The moment the symbol of the Ouroboros appeared, anyone who knew of Ophis's existence would know the Dragon God had entered the world.
So when Lafei Trix had consumed that Ouroboros Snake and enhanced himself, Leo had made a point of reporting it directly to Sirzechs, giving him fair warning.
Sirzechs had immediately understood. Behind the Old Maou Faction, behind the Hero Faction, behind that entire underground network of terrorist cells, the Infinite Dragon God was pulling the strings.
That was the truth of it.
Ophis was the leader of that underground alliance. She was an infinite wellspring of power, capable of shaping that power into Snakes and bestowing them upon others. Anyone who consumed one of her Snakes gained a massive boost in strength, just as Lafei Trix had.
Multiple terrorist factions, the Old Maou Faction included, had received Ophis' Snakes. Only the Hero Faction, committed to proving humanity's strength without relying on non-human power, had refused to consume them. They still accepted the Snakes as research material, though.
Thus, Ophis was the head of these terrorist organizations and a common enemy to the Devil, Angel, and Fallen Angel factions alike.
Which meant that as a member of the devil side, Leo was technically Ophis's enemy too.
Ophis probably knew this. She was aware her subordinates were at war with the three great factions.
Under normal circumstances, forget helping Leo, the fact that she hadn't erased him on the spot was already a miracle.
But Leo asked for her help anyway.
Because he knew Ophis had never cared about allegiances or politics. She didn't even care whether her so-called subordinates lived or died.
She cared about one thing and one thing only: how to defeat Great Red.
Only Great Red mattered to her. Everything else, in the heart of this pure and singular Dragon God, was irrelevant.
Sure enough, Ophis didn't question why a devil was asking his enemy for help. She simply studied Leo in silence for a moment, then spoke.
"...You carry the scent of Great Red."
Leo blinked.
"Great Red's scent? On me?"
He glanced in the direction Great Red had drifted off.
Had he picked it up just now? Or had Great Red done something to him without him noticing?
"Very faint..." Ophis stared at him, unblinking. "Not from just now... and not Great Red's doing... Where did you come into contact with something connected to Great Red?"
The words hit Leo like a revelation, and he understood instantly.
Apart from just now, there was indeed one other place where he'd come into contact with something connected to Great Red.
The castle.
Or more specifically, the dragon bloodline and dragon treasure sealed within it.
Those were relics born from Great Red's blessing. Of course they'd carry the dragon's essence.
He hadn't touched the treasure directly yet, but he'd been close enough for a trace of that scent to cling to him without him realizing it.
Others might never have detected something so faint, but Ophis would never miss it.
Again, this Dragon God cared about nothing except Great Red. Even the faintest trace, as long as it was connected to Great Red, would command her full attention.
That must have been the real reason she'd turned back and sought Leo out.
Understanding this, Leo actually felt relieved. As long as this overwhelmingly powerful Dragon God hadn't singled him out personally, everything was negotiable.
"I did come across some things Great Red left behind." Leo thought for a moment, then said, "Would you like to see them?"
"Mm..." Ophis barely hesitated. She nodded. "I want to go."
"And... quickly."
She couldn't stay in the Dimensional Gap for long. If she did, Great Red would eventually notice her presence.
The Gap was Great Red's domain. The dragon normally didn't care what wandered in, since nothing could threaten it. But Ophis was a different story. Another Dragon God couldn't be allowed to roam freely here.
The moment Great Red sensed Ophis, it would come straight back to drive her out.
"Then follow me."
Leo could guess why Ophis was in a rush. Without wasting words, he checked the magical marker he'd left on Kanna and pointed in a direction.
"This way."
He started to lead the way.
But Ophis reached out and grabbed him.
The next instant, Leo felt himself yanked into a world of light-speed, dragged through infinite distance and stretches of void. The kaleidoscopic scenery of the Dimensional Gap blurred past and vanished behind him.
By the time his senses returned to normal, Ophis's flat, emotionless voice was already in his ear.
"The scent of Great Red..."
Her gaze had left Leo entirely. She was staring downward.
"What?"
Leo almost didn't process it. He followed her line of sight and realized with a start that beneath him sat the familiar castle.
No, the castle hadn't appeared before him. He'd already arrived at its location.
A distance that would have taken him considerable time to cross on his own, Ophis had covered in the blink of an eye.
So this was the power of a Dragon God.
Leo looked at Ophis with new eyes.
But Ophis had already forgotten about him. Her attention was entirely on the castle.
She dove downward without warning. Leo snapped out of his daze and hurried after her.
The floating landmass that had once supported the castle had crumbled apart under the earlier shockwaves, leaving only the castle itself drifting alone. The structure had also suffered heavy damage, with most of the upper levels now exposed to the open air.
Including the corridor leading to the sealed throne room door, its ceiling completely collapsed.
Kanna was crouched in front of the door, idly poking at it. She looked oddly adorable.
"You're ba..."
She perked up when she sensed Leo's return and stood, but the greeting died on her lips as she spotted Ophis flying ahead of him.
Kanna went rigid.
In that instant, every instinct in her body screamed. Her eyes flooded with terror.
She spun around and bolted.
A bubble drifted over and caught her, trapping her inside.
"What... why are you running?"
Leo stared at Kanna, mildly exasperated.
What was wrong with this hatchling? How did she keep doing things he didn't expect?
Kanna didn't care what Leo was thinking. She just wanted out.
"L-let me out! Let me out!" She hammered at the bubble wall, eyes watering. "Th-that person is scary! Really scary!"
Kanna didn't know who Ophis was. She might not even know what a Dragon God was.
But as a fellow dragon, she instinctively felt it. The girl in front of her, who looked about Kanna's own age, was something terrifying beyond comprehension.
Facing Ophis, Kanna didn't feel like a dragon. She felt like an ant. A speck of dust that could be crushed or flicked away without a thought.
She'd never experienced anything like it in her entire life.
So she ran. Pure instinct.
Ophis, who had been fixated on the throne room, turned her gaze toward Kanna.
"...A dragon from another world?"
She saw through Kanna's origins immediately.
"Also carries Great Red's scent... and very strongly..."
At those words, Kanna felt the terrifying being's attention sharpen with a hint of hostility.
Am I going to die again?
Kanna trembled inside the bubble.
She personally had no connection to Great Red. But having spent centuries here, absorbing power from the dragon treasure that Great Red had blessed, her body was saturated with the dragon's essence. Far more than Leo, who had only been here for less than two days.
If even Leo's faint trace had caught Ophis's attention, Kanna's overwhelming concentration of Great Red's essence was impossible to miss. For a moment, Ophis nearly mistook the hatchling for one of Great Red's own kin.
But she quickly realized Kanna wasn't the source of the scent. Whatever lay behind this door was.
Ophis looked away from Kanna, who immediately went limp inside the bubble, feeling like she'd just been pardoned from a death sentence.
"Can you open this door?"
Leo had landed in front of the door by now, his demonic wings retracted. He glanced at Ophis and asked.
Ophis didn't answer. She simply placed her hand on the door.
A faint glow bloomed across the massive doors, easily twenty meters tall, revealing an elaborate sealing array built from impossibly complex patterns.
Those layered, high-level sealing formulas were the same ones that had stopped Leo cold, forcing him to give up.
But to Ophis, they were tissue paper.
Black aura poured from her hand, roaring like a dragon, coiling like a serpent, slowly consuming the sealing array until it covered the entire door.
The intricate formula shattered like glass. The glow faded.
The doors, freed from their seal, groaned open on their own, heavy and ancient, trailing dust, parting like the gates of a temple buried for millennia.
Leo's eyes lit up. So did Kanna's.
"It's open!"
The castle's final chamber lay before them at last.
Ophis walked in first.
Leo followed without hesitation.
Kanna, still trapped in the bubble, instinctively wanted to call after Leo, to take her along. But one look at Ophis ahead of him and she shrank back, swallowing her words.
She wanted the treasure inside. But with that terrifying being there, she wouldn't be able to claim anything anyway.
With that thought, Kanna gave up.
Leo, unaware that the hatchling was still scheming to steal the treasure, followed Ophis into the throne room and took in his surroundings.
The hall resembled a medieval audience chamber: spacious and solemn, still carrying echoes of the era when Familion's court had filled it with ministers and knights.
White stone walls and pillars. A red carpet running straight to the throne. Unlike the rest of the castle, this room showed no sign of decay. It was merely dark from the absence of light, making it hard to believe no one had set foot here in ages.
"The power of Great Red..."
Ophis walked to where the throne should have been and stopped, speaking quietly.
Leo followed her gaze.
His eyes widened.
Where the throne should have stood, a crystal casket had taken its place. Enormous, like a crystal pillar connecting floor to ceiling, wrapped in creeping vines.
But that wasn't what caught his attention.
Inside the casket lay a person.
A girl. Perhaps a year or two younger than Leo in appearance, but with a strikingly full, mature figure.
Her features were exquisite. Her body was completely bare, her skin pale and flawless. The kind of face that belonged on an angel, paired with a body that didn't.
Her hair was long, vivid red like blazing fire. Her eyes were closed, as if she were deep in slumber, a princess waiting for someone to wake her.
Beside her lay a sword. Crimson from tip to pommel.
Both the girl and the sword slept within the crystal casket that stretched from floor to ceiling, frozen in time, giving off nothing.