Hello everyone, Astaroth here. I wasn't sure why at the time, but the four elemental goddesses- Undine, Gnome, Sylph and Salamander- seem to have an odd relationship with Lady Entropy, in which they place themselves under her, whereas they seem quite hostile to Lady Luciel. Well, I can understand the feeling.

"Plea, please begin, mister Astaroth", Evyna said, clutching her hands in front of her chest nervously while staring me down with a determined shine to her face.

"Very well. Then, we shall start", I responded, gesturing to my Demon Generals standing on the edge of the large magic circle and taking the 'Dark Goddess's Scriptures' out of my [Storage] while meeting her determined gaze with a steely look.

Yes, we were in the same ritual room where Richard had been turned into an Ice Statue- although this time, in the center of the large magic circle stood Evyna, and I stood in the smaller circle. The Demon Generals were in different positions, so they were still spread evenly across the circle.

Raising my left hand forward and pointing it at Evyna as if grasping something, I recited the prayer that came to my head naturally as my eyes went over the many pages of the tome:

"O grand Goddess lording over the gentle, caring Darkness
I devote to thee an orison
This child swears she will live and die for thee
Now, claim this child's life
And make her eternally thine"

The magic circle began to glow with the same dark, peculiarly black warm light as last time, though it was several times brighter and kinder than back then. Since I didn't need to specify a master this time, the prayer was shorter and the ritual continues faster as the same light spread across the magic circle I was standing on, wrapping around me and providing me with a comfortable feeling of gentle warmth for what must have been at least ten seconds before gathering into a ball of darkness and floating over to Evyna, entering her chest, after which the light on the big circle did the same. And then, after a second or two-

I lost consciousness.

I opened my eyes and looked around, trying to ascertain my location. I was surrounded on all sides by a black void of sorts, and I was somehow still standing even though there was no floor.

"Ah, I see", I said, nodding to myself in self-satisfaction before calling out a name.

"Evyna!", I shouted, and on my shout, she appeared in front of me, looking around confusedly.

"Mis, mister Astaroth? Where, where is this?", she asked, a tremble in her voice as she looked up at me with eyes as if tears could spill out at any moment.

The sight was amusing, and I was tempted to bully her, but I controlled myself and answered: "This is a Godly Realm. In a sense, you could say we're inside Lady Entropy's mind. I imagine Richard and the Ice Queen went through a similar experience."

"G-G-G-Godly Realm?! You mean like the place Saints might get to go once or twice in their entire lives?! We're there right, right now?!"

"... That is correct", a flat voice sounded from the side. Looking in that direction, Lady Entropy's figure had appeared at some point, wearing her characteristic black dress and looking in Evyna's direction as she explained. "... This is my Godly Realm, and as Astaroth theorised, the cold queen and the perverted underling were in here, too."

"Then, this is?!", Evyna almost shouted out in a panicked voice, after which she immediately fell to her knees in a position of prayer while murmuring something about an apology and misconduct.

"There's no need to be so formal, Evyna", I said, walking over to Lady Entropy and habitually placing my hand on her head. "We're in no position to be considering formalities of worship, after all."

Without dodging my hand, which she easily could have if she wanted to, Lady Entropy spoke: "... He's right. Get up, Magus. It'll take around half an hour, so, ask us anything."

"Um, then", Evyna said, glancing between me, my hand and Lady Entropy while unsteadily standing up. "Uh, it might be, be a bit, a bit embarrassing, but I, I'll start with, with this one: are you two in, in a, a relationship?"

Lady Entropy did not verbally respond, but I could practically feel her stiffen under my hand as she slowly, very slowly turned her head towards me. Her cheeks were white and she had no expression, but it was easy for anyone with half a brain cell to tell she normally would have been blushing like mad.

"Leaving aside the answer for now, how did you draw this conclusion?", I asked as I felt an interested smile creep onto my face.

"Well, when you, you said you were, were going to spend all day pray, praying to her, your expression wasn't, wasn't an expression of respect for a Goddess", Evyna said, awkwardly fidgeting. "I don't think the, the Demons noticed, but it was more like, like a charming smile, like someone looking forward to, to spending time with a, a precious person. And also, uh..." She pointed at my hand, which was still resting on Lady Entropy's head. "So, uh, are you?"

I felt Lady Entropy stiffen a bit more, as I heard her whisper to herself: "He looked like that while talking about me?", but for the sake of her dignity, I decided to ignore her whispers.

Still in a mischievous mood from earlier, I decided I would bully Lady Entropy just a small amount, and set about my task: "Well, I wonder? Of course, it's only natural I would find her incredibly adorable, but I can't read minds"- This was a lie, I had several Monsters under my command capable of this- "so I don't exactly have a way of ascertaining her feelings. So, Lady Entropy?"

I could sense her mood fluctuate throughout the sentence, from slight disappointment I didn't immediately confirm to a mixture of embarrassment and happiness at being praised to complete embarrassment at being asked to speak first, and she shyly turned her head away without a sound, causing Evyna to scratch her cheek and gain a somewhat warm, somewhat awkward smile on her face. Eventually, Lady Entropy answered: "... You already know, don't you? Astaroth."

Turning back to Evyna, I told her: "It is as you see. Is there anything else you'd like to ask?"

"Ah, uh... Then, how did you, did you meet?", she asked, seemingly still curious about interpersonal relationships rather than useful information.

"... Enemies", Lady Entropy responded, turning her head back towards Evyna and looking at me from the corner of her eyes.

"More specifically", I continued at Lady Entropy's prompting gaze, "I had just lost my entire platoon of natives and Heroes against one of the most powerful Monsters around back then. After seeing I wasn't under control of an Azalyth, she extended an invitation to me, which I naturally accepted. That leaves us where we are now."

"I, I see", Evyna said, nodding to herself, seemingly glad to receive new knowledge. "Also, I've, uh, I've been thinking this for, for a while, but, I didn't, didn't expect the, the gathering of all the world's, the world's malice to, to look like such a pretty girl", she said, admiring Lady Entropy's features.

"... Malice?", Lady Entropy asked, tilting her head to the side, before explaining: "... That's not right. That's what Luciel's followers are taught, right? Astaroth told me."

"Ah, uh, well, that is what, what we were told. Are you not, not an incarnation of, of malice, Miss, Miss Goddess of Darkness?", Evyna asked, tilting her head to the other side as she said words which were, without a doubt, an unintended insult.

"Now now, you mustn't say such things to people's faces, Evyna", I said, moving my hand to slowly pet Lady Entropy. "Besides, does she look like an incarnation of all the malice in the world? She's far too cute for that, isn't she?", I continued, a wry smile making its way onto my face as I continued stroking Lady Entropy's smooth hair.

"... That's a lie Luciel tells, to make the Heroes more easily, convinced", Lady Entropy said, her rainbow-coloured gaze unwavering as she looked at Evyna. "... It's easier to convince people, to fight an incarnation of malice, than to fight, someone else similar to you", she elaborated, and though her voice was as toneless as ever, it felt like I could sense a touch of regret in her words.

"Ah, I see", Evyna said, nodding in comprehension. "Certainly, I, I would feel much, much more comfortable fight, fighting animals than, than other people", she continued, her eyes lighting up as she understood more and more about the Goddess who had become her enemy. "Then, uh, com, compared to, to Lady Luciel, what, what are you, Miss Goddess of Darkness?"

In response, Lady Entropy briefly tilted her head in thought before opening her mouth: "... Original? Anything else is a secret, for now. Even to Astaroth." Somehow, I could tell she did actually want to say more, but simply couldn't.

"Uh... That, that doesn't t, tell me much, much at all... But, but if, if it's a, a secret, then, I guess it, it can't be, be helped", Evyna said, her expression betraying the fact that she felt rather disappointed despite her words. "Uh... Then, could you tell, tell me how, how Goddesses actually, uh, 'work'? It's not, uh, not very clear to me", she continued, a feverish interest appearing in her expression. Despite being nervous all the time, it seemed she was still very eager to learn.

"... A Goddess, is three main parts", Lady Entropy explained. "... First, there's the 'body', like you can see, right now. If it's destroyed, then, it can be rebuilt, but, the time depends on, the amount and, the intensity of the believers. Luciel could, do it, in maybe, a week. I could probably, do it in, a month. Before, Astaroth's appointment, that would probably have been, at least six months." She looked Evyna straight in the eyes as she explained, though she switched to looking at me for the final part of the explanation to prompt me to continue- it appeared long periods of talking on her own were still not her thing.

I was filled with a desire to hug the Goddess in front of me as she looked up from underneath, but I controlled myself and spoke: "Thank you for the praise, Lady Entropy. Now then, Evyna, the second part of a Goddess are her 'Aspects'. These represent part of the Goddess's element- something the element performs, something the element is, something the element does. Some examples would be Lady Entropy's Aspect of Concealment, Lady Salamander's Aspect of Heat and the Aspect of Protection I stole from Lady Entropy. Goddesses can bestow these Aspects upon their followers temporarily or permanently, and if someone with an Aspect is killed, the Aspect goes to the killer, falling under ownership of their Goddess, if any, or remaining under ownership of the original Goddess, but stolen, if the new owner doesn't follow a particular Goddess. Goddesses can exist without their Aspects and cannot create new ones, but they grant them many of their powers, so they're quite important." I decided to ignore the 'Don't refer to other Goddesses like that' Lady Entropy muttered under her breath as I explained, and then glanced towards her, prompting her to once again speak up.

"... The final part, would be, a Goddess's 'Divinity'. Mine is, Darkness, Luciel's is, Light, Sylph's is Air, and such. This is, a Goddess's essence, and without it, they can't, exist. If it's stolen, the thief, becomes divine, and thus, the new deity of, that element. Just like, Aspects, these can't normally, be created, and they get stronger, the more believers, that deity has, so it's not weird if, after killing a deity, the new deity is, weaker than the old one. After all, they wouldn't, have any believers. Divinities, and Aspects, can't be broken, so if they somehow, become completely ownerless, the first person to, stumble across it, becomes the new owner."

"I see... Has that happened before?", Evyna asked, the fires of curiosity blazing in her eyes as she slowly approached Lady Entropy like a tiger sneaking up on its prey.

"... Maybe once, or twice. It doesn't normally, happen, after all", Lady Entropy responded, shrinking back a bit from the aura Evyna was emitting.

"Now, now, Evyna, calm down", I said, deciding to take the initiative and hide Lady Entropy behind my back. "Are you sure you're not a beast-person? This change in attitude is remarkably large."

"Ah, uh, s, so, sorry!", she answered, jumping back, the look in her eyes completely disappearing as she regained her nervous demeanour. "It was just, just the, the first time I, I'm hearing a, about this, so... I got over, overexcited. Sorry."

"... Don't let it, bother you." Lady Entropy forgave her with these couple words, spoken from behind my back. It didn't seem like she planned to emerge at any point, however.

"Ah, there's just, just one more thing I'd like to ask", Evyna said as if suddenly realising. "The, the Church of Light teaches us about, about 'Demon Kings', who were supposed to, supposed to be enemies of all, of all humans, created by, by the Goddess of Darkness to, to protect herself. Is, is that correct?"

"... That's just Luciel, conveniently naming, strong Demons as, Demon Kings in order to, increase faith in her. They weren't, true Demon Kings. For that, you need to have, 7 Aspects, and my approval."

"You mean like, like Mister Astaroth?", Evyna asked, directing herself towards me. "You have an, an Aspect, right?", she then asked me.

In response, I began a sentence: "That is true, but I only have one, for now-"

"I'm coming in!", a loud voice interrupted as the black void on one side shattered to pieces like a broken window and a girl jumped inside.

"Lady Entropy, hello!", she shouted with an energetic, childish voice. "And you too, Sir Astaroth! I have a request for you two!"

She stood even shorter than Davna's human form, looking maybe ten or twelve years old, and her short brown hair complimented her brown eyes quite well. Her skin was wheat-coloured, and her face was well-featured, making her look like a cute child. On her body was a dress not dissimilar to Lady Entropy's, except it was a light brown, rather than pure black.

This child that stood in front of us was-

Indeed, the Goddess of Earth, Lady Gnome.