Episode 9

According to a God (神曰く) is the ninth episode of the Anime. It aired in Japan on June 1st, 2022.

Synopsis
Due to a god's will, Ard, Ginny, and Ireena are sent to the ancient past to eliminate a being that's disturbing the order of multiple worlds. In the ancient past, they join Verda's faction, who agrees to help them, but soon Ard is roped into a conflict with Lydia, who demands that Ard and the group join her as support troops.

Summary
Riding on a carriage, Ard sits in between Ginny and Ireena as they all play a game of cards while en route to their school trip destination. Without warning, time freezes for nearly everything aside from Ard's group, and they fall into an abyss. And land in a grayish-white void and are greeted by a young boy.



The boy describes himself as a god and asks that they help him deal with a troublesome entity that's disturbing the order of multiple dimensional worlds that he oversees. They then awaken, and Ard realizes they've been taken into the ancient past; noting in the past, there were once two moons, but one was destroyed due to an incident. Furthermore, Ard believes they're in the Makina district of the Vardia Empire, the great nation once governed by the Demon Lord Varvatos. Given the circumstances, Ard suggests that they gain an audience with the Demon Lord and eliminate the being that the god wants them to destroy to be able to return to their time. Once that was decided, they witnessed a beastwoman being chased by a Death Stinger. Ard quickly deals with the monster using his magic, and they're soon approached by Olivia, who carries the beastwoman and thanks them for saving her subordinate. Testing the trio by exuding some energy from her body, all but Ard faint from it impresses Olivia and asks them to follow her.



The following day, they are brought to a city where Olivia requests that Ard join her forces to help deal with the outer force demons. Placing two conditions before he accepts Olivia's proposal, Ard asks that Ireena and Ginny join too and that they enlist in Verda forces. Despite her resentment towards that condition, Olivia is convinced by Ard's reasoning and allows them to join Verda's faction. Later, now dressed in clothing fitting that time period, the trio visits Verda's research center, which explodes in a massive conflagration moments after they arrive. From the rubble appears Verda praising the success of her experiment and spotting the group. She then talks with both Ireena and Ginny, who have no clue of Verda's true identity. They're left shocked to learn that the young girl was, in fact, Verda, and then Verda restores her broken research center. Inside there, Verda knows that Ard's group was there to assist her, which leaves her pleased, even more so when she learns of their predicament. She agrees to let them join her faction in exchange for allowing her to join them all when they return to the future. At that moment, Slyphy breaks into the place and tries to catch Vera, and when she fails, she calls Lydia in. Upon entering, Lydia grabs hold of Verda and demands that she send in more support troops to help her. Hence, Verda diverts her attention to Ard's group, and upon seeing Ginny, Lydia tries to court Ginny. Ard intervenes, making Lydia apprehensive toward him, and Lydia demands that they settle the matter outside.

Out in a rocky desert area, both Ard and Lydia duke out with each other until dusk. With no clear winner, the two accept each other's prowess, and before Ard can leave, Lydia stops him and asks that he and the others join her on the frontlines. In exchange for accepting Lydia's request, he asks for an audience with Varvatos, but Lydia claims that he'll have to accomplish a significant feat to gain his trust to see him.

Characters
Characters in order of appearance.
 * Ginny Fin de Salvan
 * Ard Meteor
 * Ireena Litz de Olhyde
 * Olivia vel Vine
 * Verda El Hazard
 * Slyphy Marheaven
 * Lydia Beginsgate