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The DxD World—
In Heaven, Ryo held a silver spearhead, its shaft snapped cleanly in half, as he walked beside Algol along the stone stairway leading to where the system was located.
Algol wore a white restraint suit, her face expressionless as she climbed the steps. Her voice, however, dripped with irritation. "It's been over ten days since you got back. Had fun?"
"More or less." Ryo glanced at her and felt a bit uneasy.
"More or less?" Algol let out a cold laugh. "Every night, I could hear a different girl moaning in your room. Sounds like you were having quite a bit of fun. You even went after your own secretaries, Ingville and Rossweisse. And then there's Kuroka and Rias. Not to mention Suzaku and Akeno, who you dragged into it before them. Quite impressive."
"Did you take the wrong medicine today or something? Why're you so mad?" Ryo asked awkwardly. If she kept going, he'd start rubbing his nose out of sheer guilt.
"It's not like I had much else to do while waiting for my influence to hit its limit," he muttered. "So I killed some time."
Taking over the ExE world hadn't immediately pushed his pocket watch to the full twelve o'clock mark.
Only after the battle at Mount Meru, the rumors of the Alliance's destruction, and the legend of him subduing Trihexa spread across the world and became the talk of countless mythological beings did the meter finally max out.
That whole process had taken eleven days.
Including the day he arrived, he'd only spent twenty-one days in the High School DxD world.
In Little Garden terms, not even twenty-one hours had passed.
At this point, the "Avengers" led by Arcadia had probably just finished setting up their Mars frontlines and hadn't even begun the divine war against the Greek pantheon yet.
That was why Ryo had been taking it easy.
In a way, it was just preemptive stress relief.
...At least, that's what he called it.
But Algol had never cared before, so why was she suddenly biting his head off now?
Hearing his excuse, Algol stopped walking and turned to look at him.
Then she said flatly, "It's nothing."
She turned away again, her gaze fixed on the palace ahead. "I just can't stand the smell of those defective products all over you. Every time I see you, I'm forced to smell them."
"Defective products..." Ryo twitched awkwardly. "No matter what, calling girls that is a bit harsh..."
Algol sneered. "Hmph!"
Ryo fell silent for a moment, then sighed. "Sounds like you're under a lot of pressure too. Want to borrow my shoulder?"
"Pressure?" Algol blinked, then crossed her arms with a snort. "You think I'm scared of going back to Little Garden? I've been looking forward to it. I can't wait to settle accounts with that Greek bitch."
'I never said you were scared...' Ryo muttered inwardly, then asked, "Can you really kill Athena?"
"You...!" Algol glared at him, brows raised in anger.
But after glaring for a while, she had to admit it. She wasn't sure.
That woman had too many backup plans. Even if Algol ascended to the two-digit level, she doubted she could truly erase Athena.
Seeing her reaction, Ryo shrugged. "If you're not sure, don't go too hard."
Algol clicked her tongue in annoyance, but she couldn't deny he had a point.
After imprisoning her for so long, Athena had mostly lost interest in continuing their feud, at least as long as Algol couldn't be killed. Starting another conflict now would be a terrible deal for Algol.
Unless there was a guaranteed way to finish Athena off, or someone else could do it and Algol only had to kick her while she was down, she wouldn't make a move.
Not yet.
Going back to Little Garden already meant facing many gods. Adding a schemer like Athena into the mix was way too risky.
Thinking that, Algol suddenly seemed to realize something and shot Ryo a meaningful glance.
That made Ryo's skin crawl, "W-why are you looking at me like that?"
"Nothing. Just thought of something interesting."
Algol turned back and strode up the final steps. "Get ready to revive the Creator God. The final test is coming."
Ryo paused, then sighed, "The way you put it, I'm already feeling the pressure. Makes me want to blow off steam."
Algol shot him a sideways look. "I wouldn't mind if you blew off steam here with that spear."
The soul of the Creator God emerged from the Holy Spear, face dark with irritation, "Can you stop dragging me into your arguments? I have nothing to do with either of you."
"Nothing to do with me?" Ryo tugged down the collar of his shirt, revealing the kiss marks the Holy Mother Goddess Chimune had left the night before.
"Come on, obedient daughter. Hurry up and call me Father. Mama Chimune already assured me you're her daughter, no doubt about it."
"..."
The Creator God's face went even darker. She said nothing, but inwardly cursed him with every insult she could think of.
Shameless. Vulgar. Trash.
If she could beat him, she'd punch him right now.
Making her call him "Dad" was just infuriating. But then confusion overtook her. Chimune wanted her to call her Mother, the Church had created a "son" for her, and now Ryo wanted to be her father too... When did people start having such bizarre kinks?
"Enough fooling around. Let's get this over with." Algol quickened her pace into the palace ahead.
Ryo watched her disappear inside, then turned and quickly descended the steps until he reached the edge of the Sea of Life.
Only then did Creator, who had ignored him the whole way, speak up. "Just throw the Holy Spear in. My resurrection process can be handled by the system."
She paused, then asked hesitantly, "Can Lady Algol really use the system to turn me into half a demon and keep me from being absorbed by my Little Garden self?"
Ryo glanced at her, "...You don't have to trust me. But you can trust Algol's integrity."
Then he added seriously, "Since the day I met her, she's never screwed me over. So relax."
"She's never screwed you over. How is that supposed to reassure me?" Creator muttered under her breath.
Right then, a deafening rumble shook the heavens.
Ryo and Creator both turned toward the palace at the summit. A pillar of light erupted from the palace and shot straight into the sky, piercing into the far reaches beyond.
Ryo knew exactly what it was.
Using the arrangements she'd made through the system, Algol was extending her power into the laws of the DxD world itself, temporarily rewriting reality.
He'd used that power before.
It was the Cleansing from the world of Strike the Blood.
But compared to Ryo's version, Algol's was on an entirely different scale. It wasn't even in the same league.
"It's starting."
Ryo took one last look at the beam of light, then turned and tossed the Holy Spear into the Sea of Life.
At the same time, he pulled out the pocket watch from his coat and looked at the hand pointing at twelve.
He drew in a slow breath and closed his eyes.
The peaceful days were over.
With that thought, Ryo sent his consciousness into his spirit rank.
Time to return... to Little Garden.
.
.
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T/N:
And that wraps up Volume 3, the biggest arc of the story so far! It took a while to get here, but we're finally heading back to Little Garden, where the main story resumes.
For that, I've added an Auxiliary Chapter containing information about Mondaiji. If you have any questions about the setting or its characters, feel free to ask them during the journey, and I'll add explanations or references as needed. I also plan to release another Auxiliary Chapter featuring character illustrations from Mondaiji.
And as always, feel free to leave your suggestions or feedback. I hope you've been enjoying the story so far, and thank you for sticking with me!