— — — — — —
Giada Kukulcan slowly raised her hand.
Vatler and Iblisveil fell silent, sensing what was coming.
But Ryo Yagami didn't take his eyes off her, and in a tone of genuine curiosity mixed with a hint of surprise, he said. "Maybe I won't kill you?"
It sounded less like a warning, and more like he was encouraging her to keep resisting.
"Oh? You saw through it?"
Giada blinked, then gave a small shrug and raised her hands in resignation.
"Well, I guess that makes sense. Someone like you would probably figure out how the Primogenitors revive."
She let out a long sigh, looking more tired than anything. "I get it. You're trying to understand the truth behind us."
Her expression turned nostalgic as she continued: "We—the Three Primogenitors—were originally local deities, Devas, of this world. But after the Cleansing ritual rewrote reality, we were forcibly downgraded into demons."
"Devas?"
Koyomi's expression changed. Her eyes widened slightly in shock.
Vatler looked genuinely surprised. Iblisveil, however, remained calm and unreadable.
Giada kept her focus on Ryo.
"Because of how the Cleansing ritual works—and the immortality inherent to divine beings—completely killing us would require..."
With a cheerful tone, she stomped lightly on the ground and smiled. "...you'd have to wipe out the entire planet."
"That's... some pretty wild intel." Koyomi pushed up her glasses, trying to hide the unease creeping into her heart.
Ryo, on the other hand, just nodded like it all made sense.
"Got it. In that case, it's not impossible for me to kill you."
It reminded him of the gods in Little Garden.
To kill one of them, you'd need to unleash an absurdly powerful attack that could target their spiritual core and overpower their influence in history—basically, you'd need enough firepower to destroy a planet.
As for actually slaying a god? You'd need the strongest god-slayer humanity has ever produced. A Final Trial.
The Primogenitors of Strike the Blood might not be quite at that level—maybe around the five-digit range—but their survivability was definitely god-tier.
Giada's smile froze for a second.
Then she tilted her head and said, "Huh?"
Was this guy... serious?
So if he really wanted to kill her, his solution would be planetary destruction?
That's insane!
Ryo remained unfazed.
"So the Primogenitors can only be killed that way?"
Giada gave him a weird look. "Well, yeah. Only the three of us are like that. Even the near-Primogenitor level we created, or any of our descendants, don't come close."
She glanced at Vatler and muttered, "Take snake-boy over there, for example."
"Usually, if we come across a vampire with destructive power close to ours, we grant them the title of Duke. Mostly just to show off to the other two Primogenitors—like bragging about your kid getting into a good school."
Dimitrie Vatler's smile twitched.
He thought he'd done a good job hiding his strength. Turns out, to the Three Primogenitors, he was basically an open book.
What a pain.
He'd been thinking of challenging the Lost Warlord someday, but if the guy already knew all his tricks, wouldn't that be suicide?
Ryo pressed on.
"What about the Fourth Primogenitor? Not even she can compare?"
Giada shook her head.
"Nope. That one doesn't count either. The Eleventh Familiar—The Water Spirit of White Steel—was created specifically to compensate for her lack of immortality. But in the end, it still didn't put her on our level."
That explained why there were only three holy spears said to be capable of threatening the Primogenitors.
Because even though they were originally designed to counter the Three Primogenitors, they only really worked on the Fourth.
Avrora's predecessor—the real Fourth Primogenitor—learned that the hard way. That's how she ended up getting dismantled and sealed.
Ryo kept going.
"The twelve Familiars under Avrora... what's the principle behind their zodiac powers?"
"???"
Giada's face went blank as she stared at him.
"You beat me, didn't you?"
"Yeah, and?" Ryo replied with a hint of confusion.
"You defeated me, the Third Primogenitor.. just to ask a bunch of nerdy questions?!"
Suddenly, Giada stepped closer, wrapped an arm around Ryo's shoulder, and grinned. "Don't you wanna do something more interesting instead?"
Her eyes narrowed teasingly, voice dripping with playful suggestion. "Like earlier... when you held me in your arms like that...?"
Koyomi blushed and quickly stepped back, head lowered.
Iblisveil's face darkened. If the Third Primogenitor and that monster teamed up, the balance would be shattered.
But Vatler? He looked thrilled.
If the balance broke, it meant war. Endless conflict. And for someone like him, that was the ultimate pleasure.
Ryo Yagami, however, looked at Giada with an odd expression.
"You think I'd let you decide what we do?"
The smile vanished from her face in an instant.
With a small sigh, she let go of his shoulder and muttered, a little begrudgingly. "I'll have someone send you the sealed manufacturing data later."
"Appreciate it," Ryo said calmly. "But if that's supposed to be the price for sparing your life, it's not enough."
That was a blatant threat. Koyomi winced internally.
Giada took a deep breath, composed herself, and then suddenly burst out laughing.
"Hah! This is great. I haven't felt this humiliated in... how many centuries? Looks like my days of having no equal are finally coming to an end."
"Overconfidence in your immortality made you think you were unbeatable? No wonder you are the weakest of the 4 Primogenitors," Ryo raised an eyebrow and said with a strange look. "Y'know. If I succeed in my plans, beings like you might be lucky just to get a job flipping burgers."
Then he paused.
Wait, that didn't sound quite right.
Because once the Little Garden accepted his observations, Giada—being a former deva—would definitely get summoned into the Garden.
It was a rule of that place. Gods couldn't directly interfere in the human world unless summoned.
Which meant Giada's transfer to Little Garden was basically guaranteed.
And if she was a natural-born local deity... then once she received her spirit rank from the Garden's central system, she'd almost certainly be a four-digit.
Ryo narrowed his eyes, a smile slowly forming. "How about it? Wanna join my team?"
The room fell completely silent.
Koyomi gripped her book tightly, her expression grim as she looked at Ryo Yagami and Giada Kukulcan.
If the Third Primogenitor said yes...
Then the world as they knew it might be heading for total chaos.
.
.
.