The Sixth Floor Arena of Nazarick.
With the Floor Guardians departing one after another, the place had returned to its usual emptiness.
That calm didn't last long. The appearance of a single figure broke the stillness.
It was Sephis. After everyone else had left, he had come back once more.
Standing quietly in the shadows, Sephis carefully scanned his surroundings. Only after confirming that no one else was present did he relax and step out.
Without hesitation, he left the arena and headed into the forest outside.
The dense woodland ahead didn't slow him down in the slightest. Instead, he dashed straight toward a specific direction.
Trees swept past him like frames on a slide projector as he kept watch on his surroundings, making subtle adjustments to his path as he moved.
He didn't know how much time had passed before a massive boulder finally came into view, prompting him to slow down.
The stone looked completely ordinary. Even detection-type magic produced no reaction at all. And yet, Sephis stopped directly in front of it.
[Thump! Thump! Thump!]
He raised his palm and knocked three times, then stepped aside.
[Click!]
The sound of a mechanism shifting rang out. The center of the otherwise unremarkable stone suddenly turned hazy, and a faint pale-blue vortex appeared before Sephis.
"Hurry and come in. The entrance won't stay open for long."
A voice called out from within the pale-blue vortex, urging him to enter quickly.
Without hesitation, Sephis cast a surprised glance at the mechanism he hadn't noticed at all, then stepped straight inside. The vortex closed instantly the moment he passed through.
As if nothing had happened, the stone returned to its original state.
Inside the cave, Sephis looked around with curiosity.
The interior was smaller than he had expected, less than ten meters across. Beds, along with a table and chairs arranged around the space, made it clear that this was meant to be a place to rest.
"It's a nice spot. Small, but it feels warm and comfortable. Is this what Father-sama meant by the feeling of home?"
Sephis nodded slightly as he looked around, pondering the thought.
"Pretty good, right? This place was designed by Bukubukuchagama. In all of Nazarick, only Mare and I know it exists."
"Come on, come on. This is tea I've been saving. Give it a try."
Aura and Mare emerged from the side carrying a tea set. Seeing Sephis's look of surprise, Aura smiled proudly.
"Mm, this is good tea. The taste is excellent."
Sephis said nothing in response to her smug expression. He simply picked up the teacup in front of him, took a light sip, and voiced his appreciation.
"This is my precious tea, you know. Normally, I'd never bring it out. If you hadn't come today, I wouldn't have touched it."
Aura took a sip herself, a satisfied smile spreading across her face as she spoke to Sephis with a grin.
"Then I'm truly honored."
Sephis poured himself another cup, took a sip, and spoke calmly.
"Now that we've had our tea, we can talk about the real issue."
"Aura, in the Message you sent me earlier, you mentioned that the Supreme Ruler Herohero poses a threat to Father-sama. What exactly does that mean?"
Sephis slowly set his teacup down. Dragon pupils surfaced in his eyes as he fixed a serious gaze on Aura.
"As for that… let Mare explain."
"All right, Sister. I'll explain it to Sephis-sama."
Aura didn't answer directly, instead passing the explanation to Mare beside her.
"The situation was like this. Earlier, the three Supreme Beings came to the Sixth Floor…"
Sephis watched the siblings in front of him without interrupting. He listened quietly, his expression unchanged. Yet the dragon scales gradually emerging across his body and the growing chill in his eyes showed how fiercely he was suppressing his anger.
"And that's what happened. Herohero-sama and Momonga-sama attacked Father-sama together. In the end, Herohero-sama even destroyed the seat he had created for Father-sama right in front of him, leaving only his own seat and Momonga-sama's."
Mare finished timidly, letting out a quiet sigh of relief before looking at Sephis with clear unease.
"I see. The Supreme Ruler Herohero… even he dares to humiliate Father-sama?"
Veins bulged across Sephis's face. Dense scales spread completely out of control, sharp dragon fangs protruded from his mouth, and faint arcs of electricity crackled along the horns on his head. His emotions had clearly reached a dangerous threshold.
"Calm down, Sephis. I asked you here to discuss this, not to let your anger take over."
Seeing Sephis looking as though he might draw a weapon and seek out Herohero for a duel at any moment, Aura quickly formed two magic circles in her hands and cast the third-tier spell [Frost Breath], slapping it straight onto his face to forcibly cool him down.
"Hah… sorry. Is that everything? Father-sama really didn't fight back at all?"
Finally calmed by the spell and Aura's words, Sephis apologized softly, then stared intently at Mare as he asked.
"Father-sama truly didn't fight back. In fact, he stood up smiling and brushed the dust off himself."
"As for the chair, Father-sama recreated it himself, still smiling."
"And as for Momonga-sama and Herohero-sama… I couldn't tell what they were feeling."
(As if anyone could read expressions on those two, honestly.)
Mare recalled the details as he spoke.
"I see. It seems Herohero is exploiting Father-sama's kindness, constantly testing his limits."
"And Momonga-sama was likely used as well. Truly frightening… Supreme Ruler Herohero."
"He barely said anything, yet quietly tried to manipulate two Supreme Rulers at once. What a scheme."
Based on the information Mare provided, Sephis continued his analysis and arrived at a chilling conclusion. Everything had been planned from the start. The goal was to gain control over all of Nazarick.
He had briefly suspected Momonga-sama as well, but dismissed the idea. Momonga-sama was a Supreme Ruler who had always stayed by Father-sama's side, and Father-sama had once mentioned that the two of them had lived together for a very long time.
In comparison, the Supreme Ruler Herohero—who had been absent for years and suddenly reappeared just before Nazarick's relocation—was far more suspicious.
"Aura, Mare, this is something we need to plan carefully."
"Listen. For now, we act as if we know nothing, and wait for the right opportunity…"
And so, without Momonga, Naohara, or Herohero knowing anything about it, the First Supreme Being Hunting Squad was born.
If Naohara were to learn what his children had secretly planned, he would probably shout that it really wasn't necessary, absolutely not necessary, that it had all been a joke back then.
But in the eyes of the Guardians, every action taken by the Supreme Rulers carried deep meaning. In the end, it could only be said that the smallest details decide everything.