After narrowly avoiding the ambush, Ryuya was still badly injured from the impact. Fortunately, with Asia by his side, he wasn't overly worried about his condition.
Watching the fallen angel feathers drifting down from the sky, he silently etched this grudge into his heart.
"This space should collapse soon," Akeno warned. The earlier strike from Number Two had already ravaged this pocket dimension beyond repair.
"Let's go," Rias nodded. Supporting the injured Ryuya, she immediately led everyone out of the alternate space and reunited with Samuel.
After briefly informing Samuel of what had happened inside the pocket dimension, the group hurried back to the Occult Research Club room.
Inside the room, Ryuya was being treated by Rias and Asia together. Outside, Koneko and Akeno organized the gathered intelligence and reported it in full to the Duke.
The healing process didn't go smoothly. Ryuya's injuries were severe this time—an attack that surpassed even the level of a Super Angel. Even Asia's Twilight Healing wasn't enough to fully heal him in one go.
"Let's stop here for now. This much is already fine," Ryuya said, seeing how pale Asia's face had become.
Reluctantly, Asia stopped, and Rias ceased supplying her demonic power as well. Her healing abilities were nowhere near Asia's—if even Asia couldn't continue, there was nothing more she could do.
"I'll treat you again after I finish recovering," Asia said apologetically.
"It's okay, they're just minor injuries now," Ryuya replied with a smile. His internal organs still ached a little, but as long as he avoided large movements, the pain was manageable—nothing worth worrying about.
The three of them got dressed and returned to the clubroom.
"How are your injuries?" Akeno asked with concern, seeing that Ryuya still looked somewhat weak.
"There's a little left that hasn't fully healed, but it's nothing serious," Ryuya smiled faintly to reassure her.
Turning to Rias, he continued, "After this ambush, those fallen angels will definitely be on even higher alert."
Finding them again would only become more difficult.
Those bastards were clearly plotting something big, but with the enemy hiding in the shadows and no leads at all, they were stuck in a passive position.
"There's really no other choice. We can only send people out to search with everything we've got," Rias said, equally helpless.
Thinking of the Holy Sword tied to the Church, her head started to ache again.
She might have to make contact with the Church after all—how troublesome.
The problem was that Rias couldn't read the Church's stance. Had they cooperated with the fallen angels, or was the Holy Sword simply stolen?
Most likely, it was the latter.
After all, behind the Church stood the angels themselves. They shouldn't be so depraved as to conduct such inhumane experiments—doing so would mean complete Fallenization.
So-called Fallenization referred to angels falling into fallen angels. Their white wings would turn black during that process—that transformation itself was what "falling" meant.
"For now, this is all we can do… Let's consider this matter temporarily resolved," Ryuya said as he stretched lazily.
With no way to find the enemy right now, worrying wouldn't help. Instead of stressing over it, it was better to focus on strengthening himself.
"Exactly. Since this has already been reported to the Duke, we don't need to lose sleep over it for now. Let the Duke handle the headache," Rias said with a smile.
Compared to a Devil Duke, her own intelligence network was far inferior. If anything happened, the Duke would surely learn of it first.
As for notifying her older brother—the Devil King Lucifer—Rias hadn't even considered it for now.
This was such a small matter that she didn't want to trouble her brother over it, nor was there any real need to.
"Alright, let's not overthink things. It's getting late—we should go eat first," Rias suggested. With that, everyone teleported to Rias's home.
In truth, this was Ryuya's first time visiting Rias's house.
Normally, it was Rias who would sneak over in the dead of night to launch surprise visits on him…
Passing through the teleportation circle and arriving directly inside the mansion, Ryuya stared at the vast hall before him, his mouth falling open.
"…Are you sure this isn't some kind of cultural heritage site?"
He spoke softly, because what stood before him was clearly an ancient castle ruin.
"This place has belonged to our family for hundreds of years. Is there a problem?"
Rias replied with a smile.
Of course, the castle had undergone countless renovations over the years. All the modern facilities were fully equipped, yet it still retained many furnishings steeped in historical charm.
Compared to Rias, Ryuya's meager savings probably wouldn't even be enough to buy a single table here…
Ryuya chuckled and shook his head, then said frankly, "Rich lady, I'm hungry."
"..."
Rias couldn't help but laugh. She clapped her hands, and a maid immediately stepped forward. After Rias gave a few instructions, exquisitely prepared dishes were quickly brought out.
"Let's all eat together. Everyone worked hard in today's battle."
The food prepared by the maids was excellent, and everyone ate to their heart's content.
At that moment, Koneko, who was sitting beside him, suddenly picked up a skewer of meat and held it out to Ryuya.
"Here. Eat."
Ryuya was a little surprised. "You don't like it?"
Normally, Koneko was never without snacks. Perhaps it was that rare cat-youkai trait of hers—she was always gluttonous. It was honestly rare to see her being picky about food…
But Koneko gently shook her head. "This is thanks. Thank you for blocking that attack for me today."
Her golden eyes were filled with sincerity. This petite and adorable girl was truly cute—despite usually being a classic kuudere.
Rias couldn't help but chuckle. "How rare. Koneko's actually willing to share food she likes."
"This is gratitude. It's necessary," Koneko said seriously.
Ryuya smiled. "Alright, then I won't hold back."
Seeing Ryuya finish the skewer in just a few bites, a faint smile appeared on Koneko's face.
Everyone slowly enjoyed the meal, chatting as they ate. The warm and lively dinner lasted nearly an hour, and once they were full, everyone leaned back in their seats with satisfied expressions.
"Since we're done eating, how about we all go soak and relax together? I have a hot spring at home," Rias suggested.
A hot spring…
This really was how rich people lived.
"Ryuya, coming?" Rias called out when she saw him not moving.
"Hm? Aren't you all going in first?"
"Hehe, there are separate sections, you know. You can just go next door," Rias smiled slightly. "Or… do you want to bathe together with us?"
"Eh?" Ryuya replied casually, almost absentmindedly. "Is that allowed?"
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