The reincarnation ritual itself had been disrupted by that bastard Edward, forcibly split apart by Rend and resulting in two reincarnations. A proper Bahamut should have been whole. Now that neither of the two Dragon God souls were here, the source of the consciousness in front of him was anyone's guess.
Driven by curiosity and a reckless impulse, Safas subconsciously used a deeper level of vision and took a brief look at the Black Dragon. It was no more than a casual check, like glancing at a student ID. This was something he had learned after being beaten badly in the past, a level that should not provoke anyone.
Unfortunately, the Black Dragon seemed to look back.
"Finally here. Long time no see!"
"Take a look. That place has been renovated. It is way bigger than before!"
After killing the Western Caesar King, Belial had flown straight toward the castle where Lilith was. At his current speed, it was only a short trip. He had also noticed something strange during the battle, where soldiers caught in the area attacks somehow survived, but he did not have the mood to think about it right now.
Meeting old acquaintances was more important. Yet when he arrived, he saw someone unexpected. An old man stood there alone, holding a Magic Staff. He was certain this was Lilith's location, and anyone allowed up here must have her permission.
That meant the man was an acquaintance of hers. An acquaintance of an acquaintance was basically an acquaintance, so Belial was about to greet him. Then the old man looked over with a strange gaze, and Belial instinctively looked back.
What Safas saw was a blinding white radiance, like a blazing sun. The light was so intense it felt as if his soul were being scorched into steam just by looking at it. From within, something even more magnificent extended its wings and revealed three heads.
One head bore a crown of brilliant white solar fire. Behind it was a sun that was clearly declining, yet its light burned even more fiercely. Two suns merged into one, and at its peak it was pure daylight, so dazzling that it could not be seen, formless and unseen.
"Roar!"
It only glanced over and let out a low growl, but to Safas it sounded like a thunderous roar. His head throbbed as if it were about to be torn apart by Rend.
"Hey… the landing pad is over here. This way!"
Bella waved while holding twin lightsabers, and at the same time used Nanomachines to quickly build a large temporary landing platform at the edge of Floating City. It was more than enough to support Belial's weight.
"Huh? Old man, why do you have a nosebleed? What happened?"
"…Nothing. I was just in the sun. It got a bit hot."
Safas spat out a puff of flame, swallowed the blood back down, and forced a smile. His nose and ears felt like they were smoking, and he really needed to lie down somewhere and recover.
He felt like he had seen something just now, but he did not understand it, and he definitely did not dare to look again. Just a glance had done this much damage. Truly trying to peer deeper would not leave enough of him behind to die twice.
Belial lowered his head and awkwardly shrank his neck. Seeing that the old man seemed mostly fine, he finally relaxed and landed on the platform. The first thing he noticed was that little radish, who seemed to have changed somewhat, and he could sense it.
"Damn, what have you been eating these years? Your size, density, and energy fluctuations are on a completely different level now."
Bella immediately went into a familiar inspection routine, assisted by the instruments built into Floating City. This time she did not need to do everything by hand like before. The first thing she complained about was Belial's size.
Compared to the nearly hundred meter length she remembered, this was ridiculous. It had not even been that long. Just the body length alone had almost doubled. That meant the volume had increased more than eight times, which was absurd. How could the underlying genes and physical structure handle this?
"Also, the electromagnetic field on your surface is way too strong. Good thing I prepared in advance and upgraded the shielding. Otherwise I would have crashed again."
She kept complaining and recording data as Lilith flew over as well. She naturally drew Belial's attention, and his expression turned a bit strange. When Lilith saw his current form, the familiar twitch returned at the corner of her eye.
Good. It was still the same feeling of having her common sense shattered. Judging by this, being dragged into the Abyss by those Evil God had not hurt him at all. In fact, he seemed to have eaten quite well.
Belial felt something similar. To be precise, it was about her body. When he had given her that Magic Staff, he really had no deeper intentions. He just thought that since she always had excess energy, giving her a battery made sense, and his own crystal was perfect for that.
But now it seemed something had gone slightly wrong. That familiar aura was exactly the thing he had always tried to prevent. He wiped sweat from his brow.
"I guarded against Ecological Corrosion in every possible way, and I still ended up here…"
The signs were obvious, like a Space-type Crystal phenomenon. One look was enough to tell. He started sweating more, unable to imagine Lilith turning into something like a planetary being.
A beautiful young woman turning into a Great Beast was not something he wanted to see. He had always been wary of this skill, because once it truly spread, it would put him against the entire world. The effects of Ecological Corrosion would slowly expand along the areas he influenced, like a disease.
Thinking about the small amount of credit he had finally saved up, Belial decided that the distance was close enough that the cost should not be too high. He retreated into the small translation space in his mind and made a call.
"Um… hey, that thing. Your body is okay, right?"
"…?"
"Um… your body… situation?"
After analyzing the incoming information, Lilith quickly understood what he was asking. It was just about her current physical condition. Clearly, even this fool had not expected her to end up like this, which meant it was not his intention.
"Nothing is wrong. I am fine."
She sent back the briefest reply. Seeing the massive creature in front of her lower its head as if in relief, she could not help but feel it was familiar. At least in that sense, nothing had changed.
"Good. As long as it is fine. If you picked up that kind of planetary mindset that wants to crush the whole world, that would be a problem."
It seemed that as long as Ecological Corrosion was properly controlled, it would not affect the original consciousness of the host the Lord. Belial relaxed a little, though cold sweat soon followed.
After all, she was not the only one affected. There was also the little girl he had given a heart to, and that plant-like Elves girl he could communicate with. The thought made his head hurt.
"Damn it. I really need to go back and check on them too. If something goes wrong, I am finished."
Because the big protector had returned, Bella and Lilith were no longer nervous. The one who felt tense now was Belial, because he was worried his Ecological Corrosion might cause some kind of trouble. For the moment, he sensed nothing unusual, or at least nothing that had grown into a mature individual.
With no warning signs, he relaxed a little. Even if something did appear, he believed he could handle it himself as long as it was not too serious. After that, his attention shifted to other things.
For example, there was this marvelous Floating City that perfectly blended technology and Magic. Its floating function relied on the earlier Magic Array, while its forward propulsion came from two Fusion Engine mounted at the back. Just looking at it made the design logic clear.
Above it all, the castle structure held even more secrets. What looked like simple spires were actually things like a Field Generator. The deeper Belial explored and felt those rhythmic, industrial motion structures, the more excited he became.
It was the kind of thing no boy could ever refuse.
At the moment, Lilith was busy discussing plans with the old man. They were talking about departure timing and combat details, so there was no time to deal with two idle Teddy Bears. That left only Belial and Bella, two like-minded troublemakers, naturally gathering together again.
They began discussing things that made a man's blood run hot, big and solid things. Yes, they meant a Giant Robot.
"Haha, so you noticed after all," Bella said proudly. "That's right, I've been secretly adding a transformation module into the castle structure all these years, hiding it from Lilith."
"At critical moments, most of the structure can detach and combine with extra equipment to become a giant robot. Other forms like the Space mode, underground mode, and underwater mode are not finished yet."