CHAPTER 1: DYING IS THE EASY PART, ISN'T IT?


The radiant shine of the noon sun seered across the empty sky, its light basking the bright blue almost blindingly. It was hot, very hot, enough to cause one to watch the distortion of light due to the heatwaves in the distance that cause a false projection of a distant object, commonly refered to as a Fata Morgana, a heat-induced hallucination, if only technically. The ground was almost entirely sand, very fine and very evenly spread, no dunes as far as the eye could see. The only thing that adorned this infinite desert were boulders that were growing many different minerals and ores out of them, causing them look spiked almost as if they were the quills of a porcupine. Some shone red, others green, every now and then there was even a pure, non-transparent type of white ore spotted.

One such boulder was throwing a large shadow over a lone figure. The gentle desert wind causing their unruly, red hair to wave ever so slightly in its direction, trying to fall to the side of their head but failing spectacularily due to the lacking length. They had their knees pulled up against their chest, holding them tightly by wrapping their arms around them, head sunken into their body as if forming a ball on themself.

"...Hephaestos..." was all their voice could spell out before they returned to curl into a ball, defeat looming over them like an oppressive aura.


"[...] and that concludes my report on the incident."

Another day had passed since Rivira and the Astraea Familia was safely returned to Orario, for which the namesake goddess was VERY grateful for, much to Yato's discomfort. He was not a hugging type, and she very much was. After he had delivered the adventurers home, he had beelined towards the Guild, which had already expected him. He was lead to Royman's office, who in return guided the way towards Ouranos' secret praying chamber under the Pantheon, the name of the Guild hall. He had then proceeded to give Ouranos a detailed recalling of the events, with a few tiny omissions of course. Not lies, for those would be caught by the Patron God's innate ability to see all lies, but merely left out details that were not asked about.

The wise god stroked his beard with his left hand, somewhat in thought for a moment. "That is a most troublesome discovery" he began, his deep and calm voice clearly heard across the praying chamber. "This confirms a long-asked question, but it is as you said, this information cannot be public knowledge" he continued, closing his eyes and lowering his left hand back on the armrest before said eyes opened again. "Evilus would no doubt abuse this information to respawn the Juggernaut as the ultimate trap against Orario. I shall inform only Royman about this so the Guild may issue an official gag order for the Astraea Familia. You, too, are forbidden from sharing this knowledge with anyone who has yet to find out."

Yato nodded his head and gave a bow as a sign of respect, his hands clapped together before his chest. "Then we are at an agreement, Lord Ouranos."

The Patron God let out an audible humm before he leaned back against his stony seat. "I do have one inquiry" He voiced, garnering Yato's attention as he glanced up from his bow, giving the non-verbial agreement to hear it. "Astraea Familia has barely escaped complete destruction. Since they are the primary defense force in Orario, such a thing must not repeat itself. They are the face of our goodwill for the common people, therefore, I wish for you to remain with them for some time, even join their Familia."

Yato furrowed his brows in clear disagreement with the request he has. "I believe my terms have specified that I would not be associating myself with any Familia directly. Not to mention, this is Astraea we are talking about. No matter how much she may owe me, she would not break her oath of an all-female Familia."

It was clear that Ouranos was showing agreement, for Yato was correct. The contract he had signed with the guild, mostly for the sake of having paperwork at the ready should he do something not desired, did indeed state that he would remain a neutral agent employed only by Ouranos himself. Furthermore, his estimate of Astraea's determination for her oaths were also true. A goddess of justice cannot betray her oath, for it would be unjust to her fellows who have come to follow her under the same belief. A troublesome situation, no doubt.

"In that case, we may re-negociate the contract, increase the material rewards from our end and I would be willing to grant you an additional right of authority when within the dungeon" Ouranos commented, showing that, despite the odds, he really wanted Yato to strengthen Orarios de-facto police force. "Astraea needs the strength of someone like you. So even if you do not join their Familia, at the very least, train them."

Yato couldn't deny how damn good this all sounded. A higher wage, maybe even an increase in the amount and quality from drop items the Guild would submit to him? Ontop of that, additional rights and legislative power, even if only one of his choice, within the dungeon to allow him to execute missions smoother, faster, and most importantly, delegate more of the dirty work to others so he can laze around all day?

"Alright, I don't see why not" Was his response as he gave the wizened God an approving smirk.

"I thank you, truly" Ouranos answered. "I shall see to a monetary increase of 25%, you shall have an addition of 4 drop items, one of which will be the horn of a Unicorn. As for the additional authoritary power-"

"The Ability to hire and delegate less difficult and more arduous quests to a party, if one so happens to be on the same floor as I am" Yato fired out of his mouth. "As you know no doubt, I prefer difficult but quickly finished work. Things that drag on for days are a burden and an annoyance, and so I'd like the ability to hire adventurers within the dungeon in the name of the Guild, compensated out of my own pocket, of course."

Ouranos closed his eyes in thought for a moment, letting out a long, almost defeated sigh, already being fully aware that the blademaster before him just liked the chance to have extra sleep for himself during work. "...Very well. I shall inform Royman of the addition in the contract and he shall have it all printed and ready for your signing by tomorrow night."

"Excellent!" Yato said with a cheer that was so weak it almost came off as sarcastic. "If there is nothing more, I shall dismiss myself, for I do have an all-female Familia to crown as my first ever pupils, and I would like this to be over with as soon as possible."

"Permitted. I shall see you when you are needed once more" Ouranos answered before he relaxed himself against his seat while the purple-haired man turned around and exited the chamber rather quickly.


Meanwhile, the Astraea Familia was coming together for Lunch, seated at a large, perfectly circular table, with the sitting orders being completely randomized, save for Alise and Ryuu, who were sitting on one side of Astraea each.

"My children..." Astraea began, standing up from her seat and raising her glass. "I am eternally grateful that all of you returned to me. The mission may have been deemed a failure by your subjective views, for you weren't the ones that took out Evilus, but I urge you to consider it one. You all survived a terrible fate, you returned home to your friends and loved ones. That is the most important thing, that we still can look forward to a tomorrow to come."

Her words raised the morale of her Familia significantly and the atmosphere of the Lunch became overall bright, tension disappearing and laughter returning. Overall, everything seemed to have improved quite a bit in contrast to just almost 3 days ago.

"Say, Alise" Ryuu began after she finished gulping down a piece of bread. "Do you think we will see him again?"

Her Captain, one to never let down a chance to tease, smugly smiled back at her elven friend. "Oh, Ryuu, smitten already?"

Ryuu, being used to Alise's antics, kept her calm and raised another piece of her bread close to her lips. "I would never" She started, her voice monotone and forward. "But we do owe him our lives. An act of gratitude, or at the very least, properly thanking him would be only fair. All we did for him in the dungeon is provide some provisions until we reached to the surface, and as I recall, he was incredibly stubborn about eating as little as possible."

The red-headed woman chuckled slightly, almost awkwardly, almost, while turning her attention back to her meal while still talking. "Yeah, I never thought I'd meet someone who is so stubborn about rejecting a proper reward, but unlucky for him, we are just as bad."

"You mean you are" Ryuu shot back, albeit with a small smile on her lips, before biting into earlier mentioned bread and calmly chewing through it.

"Ryuu" Alise suddenly spoke, her tone of voice having shifted drastically. Gone was the chipper tone of a woman who was psychologically immune to depression and in its place was a very serious, almost cold captain who had her priorities before all else. Everyone immediately turned silent and listened closely to their conversation. "I've been trying to make sense out of it. The way that thing fought us, its speed, its durability, its raw power... it was definetly high-end level 5, maybe even level 6, perhabs even more than that... and he struck it down in a single attack, from what little I could follow. And yet... it is clear that no one here recognizes him."

Everyone immediately understood what she was hinting at. Alise continued: "Any Adventurer with such power would be beyond famous, there'd not be a single nation which's people wouldn't have heard their name. We can see that with Loki and Freya's Captains. And yet... not one of us knows who he is. It doesn't make sense..."

Kaguya, who had been giving the two close friends their privacy to chat, decided to finally join the conversation. "He said it himself twice, supposedly, I wouldn't know the first time, I was still unconscious, but the recounting states clearly that he said he frequently goes into the Dungeon for the Guild to take on tasks and quests concerning particularily complicated matters. Someone like him would have definetly been recognized by the public no matter what the Guild tries to hide."

Alise nodded her head and placed her elbows on the table, the fingers of her hands interlocked as she leaned her face into it, the bridge between her nose and upper lip resting against her index fingers, said hands covering her mouth and chin. "He lied to us, that much is clear. He is stronger than anyone we know, perhabs even stronger than Ottarl, and yet, he is an unknown, an undefined variable."

Ryuu couldn't help but agree, not that she wanted to disagree. To her, all of it had been suspicious from the start. "Which means it is very likely that he didn't help us by coincidence like he claimed."

Those around the table that were at the Labyrinth nodded in agreement. It was clear to them all that, in some way, this Yato was directly involved with their fate on that day.

"I have a... glaring suspicion" Ryuu then added, garnering everyone's attention. "I told you that during the entire stay in the Labyrinth up until we retreated, I had this sense of dread unlike ever before... I think..." She opened her mouth, closed it, and opened it again, gathering her words. "I think we weren't supposed to survive. Whatever that creature was that spawned, it was going to wipe us all out" She continued, her eyes turning towards her goddess with the most serious expression she's ever shown to her own familia, an expression that only barely hid the pain of the truth. "Astraea Familia was SUPPOSED TO be annihilated by that thing. He came just before it claimed the first casuality and stopped it. He prevented our familia's demise."

Astraea needed a few seconds to collect herself, the sheer seriosity on Ryuu's face having given her a bit of a scare. Once she got herself calm enough to speak, she lowered her expression considerably, looking down at the table. "All we need to know is why..."

Alise, Kaguya and Ryuu nodded their heads and collectively sighed out.

Iska was the one to speak this time. "But, despite the rather suspicious circumstances, he DID save us all. Hell he even patched up my arm... though I have no idea how."

"That is another mystery" Celty added, her usual shy demeanor surpressed for the sake of the conversation. "I have never seen anything like what he did. It was... weird, really."

"In what sense?" Astraea questioned.

"He instructed her to... bite him, on the lower end of his right arm, which was completely littered with the scars of previous bite marks. When she did, her arm rejoined itself, not fully, but enough to look like she suffered a negligeble flesh wound with minor, but temporary nerve damage."

Hearing this news, Astraea nodded her head while trying to make sense of the information.

Iska nodded in agreement. "When I did bite him, it... felt exactly like I was drinking a potion as he bled into my mouth. The regenerative effect, the taste, the texture... it's as if his blood is made out of the liquid from healing potions."

"The more we find out about him, the less he makes sense" Astraea confirmed, moving her left hand up to rub her temple.

They were about to continue discussing this topic, but the doorbell to the Astraea Familia's mantion began to ring all across the massive home, signaling someone at the front door. The goddess immediately shot up from her seat. "I will be right back. I think we all know who it is" she spoke and hurried out of the dining hall in order to get the door. Her familia sat in complete, deathly silence, tense and anxious to have their collective suspicion confirmed. Almost a whole minute later and Astraea walked into the dining hall again, hands placed over her stomach as she donned a more regal stance. "We have a guest..." She said, stepping aside and allowing said guest to enter.

And indeed, as everyone thought, it was the purple-haired swordsman.

"Ain't this a lively welcome" He spoke, his expression completely neutral and his voice void of any emotion. "Sorry to intrude on you all, but there's news straight from the very top"

"Orders from Ouranos?" Astraea questioned. As she had lead him here, she didn't talk with him other than the mandatory pleasantries of greeting him before letting him in.

"Indeed" Yato spoke, crossing his arms over his chest. "As I suspected, a gag order on the Juggernaut has been placed. The name of that creature, by the way. Nobody is to reveal the secret to triggering its spawn to anyone. The Guild has written the mission off as a success, and they are in the process of confirming which Familia is behind it" he spoke.

Astraea sensed no lie within him, so she nodded to her familia without losing her serious expression.

"However, despite his faith in you, if it came out that a single Evilus familia almost wiped the Astraea Familia, the public perception of its safety would suffer an incredibly harsh blow, so he's instructed me to train you all in order to accelerate your growth. He did initially want me to join the familia as well, but I talked him out of it"

The reactions were... mixed. Most of the members and Astraea herself were thankful they didn't have to break their no-male vow, but from the sound of it, things looked like he would be over at their residence very often and for prolonged durations.

Yato immediately deduced the way everyone's eyes were on him. "I have no intentions of moving in with you all, if that's what you are so worried about". A collective of relieved sighs echoed across the hall. "However think of me as a private tutor who will be occupying the majority of your time whooping your asses and disguising it as 'training'" he shamelessly confessed, much to the familia's ire, annoyance, slight fright and, in Astraea's case, physical cringe. "But we aren't starting right away. We will begin once the Guild reports back about which familia caused the incident. So for now, proceed as you always would while I go and do my thing"

With his words spoken, he was ready to leave, turning around and taking one step towards the exit of the hall, when...

"Wait" Alise spoke loudly, earning the eastern swordsman's attention. "I... Thank you for saving all my friends. I don't know what I would have done or become had I lost them."

"You'd have gotten clinically depressed" Yato stated matter of factly. "Assuming you yourself would have survived. But, not like I care. You are welcome, and all that" He answered before he resumed his leave, stepping out and, eventually, confirming his exit via the sound of their main entrance door closing loud enough to echo across the mansion.

"What a weirdo..." Ryuu commented.

"A bit too blunt for my liking" Kaguya added.

"But I can appreciate the honesty" Iska went on.

"Agreed" Astraea confirmed. "I sensed no lies. But that doesn't mean he told us everything. He may have not lied, but he could have very well omitted some things."

"Well, no use breaking our skulls in about it" Iska continued, sighing very loudly before she resumed eating. "I'd like the rest of the day to not be about him, if it's alright with you all."


A FEW HOURS LATER

Night had freshly descended upon Orario, the sun having disappeared completely behind the mountains only minutes ago, and the very first rays of the dimm, waxing moon sickle lightly illuminating the growing darkness of the sky.

The city had begun to retreat into itself, silence overtaking the majority of the streets, the only lively part being the Entertainment District.

However, we aim our attention elsewhere, towards a corner of the city bordering the Daedalus street. A mansion that did not possess a large, open field or a walled off gate, rather mixing in with other buildings to form a neat and orderly neighbourhood block.

But, within that mansion...

"P-p-plea- AARGH!"

CLANK!

The sheating of a blade and the gushing of blood was all that could be heard, and a moment later, an audible thud as a body fell on the ground, lifeless.

Yato took a single step forward, walking past a corpse he had created, past a fallen member of the Rudra Familia, while the other members were all surrounding him, preparing themselves to fight off the deadly intruder.

But it was to no avail. Every arrow they fired, he deflected with ease. Every melee attack they performed, he countered, causing another dead body. Every spell they hurled his way, he evaded with no effort. Body after body after body collided with the ground, limbs falling and flying all over the place, blood bathing the ground and the walls in its deep red, yet Yato was unrealistically clean from any of it, except for his sandals.

"Pathetic" He commented. "You are so weak and slow that I can affort the excess movement to kill you in a way so that no blood splashes my way" He further added, mocking the remaining survivors of the Evilus Familia he was tasked with eliminating. "Now then, I will ask only once, who wants to die with some dignity?"

"DIE!" One of the members yelled as he leapt from behind, hoping to strike at the purple-haired man with a large mace.

However, Yato did not even entertain his target with the necessity of moving, the mace harmlessly and almost comically smashing to bits as it collides with his head, leaving him completely unphased and his adversary completely shocked. Yato's hand then flew towards the male attacker and his knuckles struck the enemy's neck from the left side with a very audible crunch, signifying the man's cervical vertebrae being broken, if not completely shattered, killing him instantly.

Since he got no response, Yato continued with the bloodbath, killing all of the present people one by one. He was completely merciless, leaving their bodies broken, twisted in ways no body should be, limbs missing or even literally torn into two halves. He spared no dignified means of killing for anyone.

Once he was done, his eyes turned towards the symmetrically structured stairs leading to the upper floor, which he followed, his eyes scanning around before he took towards the eastern wing of the mansion. After searching for some time, he found two large doors that lead into a room that was clearly bigger than the others.

"Master Bedroom, it seems" he said before crudely kicking his way into the room, the doors shattering and breaking free of their hinges. His eyes immediately ignored everything within the room and went towards his target, who was sitting on a chair placed before the bed, aimed towards the door, elbows resting on his knees, face buried in his hands. "Rudra, I pressume"

A single nod confirmed Yato's statement to be the truth.

"You know why I am here, so let's make this quick. You being here, facing me that way, it is obvious you have accepted your fate"

Rudra, once again, nodded his head once before looking up from his hands, his eyes puffy and reddened from crying. He mourned the death of his many children. Even if he was a member of Evilus, he had grown a deep sentiment and an attachment to them. A strange and unique, yet deep connection none the less, having bonded with them over their criminal desires the same way two more normal people would over their shared favorite foods and the likes.

Yato drew the long Nodachi from his back and took just enough steps forward so Rudra's chest was within stabbing reach so he could puncture the heart of his physical body. "Before I send you back to Tenkai, there is one thing" The swordsman began. Even though Rudra showed no reaction, it was clear he paid attention. "There is a message you need to deliver to a particular god, one who has become a bit of a hermit up there. They are needed on Gekai, and what you will deliver to them will ensure such."

Rudra was completely silent, non-reactive for a prolonged moment, before slowly nodding his head.

"Very well" Yato spoke and took a stance, the tip of his Nodachi a hair's width away from Rudra's chest, right where the heart would be. "The message is to Shiva, God of Destruction and Recreation"

Rudra showed only the faintest of reactions, his eyebrows inching upwards ever so slightly in a gesture of surprise.

"He's been on Gekai once before and returned to Tenkai on his own volition, but not before hiding something away from the other gods. Something that could threaten Gekai and Tenkai altogether. Tell him that somebody is close to finding it" Yato spoke before thrusting his blade forward, impaling Rudra's body with a clean, seamless stab, the tip of his blade peeking out from the back. "Tell him that someone is trying to release Trishula."

As he said his words, the light in the eyes of Rudra's body left completely and a beam of light shot up, encompassing the body and beaming through the ceiling all the way right into heaven. Orario's silent night was trumpeted with the light of a deity returning to Tenkai via the killing of their physical incarnation.