Underworld.
In a side chamber of Sirzechs Lucifer's palace.
Though called a side chamber, it was essentially just a small partitioned space within the main hall.
This was neither the grand hall where Satan Lucifer received guests nor his resting quarters, but rather, nominally, a storage room for tables and chairs.
Yet within such a storage space, black-and-white pixel-like blocks converged, pushing aside the surrounding clutter, leaving only a medium-sized birch round table.
Upon this table, four clusters of monochrome pixels coalesced into humanoid forms, gradually gaining colour until they became distinct individuals.
A youthful Satan in a pink sailor uniform, with adorable makeup and a star-shaped wand in hand.
—Serafall Leviathan.
A red-haired Satan with waist-length crimson locks, clear eyes, clad in ancient black armour.
—Sirzechs Lucifer.
A Satan with verdant hair, an alluring demeanour, yet relatively plain features.
—Ajuka Beelzebub.
And finally, a tall, slender bald man in loose white-and-purple robes draped with a violet overcoat—the fourth and final Satan.
—Falbium Asmodeus.
Unbeknownst to the members of the Demon Council, the four Satans had assembled.
"Wow~ It perfectly replicated my appearance, even with a third of my Demonic Power... Ajuka's technology is getting scarier by the day~"
The first to voice admiration was the youthful Satan Serafall.
As the youngest and only woman among the four Satans, she seemed particularly exaggerated in her reaction.
The bald Satan Falbium glanced at his companions and lazily yawned:
"So, what's it this time? I did say not to summon me unless it's war-related."
Observing Falbium's response, Sirzechs, the foremost among the Satans, chuckled lightly:
"Though I apologise for disturbing your rest, Falbium, according to the intelligence Ajuka provided, the current situation may very well escalate into war. My apologies."
"Still fighting..." Falbium propped his chin on his hand, murmuring drowsily, "With nearly half the purebloods dead, yet they still want to wage war... Those old fools in the Council really don't treat their own children as children."
Hearing this, Serafall nodded vigorously, her expression earnest:
"Exactly! If it were me, I'd never let my dear Sona-chan face any danger~ Let alone something like war~"
Seeing both Satans leaning pacifist, Ajuka raised an eyebrow and calmly stated:
"The relevant documents should now be before you. Remember to destroy them after reading."
With that, Ajuka continued briskly:
"Time is short. To prevent outsiders from learning of our meeting, I'll cut to the chase."
As he spoke—without any visible action—an image materialised at the table's centre.
It depicted Ajuka's earlier encounter with Luo Shu within the Hidden Management Department.
"Currently, another Demigod Rank powerhouse has been discovered in the world codenamed Second World."
Ajuka spoke calmly as he introduced to his companions:
"Luo Shu, Head of the SDS Hidden Management Department."
"According to intelligence, currently 24 years old, he was discovered by Kirika Tachibana, Director of the Operations Department in the Hidden Management Department, six months ago. Within just half a year, he was promoted to a director-level position, leading a new department independently."
"His publicly announced rank is Hero Rank combat capability, and he possesses a high-ranking Abyss Artefact. External speculation suggests he's primarily an artefact-dependent combat sorcerer."
"Publicly announced?"
Falbium raised an eyebrow, examining the black-haired, black-eyed man with handsome features on the screen before remarking:
"Information deception?"
Ajuka replied calmly, "Compared to that, I'm more concerned about his promotion to Demigod within just six months."
"Considering he's likely a so-called Class holder, I suspect he was already a Hero Rank Class holder half a year ago, only recently advancing to Demigod. He's probably among the first batch of Demigods in the Second World."
"The SDS's so-called 'discovery' might be highly questionable. My current hypothesis is that the SDS secretly cultivated him."
"Eh~~ Secretly cultivating such a handsome boy~ Feels kinda sexy somehow..."
Serafall propped her chin with both hands, studying Luo Shu before tilting her head:
"So it's confirmed that Second World currently has four Demigods?"
"No, likely five."
Sirzechs suddenly spoke up, manipulating the screen's display until it focused on Kurumi Tokisaki:
"Even through the screen, this girl's gaze gives me a very dangerous feeling."
"Her eyes... they resemble Twin Wings' during combat..."
"Similar?" Ajuka tensed, then closed his eyes: "Apologies, I need to update the database."
"Hmm? Another female Demigod?"
Serafall instantly became alert, scrutinising Kurumi Tokisaki before puffing her cheeks:
"Her demeanour suggests she'd be an unpleasant opponent~"
"But speaking of which, why are so many of my opponents in the Second World female?"
"That witch who plays with techniques like Ajuka is one thing, I'll tolerate Twin Wings the beast too, but now another female Demigod who obviously has strange abilities... that makes three..."
Falbium couldn't help but interject: "Are your opponents always exclusively female?"
Sirzechs could only smile wryly:
"Although I dearly hope my intuition is wrong, if it's accurate, we may need to revise our combat estimates for the Second World again completely."
"Strong individuals keep emerging at regular intervals..." Falbium muttered, "Why does Second World's humanity feel so much more dangerous than our own world's?"
"That should be obvious, Falbium."
Having finished updating his database, Ajuka reopened his eyes and stated calmly:
"Don't forget, I believe I mentioned - Luo Shu is the Director of the SDS's Hidden Management Department."
"According to current intelligence, there should be six such Directors in total, and above them stands a Supreme Chairwoman as their leader."
"So the worst-case scenario is that the SDS possesses seven Demigods... or even double-digit numbers of them."
"And this is merely the Demigod count from the SDS alone."
Hearing Ajuka's words, Sirzechs and Falbium fell into silence.
Disregarding the middle and lower tiers, the sheer quantity of high-end combatants likely surpasses that of the Underworld's demons...
Is this really the humanity they remember?
The Satans compared the humans of their own world with the systematically emerging powerhouses from the other side, suddenly feeling that invading their own human world might actually be safer.
This was somewhat laughable...