In myth, if there are goddesses like Astraea who embody justice, then naturally there are also gods who embody evil.
The so-called Dark Faction were the familias of those evil gods.
Those gods longed to see the world destroyed, longed to hear the shrill screams of mortals, longed to watch the Lower World sink into chaos—
like the dark age before the gods descended and granted blessings.
They also gathered many adventurers who had fallen into the abyss, intending to turn the human world into a playground for their own indulgence.
There was no doubt about it: those lunatics were the mortal enemies of justice. There was no possibility of reconciliation.
"A Familia of Apate, goddess of deception… A Familia of Alecto, goddess of vengeance… A Familia of Thanatos, god of death…"
One name after another spilled from Alise's mouth.
These were the Dark Faction groups whose movements had recently been discovered.
Back in Orario's golden era, those sewer rats wouldn't have dared to show their faces.
Because if they did, the Level 9 Empress, the Level 8 Maxim, and the other elites of the two great familias would have taught them what fear meant.
They could crush darkness with ease—that was why those two familias had been called heroes.
But after the decline of the Zeus Familia and the Hera Familia, the rats gradually stopped behaving.
They began to gather. They began to probe. They began to stir.
They were preparing to overturn Orario's order.
It had been roughly eight years since the destruction of the two great familias, and the Dark Faction—now merged and consolidated—had become a force that could no longer be ignored.
Worse, their lack of major public action had lulled people into thinking they weren't that strong.
Only after personally investigating did the Astraea Familia realize that Orario had already been infiltrated into a sieve by those madmen.
Taken together, the Dark Faction had grown into a power capable of wrestling Orario head-on.
"Valletta the 'Killing Emperor,' and the Dis Sisters… Those are the three confirmed Level 5s we've seen. There are also several others whose faces can't be identified, but their strength is around a weakened Level 5."
As Kaguya spoke, her head was already starting to ache.
Forget those famous Level 5s— even the unidentified ones weren't ordinary.
According to eyewitness accounts, those four Level 5s seemed to have lost their minds entirely, leaving only their bodies behind.
By common sense, they shouldn't have matched the combat strength of proper Level 5 adventurers.
But even a weakened version…
A Level 5 was still a Level 5.
And they had abnormal recovery—injuries supposedly restored almost instantly.
How were you supposed to deal with Level 5s who didn't fear wounds… who didn't even fear death?
And whatever this method was, it clearly wasn't normal. It had to be a hidden trump card of the Dark Faction.
The only good news was that it probably couldn't be used on a large scale.
Otherwise, if the Dark Faction could field hundreds of weakened Level 5s, Orario would have no choice but to lose.
Even so—judging by the scale, the posture, the sense of inevitability—
this time the Dark Faction likely intended to mobilize everything.
The strongest in the Astraea Familia was only Level 3. If Orario ran short on manpower once the war truly began, they might be forced to cooperate and challenge opponents above their rank.
They might even have to face more than one Level 5.
Just imagining it made Kaguya's head throb.
If you only looked at top-end strength, the Dark Faction didn't have a Level 6 like Ottar, and among the same tier there weren't many Level 5s renowned for overwhelming power.
But Orario was the defending side—and that meant they were inherently more passive.
To protect the citizens of Orario as a whole, Orario would have to spread its defensive forces thin.
As the side of justice, they had the duty to protect the populace—meaning they also carried more restraints.
Meanwhile, those bastards struck once, then vanished elsewhere. Their trail couldn't be caught, and no one could even figure out what they were actually trying to do.
The Ganesha Familia had been harassed into exhaustion by them, and that was why they had no choice but to request help from the Astraea Familia.
"I went to talk with Finn. We came to the same conclusion—there's a traitor inside the Guild!"
Lyla grinned like a thief. Even though she knew how troublesome this was, it didn't wipe the smile off her face.
The Dark Faction was making such a massive commotion, yet after all their effort, they'd only managed to learn scraps of rumor and shadow.
That implied a serious problem.
At minimum—if someone in the Guild hadn't been feeding information, they wouldn't have been running themselves ragged for this long without ever catching the enemy's main force.
"Even the Guild has been infiltrated…?"
Ryuu finally pulled herself out of her guilt spiral—I made Cid leave—and began thinking uneasily about the future.
To her, justice was justice, evil was evil; the two could never be conflated.
Even facing the powerful Dark Faction, what she felt wasn't fear—only caution.
But hearing that a traitor existed within the Guild, the very institution that represented justice…
Ryuu's resolve wavered.
Can we win?
We will win.
But if they won…
How many people would have to die?
Ryuu didn't dare to think about it.
And it wasn't just her—the mood of the Astraea Familia as a whole had begun to congeal.
Before accepting the commission, they'd known the enemy would be difficult.
They just hadn't expected them to be this strong.
As adventurers who pursued justice, they wouldn't retreat because of that.
Behind them were Orario's people—there was nowhere left to fall back to.
Still, to say there was no pressure would be a lie.
"Alright, alright—heads up, everyone! We haven't lost. The decisive battle hasn't even properly begun yet. Why are you all drooping? If a fight is inevitable, then we might as well make it a big one!"
Alise clapped her hands, deliberately raising her voice, forcing everyone to pull themselves together.
She was loud and rowdy even on normal days—now her volume climbed to the point of being almost painfully sharp.
But seeing that familiar smile return to her face, the girls felt their hearts steady.
"I seriously can't deal with you…"
Kaguya complained on the surface, but she shook her head with a smile.
Their captain… she really was impossible.
It was only one sentence, yet the oppressive weight in the room seemed to be swept away. Everyone could face the heavy mission with a slightly lighter stance.
Maryu: "That's always been Alise for you."
Niese: "Exactly! We just need to get our spirit up and beat those bastards to a pulp!"
Asta: "As the vanguard, I'll protect everyone."
Ryuu looked at Alise with open admiration.
She could feel it—because Alise could inspire them like this, they were able to gather their emotions back so quickly.
Alise could become captain of the Astraea Familia for more than just her combat strength.
That constant passion—the ability to pull everyone forward—was what mattered most.
Everyone in the Astraea Familia trusted Alise the most.
In Ryuu's mind, as long as Alise could still smile…
the sky wouldn't fall.
Noticing everyone's eyes on her, Alise proudly thrust out her chest.
"Haha! Everyone's full of energy! You were all convinced by my righteous arguments again! Truly, I'm amazing!"
That smug grin made the others fall completely silent.
Some—like Kaguya—wore smiles that were almost frighteningly gentle.
This bastard… did she really have to ruin an inspirational moment like this?
It was making them so mad.
"Alise…"
Ryuu hesitated, wanting to speak but stopping herself.
She honestly felt that if Alise could learn to shut up at the right moment…
she would be the perfect leader.
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