"He actually died? Who did it—Sirzechs or Serafall?"
Azazel's expression stiffened. It hadn't even been that long, so how had the Underworld been ready so quickly?
"Neither. It was someone who'd never shown up before," Vali said with a shake of his head.
"And that person is the Red Dragon Emperor of this era."
Azazel's face shifted. "Ah, I see. So he's a Sacred Gear user, just like you."
He paused for a moment.
"A White Dragon Emperor and a Red Dragon Emperor, fated rivals… But you're back here already? I figured you'd at least try fighting him."
"There wasn't enough time. By the time I showed up, Leviathan was there with her troops," Vali replied.
When he detected the Red Dragon Emperor's presence, both Vali and Albion inside him were excited. They wanted to go face him, but Serafall Leviathan arrived with her forces before they could. Vali was confident in his own power, but not to the point of believing he could walk away unscathed from a face-off with Leviathan herself.
Azazel let out a long sigh. "We'll go back, too."
"That's it?" Vali asked.
"What else can we do? Kokabiel acted on his own. I thought I moved fast, but apparently not fast enough." Azazel shook his head in frustration.
One reason he'd sent Vali was to stop Kokabiel—he didn't want him dragging everyone into another war. Another reason was purely concern. If the devils or angels got their hands on Kokabiel, he'd end up with a death sentence either way. They were already short on allies after that last war; most of the companions who'd once enjoyed carefree days with Azazel had been killed.
"I've already been in contact with Lucifer in the Underworld. They're planning a three-faction meeting soon."
"I'm gonna train," Vali said, shaking his head. He wasn't interested in any of that.
After all, as the White Dragon Emperor, he was destined for a showdown with his Red Dragon counterpart. He needed to keep honing himself until that day.
…
Because of the Kokabiel incident, many different factions experienced a brief period of turbulence in the hidden world. Aside from the three main powers, there was also a ghoul organization involved, which soon emerged into the light.
By combing through memories of captured ghouls, the devils quickly traced the information back to a big fish: the current Chairman of the CCG—Washuu Tsuneyoshi—leader of the human "Dove" organization, who turned out to be a ghoul as well. In fact, the entire Washuu family were ghouls.
This revelation shocked a lot of people. But once the investigation was done, things proceeded swiftly. Unlike the Tokyo Ghoul storyline that required four anime seasons to deal with the Washuu family, here the devils only needed a high-ranked devil and an enforcement squad to wipe them out.
The Washuu family put up a token resistance before being annihilated.
Meanwhile, a tip from Sona Sitri led to another group called "The Replaced" , which also came to light. But for now, none of that had much to do with Hikaru.
At the moment, he was busy reviewing his haul from the recent battle.
Fighting the Fallen Angel executive not only deepened his understanding of Holy Light and gave him a clear sense of his current power level, it also earned him access to the ice magic Serafall used, plus a promise of one favor within her authority as a Maou. That magic, used by a Demon King, would definitely boost his repertoire. As for calling in that favor, he hadn't decided yet.
He'd also captured Kokabiel's soul. Thanks to the Myriad Souls Banner, he'd prevented Kokabiel from reincarnating.
But the thing Hikaru cared about the most was that the energy gauge on his Dimensional Gate was finally at 100%. It was his main motivation for fighting Kokabiel in the first place. Even a "weaker" executive was still an executive, and someone who could casually hurl a Spear of Light from 800 miles away certainly packed a punch. Taking Kokabiel down instantly filled up the gate's remaining 50%.
That meant Hikaru could now return to the Campione ("Godslayer") world and do what he'd wanted for ages—slay a god.
During his first crossing, he hadn't had the chance or the power. Sure, people like Madam Aisha and the original protagonist, Kusanagi Godou, made it look easy, but it was all "fated."
They succeeded precisely because they were Campione to begin with, not that they became Campione because they succeeded. "Destined child," "plot armor," and so on.
Even famous veterans like Luo Hao and Marquis Voban had initially relied on crazy coincidences stacking up before they landed a seemingly effortless god-slaying kill.
For anyone else, that was a random chance; for them, it was inevitable.
Hikaru might be a transmigrator, but he didn't have that kind of plot armor.
Sure, he got Est as a "starter gift," and he did get an opportunity to stand off against a Heretic God. But risking his one life in a direct fight during his first venture to that world didn't feel worth it. He wasn't the "hot-blooded youth" type.
He preferred a safer approach. After all, as long as he had the Dimensional Gate, no Heretic God was going to vanish on him.
Now that his gate was fully charged, and he finally had enough power to stand on even ground with a god, it was time to seize a divine power for himself. With the situation here temporarily resolved, Hikaru planned to head over to the Campione world soon. You can never have too many authorities, after all.
…
Having finished sorting out his spoils, Hikaru glanced over at Asia in the living room. She was doing housework, though the entire villa was kept spotless by automated cleaning magic, so there really wasn't much for her to do. Still, Asia felt she had to make herself useful somehow.
Because the news was talking about a supposed "gas explosion," local schools had suspended classes for a week so the government could check underground gas lines and other potentially flammable infrastructure.
Sensing Hikaru watching her, Asia gave an embarrassed, shy smile. She still had no clue that the Biblical God was dead, and Hikaru wasn't planning to tell her.
But he would be leaving for a while, and he couldn't just leave her alone. Thinking this through, he decided to give Koneko a call.
~~~
Patreon(.)com/Bleam
— Currently You can Read 20 Chapters Ahead of Others!