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Chapter 404: A Small Hiccup (1)
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"Haah!"
Her chest hurt. They were a bit too heavy for daily life.
Falling on her back, the light white robes which barely covered her loosened more. She reached out a hand to grab the phone on the bed, bringing it over her face as the lock opened, recognizing her striking blonde hair and blue eyes.
She clicked on and about before opening Eternal-Gram, the god version of the app that mortals called Instagram. It ran on the Super-Net thingies that the Three Factions had invented together, so not only Gods and Goddesses like her, but also Devils, Angels, and many other supernatural accounts. It was very popular among the generation of supernaturals that appeared recently, but not very known amongst the old people.
Though perhaps that was for the better. If the king of her pantheon, Zeus, learned how to use Super-Net, she could only imagine the mayhem around the world. Too many pretty women existed here, and few paled in comparison to the mortal supermodels.
Garnering attention on this platform was therefore harder since everyone was so petty. Plus, the difference in one's faction also worked to limit followers.
So, it was a testament to just how beautiful and popular she was as she looked at the huge number on her profile. It came with the side effect that she received thousands of annoying DMs every day that she ignored, but just seeing the number was nice.
===
@therealaphrodite
Posts - 6,838
Followers - 397 Million
Following - 90 people
===
Admittedly, the profile picture was a bit too goofy, but she liked how it threw people off. Two muscular men held up their hands to let her large breasts rest on them. Besides, she had better pictures in the account. Once someone would see her name, they would click the account and see the other photos she had. So it wasn't an issue.
Leaving her account, a bit sad that there wasn't much increase in her followers in the last month, she scrolled her feed. Instantly, she was surprised to see a post with hundreds of thousands of likes, and it had been mere minutes since it was posted.
It made sense why. It was posted by none other than that devil, Serafall Leviathan. It was this short woman who was the closest to her in terms of followers. Aphrodite was ahead of course, but only because of her old popularity – the myths related to her.
"What is this…?"
Perhaps she was too old because she didn't get this much reach in a post in a long time. It wasn't a hundred thousand likes anymore; it had just passed a million.
It helped for sure that Serafall wasn't the only popular devil in the picture, there was the super maid Grayfia Lucifuge. She didn't even have an Eternal-Gram account, so the few pictures of her available on the net were very popular. Though… Aphrodite saw the other reason why this post has such reach.
Firstly, the image itself. It was from a bar, with Serafall winking at the camera as she was suggestively leaning on a man. It was a very attractive man, even Aphrodite had to admit. They sat on a couch with a table in front of them, and Grayfia was only on the other side of the table, her face red as she looked at the scene with a blush.
The white-haired man had one of his hands boldly wrapped around Serafall's curvy waist that was barely visible in the shot, while his other hand made a pose with his fingers; on top of his index, a swirling ball of golden mana flared. He had one of his eyes closed, imitating Serafall's wink, while his other showed a blue eye that was prettier than the mana ball itself.
He was handsome. Just Aphrodite's type. It was her lucky day because the caption said who he was.
[@levia-tan: Hey guys and gals! I am out on a date with our prude maid, and a new friend I made today! He is kinda new at all this, so he was surprised at the existence of this app, so I made him an account for any of you girls who want to follow~]
Aphrodite clicked the account that was named @thedragonkingofbabylon and her eyes went wide.
His profile picture was one where he had Serafall on his shoulder, her barely covered ass in the shot as he rested his hand over it to cover it further. That was not what shocked Aphrodite, even though that in itself was shocking too since Serafall had never posted such pictures, busy to keep her innocent magical girl personally active. What shocked her was the follower number, it was already reaching a million.
"If his account is growing so fast, then…"
Aphrodite quickly went back to the prior post and clicked Serafall's account. Her eyes snapped up when she noticed the number, reaching 398 Million just on the spot.
"Dammit."
Cursing, Aphrodite felt nervous as she fell second to the devil in the ranks. Her fingers ran about until she thought of an idea.
She clicked the account of the man, who she only paid attention to now to be a dragon, as she went to DM. Then, she hesitated.
One, because it would be her first time DMing a guy first. Two, what the fuck was that name?
"Dragon King of Babylon? Is he related to Tiamat?"
Tiamat was the Dragon Queen of Babylon, and she was the strongest Dragon of the Five Dragon Kings in the world. Who the hell was this man?
Whatever the case, that just meant his name was worth more attention. She broke through her hesitation and sent a message.
* * *
Neji was done putting a search warrant on the three girls. It was surprisingly simple.
Neji and the two girls teleported to the darker part of the city where Serafall's office was and then walked into a large building. Then the guild leader ran to meet them, begging them to come and sit, but Serafall just handed them over an encrypted file with the picture in it, while in the front door, and said a code word that apparently made them take this search mission top priority.
The meeting with this Nighthawk Guild had just taken five minutes, or less actually.
After that, they roamed around, as Serafall gave him the tour she promised. It had been hours and now, they were in the Misty City, the home of the Leviathan Clan. As in the clan of the old Satan Leviathan, not where Serafall is from. They're basically enemies, as this was a city under the Old Satan Faction, but Serafall thought it would be funny for them to come here and hang out in the bar.
Suddenly Neji's phone rang with another notification; ding! [Hey love, wanna pluck some Olympian flowers with me? 💕]
"I got another DM."
Neji finally had enough as he set his phone in silent mode, putting it away. He looked to his right, where Serafall clung onto his arm while giggling as she looked at her phone.
"You are more like a human teenage girl than I thought."
"Shush, the comments are amusing. I was honestly kind of hesitant at first since it goes against my usual public image, but it's not as bad as I thought."
She leaned further back into him, her small back sinking into his chest. Just when she did that, she hicced for the umpteenth time. Her cheeks were rosy, she was drunk.
The bar they were in wasn't empty. It was a popular bar and had a lot of people in it. They took a seat in the corner cabin, but people had obviously noticed them. Yet, none dared to approach them thanks to the death glare sent by Grayfia. Sitting across them, she was mostly silent the entire time and was trying to drink as little as possible. Yet her cheeks were slightly red, though if it was from the alcohol or from the cuddling of him and Serafall, he couldn't be sure.
She clearly seemed to not like staying here, and that only made Neji question why she was still here at all. Their job was done, and the situation must be awkward for a third party. It made Neji wonder how serious she was about convincing him to join Rias.
That was another thing. Did Rias really go cry to her brother to have him in her little peerage? He knew she was like that, but it felt annoying nonetheless. How clingy.
Not that he hated clingy, the proof being the petite lady resting her body against him, but that type of clingy was annoying. This shorty was chill with it, however. She was bearable, and arguably enjoyable too.
At that moment, Grayfia suddenly spoke up. "I think you shouldn't have used that name. It's too… engaging."
Neji turned his head at her and wondered what she meant. What was wrong with the name he chose? He wanted to just be called @kingofbabylon, but that seemed a bit too much since he wasn't even sure what the Babylonian pantheon was in this world. Though he did confirm from Serafall that Gilgamesh didn't exist, even though he had been alive in the past.
"You think so?"
Neji asked, mostly to just make conversation with her. Grayfia took a small sip of her glass and nodded.
"Yes. Why did you even choose something like that? I thought you were from Kunlun? How are you related to Babylon?"
'Ah. Right.' Neji realized that was a little blunder.
"Let's just say I like the myths around that place. Nothing more than that."
"...."
She stared at him. A second later, she looked at the untouched cup of alcohol in front of him.
"Not gonna drink?"
"I can't drink."
That got her attention, and even Serafall looked up from her phone. It was kind of true. He could drink it, but it would have no effect. He remembered being annoyed when he was drinking with Tsunade a few months back, unable to get drunk due to the massive blessing he had from the Omniverse.
"Wait, are you really a hermit?"
He hadn't thought of that when he wasn't drinking, he just didn't want to drink it if it didn't work. But his words seemed to have given the two a wrong idea, as Serafall gave him an amused look.
"Your hands have been to a lot of places today for a hermit. Not that I'm complaining. I am a devil; I'd take pride in breaking young monks~"
Neji pinched her nose, watching her blink and begin to struggle playfully against his grip. She gently hit him when he let her go, and the two of them broke out laughing.
It was then that Neji froze. A sound came to his ear canals as he felt his soul… shiver. Not in a bad way but in quite the melodic manner instead.
He looked at Grayfia with a frown, which earned him a confused look. It wasn't her. He looked around the bar, but nothing.
He stood up, and Serafall looked annoyed at losing her pillow
"Going somewhere?"
"Bathroom break, sorry."
"Be back soon. Oh, give me your phone before you go."
"Huh?"
Neji asked aloud even as he handed her his Magic Phone, something she had gifted him earlier. He opened the lock and she went to his Instagram- or whatever this app was that all supernaturals seemed to use. It was the same app, with the same interface, just different names and people. She went to his DMs, and he understood she just wanted to mess with some people in his name. He didn't really care, so he let her off.
Then, he walked into the bathroom – and once there, he phased the walls and walked out of the bar. The music, the song, seemed to call him towards it. It was eerie, and very suspicious too since two Satan class devils didn't seem to sense it, but he went towards the source anyway.
By now, it was nighttime in this devil city. The sky was dark, and there was a red moon in the sky. He didn't know if it was real, and he didn't care right now. Walking through the surprisingly human-looking city, he was soon in a park.
There was a small artificial fountain with a dolphin statue shooting water upwards. The source of the song sat on the edge of the circular border around the fountain.
It was a girl. A young lady with lavender hair, as she let her vocals do magic with her golden eyes closed.
[Image Here]
Neji sat down beside her. He made sure to be silent, and silent he was because she didn't even notice him. She continued, as he felt relaxed. More than he ever felt in the last few weeks. He wasn't exaggerating, there was magic behind this he could feel it.
His muscles seemed to get loose, and his mind relaxed. His shoulders dropped to rest, and he released a long, tired sigh. Tiredness seemed to leave him as he did that, and for a moment, he closed his eyes, forgetting about worldly matters and just enjoying the song just like the girl had been.
Like that, minutes passed. Neji opened his eyes when he realized the song had stopped for at least a minute. He was slightly taken aback when he found the girl staring at him from the side, her eyes bewitched.
"Handsome…"
Looks like he forgot to put his CHA down after that photoshoot earlier. He quickly did so and stood up, taking a respectable step away from the girl who quickly blinked and returned to her senses.
"Thank you; while I'd like to compliment your gorgeousness too, I can't help but call out your beautiful voice first. Also, and apologizes for sitting here out of the blue."
"I-it's alright."
The girl looked awkward as she nodded, avoiding eye contact. He had put his CHA down enough to not be an issue for her. Did she have social anxiety or what?
Neji decided to use a detailed [Observe].
===
Name: Ingvild Leviathan
Tier: High Tier 23
Race: Half Devil
Age: 117
Powers: Extreme Demonic Powers, and the bloodline [Sea Serpent of the End], and the Sacred Gear [Nereid Kyrie].
Emotions: Shy, Awkward, Nervous.
===
"..."
Suddenly, Neji recognized her. She was to be Issei's Hyuudo's queen in the future. She was quite an important character then.
For an instant, he pondered as he recalled what her power was. Should he kill her?
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