The Villain Rising: Ascension of Arcane Trickster.-Chapter 213: Meeting (Scamming) Hel Once Again.

Within the beautiful banquet hall, Rael drank the last of the disgusting liquid disguised as liquor but unlike before, his smile this time was the brightest it had ever been.

His eyes swept across the hall, watching people dance awkwardly, moving stiffly... like puppets.

I guess it’s finally time to say goodbye to the night.

Right on cue, Viola’s hands grabbed his arm and pulled him back, just like before. He could have acted differently and ended the loop in another way but doing that wouldn’t make the monster consume his memories as completely as when the loop ended naturally.

So he had to follow the script for now.

Still, he didn’t feel hopeless like before and he didn’t even mind it this time. More than anything, he felt curious about whether he could find that blind boy, Winter, once again.

But unfortunately, that boy wasn’t present even in this loop. Still, after spending some time there, unable to do much, Rael came up with a theory.

A theory he wasn’t completely sure of... yet something deep within him told him it was correct.

Still, he would confirm it sooner or later.

Meanwhile, the elves had already begun their attack.

His mind wasn’t focused on his actions or words anymore. He could recite every line and perform every movement unconsciously now.

This was one of the hidden effects of the loop, it taught him to split his mind effortlessly between thought and action.

—

The scene unfolded exactly as it had before as the elven mother reacted the same way after he killed her child.

She lunged at him, her hand stretching toward his face but even with her A-Rank speed, Rael saw it in slow motion. His perception had long surpassed normal limits, even if reacting to such speed was still another matter entirely.

Still, he leaned back by only a fraction, by mere microseconds as the punch grazed his face and sent him crashing backward.

The moment he crashed and closed his eyes, the loop ended. He felt the tentacles, the shifting mass of the monster’s body wrapping around him, morphing reality into the beginning of another cycle while forcing his memories to leak out but this time, Rael was prepared.

He guided the foreign mana into precise patterns and instead of letting surface-level memories be devoured, he redirected it toward the dormant ones.

Not just any dormant memories but the ones he had sealed even from himself. The ones he had never allowed himself to remember... including the divine names of certain beings.

But his true goal was a particular memory.

The one from the time he had nearly killed himself trying to uncover Morvana’s fate... by attracting the gaze of some deranged God.

That memory alone was dangerous enough to rot anything that touched it. The others were far too unpredictable and he didn’t want to gamble with them.

He focused, forcing his mind to release only that one.

"Rael... you ready? Enter the domain as soon as the transfer is complete."

Ra’s voice echoed inside his head as Rael held back a smirk.

’Don’t worry, I am always ready to pull out.’ 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

"Bastard, keep your mind steady, this is no time to joke."

’Yeah, yeah, whatever. I am opening the lid now.’

With those words, he opened the seal on his dormant memories. Space itself reacted, dragging those forbidden fragments out of his body and the moment the memory was pulled out completely, Rael prepared to escape...

His consciousness started expanding but just before it could enter the domain, a soft raindrop sound echoed as everything froze.

The space itself felt like it had been paused as an unnatural chill crawled through Rael’s body before a familiar voice echoed through the void.

"Who are you?"

Rael’s gaze snapped forward.

A being had appeared out of nowhere, floating where the Mind Harvester’s body was fading away. She wasn’t attacking or even moving and yet, her presence alone marked the absolute death of the Eldritch being he had struggled against for so long.

Her black hair devoured light itself while her abyssal eyes tried to peer into his soul... and failed.

She was Hel, the Goddess of the Underworld, the ice-cold ruler of Helheim and the one Rael had once deceived with absolute precision.

...You’ve got to be kidding me.

He had calculated everything with absolute precision. He had even forced mana to drag that specific memory out... so why was she here instead of the gaze?

"Rael... you made a mistake as one more memory slipped out along with the memory of the Gaze." Ra answered that question almost immediately.

’...What memory?’

"The memory of the true name of Hel..."

As soon as Ra said it, Rael mentally cursed himself.

Why the hell is fate so obsessed with me that it has to screw me over at every possible chance?

"Don’t worry," Ra continued quickly. "Just keep her busy for a few minutes. I can pull you out through the domain. That dumb Eldritch creature also swallowed the memory of the Gaze, so the gaze will show up soon too... and if you enter the domain before that happens, Hel will be forced to retreat."

Ra paused for a second before continuing.

"Especially since she is in her humanoid form within the divine domain of another god right now and don’t worry about your identity."

"I will hide your soul and your appearance is already shielded by this terminally ill form of yours."

Rael blinked and finally looked down at himself.

His hair had turned white while his eyes had turned green. Countless cracks running across his skin.

His cloak wasn’t with him so the monster had been using one of its abilities to mask him but the moment it died, the cheap disguise vanished with it. What stood here now was his real, broken form.

Hel looked at him silently.

Then...

"Why do you look so familiar?"

Her voice alone froze the entire space as Rael let out a slow sigh.

I am seriously not getting paid enough for this shit... but I guess survival really is the best motivation.

So he began How to Scam a Goddess 101, Session Two.

He lifted his head and met her gaze as the Moon Card shielded his mind while the domain wrapped around his soul. They were the only reason he wasn’t already insane.

Then he spoke, calmly and recklessly.

"Don’t tell me..."

"...have you already forgotten me, Luneth?"

As soon she heard the name, Hel’s eyes widened before the whole space started trembling.