Krul stood on high ground, looking down at the Vampires below.
The surrounding environment was like hell, with human corpses visible everywhere.
Krul was giving a post-war summary to the assembled Vampires.
After a while, Krul exited, and specialized personnel began arranging follow-up matters according to Krul's intentions.
If Luke hadn't summoned the "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" with the power of the Sixth sin key and sent Yuichiro away to prevent the Salt King's indiscriminate attacks, the Vampires really would have struggled to contend with the Abaddon summoned by Mirai Kimizuki.
Originally, the Vampires would have been forced to retreat and then chased to Sanguinem by Hiiragi Kureto.
Having handled these matters, Krul found herself at leisure and thought about going to the underground laboratory to find Luke; she was also curious about how to extract a sin key from a Seraph's body.
But as Krul was halfway there, she suddenly felt a premonition and took a small step back.
"Who?"
"How sharp, Lady Krul."
A young female voice rang out, and then a white figure appeared on the path Krul had just been about to take.
Krul looked over and felt the person before her looked somewhat familiar. After pondering for a moment, she spoke with uncertainty.
"Bastia Irkur?"
The Sixth Progenitor, Bastia, gave a faint smile and nodded.
"The Queen has a good memory."
Krul and Bastia had basically never met. The only reason Krul could call out her name at the last meeting was purely because the corresponding identity was labeled under the communication screen. Meeting face-to-face now, Krul really didn't recognize her at first.
"Who gave you the nerve to block me? Why are you in Japan?"
Krul was puzzled; even if one felt the Progenitor's aura, it should be impossible to rush back to Japan in such a short time.
Unless Bastia was already in Japan to begin with.
"I am working for Lord Rig."
Bastia was concise, making no secret of being Rig's subordinate.
Krul accepted this answer.
Seeing that Krul had no intention of fighting her, Bastia stated her purpose for coming.
"Lord Rig wishes to cooperate with you."
Krul gave a contemptuous smile and asked in return.
"Why should I cooperate with him? I don't have any goals I want to achieve right now."
Bastia was slightly displeased by Krul's disrespectful attitude toward her master, but she was smart enough not to show it on the surface.
"My Lord said he knows you have already found Ashera, but facing Lord Ashera who has become a demon, you must also be thinking of ways to make him..."
Before Bastia could finish her sentence, her vision blurred, and her neck was grabbed by Krul and slammed into the ground.
Krul looked coldly at Bastia and asked,
"I have nothing to cooperate with him on. Can't you understand my words?"
*Cough, cough*... "Lady Krul, please calm your anger. Lord Rig simply wants to cooperate with you to deal with the Progenitor."
Bastia hadn't reacted in time to Krul's movement and hurriedly explained.
Krul's face was full of disdain.
"Cooperate with me? He wants to use me to get to Luke, doesn't he? What he truly wants should be that sin key or whatever, right?"
Bastia opened her mouth, not knowing how to answer; she didn't have Ferid's eloquence.
Rig's plan was indeed to obtain the sin key in Luke's hands through Krul.
Luke had always given Rig the feeling of someone hiding deep secrets. On the surface, he acted casually, but in reality, everything he did was calculated.
But Rig had indeed overestimated Luke. In terms of true scheming, he still couldn't compare to old foxes like Ferid and Rig; he just benefited from having a grasp on the plot's direction.
In short, Rig felt that communicating directly with Luke would be exhausting and labor-intensive, and it wouldn't be good if he accidentally fell into a trap.
But to deal with the Progenitor, according to calculations, at least four sin keys were needed.
Now that Rig already had three, he was one short, so he set his sights on the sin key in Luke's hands.
But little did he know, Luke was also very envious of the three sin keys in his hands.
The final mission required collecting all seven sin keys: one from Mirai Kimizuki, one in Luke's hands, three from Rig, and one from Yuichiro. There was still one sin key whose whereabouts were unknown.
Luke already had suspicions about Mika, but in the original story, Mika had abandoned his body to become a demon, and he hadn't been seen associated with a sin key.
Seeing Bastia unable to speak, Krul gave a cold snort.
"Don't bother me, get lost!"
Krul couldn't be bothered to entangle with Bastia. Perhaps Rig was hiding in the shadows watching this, and it was a waste of time.
Bastia was flung away, only stopping after crashing through two buildings.
It was just impact damage; Bastia didn't suffer much injury.
This meeting between the two was sudden, and their parting was just as decisive—no intense battle, and no overly cryptic exchange of information.
It was as if Krul had just encountered a stray dog blocking her path and driven it away.
When Krul heard Bastia mention Ashera, she guessed the rhetoric Bastia was about to use.
It would be nothing more than Rig promising to restore Ashera's body. Four years ago, Krul might have really agreed because she cared too much about her brother.
But when Krul thought of how Luke had solemnly vowed to restore Ashera, she felt at ease.
Naturally, she didn't need anyone else to interfere in this matter.
When Bastia returned to Rig's side,
"Your subordinate messed things up..."
"It's fine, this is normal."
Rig didn't seem too angry and spoke easily.
He hadn't held much hope for cooperating with Krul to begin with. In fact, he wasn't even sure about the method to restore Ashera's body that he intended to promise Krul.
But one must always try to dangle a carrot.
Bastia didn't speak and just stood quietly by Rig's side.
Rig looked at Hiiragi Shinya, who was in the nutrient tank with his eyes closed, emitting two different types of Demonic Aura, and said slowly,
"The Progenitor deliberately leaked his aura. Presumably, with the Vampires destroying the Imperial Demon Army, he has no choice but to speed up the plan's progress. You'll be coming too, won't you, Urd..."
Then, Rig sighed and walked out of the laboratory.
Just then, a subordinate spotted the traces of another Seraph. Since it wasn't easy to snatch from Luke, he could only obtain the last needed sin key from somewhere else... "Damn it! What have you done to Akane?!"
One of Yuichiro's eyes turned pure black while the other turned red; clearly, the Seraph and onikiri were fighting for control of his body.
Yuichiro was currently clutching someone's head with one hand.
If anyone from the Imperial Demon Army were present, they would surely cry out in alarm.
"Lieutenant General!"
Yuichiro had been looking for Shinoa and the others, but he unexpectedly ran into Hiiragi Kureto, Kureto Hiiragi, and their group, looking like stray dogs.
Originally, Yuichiro didn't want to entangle with them.
But one fellow pointed at him and shouted,
"Seize him! Something went wrong with Byakuya Akane's experiment. He is also a test subject of the Hyakuya Sect. If the experiment succeeds, we humans still have a chance!"
How could Yuichiro not understand the meaning in those words?
Something happened to Akane! Because of these guys!
Yuichiro began to transform into a Seraph, but onikiri reacted extremely quickly, preventing the Seraph transformation from completing; otherwise, his consciousness would have been assimilated.
You will get 30 chapter ahead for this fanfiction.
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