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He hesitated. The answer was simple. Because he could not allow another Campione to come into this world. Everything he was doing now, he was doing to protect them.
Unfortunately, Loki mistook his silence for something else.
"Do you really hate this place so much?"
"No!" he immediately said. "Not at all. I like it. I really do. The people. The city." He smiled at Loki. "The Gods."
She didn't return his smile. "Your actions don't match your words, Kusanagi Godou."
No, he supposed they didn't. But that was because his words couldn't tell the whole story either.
"But don't worry, I'll change your mind." The Goddess stuck out a thumb, but the grin on her face looked forced. "You're coming onto this expedition whether you like it or not. And by the end of it, I guarantee you that you'll want to go onto another one."
He wondered how Gods could remain so optimistic even after existing for more than a thousand years. He'd barely lived half of that and he saw little reason to continue any further.
"Your Familia could die," he said, not bothering to mince his words. He wanted Loki to know exactly what kind of choice she was making.
"That's always been a possibility. The Dungeon has never been a safe place, especially once you reach the Deeper Floors."
"You know that's not what I mean."
"I do," Loki said. "But that doesn't make it any less true. You're going with them, and that's that."
So that was that. Her mind was already set. She would not let him back out of this.
"But you will protect them as much as you can, won't you, Kusanagi Godou?"
His reply was instant. "I will." There had never been a single shred of doubt about that. Letting them die would have been the easy way out. He was certain Loki would never speak to him again if he did that. But he did not treat the lives of others as a means to his own ends.
No, he had no problem with protecting them from danger. The problem came from exposing them to the danger in the first place.
"Good. I'm trusting you with them, then," Loki said. A content expression settled over her face.
But he had seen it. For just the briefest of moments, there had been a flash of fear in Loki's eyes.
Don't go sending your Familia into danger if you're afraid for them, you idiot. He simply didn't understand why she was so committed to this. Why she was so goddamned stubborn.
Why couldn't Loki see that he would be fine by himself?
The answer came to him immediately, and he felt like an idiot. With all the effort he'd put into concealing his abilities, obviously Loki would have no idea.
But he couldn't go spilling all his secrets either. He had dozens of Authorities at his disposal, and Loki and the rest only thought he had one. He needed a way to demonstrate what he was capable of...without actually demonstrating what he was capable of.
A myriad of thoughts and ideas fought and argued over each other in his head, each proclaiming themselves as the right answer.
'She looks down on you because she thinks that because you are part-human part-God, you are in between a human and a God.'
And just like that, the answer presented itself, cutting through the cacophony of noise and uncertainty as cleanly as a hot knife through butter.
'I will quickly disabuse her of that notion.'
Despite the situation, Godou grinned slightly. He supposed that was exactly what swords were for in the first place.
XXXXXXXXX
It felt as if the entire room had hiccuped. For a single moment, unadulterated power had flooded through the room, and his neck had tightened from the suffocating pressure. And as sudden as it came, the odd sensation vanished.
"At long last, we can talk, Goddess of Tricks."
The entire room seemed to vibrate for a moment, before stilling into an even deeper silence than ever before. The conversation had earlier been completely between Loki and Godou, so when the unannounced voice spoke, nobody had known how to react.
Finn Deimne knew the voices of every single person in his Familia. The female, gentle, self-assured voice he just heard was definitely not one of them.
His attention remained glued to Kusanagi Godou, the source of every single surprise he'd seen in the past twenty four hours.
The Soma Challenge.
The Part-God revelation.
Loki's brief moment of vulnerability.
And now, an unknown and unseen person talking as though she was everywhere, yet nowhere.
Why should this time be any different?
Godou's eyes seemed to glaze over for a moment.
Finn shot a look at Loki. His goddess had finally changed her posture, sitting up straight, her body tensed as she looked all over the room for the unknown speaker.
"Show yo
urself," she commanded.
In front of him, Kusanagi Godou frowned.
Finn blinked.
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Want to read more?
The next 10+ chapters are already available on my Patreon!
By joining, you'll get:
📖 Early access to future chapters
🗳️ Polls to shape the story
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