"What is this?" Asherah asked in a tone of utmost seriousness. Unable to comprehend what she beheld in front of her. Its flavor, texture, and temperature were all perfectly aligned into a culinary delight.

The item in question? The universal genius food Jagamaru-kun!

"Whew! Glad you liked it, and freshly cooked too!" Hestia exclaimed as she swiped her brow as she had introduced her lost friend to the first meal in celebration of her (temporarily) freedom from imprisonment. Of course Hakuno and Ais were joining in on eating Jagamaru-kun as well, both fond of the popular snack as Asherah's dull eyes began to faintly regain a spark of life to them as a lone tear fell from them. It only served to have Hestia right by her friend's side and comforting her friend who was imprisoned for who knows how long in that dark pit and got something to actually eat.

Ais felt something for the goddess, and a form of both bitterness and sadness. Hakuno had explained how the Dungeon was made with Asherah as the core, of how the monsters inside the Dungeon were once humans, now reincarnated into those things. The bitterness was because it was the ones responsible for Asherah's suffering that she too suffered pain and loss. Sadness because the goddess in front of Ais reminded the new Fairy Knight of her own past…but not without hope.

It was thanks to the actions of both Hakuno and Bell that Asherah acquired a temporary mortal body to leave the Dungeon for the first time in millenia. Her Lady for discovering the truth and revealing it in Denatus, and Bell's unique Skill that destroyed War, its hidden properties damaging the seal's strength and rekindling Asherah's lost hope. What was in front of the Sword Princess wasn't a goddess, but a girl locked in a dark place, finally rescued by her heroes.

Ais mentally vowed by her new Holy Sword that the ones responsible for all of this pain and suffering long ago before the Radiant Dawn will face a reckoning like no other. Selfishness harms others when it is excess, and those gods that were involved will face the consequences.

"Well at least Freya would be happy to see you as well…" Hakuno said before pausing in mid-thought. "How do you know Freya anyways?" she asked.

"Frey? She actually came to me for advice on how to be a wife on several occasions when she finds her Odr." Asherah answered with a hint of nostalgia in her voice before blinking and looking at Hakuno oddly. "Is she still looking for him?" the goddess asked.

"Yes."

"Oh…"

The way she said it sounded like she understood Freya quite well. Especially since Asherah had a longing tone as well. Both goddesses long for their beloved spouses, one never found, the other long dead.

"...So why not see Freya and let her know you're alright? She's been quite furious when she learned of what happened to you and has been striving to get you out of the Dungeon." Hestia suggested. Asherah blinked at that, clueless of what her other friend was going through.

"There is a Denatus tomorrow, Mother. We can bring Asherah along with us, I'm sure a few familiar faces would like to know what she's been through." Hakuno added her two cents before biting into another Jagamaru-kun.

"...The child in the mourning dress is right." Asherah agreed, causing Hestia to look at Hakuno or rather specifically, the attire she wore with a realization and understanding. "At Denatus, I'll see new faces…and explain what horrors have been unleashed onto this world."

*Denatus-Next Morning*

"This Empire is mocking us!"

"Those bastards fight dirty!"

"Let's bring the fight to them!"

Ouranos, finally sitting alongside his fellow deities as Gaia maintained the seal on the Dungeon in his stead began to rest his hand on his forehead in exasperation. They're all obsessed with getting back at the Empire for launching an assault on Orario and killing several adventurers and kidnapping civilians. They're not talking anything about the civilians at all, just their wounded pride.

Except for a few.

"So Ouranos, the people in the poorer districts have been sheltered, with rations distributed amongst the people. I do need to note that they'll need new clothes since a great deal of their homes were destroyed by the attack and several parents and children are requesting someone to rescue kidnapped family members." Freya told him, holding a list of things needed to be said as Ouranos sighed in exhaustion.

"Given the injuries, some will have to have higher priorities in healing. Others with lesser injuries, my Familia can handle." Miach reported at one glance to Dian Cecht, the other Familia that specializes in potions and healing was having a look of smug superiority on his face since Freya was paying for his services.

"Oi, oi, where's Hestia?" Loki complained, "She said she had a special surprise for us and she's runnin' late!" the trickster exclaimed.

Then the doors opened up, revealing said goddess herself…alongside the Holy Witch and a goddess none in Denatus have seen before nor recognized-all except Freya whose eyes widened in realization and shock. "Sorry we're late everyone." Hestia spoke up, jabbing a thumb at the goddess behind her. "We had to get her ready and presentable…even if I disagree, she wears those garbs my daughter made for her."

Asherah was wearing a mourner's garb, with the same veil Hakuno wore that made the outfit look like a matching pair to the Holy Witch's dress. "...It's been a long time hasn't it, Frey?" the quiet, tired voice spoke from the childlike goddess (aside from Hestia) asked.

"...Asherah." Freya spoke her name in a whisper, one that echoed through the chamber as every deity looked at said widow goddess in shock. Freya rushed towards her and gave Asherah a tight hug as tears were actually falling from her eyes. "I thought you were suffering down there…!" she said as she felt Asherah's own returning hug.

"I was…for a long time." Asherah answered her, her grip tightening. "Alone, trapped in the darkness with the souls of the lost. Their voices turned bitter and dark…becoming parts of me who welcomed them." she told Freya as everyone listened in. "Souls so vengeful they became monsters." The other gods were shocked save for Hakuno and Ouranos that were aware of this world's dark truth as this Lostworld, one threatened to become a Lostbelt and an inevitable clash with the Greater History.

"Do you know how much hate I had for everyone above? All without a care in the world, unaware of my suffering and madness?" Asherah demanded, her grip tightening as Freya responded in kind. Freya knew this was a deep scar her friend was marked with, any pain she would feel won't compare to the mental suffering Asherah had suffered for countless eons.

"Thus, she unleashed the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the moment I found recordings of the dark truth a certain faction of your fellow deities hid from the others." Hakuno spoke up, her voice piercing the tense atmosphere like a knife through thick fog. "She wanted me to tell others the truth, and for you all to face the consequences of your 'sins' by seeing everything you loved and held dear be violently torn from you. Just like she did when Elohim was murdered." Her tone was cold, her hidden eyes calm with a raging storm in them as she observed each god's reactions carefully.

Shock and horror. Confusion. Disbelief.

None of these gods were aware of these events. She omitted the fact Elohim was murdered when she revealed Asherah was trapped in the Dungeon in a bid of the right time. With said goddess using a mortal vessel she made herself to walk on the surface changed everything.

"Then what changed Hakuno?" Hestia asked her first child, the shock and horror of that revelation of what happened to Elohim still running through her body. "What made Ashe come up here?"

"Both her and Bell." Asherah answered.

"Eh?"

"The witch who knew the truth but was determined to correct the wrongdoings of others, and the boy, who carries a fragment of his soul within." the goddess answered, a sense of peace in her eyes as she looked on with hints of hope in them. Then Hakuno's mind went into overdrive at the implications as she knew the mechanics of this world's version of reincarnation. Elohim was a major threat to their plans if he reincarnated again in Tenkai with his formidable powers. They needed a means to weaken him to ensure he never became a threat. And they found a way…

"Bell is…Elohim's reincarnation?" Freya asked, baffled of that pure soul being Asherah's husband's reincarnation as she suddenly felt bad about wanting the boy now.

Back at the Hearthstone Mansion while helping Haruhime with laundry, Bell sneezed.

"No, he carries a fragment of El's soul that found him suitable as a host. Normally that piece would have been dormant, but the Falna, the blessing that draws out one's potential hidden within the soul, had roused it from slumber. It manifested as a part of his power that defeated the War Horseman." Asherah corrected. "That power caused a domino effect, weakening my seal to allow me to manifest a lesser vessel to walk on the surface while my main body sleeps...and rousing the other fragments from slumber."

"That's great and all, but what about these other 'Horsemen' you've unleashed? I mean, you're out now, right? So why not stop them?" a god demanded as Asherah glared at them as they recoiled from the barely contained fury in her eyes.

"It is my husband's spell. Only he can undo it. All I did was cast what I knew of it. They won't harm me or any under my protection, but anyone else is fair game." she answered coldly as Hakuno cleared her throat.

"Do you know where the other fragments of Lord Elohim's soul rest?" Hakuno politely asked before Asherah smiled at the girl's politeness.

"One is already awake, within the Empire, at my husband's tomb."