Lucoa stood on the rooftop of her own home, still wearing that outfit that would easily get her mistaken for a perverted woman. She held an empty beer can in her hand, a faintly charming flush on her face as she looked around from side to side.
She seemed to be searching for something she liked, her eyes filled with the confusion and anxiety of having lost something dear to her.
Having transformed into a top-tier voyeur, Lucoa now felt uncomfortable if she went even a single day without seeing Raize. She had truly fallen in love with him at first sight.
She had developed feelings for the lofty essence hidden beneath Raize's human exterior, and driven by curiosity, she observed him every day.
Watching clones was boring—what she most wanted to see was Raize himself. However, seeing how close and playful Raize was with that Hellscythe—she had already realized that their relationship had likely crossed into the realm of love.
She could see the way Raize looked at Eu, and she could feel the gentle affection in his eyes.
That made Lucoa a little unhappy. Tonight, when she saw Raize heading out, she had been thinking about arranging some "chance encounter" to deepen their relationship.
Ideally, she could even move into Raize's house, allowing her to observe the existence she adored up close.
But she had only gone back to grab a beer—and when she looked again, Raize was gone.
"Hm? Are there outsiders visiting?"
With her level of strength, Lucoa naturally detected the anomaly in the city. The faint residual spatial spiritual energy left behind by the Longinus Sacred Gear, Dimension Lost, was to her as obvious as fluorescent powder smeared everywhere.
Lucoa narrowed her eyes and slowly turned her head toward Raize's house, murmuring to herself:
"Mmm… following the position… and an otherworld has been opened. It should be in there…"
However, before her gaze could penetrate into the otherworld—
Crack—!
An ear-piercing sound of shattering resounded across the sky. Dense cracks spread from high above, golden light shining through the fissures and spilling into the outside world.
Boom—!!!!
In the next instant, the dense cracks in the sky violently shattered, producing a deafening explosion.
"!!!!"
At the same moment, a sovereign, overwhelmingly majestic and domineering aura swept across the entirety of Chiba, continuing to expand without limit.
It caused Tohru and Fafnir and other dragons, as well as Gabriel, Beelzebub, and even forces lurking outside Chiba, to freeze in shock.
"Cute little dragon, you really can't stop destroying things no matter what~"
A teasing voice filled with fanaticism and playful laughter echoed through the heavens alongside the thunderous roar.
"Ophis!?"
Lucoa immediately noticed Raize, but she was surprised by the presence fighting him. The petite figure radiating dense dragon aura, when contrasted with Raize's domineering presence, was like a black hole—utterly impossible to perceive clearly.
"Another heavyweight has shown up…"
Lucoa wore an intrigued smile, casually tossed away the beer can in her hand, then raised her hands toward the sky and directly opened an even more solid mirrored otherworld. She also casually interfered with ordinary people's cognition, erasing their memories.
After all, she couldn't let those two fight here.
However, to other anomalous existences, this massive mirror space was extremely conspicuous. Any being with sufficient power could peer into it with curiosity.
When Raize's acquaintances saw him, they were startled. But when they saw who he was fighting, they were shocked.
Why had the Infinite Dragon God Ophis appeared here, and why was she fighting Raize?
"Lady Tohru, that dragon is so strong. Shouldn't we go help Raize?"
Kobayashi's household had also heard the commotion. Tohru was originally ready to rush in to help Raize the moment she saw him in trouble, even if the opponent was the Infinite Dragon God Ophis.
Kanna's head crackled with sparks of lightning as well, clearly preparing to help Raize.
"Huh? Is that cute little girl also a dragon? Why is she fighting Raize?"
Kobayashi pushed up her glasses and looked at the water mirror Tohru had thoughtfully manifested. It showed Raize battling a jet-black, somewhat scantily clad little girl.
That exaggerated level of destruction left Kobayashi smacking her lips. Her small boss was really strong—thankfully, this was happening in an otherworld.
If it were in reality, everything would probably already have been reduced to ruins.
As for Ophis, who was fighting Raize, Kobayashi's intuition told her that even if the other party was a dragon, she didn't seem like a bad child.
In Kobayashi's eyes, Ophis seemed incredibly pure.
She inexplicably felt worried about Raize and this unfamiliar yet adorable dragon girl. A battle of this level looked like genuine killing.
Had some irreconcilable conflict occurred?
But Kobayashi's human way of thinking was flawed here. Beside her, Tohru—whose eyes had gradually withdrawn their ferocious beastly nature—watched the fight between Raize and Ophis thoughtfully.
With her sharp eyes, she noticed that there was no hostility in Ophis's gaze. Her expression looked more like she was playfully sparring with Raize.
Moreover, Ophis's attack frequency was not high. Her eyes sparkled as she watched Raize continuously display power that delighted her.
"It doesn't seem like a hostile fight. It feels more like playing around. That Infinite Dragon God doesn't have the slightest hostility."
Tohru explained this to the ready-to-act Kanna and Kobayashi. After hearing that, Kanna looked more carefully and indeed found no hostility in that powerful black dragon.
So they were just playing around. Kanna kind of wanted to play too—preferably with Lady Tohru.
"Wait! Tohru, you're saying this level of battle is just playing around!?"
Kobayashi said incredulously, pointing at the superhuman battle in the water mirror as if confirming whether Tohru had misspoken.
"Kobayashi, you're overreacting."
Kanna innocently commented.
"Although this kind of 'playing around' already exceeds human standards, that dragon has no hostility toward Raize. She really is just accompanying him in play."
Tohru continued explaining patiently while watching the battle. Since there was no hostility, it was fine to simply observe the standard of the world's dragons.
After all, her father had mentioned the Infinite Dragon God of this world before, so Tohru naturally knew how strong she was.
"This kind of battle, you say it only exceeds human standards a bit? Tohru, do you have some misunderstanding about what 'human' means?"
Kobayashi twitched at the corner of her eye as she watched Raize laughing wildly in the mirror, flipping and crushing the earth while chasing the Infinite Dragon God and tossing Hadoken like miniature nuclear warheads.
Rasengan-like hand blades were thrown out casually, ravaging everything within sight.
"Huh? But this world also has quite a few powerful humans. And in our world, humans capable of causing destruction only slightly inferior to this are everywhere."
Tohru was puzzled by Kobayashi's disbelief. This world clearly had powerful humans too—wasn't Raize right in front of her?
He had become this strong in such a short time, yet Kobayashi still hadn't realized how powerful he truly was.
"…It seems I'll need to learn more about this unfamiliar world from you in the future."
Kobayashi said helplessly. She hadn't had much interest in the hidden world before. Her daily life was already fulfilling, her pay was reliable thanks to Raize, and she had few worries in life.
But now, seeing how distant the world of those close to her truly was, Kobayashi felt uncomfortable.
So she needed to properly understand the hidden world. Tohru had integrated into her world—then she needed to understand Tohru's world as well.