One punch delivered like the blazing midday sun.
Every martial artist under heaven could only kowtow!
With merely one punch, Bokue made everyone present understand these words' weight.
From complete hall commotion to absolute silence—all within this single punch's span.
When Bokue returned to Rias and the assembled girls, the vast palace hall had grown quiet enough to hear a pin drop.
Even Loki above—who'd previously openly declared opposition to this alliance ceremony—no longer spoke. He simply stared at the young man below with uncertain suspicion. Neither opening his mouth nor remaining silent felt appropriate.
As if fearing that saying even one more word would result in being sent away instantly like Bikou moments earlier.
Noticing the gaze from above, having reverted to human-form catnip, Bokue raised his head—meeting those eyes.
"What? Want to spar with me too?"
"You..."
Loki choked on those words momentarily.
"Who... what are you? What's your deal?"
"Huh?"
Bokue cleaned his ear with his pinky finger.
"Who I am has what relevance to you? Have you figured out why you're even here?"
"I..."
Loki choked again.
As Bikou's traveling companion, he understood the former's strength intimately well. Even if not quite Maou-class, he possessed at minimum high-class devil strength—potentially capable of matching lower-tier Maou in all-out combat.
Yet this human youth he'd never seen or heard of had casually sent him flying out of sight with one punch.
Logically, even the current Four Maou couldn't accomplish this so effortlessly.
This forced Loki to question whether his operational risk assessment contained fatal oversights.
Though the one thing somewhat surprising him—this youth apparently had no intention of immediately engaging him in combat. In fact... seemed barely willing to acknowledge him?
Was this right?
Just as Loki grew increasingly uncertain, Bokue's voice drifted up once more.
"Didn't hear me? I'm asking—what's your purpose here?"
"I... came to prevent Norse mythology from participating in this alliance ceremony!"
Loki reflexively answered.
Bokue shrugged. "Then that's settled. State your demands. Didn't they just ask if anyone had objections? Since you've got objections, speak up."
"..."
Could... could he really?
Loki began doubting himself again.
At this moment, below onstage, Odin had turned around—gazing at airborne Loki while speaking gravely.
"Loki, if you return to Valhalla immediately, I can still forgive you."
"...Forgive?"
Returning his gaze to the white-haired, white-bearded elder onstage, Loki resumed that cold, arrogant demeanor.
"You senile old fool—quit your nonsense."
"Silence!"
Rossweisse, standing behind Odin, stepped forward upon hearing this—waving her hand accusingly toward airborne Loki.
"How dare you show such disrespect toward the All-Father?? Take back your words!"
However, Loki completely ignored her, simply continuing.
"Currently, our All-Father seeks to sign peace covenants with other mythological systems. But doing so means we cannot fulfill our destined Ragnarok, correct?"
Ragnarok...
Bokue released a soft acknowledgment.
Though never realized thus far, this indeed represented a deeply rooted Norse mythology prophecy.
Legend stated when the poison dragon Níðhöggr gnawed through Yggdrasil's roots, when Naglfar completed construction, when Hati and Sköll swallowed the sun and moon—Ragnarok would descend.
At that time, numerous deities would perish, including Odin, Thor, and even Loki himself.
So this guy's actually a hardcore fatalist?
Even knowing the prophecy foretold his own death, because it was prophecy, he must steadfastly follow its trajectory?
While analyzing, Bokue muttered internally.
"Heard similar rhetoric somewhere before."
Onstage, Azazel raised an eyebrow.
"You—wouldn't happen to be connected with the Khaos Brigade, would you?"
Khaos Brigade?
Another new term.
Bokue exchanged glances with Kuroka and Rias beside him. Both girls shook their heads, indicating ignorance of any so-called Khaos Brigade.
Whatever. Probably just some obscure little organization.
Bokue thought dismissively.
"Hmph, I acknowledge our cooperative relationship. However, regarding this matter, I act purely from personal will."
At this moment, airborne Loki snorted coldly.
"Enough pointless talk. Manifest, my son!"
What... even brought his son?
Bokue performed a slight tactical lean-back. His current mentality was purely spectator-mode.
The next second, Loki abruptly raised his arm. Behind him, a massive teleportation array materialized completely.
A heaven-devouring wolf dozens of meters tall roared forth, tilting its head skyward while releasing deafening howls.
HAAA—!
Fenrir opened his bloodthirsty maw. Merely the terrifying power fluctuations surging around him directly blew several devil guards—who'd been attempting to surround Loki—over ten-plus meters away.
Holy crap, literally huffing and puffing...
Bokue continued spectating. Yet at this moment, Kuroka—who'd been intensely inhaling him—raised an eyebrow.
"That wolf... seems pretty formidable, nya..."
Words concluded. Simultaneously, the newly-manifested Fenrir finally took action.
The heaven-devouring wolf—standing dozens of meters tall—tilted its head, releasing howls that shook the earth itself. Then it moved those building-pillar-thick limbs—not even glancing once toward Bokue's direction—charging straight toward the stage. Merely the terrifying air pressure displaced scattered all devil guards attempting obstruction along the way. Utterly unstoppable.
Consider: this was Lilith's palace. Guards stationed here without exception possessed high-class devil strength.
Yet wolf Fenrir treated these guards like weeds to be mowed down. Then this level of power...
Azazel felt secretly alarmed.
At this moment, Ajuka—standing beside Sirzechs—acted.
He raised his hand, summoning a green sealing magic circle. However, the target wasn't Fenrir—instead directly enveloping Loki himself behind the wolf.
"Wha...! This is... sealing magic??"
Loki startled—caught off-guard, unable to dodge as the magic circle captured half his body. Reflexively struggling to escape the seal.
Undoubtedly, Ajuka's approach was correct. Fenrir was summoned by Loki. Like in PvP against summoners—best method was ignoring summons, directly eliminating the summoner himself.
Moreover, as one of the Four Maou, Ajuka's strength undoubtedly sufficed for sealing Loki.
However, unfortunately, the sealing magic circle was hastily instant-cast. Plus, only covering Loki's half-body meant it couldn't immediately capture him completely into the seal.
"This makeshift simple seal cannot possibly contain me..."
Loki continued struggling desperately.
Yet at this moment, a white streaming light—still carrying a certain monkey—burst through the palace breach Bokue's earlier punch had created. A powerful flying kick struck Loki's lower back, booting the still-struggling god into the seal.
"I arrive slightly late, and you're all playing around with what, Azazel?"
"Oh~ Vali, you're here! No worries, no worries—just a minor incident."
Below, Azazel smiled while waving dismissively before pointing at Vali—still in full silver-white armor—holding the now-windblown Bikou.
"Speaking of which, how did you get that one in your hand..."
"Oh, this?"
Vali glanced downward.
"Not entirely sure myself. Just now, when Ddraig and I were coming over, we spotted him flying mid-air—from the palace's direction no less. So I picked him up along the way."
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