Chapter 408: God Class
The overwhelming masculine presence made the silver-haired beauty instantly flustered. Gazing up at the handsome youth who stood a head taller than her, her fair complexion gradually flushed with a delicate pink.
After a long moment, Grayfia finally composed herself and responded with mature grace, "Haruto, stop joking around. I'm Rias's sister-in-law, after all..."
"I know."
Haruto interrupted Grayfia's attempt to lighten the mood, and silence fell between them once more.
"Grayfia, I know this might not be love, or even affection..."
Haruto took a deep breath, gently grasping the silver-haired beauty's delicate hand as he spoke earnestly, "But I truly want you. I want you to stay by my side forever."
After pouring out the obsession in his heart, he felt an immediate sense of relief wash over him.
Though uncertain of the outcome, the last lingering hesitation in his heart completely dissipated with his resolute words.
In that instant, Haruto experienced a subtle epiphany. Inspiration burst from his heart like a babbling brook through Candy Valley, washing over every cell in his body.
He truly recognized the genuine desire that had been hidden deep within his heart all along.
He was just an ordinary person with primal desires. Even though he had been fortunate enough to be reborn in another world and obtain great power, this fundamental truth remained unchanged.
This world was inherently unfair. Some people were born with endless power and wealth.
They possessed status from birth that ordinary people could never achieve in a lifetime, and crushing an ordinary person was easier for them than crushing an ant.
And some people were naturally protagonists, surrounded by all the beauties.
Since these people could have it all, why couldn't he?
Haruto admitted from the bottom of his heart that he hadn't seen this clearly before, or perhaps he had been restrained by his past experiences.
But now, he would become the protagonist of his own life and this world.
Haruto felt as if he had leaped above the river of time and the boundless multiverse, faintly glimpsing the majesty of the world. Countless illusory images flashed before his eyes, forming an abstract, elongated Möbius strip.
In the boundless realms of infinite parallel universes, change occurs ceaselessly at every moment.
The chaotic world he inhabited—a fusion of memories from multiple worlds forming the Three Realms of gods, demons, and humans—contained countless diverging worldlines.
His arrival seemed, perhaps, likely... to have anchored the world's development onto the singular thread of fate belonging solely to him.
Yet this thread remained fragile and unsteady. Should Haruto stagnate or abandon his path, it could snap at any moment, veering the world's trajectory toward another course.
This new direction might leave him unaffected, perhaps even prove more advantageous—or it could ultimately lead to his soul scattering into oblivion.
Suddenly, Haruto's heart thumped heavily several times!
Having uncovered the truth and fortified his resolve, his mental state underwent a complete sublimation.
Simultaneously, an extraordinary power surged toward him from all directions.
This energy was immense—so vast that even with Haruto's current strength, he could not easily withstand it, causing his heart rate to skyrocket to hundreds of beats per minute in an instant.
As the power flooded in, Haruto's formidable soul finally began its gradual metamorphosis.
His pupils dilated as he sensed a miraculous force flowing rapidly through his soul. The intangible, formless soul now seemed to manifest as a tangible existence.
Washed by this energy, the essence of his soul—glowing with an eerie blue light—rippled and fluctuated continuously.
With each undulation, his soul grew stronger, aligning more closely with the laws governing heaven and earth.
Haruto was no stranger to this sensation; he had experienced something similar when comprehending the cosmos and undergoing his first life transformation.
Yet compared to the physical sensations of that time, the perception within his soul was far clearer, bringing him closer to the fundamental truths embedded in this vast world.
No wonder even the weakest deity could effortlessly overpower a top-tier Satan-Class expert.
Upon reaching this realm, one could command the entire world, with every gesture unleashing power amplified by at least a hundredfold.
While a Satan-Class opponent might theoretically be overwhelmed by sheer numbers—if their endurance proved lacking...
...at the deity level, no amount of lesser beings could pose the slightest threat unless they too had stepped into this realm.
Though the process felt prolonged within Haruto's soul, in the real world, it lasted merely a fleeting instant.
Faced with Haruto's heartfelt "confession," Grayfia felt her heart tremble, completely unaware of the transformation unfolding within the young man before her.
Had she known, she would not have been pondering her own feelings but would have pressed close to Haruto, seeking to comprehend the nuances of his breakthrough.
She had already reached Satan-Class during the Great War of the Three Factions, even vying with Serafall for the title of the Underworld's strongest female devil.
Yet to this day, she remained at Satan-Class.
Part of this was due to the genuine difficulty of crossing the threshold to deityhood, and part stemmed from events on the battlefield long ago.
Blinded by what was called love, she had betrayed her family and united with Sirzechs.
History is always written by the victors, so this affair was now romanticized as a beautiful tale. She was hailed as the Underworld's strongest Queen, renowned as the Silver-Haired Queen of Annihilation.
But in reality, while Grayfia was Sirzechs' wife, she was first and foremost a maid of the Gremory family—she couldn't even share meals at the same table, let alone stand as Serafall's equal.
Sirzechs treated her decently enough—he never fooled around outside their marriage, and they had a child together, securing the Gremory bloodline and solidifying her position beyond challenge.
Yet beyond that, the affection and care they once shared had vanished entirely.
Grayfia was never foolish; she quickly understood the truth behind their past romance.
Due to her rebellion, the last possible chance for the old Satans to achieve victory completely vanished, while simultaneously elevating Sirzechs' prestige to its peak, allowing him to inherit the title and status of the strongest devil, Lucifer.
Of course, Sirzechs' own power was the most crucial factor.
The Underworld, or rather the Three Realms, ultimately values strength above all.
Grayfia's wisdom lay in her ability to see through things without voicing them. Over all these years, she had faithfully fulfilled her duties without a single complaint, though deep down, this matter had prevented her power from advancing even an inch.
Thus, Sirzechs paid even less attention to her.
If Grayfia were to break through to the God-Class, the red-haired Satan would likely take notice of her again.
After all, each additional God-Class powerhouse meant more possibilities for revitalizing the family and the Underworld.
Especially when this God-Class powerhouse was his wife.
The silver-haired beauty remained silent for a long time, her thoughts swirling, before finally withdrawing her hand.
"Haruto..."
Grayfia forcefully suppressed the thoughts in her heart, adopting her usual serious and stern queenly demeanor as she said, "Although you and Rias are not yet married, we are practically..."
She hesitated for a moment, leaving the relationship unspoken.
In the open and chaotic Underworld, such relationships only stirred more excitement and carried no real taboos.
Moreover, her refusal wasn't due to concerns about morality, but because she knew Sirzechs' true strength might have already surpassed the God-Class.
Unless Haruto broke through to the God-Class and demonstrated his boundless potential as always, if their relationship were discovered by Sirzechs, Haruto would be in trouble.
As for herself, she didn't really care.
Sirzechs didn't actually mind what she did, as long as she didn't get pregnant.
The red-haired Satan and his father were completely absorbed in their cultivation, paying no attention to family affairs, let alone desires like women.
Perhaps it was precisely this cultivation-obsessed behavior that allowed them to continuously break through their limits while concealing their true strength within the Three Realms.
After all, they didn't possess bug-level dual cultivation abilities. After reaching the God-Class, if they didn't venture beyond the Three Realms, their rate of improvement would be greatly limited.
In fact, Sirzechs and his father frequently went into seclusion to cultivate beyond the Three Realms.
They just kept this secret even from their closest confidants.
Thus, the Gremory family was managed by Venelana, while the Satan's castle was managed by Grayfia.
This left two former prodigies stuck at the Satan-Class due to mental state and trivial matters.
Just as Grayfia, after long contemplation, ultimately refused out of concern for Haruto's situation, the qualitative transformation of his soul following his mental state sublimation finally reached its critical moment.
The powerful soul after its transformation began to nourish Haruto's physical body. Not only was his magical power continuously sublimating, but the other energies within him were also undergoing changes.
Among them, the qi of martial arts was the most evident.
An energy vortex appeared around Haruto, spreading outward with him at its center.
The silver-haired beauty, who had been pondering how to tactfully refuse Haruto, had her thoughts disrupted by the sudden change. Staring fixedly at Haruto, whose aura was growing increasingly powerful, and sensing the presence belonging to a deity, she ultimately swallowed her polite refusal.
Although Grayfia had long been stuck at the Satan-Class, she was once a genius herself and had studied how to break through to the God-Level. She immediately recognized what was happening with Haruto.
Though the accounting room was quiet and considered an important location in the Gremory family—off-limits to most—she still felt it wasn't secure enough.
Taking advantage of the fact that the energy vortex was still weak, she immediately used teleportation magic to bring Haruto to her private training room.
Meanwhile, Haruto had emerged from his profound enlightenment, though it would still take some time to complete the breakthrough.
After arriving in Grayfia's exclusive training room and sensing the denser energy around him, he began actively absorbing it to undergo his final transformation.
At that moment, Haruto had a premonition: when he broke through to the God-Level, his attribute panel—the innate ability of his soul—would also undergo a transformation.
Soon, the energy vortex transformed into a towering pillar of light that scattered the clouds in the sky.
Haruto was completely enveloped within it, his power increasing at a visibly rapid pace.
The intense energy fluctuations alerted everyone in the Gremory family, as well as some nearby clans.
Venelana, who had been napping, was startled awake and traced the source to Grayfia's training room.
Though surprised, she calmly instructed the servants not to disturb them and casually made up an excuse to dismiss the demons from nearby families who had noticed the anomaly and came to inquire.