" They do..., Lord Agni. "
" Both of them know well what they're doing, hence they chose this choice... "
" A bad choice..., the one that they both rue one day... " a voice comes, as the owner shows himself on top of the gigantic creature. The 'White Demon' himself, as he says it while presenting himself in front of the three.
" So..., the Terrorizing White Demon had graced us by showing himself in the Tournament's Opening? " Loki asks, opening the conversation. The White Demon didn't respond, he looked around before returning it with his reply.
" Your armies are killed just like that? " the White Demon asks back.
" This..., is this the whole extent of those you recruit to 'fight' me? " White Demon asks while pointing at himself.
" Coward! " Yukino suddenly interrupts.
" How would you know the true extent of their strength if you killed them with this 'Kaiju' of yours!? Do you have no honor!? " Yukino asks with a loud tone, trying to shame the White Demon.
" Really?... Coward? Honor? " White Demon asks back.
" This is a 'Battle Royale' Tournament... "
" Not some Professional Fighting Tournament, the only rules here are win or lose, live or die... " White Demon tells Yukino.
" You're an S-Rank, take the 1st Position even..., yet you still didn't get the situation you're at? " White Demon scratches his hair in his confusion while Yukino gets pissed at his attitude.
" How ironic, tsk tsk..., I was under the impression here that the 'Tournament' would be a huge battle royale, full of competitors, weapons clashing, explosions... "
" Not some entertainment ring with many specific rules, penalties, or whatever, I'm here to fight and win, so the fight here shouldn't be 'fought fairly'... " White Demon tosses the very word as he feels disgusted by the thought itself.
" Look here..., Mrs. No. 1 Hunter... "
" If you still say things like that, then I suggest you take off the No. 1 position and f*k off from this Tournament! "
" Before you embarrassed yourself, your predecessor, your entire Hunter Association, your followers, and even your remaining family! " White Demon says that, the words that hit Yukino off in her first debut as the No. 1 Hunter of Trinia, the central place of all Hunters.
"~ Ah...I, keurgh... ~" Yukino stutters while the White Demon suddenly receives an incoming attack from both Loki and Agni as he holds it.
" Nice try... " White Demon managed to hold it while looking at Loki and Agni.
"( What's this that I felt? )"
"( Why he felt fa- )" Aidan, who is on the rest, felt something at the sudden.
"( Don't let the feeling distract you, boy! )" Agni says to Aidan while in reality, he continuously attacks the White Demon with the help of Loki, an attempt the White Demon still manages to fend off from his position.
"( He's so quick, is he just a demon? )" Agni wonders the more he attacked, still not wary of the Demon's true nature since this is his first try over him.
"( Even with me already imbuing the red and blue flames over my attacks, the flames didn't burn him and just dwindle as soon as he deflected my attack.)"
"( This is not good. )" Agni who constantly attacks Loki just now, quickly decides to retreat while bringing Loki with him.
" Hey, Agni, what are you-! "
" Just shut up and retreat! " Agni says as they finally widen their distance once more.
"( The gods, retreated? )" Yukino wonders from her position, within her mind, she never expected to see any gods retreat from any enemy, by all means.
"( Loki... )" Agni says as he calls Loki through his mind.
"( What? )" Loki asks after he is called.
"( If things got worse, I believe we should all retreat from this place..., and re-assess..., what we knew about him... )"
"( Agni, What- )"
"( I'm serious..., this Demon! )" Agni says while pointing at the White Demon.
"( He may not present himself as such but with that short interaction I could immediately tell... )"
"( That this Demon is already a 'Monarch'! )" Agni informs Loki which makes his eyes widen.
"( Hey Agni... )"
"( I don't know if you already sensed it, but... )"
"( Do you realize that I was connecting our thoughts with the other gods when you said the thing? )" Loki tells Agni which makes them both stop thinking, the word " What Have I Done? "* immediately loads their mind, followed by the noises of the connected gods that heard their statement, even worse.
"( Perhaps, I am indeed, a 'Monarch'... )" said a voice, a voice both Agni and Loki recognized but didn't expect it will be heard inside their minds, making them both have their heads up and look at White Demon again.
"( Loki, did I hear just right? )" Agni asks after hearing it, but before Loki can answer.
"( Of course, Lord Agni, or perhaps Hunter Aidan if he could hear me inside... )"
"( I am indeed, talking to you 'all', right now. )" said the White Demon as he talked with them through minds.
< [Telepathy] is used. >
"( Can you all hear me..., gods? )"
"( I mean..., Diviners. )"
"( How's your life going? Especially in this 1.111th Timeline we're live in? )" said the White Demon as all the Diviners, the gods, immediately widened their eyes in their respective places.
"( How did a Demon like you know this far? )"
"( How did a Demon like you manage to enter our Telepathic Connection? )"
"( How... )"
"( How... )"
"( How... )"
"( How... )"
"( So many questions..., you know I can't reply you one-by-one, right? )"
"( Perhaps, not yet... )"
"( But still, despite me being an uninvited guest here..., instead of me giving you a straight answer of things... )"
"( Why did you Diviners..., find out who I am by yourselves? )" White Demon says this while he smirks behind his very mask.
"( No investigation needed! A demon like you deserves an immediate execution! )"
"( We're sending our backups to your place, we're going to massacre the life out from you! )"
"( From today onwards, we're gonna make sure you pay for what you've done!? You will reap what you've sown!? )" said the gods to the White Demon, who immediately saw some drones incoming, Camera Drones.
"( Ah yes, don't forget to publish the news, ay~ )" White Demon says as he predicts what's next, him being on camera and given any kind of prepared antagonizing opinion over him, giving the public more propaganda to hate him while the Diviners decide on building up the good news, by offering their mortals some savior-like propaganda.
" Ah, the goddamn Diviners... "
" Always cheating using their authorities, how classic... "
" Fine then... " White Demon says while deciding to rest on top of his Black Shadow Behemoth.
" Come on, then..., 'gods' " he says with a mocking tone.
" Show me what aces you have left for this Tournament. " White Demon says, but at the same time, on the other side of things.
[ ARS-23, Activated. ]