Chapter 329: To Get Stronger

A human, a wolf, and two dragons floated mid-air, staring at the newly formed sun as it expanded and faded within seconds.

Silence persisted for a while, as if all four of them were still trying to process what had just happened.

Then Bellachrona, still in her dragon form, opened her mouth to speak.

[Did we wi—]

"Don’t you fucking dare jinx it!"

Or at least she tried to, before Axel jabbed a finger straight at her snout, cutting her off mid-word.

It was common knowledge, at least among their group, that saying "that phrase" out loud was basically an open invitation for the enemy to come back swinging. And that was a flag none of them could afford to raise right now, not after everything it had already cost them.

Even with reinforcements, they’d needed to push themselves past their limits just to provoke the enemy into a rage strong enough to trigger his own self-destruction.

Fenrir had bled for that victory, in more ways than one.

"You still believe in that kind of superstition?"

Fenrir floated over beside him, letting her weight sink against his shoulder.

She was exhausted, having burned through nearly everything she had teleporting Divron as far from the others as physically possible.

In practical terms, she’d drained ninety-nine percent of her mana reserves.

Weakness was the natural consequence, made worse by the internal injuries that came from forcing her body past what it could safely handle.

Axel, catching sight of just how drained and battered she looked, gently pulled her into his arms.

Without breaking his posture, he pulled out a pair of ultimate potions and had her drink them one after the other, watching color slowly return to her face.

"Jinxes wouldn’t exist if they never came true." Axel countered, hands still steady as he helped her drink. "But I’m fairly confident the immediate danger’s passed now."

Divron had self-destructed.

Had he stopped that process partway through, the second sun blooming across the sky wouldn’t have happened at all.

And if the explosion had gone through fully, there was no realistic way he could’ve survived it, not even as a dragon, and certainly not while pinned under the suppression of a far more powerful god.

’But nothing’s ever truly absolute.’

There remained a small, gnawing chance Divron had somehow survived, and that thought alone was enough to keep Axel from fully relaxing his guard.

"Anyway, the real problem right now is our overall lack of strength."

"..."

Hearing those words, Fenrir’s brow furrowed.

Even after they’d both landed safely, that frown never quite left her face.

She was well aware there existed threats even more dangerous than Divron. And Divron alone had come close to wiping out their entire fighting force, close to burning the whole Axevaria Kingdom to the ground in the process.

’If that god hadn’t intervened when it did, even with every one of Master’s wives fighting together, our defeat would’ve been all but guaranteed.’

Fenrir’s eyes narrowed further at the thought.

Even though she was, by Axevaria’s own standards, functionally no different from a god herself, she couldn’t shake the feeling of how small she truly was against the larger scale of things still out there. And so, a resolve began forming in her chest.

’Gleipnir’s final seal. I need to break through it, no matter what it takes.’

While Fenrir’s thoughts spiraled toward self-improvement, Axel’s mind was working in the opposite direction entirely.

’Is there some way we could bolster all our strength at once, instead of one at a time?’

He’d been forced to confront, painfully, that there existed threats out there their current strength simply couldn’t handle.

Divron had been nothing more than an appetizer set in front of them.

And even against that appetizer, both he and everyone around him had barely managed to hold their ground.

’We just killed a senior member of Trismus. There’s no walking that back now. Whatever bridge existed between us is already burned.’

By this point, he was ninety percent certain there was no diplomatic path left, no way to talk this debt away.

His mind drifted to the pendant holding the blackmail material, its contents now sitting safely backed up on his laptop.

’Should I send that data to Roamer now, while I still can?’

He turned the idea over seriously in his mind.

Trismus had proven to be far stronger than he’d first assumed.

And the thought of a third wave, one strong enough that they might not be able to fight back at all this time, gnawed at the back of his mind.

’To prepare for that, I need something. Some kind of edge, something we don’t already have.’

Even as the thought solidified, he had no real idea what that edge could even look like.

Their stats were already effectively capped. Their weapons, even the best of them, offered barely any noticeable boost anymore. Technique meant next to nothing when weighed against raw, absolute power.

What they needed was something else entirely. Something beyond the systems he already understood.

’Is stepping into godhood really the only option left on the table?’

It felt like the correct answer, the only answer that made sense given everything they’d just witnessed.

And yet neither he nor anyone else around him had the faintest idea how one was even supposed to begin walking that path.

"Husband!"

As they approached the castle gates, Ria, Eve, and the rest of the girls came rushing forward, relief plain across their faces as they welcomed the pair back.

Fafnir and Bellachrona had already peeled off to return to their posts, guarding the teleportation array, so it was just Axel and Fenrir walking in together now.

"Sir Axel, are you alright?"

The little princess, no, Queen Eve now, asked, worry creasing her young features. "I couldn’t do anything but watch from the sidelines the entire time."

After all, her custom weapon still needed another week before it would arrive.

But after witnessing the sheer scale of Divron’s strength firsthand, she doubted that even with the weapon already in hand, she could’ve made any real difference to how that fight played out.

And it wasn’t only Eve who felt that way.

Ria, Nina, Arianne, Beatrix, Cherry, and Maria all silently arrived at the very same conclusion.

They might be considered strong by most standards. But standing against something truly powerful, they were still nowhere near enough.

"It’s fine."

Axel, catching the anxiety quietly simmering beneath the girls’ expressions, answered gently, his voice carrying none of the exhaustion he actually felt.

His external wounds had already closed up from the last of the potion he’d given Fenrir, so at least he didn’t look as battered as he felt. If anything, his expression stayed soft, reassuring.

"As the man of this house, it’s my responsibility to fight for all of you." He added.

By modern standards, it was an outdated, almost old-fashioned code of chivalry.

But to the girls listening, it was exactly the kind of line that made them feel loved, protected, and wanted. Their hearts fluttered, skipping in near unison.

And yet, underneath that warmth, some part of them couldn’t help but notice the words were also wrapped in a very deliberate layer of sweetness.

To their ears, buried beneath the reassurance, it could just as easily have meant:

’I already know I can’t rely on any of you anyway.’

Of course, he never said anything of the sort.

And there was no way to prove that’s what he actually meant.

But somehow, without needing to discuss it, every one of them arrived at that same quiet interpretation.

And so, deep in each of their hearts, a small, burning resolve took root.

’I... want to get stronger too.’

Even without a single word spoken aloud, everyone standing there had already reached the exact same conclusion.