The atmosphere violently snapped taut, vibrating like a plucked bowstring. Everyone present—Maou, Archangel, and stray terrorist alike—felt a sickening lurch in their stomachs. If the two entities staring each other down decided to clash, the sheer collateral damage wouldn't just wipe Kuoh Academy off the map; the entire island nation of Japan would crack and sink to the bottom of the sea.
Finn Balam and Lord Indra.
If this had been yesterday, Finn might not have seemed like a world-ending threat to a Chief God. But now?
No one could even comprehend Finn's current ceiling. The young Devil had evolved into a complete, terrifying unknown. The absolute unpredictability of his nature made him infinitely more dangerous. Did anyone ever think to ask what was actually going on inside his head? Absolutely not. No one could have ever predicted that Finn would bide his time, return to Japan, orchestrate an apocalyptic massacre, and suddenly transcend the biological limitations of his race.
What exactly was he now?
Indra floated in the roaring storm, his divine eyes narrowing. If his peerless ability to read the future and peer into hearts worked on Finn, he might have struck immediately. Indra already knew about Finn's terrifying adaptation ability—Sun Wukong had reported it to him in detail. But to see it manifest into this abyssal evolution was something else entirely.
If there was such a thing as a 'King of Devils'—a True Satan—it stood before him now.
That was precisely why Indra hesitated. As the King of Gods, Indra wasn't a reckless, battle-crazed brute. He was a sovereign. Every decision he made was calculated based on the cost-to-benefit ratio for his pantheon. Against weaker foes, he simply crushed them and took what he wanted. But engaging Finn right now? The potential cost was astronomical, and the return was practically zero.
Indra had humbled himself—as much as a god could—by asking Finn to give him 'face'.
And Finn?
Finn had completely ignored the King of Gods, ruthlessly ripping the True Longinus out of Cao Cao's chest like he was plucking a weed. Yes, Finn technically left the human alive, but what was the point of taking back a broken, powerless husk?!
Indra's aura spiked violently. The sharp, metallic tang of scorched ozone flooded the courtyard as golden lightning crackled furiously across the black sky, ready to rain absolute divine wrath upon the earth.
Yet, looking up at the raging god, Finn simply smiled.
It was a lazy, thoroughly terrifying smile. Beneath the calm exterior, Finn's mind was racing with dark, predatory anticipation. He had just absorbed the souls and infinite energy of the entire Khaos Brigade vanguard. If this was the intoxicating power he gained from a bunch of terrorists, what kind of evolutionary leap would he achieve if he devoured a Chief God?
"Go ahead," Finn said, his voice terrifyingly calm, cutting effortlessly through the deafening thunder. "The second you strike me, we are at war. Are you truly prepared for that, Indra? Because if you are, I won't hold back. I will start harvesting your pantheon right now."
As Finn spoke, Kuroka—completely submerged in his absolute shadow—clutched the newly acquired Dimension Lost. Her feline eyes narrowed dangerously. She was fully prepared to instantly teleport Finn directly into Indra's blind spot the moment hostilities broke out.
While Indra's clairvoyance completely failed to penetrate Finn's abyssal aura, the god could still read the minds of Finn's women. Hearing Kuroka's lethal intentions, Indra's face darkened considerably.
Was Finn deliberately letting Indra read Kuroka's mind as a warning?
A total war with Finn Balam... am I ready for that? Indra calculated grimly.
Sirzechs and Azazel might have been frustrating, hesitant allies, but Finn was a completely different breed of monster. If Indra attacked, Finn wouldn't just fight back; he would escalate.
In Finn's mind, a horrifying thought was taking place. If Indra forced a war, then Finn would simply use the chaos to unseal Trihexa, the apocalyptic Beast of 666. He would plunge the entire universe into the end of the world, using the deaths of billions as a mass sacrifice to trigger his next evolution. If the DxD universe wasn't enough, he would tear open the dimensional boundaries and harvest other universes, feeding on the chaos until he surpassed even Ophis and Great Red.
It was the mindset of an absolute lunatic, yet to Finn, it was the possibility, as he knew that the world would be destroyed sooner or later anyway, so he just hastened the process.
To ensure he wouldn't lose the opening bout, Finn raised his right hand.
He possessed Canis Lycaon—the divine-slaying hound. The legendary blade forged from the god-killing Ame-no-Ohabari hadn't tasted divine blood yet. Why not test it now?
Shadows poured from his palm. Jin, the avatar of the Longinus, instantly materialized and transformed. In Finn's grip rested an elegant, deadly, traditional Japanese katana. The blade was sleek and slightly curved, featuring a circular, eight-petal filigree tsuba (handguard) and a handle wrapped in a traditional, pitch-black diamond pattern. The sheer, anti-divine malice radiating from the steel made the very air scream.
As the catastrophic tension between the True Satan and the King of Gods reached its absolute breaking point, the leaders in the barrier began to sweat profusely.
Sirzechs, Azazel, and Michael were paralyzed. This wasn't a political dispute they could mediate. If they spoke out of turn, they might inadvertently light the spark that would burn the world to ash.
Think! Think! Think, Azazel! The Governor of the Grigori screamed internally, a cold sweat drenching his collar. Use your massive brain! How do we stop this?!
Fortunately, Azazel didn't have to intervene.
Indra stared at the god-slaying katana in Finn's hand, read the absolute, chilling lack of hesitation in the young Devil's burning amber eyes, and let out a sharp, frustrated snort.
"I deeply regret not killing you when you were weak," Indra spat, the golden lightning around him slowly beginning to recede.
"Be grateful that you still have value to me," Finn replied lazily, resting the flat of the katana against his shoulder. "If you didn't, I would have already severed your head before you even realized I moved."
"Try it someday, brat!" Indra roared, his pride flaring.
Finn didn't flinch. He didn't rise to the bait. He just stood there, completely relaxed, waiting for the god's next move.
Seeing that Finn couldn't be intimidated, Indra finally relented. "You win. For now."
Indra knew that the longer he stayed, the harder it would be to suppress his divine wrath. He decided to withdraw. But before the King of Gods vanished into the storm—
"Don't forget to take your trash with you," Finn pointed lazily at the bleeding, powerless Cao Cao on the ground. "Don't just litter in my courtyard."
"..."
Indra took a long, heavy breath, his jaw ticking in absolute annoyance. He waved his hand, violently telekinetically yanking the weakened, broken Cao Cao into the air.
Trash. That was exactly what Indra thought of the former hero now.
Without another word, Indra and Cao Cao vanished in a blinding, deafening pillar of thunder. The residual shockwave violently rattled Kuoh City, leaving the local Shinto pantheon in a state of absolute, frantic panic as they scrambled to investigate the celestial disturbance.
With Indra gone, the remaining Khaos Brigade stragglers had entirely given up. The war was officially over.
Everything was fine now, right?
It was impossible for anyone to relax. Finn remained standing in the center of the courtyard, his oppressive, abyssal aura still bleeding heavily into the environment. Kuoh Academy was trapped in a localized, eternal darkness. The ambient light was violently devoured by his presence. Worse, due to the lingering effects of his Unknown Dictator and electromagnetic bursts, every single streetlamp, smartphone, and communication device in the city was completely fried.
The silence was deafening. No one dared to move. No one dared to breathe too loudly.
Finn slowly blinked, his burning amber eyes scanning the terrified faces of the Maous, Archangels, and his own peerage. He casually dismissed the katana back into the shadows and tilted his head.
"What's wrong?" Finn asked, his voice completely casual, as if he hadn't just orchestrated a massacre and stared down a Chief God. "It's late. Don't you guys want to go home now?"
---
By the way, I might have said this before, but I have uploaded my new original story. The title is "Checking Out at 5:15 PM" with the name "OnlyPureLove44," or I might change it to Akikan in the future.
Regardless, there are more than ten chapters now.
You can check when you want to read more of my work.
Thank you!