With Shakti leading the members of the Ganesha Familia as protection, Roy and Ryuu safely returned to the surface.
Time inside the Dungeon was always vague. After playing hide-and-seek with the Rudra Familia and fighting the decisive battle on the 10th Floor, seven or eight hours had passed without them realizing it.
When the two emerged, night had long since fallen. The sky was blanketed with stars, shining brilliantly. A cool night wind brushed against their faces, helping the dazed exhaustion left by the fierce battle fade into clarity.
More than several thousand people were still gathered at the scene. To learn the outcome of this highly anticipated War Game as soon as possible, they were willing to wait.
The moment Roy and Ryuu appeared, everyone froze. They vaguely sensed the result of the War Game—but still couldn't quite believe it.
"I am Ganesha… Shakti, what happened?" Ganesha manifested.
All eyes focused on Shakti.
She pressed her lips together. "The Rudra Familia encountered an unexpected situation in the Dungeon. They were completely annihilated."
The Rudra Familia—wiped out. No survivors!
The vast plaza, filled with thousands of people and over a hundred gods, fell into deathly silence. As expected, the expressions on everyone's faces stiffened.
Almost no one believed the Astraea Familia could win. At best, they thought Astraea Familia would be defeated and then escorted out of the Dungeon by the Ganesha Familia in disgrace.
Who could have imagined this outcome?
"How did they do it?"
The same question arose in everyone's mind.
Even the gods couldn't understand it. It had been 152 versus 2. Even with the Level 4 adventurer known as Gale Wind, the numerical gap should have been insurmountable!
"What happened in the Dungeon?" people grabbed the Ganesha Familia members who had just gone in to clear the collapse.
The Ganesha Familia members opened their mouths, but no words came out. What they had seen defied simple explanation.
On the 10th Floor's vast cavern—new monsters larger than Goliath, the horrifying deaths of the Rudra Familia members—everything felt eerie beyond reason.
Shakti stepped forward to ease the pressure. "This is complicated and can't be explained in a few words. We'll submit a detailed report to the Guild afterward. If you want answers, go there."
By skillfully shifting the matter to the Guild, she barely managed to calm the crowd's curiosity. However, one key figure couldn't be brushed aside so easily.
The confidence once written all over Rudra's face was gone. His expression twisted as he stared at Roy and Ryuu, demanding, "What did you do?!"
In front of the gods, lies were impossible. The two didn't answer, quietly returning to Astraea's side and leaving the rest to their goddess.
Astraea spoke calmly, "No need for further words. We have won this War Game."
"Goddess, please."
Roy smoothly handed over a sharp dagger. Astraea gave him a strange look—he seemed a little too eager.
She didn't think much of it. Taking the dagger, she tossed it toward Rudra, her flawless face radiating authority.
"God Rudra, perform self-exile."
The dagger landed at Rudra's feet.
Everyone present stared blankly. That was a god—and she was telling him to do it himself!
The other gods, however, watched with clear interest.
Rudra picked up the dagger and tested its sharpness, easily slicing his finger.
Gods had their pride. Very few refused to accept the outcome of a game, and with so many gods watching closely, if Rudra refused to leave with dignity, there were countless ways the others could ensure he did.
"Hmph. You've won."
Rudra snorted and plunged the dagger into his chest. The blade pierced cloth and flesh, driving straight into his heart.
When a god in the Lower World suffered a fatal wound, divine power automatically activated—repairing the body while simultaneously violating the pact among the gods, triggering forced return to the heavens.
Boom!
Divine power erupted. White light burst from Rudra's body, an endless, overwhelming force shooting straight into the sky and forming a massive pillar of heavenly light.
This was a god's radiance—brilliant and dazzling, one of the most awe-inspiring sights in the world.
The people in the plaza—no, the entire city of Orario—paused in their work, looking up at the magnificent white pillar in the distance.
Roy was no exception. The divine pillar reflected in his eyes.
This was exactly what he wanted to see.
No one failed to understand what that pillar meant—a god had been sent back to the heavens.
The Rudra Familia was completely destroyed, god and all, destined to exist only in after-dinner gossip from now on.
The news spread rapidly throughout Orario.
Faces everywhere filled with disbelief.
Adventurers who had bet everything on the Rudra Familia clutched their heads and cried out in despair.
Those who had bet on the Astraea Familia celebrated, carrying away huge bags of valis.
Of course, none of that had anything to do with Roy and the others.
Goddess Astraea was summoned to Babel Tower for a divine assembly. The gods wanted to know how Roy and Ryuu had annihilated the entire Rudra Familia.
Roy wasn't worried in the slightest—because Astraea herself had no idea how it happened. The gods were destined to come up empty-handed tonight.
Roy and Ryuu returned to Heavenly Star Court.
Having just washed up, the elf girl's golden hair shone like ripe wheat under the light, her long pointed ears flushed faintly pink. Steam clung to her, adding a gentle softness—
If one ignored the fact that she was fully armed.
Ryuu walked up to Roy.
"Continue."
At that moment, it felt like a perfect echo of the past. The familiar scene made Roy recall the very beginning, when he had urged her to keep grinding the Dungeon.
The hatred in Ryuu's sky-blue eyes hadn't diminished in the slightest. Killing intent radiated from her.
"There are still other Dark Familias… and the merchant guilds colluding with them…"
"No."
Roy covered his ears and flatly refused. They had just finished a massive battle, and now she wanted to go after other Familias and merchant groups? Was she rushing to reincarnate?
"You—?" Ryuu glared at him.
"All right," Roy said calmly. "Let me put it another way. Do you think the Astraea Familia should continue to exist?"
That question struck straight at her soul, freezing Ryuu in place.
Roy looked at her steadily.
In the original timeline, the organizations Ryuu destroyed—including merchant guilds and mercenary groups made of thugs—numbered twenty-seven. Four gods tied to the Dark Faction were sent back to the heavens. Her revenge had never truly ended.
This time, using the justification of a War Game, wiping out the Rudra Familia was perfectly legitimate.
But slaughtering an entire Familia was never a good reputation to have. Even if the victims were irredeemable criminals, doing this repeatedly would make the Astraea Familia look no different from a terrorist organization in the eyes of others.
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