It has been a week since Nayuta started looking for Hypnos with the help of the other goddesses. After telling Kizuna and the others in the command room, she explained it to everyone else.

While it was good to know that this fight was going to end, that also meant everyone would have to do their best so it ended well. So everyone spend this last week preparing as they saw fit.

Right now, Kizuna was participating in a mock battle against Thor along with the girls from Quartum and Gertude. Even though it was 6 vs 1, things weren't looking good for them.

"At this rate, we might as well give up right now."

Thor said as he dodged all the incoming attacks. Kizuna got closer and tried to engage Thor in hand to hand combat, but…

Thor easily dodged all of Kizuna's attacks. Even so, Kizuna didn't let up and was quickening his attacks more and more.

While the girls from Quartum were stunned by what they were seeing, Gertude mainly ignored it as she continued firing. Her bullets might have been like a bug sting for Thor, but if she could at least create an opening, then-

"This is getting a little irritating."

"I know, that's why I'm doing it damn it!"

"Ger-san, keep it up!"

"Roger that, boss. But don't use that damn nickname!"

Quartum couldn't just keep looking while doing nothing. Ramza was the first to act, using her powers over fire to cover her tomahawk with that element, she tried to hit Thor from behind. Of course, Thor was able to dodge, but now he had to worry about both Kizuna and Ramza.

Except, the other members of Quartum soon joined as well. Clayda used her sword to become Thor's third close quarters opponent, then Elma used her hammer's ability to reverse cause and effect to break Thor's defense, creating an opening that was taken by Lunora with her twin swords.

While it was a good display of teamwork, it wasn't enough.

"Still too weak!"

Thor used some lightning to clear some space between himself and his opponents. Kizuna was able to dodge it, but the members of Quartum weren't able to and had to take that attack.

"S-shit, he's just too strong."

"The gods are cheating!"

"… Heh, so now something on this level isn't enough to knock you all out anymore? Good."

While Thor was distracted, Kizuna came close once again. But this time, the attack came from Thor. It was a punch, Kizuna tried to defend it using his hands.

"… Hoh."

Actually, Kizuna didn't try to defend, he was able to do it. Thor didn't know how, but Kizuna was able to hold one of his punches. Well, Thor wasn't using all his power, but it was still the first time he had seen someone here do it.

In that opening, Gertude charged her pistols and shot at Thor. The bug sting became more like a thrown ball. It wasn't enough to really damage Thor, but it made him lose his footing for a split second.

At that split second, the members of Quartum came in from all four sides. They aimed their weapons at Thor's neck, stopping just before hitting it, as if declaring their victory.

"Don't you think this is your win, I've only been playing around. That said, I'll give you guys a pass today since I'm happy to see some growth."

And so ended the mock battle. After it was done, Thor came to talk with Kizuna.

"What was that? From what I felt, you didn't just hold my punch, you did something. What was it?"

"Well…"

"You haven't been the only one teaching them stuff, you know."

Osiris then appeared as if out of thin air. Thor guessed she wouldn't explain what she had taught Kizuna, and while he was curious, it wasn't something he needed to know.

"Kizuna, can you come with me for a bit?"

"Sure."

Kizuna then went off with Osiris.

/

Thanatos was in the building functioning as a research and engineering department, the place where her new mechanical arms were created.

She had those arms equipped on her. The team was doing some maintenance and other stuff in Thanatos mechanical arms to make sure they were ready for combat.

"H-hum…"

Thanatos had the impression the girl beside her, Momo if she recalled correctly, wanted to say something. So Thanatos voiced out.

"It's fine to talk with me normally, you know. Right now, I'm not much different from you."

"A-ah, s-sorry. Then…"

Apparently, that really was what was stopping Momo from talking. It was understandable. Thanatos had been the strongest goddess but was now forced to work with humans to survive. One could arrive at the conclusion that she thought of it as a humiliation, but it wasn't the case at all.

"Ah,hahaha. I was going to make a joke saying you wouldn't even miss your powers once you got used to these babies, but then I thought you might have been offended so I wasn't going to say it."

"I see" Thanatos then started laughing. It wasn't a good joke, but she knew Momo had good intentions, so it wouldn't hurt to laugh a bit. It's not like it was forced anyway.

Thanatos had gotten to know Momo from the times she came here to help make and maintain these new mechanical arms. She had also heard some stuff about her from Kizuna, like how she treated the things she created as "her babies", while Kizuna himself found it eccentric but also nice, Thanatos found it an interesting characteristic, and it reminded her of the woman who created both her and Hypnos.

"If I'm going to be honest, I won't say that I don't miss my powers, but I've learned to live without them. I don't know if I would be able to go back to living the way I did while I had my powers."

While she was still the strongest goddess, Thanatos kept looking for a reason or purpose for her life. Ironically, once she lost her powers and got to see the woman who created her, she discovered she didn't need something like that.

"A-ah, sorry, for making you think about something like that."

"I don't mind it."

Once the team finished working on Thanatos' mechanical arms, she transformed them back to their blue diamond shaped collar form.

After that, she took Momo's hand in a handshake. While it surprised Momo, she wasn't against it. Then, Thanatos said.

"Momo, is it? You don't really have to think of me as a goddess anymore, of course, that also goes for everyone else. Since I might live in your world for a while, I'd be happy if we could all be friends."

"Ah, sure. If you're going to live there, we'll show you to all kinds of places and things, so just you wait."

After that, Thanatos said she had to go somewhere, so she left that place.

/

Kizuna and Osiris had already finished what they were doing. Osiris went on ahead and Kizuna headed to a certain place right after.

The place both of them had to go to was the command room. Tonight, something very important would be discussed.

Kizuna said they should go together, but Osiris said there was something she wanted to do before the meeting, so she went on ahead. Kizuna wanted to take that chance to talk with her about the illusion they both saw (or at least that's what he thinks) but he guessed it could be left for some other time.

Then, on his way to the command room, Kizuna ended up meeting with Thanatos.

"Hey."

"Hey."

Without even as much as asking, they started walking together as if it was only natural. They had grown a lot closer these past weeks.

"So, what were you doing?"

"Some last checks on the arms. And you?"

"I training with Thor for a while and then practice with Osiris."

Then, silence fell between them. It was like there was nothing to talk about. And then they both started laughing.

There was nothing for them to talk about, but that's because, over the last weeks, they had talked so much there was simply nothing left. But that wasn't a bad thing. If anything, it symbolized how much closer they had gotten.

Then, in that silence, they entered the command room. The usual members of Nayuta, Reiri, Kei, Thor, Odin and Hokuto were already there. Osiris arrived not long after Kizuna and Thanatos.

Things had gotten much better after he finally came clean with his sister, so now Reiri properly looked at Kizuna, just like everyone else, as he entered the room. Just as Kizuna thought, this was much better than them being awkward around each other.

"Well, everyone is finally here. Then, let's start this strategy meeting. The strategy for how we're going to fight Hypnos."

Just as Nayuta had said, these members were there to think of the best strategy to battle with Hypnos. Of course, it wasn't just about the combat. They knew Hypnos would be waiting for them, so they would be ready for him.

And so they started the strategy meeting. Soon, the final battle would start.