What's wrong!?

The moment the Goddess bit into the socks on the Maid Homunculus's feet—

—a shockwave tore through the world, as if reality itself had cracked.

"…!! Th-this, is…!?"

She pulled her mouth away from the Maid Homunculus's feet and stumbled backward, face pale.

"… Urgh! M-my body…"

"Wh, wha, huh? Goddess? What's wrong!?"

"It feels like everything's being churned up inside me… Th-this power…! C-could it be!?"

The Goddess doubled over. And as I watched, Kaoru's lips curled into a grin.

And then, Kaoru's hair gradually turned red.

"Well done, Rena. And good work to you too, Karina-chan."

"Yes, my master."

"…!!"

In that instant, memories of my exchange with the "Demon Lord of Chaos" came rushing back.

"The Chaos…!!"

"Yes, yes. You can just call me Chaos God now."

With a snap of fingers, my memories sharpened further.

That's right. The Chaos God had tampered with my memories, made me carry the supposedly defeated Maid Homunculus to the Goddess as the "mastermind," and had me offer up those rigged socks designed to harm the Goddess.

Manipulated by the Chaos God to make it happen that way. To act that way. Without even realizing I was being manipulated. I'd been tampered with.

And the Goddess, deceived by none other than me, had readily chomped down on the poisoned socks.

"Don't worry. As promised, from now on I'll serve as your SP substitute and make suitable items for you. I am the god of alchemy, after all. Creating Divine Artifacts is simple, and naturally, I can make items that conceal Divine Artifacts too."

Ah. So that's why the Goddess had looked at the maid and concluded "she doesn't have any Divine Artifacts."

In reality, she was probably a mass of Divine Artifacts, carrying 108 genuine ones handcrafted by the Chaos God. Among them, surely a "Divine Artifact that conceals Divine Artifacts." That would explain everything.

The Chaos God approached the doubled-over Goddess.

"Fufufu, now then. How does it feel, Space-Time Goddess-chan? Having your divine power sealed from within your own body?"

"Kuh… M-my stomach…"

The very next moment.

The Goddess pounced on the Chaos God with incredible speed and locked on with both hands and feet… A cicada?

"I'm laughing so hard my stomach could twist! Aha～! It's the Chaos God-san!"

"!? W-wait, wh-why can you move, Space-Time Goddess-chan!?"

The Goddess shoved her hands into the Chaos God's (red-haired Kaoru's) clothes and rubbed all over, sniffing away to savor the scent, chomping lightly to leave bite marks. I quietly backed away from the two of them.

Oh, hey there, Maid Homunculus-san. Evacuating too? Rough day for the both of us, huh.

"How!? You should have eaten the rigged socks!?"

"Hm? Oh, come on. I was just pretending to eat them, pre-ten-ding! I knooow all about it. That you love me so much you'd want to seal me away and keep me as your pet, Chaos God-san!"

"N-no I don't!? I just want my freedom!"

"Yes, yes. I know. I knooow. That's exactly why I won't give it to you! You have to be my Chaos God-san and mine alone, ufufufufu."

Wow. So yandere. Is this why the Chaos God keeps avoiding the Goddess?

"Kuh, I even had Kosshori-kun deployed properly…!"

Ah, now that I think about it, wasn't it that the Goddess wouldn't watch if Kosshori-kun was active?

So you were watching after all? Breaking promises is no good, Goddess!

"Karina-chan. Do you remember the exception clause for Kosshori-kun?"

"Ah, um… 'Except in emergencies,' right?"

"Good memory! So what kind of emergency did I say would make me peek?"

"Um. If there's no contact for about ten years, or if the Goddess's lover comes to visit—!!"

That's right. If the Goddess's lover came to visit, she would peek regardless of Kosshori-kun being active.

The Goddess had stated that from the very beginning.

"Yes! In other words, this was an emergency!!"

Kuh, a pre-declared exception clause! Then there's nothing to be done about it.