The rooftop of Keystone Gate. A roiling mass of pitch-black fog clung to Bokue's body like a living cocoon.
From a distance, it looked as though the young man had been swallowed whole by a sentient tar pit, its surface constantly shifting and pulsing as it gnawed and consumed. The dark miasma radiating from its surface burned like the world's most concentrated acid, painful to the skin even from twenty meters away.
"What is that thing..."
Vali's voice came through tight behind his helmet. His scalp was crawling for reasons he couldn't articulate, and his body kept trying to inch backward without his permission.
He wasn't the only one. Both Heavenly Dragons flanking him looked equally unwilling to take a single step closer.
"Samael."
Albion's voice was taut. A bead of cold sweat traced a line down the White Dragon Empress's temple.
"Also known as 'God's Venom.' Also known as 'God's Malice.' The forbidden being who deceived the inhabitants of Eden into eating the Fruit of Knowledge. Even now, the curses of the Biblical God, who no longer exists, remain bound to its flesh. The original sin. The Dragon Eater, Samael. It is an angel that bears alone the full weight of God's hatred toward serpents and dragons. And at the same time, it is itself a dragon. An existence that has been erased from the record."
The explanation was convoluted, but everyone present understood the core of it.
Throughout all of recorded scripture, only one entity had ever "tempted the people of Eden into eating the Fruit of Knowledge."
The serpent from the story of Adam and Eve.
Ddraig picked up where Albion left off.
"That thing is the serpent who tricked Adam and Eve. The act enraged the Biblical God, who developed an extreme hatred for serpents, and by extension, dragons. That's the origin of why so many Church texts depict dragons as evil."
"Samael alone bears every last drop of God's anti-dragon malice, venom, and curse. And since a holy God shouldn't possess malice in the first place, that makes the poison even more lethal."
"The divine curse branded onto that thing is the ultimate dragonslaying weapon. Its very existence makes it the most dangerous Dragon Eater in creation."
"Wh—??"
Bikou's jaw dropped.
Nobody had expected Cao Cao's crew to pull out something this forbidden. Something directly connected to the Biblical God's own curses.
"But shouldn't something like that be sealed away?? How is it here right now??"
"Sealed? Obviously it was."
Runeas stepped forward, and the temperature around her plummeted. The First Generation Gremory who had clawed her way to supremacy through the savage demon civil wars was fully awake now, her presence flooding the rooftop with Satan-class demonic pressure that pushed back the stinging cursed aura like a force field.
She raised her chin toward the black mass still engulfing Bokue, her voice carrying zero warmth.
"If I'm not mistaken, that thing was imprisoned in the deepest layer of the Underworld. A region governed by the Olympian god Hades, accessible only to the dead. The Realm of the Dead." Her eyes narrowed. "But if it's been summoned here, that means..."
"Exactly right!"
Cao Cao threw his head back and laughed.
"We negotiated with Lord Hades for ages before he agreed to let us summon it. Took multiple layers of restrictions and seals before he gave the green light."
"And just so you know, Lord Hades wasn't doing us a favor out of kindness. He's apparently quite displeased about your little alliance courting the Norse pantheon. Seems the Olympian chief Zeus has been showing interest in joining your peace talks, and Hades finds that... deeply irritating."
Ah. That explains it.
Runeas's brow creased, but understanding flickered behind her eyes.
Rias had given her a crash course on current geopolitics the moment she'd woken from hibernation. That briefing included the attempted alliance with the Norse pantheon, and the disruption caused by the rogue god Loki during the signing ceremony.
Every mythological faction had its hawks and doves. Among the Olympians, Zeus was clearly the dove, open to diplomatic engagement. Hades, it now appeared, was the hawk, determined to keep the old hostilities alive.
"HAHAHA! So tell me, how does it feel?? How does it FEEL??"
Cao Cao's laughter rang out across the rooftop as he thrust his spear toward the black fog consuming Bokue.
"That's a curse forged by God himself! Even a fraction of contact is enough to corrode a Satan-class being down to the soul! And for you, as the Red Dragon Emperor's successor, it's the deadliest poison imaginable! Today, you die! Siegfried, prepare to move!"
"Understood."
The six-armed swordsman adjusted his grip on all six blades simultaneously, rolling his wrists into ready position.
"My name is Siegfried, the Demon Emperor! My blade is Gram, the Demonic Emperor Sword!"
BOOM—
But before the first strike could land, a wave of demonic power so vast it resembled the pressure at the bottom of an ocean trench crashed down from above without the slightest warning. Everyone on the rooftop except Ophis visibly staggered.
Cao Cao got the worst of it. One second he'd been riding the high of certain victory; the next, his pupils shrank to pinpricks, his spear tip slammed into the ground, and both hands locked around the shaft in a white-knuckled death grip just to keep his knees from buckling.
"What the... this pressure... how can anything be this strong... this is beyond anything I've—??"
A single bare foot descended gracefully from above, touching down on the rooftop surface as lightly as a leaf settling on still water.
Followed by a voice. Familiar, lazy, thoroughly unbothered.
"Honestly. It's the middle of the afternoon, Bokue's not even home, and I was planning to nap through the boring part, meow. But it's so loud out here. What's going on, meow? ...And what's that gross black blob? It looks disgusting."
"Bokue's inside it."
Venelana supplied the explanation.
"Huh?"
Kuroka blinked at the still-churning mass of dark fog, then called out experimentally.
"Uh... Bokue? You okay in there? Need big sis to help, meow?"
"Nah, I'm good."
A hand broke through the surface of the black sludge, flashing an OK sign. Then it rose a bit higher, parted the murk at roughly head-level, and Bokue's face emerged, looking about as distressed as someone who'd just been wrapped in a slightly too-warm blanket.
"Actually, this stuff's kind of nice? It looks nasty, I'll give you that, but there's no smell. And it's cool to the touch. I've been listening to ASMR with headphones for so long I built up a tolerance, so having the real deal wrapped around me sucking on my ears is honestly pretty relaxing."
Excuse me?
Kuroka's surprise lasted exactly one second before it curdled into outrage.
"That's... that's basically an ear-licking session! I can do that! Why would you need some disgusting tar monster for that when your big sister is right here?? Get that thing off you! It's filthy!"
"Fine, fine..."
How is this possible??
While the two of them bickered like a married couple debating household chores, Cao Cao was experiencing a full-system meltdown on the other side of the rooftop.
"Why... why isn't it working?? That's supposed to be a poison capable of killing even the Infinite Dragon God! Why are you completely unaffected??"
"Are you stupid? You're only looking at type matchups and ignoring level difference."
Bokue spared him a glance.
"Grass-type has a type advantage over Water-type, sure. But a Level 1 Sprigatito still isn't beating a Level 100 Quaquaval."
What...??
"I'm getting bored of you."
Bokue spread his arms. The entity known as Samael, God's Curse, the Dragon Eater, the most forbidden anti-dragon weapon in existence, was torn cleanly in half and dissolved into nothing.
One step forward, and he was chest-to-chest with Cao Cao before the spear-wielder could blink.
"Hi."
"!"
Pure terror flooded Cao Cao's face. Every instinct screamed at him to retreat, but pride and desperation overrode survival. He swung the True Longinus with everything he had, aiming the spear point directly at Bokue's heart.
"SHINE! God-slaying spear, pierce through all creation!"
Blinding white light erupted from the weapon, engulfing the entire rooftop plaza.
When the light faded, the razor tip of the True Longinus was pressed flat against Bokue's chest.
Not a scratch. Not a single millimeter of penetration.
In the silence that followed, Bokue slowly raised his hand. Extended one finger. Angled the tip downward, and gently tapped it against the crown of Cao Cao's skull.
"You went and replaced your eye. Rallied your whole squad. Even brokered a deal with a god from another pantheon to get your hands on a weapon tailor-made to counter me. That's a lot of effort. Really. I'm almost impressed."
"But here's the thing."
A pause.
"None of it mattered. Because at the end of the day, you're just. Not. Good. Enough."
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