DanMachi: Annihilation Maker in DanMachi World!

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Truth be told, Hephaestus rarely ever entertained the idea of cheating.

Even without her divine power, and even while restricted by the mortal environment, she could still effortlessly forge weapons that utterly eclipsed anything else in the Lower World. She was a staunch conservative when it came to interfering with mortal development; she was terrified that a careless divine intervention might prematurely sever the infinite potential of her mortal children.

But Lucian was an anomaly. His growth rate was so absurd that he might actually leave her in the dust eventually. For him, utilizing divine power wouldn't be violently pulling a sprout to make it grow faster—it would just be giving him the necessary fuel to match his natural pace. Still, Hephaestus wasn't entirely sure if his mental world could withstand the sheer density of her Arcanum. She cautiously released a miniscule fraction of her divine power to test the waters.

"You can use your divine power in this world?" Lucian noticed the shift instantly. He sensed an energy source operating on an entirely different dimensional level than his own magic, his eyes widening in surprise.

Does this mean I have a limitless energy reactor now? He had originally planned to steal the Flame of Heaven from Olympia to power his larger projects, but having Hephaestus serve as an advanced substitute offered significantly more benefits. The Flame of Heaven was corrupted, chaotic, and difficult to control. As the Goddess of the Forge and Fire, Hephaestus could effortlessly suppress and control the flames once he brought them here.

While the Flame of Heaven was devastatingly powerful—capable of unleashing destructive force on par with a deity—it still paled in comparison to the refined control of a living, breathing god.

"I can," Hephaestus confirmed, staring at her hands. "Your mental world operates on a completely different dimension from the Lower World. I don't know if it's due to the Paradox State, or if your mental realm officially qualifies as an entirely separate world."

By physically bringing his real body into his own mental construct, Lucian had created an existential loophole—a Paradox State that completely isolated the space from external interference. The mind originates from the spirit, and the spirit originates from the physical body. Because the mental world was still tethered to him, inserting his physical form inside it looped the causality, creating an unbreakable paradox that reality couldn't pierce.

He had drawn the inspiration for this concept from the paradox games in 『Problem Children Are Coming from Another World, Aren't They?』—specifically, the infamous Omnipotence Paradox. Typically, even the deities of Little Garden who used the universe as their stage didn't bother trying to solve the paradox itself; they just eradicated the person who created it. Therefore, as long as Lucian programmed a hard rule into the [Game Board] stating, "In the event of total soul annihilation or cessation of thought, instantly recall to the respawn point," it was practically impossible for him to truly die.

"Let's test it out," Lucian suggested. With a thought, he teleported them both back to the Danmachi world. A moment later, he brought them right back into the Divine Court.

"Still fully operational," Hephaestus confirmed, looking around in awe. "It seems... even the world itself acknowledges the reality you've 'forged'."

When gods descended, the world's systems registered their specific divine signatures. The moment they utilized their Arcanum, they were instantly flagged and deported. However, deities always felt an instinctive warning—a cosmic pressure—right before they crossed the threshold of breaking the rules. Hephaestus felt absolutely none of that pressure here, which was why she dared to channel her power so freely.

This strict deportation system was agreed upon by the gods thousands of years ago when they collectively decided to seal their powers. Because of this timeline, items dropped before the rule was established—like the Flame of Heaven Prometheus brought down three thousand years ago, or the Spring of Life Bheara abandoned—were exempt from the restrictions.

There were also emergency exceptions. If mortals encountered ancient, apocalyptic horrors they couldn't possibly defeat, the gods were granted temporary clearance to unseal their powers. For instance, when Artemis investigated the ruins in the Great Tree Labyrinth, she was ambushed by the newly awakened Antares. She immediately unsealed her power and summoned the Arrow of Orion from Heaven, only to be overwhelmed and absorbed by the beast.

Normally, outside of dealing with world-ending threats like the Assassin of the Gods, any divine intervention in the Lower World would be violently scrubbed away by the World Correction Force. Trying to unleash a massive attack right before being deported wouldn't work; the world would simply rewind the damage as if the attack had never happened. This World Correction Force was the ultimate proof of the gods' absolute, innate authority over the foundational laws of reality.

"You are the primary contributor to all of this. Without your guidance, the Divine Court wouldn't exist in its current form," Lucian said with a warm smile. "So, you really should refer to it as 'our' Divine Court."

"Even without me, you would have figured it out eventually, wouldn't you?" Hephaestus replied, returning his smile.

"Maybe, but that doesn't erase your contribution," Lucian shrugged, choosing not to argue the semantics. He smoothly transitioned to his main objective. "Hephaestus, I want to use your divine power."

"Do you want to use it to expand the mental world, or to generate more World Bubbles?" she asked seamlessly.

"Both, eventually. But right now, I need it to finalize a specific function," Lucian explained, his expression turning serious. "You know I came from another world. Based on that logic, the multiverse likely doesn't just consist of my original world and this one. There are bound to be countless other universes completely unconnected to this reality."

"You want to build a portal to other worlds?" Hephaestus deduced instantly.

He hadn't even reached the apex of this world yet, and he was already plotting his conquest of others. What shocked her even more was that he had actually found a viable path to achieve it.

"Three thousand years ago, Prometheus cast the Flame of Heaven down to the mortal realm," Lucian said. "I originally planned to capture it and use it as my core energy source. But plans rarely keep up with changing circumstances. Ever since I arrived in this world, my progression has been absurdly smooth."

As a core aspect of Greek mythology, Hephaestus was intimately familiar with the Flame of Heaven. But no matter how fast Lucian's mental power grew, she knew it was impossible for him to safely contain and harness the Flame in the short term. However, this isolated mental dimension provided the perfect containment zone. And compared to the chaotic Flame of Heaven, a living, breathing god acting as a direct power source was infinitely more stable and potent.

"Destiny, huh," Hephaestus sighed softly. "Alright. What do you need me to do?"

"Just passively release your divine power into the atmosphere of the Divine Court. I'll construct a magical array to systematically dilute the dimensional density of the energy, converting it into highly concentrated ambient mana," Lucian instructed. "On top of that, I need you to help design the World Teleportation Gate itself. I may have traversed dimensions, but I don't actually understand the mechanical principles behind it. Finally, I plan to build a specialized altar deep beneath the Divine Court designed specifically to house and siphon the Flame of Heaven."

That is a massive amount of work... Hephaestus rubbed her temples.

Assisting with the portal and building the altar were well within her purview. After all, Lucian's magic operated purely on 'I think therefore it is' conceptual logic rather than replicable technological advancement. Giving him a personal power boost didn't violate her principles as the Goddess of Forging, because his methods couldn't be mass-produced or learned by the general populace.

As for the Flame of Heaven... separating it from the pure environment of Heaven and leaving it in the Lower World was always a ticking time bomb. With the establishment of Orario and the descent of the gods, the Flame's original purpose was completely obsolete. Rather than leaving a localized weapon of mass destruction lying around, letting Lucian use it as a battery was a far better outcome.

"I understand," Hephaestus agreed.

Despite the sheer volume of work dumped onto her lap, she lived for the forge. The opportunity to actively participate in the 'forging of a world' was a monumental achievement—a true feat worthy of the gods. There was absolutely no reason to decline. Plus, the infuriating man asking for her help just so happened to be the man she had acknowledged as her own.

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