– Ichiban –

Ichiban's eye twitched in annoyance as he saw the big 'Player 1 Win!' on the screen. Another loss? This made it five now, meaning five more days of torture under her. The culprit in question glanced at him with a smug smirk, not saying a single word as her expression told him everything she wanted him to know.

Ichiban's lips thinned. Her arrogance was not unwarranted, but dear god, he just wanted to choke the life out of her, but that'd probably end up with her handing him his ass on a silver platter. Plus, he was definitely mature enough not to start a fight over a video game.

"Alright, next round." He said, extending their time by inserting a coin.

"You'll lose again," Akane replied smugly. "And you'll be my slave for one more day."

"The first few games were spent on figuring out your style." He frowned in slight worry. Why did she phrase it like that? "You won't stand a chance now."

"Please, you'll get folded like every other round." She claimed arrogantly. "Honestly, I think you should stop, or you'll end up being a servant for another month."

"Won't be so smug once I beat your ass. You'll see." Ichiban promised. "I refuse to be ordered around by you."

"Eh, nah. I'll do you a favor and stop playing." Akane stretched her arms before getting off the stool. "I'm bored of effortlessly kicking your ass every single game."

"Hey, that last round was close as hell." He swore he saw her sweating bullets at some point. "You're just scared of losing."

"Whatever." She shrugged uncaringly before yawning.

He paused as Akane rubbed her eyes wearily with a yawn.

"You okay?" He asked, slightly concerned for his friend. "You look tired."

"I am tired," Akane responded, finishing her energy drink. "I haven't slept for over twenty-four hours now."

"Why not?"

"I don't know." She groaned.

Ichiban watched in exasperated silence as Akane crushed the Monster can in her hand before throwing it in the trash.

After their intense training under Mizuki, Ichiban thought that wasting time at the arcade would be a nice way to unwind and ignore the lingering pain of the mother's unreasonably harsh blows. He didn't think Mizuki could fight so well that even Twilight Healing took a while to erase the aches, but it should've been obvious. She was Akane's mom after all.

He was also surprised when Akane decided to come along for whatever reason. He noticed it at school– she looked exhausted, as much as she tried to hide it. She was a bit sluggish in their training and had zoned out more often. The copious amount of caffeinated drinks she'd been taking since had him worried. Ichiban didn't think it was healthy for anyone to drink a dozen energy drinks in the span of a few hours.

"Maybe less caffeine would be a start."

"I'm drinking because I can't sleep." She huffed, crossing her arms. "Not the other way around, dumbass."

"And you're gonna keep drinking until you have a heart attack at this point." He countered. "Just stop and you'll be in bed before you realize it. Trust me, I would know."

Akane just rolled her eyes as the two left the arcade. The two hung around the building, leaning against a wall. She pulled a pack of cigarettes from her pocket, clicking her tongue as she realized it was empty. His best friend looked at him and gestured at the pack.

"Got any?"

"Nope." He shook his head, removing a vape from his jacket pocket. "I have this though if you don't mind."

"Vapes are fucking stupid." She mocked.

"They're cheaper than cigarettes." He shrugged.

Akane scoffed.

"Whatever, it'll have to do."

Akane snatched it away from him, and as Ichiban saw the puff of smoke leave her mouth, a random thought made itself known in his head. It probably wasn't very wise to smoke or drink or anything like that when they were training very hard, but it shouldn't be a problem for them, right? They are supernaturally powerful compared to regular folk, so shouldn't their organs be a lot tougher too? In fact…

"You know, Kiba once told me that unlocking my Sacred Gear made every cell in my body stronger," Ichiban said, rubbing his chin in thought. "So does that mean I have a much stronger immune system?"

Akane blinked at him, waiting for him to finish his thought.

"I mean, like, I'm probably never getting sick anymore if that's true. Maybe." He continued. "But does that also mean I live for longer than the average human, or can even become immortal?"

"I… don't think that's the case." She said. "If powerful humans lived that long, we'd be seeing a lot of them around, right? But most notable figures in human history – who I'm pretty sure were related to the supernatural – are dead."

"That's true."

"I'm not saying it's impossible." Akane pointed out. "Some probably extended their lifespan by say, twenty years or so, but immortality or anything beyond fifty years in this sort of method is stretching it. You're gonna need an outside source to be able to do that. Like say, become a devil, who lives for thousands of years."

"Bummer," Ichiban said, not at all bothered. "Eh, immortality is boring anyway. I don't think humans are suited to live that long."

"Why not?"

He paused, trying to come up with a suitable analogy.

"It's like a game you've played for so long." He described. "You've done all kinds of runs and challenges. Gotten all achievements and collectibles. Beat it at the hardest difficulty while blindfolded and using a steering wheel. Wouldn't it be really boring to continue playing at that point?"

"You assume that life will forever be the same," Akane argued. "A game like that is very constricted in comparison. A better analogy would be an MMORPG getting an expansion every year. Wouldn't you want to live long enough to explore the galaxy? Better yet, the universe?"

"Well, yeah, obviously I want to do that, but once that fun is over, what then?" He said. "You've explored every crevice of every planet in every galaxy. What are you gonna do now? Wait till the heat death of the universe, just to float in an empty void forever?"

"Is dying any different?" She countered, a puff of smoke coming out of her mouth. "You'll go to some kind of afterlife and 'live' there for all of eternity. Or reincarnate. No better than living here forever."

That's a good point. He thought.

"I'd say it's worse even." Akane continued. "I imagine it feeling pretty suffocating. Don't quote me on this, but I don't think you have nearly as much freedom in heaven as you do while alive. Also, if you're worried about the universe imploding, you can always explore other universes. You have all the time in the world to figure out a way to do that."

He paused. He didn't know why she looked so convinced that other universes even existed, but Ichiban didn't think he'd be able to persuade her. But that was fine.

"I guess I can see what you mean, but I still don't think I agree with it, to be honest." He admitted. "We should live our mortal lives to the fullest, y'know? Death is part of life, after all, it gives it meaning."

"Corny." Akane teased, handing back his vape. "But to each their own. I'll be leaving this dumb planet and finding a better one to build my very own empire on. A perfect utopia."

"You're not even gonna bother conquering Earth?" He raised a brow in mild amusement.

"Ew, no. This planet is already fucked beyond belief." His best friend snorted. "It's like taking someone's sloppy seconds. Better if I find a blank slate to start over."

"And how do you plan on doing that?"

"The wonders of mechanical engineering." She answered with a grin, pointing at herself. "I'm building a spaceship, then I'll turn myself into a cyborg."

With how confident she sounded, Ichiban almost believed her, but she couldn't be serious. Honestly, if anything, she'd be saying something like 'why would I ruin my own perfection?' or 'imagine not having flesh stronger than steel? Skill issue'.

"As long as you don't go all Terminator on us." He joked, then paused as he followed her line of sight.

She was looking at the claw machine back at the arcade through the window. He didn't know what plushie she was looking at exactly, but Ichi felt curious enough to ask.

"What's gotten you all quiet?"

After a moment of silence, Akane spoke.

"I was just wondering–" She started. "What's stopping me from breaking that and taking all the plushies?"

The question was so out of left field, it caught Ichiban off guard. That came out of nowhere, and with how flat she said it, it got him slightly worried. He didn't know how to answer for a good bit, looking between his friend and the machine in confusion and concern.

"Uh, the police?"

"And what are they gonna do? Arrest me?" She scoffed with a dangerous smirk. "Ichi, I'm strong enough to bench press several tonnes and can fly faster than the fastest jets in the world. I can probably dismantle the entire force with my bare hands before they even realize it."

That's true, unless the police have someone related to the supernatural somehow, which he doubted.

Regardless, he tried again.

"Your moral compass?"

"Morality is subjective." She effortlessly deflected it. "I think that it isn't wrong, so for me, it isn't. Actually, I think it's the right thing to do because I deserve all of these toys."

"That is not how this works." He groaned, exasperated. "Why are you even bringing this up? Are you trying to flex how powerful you are?"

"Yes."

She's so shameless. He thought.

"I feel bad for the empire you said you wanted to build." He responded, getting her to laugh.

And as per usual, he hated how cute it sounded to him.

"Yeah, let's be honest, I'd be a total tyrant." Akane didn't bother denying it. "But that's why you're here, right?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, knowing you, you'd try to stop me because 'it isn't right' and whatnot." She said, poking his chest with a grin. "Because you're a hero wannabe. Pinnacle of all that's good and moral."

"Can you not bring that up?" His face flared in embarrassment. "I didn't know what the hell I wanted to be so I said the first thing that came to mind. Plus, it was a long time ago."

"Two years isn't that long." She disagreed. "But fine, I'll spare you for now. I don't feel like teasing anyway."

"Thank you."

A rare act of mercy from her for sure.

"Though, let's be honest–" Akane's visible eye gained a dangerous glint as she looked at him. "if we fought for real, I'd kill you before you even realize what happened."

Ichiban stared back in silence for a few seconds before responding.

"You need to go to bed."

"Haha, yeah."

– Akane –

You know, coding is surprisingly kind of fun. I've liked technical and mechanical stuff, even AI Engineering as a whole since I was a kid, but coding always put me off for whatever reason, so I never planned on pursuing a career in that field. Well, before the whole reincarnating/supernatural thing.

Taking the time to try coding the robot I've built was nowhere near as boring as I thought it would be, especially when it started responding to simple commands. Even making it walk a few steps made me giggle like a child.

I was a bit confused when I got the skill after learning from my mother without a quest, but once I asked the Game, it clarified that it's akin to making a spell while having mastery for it. Coding is simply a 'spell' from the 'Engineering' Skill Mastery. That is broad when you think about it. Does that include other forms of Engineering? Like biological or the like?

I made a good call picking it up if that's the case. Having the best of both worlds covers up a lot of my weaknesses. My powerful ice magic is one thing, but I'm still pretty squishy, so making some kind of power armor or mecha suit should be a priority. I don't think I'll be able to make myself more durable by getting perks very easily. Having so much END for so little HP is embarrassing. Hell, even Ichi has more than me, and he has lower END, Boosted Gear notwithstanding.

It'll take time and probably a lot of resources, but I can do it. Hopefully before Kokabiel's attack, at least with some kind of prototype. If Tony Stark could make a suit from scraps in a cave, I can do better with what I have right now.

I also want to make some kind of device that disables the cameras around Kuoh. Yes, the Yakuza only set them up because they want to protect me, but at this rate, I won't be able to be proactive in leveling up and increasing my stats, and to be proactive, I might need to be a little morally questionable. I don't want to be seen killing random animals and stealing souls for the hell of it.

I thought about using my dungeon creation skill to leave Kuoh while hidden. Find some idiots to use Devour on. Something like homeless people or random gang members– people who won't be missed basically, but Kuoh is bigger than ten kilometers in diameter, meaning I'll hit the dungeon size limit before being able to leave, so that's not an option at the moment. More reasons to focus on some concealing tech so I can come and go whenever I want.

It'll be tough. If they have teleportation and gravity manipulation tech, then that means they're very advanced. Way beyond anything I can make right now. I can dismantle the gravity belt for a fuckton of EXP, but I doubt that'll get me to their level still. That should be a priority anyway.

Though, that should give me an idea of how they build their technology, by learning its inner mechanisms, and that could help a lot in countering them. Either I find a way to disable the security cameras without having to find them somehow or a way to make myself invisible to them. Decisions, decisions…

I have to focus on what I'm doing right now though. I messed around with the robot a bit and created a glock attached to its hand. A very normal gun, so it's pretty harmless to people like me. I doubt it can even break my skin.

It'll probably sting though, so I'm not shooting myself with it to test it out.

I stretch my arms and let out a satisfied groan as I look at my creation in pride. It might not be much, but if I'm able to make this after barely doing anything, then it's only a matter of time before I can build the good stuff. This tiny thing gave me a lot of EXP and launched me to Journeyman level in Engineering. I'm also almost finished with the class, so I get to pick up a new one soon.

And that new thing I'm picking is gonna stay a secret for a while. It's always smart to keep one trick hidden even from your closest allies. The Element of Surprise is a weapon, and I'd be dumb not to utilize it.

I look around the garage, blinking as I don't see Lucifer anywhere. Did he get bored already? That's weird. He looked almost more into building and coding the robot than I was. He was also asking me a lot of stuff, but I wasn't paying attention.

Well, whatever. I'm gonna take a break and get myself something to eat. I've been sitting there looking at the screen for hours.

I get up from my seat and walk to the living room, looking through the fridge for a quick snack. I take out two energy drinks and some leftover sushi from last night. I eye the sake for a moment before closing the fridge. Probably shouldn't. It'll get Mom pissy and I don't feel like dealing with her brand of bullshit any time soon.

Speaking of, I don't see or sense her anywhere, nor Asia. What are they doing out so late? It's not a first for Mizuki and her late-night mahjong winning streak before blacking out in some bar, but the blond sleeps early.

Not giving it much thought, I take my snack and plop on the couch, turning the TV on and flipping through several channels as the medieval royalty urge to always have entertainment while eating kicks in.

Once comfortable, I stop on some anime I've never seen before and put the remote away, mindlessly eating from the plate.

That is until I feel my heart nearly stop as an overwhelming, ominous presence makes itself known right behind me. I see nothing as I turn around, the plate drops to the floor and my hands shake uncontrollably.

What the hell was that? I could've sworn I sensed something very dangerous and… somewhat familiar? I don't know. Whatever it is, its killing presence was suffocating, so I tried to unleash my own magical presence to scare or intimidate it… but I can't.

I freeze for a moment, a foreboding feeling washing over me before I try to use my ice magic. It doesn't work– not even the tiniest of pricks formed, so I try to look at my status to see if I am under any debuff, but the system doesn't respond to me either.

"What…" I mumble to myself, panicking. "What's going on?"

Game, what the hell is happening?

I unconsciously take a step back, fearing for my life, and bump into something. The danger I felt before returns a hundredfold as a razor-sharp tendril slowly wraps around my neck, breaking the skin but not going beyond that. I can't move. No matter how hard I try, I'm not able to move an inch. Is this the sword's doing? But I'm bound to it– it's in my inventory, it shouldn't be able to do this.

The tendril presses harder once I try to pull it off. I'm not even close to strong enough to get it to budge. It's faint, very faint, but I can hear it saying something to me, but right now, I'm too focused on trying to stay alive. My heart is nearly leaping out of my chest as I'm overcome with fear.

"Stop…" I plead in a whisper, feeling the tears of terror gathering in the corners of my eyes. "Please…Don't…"

I don't even know what or who this is, but my begging only got it to tighten its hold over my neck. The pain overwhelms me as I start to choke, and blood starts to gush out as it's a hair away from decapitating me. I blank out as the thing twists my head, forcing me to look at it, and I'm only able to see the wide, sadistic grin filled with sharp teeth on every surface before it promptly snaps my neck.

"OI!"

I flinch violently with a gasp, immediately putting a hand on my neck just to feel nothing out of the ordinary. Cold sweat drips from my cheeks as I look around panting and see that I'm back on my chair in the garage, the laptop on the desk in front of me finally finished installing some software, and my mother's hand on my shoulder as she looks at me in concern, a wet towel over her shoulder.

"You okay?" She asks.

I'm quickly able to comprehend what had happened as Gamer's Mind works its magic, calming me down significantly. I stop shaking and my breathing gets more stable once I look at my mother's black eyes.

"Y-yeah…" I stutter. "I just had a bad dream."

"I can see that." She frowns, crossing her arms. "See? I told you to stop drinking energy drinks. Look where it got you."

I don't immediately try to argue with her, my mind still trying to recall what that was all about. I thought Gamer's Mind blocked dreams in general. I'm rapidly losing my memories regarding the nightmare, but something about that thing felt… familiar.

Too familiar. I feel like I should know what it is. It's something very important, but for the life of me, I just can't put a finger on it.

…Explain.

Gamer's Mind does not block dreams or nightmares.

Nightmares are not direct attacks on your mind. They are manifested by your brain and thus are not included.

Panicking is also manifested by my brain, yet that gets shot down almost immediately. Is the perk deliberately inconsistent? Also, that wasn't what I was referring to. Why do I feel like I know whatever that thing was?

…

You're hiding something. You're hiding a lot of things and I don't like it. If you don't want me to die, then you better start being truthful to me from now on. I know for damn sure that this isn't the sword's doing because it's in my inventory. Answer me. What was that?

It doesn't respond anymore, which pisses me off, but I'm able to hide my annoyance from my mother.

"I don't think those are related," I respond, rubbing my eyes.

"Well, whatever it is, you need to sleep." She says. "I prepared a bath for you. Clean up and go to bed."

I make eye contact with Lucifer for an instant. He tilts his head at me and backs her up.

"She's right, you know." He says. "It isn't healthy for a human to stay awake for so long."

"I'm fine." I wave him off, but Mizuki is the one that responds.

"No, you're not. Come on."

I barely have any energy to start a fight with her right now, so I just let her lead me upstairs. Whatever, a quick bath wouldn't hurt, and it is bound to at least energize me a bit to work some more. I'm just about done with the code.

I try to ignore the ominous feeling I've been having since waking up. Now isn't the time to wonder what it is. If the Game won't answer me, then I really have no way of knowing what I'm supposed to be doing. Focus. You have other projects to worry about.

The phantom pain of being slowly beheaded makes me scratch my neck in irritation.

I shouldn't spare it any more thought.

– Sona –

"The church?" Sona frowned in confusion. "What could they want from Kuoh?

"Someone stole a few Excalibur pieces," Rias answered. "And they're convinced that whoever it is is here."

"Are you certain?"

"That's what the letter said." The redhead said, waving the letter from her brother. "They've already gotten permission to look around from the Tojo Clan, so they're warning us to expect them soon and to stay alert."

That was worrying. Who was capable of stealing the Excalibur pieces like that? And why would they possibly even be in Japan, much less Kuoh? Whatever they were plotting, it couldn't be good. Bringing powerful holy weapons to a region under temporary devil control wasn't exactly a great omen.

Even with their intense training a few weeks ago, Sona wasn't exactly confident enough to fight against enemies who could wield the Excalibur pieces. A single graze from them could be fatal to devils of her level.

At least the Yakuza would be backing them up in this endeavor, though. A threat to them was a threat to Akane, and they couldn't have that running around in Kuoh. Being in the presence of the Mad Dog made her feel safer, ironically enough. Aside from the fact that her human friends were formidable anyway.

As a memory from an earlier conversation with Akane resurfaced in her mind, Sona's frown deepened. Could this possibly be Kokabiel's attack? They came to the conclusion that he was very likely going to try to attack them again. Excalibur's thief hiding in Kuoh… It was highly unlikely to be a coincidence. It lines up suspiciously well.

And if it was true, then they had a Satan-class or above threat in their hands. Why would he steal the Excalibur Pieces, though? He was a Fallen Angel, he didn't have a holy factor anymore, meaning he couldn't wield them. He must have allies. Powerful allies.

Still, it felt like he was attacking a tad too early. The Yakuza were still on high alert since last time, so what would he gain from attacking now? More than that, what had stopped him from showing himself the first time his subordinates attacked? He could've caught them all off-guard, but he didn't.

His actions weren't consistent, Sona realized. He was erratic, it felt like he didn't have a plan, just doing random, incomprehensible things to confuse them, which was admittedly very hard for her to counter.

And just when she thought she could relax for a little while, this happened. Of course it would. Like the universe would be fine with letting her have a breather. Well, at the very least, a thief, even if it was Kokabiel, wasn't anywhere near as stressful as the marriage fiasco that'd been plaguing them for years. She could handle this.

She should inform Akane about this. Perhaps devise some sort of strategy to take him down if it came down to it. Sona was sure that the church certainly needed all the help it could get. Plus, if they did stop him, then their reputation would soar, and that was a good thing for everyone. Her bond with Akane and the Yakuza would deepen, and she'd gain a favorable position with the Grigori, Church, and the Angels.

It was easier said than done, of course, but Sona was sure that they'd be able to do it. He might be Satan-class, but they heavily outnumbered him with their own Satan-class and beyond allies like Goro Majima and Taiga Saejima. Even if he had an army, they should be able to handily defeat him.

But it wasn't wise to get arrogant. Sona should be expecting all kinds of nasty surprises because Kokabiel knew what was waiting for him here. He was old and experienced– he must have his reasons to be confident.

…Assuming it's him, after all.

"So what do you think we should do?" Rias asked, sitting on the table in front of her. "Continue our training?"

"I doubt training would do us any good. We don't know when this thief will show himself, and we can't afford to get caught off guard." Sona shook her head. "We should fortify Kuoh with more detection wards and prepare for our meeting with the Church's representatives."

"That seems… kind of passive." Rias raised a brow.

"There isn't much we can do." The Sitri heiress responded.

"Shouldn't we start looking for him ASAP?" The redhead pointed out. "I'm sure we'll find them with the help of the Tojo Clan."

"I'm afraid they won't be of much help to us in this regard," Sona said, confusing Rias. "There is a huge chance that whoever this thief is has the same magic-concealing artifact those fallen angels had."

"What makes you think that?" Her best friend frowned.

Sona paused. It was time to tell her about Kokabiel being a possible threat.

"It's a long story," Sona said. "I held off on telling you at the time."

"Ah…" She blinked. "Why though?"

"Because I didn't want to stress you out even more on top of the Rating Game." The Sitri clarified. "I'm sorry."

"Oh please, it's nothing." Rias waved it off with a cheerful smile. "I know you were just doing it for my sake. No hard feelings."

Sona smiled back and nodded.

"Then follow me." Sona stood up from her seat. "We'll find Akane and tell you everything."

"Oh?" Rias raised a brow, suddenly having an odd grin on her face. "Why Akane?"

"So we can make a proper plan to counter this threat," Sona responded. "Her intelligence and problem-solving skills can be valuable to us."

"Oh really?" Rias' grin widened. "Not for any other reason?"

Sona blinked.

"What are you implying?"

"Nothing, nothing." She giggled. "You know, I heard a rumor spreading in school very recently."

Sona froze as her cheeks reddened slightly. She couldn't possibly be talking about–

"Something about you leaving school grounds with Akane–"

"There is nothing going on between us!" Sona snapped, face burning in embarrassment as she remembered Akane's rather… forceful and attractive invitation.

"I never said anything about that," Rias said smugly. "I just thought it was very out of character for you to ignore the rules like this."

…Well, shit. She walked right into that one. Why did she feel so flustered whenever she thought about that moment?

"But now I have to hear this~"

"Shut up." Sona quickly shot her down. "This isn't the time to be messing around."

Rias only chuckled behind her as the two walked through the hallway, sliding the door to Akane's classroom open. Most students were out for the break, but not seeing Akane there was odd. She never left the classroom on breaks.

…Unless it was for coffee apparently.

Ichiban and Issei were there, and both looked at her and smiled.

"Yo, how's it going?" Ichiban waved, and Rias responded with her own. "Rare of you to visit us here."

"We've been well, thank you for asking," Sona replied politely. "Have you seen Amamiya?"

"She didn't come today," Issei answered, munching on his sandwich.

"Ah…" Well, that was disappointing. She still liked pulling these delinquent acts. "I see. Well, thank you anyway. Remember to keep up with your studies."

"Aye, aye, Cap'n." Issei nodded.

Sona closed the door and addressed the redhead.

"I suppose that'll have to wait until school is over." She said. "We'll directly head to her house. Is that okay with you?"

Rias only smirked, making Sona frown.

"What?"

"Nothing~"

Sona didn't know why, but she'd never felt this powerful an urge to deck her in the face before.

– Shiva –

Unflinchingly gazing at the eyes of the titan in front of him, the God of Destruction waited for his fellow Deus' response. The Greek God of the Underworld was incredible at keeping his composure, even in the face of such horrific news.

Especially seeing how much damage the Demon God did to the Greek Pantheon. That unapologetic bastard used and manipulated them for his own gain, and once they outlived their usefulness, he discarded them like they were nothing.

…As he did to everyone he met on his senseless path of vengeance.

"Lucifer escaped?" Hades repeated from behind his desk, rubbing his beard as his blood-red eyes bore into Shiva's. "And you've yet to discover his whereabouts?"

"Whoever freed him is no joke," Shiva responded calmly, ignoring the cold fury in Hades' tone. "They're powerful and dangerous. Far beyond anything we've seen before."

"And you let that entity escape with Lucifer's blade?"

"None of us could've anticipated this." Once again, Shiva remained calm. "It was too abrupt for any of us. That thing managed to avoid every clairvoyance technique, by gods and mortals alike."

"How is that possible?"

"...It is a being from beyond the dimensional gap." The God of Destruction revealed. "A powerful force, surpassing that of the Great Beasts of Apocalypse."

Hades' eyes narrowed, staying quiet for the moment. He knew Shiva was telling the truth– there was no reason he'd lie about something as big as this. This evil force full of malice was the enemy of all, and Shiva must gather as many allies as possible for when it inevitably showed itself.

The races must unite to face this monster, otherwise, the world will end as every living being was slaughtered by it. Indra wasn't even sure that it would work, making Shiva know that this wasn't something they needed to be arguing about. If Indra, one of the biggest advocates for peace, was this disheartened about it…

Then there's no telling what kind of abomination they would be facing.

"I know we weren't always on good terms." Shiva started. "But this is beyond just you and me. It's beyond our pantheons. The world's fate is at stake, and we must work together."

Hades looked at Shiva for a solid moment, as if he was searching the Destroyer's soul for anything that could even have a hint of deception. It took a while, but then Hades was ready to answer, only for the pool of blood at the end of the hallway behind Shiva to start bubbling, prompting the God of the Underworld to scoff.

Shiva was confused for a moment, but from the pool, a pale, handsome young man with black hair and heterochromatic eyes walked out with a frustrated huff. He wore a red tunic that left the right side of his chest and shoulder exposed, and in his hand was a powerful artifact in the shape of a sword.

Stygius. Shiva thought.

"Died to the Furies again?" Hades mocked. "Stand down, boy. Trying to escape is a futile effort."

"I've gotten sick of this place. I'm leaving." The boy responded firmly. "I don't care how many times I die. You won't stop me."

He didn't even give Shiva a glance as he left the main office, leaving the Destroyer God confused.

"That boy–"

"I'll speak to Zeus and we'll discuss whether we'll lend a hand against this threat of yours or not," Hades said, avoiding Shiva's question. "Keep your expectations low."

The God of Destruction paused but then nodded.

"I see." He said simply. "Thank you for giving me the time."

Hades gave the slightest nod of respect he could muster, prompting Shiva to teleport back to his own realm. As small as it was, it was still a step in the right direction.

Here's hoping that lightning bastard wouldn't act like a child for once.

Hmm, I wonder what this last scene implies.

Also, I have one more chapter saved up, so like I did in draconic, here's the deal.

I receive: Reviews

You receive: That chapter early