Chapter 731: Spark of Hate
"Hmm, a battle is going on there, but it looks like the explosion was a finishing blow." Rhea a.s.sumed while using her magic vision to see through the explosion regardless of the distance.
"We"re already near Wales Region, Devil Continent. Want to see what"s going on there?" Oceanid wished to hear everyone"s opinion.
"Don"t waste time on insignificant things. I can see the battle is over, as stated. There"s no point in us being there." Regulus refused right away.
"Oh? In that case, we"ll just make a slight detour from our original route to see the situation there. My gold talisman didn"t get a warning of a sealed area collapse, but one spot just disappeared. So those devils destroyed the sealed area forcibly. Even if it"s reckless, I hope no cursed monster escapes." Oceanid checked his golden talisman and decided. He glanced at Elysia and the others reflexively.
"Mm, let"s go over there just to be sure." Lifa agreed with that. The others did too. Thus everyone went toward the center of the explosion.
"O-yes, Doominick~ This sealed area extermination operation was a success. We only need two super bombs and a few shots of Disintegration Cannons. There aren"t any nasty and annoying monsters left." A rosy-skinned s.e.xy woman flicked her fiery red hair backwards. She seemed satisfied with the results of their experiment.
"Hum, it"s just what our Lord said. Inspection squad, go check if there are any survivors in that giant pit!" Doominick gave his orders to his subordinates.
"Yes, My Majesty!" A troop of two hundred elite devils replied in unison with a salute. They immediately went into the giant hole.
Radiation and other destructive energies were still around as the after-effects of the super explosion were still at their peak. Still, none of them was undaunted as they believed in the protective suit they were wearing.
"Heehee, I wondered what kind of t.i.tle I should use when I managed to lure My Lord into my arms~ Will it stay with Her Majesty Empress? No, that"s not good. Hum, if My Lord… then I will become My Lady, Milady! Ah, yes, that"s it~" The red-haired woman dropped her fist onto her open palm.
"You"re so noisy, Sophia Lor-hen. If you have nothing else to do here, feel free to go where you came from. You"ve contributed nothing here other than babbling like a noisy bird." Doominick frowned. He wanted this noisy woman out of here as soon as possible.
"Too bad, I am in charge of this operation~" Sophia shook her head.
"You are simply trying to get our Lord"s attention. Your presence here is nothing more than your own free will, and the real boss in this new operation is me." Doominick clicked his tongue and walked away.
"Yes, yes, it"s up to you. I"ll be leaving after making sure there aren"t any cursed monsters left here. It would be a big problem if even one escaped. Oh no, I can"t imagine my Dylan being mad about that." Sophia pressed her hands to her cheeks.
The devils in the exploding area were utterly oblivious to the presence of a group watching them from behind the clouds.
"How?" Rhea asked Elysia to confirm everything. She knew very well that Elysia"s eye abilities were superior to hers.
"I can only see that one accursed creature has survived. That creature is like a shadow and has possessed one of the devils in the investigative force." Elysia deactivated her sacred eyes and reported her observations to everyone.
"Which devil?" Rhea looked down again, but her primary focus was solely on the two hundred devils who had just entered the blast hole.
Elysia pointed her finger down. "A devil at thirteen degrees to the north, four hundred meters and ten degrees to the east of that big purple Devil Emperor. The one acting strangely and has no more shadow under him."
Everyone immediately tried to check the devil that Elysia pointed at. It was a deep giant crater, but sunlight could still get in there even though it was blocked by a bit of blast ash.
A devil was walking towards the crater"s centre with a zombie-like movement.
"Heh, why do you all trust the words of a human, a little girl above all? Even though she is a G.o.ddess"s disciple, you are powerful beings far superior to her. The Devil Race was a being similar to the demons of the Underworld. It"s natural for some of them not to have a shadow." Regulus rolled his eyes with a hint of sarcasm.
"No one will think you are mute if you remain silent, Beast G.o.d. Please don"t mock Ely because the last thing you want to offend is her master. Or, would you like to try inviting her wrath one more time?" Rhea suggested with a friendly smile, but her tone said the opposite.
"..." Regulus chose to find a peaceful path and fell silent. He didn"t want to get into trouble for meaningless things.
"Can you see it? Eh, Sylvi... Isn"t that devil lady an acquaintance of yours? She"s quite close with your father too, right?" Elysia pointed her palm at a fiery red lady on the hill.
"Hmm, that"s Sophia Lor-Hen... What is she doing here with Doominick? Could it be, they!? Hm, no way, right? Anyway, her skin tone changed from slightly orange to reddish. Did she recently become an arsonist?" Sylvia was aware of the female Devil Emperor"s presence. She was asked in wonder about various possibilities, but she only drew a simple conclusion. "Hm, my father seems to be still in the capital city. Let"s deal with that shadow monster and go there. I want to report things here, especially regarding that woman, to him."
"Hm, I can see it. I shall exterminate that shadow monster, but that devil cannot be saved because his entire being has been replaced as a brand new ent.i.ty. Is that fine on your side?" Oceanid stood up and took out an ordinary spear from within his body.
"..." Sylvia didn"t know why the Sea G.o.d was asking her, but she just didn"t care about the poor devil"s fate. She looked at Elysia for opinion.
"If that is what you think is the best solution... Sylvi, please tell us what you think." Elysia spoke in a tender tone. She could have exterminated that shadow monster, but Oceanid had another idea.
"Mm, it doesn"t matter. He came as a warrior, and it was an honor for him to die on the battlefield like a hero. It would be bad if that shadow monster inflicted more destruction and havoc." Sylvia nodded in confirmation.
"Good." Oceanid nodded slightly and threw a spear down with a water turbo boost.
*Swoosh!*
Air ripples are left on its trajectory. It shot past the speed of sound and pierced through the possessed devil.
*Boom!*
The possessed devil was impaled to the ground, surprising many devils in the surrounding area. However, a strange thing suddenly happened.
Bubbles of blackish water popped out of the possessed devil, similar to boiling water. That devil suddenly dissipated into black smoke, leaving a scream of pain without anyone knowing where it came from.
The black smoke was then sucked into the nearby anti-curse mechanism.
"Where did that attack come from? Did the Heretic G.o.d lend a hand for this? One cursed monster survived two super bombs" blasts? Are we too late to realize that?" Sophia looked up at the sky in bewilderment.
"Or perhaps, our Lord sent someone to make sure all goes well? We destroyed a sealed area, after all. Divine beings might be upset if a cursed monster managed to escape our control." Doominick took an a.s.sumption and went with it. He couldn"t see anyone up there, so the ent.i.ty that had just helped them was gone.
A few moments later, Elysia"s group finally arrived at Wales City, Devil Continent"s capital city. A modern city behind great black walls awaited them to visit.
"..." Alexander sighed as they headed straight for the city"s inner circle without anyone noticing their arrival. He had no idea why those devils couldn"t see them even though he could see one or two Saint Devils pa.s.sing by.
By the time they arrived near the palace, Sylvia simply hopped to the front to give a greeting with her arms wide open. "Welcome to Transcendent Palace~ Nee, now it"s fine to revoke the invisible magic, right?"
"Not before we go inside. Hm?" Elysia shook her head. Yet, she could suddenly feel subtle dark energy coming from the east, some distance from her current position.
"This aura is like Xero. He seems to be doing something there. Let"s check him out later. We need to beat him if he dares to perform such a stupid sacrificial ritual like before." Elena pursed her lips as she could recognize that aura.
"En, this aura is from Xero. We"ll check on him after we meet Devil Emperor Dylan. Sylvi has not met her father for quite a while. He"s probably still agitated since we disappeared for a few days. Ugh, it"s been over two weeks since the accident, right?" Elysia nodded slightly subconsciously.
"What do you see there, master?" Vanessa looked to her right, but she couldn"t see anything interesting other than an average garden.
"Ah, it"s just someone we need to check on later. Let"s go in. Your father must be missing you, Sylvi. Ah, it"s another family reunion." Elysia put her hands together and walked into the palace.
"Oh, please come in." Sylvia let everyone in with an inviting gesture, but she gave a request to the only "big" guest. "Err... But, Beast G.o.d, you can"t enter with such a large body. Can you reduce your body size a bit? See, the entrance is only about half your size.
"Fine." Regulus just complied with that request.
Everyone then entered the palace and headed to the throne hall.
At that moment, Dylan suddenly could feel his daughter"s aura was so close. He wondered if it was real or just a hallucination, but he believed more in his abilities.
"Father, we"re back for a visit~ Come and meet me!" Sylvia"s exclamation echoed throughout the throne hall and reached the study room next door.
"!?" Dylan left the study room in a hurry and went straight into the throne hall.
"Eh, father? I came to visit~" Sylvia was surprised because her father came from the entrance, not from any other hidden rooms in this hall.
"You"re home, Sylvia? You"re okay, hmm... Thank goodness." Dylan looked relieved, and a weight was lifted from his shoulders. He walked toward his daughter as if to hug her, and that was what Sylvia believed.
However, Dylan suddenly clenched his fist and was ready to hit his stupid daughter on the head.
Sylvia widened her eyes and immediately dodged. She took cover behind Elysia reflexively. "Whoo! Whoops, that was close. Have I built up an extreme reflex? I thought you wanted to hug me, but why are you trying to hit me, father? You don"t love me anymore because of that fire chicken?"
"Hmm, I just wanted to confirm if it was you or just an imitation." Dylan folded his arms and snorted. He then looked at everyone in the hall and frowned upon seeing a group of humans who shouldn"t have come here. "Why did you come here, Alexander the Greed? The dark energy in my territory might strangle you to death without knowing it."
"It"s Alexander the Great. These kinds of dark things have no chance of harming me. The world might thank me if my holy light cleanses this place and wipe you out of existence." Alexander responded with a look of superiority.
"..." Ella and Evelyn didn"t know what to do. A spark of hate had already occurred just because of this encounter.
At that moment, Elysia realized that Nell"s unilateral decision to bring the Holy Pope here at this time would not bear sweet fruit. The others also didn"t look like they wanted to interfere. They seemed to want to see what would happen next.
Therefore, Elysia immediately consulted with Elena regarding what they should do to resolve the tension.