“Please, please begin, mister Astaroth,” Evyna said. Though the hands clutched in front of her chest betrayed her nervousness, her face carried a determined shine.

“Very well. Then, today shall be the day you are taken by the darkness.” A dark smile on my face, I gestured to the Demon Generals around the dark purple magic circle and took a black book from my [Storage].

The candles in the dark ritual room flickered as though to signal their impatience for the ritual that was about to occur, and I raised my voice and my hand in Evyna’s direction, my voice like a prayer.

“By the powers vested within me,

I beseech thee to manifest,

Darkness darker than the night and blacker than all.

I present to thee an offering, powerless and weak,

So claim her life in the name of the hammer of creation

And grant her thy blessings in exchange for her servitude.”

The same as only a few days ago, in exchange for large amounts of my mana, a peculiar black light emerged from the magic circle and wrapped itself around the ritual’s ‘giving’ party. Unlike back then, this time, that party was me—in other words, the darkness wrapped itself around me as if giving me a warm, gentle hug.

After significantly longer than it had lingered around Philia, the black light eventually left my side and made its way to Evyna in the shape of a ball. It entered Evyna’s chest, just as it had Richard’s, and a few seconds later-

I lost consciousness.

I opened my eyes the moment I regained consciousness, and found myself somewhere rather different than before.

In a word, ‘black’. No matter which way I looked, I was surrounded by black on all sides, never-ending, never-starting, yet somehow, I was still able to see myself—as well as the other party I was together with.

Opposite to me, about a metre away, stood Evyna, looking at me with eyes that told me she feared for her life.

“Where… Where are we, mister Astaroth?” she asked me, taking a step in my direction. I estimated that if I didn’t answer, she’d most likely start crying.

Amusing as that would have been, I decided not to bully her. “There is no particular need to be afraid, Evyna. This is Lady Entropy’s Godly Realm, is all.”

She looked me in the eyes, blinked once, twice. “Uh… You mean… Like the Saints…”

I chuckled. “Indeed, like the place the Saints visit upon their ascension. You are well-informed for a low-clearance Hero.”

Again, she blinked a few times as she looked at me. “Mister Astaroth, you seem… calm. Are you used to being here?”

In lieu of an answer, I snapped my fingers and gestured to my side.

Where had moments ago been an empty void, there was now a black throne, carved with intricate decorations. Much more interesting was its white-haired occupant, sitting motionless like a doll.

“I often invite him, when, I want some private time. Because, a lot of the monsters, don’t care, for privacy,” Lady Entropy said, nodding to herself. “And, everything Astaroth said is right. This is… my Godly Realm. And, that cold queen, and her perverted underling, were here too.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at her words, filled with pauses and breaks.

“Th-Then, this is…?” Evyna said, looking at Lady Entropy for a good few seconds. The moment I nodded, she fell to her knees in a position of prayer, murmuring something about an apology and misconduct.

I chuckled once more. “There is no need to be so formal, Evyna,” I said, placing a hand on Lady Entropy’s head. “We are hardly in any kind of position to be considering worship etiquette. Your feelings alone are plenty.”

Without dodging my hand, Lady Entropy continued my train of thoughts. “He’s right. Get up, human girl. It’ll take around an hour, so, ask us anything.”

She followed our instructions and, though unsteadily, stood up. “Uhm, then,” she said, before falling into a several seconds-long pause. She glanced between me, my hand and Lady Entropy a few times before continuing. “Uh, it might be a bit, you know, embarrassing, but, uh, I’ll start with this one: are the two of you in a, uhm, re, relationship?”

Though Lady Entropy did not give any manner of verbal response, I could practically feel her stiffen under my hand. Slowly, very slowly, she turned her head towards me. Despite her white cheeks and complete lack of a facial expression, anyone with half a functioning brain cell could tell she typically would have been blushing like mad.

I allowed an interested smile to creep onto my face as I closed an eye. “Leaving the answer aside for now, how did you draw this conclusion?” I asked.

“Well, uh, when you said you were going to spend the whole day praying, you know, to Lady Entropy, your expression wasn’t really, uhm, an expression of respect for, well, a deity.” She looked around in an attempt to avoid my gaze, fidgeting with her hands. “I don’t think any of the monsters noticed, but it was, how do I put this… It was more like a charming, uh smile? Like the one you’d give when you’re looking forward to spending time with a precious person. And, uhm…” She pointed at my hand, which was still resting on Lady Entropy’s head. “So, uh?”

Lady Entropy stiffened yet more and whispered something about ‘looking like that’ and ‘talking about me’. I decided to ignore her whispers.

Having ignored my earlier chance to bully Evyna, I was still in a mischievous mood, so I decided instead to bully Lady Entropy, just a little. “Well, I wonder?” I said, smirking. “Of course, it’s only a given that I would find her incredibly adorable, and there is no creature in the world who could disagree, but I can’t read minds-” a lie, I had several ways to do such- “so I do not possess a way of ascertaining her feelings without asking. So, Lady Entropy?”

Though I couldn’t see it, I still couldn’t help but enjoy the spectacle of Lady Entropy’s emotions throughout my sentence, from slight disappointment, to a mixture of embarrassment and happiness, which in turn quickly made place for pure embarrassment. Without a word, Lady Entropy turned her head away.

In response, Evyna scratched her cheek with a half-warm, half-awkward smile plastered on her face.

Eventually, in a whisper I could barely hear, Lady Entropy responded with something along the lines of ‘you already know that’.

I cleared my throat. “Well, as you can see, this is how it is. Do you have any other questions?”

She thought in silence for a moment. “Then,” she said after a while, “how did the two of, of you, uhm, meet?”

It seemed she was still more interested in interpersonal relationships than practical information.

“Enemies,” Lady Entropy responded after a moment of silence. She turned her head back in Evyna’s direction, and I could tell she was glancing at me from the corner of her eyes.

I could feel my mouth twitch, just a little. “More specifically,” I said, “my entire platoon of Heroes and natives had just been annihilated. Lady Entropy noticed I was not under the control of an Azalyth, and extended an invitation to me. That leaves us where we are now.”

“I, I see,” Evyna said, nodding to herself. Belatedly, she blinked in surprise. “Wait, ‘platoon’? Uhm, mister Astaroth, what exactly, uh, is your hero skill, anyway…?”

I chuckled. “Are you curious? It cannot be helped. Of course, I possess the standard hero skills—[Storage], [Saviour] and the like—but my true power, as you seem to have guessed, comes from my unique hero skill. [Skill Borrowing]—in short, it lets me use my subordinates’ skills.”

The colour drained from Evyna’s face. “Sub-subordinates? You mean, your army…?”

My smirk warped into a grin. “Certainly, my army counts for my skill’s effect. The magic research division’s spells, for example, are at my command…”

I trailed off as Evyna remained silent and motionless. “Are you afraid?” I tried. “It cannot be helped-”

“That’s amazing!”

Before I’d realised, she was no more than ten centimetres from my face, looking at me with sparkling eyes.

With narrowed eyes and a click of my tongue, I shoved her away.

“Ah… I’m sorry, before I realised I was doing, I just…”

“It is fine, so long as you do not repeat your mistake. Anything else?”

With more interest than was probably necessary, Evyna inspected Lady Entropy’s face. The moment she took a step closer, Lady Entropy shrunk back. Evyna, understanding the hint, took a step back again and turned to face me once more. “Uh, I’ve been thinking this for, uhm, a while, but, uh, I wasn’t really expecting the, well, incarnation of, you know, malice, to be such a pretty g-girl.”

Lady Entropy canted her head to the side in rather a cute gesture. “Malice?” she asked, blinking. “Is that, what Heroes are taught?”

I chuckled to myself. “Indeed, Lady Entropy. If I recall, I brought it up when we first met…”

Evyna furrowed her brow. “That, uh, that is what we were, well, told, yes. Miss, miss Goddess of, of Darkness, are you not an, uhm, incarnation of malice?” She tilted her head to one side to mirror Lady Entropy. It was clear she didn’t mean to lay an insult in that sentence, but she certainly did do it.

I slowly moved my hand across Lady Entropy’s head. “Now, now, Evyna,” I said, shaking my head, “you must not say such things to people’s faces. Though Lady Entropy is magnanimous, others would… Regardless. Do you think she looks like an incarnation of all the malice in the world? Is she not far too cute for that?”

“That’s a lie, Luciel tells, to make it easier, to convince, the Heroes,” Lady Entropy said, her gaze unwavering. “It’s easier to convince someone, to fight, something like, an ‘incarnation of malice’, than something the same as yourself.” Though her voice was as toneless as ever, it almost felt like there was a twinge of regret to her words.

“Ah, I see,” Evyna said, nodding to herself. “For sure, I’d feel much, uh, more comfortable, uhm, fighting a wolf than, uh, a human.” She seemed rather satisfied to be learning more and more about the Goddess who had become her enemy.

I winced a little at the second unintentional insult out of her mouth in a few minutes.

“Then, uh,” she continued, “compared to, to Lady Luciel, what exactly, uhm, are you, miss Goddess of Darkness?”

Lady Entropy briefly tilted her head in thought before answering. “Original? Anything else is, for now, a secret. Even from Astaroth. I couldn’t, tell anyone, even if I wanted to.”

“That, uh, doesn’t tell me much, uhm, at all… But if it’s a secret, I guess it can’t, well, be helped.” Her drooping eyes betrayed that, despite her words, she was rather disappointed. “But, uhm, in the first place, what exactly is, uh, a goddess? It’s a little unclear…”

The feverish interest gleaming in her eyes made a stark contrast with her nervous disposition.

“Mh… There are, multiple answers, to that question. I can’t, reveal the full truth, but… Well, first, there’s what you see before you. Right now.” Lady Entropy gestured to herself for emphasis. “A ‘body’, so to say. It can be rebuilt, but the time that takes, depends on the amount, of faith. Of course, since Astaroth gained control, my faith has grown, but still… it’d take me a month, at least.” Though she was certainly not finished with her explanation, she turned to me—it seemed that talking on her own for long periods of time was still difficult.

I restricted the urge to hug the adorable girl looking at me from below, and continued where she left off. “The goddesses’ power, in large part, comes from the things they all possess. Their Aspects. For example, Lady Salamander’s Aspect of Heat, Lady Undine’s Aspect of Coolness, Lady Gnome’s Aspect of Rigidity… And, of course, the Aspect of Protection, which used to belong to Lady Luciel.” I ignored the mutters about other goddesses from my side. “They can be bestowed upon mortals, and stolen if those mortals are killed… In truth, it’s not that complicated if you simply treat them as physical objects. The important part here is that, although a Goddess can exist without Aspects, she cannot create new ones. Given their power, having one stolen is… a problem, shall we say.” I couldn’t contain the dark chuckle that welled up in my throat, and it left my mouth as shadows danced across my face.

Prompted by my silence, Lady Entropy seemed to make the brave decision to finish the explanation. “Goddesses could also be called, ‘managers’, of sorts. I rule, darkness, and Sylph, wind, and Undine, water… and so forth. In that sense… if someone were to, somehow, defeat a goddess, they’d have to, take over, with their new power, or it’d be bad, for the world.”

“I see… has something like that, uhm, happened before?” Evyna’s eyes blazed with the flames of curiosity as she sneaked closer to Lady Entropy, like a tiger stalking its prey.

“... No.” Lady Entropy shrunk back in her throne in what appeared to be an attempt to distance herself from Evyna. She wasn’t very successful.

I narrowed my eyes in irritation. “Evyna,” I said, shoving her backwards once more, “are you sure you’re not a beast-person? You seem to be fuelled more by desire than by reason.”

The colour, which had only just returned to her face, once again vanished into the abyss called ‘panic’. “Ah, uh, so, so sorry!” she said, taking another step back on her own. “It’s just, uhm, this was the first time I heard about, well, this, so I got, uhm, overexcited… sorry.”

Lady Entropy shook her head. It seemed to be intended as a sort of symbol of forgiveness.

“There’s, uhm, just one more thing. We’re taught about, uh, really strong monsters, called, Demon Kings, which the Goddess of Darkness creates to, you know, protect herself. Is that, uh… true?”

Lady Entropy blinked in apparent surprise before she turned to me, then back to Evyna. “Well, there could be a monster, called a Demon King, but, as far as I know…” She muttered to herself something I didn’t quite catch, about a ‘game’, before shaking her head. “There hasn’t been one, yet. But, Astaroth might…”

I chuckled. “Certainly, it is not outside of the realm of possibility I would-”

I was interrupted by the sound of a loud crash, like a mirror falling to pieces, followed by a childish, shouting voice.

“I’m coming in!”

The voice was feminine. On one side, the black void we were in fell to pieces like a broken window, revealing brown behind it, and through this gap jumped a young child.

“Lady Entropy, hello! You too, Lord Astaroth! I have a request!”

Even shorter than Davna’s human form, appearing perhaps ten to twelve years old, with the same pointed ears that Lady Entropy and I had. Brown, short hair and equally brown eyes, a well-featured, wheat-skinned face—in short, a rather cute child. Her dress, similar to Lady Entropy’s, but brown, by all means should have tripped her. Most telling, however, was the peculiar brown mark on her cheek.

This child, standing in front of us…

Was the Goddess of Earth, Gnome.