A Cliché Multiverse Story

The following morning, Astraea woke up more confused than she had been her entire life. Loki was sleeping beside Asahi. Helen leaned against the wall, tied with thick ropes and a cloth stuffed in her mouth. Helen looked at her with teary eyes, pleading to be released. After racking her brain for minutes, she finally deduced what happened.

While Astraea worked her brain, Loki got up and held her head.

"Hangovers are a pain…" she turned to Astraea and rubbed her eyes. "Astraea?"

"Loki…" Astraea wasn't sure what to make of this. "Are you also?"

"What?"

The goddesses stared at each other in confusion, clearly not understanding each other's intentions.

Asahi woke up between the goddesses' squabble and stretched his arms. "Morning, you two…"

Loki's eyes widened as she pointed at his face. "What are ya doin' in my bed?!"

She completely forgot how she ended up in his bed.

Asahi yawned and bit on her outstretched finger. "What does it look like?"

"Ya… ya snuck into my room and assaulted me in my sleep! That's what it looks like!"

"Oh, that's what you think?" Asahi swiftly picked up Loki's lithe body and put her on his lap. "This room belongs to me. Now, tell me who crawled into whose bed?"

Loki caught onto the walls, which had a distinct blue color compared to the bright yellow walls in her room. "T-This is your room."

"Indeed."

Loki fell speechless. Closing her eyes, she tried to recall something. Yet, all she saw were vague memories of drinking in her room while admiring the moon. Everything after that was a complete blur.

Astraea only needed one glance at Asahi's smile to discern the truth. "Umm, did Helen try it again?"

Astraea brought everyone's attention to the gray-haired woman giving teary-eyed looks.

Asahi gave an amused smile. "The bondage should have been perfect… why are you still here though?"

Nobody came to help her even though the door was open all night. Well, the sheer size of the mansion made it impossible for some to hear her muffled cries for help.

"Astraea, can you call Freya to get Helen out?"

"I can."

The goddess of justice walked out of the room in search of Freya. Asahi lifted Helen with his telekinesis and tossed her out of the room. A level 2 adventurer like her easily endured the fall impact.

Loki squirmed around on his lap. Asahi wrapped his arms around her waist to restrain her.

"How will you compensate me now?"

"I did nothin'."

Even if she did anything to Asahi, she was going to deny it until the end.

'Loki, the womanizer, assaulted a married man.'

Loki could already hear other deities' laughter in her ears. If anyone got a whiff of this incident, nobody will join her Familia on their own. She might not have the greatest reputation out of all deities, but all the mortals respected her for her deeds and came to join her Familia.

"Shameless."

"Adventurers with thick skin live longer than yer noble, run-of-the-mill heroes. Shame is worthless in this world."

"I kinda agree."

"I was drunk yesterday. Let's forget anything that happened last night." Loki grabbed his hand and tried to release the grip. "Stop huggin' me. I gotta return to Twilight Manor."

She wasn't even sure if anything happened, but she gave Asahi the benefit of the doubt.

"It's not possible." Asahi shook his head. "You were so intimately kissing me… saying that you loved me so much. You can't go back now."

Loki felt her cheeks burning as faint memories surfaced, reminding her of the brief rant session. "Impossible. I'd never do that! Wait, if ya were awake, why didn't ya stop me?"

As Asahi's grip loosened, she slipped away and turned around. She sharpened her gaze at Asahi's teasing smirk.

"It was all a lie."

Asahi raised his hands, deciding to stop the prank. "Yup."

"Why ya!"

She squeezed his collars, throwing Asahi off balance. Asahi could've stopped at any given point, but he chose to let Loki push him down.

"Loki… it's not the best time to fuck. We should meet later tonight."

Loki stared at him with her signature squinting eyes. "This is fucked…"

She took a long sigh as she released his collar and rested her cheeks on his chest. Asahi wrapped her in his arms.

"I like huggin' ya more than Ais."

"Of course, it does. I'm a man, she is a girl. On a side note, I don't feel your boobs."

"Ya are a boob lover, huh." Loki pinched his waist from both sides, but she couldn't twist his skin. She did everything to put a scratch on him, but her attempts were futile.

While Loki scratched him like a cat, the door behind her back quietly opened, and out came the duo of Astraea and Hephaestus.

Hephaestus checked whether Loki was still drunk before she proceeded to ask the question on her mind, "Is Loki finally going to choose a man? Though I don't know if going after Asahi is right. I'll leave that to you and Astraea as it's none of my business."

"I don't like it either." Loki grinned at Astraea. "We're just messin' around."

Astraea gave a sharp glare, making Loki sweat profusely. Loki seemed afraid to fight back Astraea's stare as though she was guilty of something. She pushed back her turbulent thoughts and climbed off the bed.

"Look at ya being so defensive about Asahi. I told ya we were just playin'." Loki once again tried to shrug off their moment of intimacy as nothing serious. "I need to go now!"

Loki fled the scene as Freya and now freed Helen entered the room.

"What was that?" Freya asked as she looked at Asahi. "Why was she in a hurry?"

"Must be something important." Asahi shrugged. "Helen, will you stop trying to assassinate me, or do I have to do something more extreme?"

"I-I'll stop."

She had learned her lesson after a defenseless night full of shame. She was conflicted about whether Asahi was kind or evil. He had tossed her around like a ragdoll at his leisure. Then again, he didn't attack her in her most vulnerable state.

"That's a good girl. Go and play somewhere. Let adults talk."

Helen gritted her teeth, still, she nodded in an obedient manner and left the room.

Freya giggled at the state of her attendant. "You humiliated her."

"Just be grateful I didn't kill her."

"I am grateful."

"Astraea, we're leaving now."

Before the couple took another step, Freya blocked the door with her body.

"Us deities hold a meeting in Babel to vow on the terms of a War Game. I'd love to have you there with Astraea."

Asahi scratched his head. "I'll be there."

He couldn't let Astraea handle all the pressure alone. This was a valuable chance to find what the gods thought of a 'demigod' like him and a chance to mark the ones bearing hostility against him or his Familia.

"Wonderful."