A Divine Pounding Tool

As the sun rose, the battle's momentum swung back towards Primordial Deities, albeit, not by much. Having much more battle experience than the three brutes, Solomon, Joanna, and Rainier managed to halt the forward progress of the three cataclysmic monsters. 

It was during this day of fighting though that a lot of progress was made inside the city. The three major factions finished their peace talks, and, unlike past incidents, seemed to have made some real progress towards longer-term peace. 

Helped by certain vocal deities such as Adelyn and Elyse, the three major factions put aside their ideological differences and competitive drives to band together. With Sylvia applying a little pressure on the side as well, they took responsibility for the damage they caused to the city, and agreed to some measures for the sake of harmony.

Sylvia's goal with these measures was to help them set a better example for the numerous other factions in Marcen's Cliffs. Even if these other factions were much smaller in the city, they still held significant influence outside the city, so a little more prudence, in Sylvia's opinion, wouldn't hurt. 

As for tangible outcomes, Morgana and Cerulean Dynasty did manage to achieve the goal they initially set out to do. Morgana and the others managed to get the neighborhood they had lost months prior to Casimir through the treaty and considered the war a victory—even with the herculean costs it had come with. 

As payment for the treaty, each of the three major factions had sent a couple of siege weapons to the outer ring to help with the fight. Powered by both divinity and mortal mana, these siege weapons fired lasers or projectiles depending on the faction. 

Of course, having sent only a handful each, the three major factions didn't add much to the hundred-plus battalion of weapons already activated by the Library of Truth, but it was the intention that mattered more. 

Beyond the resolution of the conflict between the three major factions, repairs began in earnest from each of the three faction's construction units. The construction unit worked fast to overhaul Sylvia's patchwork repairs, and managed to get a couple buildings back to pristine condition within the first day of construction. 

All in all, it felt as if the city was beginning a new chapter and a new era of peace. Hopefully, of course, this era lasted longer than a handful of months before another major conflict broke out. 

Places like the Leaves of Dawn cafe and the supermarket reopened, and most people went back to work. Unable to do anything about the continuing battle just outside the city, most people began pretending it wasn't there. 

A small group of people though couldn't just ignore the battle. 

"Are you sure you don't need help?" Valencia asked on the phone as she stood by the outermost ring hand-in-hand with Astrid. "We're watching you fight right now and it doesn't look too great." 

"We're... fine." Solomon's fatigued voice came over the phone. "Save your energy for an emergency. Although we're all tired as hell, I predict there will be something else." 

"You and your predictions..." Valencia sighed before hanging up the phone. "I'm planning on making a trip to the Library of Truth headquarters, do you want to come, my dear?" 

"Sure, why not?" Astrid shrugged while squeezing Valencia's hand. "What for?" 

"I should pick up another one of my divine artifacts I have in storage," Valencia explained while pointing at a distant Rainier who was dual wielding his katanas. "You know I have the blindfold, but I should probably get another just in case." 

Replying with an "mhm," Astrid stared off into the distance where Rainier was creating ice waves and lightning strikes one after another. Shaking her head, Astrid could only thank herself for not becoming some sort of frontline fighter. 

Being on the frontline seemed so tiring... 

With a wave of gratitude washing over her once more, Astrid smiled before turning and leaving beside Valencia. 

Then, one walk to the headquarters and one excruciating trip through the Library of Truth's maze of a complex later, the two women came to a stop outside of a sealed door. The door was unmarked, barring a few ominous symbols, and Astrid and Valencia headed in after Valencia spent a minute remembering how to open it. 

"So... this is the divine artifact storage room," Valencia shrugged while flicking on the lights. "Feel free to take a look around." 

Taking Valencia up on her offer, Astrid took a few minutes to just meander through the room while sating her curiosity. It was... large, to say the least. It was obvious another group had come through here relatively recently, and Astrid assumed it was Solomon and the others. 

With shelves stacked from floor to ceiling with weapons and other miscellaneous items, Astrid's jaw fell to the floor. There were... so many! 

"Are these all divine artifacts?" Astrid trailed off as she turned the corner to see another section full of weapons. "How rich are you all? Don't the major factions all have like... two or three each?" 

"First of all, no, not all of these are divine artifacts," Valencia clarified with an awkward cough. "Sorry if I made it sound like that. It's also a spoils of war room, we keep it all together to make it harder for people to steal our divine artifacts. Not that anyone could, I think..." 

Walking through the room to get to where Astrid was, Valencia leaned down to not get decapitated by a sword sticking out from a shelf. "For your other question, yeah, the others don't have as much. I believe the Federation and Dynasty both have three, one for each of their three main players, while the Church only has two." 

"Mhm, and you have?" Astrid raised an eyebrow while reaching out to grab Valencia's hand. 

Looking around the room, Valencia tapped her chin. "Honestly, I've kind of forgotten. The blindfold has been the only one I use for a long time now. I think in total all of us have around five, give or take maybe two depending on the person. After all, some are more powerful than others." 

"Uh huh," Astrid nodded with an unimpressed stare. "Rich-ass. You better keep buying those sweets we both like." 

"I will, my dear~ of course I will," Valencia laughed while booping Astrid on the nose. "Don't worry about it." 

Tugging Astrid along towards one side of the room, Valencia smiled while pointing at a rack with a number of huge spiked hammers and clubs on it. "We're here for those over there." 

Walking over, Valencia ran her hand across the rack while pausing at a club and a hammer. "I have two divine artifacts on this rack, this club right here. I think it has the teeth of some poisonous monster buried in it. Plus, this hammer right here. I call it my meteor hammer, but, as you can see, it's quite large." 

It was "quite large," Astrid could agree. It was so large she had to crane her neck upward just to see the top. With the head of the hammer covered in jet-black metal spikes, she didn't quite know what to say so... she nodded. "How... how do divine artifacts even make you stronger... this hammer seems a little different from a blindfold after all..." 

"Yeah, they are quite different," Valencia laughed while crossing her arms. "I'd say divine artifacts usually fall into two categories. One type is a weapon, the other type is a more... miscellaneous item. Though, it's more of a spectrum than a one or the other type of thing." 

Motioning for Valencia to continue, Astrid's jaw dropped as Valencia picked up the hammer with one hand as if it was nothing. Valencia, smiling at Astrid's reaction, blew her a kiss before continuing. "Most of the time they either have some sort of passive effect, or they allow for the use of a new technique or style. Weapons, more often than not, fall into this second category." 

"Like the katanas Rainier has? Or the spear Solomon has?" Astrid asked as they began walking back towards the entrance of the room. 

"Yeah, like those, or Estelle's throwing stars." Valencia murmured while trying her best to remember the specifics on everyone's divine artifacts. "Those usually change your style a lot though so people don't use them too often." 

Opening the door to let Astrid through, Valencia began the arduous process of getting the hammer out through the doorway. "The more popular ones have passive effects, for example, Morgana's jewel mounted on her staff, or my blindfold. For me, by sealing off my eyes, it massively increases my connection to my divinity, pretty much becoming a free strength boost." 

Nodding along and asking a few more random questions that came to mind, Astrid ended up changing the topic to teasing Valencia as she struggled to get the hammer through the doorway. 

After a half-an-hour of intense struggle—not at all aided by the laughter Astrid caused—Valencia managed to get the hammer out. Making a business decision to not bring it back to the cafe, Valencia just left it in the hallway for her to get should she enter battle. Now that the hammer was in the hallway, she could get it out to the battlefield within a couple minutes or so. 

Dropping the hammer to the ground, Valencia flinched as it made a huge dent and cracked the floor. "Let's... let's get out of here. Solomon and Joanna aren't here so some other randos who work here might scold me for that..."