A Sky Dark as Midnight

How did I survive that hell, where screams and laments ran rampant?

Why did I survive?

Stepping over the corpse of my beloved ■■■.

Sacrificing the life of the ■■■ I respected.

And in the end, even the ■■■ I revered most burned herself away.

-■.

The black calamity, looking down at me. Even now, the layers of gray ash piled up in my heart bring it back with perfect clarity.

-■■■.

Always binding me in place, carving my heart to ribbons.

Why am I so weak?

Why couldn't I save a single soul?

Why was it me alone who survived?

The people who always answered me, no matter how I wept and screamed, no longer remain at my side.

And so I am always, alone, in my solitude—

CRASH! CLANG!!

Alone in my solitude—

"YAAAGH, @#%$#&~!!!?!??!?"

"It's a misunderstanding! A misunderstanding, Hera?!!"

Alone in my solitud—

"Somebody stop Lady Hera!!!!"

"Zeus got hit?!?!"

"Good! Tell them to deport him exactly as he is!"

Alone... in solitude...

"Hahaha, a brawl. A carnival of blood!"

"Oh my? But why are we fighting, exactly?"

"Who knows. No idea how it started, but... excellent. I'll kill every last one of you right here. Especially that pest, and Zeus."

"Hmm."

It seems this is no time to be lost in reverie.

Strange, though — ever since I arrived here, I can't recall slipping into an emotional state like that even once. Which is a good thing, presumably. Probably.

"Where am I...?"

When I opened my eyes, an unfamiliar ceiling greeted me. It was high overhead, so this seemed to be quite a spacious place... but why was I here? What was I doing that brought me here again?

"I was pretty sure I..."

After suffering food-torture at Lady Hera's hands, I'd gone out for a night walk to aid digestion, run into the Colossus, and then...

And then... and then...

"I... lost?"

My memory was hazy, but I distinctly saw my attack get shattered at the very end. So I suppose I took the beating and blacked out.

Going by my internal clock, I'd apparently been out for a full day. I couldn't decide whether to lament having been unconscious for an entire day, or celebrate having woken up in only one.

'Is my body... all right?'

I checked myself over, and aside from a general lack of strength and a mild headache, nothing seemed wrong.

They must have treated me by pouring expensive potions down my throat like water. With a major expedition coming up, I felt a twinge of guilt — had I needlessly dealt their finances a heavy blow?

...Well, never mind. I'll just consider it fair compensation. They were the ones who picked the fight first, after all.

"@##$@%@?!!!!"

"HIIIEEEK?!?!?"

I was deep in thought when the sound of my grandfather being strangled drifted in from outside. I suppose I should go put a stop to that first.

Although... that indescribably hysterical shriek just now... if my memory served, that was Lady Hera's voice, wasn't it...?

Why on earth were those two fighting?

Yesterday, the Zeus Familia was turned on its head. Twice.

Once when a white-haired man came flying in, smashing through their home.

And a second time when they laid eyes on the state of the Colossus who appeared right after.

Not quite as bad as the man, but the Colossus was also in a state that was rather hard to look at.

Shallow, but countless lacerations carved across every part of his body.

Dented wounds, as if he'd been pummeled with a hammer.

The members of the Familia were struck dumb with shock at the sight of their invincible captain injured. In the midst of it all, Zeus — the fastest to grasp the situation — assigned people to the task and spoke with the Colossus one-on-one.

The result was...

"You fought?!"

"I did."

Unthinkable circumstances. Unthinkable conflict. Zeus was struck speechless by his child's behavior — but what stunned him even more was this:

"That child wounded you...?"

"Yes. Strong, he was."

"...Hah."

Strong. Maxim's unadorned praise of the rabbit left Zeus at a loss for words.

Love him or fault him, Zeus was still the patron god of a Familia, father to many children. As such, he already had a firm grasp of their personalities — and in the case of Maxim, the one he'd spent the longest years with, it was as if the man's very heart lay open to mind-reading, transparent down to the bone.

By Zeus's assessment, Maxim's nature was one of perfect unity between surface and soul. His mouth never held a word his heart did not mean. He had no need to speak falsehood.

And the word strong was perhaps the one thing that would never, ever leave that man's lips.

Because Maxim was the strongest.

Yet from those lips it had come. He'd thought the rabbit strong back when it fought Alfia, but never imagined it was this strong...

It left him a little dazed, though it was hardly bad news. The rabbit was, after all, a joint venture of the Zeus and Hera Familias. And given its sex, there was a high chance it would be raised under his own hand — which meant it would become his fighting strength.

"Heh heh heh heh heh..."

So Zeus cackled wickedly, dreaming glittering dreams of the future... and overlooked one crucial fact.

That the Oculus — the device Hera had commissioned from Uranus, or more precisely from Uranus's private soldier Fels, for the sole purpose of surveilling Zeus's womanizing — was watching the Zeus Familia at that very moment.

"...Forte."

"Huh...?"

The Hera Familia's office. Hera called for her finest retainer, who was busy finishing off the sweets she hadn't managed to eat earlier.

The Empress, who had been happily stuffing her face with every confection in sight, felt the chill woven into Hera's voice and straightened up at once.

The goddess was usually nothing but hysterics, but this was not her usual brand of it.

This chill, this crushing weight in the air. Something serious.

"Full armament. We are storming the Zeus Familia."

Never mind. It was exactly her usual self after all.

Her eyes looked like they'd gone completely bad, but her ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠words and actions were unmistakably business as usual.

The Empress left behind the bare minimum garrison and led her members off alongside her goddess toward the Zeus Familia.

And thus, the present.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"@#$%^$##@$!!!!"

"HIIIEEK?!"

Faced with Hera bellowing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sounds that could not possibly belong to an intelligent lifeform, Zeus felt a fear he had never once known before.

Not when he was caught straddling eight legs at once. Not when he groped Alfia's chest. Not even when he played matchmaker between Cranel and Meteria. Nothing had ever frightened him like this.

Overwhelming madness. Hera, in the greatest rage of her life, made every fit of fury he'd ever witnessed look like child's play — and Zeus, along with every last member of his Familia, froze in terror.

Even the Colossus did.

For some reason, the Colossus was terrified of the rage directed at him. Worse still, with the Hera Familia out for blood, the Zeus Familia's casualties were nothing to sneeze at.

Truly, it was to the point of the Familia nearly being erased from existence.

The battlefield — their home — spiraled toward pure chaos, and the moment arrived when the next second might produce actual deaths—

"Um, excuse me~?"

Into the chaos of the battlefield drifted the hesitant voice of a boy?

A short while later, with the situation settled, two gods and one mortal sat gathered in Zeus's room.

'Huh? How on earth did it come to this?'

The Hera Familia had long since withdrawn, and the people of Zeus Familia were quietly cleaning up the aftermath, passing the time.

I'd wondered why everyone was so nonchalant about it, but ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠apparently this was something of a quarterly event? Or something close to one.

They do this four times a year? What happened to the all-out divine warfare I knew of?

No, more importantly — why am I here? I couldn't think of a single reason I belonged in a conversation between gods...

"...Is your body all right?"

"Huh? Yes? Uh... yes, I'm quite all right."

The one to break the heavy silence was — a god, technically — Lady Hera.

Blunt and brusque, yet with a faint thread of hidden worry beneath the words. Dazed as I was, I managed a proper answer.

This goddess... I thought it last time too, but she seems awfully interested in me... I can't guess why in the slightest, which makes it rather uncomfortable.

If I had to pin down a reason, it would be that time I nearly got Apollo'd thanks to Grandfather? Maybe she pities me a little, as a fellow victim?

"...You went and beat up a perfectly innocent man, is what happened."

"No, I was wronged too! How was I supposed to know the brat would pull that?!"

"You call that an excuse...?!"

BANG. Lady Hera slammed her palm down on the desk, her face twisted in a scowl.

S-scary... even among everyone I'd known, her presence was in a league of its own, and my body shrank in on itself before I could help it.

Seeing this, Hera gave an awkward little cough and tried to clear the air — but no amount of coughing was going to accomplish that.

And so the heavy silence settled back down. Unable to bear it any longer, I opened my mouth and asked what I wanted to know.

"Um... so why did you two end up fighting, exactly?"

"...It was nothing."

...Nothing? At that scale?

For an instant I thought it absurd, but on reflection, this was a goddess more than capable of it. Honestly, it might have been stranger if there had been a reason.

"You. You're thinking something rude right now, aren't you?"

"Ahem... well, in any case, I'm glad it ended without anyone dying. With the expedition coming up, injuries over something like this would be a real problem, no?"

"A serious casualty already happened."

"Huh?"

There was? I never heard about anyone like that.

"You, that's who. Out cold for an entire night, and you have the nerve to say you're fine."

"...How do you know that, Lady Hera?"

"...Divine intuition."

Divine intuition, is it. Well, can't argue with divine intuition.

Only then did I realize that all of my equipment was gone. Evading a god's perception was impossible without my robe, after all.

It felt a little off somehow, but Lady Hera had no reason to lie to me... yeah. No real grounds for suspicion.

"Ahem. But are you truly all right? Not the body — after something like that, the mental shock must have been considerable."

"Ah, I'm fine. I'm used to it, you see."

Being beaten to the brink of death, or beaten until I actually died — I'd grown thoroughly accustomed to both. Something on this level hardly registered as a mental shock anym—

"What?"

"HIIIEK?!"

I felt it. Just now, it hit me like a hammer. The expression on Lady Hera's face right now — twenty times the shock of the Colossus's magic!

Lady Hera glared at Grandfather. Grandfather shook his head at hyper-speed.

"H-ha... it wasn't Lord Zeus I was beaten by, if that's what you're thinking."

"...I wasn't particularly worried about that."

Hera grumbled a token complaint and rose from her seat.

Was her business already done? It hardly felt like we'd exchanged much of anything.

"Zeus. You know what I've come here to say, don't you?"

"'Course, 'course! Naturally, obviously!"

At a single sidelong glance, Grandfather broke out in a full-body sweat, nodding over and over like a broken doll.

For him to be this terrified... she really is a frightening woman.

Lady Hera opened the door as if to leave — then, as though something had just occurred to her, turned her head to look at me.

"Come to think of it, you seem to be living in that basement. Have you nowhere else to go?"

"Uh... yes. Regrettably."

"Then how about living with our Familia?"

"Eh?!"

"WHAT?! What's so enviable about—?!"

Lady Hera's drop kick sent Grandfather flying across the room. Even as I watched that spectacle, I was too stunned by her statement to do anything at all.

"I heard your Familia strictly forbids men...?"

"It does."

"Hey, is nobody in this room worried about me?"

"But me living there... wouldn't that be a problem?"

"No problem. There's a way around it."

"A... way?"

"Hello~? Is there anyone at all who cares about me...?"

Some kind of noise kept drifting in from the side, but not a single soul in the room paid it any attention.

Zeus slunk off in a sulk, crouched down in the corner, and huddled there.

"And what way would that be, exactly?"

It wasn't that I had any intention of going to live with the Hera Familia. The mere thought of living in a Familia of nothing but women was uncomfortable.

I was simply curious about that word, way.

At my question, Lady Hera put on a supremely confident expression.

"Simple. If men are banned, then all you have to do is stop being one."

"Wha?"

"Get castrated."

"HIIIEEK?!"

Overwhelming terror drove me stumbling backward before I knew it.

No — what did I just hear?

"L-Lady Hera... do you perhaps hold some grudge against me...?"

"Hera... isn't that going a bit too far, even for you? Better to simply kill him..."

"It was a joke."

"..."

Was it, though? That sounded like it had a fair amount of sincerity mixed in.

"Still, come to think of it, a little crossdressing wouldn't be so bad. No one would likely see through it anyway."

"Oho, now that's a fine idea. If that's the case, I wholeheartedly approve... no. Wait."

"Hm?"

"Hey, if that's how it is, why not just live here instead?"

"What?"

"Huh?"

Grandfather, who had apparently been mulling something over, suddenly made his counter-offer. No, hold on — you're attempting an intercept right now?

Sure enough, Lady Hera's expression darkened. And yet, surprisingly, it stopped at a mild flicker of displeasure.

What is this? Given her personality, I'd have expected her to carve him apart. Is there some unspoken rule among the gods or something?

"Well, it was originally your right, so merely raising the matter is..."

"And crossdress, I say! Become a blossoming otokonoko in my dreary little Familia!"

"..."

In that single moment, I finally understood why Grandfather so often found himself on the brink of deportation.

His inner thoughts were one thing, but did he really have to say that out loud, right now?

Well, regardless — the two of them seemed to have gotten the wrong idea about something, so I ought to correct those misconceptions.

"I'm very sorry, but I must respectfully decline both of your offers."

"Why? I hardly made the offer out of some lecherous desire, unlike this old man."

"That's right! Once you give it a try yourself, you won't be able to stop!"

Grandfather delivered a line that sounded like a shady drug peddler working a street corner.

What kind of divine existence is this man actually living?

"What, lacking confidence? Then worry no more! I, Zeus, do hereby guarantee — if you simply crossdress, then..."

"Every time I crossdress, men come swarming after me and it's a dreadful hassle."

"Ah. Right. That."