“Loki!”
Footsteps rang out in the pillared chamber on the twelfth floor that housed Loki and Dionysus. Finn’s group rushed in. When they exited the hidden passage, they saw Dionysus, who was still shouting wildly.
“Where are you, Filvis?! Save me, Filvis! ”
Finn’s group gathered around Loki to protect her as Dionysus continued to screech the name of his last remaining follower. And then, as if the god’s voice had reached her, Filvis appeared from a passage at the other end of the room.
“Lord Dionysus!”
The familia members immediately readied themselves, but Finn and Loki both stopped them. Her body was giving off rays of light. It was like an hourglass breaking the laws of nature and flowing in reverse. Her long black hair was disappearing from its ends. It was clear that she was on borrowed time. Her eyes could see nothing but Dionysus.
“Lord Dionysus! Lord Dionysus! I…I…!”
She stumbled weakly and called her patron god’s name like a child as she clung to his chest. As he stood there, unmoving, the last thing to cross Dionysus’s face was a look of resignation. He would not be able to use the strength of his follower to escape. It was a checkmate.
And then his face twisted dramatically.
“Tch…Useless.”
His ugly scorn shocked Filvis.
“Just how much must you disappoint me before you’re satisfied, Filvis?”
“Lord…Dionysus…?”
“How many times did you ignore my orders? How many times did you fail to finish off Loki’s children because you were trying to save Lefiya Viridis?”
“Ah…Argh…!”
“That’s what got you cornered, right? If you can’t be of any use now, then what good are you?”
“Ah…Aaaaah…?! ”
Every scornful word caused another crack in Filvis’s face. The god’s disappointed voice and contemptuous gaze lashed at her, scoring deep gouges into her heart.
“A foolish, half-witted follower. What an utter disappointment.”
Tears fell from Filvis’s eyes. Her face was filled with despair as she was cast aside by the one pillar of support she’d had.
“Gh…!”
Upon seeing that, Alicia knit her eyebrows together. She had not had much interaction with Filvis Challia. But to see someone toy with the heart of her fellow elf and cast it away on the whim of a prideful god ignited the same kind of pure rage that Lefiya had felt. Even if he was a god, Alicia was about to leap in and peel him away from Filvis.
“But—”
She was stopped where she was standing by Dionysus’s confession.
“But you are still lovely.”
“ ”
Dionysus’s smile was simultaneously unsightly yet somehow entrancing. Filvis, Alicia, the other familia members, and even Finn were frozen. In silence, Loki alone watched, unsurprised as the god’s right hand cupped the fallen elf’s cheek, as if trying to cradle something broken.
“You’re truly foolish, Filvis. You were my Maenad. I made you cry. I broke you down with my commands…That was more pleasing than anything else…Ah, how I adored you.”
“Ah. Ahhhh…!”
“That’s right, the voice of your orgia drove me madder than anything else. In the end, it is my own failure in granting you too much freedom that led to this. Sheesh, how aggravating…”
Rage. Annoyance. Frustration. And love. He was beautiful despite being stained by blood. His repulsive face bore a smile that was both utterly hideous and beautiful.
His words and gaze contained no fiction. Even the mortals in the room who could not see through the lies of deities could understand that much. As Filvis was overcome with emotion, her eyes flowed with tears of a different kind.
“—Be proud, Filvis. My heart is yours.”
It was a soft voice and a dark smile. He almost seemed to be enjoying himself, as if still searching for the limits of the girl’s joy and sorrow. As if chuckling at himself for becoming captivated by that broken girl.
It was unsightly, and yet this was an expression of love by a twisted god.
“You are mine. Yes, I would never let anyone else have you…Even when you return to the heavens, you must stay by my side.”
“Yes, Lord Dionysus…!” Filvis responded in delight. She trembled in joy that someone was willing to accept her corrupted filth. Embraced by a pitiful happiness, she closed her eyes as Dionysus hugged her tightly to himself.
He wrapped the beautifully tormented girl in his arms as she seemed to fall asleep, only an arm and shoulder, chest and head remaining. And then, as if his previous disgraceful behavior was a lie, he stroked her beautiful hair while she disappeared into rays of light, and his eyes seemed disconnected from earthly concerns.
“…It’s my loss, Loki.”
In a complete reversal, he raised his head, a twisted smile on his face. Knowing that he did not have any chance of winning, or even any way to escape, he resigned.
“You were strong. You foiled my plan, turning me into a foolish jester! It’s galling! Be proud, great heroes and deities!”
He freely praised Loki and Braver who had defeated him, the smile of a loser on his face.
In the next moment, his lips curled gruesomely.
“But you’ve noticed it, right, Loki? The Dungeon is at its limit !”
“…”
“You’ve thwarted my ambitions, but there is no stopping fate! Even without waiting for the promised time, this mortal world will be transformed into a realm of the dead and the orgia of my dreams will come!”
There was no changing that.
Dionysus’s words sounded almost prophetic, accompanied by his mad laughter. Then, with the hand that was not wrapped around Filvis’s body, he raised his dagger.
And then stabbed it down forcefully into his own chest.
“What?!”
As Alicia and the others looked on in amazement, he coughed up blood. In the blink of an eye, his body was enveloped by beads of light.
“I’ll be watching! From the heavens above! Watching the orgia that you perform!”
His Arcanum activated. The supernatural power activated to prevent a god who had sustained a fatal wound from dying. He hugged Filvis, whose eyes were closed, her body on the verge of disappearing completely. In the next instant, a tremendous flash of light rose into the sky.
“Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha…Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha !”
The blinding pillar pierced through the labyrinth and shot into the sky. The god’s return, signaling the end of everything. He had ascended to heaven, bringing Filvis, who had entirely scattered into rays of light, with him. As the god’s laughter slipped into the distant sky and the ground rumbled intensely, dancing beads of light fell on those left behind.
“…What is this terrible aftertaste? Even though we won…” Alicia murmured as everyone else remained silent.
Alicia was clenching her fists.
Loki responded, as if seeing into her heart, “You can’t let it get to you, Alicia. That’s just one aspect of a god’s love. Don’t try to judge it by children’s standards.”
“…Was Filvis Challia saved?”
“Of course not. She was ensnared by an awful god, who completely and utterly manipulated and toyed with her.”
“…”
“But…if you are asking whether she herself thought she had been saved, then I couldn’t say.”
Loki looked up as she responded to Alicia. Through the hole Dionysus had made, there was a glimpse of a sparkling sky. A starry night sky. The crimson light covering the ground had disappeared, and it was faint, but the sounds of cheers from the city were audible. A victory song bestowed on the nameless heroes by the people who would never know what had happened.
“It’s over…” Finn announced.
“Yeah, it’s over…There’s still a big problem left…but this part has come to an end,” Loki responded. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she gazed at the sky.
Along with Alicia, the other familia members closed their eyes, some held hands, others raised their weapons, and the rest prayed.
Looking to the heavens, a goddess whispered, “Leene, you guys…we won.”