A few hours later.
Interstellar City Olympus, Central Plaza of District Three.
The holographic projection screens cast half the sky in a bleak blue.
The news anchor's voice was amplified through a matrix of speakers spanning eight blocks, carrying a piercing electric buzz.
The screens repeatedly displayed the faces of Fujimaru Ritsuka, Mash, and Kenneth.
In a flat synthetic voice, the announcer recited the verdict, declaring that these outsiders had come to destroy Olympus—demons who would steal away their immortality and happiness.
Although the announcer stressed that Chaldea was a demon that had destroyed several civilizations, the people below showed not the slightest concern.
Because they believed the gods would protect them.
Just then, the sky suddenly made the sound of tearing cloth.
It was not a metaphor. It truly tore apart.
The atmosphere was violently forced aside by something of immense mass, its edges grinding into dark-red flames.
A warship crashed out of a rift in imaginary space.
The New Artdeissei.
Having incorporated parts of the Machine Gods, it was even larger than before.
Its outer armor was also covered in densely packed inscriptions.
The ship parted the clouds and stirred up a hurricane, blowing the plaza's holographic screens into static.
On the bridge.
Captain Nemo rested his feet on the console, his ten fingers leaving afterimages across the virtual keyboard. "Reishi engine output at four hundred percent. Coolant line temperature normal."
"Poseidon's secondary divine core has fully taken over the main power circuit."
Nemo spoke with some excitement. Having fused with Triton's Saint Graph himself, he was in better condition than ever with the sea god's divine core empowering him.
Mash stood before the porthole with her shield raised, staring down at the city with an exceptionally complicated expression.
Fujimaru Ritsuka stood beside Mash, looking down at the