Chapter 428: Ashes to Ashes
While Haruto was enjoying romantic moments under the moon and planning to enhance strength, emotions, and techniques with three women under the guidance of a loli succubus wife during the next full moon, other factions in the Demon King's city weren't so leisurely.
Leohart, the Cardinal Council, the Old Devils, Wilbert's loyalists, and even the chaos-loving Khaos Brigade had all sent people to closely monitor Mio.
Sheila and Lucia leaving was one thing, but Mio absolutely could not leave the Demon King's city.
These factions cooperated and opposed each other in complex, unclear relationships with different goals, but at this moment, they all sought to ensure Mio would obediently participate in the duel.
Fearing delays might bring changes, after just one day—two days before the full moon—Leohart sent a message announcing the colosseum would open the next day.
In this matter, the Cardinal Council caused no trouble; they had long been prepared and were eager for Leohart and Mio to be trapped together in the alternate dimension.
Thus, amid the varied intentions of these factions, a broadcast aimed at the entire Demon King's city—or rather, all demons under Leohart's territory—began.
As powerful magical energy surged, violent winds and thunder started to gather in the sky above the Demon King's city.
Dark spatial rifts flickered and intertwined as a peculiar space gradually emerged - one filled with volcanic lava, massive floating debris, and suspended structures.
The originally clear blue sky with boundless sunshine began to darken.
Though not as vast as the Demon Lord's Castle, the Arena was still substantial enough that its projected shadow completely enveloped the entire castle below.
This was likely intentional by the designers.
The demons within the castle looked up at the floating island-like Arena, feeling the surrounding darkness, as solemnity and fear naturally took root in their hearts.
Once the ancient Arena had fully manifested, Leohart was the first to fly inside.
The spatial barrier of the Arena rippled slightly, detecting his Demon Lord Bloodline before allowing him entry without resistance.
Casually selecting a broken floating boulder, Leohart stood quietly in place, waiting for Mio Naruse's cooperation.
Apparently designed to prevent cheating during duels, the Arena possessed built-in projection capabilities, allowing people in the Demon Lord's Castle to clearly and simultaneously observe every movement of those inside.
As for demons in other locations, they could only watch delayed projections transmitted through magical broadcasts.
"Your Highness Mio Naruse, it's your turn to enter the stage."
Leohart's close friend, the handsome white-haired Secretary-General, quietly addressed the JK beautiful girl in her uniform skirt.
According to their prior arrangement, Mio was supposed to fly to the Arena's barrier and stop there.
She would pretend to hesitate, struggle for a moment, then voluntarily give up while making statements about having no interest in the Demon Lord position and being just an ordinary high school student - this would resolve the matter.
Though somewhat anticlimactic, it was indeed the perfect solution.
"Mhm."
Mio Naruse cast a spell, her black-and-white pleated skirt fluttering in the wind, though anyone looking up would only see a magical glow.
Even if one could see through the magical concealment, they would only find the dreaded safety shorts.
As for the beautiful girl's intimate pink underwear, only Haruto could appreciate and play with it.
The red-haired beautiful girl holding an obedient black cat slowly floated into the sky. Some demons who noticed the lazy cat in her arms frowned with displeasure.
To carry a pet cat right before an important duel... how inappropriate...
Similar thoughts crossed most people's minds.
Because of Mio's action, they considered her both impolite and immature.
Even Leohart's subordinates, who could barely be considered allies, showed expressions suggesting they wanted to say something.
Sheila and Lucia naturally took all this in but pretended not to notice.
Just as everyone's attention was captured by the black cat nestled between the beautiful girl's ample breasts - envied by countless onlookers - Mio Naruse had already reached the edge of the Arena's barrier.
After gathering her emotions, just as Mio was about to proceed with the plan, an impact force suddenly descended from the thunderstorm-filled sky.
Had she been unprepared, this force might have pushed her into the Arena.
But how could she be unprepared?
With a simple magical barrier and minor repositioning - without needing Haruto's intervention - Mio completely neutralized the force herself.
Is that all?
Did the old fossils of the Cardinal Council truly take Mio Naruse for a naive, brainless fool?
The transparent shockwave was nearly invisible to the naked eye, but to the group of Satan-Class powerhouses, it was no different from someone physically pushing Mio Naruse.
Just as the many powerful figures were wondering whether the Cardinal Council was truly foolish or merely pretending, chaotic magical energy surged, and a human figure abruptly emerged from the spatial rift where irregular cracks had been appearing.
The moment this figure appeared, it instantly teleported beside Mio Naruse, striking her shoulder with a palm strike that had been charged for a long time.
This time, Mio genuinely failed to react—not only her, but almost everyone watching the sky was caught off guard.
Due to the summoning of the Arena, the space in this area was extremely unstable, making teleportation fundamentally unusable.
Forcing its use would likely result in being shredded by spatial turbulence, with only a slim chance of leaving a complete corpse.
Thus, the sudden appearance of someone using teleportation shocked everyone, leaving them utterly unprepared.
Unfortunately, Haruto was not among those caught off guard.
Nothing in the world is absolute—if something seems impossible, it simply means one's strength is insufficient.
The unstable space here would require even Satan-Class beings to tread carefully, but for a deity-level powerhouse, it was merely a minor inconvenience.
The moment the shockwave appeared, Haruto had already heightened his focus.
However, the one who released the shockwave—or perhaps the one who deliberately released it before making a move—seemed to possess some method that temporarily eluded Haruto's detection.
While hiding, the assailant remained undetected by Haruto, but the moment they took action, it became impossible to evade his notice.
The attacker did not seem intent on killing Mio Naruse, merely forcing her into the Arena by targeting her shoulder.
Though Mio failed to react, Haruto could have blocked the attack for her. Yet, in that split second, he changed his mind and only neutralized the damage.
An invisible clash of magical energy pushed Mio stumbling forward a few steps—precisely the steps needed to bring her within the Arena's boundaries.
Haruto felt a ripple sweep over him, and without any hindrance, he followed her inside.
No one noticed this, however, as all attention was drawn to the sudden appearance of the assailant, suspected to possess deity-level strength.
Just as the demons were bracing for a crisis, Lucia and Sheila suddenly breathed sighs of relief.
Before deliberately sending Mio into the Arena, Haruto had specifically notified Lucia via their soul network, who then informed Sheila. This reassured both and allowed them to prepare for what was to come.
At that moment, the suspected deity-level powerhouse let out a wretched scream. With a crisp sound, something resembling a cloak dissolved into specks of light, vanishing into the air.
Immediately after, the hazy glow enveloping the assailant dissipated completely.
"Belgas?!Finally, as the hazy glow vanished entirely, a demon stared skyward in shock and uncertainty, exclaiming in disbelief.
In the sky, Belgas's agonized screams continued, the ugly purple monster's face cracking with fissures.
Not just his head—the torso beneath his clothes was also covered in cracks, like a porcelain vase that would shatter at the slightest touch.
No, it wasn't just a resemblance—it was exactly that.
The moment the cracks covered Belgas entirely, his screams reached their peak before abruptly ceasing.
The source of the screams turned to dust in a sudden, fierce gust of wind.
Until this moment, some demons still hadn't grasped what was happening.
But the more intelligent ones, such as the Secretary-General—Leohart's close friend and the intellectual pillar of the Demon King's army—had identified the key issue.
He stared intently at Sheila and Lucia, then turned his grave gaze toward the... black kitten in the real-time synchronized projection.
As Mio Naruse and Haruto entered, the projection naturally split its screen to include them.
Those with sharp eyes and familiarity with the colosseum had also noticed the black cat in Mio Naruse's arms.
How did that lazy black cat get in? Could it be a familiar?
But that couldn't be right—even familiars shouldn't be able to enter...
Surely this cat couldn't possess the bloodline of the Demon King too?
Their ancestors never had a Demon King called the Emperor of Sorrowful Winds...
Compared to the black cat's entry into the colosseum, the fact that the attacker was Belgas was far easier to comprehend.
Belgas was a die-hard loyalist of the Conclave, so it made sense for him to force Mio Naruse into the colosseum.
As for how he concealed his aura and remained unaffected by the environment, it wasn't hard to guess after seeing the earlier footage.
He had simply used a special Sacred Gear.
Once the Sacred Gear was destroyed, his concealment naturally failed.
His subsequent death might have been due to backlash from the Sacred Gear's destruction, an attack by whoever destroyed the Sacred Gear, or some other reason.
Regardless, he was dead, turned to ashes, and no one cared anymore.
The same went for the old immortals of the Conclave.
In fact, even if Belgas hadn't died, with his Sacred Gear destroyed and identity exposed, the Conclave would have killed him upon his return.
Compared to Belgas's death, the old immortals were more distressed over the destroyed Sacred Gear.
Despite years of accumulation and a relatively deep reserve, they possessed few such special, practical, and powerful Sacred Gears.
Losing one like this truly made their hearts bleed.
Fortunately, Belgas's mission succeeded—Mio Naruse had entered the colosseum—or they would have been furious enough to vomit blood.
The old immortals, watching covertly, glared darkly at the black cat in the projection, their unease growing stronger due to Belgas's sudden death.
In the past, if things went wrong, they would have turtled up—the very reason they had survived this long.
But this time was different; they had no way out.
Even if they wanted to hide, Leohart and other factions would never allow it.
After exchanging glances, they revealed ferocious expressions, nodded fiercely, and immediately began summoning the army of Heroic Spirits and the Outer God, King of Heroic Spirits.