Crossover: The Problem Human of [Arcadia]

— — — — — —

Under the night sky, the streets bustled with people coming and going.

Ryo stood still, eyes fixed on the silver-haired girl before him. Her black eyes burned with fury like smoldering coals. Forcing a calm smile, he placed his right hand over his chest and gave a polite bow.

"My lady, I believe there's been a misunderstanding between us."

"…Despicable thief."

Athena practically spat the words through gritted teeth.

Her wisdom had been stripped away. The Trinity Queen—Mother Earth, God of Death, and Wisdom—who had already lost her power as Mother Earth, had now lost her wisdom as well.

What stood here was no longer truly Athena—at best, she was Metis.

Only a third of her divinity remained. The scraps of wisdom left within whispered the obvious: escape at all costs.

Her body began to fade, blurring like a drawing being erased.

But in the next moment, her form was traced back into existence as if redrawn.

"Telekinesis…"

Athena's eyes narrowed as she recognized the force binding her, her gaze falling back on Ryo.

She was at her weakest in all of history, a shadow of herself. In this state, she could maybe overpower a divine beast, but against a God Slayer—or another god—she stood no chance.

And now, stripped of her wisdom… if she was going to die, she'd at least bite back. Her eyes sharpened with grim resolve.

By then, Ryo had already closed the distance, so quietly that they now stood barely half a meter apart.

"Since letting you leave would only deepen our misunderstanding, I had to restrict your movements. Now, can we talk properly?"

His lips curled into what he thought was a friendly smile.

But in Athena's eyes, it was nothing short of monstrous.

"Despicable th… ahem, what exactly do you want to discuss with me?"

She was about to snap again, but halfway through the words, instinct shifted her tone into something closer to equal footing.

Ryo's gaze lingered on the strange sight before him: the silver-haired girl in a school uniform and a knitted ear hat. His expression was odd, but his voice remained gentle.

"May I ask… are you Athena?"

"…"

Athena said nothing, her face expressionless, her eyes blazing as if they might ignite.

She could feel it—the immense, suffocating divine power radiating from him. The divinity that should have been hers pulsed within his being. Biting down hard, she hissed:

"No. I am Metis. Does that satisfy you?"

Ryo froze for a beat at the bitterness in her tone.

Then, as the awareness hit him, he realized just how much of an idiot he'd sounded.

Because in Athena's ears, what he had basically said was: "You think you're Athena? Wrong. I'm Athena."

…Yeah. That was a grudge he'd just carved in stone.

Suppressing a sigh, Ryo kept his smile.

"At this range, you can feel it, can't you? This… rampaging power."

Athena frowned, lifting her gaze to study his face. She stared long enough that her brow rose slightly in surprise.

"This is… divinity? No… something beyond divinity…"

She saw it.

That blessing.

Athena's blessing of "Victory" wrapped around Ryo like a mantle.

The blessing she had once bestowed on mortals—now tied to a man who carried her divinity.

For a moment, her eyes went vacant. Then clarity snapped back into place.

He hadn't stolen her divinity. A greater existence, an even truer embodiment of Athena, had given Ryo that blessing.

Her own unstable divinity, weakened and incomplete, had instinctively merged into it.

The goddess of wisdom suddenly found herself at a loss for words.

It wasn't just humiliation from losing her divinity.

It was losing to herself.

For Athena, that was the cruelest shame of all.

She stood in silence for a long time before finally exhaling softly.

"…I understand what happened. Release your power."

"If you understand, that's for the best." Ryo sighed in relief and released his telekinetic grip.

To be honest, even he was choking on the irony. The Little Garden Athena's blessing wrapped around him had attracted this Athena's actual divinity and pieced itself together inside him.

It was a situation that screamed "disaster waiting to happen."

Thankfully, the divinity hadn't fully merged into him. It had been absorbed temporarily by the Authority of Victory. That gave him some room to maneuver.

At least enough to shove the blame onto the "Little Garden's Athena" instead of himself.

And in that kind of game, Ryo was a pro.

As soon as the restraints faded, Athena flexed her wrist, testing her freedom. Her eyes, though strange, stayed fixed on him.

"So, you're Athena's Saint. Did you come here searching for your goddess?"

The words sounded odd even to her own ears. To call him her Saint… no matter how calmly she tried to say it, it felt wrong.

But inside, alarm bells were already ringing.

If he said "yes," then her next steps were clear: retrieve her snake, the Gorgoneion, reclaim her divinity, and prepare for a desperate game of hide-and-seek against this other "Athena."

If she didn't want to be devoured by her own counterpart, she had no choice.

Ryo's face, at that moment, was complicated.

Like someone who had tossed out a bluff only to realize the other person actually believed it.

Then, as he kept quiet, Athena let out a breath of relief.

"So that's it… a lie."

"If you can understand, then all the better," Ryo replied with a strained smile.

Athena, however, stayed composed. "You don't need to be so polite with me, nameless human. What little wisdom I have left keeps urging me to stay far from you."

The man before her was strong. Terrifyingly strong. Strong enough to freeze her in place with nothing but thought alone. That alone demanded respect.

And this… clearly wasn't his full strength.

"I see."

Ryo's false smile softened into something more neutral. He extended his hand.

"Ryo Yagami. A fake Saint Seiya, at best."

"Pallas Athena. Though right now, I hold only the divinity of Metis."

She reached out, clasped his fingers lightly, and let go just as quickly.

"Then, Ryo, my divinity will remain with you for now. When the chance comes, I will take it back…"

Her words cut short as she felt the familiar tug of telekinesis wrapping around her again. Her brows rose slightly.

"No need to say more."

Ryo smiled. "I may be a fake Saint, but I've always had the heart of a real one."

.

.

.