— — — — — —
The landing craft adjusted its thrusters, blue jets flaring beneath it as it slowly descended into the Evie Empire's capital airport.
The moment it settled and the hatch opened, the rows of mechanical soldiers waiting outside immediately dropped to their knees, loudly welcoming Regalzeva's return.
"Not a bad sight."
"Regalzeva" strode out of the ship, two subordinates at his side and, floating behind him, the mechanical bubble imprisoning Chimune Chipaoti, the Holy Mother Goddess.
"Brother." A seven-meter-tall purple female mechanical lifeform, the Wicked God Seraselbes, stepped forward and called out to him.
Beside her, the Malevolent God Melvazoa remained silent, standing motionless where he was, waiting for Regalzeva to approach.
After a few heavy steps, Ryo met Seraselbes first, imitating Regalzeva's tone perfectly. "For my dear little sister to personally come greet me, this is quite the honor."
Seraselbes chuckled, not noticing anything strange, "Before flattering me, brother, you should think about how you're going to smooth things over with Brother Melvazoa."
Within the Evie Empire, the three siblings had clear divisions of labor.
Regalzeva handled warfare. Seraselbes oversaw internal administration and governance. Melvazoa specialized in logistics, intelligence, research, and strategy, effectively acting as the uncrowned ruler of the Evies.
But Regalzeva often acted on his own, wrecking carefully laid plans, so Melvazoa had never been particularly fond of him.
Ryo had already learned all of this from Regalzeva's memories. Naturally, he'd prepared for it.
"The tool for smoothing things over," Ryo said, gesturing behind him, "isn't it right here?"
Seraselbes turned toward the mechanical bubble and immediately saw the bound Chimune inside.
She laughed. "No wonder the tracking squads hunted her for thousands of years and never found her. So she was hiding inside the Evie Empire's spaceport?"
Then she turned to Melvazoa. "Well, brother, that sounds like your failure."
At last, the silent Melvazoa spoke. "The internal investigation falling short is indeed my responsibility. Later, I'll accept punishment."
After saying that, he looked at Chimune.
Feeling his gaze, she lifted her head and stared back coldly.
Melvazoa let out a mocking laugh, "So it was the spaceport. At first, I thought you'd infiltrated the upper ranks to leak our secrets. But now I see. You used the departure paths of our ships to infer our movements, then fed that information to the resistance forces."
Chimune bit her lip and said nothing, her eyes still icy.
"No answer?" Melvazoa sneered. "No matter. I do suspect there's something suspicious about your sudden capture, but it still doesn't matter. Because no one can take you away from the three of us."
He paused, his electronic eyes glinting. "Later, I'll make sure to study a High Etoulde God like you thoroughly. I'd like to know exactly what sets your species apart from ordinary organic life. Maybe I can find a way to deal with Resetoras."
"Still as cruel as ever with your enemies, little brother," "Regalzeva" mocked from the side.
Melvazoa replied coldly, "Says the brother whose campaigns regularly end in species extinction and planetary destruction."
Then his glowing electronic eyes fixed on Regalzeva. "But brother, changing the attack plan on the FxF world without authorization and returning on your own… I expect an explanation."
His voice grew heavier with resentment. "This isn't the first time you've ruined my plans. And according to the movement logs during your voyage, you also made an unscheduled approach toward the DxD world."
"This expedition failed, and you altered the route on your own. What exactly were you trying to do?"
On Regalzeva's giant mechanical face, Ryo showed a cryptic smile. "And what kind of explanation does my dear little brother want from me?"
"Punishment according to imperial law." Melvazoa's tone was firm. "As one of the law's creators, you should set an example."
But honestly, he didn't expect it to work. Because he knew from experience that right after he said this, their younger sister would step in and mediate, stopping the two brothers from escalating.
That was how it always went.
And yet... three seconds passed.
Seraselbes... she just stood beside Regalzeva without moving.
Without saying a word. Without reacting at all.
'What the?'
Melvazoa froze.
He was about to speak, only to realize he had somehow lost control of his vocal system.
'...What's happening?'
That thought had barely formed when "Regalzeva" moved.
Fast as lightning. One hand shot toward Seraselbes—the other toward Melvazoa.
Both struck their chests at the exact same moment, smashing through their armor like paper and plunging straight into their consciousness cores.
Crack!
Seraselbes' core was ripped out on the spot.
The light in her electronic eyes faded instantly, going dark.
At the same time, Melvazoa's core was torn free as well.
But the moment it left his body—
Crack. Crack.
A sound like an eggshell breaking rang out from his consciousness core.
"Oh?" Ryo stared at the dimming core in his hand, surprised. "So you transferred your consciousness at the last second?"
He narrowed his eyes, "Looks like you'd prepared this trick a long time ago."
Only then did the kneeling mechanical soldiers realize what had happened.
Shouts erupted instantly.
"Lady Seraselbes! Lord Melvazoa!"
"Why?! Why would Lord Regalzeva attack them?!"
"Damn it, why can't we move?!"
Ryo turned his head, his gaze landing on a two-meter mechanical soldier hidden among the crowd.
Among an army of immobilized machines, this one could still move.
That alone made it stand out.
"A moving one in a sea of frozen machines…" Ryo murmured, smiling. "I see. An organic lifeform, huh?"
The two-meter machine immediately rose from its kneeling posture, its electronic eyes flashing wildly. Its voice was filled with alarm. "You're not my brother Regalzeva! Who are you?! Sneaking in and ambushing us like this!"
It was clearly Melvazoa's voice.
"..."
"That makes things a bit troublesome." Ryo scratched his cheek.
If it wasn't a mechanical body, handling him would be more complicated.
At that moment, the "Melvazoa" in front of him suddenly blurred.
Like an invisible eraser was wiping him away, inch by inch, his form disappeared.
"Be careful." Behind him, Chimune shattered the mechanical bubble and stepped out, her voice grave. "Melvazoa can manipulate the very concept of existence itself. He can interfere with time, even with versions of himself across parallel worlds, erasing his own death. He's truly immortal. That's why he's known as... the Absolute Despair."
"Immortal?" Ryo squinted, then laughed. "Now that sounds interesting. I'd like to see how immortal he really is."
And right then, a hundred meters away at the edge of the airport, Melvazoa's figure reappeared, kneeling on one knee.
He lifted his head, staring at Ryo with open caution.
Then he turned and ran.
Ryo clicked his tongue, "Well, that's disappointing."
He'd thought Melvazoa would stand and fight.
Instead, Ryo shot after him at once.
.
.
.