In that instant, time resumed its normal flow.
"Huh? That's"
Utaha looked up in shock. Everyone could see the two of them kissing.
"What the? They're"
Eriri bit her lip with her little canine tooth, feeling sour and jealous. When did those two suddenly start kissing?
"!!!"
Erica's eyes went round with disbelief, her mind echoing with Rei Ao's previous words.
"Lord Rei Ao is he really going to conquer a Heretic God like that?"
For some reason, she felt that however absurd such an idea might be, he could probably make it happen.
"???"
Doni's sunglasses almost fell off as his jaw dropped to the ground.
What the heck?
He had been hoping to see some display of Rei Ao's power, but this?
"So that's what he meant by 'conquer'?"
Frowning, Doni couldn't believe he hadn't sensed Rei Ao's movement at all. How had he reached Athena so quickly?
A deep confusion swirled in Doni's mindmuch the same emotion Athena herself felt, her beautiful eyes trembling.
She was certain she had locked onto Rei Ao's presence since earlier. So how?
For a split second, Athena prepared to push Rei Ao away, but suddenly his voice resounded in her mind:
"Don't moveI'm helping you."
"Huh?"
Startled, Athena paused.
Right then, she noticed something odd happening to her body Something from Rei Ao's lips seemed to be spreading across her entire beinga power shielding her from the Earth?!
As a manifestation of myth, a Heretic God's contact with the Earth slowly erodes their rational mind until they become fully "Heretical."
Right now, she sensed that Rei Ao's power was cutting her off from the Earth altogether, letting her remain on the Earth with her Triune divinity intact!
Shaken to her core, she thought,
"Who in the world are you?"
Rei Ao's brow twitched in a smile.
[Ding! You have chosen to activate a trade request from your chat group "subgroup" to bestow membership upon: Athena!]
In this world's sub-chat group:
Rei Ao: "@Athena, let's reintroduce ourselves. I am Rei Ao, master of the trading chat group, from another world."
Athena: ""
As a goddess, Athena quickly processed the sudden flood of new information in her mind. Her eyes showed a mix of surprise and doubt.
Athena: "Another-world human I suppose I will tentatively believe your origins. But when do you plan on releasing me?"
Rei Ao: "Letting you go is no problem. The magical isolation barrier I've cast is complete; you needn't worry about losing your reason by walking on the Earth. But a word of warning firstyou've already lost to me."
Athena: "? Why would I have lost?"
Rei Ao: "Because I just froze time and all of your thoughts. If I had wanted to kill you, you'd be dead. So once I let go, don't start attacking me."
With that, Rei Ao ended the sweet kiss. His expression lingering with satisfaction, he couldn't deny the goddess's lips tasted quite sweet and tempting.
""
Athena's expression was complicated. She clutched her bow tightly, then slowly eased her grip.
Buzz!
The bow and arrow vanished.
Athena believed what Rei Ao said about stopping time. She wasn't being naverather, she had replayed that last moment in her mind countless times and couldn't find any flaw in his claim. She had no choice but to accept it.
"I've lost."
~~~
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Chapter 506: Conquer! Scheming Witch?
"???"
Seeing a Heretic God, slowly descending to the ground in such harmony with Rei Ao, Doni's eyes nearly popped out of his head.
Where was the all-out life-and-death struggle between a Godslayer and a Heretic God?
What happened to showing the complete might of the seventh Godslayer?
Where was the talk about conquest and enemies?
Why did it look like, after one kiss, they'd suddenly made peace and reconciled?
"You two aren't fighting anymore?" he asked, licking his dry lips.
Athena gave him a cool glance. Her clear voice rang out: "I have already lost to him."
"Huh?"
Suspicion plastered across Doni's face.
"You're telling me one little puff of action can defeat a Heretic God as immensely powerful as you?"
Wait a minute
He suddenly realized something was wrong. Earlier, at the sight of Athena, he'd immediately sensed her identity and felt that instinctive Godslayer urge to kill her. Yet now, looking at her, that urge was gone!
It was as though she was no longer a Heretic God at all.
"Looks like you've figured out the key point," Rei Ao spoke up.
He casually explained, "Athena lost to me. I severed her connection to the earth. Right now, she doesn't qualify as a Heretic God descended to this landinstead, she belongs to memy 'prisoner.'"
Prisoner.
That was the best way he could describe Athena at the moment.
Athena cast him a glance and didn't refute him. She had lost, and she saw no reason to hide it. At the same time, she was brimming with curiosity about Rei Aoand that "trade chat group" linking him to some other world.
""
Doni stood there, jaw slack for a long moment, then gave Rei Ao a big thumbs-up.
"Awesome!"
He had nothing else to say. A single kiss to resolve the enemy, plus cutting off the Heretic God's link to the earth to turn her into a captive? He hadn't seen anyone this impressive in years!
Looking excited, he said, "Dude, you're amazing! Come on, let's fight!"
Rei Ao, however, simply shook his head.
"You're not my match. I have more important things to doI don't have time to waste here."
With that, he signaled to Athena with a glance, then vanished alongside Utaha, Eriri, and Erica.
Athena also looked at Doni's astonished face. Coldly, she said, "You can't beat him. Faced with the power to even stop time, you have no chance at victory."
She disappeared right after speaking.
""
Doni was left alone, sword in hand, utterly baffled as the cold wind whipped around him.
"Stoptime"
He muttered to himself. Suddenly, a flash of realization. His eyes bulged.
That explained how Rei Ao could instantly "conquer" the powerful Athena without anyone even spotting the chancehe'd frozen time at the crucial moment!
"That guyis he a monster?"
Doni raised his head, gazing at the sky.
So much for wanting to act like a senpaihe hadn't expected his "kouhai" to be so overwhelmingly unstoppable!
Inside a luxurious room
"Am I impressive?"
"Mhm Your Eminence Rei Ao-sama y-you're just incredible!"
Lost amid the waves of passion, Erica was in no state of mind to plot how to leverage this new Demon King's power for her group, the Bronze Black Cross.
The unending torrent of sensation had scattered every coherent thought. She understoodthis was a Demon King who couldn't be exploited.
From now on, the only thing she could do was serve him to the fullestthis man who possessed an utterly incomprehensible divine power.
Outside the door
""
Utaha pursed her lips. Her cheeks were crimson. At last, she couldn't help asking Eriri, "Has Rei Ao always been this intense?"
It had been a while already. There was no sign of stopping. If she didn't know better, she might think Erica had already passed out inside. So this was the 'important business' Rei Ao had mentioned.
"Of course!"
Eriri was simultaneously embarrassed, annoyed, and unbelievably jealous.
"But Rei Ao-kun is very gentle with me"
She certainly didn't recall ever feeling as if she were dying and being reborn the way Erica apparently did.
Athena, watching humans with discomfort, was a virgin goddess and didn't understand such acts. But she did know one thing:
"He has thoroughly conquered that scheming witch."
"Huh?"
The other two blinked in confusion.
"'Scheming?'"
"'Witch?'"
They'd just assumed Erica was a friendly new person in the chat group. They hadn't even thought about whether she was good or bad.
But Athena's remark reminded them that Erica hadn't been around long, and no one had really gotten to know her.
Eriri's expression grew tense: "Are you saying Erica might do something bad to Rei Ao-kun? We absolutely can't let her hurt him!"
With that, she turned and reached for the door.
"Wait!!!"
Utaha realized how bad that could be, but it was too late.
Click!
The door swung open. Rei Ao paused, and so did Ericacaught in quite a compromising position.
Eriri shouted, "Rei Ao-kun, she wants to hurt you!!!"
"Hurt me?"
Rei Ao looked puzzled. Leaning toward Erica's ear, he asked, "Erica, might you havepoisoned me?"
He had, after all, heard of certain people coating themselves in poison or using "special applications."
"N-no, Master, I I definitely haven't!"
Erica, suppressing her shame at being seen in such a state, frantically shook her head. She was innocent!
""
Utaha stared at the brazen, outrageous scene before her, wanting to smack her head against the wall from sheer embarrassment. Damn it, Eriri! Now what was she supposed to do? This was so awkwardso awkward!
Athena took one look, then immediately turned away, a faint blush tinting her earlobes. Her mind was racing: Humans so this is what they're like
Eriri charged forward anyway, ignoring everything else, and tattled to Rei Ao:
"Athena said Erica has ulterior motives! She's scheming something! She wants to use you!"
"Oh, so that's it," Rei Ao said, understanding at onceEriri was worried about him. He loosened his grip on one of Erica's arms so she could support her exhausted body, then pulled Eriri into an embrace, gently pressing his forehead to hers.
His voice was soft:
"I'm glad you're concerned about me, Eriri, but there's no need to worryI've been watching Erica's little plots from the start. That's why I went to the trouble of 'educating' her. It was worth it.
I'm sorry I overlooked your feelings, though."
"I"
Eriri trembled. Just one warm look left her melting in Rei Ao's arms. It had been quite a while since they'd been so closeearlier that day, Utaha had interrupted their noon rendezvous.
~~~
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Chapter 507: See you Tonight... (Bonus Chapter)
Tap!
Rei Ao emerged from Erica's room. Previously, her space was fairly small and simple.
Since he was visiting, he had casually remodeled it for her. After his renovation, Erica's room became more spacious, much more comfortable for living inand most importantly, it could now accommodate more things.
Naturally, she was overjoyed. She gave Rei Ao a passionate kiss before letting him leave.
Turning around, he headed for Eriri's room. Stopping before her door
Knock, knock!
He gave a light knock. Even though he had a key, he didn't let himself in. Eriri opened the door a crack and, without warning, dumped a basin of water right on him, soaking him from head to toe.
Rei Ao took it in stride. After all, he had been ignoring Eriri lately, so he understood her frustration. Let this hot water be the culmination of her complaints over being neglected.
In a gentle voice, he said, "Eriri, today I'll make it up to you."
That worked. Eriri did love him, so this time she opened the door fully. Still flustered, she couldn't focus on anything else. She had only one thought: to receive his "compensation." Her eyelashes fluttered as she nodded her little head.
"Mm!"
With her agreement, Rei Ao stepped into her room. He pulled her slender waist into his arms and kissed her firmly.
Eriri's room fit her imagesmall and cute. He had visited as a guest before and done some renovations, making it suitable for his comings and goings. Everything flowed so naturally now.
"D-did he justmove right in?"
Utaha watched, wide-eyed. Rei Ao was so tall and imposing, yet Eriri's home was so petite and dainty. And yet he made himself at home with no issuejust how well did he have to renovate the place to move around so effortlessly?!
Rei Ao turned his head to glance at her.
"Want to come in and have a seat?" he teased with a smile.
"N-no thanks!!!"
Utaha, her face aflame, recoiled and hurried away, closing the door in one smooth motion.
She was just trying to calm her racing mind when Athena's voice came from the side:
"Human, you seem to have some particular feelings for that Godslayer."
"Huh?"
Poised beneath Athena's clear, godlike gaze, Utaha panicked. She was a jumble of emotions, having witnessed far too many inappropriate things, and her mind wouldn't settle.
"II don't know!"
And so Kasumigaoka Utaha chose to evade, not daring to meet Athena's gaze.
"Humans are truly strange creatures," Athena murmured softly. Watching Utaha dash away and hearing Eriri's muffled voice inside the room, the goddess couldn't help feeling that she needed much more time to truly understand mankind.
While Rei Ao was busy "remodeling" both Erica's and Eriri's rooms, word spread worldwidethanks to a certain bigmouth King of Swords, Doniabout the birth of the seventh Demon King.
Various factions either felt anxious or excited. Anxious that the new Demon King might be cold and ruthless; excited at the opportunities his rise might bring. And clearly, the greatest beneficiary was Erica's group, the Bronze Black Cross.
Time passed.
"You're back?"
Utaha wasn't sure how many wild imaginings she'd had. At some point, she realized they'd returned to their own world, standing once more on the school rooftop in the afternoon sunlight.
Turning her head, she saw Rei Ao cradling a sweaty, exhausted Eriri in his armsprincess-carry style.
Her slender arms were looped around his neck, cheeks flushed and eyes half-lidded in a sultry daze. She truly looked like someone who'd just finished a strenuous "workout"which was, of course, the case.
Rei Ao glanced at the sky. "Right on time."
He'd come back right on schedule, remembering his agreement with Michiru and Kobayashi: to pick up Kanna and Shin from school.
As for matters in the Godslayer world, leaving them in Erica's care was enough. Besides, she now had Athena around as well.
Naturally, Athena wouldn't be fully conquered so easily, but in return for his barrier that shielded her from the earth, she was willing to cooperate with himand by extension, help the newly loyal Erica. Rei Ao felt perfectly at ease leaving the two of them to handle things.
"Utaha, do you need a lift home?" he asked, seeing her still somewhat confused expression.
