"You're well aware that I ot provide that," Bahamut replied, her voice firm yet calm.

  "Demanding the status sheets of the children from another familia is highly uhical." she argued.

  Loki leaned back, crossing her arms with an air of fidenbsp;

  She had expected such a response.

  This was why she had called for a vote among the ods.

  While she didn't expect Bahamut to divulge her children's status sheets, she hoped for at least a hint regarding the remarkable growth of Bahamut’s children in such a short span of time.

  The pressure from the ods would force Bahamut to share something, as she wouldn’t want to make enemies of the majority of deities.

  There were other ways to restrict the Bahamut familia without using violence.

  Loki was acutely aware that Bahamut must have allies among the gods, which made her cautious.

  Who could they be? Her mind raced with possibilities.

  She didn’t believe that Bahamut hadn’t already sidered these things.

  “I stand with Loki,” announced Apollo, his voice ringing through the hall.

  “You’ve provided us with little to work with so far, Bahamut.” he added, his gaze on Bahamut.

  Apollo had sidered challenging Bahamut's familia to a war game, tempted by the potential of her children.

  However, he hesitated; none of the promi familias were making moves, and it felt as if they were waiting for something.

  The air was thick with unspoken tension.

  As murmurs of support for Loki began to swell, Bahamut shifted uneasily, casting sidelong g her supposed allies—Hephaestus, Ganesha, Hermes, aer, among others.

  They all watched her ily, waiting for a signal to intervene, as Loki's influence grew.

  “Then give us something to work with,” Loki pressed, her boldness evident as her supprew in number.

  With a resigned sigh, Bahamut muttered, “I suppose it 't remain a secret for much longer.” The soft sound was barely above a whisper, yet it echoed iillness of the hall.

  “Hmm, so there is indeed something,” Loki replied, her ears perked with anticipation.

  Bahamut straightened, meeting the eyes of the curious deities.

  “The child named Draco, who asded two levels in my familia is a dragon kin.” she revealed, her words dropping like a stoo the pond of their gathering.

  A collective gasp reverberated through the assembly.

  Dionysus, always one who to never wear his true emotions on his sleeve, excimed, “Impossible!” His face t, and even he was surprised by the iy of his rea.

  “Ah, sorry, the revetion was just so shog,” Dionysus quickly apologized, attempting to recover his posure, his eyes darting around the room.

  He hadn’t pnned on drawing that much attention to himself.

  Yet, he was not alone in his shobsp;

  The other deities mirrored his astonishment, their faces a vas of surprise and intrigue.

  Freya, seated he front, felt a thrill of excitement course through her veins.

  Her eyes glinted with a predatleam as she processed the implications of Bahamut's annou.

  A dragon kin, especially oh such potential, could fulfill her long-held desires.

  ‘If he meets all the ditions, then I have to get him by any means necessary,’ she thought, her mind spinning with possibilities.

  She quickly posed herself, ensuring no oiced her rea.

  She resolved to wait, needing firmation that Draco was ihe individual she had long sought.

  Ishtar, notig Freya’s subtle shift in demeanour, felt a grin spread across her fabsp;

  She had always been attuo Freya’s as, fuelled by her own insecurities.

  With the new development, Ishtar began formuting her own pns to ehe target of Freya’s desire.

  “That ’t be possible,” Loki interjected after regaining her posure, her skepticism evident.

  “The dragon kin should be extinct after suffering that level of divine punishment. It’s been over a thousand years.” Loki said.

  The gravity of her statement hung in the air, casting doubt on Bahamut’s cim.

  Though not every deity khe specifics of the divine punishment inflicted on the dragon kin, they all uood that surviving such a decree was a near impossibility.

  “Well, it did happen,” Bahamut replied, her voice steady.

  “One survived, discovered by Io, epsis, and Aasteriniached about twelve years ago and ced in my care just over four months ago.“ Bahamut revealed.

  “But that ’t be!” anod interjected, disbelief etched across his features.

  “Io must have broken the rules and created one or done somethiraordinary. One surviving is already unbelievable, but surviving over a thousand years and still being alive is even more so!” the gued.

  The atmosphere grew deh uainty as the gods residered Bahamut’s cims.

  “That’s a rather bold accusation,” Bahamut retorted, her gaze sweeping over the room.

  “You really think the other primordial gods would stand idly by if Io had truly vioted the ws of creation?” she argued.

  The assembled deities knew Bahamut was right; if Io had indeed wielded power capable of reviving or recreating the dragon kin, it would have resohrough all the realms, prompting immediate intervention from the primordial gods.

  The era of creation had long passed, and the strict ws g the creation of races had been upheld for eons.

  The notion that Io would challenge such ws without sequence was unfathomable.

  “Ahem,” Hermes coughed, cutting through the tension.

  “Perhaps we should sult Ouranus. After all, he would have felt any disturbance ” he suggested.

  Everyourheir gaze upward, anticipating a response.

  Ouranus had bee, his divine essence lingering sihe e of their meeting.

  “No w has been broken,” Ouranus replied suctly, then fell silent once more.

  “There we have it. Are there any further questions?” Hermes inquired, surveying the room as the gods absorbed the information.

  “From what I know, the dragon kin take siderable time to mature and gain strength,” a goddess stated, breaking the stillness.

  “You said the child hatched twelve years ago. Then how has he grown so powerful in such a short span?” she asked.

  Bahamut took a moment to respond.

  “The answer lies in the Falna. Most of you know that dragon kin are a fusion on and spirit—a wellspring of potential. Receiving my Falna blessing must have unlocked his tent abilities, sequently accelerating his growth,” she summarized, omitting aailed expnation of the process.

  “Tsk,” Loki clicked her tongue, wanting to shift the focus back to Bahamut’s other children.

  “What about your other seven children? How do you at for their rapid growth?” Loki asked.

  Bahamut clicked her tongue in annoyance; she had hoped everyone would fet about the others now that the attention was on Drabsp;

  ‘Sigh, I would have loved to avoid sharing this, but it ’t be helped’ Bahamut thought.

  “The other seven children are beast-kin and step-siblings to the dragon kin. Prior to arriving in Orario, they were the sole survivors of their vilge, which was decimated by the one-eyed bck dragon. This experience has likely pyed a signifit role in their accelerated growth. However, I will not disclose any further details on this matter,” Bahamut cluded, her tone final.

  The room erupted into gasps once more.

  Loki’s fidence faltered, and she sank into her seat, grappling with the implications of Bahamut’s revetions.

  The mere mention of the one-eyed bck drago ripples of through her.

  The twest familias in Orario had fallen victim to it in the past, proof of its terrifying power.

  The trauma from su enter could indeed fuel growth as mortals often unlocked their potential under extreme duress.

  “If there aren’t any more questions, we proceed with the meeting? We still o finalize the aliases for the remaining children,” Bahamut asked, her nont demeanour irritating many of the deities present.

  Most had anticipated seeing Bahamut ered, yet she had provided reasonable expnations that left little room for attabsp;

  The presence of several promi familias—Hephaestus, Demeter, Astraea, Ganesha, and several others—who had said little throughout the discussion indicated either rality or were allies to Bahamut.

  In addition to that, knowledge that 3 other powerful dragon gods were in the mortal world, and were her allies, was ahing to sider.

  There was little they could do against her directly, so it was best to move on for now.

  ……………….

  As the murmurs spread throughout the hall, Bahamut felt a sense of satisfa.

  She had weathered the storm, but ay still g her.

  She had only mao protect her familia from direct assaults; the i means of undermining her familia were numerous, and she had to remain vigint.

  Drad the other children would o exercise heightened caution moving forward, as assassination attempts could emerge from any er—within the dungeon or beyond.

  Without crete evidence of any gods oddesses orchestrating harm against her children, Bahamut would have no justification for retaliation.

  Furthermore, Drad the others would have to prove their strength; levels were mere numbers without a demonstration of actual ability.

  While Bahamut had anticipated one or two immediate war game challenges from the other familias, most of them remained hesitant, seeming to shy away from direct frontation.

  She was no fool, to believe that everything would go smoothly from now on.

  There were some deities that she was most wary about, who didn’t say anything through the whole meeting.

  They were up to something, but what?, she couldn’t tell.

  The children would have to carve their path through a series of remarkable achievements, proving their worth the hard way, enough to deter others from attempting to harm them.

  The game was just beginning, and the stakes had never been higher.