?


    The preparation for the oing war was in full effect. Everyone who could swing a de was getting themselves ready for a battle of a lifeline, and perhaps if they failed the battle of everyone''s life even those being cradled by their mothers. The Valkyries would not show any mercy not to the young, adult, or the elderly for their very purpose in life was to eradicate all life in precedence to the apocalypse.


    "This is a huge gamble…" Fay muttered, ncing across the room at the workers moving around giant ss cases for the god-kin vessels to be produced inside en masse. "If even a single one of them goes against our expectations, who knows what kind of cmity might strike? With Asmodia, we didn''t even get to know what kind of new powers she had gotten from the body."


    cing his hand on her shoulder, Haruki squeezed it gently to calm her nerves a little.


    "I''ll rework the memories of the adventurers and other soldiers from the castle, then there shouldn''t be much room for any problems," Haruki tried soothing her worries, but it didn''t make her any less jittery.


    "I believe we''ve dealt with enough gods, and whenever one''s involved in anything it never ends well," having witnessed thepetitive nature of the different tribes, Fay wasn''t too keen on giving the monsters new bodies that could defy allws of nature. "I''m not worried about the adventurers, they''ll be manageable, but the monsters? If we try to do something about them, then who knows maybe their entire tribe might rebel. The same way the goblin queen was willing to retract her support when she felt disrespected by Serena and Deus."


    Hitting the mark with her concern, Fay turned to face Haruki. Noticing her gaze on him, he knew he couldn''t slip away without an answer.


    "I have a cure for that too, but you have to promise me something first," reaching into his clock, Haruki took out a tied bag and held it towards her.


    "What is it?" She asked, taking it from his hand.


    "Dark matter, the same thing I used to kill Michael like a fly," gesturing her to open the bag, he continued to exin further. "I want you to hold onto it, in case you need to get rid of the demi-gods after my death. And don''t worry, I have more than enough stacked away, that is but a stabilized sample."


    Without opening the thing, Fay simply put it in her pocket and nced up at Haruki once more. She knew he''d grown brittle from the heart, but she never expected him to hand her a poison that would kill the very men who would be fighting alongside him.


    "You want me to kill them? How will that solve a rebellion?" Fay asked in a hushed tone, making sure nobody else in the dungeon could hear her.


    Grabbing her by the arms, Haruki brought his face close to her and bumped their noses yfully together.


    "Ste, I''m sure she can bring them together with time, you just need to guide her till then," although he felt like kissing Fay, he could no longer risk passing on the poison to her. "Even if that means killing the rebels, you must do what''s best for the rest of our people."


    ''Hopefully, that time neveres that you have to resort to such extreme measures.'' Keeping thatst part to himself to not demotivate her in case she does have to rely on it, Haruki pulled his head away to leave her with the experimentations.


    "I woe the day I met you on that stupid road," wearing the faintest smile, Fay yful rolled her eyes. "Too bad you''re too much of a lovable idiot to hate."


    Parting with those words from Fay, the two went on their ways to attend to their duties. For Fay, it was the creation of the bodies, and for Haruki, it was to check up on the queens to make sure they were all on board with his suicidal n.


    Jumping out from the portal dungeon, hended himself in the minotaur dungeon where everyone was currently being holed up before the battle began. There, making his way towards the shrine where Serena had been kept while she was unconscious, he was met with anxious gazes from the goblin queen, Medusa, the queen of Arachne, Margarette, and even Serena, all gathered up inside the dimly lit ce.


    "Finally," huffing a sigh of relief, Margarette pulled herself out of a seat and made her way towards Haruki near the door. "Knock some sense into Serena, you have to!"


    Being confronted so suddenly, it took a moment for Haruki to even realize what was said. However, the moment it became clear, he shifted his gaze to the priestess with a question.


    "Now what?" He asked, the priestess simply dejected her gaze.


    "She doesn''t want to fight against the apocalypse, whatever that even is," revealed the goblin queen.


    With a bemused expression stered over his face, Haruki slowly made his way towards Serena and lifted her face up from under her chin.


    "Serena, what do you mean you won''t fight?" He asked, his eyes wide open with shock.


    "I-I…" Gulping her words, she took a few hasty breaths before finallying out with the truth. "The creator, I still serve him, master. I can''t give up on my god even if he''s dead, and since this apocalypse is his n I cannot and will not do anything to fight against it!"


    ''Still, bbering about that dead god?'' Feeling agitated by her reasoning, Haruki distanced himself from her before he did something he might regretter.


    "I''ll still heal anyone who''s wounded, and treat them, but I can''t fight against the end!" Serena pleaded, pulling herself out of her chair as well.


    "Agh, fine, just…Leave us alone for the moment then," holding back his frustration, Haruki urged her to leave in case his mood got more heated during the rest of the conversation with the queens.


    For a moment, Serena tried to open her lips to speak, but seeing how tense the situation around her had gotten, she bowed her head to her master and left without uttering a word.


    "Another fanatic of god, exactly what we need, sh''yeah!" Tightening her grip on her staff, the Arachne queen cursed under her breath.


    "We don''t have time to waste!" Haruki eximed to bring everyone''s attention back to him. "Let''s make sure everyone knows the ns, and alsoe up with a way to make sure the Valkyries don''t rise from the dead."


    Unaware that the Valkyries couldn''t be revived if they died on Arian soil, Haruki wanted to cover all grounds regardless. His n was the same as while dealing with rebelling demi-gods, which was to arm everyone with weapons capable of burning the very soul of the enemy so they could never be revived.


    Throughout the entire conversation, everyone voiced numerous concerns about a lot of things, but amidst it all, the main general herself stayed silent. Through the eyes and ears of Margarette, it was the prince of hell that was listening to the entire thing, thus, despite having several questions, Margarette stayed quiet on her new master''s demand.


    She and her daughter possessed some freedom to be their true selves unlike the others, but that could easily change whenever the princemanded. Even now, not long before this meeting, while trying to convince Serena to fight, Margarette was her true self.


    ''He seems prepared.'' Ryed the prince to Margarette, expecting her to voice her opinion.


    ''He is, but good ns barely work in As.'' Margarette replied through their mental link. Having experienced even more solid ns crumble under unexpected situations, Margarette had little hope of their survival, but being under the prince''smand she couldn''t offer any ideas of her own to iron the rough edges of the n.


    "Now, go and prepare your best soldiers, and gather the children in the halls so we can put them under Riley''s protection in the otherworldter," giving out the final order for the moment, Haruki sped his hands and nced over everyone''s faces.


    None of them looked too thrilled to throw themselves to sure death, but being monsters by nature they didn''t care so long as the children of their tribes had a chance at survival from their sacrifice.


    "Wait, you said Ste will take your ce, right?" Medusa asked, visibly a bit timid.


    "Yeah, what about it?" Haruki replied, tilting his head slightly.


    "No, nothing, I just thought she was a child herself…" Trying to not offend him, Medusa downyed her concern to not drag the conversation any longer.


    "She''ll have Fay, Riley, and perhaps a few of you as well, so I''m sure it''ll be fine," Haruki said, trying tofort her with verbal optimism.


    "Y-yeah, I hope so," seeing Medusa responding with a smile as well, Haruki dismissed himself from the room for onest visit to thend of Laria.


    Although he''d just retraced his step before returning back to the dungeon, he needed yet another trip down memoryne to calm down his bubbling emotions.