Goddess Elysia's Palace,
The resplendent palace of the goddess floated amidst billowing clouds of the softest white, its spires reaching toward the heavens like the outstretched fingers of an eager worshipper. Bathed in the gentle glow of golden sunlight, the palace exuded an aura of tranquility and majesty that captivated all who gazed upon it.
The location of this palace was not on the Lightdusk Continent nor in the skies of the Ardentia world. Instead, it was in the secret realm in possession of the goddess.
Goddess Elysia sat on a couch in an open pavilion. The pavilion was in the middle of a lovely pond filled with beautiful fish.
She was watching a cloudy screen that displayed Beastfolks of Northern Star Continent while occasionally taking a sip from a crystal cup she held in her hand.
Just then, a light brown-haired girl in her twenties, wearing a white dress, arrived and respectfully said, "Goddess, we found some traces of Nether aura."
Goddess Elysia's eyes moved towards the girl. "Where?"
"Lightdusk Continent. It appeared and vanished too. For now, I am unable to pinpoint its location."
Goddess Elysia waved her hand dismissively, "Someone will contact us if that Akuma creates troubles. Anything else?"
'Bitch,' the girl nodded with her head down, "The last person who was summoned as a Hero received the Blessing of Aeronix Ranger, but it was scattered and returned to us. What should I do about it?"
"What happened?" Goddess Elysia raised her eyebrows. "Aeronix Ranger is a top-tier Blessing on my list. The kingdom that summoned the hero should also know its value."
"We don't know for sure, but we can guess that they tried to extract the blessing and then the container must have broken. I just checked and found that the kingdom's capital where the hero was summoned is also no longer there as if someone unearthed it."
Goddess Elysia turned her head back to the screen and nonchalantly said, "Give the blessing to some other human. Our goal is to initiate this war, so focus on it."
'Bitch.'
The girl cursed the goddess in her mind again while nodding outside, "Understood."
She left the garden and returned to a hall where many other girls were playing video games and table games like pool, snooker, and table football.
"Yuzu, did you finish reporting? Come on, help me beat Urali."
Yuzu swept her gaze around the hall, her eyes filled with helplessness.
'Why was I even summoned here? Curse my life,' Yuzu sighed as she missed her previous life.
'I was CEO of the best cosmetic company, and now I am serving this slutbitchhoe goddess who doesn't care about anything but her gains.'
'Sigh…curse my life.'
Yuzu walked towards the street-fighter arcade machine and snorted, "Get up."
"Yey! Master of Street-Fighter is here. Milky bitch, you're dead."
"I've mastered this character, hoe. Today is the day Yuzu luzus, hehehe."
…
"What have you done, Rias?!"
In the meeting chamber of the Royal Palace, Principal Kadita admonished Rias, her expression part angry and part helpless.
"Rias..." King Longinus frowned. "Where did they go? You should at least tell us that."
"Do not worry," Rias shook her head. "I've taken an oath to keep his background a secret, so I cannot tell you where they went. However, they are currently not in Ardentia World."
"That is all I can say."
Principal Kadita frowned, "Even if they are in a secret realm, Akuma can still exit and return here."
"Rias, you are showing irrational behavior," King Longinus's eyes narrowed, his tone stern. "The best course of action was to kill him right there and then to put down that Akuma."
Rias looked at her father and Principal Kadita who nodded in agreement with what her father said.
After staring at them for two seconds, her eyes showed assertiveness and her bearing changed as she coldly said, "You two are being irrational, not me. You are unable to trust words and my judgment because that Akuma made you irrational."
"Do you think I can't even make a decision to handle a situation in which a great amount of lives are stacked?"
Rias didn't wait even after she finished speaking and left the chamber with a surge of her aura.
King Longinus and Principal Kadita were dumbfounded.
It was the first time Rias had spoken to them like this.
However, the weight behind her words hit them hard. Despite being just 19 years old, she had great accomplishments and never once she had failed them.
She had always exceeded their expectations.
"Nothing we can do now. At least, the possessed is not here anymore, so we don't have any immediate danger," King Longinus said.
Principal Kadita wryly smiled and nodded, "I'll be around here for the next fifteen hours in case it arrives."
"Did you start preparing for it?" King Longinus asked and bowed before he continued, "I shall aid in however I can."
"No need," Principal Kadita waved her hand," My people are working on creating a formation already."
"Thank you," King Longinus remained bowed and thanked her.
"Mhmm," Principal Kadita nodded with a smile. "Where's your father? Still at the same place?"
"Yes," King Longinus weakly smiled. "If you could visit him…"
"Mhmm, it's time."
…
Enorin was meditating while Aleron's body had cracks on it that glowed colorfully while oozing out a Nether aura—a dark navy blue mist-like aura with a black hue. It whirled and floated around the body.
'One hour and thirty-five minutes…' Enorin counted.
Five minutes later, she would have to strengthen the seal or Aleron's body would be controlled by Akuma, who would go on a killing spree to disturb and weaken Aleron's will.
Enorin was counting while meditating and just as another minute passed by, the shadow attached to the window stirred and expanded before it spewed out Darzax and Riki.
Both of them were gravely injured, with Riki's only right hand remaining while Darzax's body was riddled with holes that he was mending.
However, Darzax released a bunch of resources from his shadow pocket before Enorin while grunting painfully.
"You…" Enorin was shocked. Both of them were on the verge of death!
Riki had already lost his consciousness and was barely alive.
But two Death Lords soon arrived before one of them melted into a strange darkness that enveloped Riki entirely before shaping into a cocoon.
'Dark Sacrifice.'
Darzax's dimmed eyes lit up slightly as he used the skill.
He looked at Enorin and forced out a smile. "We will recover soon. Just make sure nobody dies."
"Nobody."
The other Death lord, who was the formal court mage also melted into a strange darkness that enveloped Darzax before turning into a cocoon.
"Leave it to me," Enorin firmly nodded as a tiny drop of blood oozed out from her finger before it glowed and released string that stuck to all the resources of Lightning, Holy, and Light attributes in front of her.
She started absorbing their powers into her Bloodline Source and started recovering her Bloodline Essence swiftly.
In a minute, she recovered fully, and still a batch of resources was left that could recover her Bloodline Essence by 23%.
'They worked hard.'
…
"I am on the verge of breaking the seal, trash! Just wait a bit and you will see me slaughtering everyone!"
Aleron roared as he gave his all, his soul force whirling around him and fighting off as his will and Akuma's will clashed against each other.
'I have to defeat him before he controls my body!'
'I won't let anybody die because of my failure!' Aleron's eyes pierced towards Akuma without backing down.
'This bastard!!' Apuch was livid as he was getting pushed back! 'Just wait, just wait!!'
He released all of his power to break the seal while doing his best to pierce through Aleron's soul force to hurt him more.
However, he sensed something after a few seconds, which caused his eyes to tremble violently.
"ARGHHHHHH!! DAMN IT!"
"DAMN IT!"
"How dare you seal it again! Bitch, bitch!!!"
Aleron's eyes shone as he also sensed it now that he had awakened his soul. Aside from Soul Force—a new type of energy, he also gained a new type of sense that could let him perceive things broadly and in-depth.
He could see that his body was sealed again!
'They are doing their best and believe that I can defeat him!' Aleron's eyes burned with resolve while a brilliant smile appeared on his face.
"Akuma!"
"I will win over you!"