(3rd person POV)

Lily's shoulders rose and fell as she caught her breath. Staring into the eyes of the god of wine, she could see his shocked expression shift to a calmer one.

He turned around and walked toward the window, staring down at the battlefield. However, he frowned...

"What's this...?"

Suddenly the sound of footsteps sounded behind the two. Turning towards the source a child with silvery blue hair, porcelain smooth skin, and striking golden eyes entered the room.

Rimuru Tempest had appeared.

Lily pulled back, and her eyes widened.

"Hello, Lily, Lord Soma." He spoke in a polite tone. "I believe we have things to discuss."

(Zanis POV)

How had it come to this? I wondered as I recalled what led to the current situation.

Where did I mess up?

Perhaps in associating myself with her in the first place? I wonder... I thought as I recalled how things had gotten to this point.

I had been staring intently at the game board in front of me.

Sitting across from me, watching as I quietly considered my options, Ciel, or rather, Rimuru sat.

We quietly played this game in my office after we had dealt with the intruders. Honestly, it was rather anticlimactic. How they managed to evade us when we were hunting them down with Apollo was truly a mystery. They were far too weak.

The room was dimly lit by candles that Rimuru had brought with her. According to her it gave a sort of ambiance that she found pleasant. I found myself agreeing.

But perhaps more importantly she had also brought a bottle of alcohol which now sat by my side, untouched. Rimuru herself refused to drink any. Claiming she didn't drink.

Is that so? I had merely responded.

I glanced up at Rimuru's expression, but she merely smiled back at me, showing no signs of any worry or unease.

I looked back down at the board.

We were playing a game of chess to pass the time—a game introduced to this world by the gods.

I was winning, naturally. Towards the beginning, I had a more aggressive style but I soon realized that if we went head to head I would be the one to suffer so once we got to the midgame I found myself on the back foot, but her attacks were almost too reckless leaving me with a solid defensive position along with more material.

Throughout this game her queen was the biggest issue, however, I was finally in a position to take it.

I smirked, and with that move, the game would be over.

With that In mind, I moved the bishop back and defended the vulnerable pawn.

"Your move," I said. I saw a flash of annoyance on her face.

A trap. If I had taken the queen, her other bishop from across the board would've been ready to take that vulnerable pawn and check me, completely opening up my defense to her pieces.

"You're quite cautious," she half laughed and half sighed at me.

"If it seems too good to be true it probably is." I merely remarked. I glanced at the drink to my side.

I'm not sure what you're planning but just because I fancy alcohol doesn't mean you can get me with such a cheap trick, I thought.

Rimuru glanced between me and the alcohol and gave a resigned smile.

She was in my domain. I had predicted she might try and pull something like this in order to leave no witnesses. I would do the same. She had been awfully particular about only meeting me when I was alone, only allowing Chandra to participate after some convincing. Probably so she could dissociate from the situation surrounding me after I died.

But as long as I played things cautiously I could win our little ga-

"Check," she said as she moved her piece.

An unexpected move. She had taken the pawn with the bishop anyway.

One that only allowed for one response.

One that would inevitably lead to mate...

I looked up at her. She smiled at me, reached across the table, and took a sip of the alcohol downing it all in one go.

When she finished she looked at me with a dark gleam in her eyes. "The poison wasn't in the alcohol," she said.

And that's when I felt it.

My vision blurred and my breathing grew labored all of a sudden. The weight of each breath grew at each breath.

What? Not in the...! I snapped my head to the candles. Of course...she had specifically brought my attention to the alcohol so I wouldn't notice the candles.

But how isn't she affected?! When it came to poisons I had a skill that allowed me to neutralize the effects, but that only worked to an extent potent enough poisons could overpower this resistance.

The only conclusion I could reach is that she had the same skill and it was one of a higher level than me.

Damn! I've been had! I weakly slammed my fist into the ground. By this point, my hearing had left me and my sight was going completely dark.

She had beaten me. Utterly and completely. And now no one but Chandra would know...

But that oaf wouldn't be able to pin anything on her...in fact, he may very well allow her to get away with this.

"And that is checkmate," she shrugged. "Good game," she silently said. Somehow I understood her words despite not being able to hear. As if the words were being sent directly into my mind.

It was all I could do to curse her as everything went black and I fell unconscious.

(Rimuru POV)

And with that everything had fallen into place.

It was quite the task, I'll be honest. Not something I wanted to do again, but well now it was essentially all over.

"Hello, Lily, Lord Soma." I spoke in a light tone, "I believe we have things to discuss." I added.

Lily looked terrified naturally. I had done some pretty cruel stuff to her.

I turned to her "No, first off, I suppose I should apologize to Lily. I'm sorry about all this," I said bowing my head.

"...wha...?" using magic sense I could see confusion slowly find its way into her fearful expression.

"I'll explain everything later, but for now," I turned to the god of alcohol Lord Soma. His long dark blue hair messily covered his face, in a way that still managed to look Handsome. Along with his cool expression and ink-black eyes, he could most definitely pass for a deity.

Damn gods and their perfect looks I cursed silently in my heart. I opened my mouth to speak but Soma asked a question first.

"What's that sound?"

Ah, right, I snapped my fingers and the sound of fighting dissipated. "Sorry, sorry, it was just a little illusion." I clarified. "But more importantly with this Lily should be free to go no?" I asked. Lily's expression shifted even more, turning from fearful confusion to utter astonishment at my question. Soma paused and considered what I said. "If that is her wish, then I suppose for the right price I wo-" I produced a small bag of magic stones and tossed it to him. "Would these be enough,"

He opened the bag and gave a look of surprise. After a moment he turned to Lily with a curious expression. "What do you wish to do?"

"Huh?!" She looked between me and Soma trying to comprehend the situation. After a moment of confusion, she slowly turned toward her god and bowed her head. "If you would please...let me leave the Soma Familia, Lord Soma."

He paused at this before nodding. "Very well,"

She looked up at him and tears began to fall down her face once again. "T-thank you," she managed, bringing her head back down.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," she repeated several times.

I simply smiled at her joy, "I'll leave things to you then," I took a step outside and allowed Lily and Soma to take care of what needed to be done.

After several minutes Lily stepped outside the room.

She stared at me silently for a moment.

"Come on, let's get you back to Hestia and the others," I said, turning around to leave.

She hesitated for a moment but ultimately decided to follow after me.

We made our way out of the Guild Hall unnoticed due to the victory celebration Zanis had started after they had won the little skirmish I had orchestrated.

"Umm, uh," Lily tripped over her words behind me as we walked down the stone road. A nightly air filled the street as we walked with warm lights from the magic stone lamps above and the Familia halls of the Familias living here.

"Right, I suppose I owe you an explanation," I said.

"Lily...would appreciate that," She admitted hesitantly.

"Where to begin..." I wondered. "How about you say what's bothering you and I'll answer," I said, turning to face her.

She nodded slightly as she posed her first question. "You're...own Lily's side right?"

"Always have been," I responded.

She made a complicated expression for a moment before moving on to her next question.

"Why... did you pretend to betray Lily?"

"...that's a little complicated," I admitted. "But put simply I needed you to become desperate," I said. "You see, I found it rather strange, the thing about Soma listening to Zanis, why him of all people?" I spoke.

Lily nodded, "I answered that already because he can resis...oh," It seemed she realized where I was going with this.

"Yep, by making you desperate I could strengthen your will and resolve and bring you to a point of desperation strong enough to overpower the effects of the wine. Once that happened Soma would finally be willing to listen to you," I confirmed her suspicion.

"But wait...all of that would be meaningless if Lily stayed in that prison cell. How did you know I would be able to get out?" she asked. "And how did you know I'd go to Lord Soma?"

"Well I'll be honest as far as you getting out, I had several ideas, but Chandra letting you out before I could do anything was little more than a happy coincidence. I had known he wasn't too fond of Zanis but to betray his orders explicitly I didn't imagine something like that happening," I said.

"But as far as you going to Soma, well that was actually the shakiest part by far." I scratched the back of my head. "I had to put my faith that you would be able to pick up the clues I gave you, about not being able to make too much of a scene," I said. "I knew you were smart so I figured there was a pretty good chance you'd figure it out but if you didn't... well, I intended to hunt you down and corner you into Soma's office," I said. "Not the most tasteful method and I'm glad I wasn't forced to do that."

I saw a shiver run up her spine as she nodded along. "Lily also finds that unpleasant."

Silence pursued for a bit after that as Lily digested some of the information. "Wait so, what about that alarm and Hestia's intrusion." She asked.

"Oh for that? I used clones," I said. "Disguised them as the Hestia familia and her allies, I kept the sounds going on for the room you and Soma were in for some extra motivation on your part," I added. "Although that was also rather out of line. I'm sorry,"

Lily stayed silent, likely conflicted with what I had told her. "...No Lily should thank you," she finally said after a moment. "You did all of this for Lily..." she added. "Lily Appreciates it," she said a soft smile forming on her face.

"Don't worry about it," I smiled back.

"Oh yeah, also what happened to Zanis? I can't imagine he would approve of such a thing."

"Oh him? Yeah, let's just say I test-ran a little drug on him," I said. "He'll live, but he won't be able to run the Familia anymore, at least that's what I think," I added.

"Oh? What does this drug do?"

"Oh you know...this and that," I avoided the question.

"Hmm," she looked at me curiously but I merely shrugged my shoulders.

"Haaa, There's a lot still on Lily's mind...is it okay if Lily asks you questions later?" she asked. "Right now Lily thinks she wants to take a long rest," she added.

"Of course," I said. "Ah, but I'd prefer it if you kept my identity a secret if you could, at least for now," I said. "Hestia already knows, but I want to be able to properly reveal myself to everyone myself," I added.

"...okay but that does bring up one more question...why did you reveal yourself to me? Would pretending to have been Ciel not have worked just as well?"

"Hmmm, well I suppose the answer to that question is that I didn't want to hide it much longer," I said. "You, Hestia, Welf, and Bell are all trustworthy enough people," I said. "And It would be a pain if I was forced to reveal my identity to you and it caused conflict later down the road, so I just decided to pull the band-aid off now," I said.

She nodded. "Lily sees."

I stared at her melancholic expression in silence for a second before opening my mouth and asking the question that had been on my mind. "So how do you feel?"

Lily looked up at the moon and thought for a moment. "Lily feels..." she thought for a moment and smiled softly. "Free," she finally said after a pause. "Lily feels free." She repeated.

I smiled and turned around continuing down the path. "That's good to hear."

And so we finally made our way to Amaterasu's house. "We're back," I announced With that announcement Hestia along with everyone else jumped out towards Lily to make sure she was okay.

I watched the warm interaction, with a smile on my face and walked away.

I wonder how everyone back home is doing? I found myself wondering. I hope they're okay. I went outside and leaned against the balcony railing.

Well, I guess now's not the time to reminisce, I shrugged.

Soon the war game will have begun.

(3rd person POV)

Somewhere within the top floors of the Tower of Babel...the tower in the center of Oarario that looks down upon the entire city and stretches up into the heavens sat a goddess.

Really, truly a goddess in every sense of the word. Snow white hair, fair porcelain-like smooth skin, and soft purple eyes that shone with maturity. The goddess of beauty, Freya.

And standing across from her small child...no even smaller than that. Like a toddler.

But one look made it clear this wasn't merely some lost child. A strong aura seemed to fall off the child continuously, and to the point where only one with a blessing from the gods would be able to withstand it.

"Tell me what your name is?" the child looked up with a blank expression on their smooth face.

Their lips parted and light blue hair bobbed as they spoke.

"Ri...Rimuru?"

(A/N: damn...I have a headache rn...and I'm tired...this is not me having a good time...I hope the chapter doesn't suffer because of it.

well anyway this A/N: is going to be short cause I need rest.

If you liked the chapter pls leave a vote and follow me (or don't, if you don't want to do that.) 

see you guys next chapter bye)