"Wow, they lost, but they sure look like they’re having a great time."

"Of course! My son is so popular, even with the Spirit King! As his mother, I couldn't be prouder.

You should hurry up and get married too, Leon."

"Yeah, yeah, I hear yah."

Anna grinned as she watched Undine, the Water Spirit King, officially become part of Halt's family. Meanwhile, Leon, now feeling the pressure since his little brother just gained another "wife," dodged the conversation and hastily escaped.

"Hey, Cai-Nii, wasn’t Undine-sama supposed to be, like, the guardian deity of Glendale?"

"That’s right, Charles, and that’s exactly why your big brother has a massive headache right now."

Cain had always known that Halt had a summoning contract with Undine. If it were just a summoning contract, theoretically, someone else could still summon her. But now that she had officially joined Halt’s family, things were a whole lot more complicated.

"Don’t sweat it, Cain."

"Eh… Y-Your Majesty?!"

To Cain’s great shock, King Gil had appeared right behind him, completely unnoticed. Even if Cain was distracted with Halt’s side, he still had his extreme intuition. Despite that, he hadn’t sensed a thing, indicating that King Gil had completely erased his presence.

"Halt is just that kind of person."

"Gil-chan. Long time no see."

Gil had only revealed himself to a select few in the area. Since they weren’t in a formal setting, Anna spoke to him like an old friend.

"It’s been a while, Anna-san."

"W-Why is Your Majesty being so polite to my mother?"

"Maybe because I’ve saved the kingdom a few times, ever since the king from three generations ago?"

"…Wait, seriously?"

"Yeah, seriously."

"Ah, perhaps, Your Majesty appointed me in this position because of my mother’s influence?"

"Do you really think that’s the case? With your abilities, you should already know the answer."

Cain’s extreme intuition immediately told him that wasn’t the case.

"Apparently I was wrong."

"Glad you understand. Now, continue to support me as your friend."

"Understood!"

After leaving a few words of encouragement for Anna and the others, Gil disappeared. Of course, he wasn’t just visiting them. He was making his rounds to Halt’s side as well.

──＊＊＊──

"The Celestial Spirit King really got us off to a great start! Let’s keep up the momentum. I’ll take the next match."

A towering man with fiery red hair stepped forward. Though he looked human, this was actually the mighty Dragon God in his human form.

"How reassuring! We’re counting on you, Dragon God-sama."

"Yeah, just leave it to me."

Since he had been told he wouldn’t have to fight Halt, the Dragon God was feeling pretty confident. As far as he was concerned, no one but Halt could possibly stand a chance against a deity like him.

What he didn’t know was that Halt’s family included people like Akari, a hero summoned from another world with an arsenal of cheat-level abilities, and even a demon lord that Halt himself had strengthened. More importantly, he had completely forgotten about someone he should never have forgotten. Or rather… he had been made to forget.

Among Halt’s comrades was a woman so powerful that she can even tamper with a deity’s mind.

The Dragon God stepped onto the arena.

"I’m next. Alright, who’s my opponent? That dragonoid over there? Or maybe Hakua?"

He glanced at Ryuushin and Hakua, expecting one of them to step forward. However, contrary to his expectation, her opponent was already standing in the arena.

"Your opponent is me."

"…Eh?"

The Dragon God’s gawked.

A gorgeous, voluptuous woman now stood before him, someone who definitely hadn’t been there a second ago, so he was taken aback. Moreover, he knew her.

Back when he was young, he had been the weakest among his kin. The one who had trained him for decades, he one person he still couldn’t defy, even now that he was a deity was standing right in front of him.

"K-Kikyou-san…?"

"It’s been a while.”

Kikyou said with a smile. Cold sweat ran down the Dragon God’s face.

"N-no way, d-did you mess with my mind?"

He didn’t want to believe it was possible. But there was no denying it—he had completely forgotten about Kikyo. He knew she had joined Halt’s family, but up until this very moment, her existence had been wiped from his memory.

"I’ve been frequently doing that to you since long ago, haven’t I? Why would you think I couldn’t do it now?"

"B-But I’m a deity now…!"

"So what if you’re a deity now? What difference does that make? Or have you already forgotten what happened the last time we met when I ‘trained’ you?"

The Dragon God’s face turned ghastly pale.

Training with Kikyo meant being forcibly dragged into a mental world where he had to fight enemies just as strong—or slightly stronger—than himself. It’s fine no matter how many times  he ‘died’ there since it’s just a pyschological illusion, but the mental exhaustion was very real. Anyone without a ridiculously strong mind would be left so mentally drained that they’d be out of commission for days.

He couldn’t win this match against Kikyou.

Realizing this, the Dragon God immediately opened a teleportation portal to flee.

"You’re not getting away."

"—!!"

One of Kikyo’s nine tails materialized behind her, firing a highly concentrated magic beam that shattered the portal to pieces.

Before their battle with the Evil God, Halt had spent a night with Kikyo. However, when things started to heat up, she had refused to conceive a child with him—since she still had lingering feelings for Youko’s father. Halt had been quite active with doing the deed with his wives on a daily abscess, so being rejected out of nowhere was a bit rough for him. Thus, he came up with an alternative. He released a massive amount of mana in order to relieve himself. Since Kikyou, being a nine-tailed fox demon, grows stronger by absorbing mana from others, he spent the entire night pouring his magic into her.

As a result, Kikyo, who had already been a fully formed nine-tailed fox, broke through her own limits and ascended, becoming the sixth Divine Beast of their world.

"I can interfere with divine magic now."

"Hey, no, that’s so not okay."

The Dragon God protested, but Kikyou ignored him.

"Sylph-san lost earlier, yet Halt-sama still comforted her. He even promised her a little reward later… Even if one loses, one can still expect a reward. Then how about winning the match?"

Kikyo’s eyes sparkled with anticipation.

“I expect the reward would be even greater.”

"W-Wait! Did you confirm that with Halt!? You might get disappointed, you know. He might even say torturing a god is blasphemous and tell you to stop!"

The Dragon God desperately tried to reason with her.

However, his words fell on deaf ears.

"Now then, fight me and lose against me, so that I may also receive my reward from Halt-sama.”

And just like that, Kikyo and the Dragon God’s battle began.