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The Spider Web Gun was a design Lucian had mapped out long ago.
By utilizing the ntal ti acceleration within his internal world, Lucian had rapidly processed the engineering within the Divine Court, fabricating the gift on the spot. To be perfectly honest, he hadn't overthought the gesture. It was mostly because Shakti and Adi were familiar faces to him. Thinking about Adi's tragic fate in the original story while looking at the adorable little girl standing right in front of him triggered a spontaneous urge to give her a fighting chance.
"My, so you actually rember how to find your way back," Hephaestus's sarcastic drawl greeted him the absolute second he stepped into the Hephaestus Familia compound. "Did you have fun on your date with that little girl?"
"It was pretty nice," Lucian replied with an easy smile. He didn't let go of Talvi's hand. Instead, he stepped right up to the Goddess, wrapping his free arm around her waist. "It's only been a few days, but I missed you."
"..." Hephaestus was rendered utterly speechless. "You really are shaless."
"I can't help it. I don't have the heart to crush a girl's feelings, but I absolutely refuse to let you slip away either. I guess I'll just have to be a little greedy."
Hephaestus glared at him, furious that she couldn't refute him, but even more frustrated that he was so blatantly acknowledging his growing harem right to her face.
"Is this Big Sister?" Talvi interjected, staring at Hephaestus with wide, innocent, yet incredibly warm eyes.
"This is my Goddess, Hephaestus," Lucian introduced smoothly. "She is also my lover."
"Who said I was your lover?! I haven't agreed to anything!" Overwheld by Talvi's painfully pure gaze, Hephaestus couldn't handle the pressure and shot Lucian a vicious glare.
In this particular world, Hephaestus and the Goddess of Beauty, Aphrodite, had actually been lovers back in Heaven. But despite the title, the two Goddesses hadn't actually done anything physical before Aphrodite casually went off and hooked up with Ares. To the Goddess of Beauty, it was just about seeking a fresh thrill; she never took the relationship seriously.
But Hephaestus was incredibly pure-hearted. At the ti, she struggled with severe self-esteem issues regarding her deford eye, and Aphrodite's dazzling perfection had drawn her in. Instead of adopting the Goddess of Beauty's promiscuous habits, her brain simply short-circuited, and she impulsively confessed her feelings to Aphrodite without even considering their genders. Aphrodite casually agreed.
And then promptly cheated on her.
Expecting Aphrodite to maintain a loyal private life was a fool's errand. When Hephaestus found out, she completely snapped, locked Aphrodite in a pitch-black room, and ruthlessly punished her. And no, it wasn't that kind of punishnt. It was genuine, terrifying torture that left the Goddess of Beauty with severe psychological trauma. The betrayal left a deep scar on Hephaestus as well; just the ntion of Aphrodite's na was enough to make her expression darken into sothing truly terrifying.
Compared to Aphrodite's deceptive infidelity, Lucian's completely transparent, upfront honesty was infinitely easier to digest. Even so, there was no way Hephaestus was just going to accept it with a smile. It took Lucian quite a bit of sweet-talking to finally pacify her.
Tsubaki, who just so happened to be passing by, was absolutely dumbfounded by the display. Hiding just out of her Goddess's line of sight, Tsubaki flashed Lucian an exaggerated thumbs-up from where Hephaestus couldn't see.
That night, Lucian didn't have Talvi stay in his room. Just to be safe, he didn't pull her into the Divine Court either. And it was a good thing he didn't. In the dead of night, Hephaestus masterfully picked the lock to his room and crept inside like a thief.
A midnight ambush! Lucian thought, slightly amused.
Just as Hephaestus reached the edge of his bed, he lunged, seizing her wrists and seamlessly pinning her beneath him.
"Kya!" The sudden reversal startled Hephaestus, forcing an adorably uncharacteristic squeak from her lips.
"Sneaking into my room in the middle of the night? What are you up to?" Lucian teased, a knowing smirk playing on his lips.
"I ca to castrate you," Hephaestus snapped, trying her hardest to maintain an icy glare. "To keep you from going out and plucking wild flowers."
"That's a bit extre, isn't it? What about your own future happiness?" Lucian sighed dramatically.
While he categorically rejected threats from others, he was a lot more lenient when he knew he was the one in the wrong.
"I certainly didn't expect you to take a brief trip out of town and bring a 'sister' back for ," Hephaestus grumbled resentfully. "If you're going to pull stunts like that, I might as well lock you up by my side permanently."
Lucian felt a headache coming on. When won started kicking up a fuss, it was genuinely terrifying. Navigating a harem bloodbath was genuinely exhausting, but no matter how difficult, he had to take responsibility.
"It's my fault," Lucian admitted softly, shaking his head as he wrapped his arms around her. He didn't try to push things further; he simply held her tight, burying his face gently in the crook of her neck.
"You..." Feeling his warm breath against her skin, Hephaestus sighed in defeat.
She had only snuck in to give him a hard ti and test his reaction. Seeing him act so vulnerable and yielding completely deflated her anger. His attitude was clear, and dragging the argunt out wouldn't accomplish anything. She wasn't the type to throw endless, petty tantrums.
"Do you forgive ?" Lucian whispered.
"No," Hephaestus mumbled sullenly.
Lucian didn't press the issue, and neither did she. Wrapped in each other's embrace, the profound sense of security quickly took over, and Hephaestus unceremoniously drifted off to sleep. Hearing her breathing even out, Lucian finally let out a long sigh of relief.
. . .
When dawn broke, Hephaestus jolted awake, her singular eye snapping wide as she stared at the sunlight filtering through the window.
Oh no! If she walked out of his room at this hour, she would be spotted imdiately. It was over. If the rest of the Familia found out she had spent the night in Lucian's room, she would be completely and utterly socially dead. Hephaestus buried her face in her hands, entirely devoid of the will to live.
"What's wrong?" Lucian opened his eyes. Showing absolutely zero morning grogginess, he looked at her with crystal clarity. "Everyone already knows about our relationship anyway. What's the big deal if we make it public?"
"The big deal is people finding out I've beco part of your 'harem'!" Hephaestus glared fiercely at him, though her resistance crumbled almost instantly. "Whatever. Do what you want," she muttered in annoyance.
After a full night's rest, her negative emotions had largely dissipated. Since she couldn't control him, she just had to accept it. She wasn't like Hera, who caused a fuss all day long. Unlike the majority of the gods in Heaven, whose concept of 'love' was shallow and fleeting, Lucian actually understood what taking responsibility ant. She could see that he was different, and since she couldn't stop him, she would let him be.
"Right, speaking of Beltane—the Spring of Life is a Divine Weapon dropped into the Lower World by Bheara. The spring generates its water by absorbing ambient mana." Lucian quickly pivoted to business. "Also, I've successfully manifested the Divine Court."
With a wave of his hand, he activated his magic, instantly teleporting both of them directly into the Divine Court. They stood upon a vast, pristine marble plaza. A short distance away sat a cluster of neatly constructed residential buildings.
"You can actually bring your physical body in here now..." Hephaestus murmured, her breath catching in awe.
Suddenly, a strange realization washed over her. Standing in this dinsion, she could distinctly feel that releasing her divine seals wouldn't trigger the restrictive chanisms left behind by the gods. Whenever the gods descended to the Lower World, they bound their own power. If they dared to tap into their Arcanum, the rules embedded into the fabric of the world would instantly detect it and forcibly deport them back to Heaven.
But here... did this an she could bypass the Lower World's restrictions entirely and use her divine power to cheat the system? Hephaestus fell into deep thought.
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