— — — — — —
"Will it really be over that soon?"
Xenovia murmured to herself. Exhaustion washed over her, and the moment she relaxed, her body gave out, slumping against Irina.
Ryo's arrival was like a shot of adrenaline. The tension she'd been holding onto instantly collapsed. She hadn't lost the ability to fight, but there was no way she could stay on guard anymore.
Their side's ultimate boss had stepped in. Wasn't this basically a free win?
While the two girls let their guard down, Ryo strode up to the shadowy creature. Looking at its trembling, struggling form, surprise flashed across his face.
"You're still trying to resist after being locked down by my presence?"
At a glance, he recognized it for what it was: a monster created through the Progenitor Power. It was similar to the transformed members of the Old Satan Faction he'd encountered before, except those people had retained their own will, while this one was clearly being controlled.
That was exactly why he found its resistance strange.
For the time being, he shared Algol's Devil Authority. In effect, he was no different from a Devil Progenitor himself. So a creature born from the Progenitor Power should never have been capable of resisting, let alone defying, his authority.
Yet this one was trying.
"What exactly has Algol been researching...?" Ryo muttered under his breath, growing increasingly curious about the new creature before him.
In a sense, it was practically a new species.
Perhaps because it was a race newly created by Algol, its conceptual framework had not yet been fully established, allowing it to ignore his commands?
For now, that was the theory he settled on.
...
The shadowy creature continued struggling. Its razor-sharp claws even inched toward Irina once more.
Less than a centimeter later, it froze.
At the same time, the nervous Irina quickly pulled Xenovia farther away, her eyes full of caution.
Seeing that, Ryo narrowed his eyes and directly seized control of the creature with telekinesis.
"No need to worry. I've already subdued it."
With a casual wave of his hand, the surrounding shadowy creatures rose into the air under his control.
There were only three of them in total.
And yet, just moments ago, those three creatures had nearly crippled every member of the Himejima family. Even Xenovia and Irina, who had come to help, had almost fallen to them.
In terms of pure combat power, they were impressive by this world's standards, roughly approaching the upper end of the six-digit tier.
To Ryo, however, they were nothing but cannon fodder.
"Only three?"
He glanced around the ruined courtyard before raising an eyebrow.
"You seem to know who these attackers are." Still supporting Xenovia, Irina looked at him in surprise.
Not that she was surprised he'd dealt with the shadowy creatures so easily.
Come on. This was supposedly the strongest fighter on the Three Factions' side. A few monsters around Ultimate-class Devil level, even unusually durable ones, were hardly going to trouble him.
Ryo nodded, "They belong to an organization called Utsusemi. Their leader appears to be a traitor from the Himejima family."
"A traitor from the Himejima family?" Irina immediately understood. "If that's the case, Miss Suzaku probably knows where he is. She rushed off before the attack started."
"Suzaku?"
Ryo raised an eyebrow and extended his senses.
A moment later, his eyes narrowed, "Found her. She's at the shrine in the mountains behind the estate."
He turned toward the girls, "Stay here. I'll be back shortly."
Before either of them could respond, his body dissolved into countless specks of light. Taking the three shadow creatures with him, he vanished from sight.
"Wait..."
Irina instinctively reached out to stop him, but before her hand had even risen fully, he was already gone.
She stared blankly for a moment before sighing.
"The Governor finally shows up, and after only a few words he's gone again. What a waste."
"What, were you hoping to claim credit?" Xenovia rolled her eyes weakly. "We got way too overconfident this time. We almost died. The fact that we're not getting chewed out already is a miracle."
Irina's face reddened, "We helped too, you know!"
"By almost getting killed?" Xenovia shot back.
Irina fell silent for half a second.
Then she declared, "Xenovia, it seems we can no longer be friends!"
"Fine by me!"
The moment the words left her mouth, Xenovia went limp and collapsed against Irina.
"Irina..."
"What?"
"Stop thinking about men for five minutes. The Governor isn't interested in you. Instead, could you find me something to eat? I burned through way too much energy."
"..."
---
At the mountain behind the estate—
Crimson flames had scorched through the earth itself, turning the ground into crystalline glass. The once-lush forest had been reduced to blackened charcoal remains.
The entire area looked as though it had survived a catastrophic wildfire.
Standing upon the crystallized ground, Hanezu Himejima stared grimly at the figure before him.
Half of his right arm had already carbonized, and his body was blackened from burns.
Across from him stood Suzaku Himejima, wrapped in blazing crimson wings of fire.
"So you've fused with the Vermilion Bird to this extent." Hanezu's expression darkened.
"...Please surrender, Uncle Hanezu."
Suzaku's voice carried genuine persuasion.
Unlike the stubborn old fossils back in the family who hid behind seniority, the man before her had been a victim of the Himejima family's persecution.
If possible, she didn't want to kill him.
Hanezu let out a mocking laugh, "The person who's been aiming for my vital points this whole time isn't exactly in a position to talk."
After a brief pause, he continued, "Still, I have to admit it. You've become a qualified family head, Suzaku."
Merciless toward her enemies. Willing to stop him here even though doing so could lead to heavy casualties within the Himejima family. Determined to eliminate him no matter the cost.
In that sense, she truly had become a worthy leader.
At the very least, she'd learned how to harden her heart.
"Is this really the right choice?" A hint of retreat had already entered Hanezu's eyes. "The monsters I created have probably slaughtered everyone in the Himejima estate by now."
His agreement with Rizevim had been simple: create chaos.
He had used that opportunity to strike at his enemies in the Himejima family.
By now, the Three Factions had undoubtedly dispatched powerful reinforcements toward the Himejima headquarters. Otherwise, Suzaku would never have chosen to stall him here after realizing she couldn't kill him alone.
The strategy was obvious. Delay him long enough for reinforcements to arrive and finish him off together.
So now... it was time to leave.
With that thought, a small brown sphere appeared in his hand.
He crushed it immediately.
"Let's end our reunion here."
Layers upon layers of spatial magic enveloped him. Clearly, the item he had just destroyed was a long-range teleportation device.
Suzaku's expression sank. She knew she couldn't stop him.
As his body began disappearing, Hanezu sneered, "The next time we meet, it will be the total destruction of the Himejima family..."
His smile widened, "...and the destruction of the Three Factions themselves."
The moment the last word left his mouth, he vanished completely.
Then, a hand suddenly emerged from empty space, gripping Hanezu by the head.
Holding the struggling man aloft, Ryo looked at him with a faint smile, "What did you just say was going to be destroyed?"
.
.
.