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2 CHAPTERS TODAY!!
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"Hestia. Give your strength."
"With you, I don't lose."
[Divine Possession]
August activated his new, unique skill.
The mont the words left his mouth, the spectators overlooking the arena froze.
Hestia's eyes went wide, nearly popping out of her skull. She hadn't expected him to test the skill right here and now. Hearing that incantation, that absolute and unshakable declaration of trust, sent her heart soaring.
'He must have practiced that line. He probably did it in secret, too.'
Hestia was filled with happiness. At that mont, she felt happy. Seeing her child use a skill powered by their bond was the best feeling she had ever known.
But the other Gods were reeling.
"Wait, hold on. A skill like that actually exists?" Takemikazuchi stared in disbelief. "There is no mistaking that aura. That is a direct Divine Protection!"
He was completely stunned. Bringing in soone like Ryu Lion was already pushing the limits, but August's countering with an active divine channel broke all the rules.
"THIS IS BAD. IF THE REST OF THE PANTHEON HEARS ABOUT THIS SKILL, THEY WILL RIOT," Hephaestus said, seeing the political danger. If the jealous, drama-hungry Gods of Orario saw a mortal using a Goddess's affection as a combat buff, they would tear the city apart out of jealousy.
While the others panicked, Artemis stood perfectly still, her erald eyes focused on August.
A strange, phantom ache tugged at her chest. For so reason, her instincts told her she was ant to be the Goddess summoned by that skill. Seeing him call on Hestia instead left her feeling out of place.
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The shockwave wasn't limited to the ruins.
High above the city, inside Room 213 of the Tower of Babel.
"..." Freya stared through the glass, her Soul Sight reaching across the distance. She saw Hestia's divine aura wrapped around August. But it was not the magic that drew her in. It was the feeling behind it.
She saw absolute trust between them. The kind of devotion that ran both ways.
Freya had never seen a bond like that before. Every form of love she had known throughout her immortal life had always been tangled up with lust, greed, or fascination with her beauty. This was different. It was an unconditional faith each placed in the other, untouched by selfish desire.
It was a feeling she could never reach. She knew she could never return a bond that pure, and that ant she could never have it.
Freya ground her teeth together. "What a sickening couple."
For the first ti in her life, the Goddess of Beauty felt total, crushing defeat. Hestia had outsmarted her, and August had outmaneuvered her. That perfect, untouchable romance disgusted her. She felt a strong urge to break that bond, to tear them apart and ruin it completely.
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Back in the arena.
Ryu Lion paused, watching the divine projection wrap around August.
"A unique skill..." She had never faced an Adventurer capable of channeling a Goddess's direct avatar.
But Naaza didn't hesitate. She drew her bowstring back and fired another triple volley.
This ti, the arrows didn't matter.
As soon as the projection settled, a huge flood of energy rushed through August's body.
[Skill: Charm/Fla Resistance. Effect Amplified.]
[Fla Emission Unlocked.]
August felt a searing, blinding heat ignite within his veins. He looked down. Roaring, crimson flas wrapped tightly around his right fist.
"Now this is power," August grinned.
He threw his arms back. The flas erupting from his hands acted like twin jet engines.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM.
August launched himself forward like a cruise missile, leaving a trail of scorched earth in his wake.
"Fast."
Ryu's eyes narrowed. He adapted right away. That jet-powered speed was much faster than her usual agility. She quickly saw he was dodging Naaza's arrows and heading straight for her.
"Naaza, hold your fire. Let him co," Ryu commanded.
She gripped her wooden training sword and charged. The Gale Wind t the blazing cot.
Green wind and red fire crashed together in midair. The shockwave turned the nearby rubble to dust. The two fighters exchanged hard blows, leaping from the broken ground into the sky above the ruins.
Ryu wasn't holding back. She unleashed her full physical prowess. Yet, driven by his twin jet thrusters, August matched her blinding speed stride for stride.
"That speed breaks the [Level 2] threshold," Naaza muttered, lowering her bow.
She watched the fight from the sidelines. Ryu was right—Naaza's arrows couldn't keep up with soone moving that fast. Unless she took a wild shot that might hit the elf, she was out of the fight.
A streak of fire. A blade of wind.
The two fighters separated, landing hard on opposite sides of the courtyard. The whole battle had changed.
Ryu looked at her weapon. The wooden blade was burned black and broken in half. August's flaming fists had destroyed it.
"Calm. Analytical. He maintained his composure at high speeds," Ryu praised him internally.
Instead of going for her body, he focused on breaking her weapon. It was a smart tactical move. Usually, the quickest way to end a fight was to knock out the opponent. Choosing to disarm a better swordsman showed he really understood her fighting style.
But August wasn't feeling particularly brilliant.
'If I hadn't broken her sword, she would have gutted .'
He touched his ribs, wincing. Seven or eight shallow lacerations crisscrossed his torso and arms, slicing right through his clothes. He didn't attack her body because Ryu's counterattacks never stopped. Even without chanting her high-speed offensive magic, her raw physical assault was suffocating.
So this was a [Level 4].
The speed of Orario's top Adventurers was unreal. Even using jet propulsion and struggling to keep up because of his inexperience, he was just barely matching her.
His raw speed matched hers, but in pure technique and edge alignnt? She outclassed him entirely.
"Dammit, that stings. Breaking the sword was definitely the right call."
August cast [Healing Fire] over his wounds, gasping for air. Aside from the heavy blows early in the fight, the recent cuts were shallow, caused by the splintered half of Ryu's wooden blade.
He paid attention to how she struck. All the deadly force was in the top half of her blade. The lower half only caused minor injuries. Even with just half a weapon, the elf was still dangerous.
"I can't keep this up. The fuel consumption is insane."
August finally realized the massive drawback of [Divine Possession].
The skill used up his stamina as fuel. Just standing with the thrusters on took a lot of endurance. Channeling Hestia's avatar gave him amazing mobility and let him cast healing flas instantly, but it used up energy fast. Every second the skill was active drained his strength.
Just as he prepared to formulate a counterattack for the broken-sword phase of the fight—
"Training concluded," Ryu announced, lowering her splintered weapon.
"Huh?"
August blinked, fighting a sudden wave of dizziness. Wait. They were stopping?
"Lady Hestia's directive was simple," Ryu explained calmly. "Force you to fight without your portal. If I pushed you hard enough to manifest your latent skills, the objective was t."
She was hired to push him to the brink, not to beat him to death.
Naaza stepped out from the shadows of the ruins, her bow slung over her shoulder.
"Lady Hestia ordered to shoot to kill. To completely break your defenses," Naaza sighed. "Unfortunately, I failed my objective."
She couldn't out-damage his hyper-regeneration.
"I see." August laughed, out of breath. Everyone had their own plan.
'Hestia...'
The adrenaline left him all at once. The flas faded, his vision blurred, and darkness crept in as exhaustion took over.
He swayed, then fell backward as gravity pulled him down.
But instead of hitting the rubble, his head landed on sothing soft. A familiar, pleasant scent surrounded him—the scent of the Goddess of the Hearth.
"August."
Hestia looked down at him, gently brushing the sweaty hair from his forehead. She saw how tired he was. The constant tension he always carried was finally fading. This was the first ti she had seen him truly defenseless.
"Sleep," Hestia whispered.
The exhaustion swallowed him whole. His tense muscles went completely slack. Nestled in Hestia's lap, August slipped into a deep, dreamless slumber.
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The spectators approached the courtyard's center.
Artemis looked at August as he lay unconscious. "He carries so much tension. If Hestia wasn't here, he probably wouldn't have relaxed enough to fall asleep."
Miach squatted beside them, pressing two fingers to August's pulse.
"He's completely out. The hyper-arousal state is finally ending." Miach gave a warm, relieved smile. "If he had stayed in that state much longer, his nervous system could have collapsed. The crash saved his life."
Hestia sighed, relief spreading over her face.
"It's been exactly seven days since you ford the contract," Hephaestus noted softly, looking down at the sleeping rookie. "That boy has been running on fus the entire ti."
Hestia knew the truth better than anyone. This "training session" was just a cover. The real goal was to make August sleep.
Since he arrived in Orario, he hadn't stopped moving. He dove into the Dungeon, fought monster hordes, got modern military support, negotiated treaties, and ran a trauma ward for wounded veterans. He moved between two worlds without a single break.
Hestia's divine senses felt the agonizing toll it took on him. He never truly slept. He just rested his eyes, remaining hyper-vigilant, perpetually preparing for the next battle.
The military doctors back on Earth had confird it. Commander Jas forwarded his latest dical scans to Hestia during her last visit. August's cells were locked in a state of hyperactivity. In modern psychological terms, severe clinical anxiety and hyper-arousal. The Earth doctors pleaded with Hestia to intervene before he suffered a total psychological break.
With that diagnosis, Hestia skipped the Denatus and quickly brought in Miach and Ryu. She set up a tough, exhausting fight ant to drain all his stamina and force his body to reset.
There was no better cure for anxiety than a completely exhausting, dreamless sleep.
"In just seven days, he lived through half a lifeti of Adventurer experience," Hephaestus said, shaking her head. "He's pushed himself way past his limits."
Ranking up to [Level 2] usually took years. August did it in a week.
Hestia looked down at August sleeping in her lap, her heart full of affection.
"Thank you."
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