"So what are you planning to do about 'her'?"
Breakfast (which was really lunch, given the hour) had come and gone. In the first-floor living room of the beach villa, Chysis watched Ophis sitting on the sofa, knees tucked to her chest, small hands wrapped around her shins, completely absorbed in whatever was playing on the television.
"What's there to do? Let her be."
Bokue shrugged from beside her.
"All she does is watch TV. She's not the destructive type. Leave her alone and nothing happens."
"I suppose that's our only option."
Chysis shook her head with a quiet sigh.
As an elder-generation devil, she'd never heard of Ophis before today. But the moment Bokue described her as "an existence on par with Great Red," Chysis's entire assessment of the petite gothic girl underwent a violent recalibration.
Great Red. Dragon of Dragons. Apocalypse-class entity that the Biblical God himself couldn't defeat.
If Ophis stood on equal footing with that, then the power concealed inside that tiny frame was genuinely terrifying.
Then again, if even the Infinite Dragon God needed to come asking Bokue for help, that indirectly confirmed Bokue's strength was already far above hers.
Somehow, that thought was deeply reassuring.
Rustle.
Right on cue, the girl on the sofa stirred. Ophis unfolded herself, hopped lightly off the cushion, and padded barefoot across the floor toward Bokue, each step producing a faint tap-tap-tap against the hardwood.
?
Bokue watched the gothic girl stop directly in front of him, tilt her delicate face upward, and speak in that flat, weightless tone of hers.
"Vali and the others. Are here."
Hm?
A non sequitur if he'd ever heard one. But almost the same instant the words left her mouth, a ripple of spatial distortion pulsed outward across the sky above Itogami Island, spreading like rings in a disturbed pond.
Well. She wasn't wrong.
❁❁❁❁
Two kilometers from Keystone Gate, high in the atmosphere above the artificial island, the Vali Team materialized through a dimensional transit circle that had punched its way from the Underworld into the Human World.
Vali himself hovered at the front, clad in the gleaming white armor of the Divine Dividing.
Technically, he was no longer the White Dragon Emperor's host in the traditional sense. Albion's soul had been separated and resurrected by Bokue long ago. But before that extraction, Albion had left a portion of his power embedded within the Sacred Gear to maintain its structural integrity.
The result: Vali's Divine Dividing still functioned. Balance Breaker, Juggernaut Drive, the whole arsenal remained operational.
What it didn't have was a built-in GPS.
Case in point: Vali knew Bokue lived on Itogami Island. Where on Itogami Island? That was a different question entirely.
"Arthur. Anything?"
Vali's voice carried a vaguely Cybertronian resonance through the helmet's faceplate. He turned to the blonde, bespectacled man in the immaculate suit standing behind him.
"Nothing yet."
Arthur shook his head. In his hand, an ornate Western sword of clearly extraordinary make pulsed rings of golden light in all directions, sweeping the island below like a radar dish.
"The spatial structure of this artificial island appears to have been deliberately shielded. My magic can't pinpoint a specific individual across an area this large."
"If you can't find him, then don't bother looking~"
A lazy voice chimed in from behind them.
Ddraig. The Red Dragon Empress floated with her arms folded behind her head, the picture of casual indifference.
"Just go straight there. I've heard Japanese people love altitude. Something about higher ground signifying power and prestige. Someone like my former host would definitely be at the top of the tallest building on the island."
She pointed directly at Keystone Gate in the distance.
From their current vantage point high above the island, the structure looked like a colossal monolith planted at Itogami Island's dead center. Its summit was ringed by a series of rising, petal-like barriers that curved inward from the edges, forming a sheltered courtyard hidden from every angle. Wind couldn't reach it. Rain couldn't touch it. And from the outside, you couldn't see a thing.
Vali stared at it silently.
He didn't doubt that whoever lived up there was important. But did that sound like Bokue? Was Bokue really the type to plant his flag on the tallest tower like some territorial warlord?
Before the silver-haired young man could make up his mind, a tremendous force suddenly enveloped them all. It was like being seized by an invisible hand the size of a building.
!!?
Vali didn't even have time to be startled. The scenery around them blurred, shifted, and reformed. Solid ground materialized under their feet.
"This is..."
They were standing on top of Keystone Gate. The rooftop plaza. Already there.
A familiar, unhurried voice drifted over from ahead.
"Showing up unannounced. Something going on?"
"EEK!"
The instant Bikou heard Bokue's voice, some deeply conditioned fight-or-flight reflex kicked in. He went ramrod straight, snapped to attention like a soldier caught sleeping on duty, and in one fluid motion dove behind Vali's back, peering out with only his eyes visible above the armor's shoulder plate.
"..."
Vali knew the monkey's dramatics were at least partially an act. But the sheer intensity of the performance was a bit much.
He swallowed the commentary and turned forward.
Bokue had just stepped out of the beach villa. Flanking him were Chysis, Venelana, and Runeas.
And Ophis.
The barefoot gothic girl floated a few inches above the ground, apparently having decided that stepping on outdoor surfaces would dirty the soles of her feet and subsequently track grime across the villa's floors. Hovering was the logical solution.
"Long time no see."
Ophis delivered the greeting in her new, still-slightly-awkward modern speech.
Oh?
Vali raised an eyebrow. The change in Ophis's demeanor was noticeable even after just three days.
"Only been three days, but... never mind. Let me get to why I'm here."
He dropped the observation and directed his gaze at Bokue.
"This is more of a heads-up than anything. As you already know, Ophis was essentially a wish-granting machine propped up by the various factions within the Khaos Brigade. Everyone who joined extracted her 'snakes' for power while promising to help her defeat Great Red. We both know those promises were worth less than the air they were spoken into."
"Now that you've taken Ophis off the board, it's only a matter of time before someone from the Khaos Brigade comes knocking."
"Obviously, given your strength, you'll handle it without breaking a sweat. But I figured a warning in advance couldn't hurt."
A reasonable concern, delivered with trademark Vali coolness. The subtext was clear enough: coming here was a small favor, a gesture of goodwill.
"Don't read into it. This has nothing to do with favors."
As if he'd read the thought directly from Bokue's eyes, Vali crossed his arms.
"I'm just curious which idiot from the Khaos Brigade is going to be stupid enough to pick a fight with you. Felt like it'd be entertaining to watch. That's the only reason I came."
"Is that so..."
Before the last syllable left Bokue's lips, a thick, malevolent aura materialized in the air directly behind them, coalescing out of nothing. It solidified rapidly into a pitch-black summoning circle, crackling with hostile energy.
Several figures emerged from within. At their head stood a young man holding a long spear.
Cao Cao.
He tilted his chin upward. His right eye, the one that should have been human, burned with an eerie violet glow.
"What if the one who came... is me?"
"Then I'd say you've got a serious death wish."
Bokue didn't miss a beat.
<><><><><>
~ 70 Advanced Chapters Available on Patreon
~ p-atreon.com/dragonnx
(Just remove the hyphen to access Patreon normally.)