The Sea of Oceanus, the settlement of the Bronze Tribe.
Somewhere within the chaotic starfield, which had been divided into twelve sectors, a certain region suddenly went dark.
Amid the vast sea of stars, the silver-white metallic core that had named itself [Chaos] trembled before slowly activating.
"Aphrodite's reaction has disappeared? What happened?!"
Startled by the sudden development, the Lord of the Bronze Tribe awakened from his slumber.
After pondering for a moment, light patterns began to ripple before him, and the surrounding starfield projected the phantom image of one of his allies.
~~
Meanwhile, in the royal city of Thessaly, at Caenis's residence.
Medea was crouched in a corner of the courtyard.
After estimating the time, she extinguished the flames summoned by the magic circle, opened the crucible, and carefully scooped out a small amount of the strange, pink-colored medicinal liquid, filtering away the impurities before dripping it into a clay jar beside her.
It didn't take long.
The several little insects locked inside the jar suddenly began shrieking at the tops of their voices.
As though they had gone mad, they frantically rushed toward one another, piling over each other as they began biting and mating without the slightest restraint.
The strange thing was that the insects Medea had casually caught weren't even all of the same species, nor had she bothered to carefully match the numbers of males and females.
Yet not a single one of them remained idle.
Apparently, their impulses had transcended both species and sex.
Medea stared at the almost downright obscene scene inside the jar for a moment before her cheeks flushed crimson.
She hurriedly looked away and turned toward her senior fellow disciple, who was leisurely drinking wine beside the stone table.
"The stuff that wicked woman gave you at the banquet seems to be some kind of strange bodily-fluid extract.
It can throw the senses of a living creature into disarray and produce an extremely powerful aphrodisiac effect."
Lorne gently swirled the wine in his glass, his eyes narrowing thoughtfully.
It wasn't the conceptual authority of a Goddess of Love.
It was more like some kind of biological pheromone?
The Mecha-Gods of the Bronze Tribe didn't seem particularly mystical after all.
If anything, there was something surprisingly scientific about them...
And a Mecha-God capable of producing pheromones associated with lust through her own biological functions?
Her identity was practically obvious.
'So you're Aphrodite...:
Lorne silently complained to himself before turning his attention to the golden short sword in his hand.
He toyed with it for a moment, then looked toward the red-haired culprit who was slowly awakening on the ground and a smile that he considered perfectly amiable spread across his face.
"Oh? You woke up already?"
"Bastard! What did you do to me?!"
The red-haired beauty painfully dragged herself upright.
The moment she saw the state she was in, she instinctively folded her arms across her chest and glared at Lorne in fury.
Under the moonlight, the fiery and alluring elegance she had displayed earlier was nowhere to be seen.
Her once-hot and glamorous attire was now torn to shreds.
Her body looked as though it had been subjected to some inhuman ordeal. The remnants of her ruined clothes clung to the mud on the ground and the divine fluid that had seeped from her body, forming filthy clumps across her back.
Her carefully styled red hair hung down in disarray-like withered grass, while her exquisite makeup had long since been ruined, leaving her face covered in dirt.
Her complexion was deathly pale from blood loss, making her already miserable appearance even more wretched.
"Mm. Now that reaction and tone feel familiar."
Lorne nodded in satisfaction before curling his lips into a smile at the red-haired prisoner.
"Still, just to be safe, we'd better conduct another test."
"Test? Test what?"
The red-haired prisoner stared at him blankly, unable to understand what he meant.
"Thud!"
The instant the words left her mouth, a muffled sound came from behind her, followed by a cold, stabbing pain in her lower back.
"Ow! Why did you stab me?!"
She twisted her head around and stared in disbelief at the pale-purple-haired little witch who had somehow appeared behind her and driven a curved purple dagger into her lower back.
"It's all right. I deliberately avoided your vital points. You won't die."
Medea smiled sweetly, her expression as innocent as could be.
"Thud!"
Before the red-haired prisoner could react, however, the little witch swiftly pulled the purple curved dagger free.
Then she stabbed her in the other kidney.
The red-haired prisoner's entire body stiffened.
Under the combined assault on both her body and her dignity, her voice trembled with a deeply aggrieved, almost tearful tone.
"Guh... What kind of skill is there in torturing someone? If you've got the ability, just kill me!"
"It's fine. Just bear with it. It'll be over soon."
As Medea spoke, she twisted the cursed blade several times, then glanced at the completely unresponsive blade and the prisoner who was already on the verge of convulsing before raising her head to report to Lorne.
"The restraints and contracts on her should have been completely removed by the Runes of Ten Thousand Laws."
Lorne nodded slightly as he raised his cup and poured some of the crimson wine over the wound, using its divine properties to provide the prisoner with some basic healing.
"Now, tell me. Why did you attack me?"
"When did I ever attack you?! Don't you dare slander me! You're the one who abducted me and dragged me here to torture me!"
The figure lying on the ground was none other than Aphrodite, the Mecha-God of the Bronze Tribe.
She struggled to prop herself up and indignantly voiced her accusation.
"Still trying to deny it?"
Lorne chuckled and shook his head before glancing toward Medea.
The little witch immediately understood and reached into the magic formation, pulling out a memory crystal before activating it.
A scene appeared before the three of them.
It showed Aphrodite luring a certain victim into a room.
Then, when the victim wasn't paying attention, she secretly picked up a golden short sword and prepared to strike.
The recording ended there.
Lorne calmly picked up the golden short sword lying on the table and tossed it in front of Aphrodite.
"Here. Physical evidence. Pretty conclusive, wouldn't you say?"
"What is this? I... I don't remember any of this."
Aphrodite stared at the overwhelming evidence of her own crime, her mind filled with confusion.
"You climbed into my bed and tried to kill me. Now you're telling me you know nothing about it?"
Lorne gave a cold snort.
"Think carefully. From the moment you left the royal city of Thessaly until the moment you returned, what did you do? And who did you meet?"
"The back mountain..."
Aphrodite's expression suddenly changed.
"That woman!"
At last, with Lorne's reminder, she found the point where her memories had gone wrong.
"After I met her, I couldn't remember anything. It's as if my consciousness was dragged into some pitch-black swamp. I had an extremely long and terrifying nightmare..."
Her voice trembled as she spoke.
"My companions were dying everywhere. Their remains were scattered everywhere..."
Hearing Aphrodite's murmured description,
Lorne felt a strange sense of familiarity and his eyes narrowed.
"Words alone aren't enough. Do you remember what that woman looked like? Draw her."
Perhaps hoping to resolve the doubts in her own mind, Aphrodite obediently gathered spirit particles at her fingertips.
A moment later, she began outlining the mysterious girl's appearance in midair.
When Lorne saw those alluring features and the distinctive long black-and-purple hair, a faint gleam flashed through his eyes.
'As I thought.
It's her.
The woman we encountered beneath the earth, in that underground temple.'
"Who is she?"
"I don't know..."
Aphrodite shook her head helplessly, her expression filled with frustration.
"That woman seemed to know us extremely well. With just one encounter, she shut down my Divine Core and implanted her own consciousness inside my body..."
Listening to Aphrodite's account, Lorne gradually pieced together what had happened.
During the battle at the underground temple, that woman had also suffered serious injuries.
She had therefore fled to the surface, only to encounter Aphrodite, who had come to the back mountain to investigate the situation.
For some reason, the woman possessed a peculiar ability to suppress Aphrodite's power.
She easily defeated the Mecha-God of the Bronze Tribe and then infiltrated her consciousness into Aphrodite's body.
Her goal was to use Aphrodite to approach another target.
—Lorne himself.
'Was she specifically targeting me?'
Was someone behind her, or was this something she decided to do herself?
Unfortunately, the Runes of Ten Thousand Laws had only severed the woman's control over Aphrodite.
It wasn't able to prevent her from escaping.
Lorne raised a hand and rubbed his chin as he pondered.
But with so little information, he couldn't reach a definite conclusion.
In the end, he could only set the matter aside for now and turn his attention back to the other person involved.
"As for that woman, I'll believe what you've told me for now."
Lorne smiled as he spoke.
"Now, shall we talk about you?"
"What's wrong with me?"
"Your identity."
"I'm a member of the Sea God's Temple. You already knew that, didn't you? Why are you pretending otherwise?"
"Then what about the Bronze Tribe?"
Lorne's tone became meaningful.
"You've heard that name before, haven't you, Goddess Aphrodite?"
Aphrodite's heart immediately tightened and she stared warily at him.
"How do you know about that?"
"Sorry. I'm the one asking the questions here. You haven't earned the right to ask any yet."
Lorne leaned forward slightly, examining this survivor from an ancient era with considerable curiosity.
"Tell me. How many members of the Bronze Tribe are left? How many Mecha-Gods like you remain? Where is your settlement? And why have you become involved with Poseidon?"
"If you cooperate, we can consider everything that happened between us settled."
"Fine. I'll tell you..."
Aphrodite seemed to have finally accepted reality as she lowered her head dejectedly.
But as Lorne leaned closer to hear her answer, the supposedly half-dead Mecha-God suddenly flashed a fierce look and her body shot upward.
One hand seized the golden short sword lying on the ground, while the other reached for Lorne's throat.
She intended to catch him off guard, take him hostage, and seize back control of the situation.
'I am a dignified Mecha-God!
A member of the Bronze Tribe, a race born for battle!
How could I possibly allow mysel'f to be manipulated so easily?
Aphrodite sneered inwardly, her expression full of pride.
Yet just as her fingertips were about to touch Lorne's neck, the corners of his mouth suddenly lifted.
A brilliant, sinister smile appeared on his lips as the man casually stepped half a pace backward.
He had clearly been expecting this.
"Sit down."
At the same moment, an irritated feminine shout came from behind her.
Aphrodite's body instantly stiffened.
Then—
"Crash!"
She was forcibly driven straight down into the ground.
With a series of crisp cracks, the Mecha-God, who had been thrown down with tremendous force, slammed into the stone tiles.
Her two thighs twisted grotesquely, while her lower body immediately went numb.
She stared at her ruined legs in shock and fury.
"You... What did you do to me?!"
"Allow me to introduce you."
Lorne smiled. "This is Medea, my junior fellow disciple and the grand-disciple of Hecate, Goddess of the Nether Moon. Her mastery of witchcraft has already surpassed her predecessor's."
He gestured toward the little witch standing behind Aphrodite.
"And the cursed blade in her hand is called the Rune of Ten Thousand Laws. It is one of Hecate's Three Divine Artifacts, a supreme divine weapon capable of both breaking and imposing curses."
"Did you really think that while removing the control placed upon you, we wouldn't leave a little insurance behind?"
Looking at the utterly composed pair of senior and junior disciples before her, Aphrodite finally understood.
She had escaped the wolf's den...
Only to fall straight into the tiger's lair.
And that so-called opening this guy deliberately revealed earlier was never an opening at all.
It was bait.
"Did you record her attempted assassination just now?"
"Of course!"
Medea happily produced the memory crystal she had been carrying, her little face glowing with a bright, innocent smile.
"Even clearer than the last one!"
Lorne took the crystal from her and waved it before Aphrodite's eyes, grinning.
"Now Triton shouldn't have anything left to say, right?"
His smile became even more meaningful.
"And if this gets out, whether Poseidon will still be willing to protect the Bronze Tribe is another matter entirely."
Aphrodite stared at the sinister pair of senior and junior disciples, her eyes turning faintly red with indignation.
"You... shameless..."
"Mm-hmm. Thank you for the compliment."
Lorne nodded without the slightest hint of embarrassment, then looked down at Aphrodite, who was lying on the ground and desperately trying to repair her damaged body.
"So, Lady Mecha-God, you wouldn't want your own actions to cause your people to lose their final sanctuary, would you?"
"..."
The proud Goddess of Love was filled with indignation.
Yet there was nothing she could do.
In terms of strength, she couldn't seem to defeat this man.
And when it came to scheming, this sinister pair of senior and junior disciples had already tricked her twice.
On top of that, the curse mark planted within her by the Rune of Ten Thousand Laws had deprived her of her freedom.
Having finally recognized reality, Aphrodite could only lie helplessly on the ground and allow her unique constitution to slowly repair her injuries.
Seeing that she had finally abandoned any thought of resistance,
Lorne crouched down in front of her, then blinked and smiled.
"Good girl. Tell me about the Bronze Tribe. Don't make this difficult for everyone."
Under his quiet, penetrating gaze, Aphrodite pursed her lips.
In the end, she could only helplessly confess. "The Bronze Tribe has long since fallen into decline. As you can see, these are all the survivors we have left. There are only two who can still be called Mecha-Gods—Ares and me."
Her voice became somewhat bitter.
"If the Sea God hadn't taken us in, I'm afraid even the last spark of our race would have been extinguished..."
"Is that so..."
Lorne nodded, appearing genuinely sympathetic toward the Bronze Tribe's current circumstances.
But the very next moment, he took the Rune of Ten Thousand Laws from Medea and expression suddenly turned cold, his smile becoming ominous.
"Sit down."
"Bang!"
Before Aphrodite could even react, the curse activated.
Her magical power moved against her will, violently launching her into the air before sending her crashing back down like a meteor.
The bones in her lower body, which had only just finished reassembling, shattered all over again with a series of teeth-grinding cracks.
"Uuugh~~!"
Aphrodite was drenched in cold sweat from the pain, her body going limp like a puddle of mud.
Lorne crouched beside her and looked down at the thoroughly battered prisoner.
His voice remained gentle.
"Do you know what you did wrong?"
Aphrodite lay face-down on the ground, lips pursed as she shook her head helplessly.
She looked as though she were about to cry.
"Because you weren't being honest."
Lorne rested his chin on one hand and looked playfully at the Goddess of Love, who still hadn't learned her lesson.
"There are already three Mecha-Gods known to be serving Poseidon.
The actual number can only be higher."
He paused, then glanced toward Aphrodite, whose body was slowly reconstructing itself on the ground.
His dark eyes became deep and unreadable.
"And yes, Poseidon took you in. I don't dispute that."
"But where exactly is your current settlement? And why didn't you tell me?"
"Atlantis..."
Aphrodite lowered her head and reluctantly answered.
Yet the instant the word left her mouth, Lorne seemed to see straight through her.
He smiled and reached for the Rune of Ten Thousand Laws lying on the table.
"Mount Olympus, the Interstellar City! Inside the Sea of Chaos! There are twelve Mecha-Gods in total! All of us were born from the creation of our progenitor, Chaos!"
Seeing the light patterns on the cursed blade gradually illuminate, Aphrodite immediately gave up and obediently revealed everything.
"That's more like it."
Seeing that the Mecha-God had finally submitted completely, Lorne nodded in satisfaction.
He picked up the large golden cup filled with divine wine from the table and held it out toward Aphrodite with a smile.
"Here. Drink this. It'll help heal your injuries."
"...."
Aphrodite stared suspiciously at the crimson liquid inside the cup.
A hazy memory suddenly surfaced in her mind.
A memory of "herself" handing Lorne a cup of wine laced with something at the banquet.
Her neck immediately shrank back.
"N-no. There's no need, right? I can recover on my own."
"What?"
Lorne's expression darkened.
"You don't trust me?"
His demeanor gradually turned cold as he picked up the cursed blade from the table.
"I'll drink! I'll drink!"
Aphrodite's scalp went numb and she immediately snatched the golden cup from his hand, gulping down every drop of the mysterious wine.
Seeing that she had successfully consumed the wine mixed with his divine blood, Lorne nodded in satisfaction.
He slowly spread his palm and began to chant.
"By the covenant of my incarnation, be taught by me, obey me, entrust yourself to me. Here, I anoint you with oil and mark you with a seal!"
As the Divine Laws within his body resonated, a golden, cross-shaped stellar sigil appeared upon his forehead.
At the same time, a golden mark manifested on Aphrodite's forehead.
The last remaining hope in the Mecha-God's heart finally died.
'This time... I'm really not clean anymore.
After being defiled twice in succession, I'll never be able to return to the Holy Land.'
And at that moment, the very culprit who had led her down this path of corruption clapped his hands and put on an amiable, friendly smile.
"All right. Now that we've finished dealing with those trivial matters..."
He smiled and said.
"We can finally continue with what we didn't finish earlier."
"What?"
Aphrodite blankly raised her head.
Under the moonlight, the man smiled as he slowly began undoing his upper garment, revealing his well-defined, muscular chest.
(End of the Chapter)
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