"..."
After that old man Odin became the first to declare his surrender, several smaller pantheons that followed him promptly followed in the footsteps of this grandmaster of surrender, expressing their willingness to submit to the biblical pantheon.
For Elise, this outcome was naturally quite good. The fewer casualties there were, the more Power of Faith she would ultimately gain.
After all, Elise had never come here to kill people in the first place.
She merely wanted to unify these factions and develop their faith in her.
If she wanted Power of Faith, she first needed people who could provide it.
Elise would never do something as foolish as killing the chicken for its eggs. After all, the wool came from the sheep. She had to shear it gradually if she wanted a sustainable supply.
Of course, if some stubborn fools appeared and went around obstructing Elise's plans, she certainly wouldn't show them any mercy.
"Are you sure you want to do this, Odin?"
"This means you'll be standing on the opposing side from us."
Zeus' expression remained ugly. Odin's betrayal had dealt their supposedly unbreakable alliance a vicious blow.
Although some problems had arisen, they weren't quite as serious as one might imagine.
Their Greek pantheon wasn't afraid in the slightest!
Besides, there was still one powerful pantheon that had yet to declare its position!
Brahma of the Hindu pantheon had remained silent all this time, merely sitting there and staring fixedly at Elise.
That aura...gave him an extremely familiar feeling.
Unlike chief gods such as Zeus and Odin, Brahma was one of the three chief gods of the Hindu pantheon.
Although his strength wasn't particularly overwhelming, he frequently met with that friend of his!
Shiva, the God of Destruction!
He was also publicly acknowledged as the god closest to reaching that realm.
Precisely because Brahma had spent so much time around the God of Destruction, he possessed an exceptionally clear understanding when it came to judging strength.
Strong. Incredibly strong!
The feeling the God of the Bible gave him was countless times stronger than Shiva's! She was simply impossible to defeat!
Yet at that very moment, Brahma suddenly felt an inexplicable pressure descend over him.
Coincidentally, Elise tilted her head slightly at the same time. Although her eyes were covered, Brahma somehow felt certain that she was staring directly at him!
The sensation was even more terrifying than facing Shiva. It felt as though some horrifying monster had locked its gaze onto him, causing cold sweat to pour down Brahma's body.
Besides, Shiva was at least a chief god of the same pantheon as him. Even if the two had disagreements, Shiva would never casually try to kill him.
Elise was different. The biblical pantheon had already issued a declaration to the entire world, and this was exactly the time when they needed to make an example of someone.
Hades had already provided a perfect cautionary example. Brahma had no desire to follow in his footsteps.
No!
I have to get out of here immediately!
"Honored God of the Bible, we now understand your intentions."
When Brahma spoke at that moment, Zeus immediately felt a burst of joy. But Brahma's very first sentence nearly made him lose his composure.
Something about this felt strangely wrong.
Why was Brahma being so respectful toward the God of the Bible? Don't tell me you're planning to betray us just like Odin?
"However, there are still many voices within our pantheon that oppose submission."
"I have long heard of your mercy, so I ask that you grant us some time. I will certainly persuade those within our pantheon who remain opposed."
Good grief!
After hearing Brahma's words, Zeus' eyelids twitched violently. Odin narrowed his eyes, and even Elise looked rather surprised.
Did Brahma actually want to submit to the biblical pantheon?
Everyone present could tell that he didn't!
The Hindu pantheon didn't want to either!
Unfortunately for them, the God of the Bible was standing right here watching them like a tiger eyeing its prey. If Brahma openly declared his opposition, he would immediately become a grasshopper tied to the same rope as Zeus.
So Brahma simply chose this method to extricate himself and escape from this troublesome place.
"Brahma! You bastard!"
Zeus finally couldn't hold himself back anymore. They had talked for all this time, yet not a single person was actually standing on his side?
Odin had surrendered outright, while Brahma claimed he needed to go back and discuss it...
Now the only force left to oppose the biblical pantheon was his Greek pantheon.
"Silence!"
An enormous pressure descended upon Zeus. In an instant, Zeus felt as though he had sunk into the depths of the ocean, and an overwhelming sensation of suffocation surged over him.
His body completely lost the ability to move. He couldn't even speak.
Only then did Elise turn her attention back toward Brahma.
Elise didn't particularly care about Brahma's request.
After all, who was the strongest member of the Hindu pantheon?
Shiva!
Was she afraid of Shiva?
Like hell she was. Shiva should be the one afraid of her!
She didn't even take Shiva seriously, much less an insignificant Brahma like him.
"I never expected the Hindu pantheon to have such a reasonable god among its ranks!"
With a single flash, Elise appeared directly in front of Brahma, startling him into taking half a step backward.
Despite possessing the strength of a chief god, he hadn't even seen how Elise moved. There hadn't been the slightest trace...
"You've really helped me out!"
"Then please return and continue persuading everyone in the Hindu pantheon! Do your best to convince them as soon as possible!"
Huh?
After hearing Elise's words, quite a few chief gods were dumbfounded. None of them had expected this. Even Brahma himself, the one who had made the request, looked shocked.
Elise actually agreed?
Even the lesser gods standing nearby could tell that returning home to persuade the others was nothing more than a delaying tactic from Brahma.
If he successfully returned home, there was no guarantee he would still be willing to submit to the biblical pantheon next time!
But if Elise had agreed even to Brahma's request, perhaps their own pantheons could do the same?
That thought was quickly extinguished by Elise's very next sentence.
"I also have great admiration for everyone in the Hindu pantheon. Another day, I'll make sure to bring Michael and the others along for a personal visit!"
That was obviously already a declaration of war, wasn't it?
No wonder Elise had immediately agreed after Brahma finished speaking. So this was what she had been planning!
Since Brahma said he needed time, Elise would give him time!
But in the end, she would personally lead an army of angels to verify whether Brahma had kept his word.
At that time, the Hindu pantheon would have only two choices: submit or die.
"You may return now, Lord Brahma."
"I understand."
Brahma had clearly understood the meaning behind Elise's words as well, and a bitter smile appeared on his face.
But there was nothing else he could do. If he hadn't chosen this approach, there was a very real possibility that he would have been permanently left behind here...
But there was still a chance!
As long as Shiva could reach the same realm as the God of the Bible, the Hindu pantheon would still have a chance!
"We're leaving!"
At Brahma's signal, the subordinates who had accompanied him gathered around him. Then, under everyone's watchful eyes, they departed through a teleportation circle...
When Zeus witnessed this scene, the despair in his heart immediately surfaced on his face.
Elise, however, paid no attention to him. If mere pressure was enough to suppress Zeus, then he had already lost the qualifications to fight her.
"Now then, everyone, let's discuss the matter of our alliance!"
"Who would like to form an unbreakable alliance with me?"
Under Elise's overwhelming might, these factions glanced at Zeus, who had been completely suppressed by her, and immediately lost their nerve.
Who wanted to end up like Zeus?
"We do! We do!"
"Of course we're willing!"
You're the invincible God of the Bible. Who would dare defy you?
...
News of what had happened on Mount Olympus quickly spread. Great gods such as Zeus and Odin, along with countless pantheons that followed them, had all chosen to submit to the God of the Bible and become her subordinate forces.
This left countless factions utterly incredulous. They had never expected major powers like the Norse and Greek pantheons to submit without even going to war. Just what had they seen?
Was the God of the Bible really that terrifying?
During the gap between the death of the God of the Bible and Elise's appearance, quite a few new factions had emerged. They had never witnessed the great war of the past and had no idea how powerful the God of the Bible truly was, so they found the surrender of those great gods extremely difficult to understand.
But there was one point on which all of them agreed!
Do not provoke the God of the Bible. Otherwise, the consequences were something minor factions like theirs could never afford to bear!
However, while discussion of the God of the Bible outside had become practically endless, Elise herself, the center of all those discussions, had quietly departed Heaven.
Est, who hadn't appeared for so long that she was practically being forgotten, had also been brought along by Elise this time.
And not only her. Est's newly made good friend, Ophis, had come along as well.
One black-haired loli and one white-haired loli.
During this period when Elise had been extremely busy, the two little girls had spent all their time playing together in Heaven and had established a fairly good relationship.
The main reason was that Ophis always maintained an attitude of 'none of this has anything to do with me,' allowing Est to completely lower her guard and conclude that Ophis wasn't someone who would steal her big sister away.
On the other hand, that Metatron who had appeared recently had stood beside her big sister from the moment she was born, which genuinely made Est unhappy.
But for her big sister's sake, she could tolerate all of it!
Before anyone knew it, Est had grown into such a sensible child!
Speaking of which, Est was Elise's acknowledged younger sister, while Metatron was Elise's creation, making her something akin to Elise's daughter in a certain sense...
Yet if Est and Metatron went out together, people would probably mistake them for mother and daughter, just as they used to do with Elise.
Metatron would be the mother, while Est would be the daughter...
There was nothing that could be done about that. After all, Metatron's figure completely crushed Est's by hundreds of streets!
Compared with Est, the younger sister, Metatron, the daughter, actually looked more like an older sister. This was also why Est and Metatron had such a poor relationship.
Still, that wasn't a problem. At worst, the two of them merely got jealous and bickered. They hadn't reached the point of trying to kill each other, which saved Elise quite a bit of trouble.
"Big Sister, where are we going?"
During the teleportation process, Est asked about the destination of their journey.
Normally, Elise would take Metatron with her whenever she went out because Est didn't understand this world very well and couldn't properly handle relationships between the major factions. So Elise had assigned her the task of keeping Ophis company.
But now Elise had brought her out alone... Ophis didn't count. She was only following Est.
Still, that alone showed that whatever was about to happen had an extremely close connection to Est.
"We're heading to the Netherworld, Est."
"The Netherworld? Is that the place filled with lots of darkness?"
Est tilted her head, somewhat unable to understand why Elise wanted to take her somewhere like that.
Elise responded with a mysterious smile.
"Hehe. You'll understand once we arrive!"
...
Before the gates of the Netherworld.
After Hades was handed over to Azazel and the others for experimentation, authority over the Netherworld had fallen completely into Heaven's hands.
After all, the angels were the ones who had conquered it, so management of the Netherworld was assigned to Gaeal, commander of the new angelic legion.
But Gaeal had too many other responsibilities, so day-to-day administration of the Netherworld was eventually handed over to an angel named Raphiel. That's right, you didn't hear wrong. That Raphiel!
A new angel created by Elise using that white-haired, fun-loving angel voiced by Kana Hanazawa from Gabriel DropOut as her model!
Her strength was by no means inferior to Satan-class beings. In fact, she was even somewhat stronger than those Satans, although she had yet to reach the realm of a Super Devil.
"Welcome, my Lord!"
Here, Raphiel was leading a group of angels and Grim Reapers in welcoming Elise's arrival.
"Everything's been arranged, right, Raphi?"
"Yes, my Lord!"
Although she was a fun-loving angel, she behaved herself rather well in front of Elise, her Lord. She didn't mess with anyone or do anything particularly outrageous.
Once Elise left, however, that might be another story.
No matter how well she tried to hide it, she was still an angel created by Elise! Elise understood her true nature perfectly well!
Elise had even heard rumors about strange events taking place throughout the Netherworld, such as mysterious dog barking being heard there and speculation that Cerberus had fallen in love with someone. Raphiel was probably responsible for that, wasn't she?
But right now, Elise still had serious business to attend to!
"According to your previous instructions, we have now completely explored the regions of the Netherworld and located the place where the darkness is most concentrated. Please follow me."
"Then I'll leave it to you!"
Est was still deeply confused by all of this. Why was everything about darkness again? Her big sister had mentioned darkness earlier too. Could it be...?
At that instant, a certain thought suddenly flashed through Est's mind. Ever since entering the Netherworld, her heart had been pounding nonstop.
She hadn't understood why before, but now Est finally did.
There was only one matter connected both to Est and to darkness!
"Big Sister, don't tell me you're going to revive her?"
"Mm-hmm. As expected of Est. You figured it out so quickly!"
After hearing Est's answer, Elise admitted it immediately. That's right. The purpose of this journey was none other than the Dark Elemental Lord who had once helped her in the world of 'Blade Dance of the Elementalers...'
Ren Ashdoll!
While Elise had been in the DanMachi world, she had constantly been surrounded by gods and never had an opportunity to revive this Dark Elemental Lord.
But things were different now!
She had arrived in the world of High School DxD, and she was one of the strongest beings here! No one could oppose her!
Naturally, she intended to seize this opportunity to revive the Dark Elemental Lord!
"Reviving Little Ren requires an enormous amount of divine might and extremely deep darkness. The Netherworld happens to meet both conditions perfectly, so I decided to make use of it!"
"I wonder what kind of expression she'll make after she comes back to life?"
"I'm really looking forward to it!"
Back when they parted, Little Ren had said things like, "Don't call me Little Ren," and, "Forget it. Since this is the last time, call me whatever makes you happy." Elise remembered those words perfectly clearly!
Didn't expect this, did you, Little Ren? You're going to keep getting called that from now on!
Elise covered her face with both hands as an unusual blush spread across it. After all, back then, she had teased this mighty Elemental Lord quite thoroughly!
And she meant physically.