Biting her lip, Aoi asked,
"Why only us?!"
Rei Ao's lips curved.
"Merely because I happen to want to keep you seven around."
Shigure Yukimi abruptly dropped to one knee, her officer's trousers scraping the ground with a rasp. Despite her fear, she forced herself to raise her head: "You're not a vampirenor a human. Could you be a Seraph?"
As someone who knew about the Seraph of the End experiments, her mind was racing, trying to find relevant data. But she couldn't recall any record matching the power of this man before her.
The others exchanged looks, each gripping their Cursed Gear with deep alarm.
"Hey!"
Suddenly, Mito Jujo let out a cry.
Her demon-arm sword began quivering beyond her control, the runic inscriptions on its blade rapidly fading as though in panic.
The same thing was happening with everyone's Cursed Gear, trembling as if horrified.
"Heh." Rei Ao chuckled softly.
He walked to Shigure Yukimi, who still knelt on one knee.
"You tried deducing I might be a product of your world's experiments, but I'm afraid your guess is incorrect."
He leaned down, using a single finger to tilt up the female officer's chin.
"I'm not one of those man-made test subjects of yours, but rather"
"That's enough! No matter who you are, you murdererprepare yourself!"
With a furious roar, Rika Inoue lunged. Her speed, augmented by Cursed Gear, was so fast she left afterimages. Even Yayoi Endo had no time to stop her.
The tip of her blade pressed against Rei Ao's throat. At first glance, it seemed about to cut his skin. But in reality, at about three millimeters away from flesh, it haltedlike an invisible barrier lay between them.
Rei Ao didn't even shift his gaze.
Rika Inoue's eyes widened. She watched as her demon-arm weapon disintegrated from the tip, crumbling into black fragments that scattered like windblown sand.
"I do appreciate your courage for daring to strike at me."
Rei Ao's tone suddenly turned distant. With his gaze still calm, he gently tapped her forehead with one finger.
Bang!
She collapsed like a baby, clutching her head with a cry of pain.
Then Rei Ao swept his eyes over the others.
"Anyone else want to take a shot? I'll give you a chance."
""
Silence.
No one could comprehend how Inoue's Cursed Gear had vanished so easily.
"You bastard!"
Mito Jujo abruptly drew her sword, pointing it at Rei Ao.
"No matter your ability, slaughtering so many people is unforgivableI absolutely will not"
"Don't be reckless!"
Sayuri Hanayori quickly grabbed her arm.
"Slaughter, you say?"
Rei Ao folded his arms with a faint smile.
"I merely sent them home, that's all. Of course"
His gaze skimmed across the group.
"They're only alive for now, pending final decisions."
"Senthome? What nonsense!"
Mito Jujo said harshly, though her tone wavered with hidden fear.
She and all her comrades had clearly seen everyone vanish in an instant, leaving only these seven behind.
At that moment, Mito noticed standing next to Rei Ao was Hiiragi Shinoa, holding the unconscious Mirai Kimizuki in her arms.
"Hiiragi Shinoa, why are you siding with this demon?"
They recognized Shinoa, of course, or at least had some acquaintance with her.
"Heh."
Shinoa gave a half-smile.
That expression made Mito's eyes burn with fury.
"Traitor!"
She clenched her teeth. Her hatred of traitors made her want to lash out at Shinoa. She moved to punch, but her fist was instantly blocked by Krul's single finger.
Compared to Rei Ao, Krul was as weak as an ant, but to normal members of the Imperial Demon Army, the third progenitor vampire was a threat they couldn't shake.
"Quiet."
Krul said icily.
Having become Rei Ao's servant, she knew her role: to handle minor obstacles.
Shigure Yukimi saw the vampire's interference and said grimly, "Vampire Queen, the Third Progenitor, Krul Tepesso you truly are from the vampire side! Dammit!"
Krul's appearance made her "confirm" Rei Ao was with the vampire faction.
"Heh."
Rei Ao chuckled, raising his hand to lightly stroke Krul's soft hair.
She went rigid for a moment but didn't pull away; she recognized the situation. As his servant, she lacked the power to resist.
In front of these Imperial DemonArmy girls, seeing Krul allow herself to be touched so docilely by him was shocking indeed.
"You see, ladies, this Krul here is now my servant," Rei Ao said breezily.
He tossed out the remark as if it were the simplest fact.
"Impossible!"
Shigure Yukimi gasped. "A third progenitor vampire, a queen, becoming your servant?"
Sayuri Hanayori and Endo Yayoi exchanged disbelieving glances.
A lofty vampire queen the likes of Krul was actually someone else's underling?
More absurd than doomsday.
~~~
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Chapter 650: Seraph of the End's God, ... Dead!
"I think you all should calm down and let Rei Ao finish speaking."
Seeing these ex-colleagues making such a fuss, even Hiiragi Shinoa found it over the top.
"Calm down?"
Jujo Mito suddenly laugheda kind of near-breakdown, hysterical laugh.
"You're saying we should be 'calm' toward a demon who's killed so many people? You traitor to humanity!"
"Sigh."
Shinoa heaved a sigh.
"Do you not understand human language? I said nobody has died. At least, not yet."
"Those people and vampires all disappeared," Endo Yayoi said, pushing her glasses up, her voice cool and low.
Shinoa nodded. "Yes, because Rei Ao used his power to send them awayprobably since they were in the way."
Then she gestured to the unconscious girl in her arms.
"You should recognize this girl. Given who she is, even she wasn't harmed by Rei Ao, which is proof enough."
"The ones who truly harmed her are certain higher-ups in the Imperial Demon Army," Shinoa added, meeting the others' gazes sharply.
""
Yukimi Shigure and the rest felt a chill at her words, and bowed their heads. They knew the ruthless facts of the 'Seraph of the End'a cruel human experiment. Lacking the strength to stop it, they could only remain silent.
Only Sangu Mitsuba looked confused.
"The Imperial Demon Army hurt her? Shinoa, what do you mean?!"
Her older sister Sangu Aoi shot her a look, trying to keep her from asking further.
"Heh," Shinoa sneered. "What's there to hide?"
"All this fuss: the mighty Imperial Demon Army using children for human experiments, crafting powerful, controllable weaponsthat so-called monster you just saw."
Mitsuba's eyes shuddered. These words tore at her long-held faith in the Army.
She glanced at her sister, seeming to ask for confirmation. Aoi's expression, though, was heavy with resignation. In that instant, it was clear:
What Rei Ao said was true.
"This can't be"
Mitsuba couldn't accept that the Army supposedly protecting humanity would do such a thing.
"Tch, that's just how despicable humans are," Krul sneered. "They're forever greedy and shameless, their desires endless."
She wouldn't miss any chance to put down the humans she despised.
"As if you vampires are any better! Were it not for your oppression of humanity, the Imperial Demon Army wouldn't have turned to these methods!" Yukimi Shigure glared back at her.
"Oh?"
Krul showed no anger.
"You do realize your demon-gear is all made by sealing vampires inside, correct? Still think your side is righteous?"
"What?!"
Not to mention Mitsuba, even Aoi and the others had no idea about that. Right as they felt like demanding answers, the sky split open without warning.
A brilliance more dazzling than the sun spilled down from the rift, accompanied by an indescribable pressure.
Aoi nearly collapsed to her knees. Jujo Mito's sword clattered to the ground, and Yukimi Shigure turned ghostly pale.
"Wh-What is that?"
Endo Yayoi trembled, pointing to the sky.
From within the rift, a being beyond words slowly emerged. It had no fixed shapeat times it seemed like countless bands of light bundled together, at times like a gargantuan eye.
"Damn it, another monstrosity?!"
Krul's face turned grim. She'd already knelt once before. And now again? Where was her dignity?
But a hand landed on her shoulder, and instantly, the crushing pressure lifted. She turned and saw Rei Ao's right hand. He was looking upward, expression calm.
"Heh, so the moment I touched this world's boundary, you pop outpretty anxious there, 'God'?"
Nobody else understood what he meant. But as soon as Rei Ao made contact with the boundary of the world's core essence, a 'god' manifested.
[Intruder]
A voice boomed in everyone's mind, not so much heard as directly vibrating in their souls. Jujo Mito and the others felt sheer terror: as if they were eavesdropping on the ultimate secret of the world.
[You crossed the Boundary]
"Boundary? With your feeble power, you dare speak of boundaries?"
[!!!]
"God" radiated fury. A monstrous wave of power and pressure erupted.
The earth quaked violently. Far-off mountains crumbled. The sky turned blood-red and issued a wrenching wail. Burning meteors appeared out of thin air, hurtling down onto the battlefield below.
"Oh God"
Hanayori Sayuri slumped to the ground, face drained of blood. This was already far beyond human comprehensiontrue end-of-the-world horror.
Mitsuba closed her eyes in despair. Faced with such force, humans weren't even as good as ants.
But Rei Ao merely breathed out gently.
"How dull."
Raising his right hand, fingers spread, he slowly closed them.
"Freeze!"
A wave of law-based energy rippled forth.
In an instant, the entire world paused. Meteors froze in midair. The destructive force unleashed by this so-called 'god' halted as though someone hit the 'pause' button. And that being itself began to crystallize.
Not mere surface ice, but a conceptual freeze that shattered it at a higher level of existence.
[No impossible]
Even "God" felt terror. For the first time, that absolute voice quavered. Rei Ao flickered, appearing in the air right before it.
Looking at the sky-occupying shape, now half-frozen, he extended his hand, calmly resting it on the cracking surface.
"I want to become the Only God of this world. To do that, first, I've got to deal with the current occupant, right?"
His fingertip flicked lightly.
"Farewell."
[Nooooo!!!]
That 'God' shattered, fragments of light scattering into the sky. The rift mended. Meteors and all disasters vanished. The doomsday spectacle was as though it had never been.
~~~
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(Bonus Chapter) Chapter 651: How to Bring Peace to this World?
Couronne: "Yikes! What was that just now?"
Marcille: "Magic? But that's way too over the top, isn't it?"
Yotsuya Miko: "Eh, is it really that surprising?"
Marcille: "Huh?"
Marcille: "They nearly brought on the end of the world, and you say it's not surprising?!"
Marcille showed a "are you messing with me?" expression.
From what she knew, even the strongest mage in her own world couldn't possibly cast a spell on the scale of bringing about doomsday.
Erica: "Hmph, that's just a fraction of the King's power."
Shiba Miyuki: "I don't want to discourage the newcomers, but it really is just like that."
Kato Megumi: "We all would be shocked at first too, but after seeing Rei Ao's incredible power so many times, everyone's become pretty calm about it."
Marcille: ""
Frieren: "From the sounds of it, that thing seemed to be the god or godlike being of that world."
Tohru: "Probably so, but it was kinda weak, got insta-killed by Rei Ao."
Couronne: "Wait, god? Are you talking about a 'Old Deus'?"
Tsui: "Be carefuldifferent worlds have different sorts of gods, not all are referred to as 'Old Deus.'"
Couronne: "Ah, sorry, I just got excited and forgot."
Couronne: "I meant if that being capable of summoning disasters is very powerful, doesn't that mean Rei Ao, the group leader, is even stronger?"
Yukinoshita Yukino: "It's self-explanatory. He got rid of that one in an instant."
Couronne: "I-I see"
She clenched her fists, eyes shining with a glimmer of hope.
Hayasaka Ai: "So, everyone, are we still continuing our discussion on what Rei Ao asked us?"
Mikoto: "Yes, about how to bring peace to Shinoa's world. Does anyone have ideas?"
Bibi Dong: "The simplest way is to take over the world, eliminate any opposition, and build new rules."
Marcille: "Ah? Isn't that too extreme?"
Yukinoshita Yukino: "I also think that's unwise."
Busujima Saeko: "But humans and vampires are clashing on a racial level, aren't they? Can real peace be achieved without drastic measures?"
Kasuga Hijiri: "Vampires need human blood to survive. It does seem difficult."
Frieren: "Similar to humans vs. a demon race, or maybe worse, since demons might not necessarily need to eat humans, they just prefer it."
For a while, the group chatted more intensely about this matter.
Meanwhile, outside the chat.
"What happened?"
Whether it was Jujo Mito and the rest or Krul, none of them had any idea what the current situation was.
The sudden "natural disasters," the strange voice, Rei Ao's abrupt flight into the sky it was all like watching a sci-fi filmbeyond shocking and totally baffling.
But the changes weren't over.
After that so-called living being that caused the disasters was destroyed, Rei Ao's body began radiating brilliant light.
Countless mysterious runes emerged from within him, swirling around him in a vortex. These runes expanded to fill the entire sky, and then seeped into the ground.
He was absorbing the world's essence.
In the eyes of those below, Rei Ao simply hovered there in place.
"A good chance!"
Yukimi Shigure's immediate thought was to escape.
But Shinoa suddenly spoke up:
"I'd advise against running."
""
Sangu Mitsuba finally lost patience and grabbed Shinoa by the collar.
"Hmph, even if we run, we'll drag you, this human traitor, back for interrogation!"
"Mitsuba, stop it!"
This action was greeted not with exasperation from Shinoa, but instead, Sangu Aoi's reproachful shout.
"Why? She's a traitor!"
Mitsuba complained angrily, but Aoi simply ignored her feelings, slapping her hand away.
