When did the hospitality turn into hostility? I get they're worried that I may strengthen their enemies by mistake, but... is it really necessary to take it this far?
I sighed, leaned on my chair and crossed my legs. There are concentrations of energy everywhere. Monsters barricading in the 8th Floor's gate and those above all ready. There is energy in the air, spell arrays.
They prepared this pretty well. I heard Yasaka giggle next to me, her eyes closed, and when they opened, there was just pure contempt. I know she's pissed because our perfect evening just got messed up.
"You cute little things. Are you sure you want to do this?~ don't get me upset, I'm not as merciful as Elysir" Her voice was so cold that I almost gulped down a mouthful; darling, how sexually frustrated are you?
"Cute... little things...?" Albedo frowned; she would scream something when Cocytus stepped forward, stretching his halberd to stop her.
"We don't wish for conflict, Lady Yasaka. But this matter is of utmost importance to us and Ains-sama. That's why we considered another way to resolve it without forcing enmities. Two sparring battles..."
I frowned; a friendly competition? After you have made all the preparations for war?
"If we win, Ray-sama must assist Nazarick exclusively during your stay in this world. If you win, you may take the three mythical items in exchange for only one therapy." Demiurge fixed his glasses and groaned. It was obvious he didn't like this deal. I see how it is. He and Albedo are the ones who want war.
"Oh, that sounds like a good deal" I jested.
Now I have two options: either I play the game, or I don't. I came to this world for a purpose, and one only: to rank up and become stronger. From the moment Ely sacrificed herself to me, I decided that I would sacrifice anything for her.
Even if that is my conscience.
I put my legs on the table and looked at the two women who I knew would absolutely have my back regardless of the situation –aside from Ophis inside me, that is. Yasaka and Kuu both stared at me and in their gaze, I felt a clear desire. Azrael, too; although I couldn't trust her as much, I knew she'd likely put her life on the line.
"What do you think, girls? Which one of you is going to take them on in this 'spar'?~"
"Fufu~"
"Popopo~"
**
**
Outside, on the outskirts of the Great Forest of Tob, a group of warriors approached a huge clearing. At least twenty infantry warriors and ten sorcerers belonged to the Baharut Empire.
"The scouts reported the unknown group of demi-humans went this way, General Aaron. The group of unidentified individuals harvested the Armatista, but they don't belong to the Re-Estize Kingdom. They reported in the camp two dark elves were among them... the rest were some weird humanoid creatures with tails and wings" A sorcerer reported.
The general watched the gigantic clearing; nothing was on this land except for bushes and scarce trees. They had a map of the area, and the group had been around the place five hours prior.
'If they come this way... the Dwarf Kingdom?' He tried to calculate their trajectory.
It all started too suddenly.
"Everyone... quiet!" Aaron yelled, feeling something amiss.
"..."
The group of warriors stood up dead in their spot, sceptical, thinking the general had gone insane. Then, they felt it too.
"T-The floor is shaking".
"It's just a tremor; how long has it been since the last one? They're not common in this are-"
Then, the magnitude increased by leaps and bounds, and the little trees scattered in the field began to shake madly.
!!!
"It's an earthquake!"
The sorcerers were the first to collapse into the ground, but General Aaron was far from anxious, "There is no need to panic! It should be over in a few seconds-"
But it wasn't over... and it would never be over.
*RUMBLE!!*
The first shockwave was that of mana, like a gigantic suction. The sorcerers were the first to feel the mana in the air start to get sucked to a single spot. For a human unable to use magic, it would be equivalent to all the oxygen in the atmosphere being sucked from one moment to the other, suffocating everything.
*CRACK!*
What followed was an ear-piercing noise of glass cracking, not slowly, but fast. The shocked warriors watched as web-like glass cracks started to spread in front of them, in the clearing like space itself was being shattered.
*BOOOOOOMMMMM!!*
And then that glass just exploded, blasting them off with a gust of wind that pulled the trees by the root. The sorcerers screamed, unable to take a grip as the wind blew them away like the strongest 9th-tier spell cast by a deity. When they finally came to a stop, what they saw was the equivalent of the apocalypse.
"W-What is going on?!"
Gigantic volcanic rocks shot into the skies, ready to fall on them, sticking in all directions. A concealing spell had been hiding something in that area, and now they could clearly see what lay within.
*GROWLLL!!*
The growling of a beast shattered their eardrums until they bled; ten majestic golden flaming tails shot into the skies before the beast jumped.
*BOOMM!!*
The shock of its gigantic paws blasting the soil felt like another earthquake, it made them feel like ants exposed to the elements, exposed to the danger of nature... but this was not nature. It was an angry and frustrated goddess in the form of a gigantic fox.
Yasaka landed not far away from the now gargantuan pit that was Nazarick, her feet shattering the ground that would, in the future, become humongous lakes.
...
A pit hundreds of metres deep in chaos and destruction, that was Nazarick.
It was an image she, Albedo, would never be able to forget. Because she was the main cause of all this catastrophe. This disaster came too suddenly.
She shot up the skies, waving her wings in black armour, wielding a halberd. Looking impotent yet feeling weak as the feeblest of ants.
Thousands of monsters, a strong foundation dating hundreds of thousands of years. High-tiered debuff spells. Nothing could stop her. The succubus looked down at the gigantic pit that resembled an abyss of destruction. She heard the wailing of myriad dying creatures clustered in magma and lava.
The greatest effort and grandiose of her Supreme Beings, all reduced to magma.
"N-No... NO!"
She felt her heart constrict like millions of needles were piercing it in one instant. The last thing she saw before she passed out and collapsed from the skies was the sight of a gargantuan golden flaming fox growling at her, a hell beast that didn't resemble the kind-hearted person she had once met.
On her head stood a handsome dark-skinned God with pitch-black hair and golden slitted eyes, inside his black shirt a tattoo seemed to shine in golden colours. He looked imposing and domineering young man standing on top of his head with his arms crossed.
To his right stood a death angel with ten extended wings and a scythe; to his left stood an atrocity with massive long hands and a nightmare-inducing expression with a white hat.
"Greed has consequences. Do you understand now... why I called you all little things?~".