Familia also spread like wildfire, earning various reactions about it. Most of them were disgusted by it while some took pity on them. Takemikazuchi and Miach, on the other hand, were very worried about them and wanted to lend a hand, at least, to help them at escaping but Hestia just reassured them that there was nothing to worry about.
Apollo was also worried about the Hephaestus and Loki Familia giving some assistance to the Hestia Familia because he received some reports that said that they were 'getting along'. But he put his worries down when he saw no movements from either of them, with the latter even openly celebrating Hestia's misfortune.
But even if they gave them assistance, Apollo had already thought of the rules to make it invalid, at least for the current Hestia Familia.
After Hestia left for the Denatus, Sona, Aika, Koneko, Akeno, Irina and Serafall finally returned to the surface.
"Uhmm... What's going on?", inquired Sona from Kisuke, who was on his break.
"We're smashing some heads. The Apollo Familia kept bothering you, didn't they? This is your chance to retaliate legally~!"
"...Just how did the situation devolve to this?"
"They messed with my shop."
"..."
The girls could only silently pray for their opponents.
Editors:
28th00: Hestia calling Apollo a Punk fits soooooo well. She’s old after all. Loki is celebrating Apollo’s misfortune actually, cause she’s well aware that Hestia would only do this if someone pissed Kisuke off enough that she had to give him the greenlight or worry about a Familia disappearing overnight. Phis and Claire will get a mansion, yes. Just them. Phis-chama might even take Claire on a redecorating adventure! They get to watch people get beat up like in a rating game, but with like 10x more people! I’ve always been of the mind that if someone tried this ‘stealing’ a Familia member thing, wouldn’t the adventurer just shank the God? Similar things have happened before. They won’t care about the consequences if the present has already gone to hell after all.
Alexander: I´m feeling really proud right now, when reading about Hestia´s evolution. She learned so much from the sage of annoyance.