There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 543 - 536. A Divine Spoil

Chapter 543: Chapter 536. A Divine Spoil

"It’s been a while," Zein did not bother with glib and addressed the Goddess directly.

Well, it was through Her proxy, but same different.

"Indeed," the Goddess smiled through Her proxy; the pale blue eyes gleamed beneath the dimming Sky Garden. "I have been drowning in anxiety for the past two years."

"You are?" Zein raised his brows in surprise--not for the fact that the Goddess felt anxious, but because She said it so blatantly.

If it was meant to make him more relaxed, it worked.

"Is there a need for pretense between us anymore?" the Goddess shrugged. "It’s not like you’re going to ever change your mind and become my Saint in the future."

"True," Zein chuckled and crossed the last border.

This time, Frejya did not invite him to sit on the boulder, but on a proper picnic blanket with a chees and fruit board. A bottle of wine and two glasses were there too, one of them already filled and refilled.

"You’ve been drinking?" Zein arched his brow as he took a seat on the picnic blanket.

"I told you I’ve been anxious," the Goddess grumbled, not at all looking like a deity at that moment.

Zein looked curiously at the flickering glowing eyes. "Is it because of our last battle?"

"Obviously," she let out a sigh and took the filled wine glass before gulping it as if it were grape juice. Zein wondered if it wasn’t actually a wine and poured a glass himself. It was. The Goddess let out another long sigh. "A clone...I didn’t know that clown was strong enough to make a clone--that bastard is stronger than I initially thought."

"Language," Zein narrowed his eyes, placing his palm over the twitching long ears on his lap. "We have an innocent rabbit here."

"Pfft--" It felt rather scandalous hearing a Goddess giggling, but the atmosphere of picnic and wine was rather supportive. "Oh, you’re calmer than I thought."

"Because we’re still trying," Zein shrugged and sipped on the wine. He had held himself from drinking in the Deathzone, but it should be alright to let loose for a little bit in the Temple. "If there’s nothing more we could do to make a difference--that’s when I’ll start despairing."

The Goddess smiled and put her glass down, perhaps finally calming down her nerves after witnessing Zein’s nonchalant disposition.

"Besides," the blue eyes gleamed as they flicked toward the Goddess. "You calling me here meant you’re going to help me somewhat," Zein curled his lips. "Right?"

"What a rascal..." the Goddess twisted her lips.

Zein chuckled.

"A robber."

He laughed at how accurately the Goddess calling out to him. Indeed, he had every intention of not going back without anything. Just because She was the Goddess, didn’t mean She could just take him away without giving him compensation. He did not leave his beloved esper behind just to have a picnic in the northern land.

"...I was about to tell my children to try and contact you, but I felt your presence first not far from here, so I quickly made a move," The Goddess sighed again--that was the most Zein had heard her sighing

"Because of the battlefield recording?"

If Elena knew about it, there was no way the Goddess did not.

"Yes," She nodded.

Zein looked up and frowned slightly. "But that was...weeks ago."

"...I hate to admit it, but our flow of information from other regions is rather...snail-like," the Goddess cleared Her throat, sounding rather embarrassed.

In the first place, Temple rarely had any interest in dungeon raiding, because espers were the ones coming to them if they needed help. They would send people if there were any requests, but otherwise, they kept to themselves. Fast information about the sentinel community was not the top priority for the Temple. While the news still came, it would be several days or weeks slower.

Especially if it came to news from another region. So the Temple of Frejya only received the circulating clips a few days ago.

There was nothing wrong with that, honestly, but it was funny seeing the Goddess get flustered. Zein hid his laugh by stuffing his mouth with grapes.

"Haa..." another long sigh from the supposedly graceful Mother of Summer. "For now, let me see your memory about the last battle," she straightened her posture, suddenly looking all serious. "I’ll try to decipher who it was exactly."

"Hmm...can you see the vision I got from the Its fragment too?"

"You have that?" She raised her brows, before nodding with an even more serious expression. "That’ll help--let me try."

She sat straighter and stretched her arm, touching Zein’s forehead with the tip of her fingers. "Just recall the visions and the memory of the battlefield--I would not probe anything else you don’t want to show."

"I appreciate that," Zein closed his eyes.

It wasn’t hard for him to recall those stuff since they were quite fresh, but also because those memories were always floating in his mind. It wasn’t the kind of thing that could just be shoved in the back of his mind even if he wanted to. He also showed her the vision he saw together with Bassena, and he could feel the Goddess’ fingers tremble in anger.

But She quickly regained her calm and soon, the reading finished. When Zein opened his eyes, the Goddess was in the middle of stroking her chin in contemplation.

"Ahh...it’s that one," She muttered suddenly. "Chimera Master, Lycabach."

Zein narrowed his eyes. He had nothing about the name, but he knew what a chimera meant. Was that why the fragments had different kinds of animal-like parts on them? Be it tentacles, tails, or claws...

"Is the many eyes part of the equation?"

"That one just puts whatever it likes in its body by absorbing other creatures..."

The Goddess paused and Zein stiffened at that one word; absorb. "Child," She grabbed Zein’s hand, the glowing eyes flickered in anxiety. "You need to hurry, before this one can gather more power."

"Yes, we thought so too," Zein nodded. "But we still reorganizing from the last time, and if we were struggling that much against a clone, I don’t think we have much chance against the real one."

"Yes..." She let go of Zein and closed Her eyes and exhaled slowly. "Yes, that is true. That’s why you were in that mountain."

Zein nodded. "We’re trying to recruit more people with power. But..." this was a problem that had been shoved under the rug because there was no real solution behind it except ’numbers’. "The higher the esper’s rank, the more guiding they will need."

Zein could, if he must, guided all the Saint classes and Rankers that would come. But if he did so, he wouldn’t be able to guide the other five stars--not even if he pushed himself to the point of burnout.

Scheduling was fine and all during a lull period, but on the battlefield, there was no such thing as scheduling. Radia did mean to send more of Zein’s kids to the Deathzone, since more strike guides could be recruited from Zein’s academy. Still, with Naoya and Iore achieving five stars, they had four more than when they started.

Thus, Zein’s wish was clear.

"I can’t give you more blessing," the Goddess, however, shook her head.

What She gave Zein was already out of the norm, and Zein could only take it because he had a unique constitution, with Setnath’s power and blessing sleeping inside him. But putting more inside a mortal body wasn’t a wise thing to do.

"Besides, I don’t think you need more power for yourself," the glowing eyes looked at Zein’s firm pair.

"You’re right," the guide nodded. Just as they felt the limit of only relying on Bassena, they also couldn’t just depend on Zein for high-rank cleansing. "What we need is an overall boost. After all, war is not done alone."

"I agree," the Goddess, who had gone to war several times before, nodded in agreement. "I had given you a blessing once, so all that’s left I could give you is an item--an artifact."

She held up Her palm, and from the shimmering air, a tall staff dropped and struck the ground. Zein stared at the staff curiously, wondering what such a flashy thing could do.

"This gives a wide-area temporary boost to guides, allowing their vessel to expand and their rate of absorption increase--something that only my Saintess could hold."

The blue eyes widened at the explanation. That was it! Zein’s fingers twitched as he held back the urge to snatch the staff from the ground.

"As I said, this is meant for my Saint and Saintess, so I can’t give it to you, but I can let you borrow it," the Goddes continued. Indeed, giving someone outside the Temple something like this would be overkill. "It can only be activated by you, and it will need mana."

"I see," Zein nodded. That was why only Saint or Saintess could hold it. He guessed the effect only last if he could supply mana to it, but that was fine with Zein. On the battlefield, he could absorb corrosion and turn it into mana. As long as he did not experience burnout, the staff effect would never wane.

With a flick of Her finger, the staff hovered and moved to Zein’s side. He grabbed the shaft and looked at the glowing eyes, before bowing his head sincerely. "Thank you."

He did joke about robbing the Goddess, but this...

This was more than he ever wished.

"I just hope...we can end it soon," Frejya let out one last long sigh; this one filled with hope between wisps of anxiety.

"So do I," Zein stared at the blue gem embedded at the edge of the staff. The blue color he wished would fill the sky and he could meet at the end of the darkness. "So do I."