The send-off from Asgard didn't feel like a diplomatic conclusion. It felt like the stunned silence after a natural disaster.
The Iron Forest was still a jagged scar on the horizon, a dark, twisted ring of metal strangling the landscape. It circled the smooth, glass-like crater that Ren Ming's tribulation had carved into the crust of the mythical realm. Gladsheim's great hall loomed behind them, its golden banners snapping violently in air that still reeked of ozone, burnt mana, and the terrifying, ancient dust of crushed stars.
Ren stood at the center of the attention, hands buried deep in his coat pockets. His jacket was half-buttoned, his dark hair ruffled in that specific, effortless way that suggested he had just slept soundly after erasing a deity from existence. He looked less like a conqueror and more like a tourist who had found the local attractions mildly amusing.
Behind him, Rias and her peerage stood in a disciplined line. They wore fresh uniforms replicated by Odin's magical staff—Kuoh Academy blazers that looked jarringly ceremonial against the backdrop of Norse divinity. But the air around them had changed. It was no longer the shaky aura of devils unsure of their footing; it was a hum, a synchronized resonance of Soul Palaces vibrating against the fabric of reality.
Tiamat was the first to break the stillness.
She didn't walk; she descended. The Karma Dragon King dropped from the sky like a sapphire meteor, her massive blue draconic form compressing mid-air into a tall, curvaceous woman wreathed in residual dragonfire. Her hair was a cascade of deep ocean blue, and her eyes were the same luminous, vertical-slit gold that had stared at Loki only hours before.
She crossed her arms beneath her chest, staring at Ren with the flat, unimpressed scrutiny of a creature that had weathered eons of nonsense.
"…So," she said, her voice vibrating with a subterranean growl. "You are leaving."
"Yup." Ren tipped his chin up, a lazy, charming smile curving his mouth. "Field trip's over. Time to go bully a loud, flaming ant back home."
Rias twitched, a bead of sweat forming on her temple. "Ren… please don't refer to the heir of the Phenex Clan as an 'ant' in front of the All-Father's court…"
Tiamat huffed through her nose, a small puff of azure smoke escaping her lips. "Hmph. For such a trivial matter as a devil engagement, you shook the Nine Realms and drew every pantheon's gaze like moths to a flame. Truly, humans are incomprehensible creatures."
"Bold of you to call me 'human' after watching me eat lightning," Ren teased, his tone easy. "But I'll take the compliment."
He pushed off the stone step and sauntered into her personal space, stopping just inside the radius of her crushing dragon aura. To anyone else, standing this close to Tiamat was like standing inside a blast furnace. Ren looked up at her as if she were a neighborhood cat sitting on a fence.
"Anyway," he said, his voice dropping an octave, becoming softer—more intimate. "You go on ahead. Head to my place."
Tiamat's eyes narrowed dangerously. "You are dismissing me?"
"No. I'm making sure you get your hoard time," he corrected smoothly. "You've been incredibly patient while I played teacher and exterminator. I know that dragon instinct is itching. You're dying for time with me."
She clicked her tongue, looking away sharply. "Do not presume to know my—"
Ren just looked at her, his eyes dark and amused.
Her words stalled in her throat. The tips of her pointed ears flushed a faint, betraying pink.
"…I am not 'dying' for anything," she muttered, refusing to meet his gaze. "I simply… have some inquiries regarding the Dimensional Gap. And the way your aura twists the strands of causality. And… the treasures you may or may not be keeping in your storage."
"Right," Ren said cheerfully. "Dragon stuff. We'll go through my stash later. Slowly. Thoroughly." His grin turned wolfish, a flash of the ruthless cultivator beneath the casual exterior. "You can hoard as much as your karma can handle, Tiamat."
Her tail—currently invisible, yet spiritually present—seemed to thump rhythmically against the air.
Tiamat scoffed, tossing her hair. "Hmph. Very well. I will… wait at 'home.' Do not tarry."
"Good girl," Ren murmured, a tease that would have gotten anyone else incinerated. "You won't wait long."
She glared at him for a heartbeat longer, flustered by his audacity, then snapped her fingers. Space distorted around her. With a ripple of blue fire, she dissolved into light and shot off toward the horizon, a comet streaking back toward the human world.
The surrounding Norse gods pretended very hard not to have seen the Karma Dragon King blushing.
"Ren-chan~!"
The brief silence was shattered by a blur of pink and black frills. Serafall Leviathan practically bounced into his personal space, her Magical Girl cape fluttering dramatically. She had changed outfits since the battle in the Iron Forest—this one was even frillier, with more lace and sparkles. Somewhere in the underworld, Sona Sitri was likely sensing a disturbance in the force and nursing a headache.
"You really are going back already?" Serafall pouted, clasping her hands together. "You shook the whole world, made Ophis-chan show up, and now you just run away? That's not fair to your Onee-san Satan, you know!☆"
Ren laughed, the sound low and rich. He didn't treat her like a Satan or a political figurehead; he treated her like a chaotic friend he was fond of.
"Gotta keep a schedule, Serafall," he said. "I promised my students we'd go break a rating game. I try not to stand people up—makes me look unreliable."
Serafall puffed her cheeks, then brightened instantly. "Then we have to do a collab later! A Magical Girl show in the human world and a reality-patching seminar for the Research Department! Ren-chan, you can explain how not to get erased by Heavenly Tribulations, and I'll do the poses!☆"
He gave her a mock-serious salute. "Deal. If you ever get bored, or if the other pantheons start yelling at you about 'unbalanced power structures' because of me, you've got my number now."
He reached out, tapping the jade talisman tucked near her collarbone with a familiarity that made the attending Valkyries gasp.
"Just pour some demonic power in and shout. I'll come running. Or strolling. Depends on how dramatic you want the entrance to be."
Serafall's violet eyes sparkled with genuine delight. "Eh? Anytime?"
"Anytime," Ren smiled, bright and genuine.
He found her antics amusing, a splash of color in a dull political landscape. And naturally, he intended to make her his wife eventually. A man of his caliber didn't shy away from claiming the most vibrant women in the world. But that was a hunt for another day.
"Though if it's just to show me new anime merch, at least have snacks ready," he added.
"Ara, you understand the most important part!" she giggled. Then, her gaze flicked over his shoulder to Rias and the others. Her chaotic aura softened into something warm and maternal. "You really did good with them, Ren-chan," she murmured. "Don't let them burn out, okay?"
"I won't," he said simply. "I don't build glass cannons."
Amaterasu approached next.
Her movement was soundless, her sun-patterned robes brushing the stone floor like liquid gold. Her eyes were molten, calm and deep, carrying the weight of a star. The leader of the Shinto pantheon possessed the kind of quiet, crushing authority that made lesser spirits straighten their spines instinctively.
"Ren-dono," she said, inclining her head just enough to be polite, but not enough to concede status. "Your presence will be missed. For good or ill, you have… shaken Takamagahara's view of this world."
Ren offered a relaxed, sunshine smile. Of all the goddesses here, Amaterasu intrigued him the most. She had a noble temperament—a burning core wrapped in layers of decorum. Breaking through that composure sounded like an entertaining challenge.
"Sorry for the unscheduled fireworks," he said. "I'll send an apology fruit basket to the shrines later. Maybe with a little manual on how not to poke my stars."
Her lips quirked, a microscopic crack in her mask. "If you truly intend to send offerings, send them to the local shrines in Japan. The humans there have been… uneasy. It would be good to reassure them the sky is not actually falling."
"Sure," Ren said. "I know some things that can settle nerves."
He held her gaze, his dark eyes unflinching against the brilliance of the sun goddess.
"Same deal for you, Sun Lady. You have a talisman, you have a line. If some idiot from another myth tries to step on your house, call me. I'll get them to play nice. or I'll just remove them from the equation permanently."
"The leader of the Shinto pantheon," she said dryly, "does not require a bodyguard."
"I know," Ren replied effortlessly. "That's not an offer to guard you. It's an offer to support a neighbor when the neighborhood catches fire." His smile softened, losing its teasing edge. "Besides. It'd be a shame if Kyoto's leylines got wrecked. I like that place."
She studied him for a long, heavy moment, searching for deceit and finding none.
"…You are very free with your power," Amaterasu said at last. "Most beings at your level become… stingy. Possessive. Paranoid. You hand out favors like sweets."
"Eh, I like things lively," Ren shrugged. "And I like people who pull their weight. You call me, I'll call you. Simple as that."
Her eyes warmed by a fraction of a degree. "Then I shall… keep that in mind, Ren-dono."
"Um…"
Gabriel had to be gently nudged forward by Michael. The most beautiful woman in Heaven, the Ace of the Seraphs, looked like a nervous schoolgirl. Her wings fluffed anxiously, and she held Ren's talisman in both hands as if it were a fragile baby bird. Her golden hair caught the Asgardian light, her halo faint but undeniably present.
"Ren-san," she whispered, her voice like wind chimes. "Thank you… for allowing Heaven to… contact you."
"No problem," Ren said, his tone instantly gentler.
He had a natural soft spot for women, especially the gentle ones. Around them, his sharp edges dulled. "Like I said: if your side gets desperate enough that you need to call the weird cultivator from out of this world, that's already a crazy story. Might as well make it a good one."
Michael, standing stiffly beside her, narrowed his eyes slightly. "Even so, we will try not to burden you with trivial matters. Heaven has relied too often on external miracles in the past."
"Hey, I'm the one who handed you the emergency hotline," Ren said, looking at the leader of the Angels. "Use it how you like. Just don't call me to settle office politics. I'm allergic to paperwork and bureaucracy."
Gabriel giggled, her hands flying to her mouth. "Ara… Ren-san really is like Azazel-san said. Strange, but… kind."
"Don't compare me to the crow," Ren muttered, feigning annoyance. "He sheds feathers on everything and tries to sell me questionable gadgets."
"Ren-sensei."
Rossweisse approached last. The silver-haired Valkyrie hugged her clipboard to her chest like a shield. She had changed into her formal armor, hair tied up, face carefully neutral. But the faint redness at the tips of her ears betrayed her composure.
"You are sure," she said stiffly, "that you do not require additional escort back to the human world? There are several secure transfer circles available—"
"Nah." Ren flashed her a lazy grin. "I've got my own ride."
She frowned, adjusting her glasses. "Using unknown spatial movement techniques without proper logging is—"
"—a great way to avoid bureaucracy," he cut in. "Besides, you're still on the clock, Valkyrie. Odin's gonna have you writing reports on this trip until Ragnarok. I'm not kidnapping his secretary on top of deleting his problem child."
Her shoulders slumped visibly at the word 'reports.' A dark cloud seemed to form over her head. "…You are not wrong," she admitted miserably. "The paperwork for the structural damage alone…"
He stepped closer, lowering his voice so only she could hear.
"Listen," he said. "You did good. You kept my students alive. You held the wards. You didn't panic even when the sky tried to fall. Be proud of that."
Her eyes widened behind her lenses. "I… I was only doing my duty."
"Yeah. And you did it well," he said firmly. "If things get too annoying here… you've got a talisman too. Call me. I'll come steal you for a vacation. Or maybe something more."
Her face went bright red, steam practically erupting from her collar. "Th-That is completely improper—!"
"Yup," he agreed, winking. "Think about it."
He left her spluttering and turned back to his group.
"Alright, ducklings," Ren said, clapping his hands once. The sound cut through the divine ambiance like a gavel. "Line up. Time to go home."
Rias, Akeno, Asia, Koneko, Issei, and Kiba gathered around him. To the gods watching, they looked like a simple peerage. But to those with true vision, they were walking anomalies. Their auras were dense, sharpened by the Myriad Origin Scripture, humming with a power that wasn't magic, nor touki, nor senjutsu.
"Rossweisse's circle won't be needed?" Rias asked. "Odin did say—"
"I'll return you in one piece," Ren said. "Promise."
He closed his eyes and reached inward.
Deep within his dantian, the Immortal Soul Bone stirred.
In his soul-space, the vision was majestic. Nine Fate Palaces revolved like a miniature galaxy, ancient and terrifying. At the center sat the Bone—a crystalline lattice that drank in the complexity of the universe and spat it back out as simplicity. It had tasted Asgard's spatial signatures, the structure of the Bifrost, the coordinates of Kuoh's leyline nodes, and the school wards.
Ren extended one hand.
Thin, grey light flowed from his fingertips. It didn't form a magic circle. It didn't chant. It simply commanded.
He began to sketch in the air. Not Norse runes. Not Devil script. It was Dao-script mixed with hyperdimensional geometry, pared down to the simplest viable form. It was the equation of distance, solved and discarded.
Space didn't just open; it shivered in submission.
"Everyone in," he said. "Hold onto your underwear. Sudden stops are brutal."
"Ren-sensei!" Asia squeaked, clutching her skirt.
Akeno laughed softly, a sultry sound. "Ara, ara… how bold, talking about our underwear in front of everyone."
"Don't encourage him," Rias muttered, though her cheeks were dusted pink.
They stepped into the grey light. Reality folded like paper.
...
The smell hit them first.
It wasn't the metallic tang of blood, nor the crisp purity of divine ether. It wasn't the sulfur of dragon breath or the biting cold of the Dimensional Gap.
It was disinfectant. Floor polish. Chalk dust. The oily scent of fried food from the cafeteria.
Kuoh Academy.
Rias wobbled where she stood on the familiar stone path leading to the main gate, her crimson hair fluttering in a soft, agonizingly ordinary breeze.
"Eh…" Issei's jaw went slack. He looked down at his hands, then at the pavement. "We're… back?"
The school building loomed in front of them, bathed in the warm, golden glow of the afternoon sun. Students in brown blazers milled about. Some were laughing, gossiping about idols. Others were complaining about upcoming tests. A teacher was scolding a student for a uniform violation at the entrance. A couple held hands under the shade of a cherry tree, whispering shyly.
It was jarring. It was violent in its peace.
It was as if the last nine days—the gods, the dragons, the near-death experiences—had been a collective fever dream.
Akeno touched her cheek, her fingers trembling slightly, as if checking for crackling lightning that wasn't there. Asia flexed her fingers, half-expecting the golden weight of her Twilight Suppression to still be choking the battlefield. Koneko's tail twitched invisibly under her skirt, the Myriad Origin Scripture quietly cycling the waste energy of the atmosphere into power, perfectly harmonized with her Senjutsu.
Kiba's hand drifted to his hip, seeking a sword that wasn't manifested. He let it fall to his side. His Soul Palace thrummed within him, a stable, terrifying engine of war hidden beneath the skin of a pretty boy.
All of them shared that new foundation now. Rias, Akeno, Asia, Koneko, Issei, Kiba—six Soul Palaces, all harmonized through the Myriad Origin Scripture. They were tigers returned to a pen of sheep.
For a long moment, no one spoke. The contrast was too heavy.
"This…" Asia whispered, her wide green eyes darting around. "It feels… strange, Ren-san. Like we were gone for a year, but…"
"It's only been just over a week," Rias finished softly, her voice hollow. "Classes went on. People lived their lives. Kuoh… did not stop just because we were fighting for our lives."
Issei's shoulders slumped. He looked at the normal students with a mix of envy and alienation. "It's kinda messed up," he muttered. "We were literally seeing gods and erasing mountains, and here everybody's just worrying about midterms and club activities…"
Ren watched them, hands in his pockets, his expression calm and unreadable. He had seen this look a thousand times on a thousand faces in the cultivation world. The realization of the divide.
"Welcome back," he said, his voice cutting through their daze. "To the small world."
They all looked at him.
"Alright," he went on, his tone shifting, becoming sharper. "Listen up. Today is your last full day before the Rating Game against Riser. So here's your assignment."
Issei straightened involuntarily, his soldier reflex kicking in. "T-Training, right? Sparring? I can go ten rounds with Kiba! I need to perfect the Dragon Recycle Drive!"
"Nope," Ren cut him off.
Issei blinked. "…Eh?"
"Today," Ren said, "you're going to enjoy yourselves."
The group stared at him as if he had grown a second head.
"…E-Enjoy… ourselves?" Asia repeated, confused.
Akeno tilted her head, her lips curling into that familiar, enigmatic smile. "Ara, ara… that sounds nice," she murmured. "But somehow, I don't think Ren-sama means simply… taking a nap."
Rias narrowed her eyes slightly, her intellect engaging. "Ren," she said. "When you say 'enjoy'…"
He chuckled. "See? You're already suspicious. That's good."
He shifted his weight, gazing over the school grounds with a critical eye. "Look," he said. "I'm not talking about human-style 'enjoyment.' Not the 'pretend to be normal high schoolers, hide all your power, act like you didn't just bully a god' kind of thing."
He waved a hand loosely at the main building.
"This place?" he said. "It's one flavor of life. One little box. Useful. Comfortable. But still a box. If you try to cram everything you've become—devils, cultivators, whatever you want to call your potential—into just 'student' or 'normal,' you're gonna kill parts of yourselves. That's not it."
Kiba frowned slightly, his brow furrowed. "…Then what do you mean by enjoyment, Ren-sensei?"
Ren looked back at them, his eyes steady and dark like the void between stars.
"Dao Hearts," he said.
Koneko blinked. "…Dao… Heart," she echoed, the alien term rolling awkwardly off her tongue.
"Yeah," Ren nodded. "In the system I use, in the world where power actually means something, your 'Dao Heart' is your core. It's the thing that decides how you walk your path. It has flavors. Some people chase strength at all costs. Some chase freedom. Some chase peace. Some just want to cook noodles in the best little stall in the city and will kill anyone who knocks over their broth."
He tapped his chest lightly over his heart.
"For me? It's simple," he said. "I live as I please. I train who I want. I love who I love. I punch whatever annoys me. I don't pretend to be something I'm not just to make other people comfortable."
His mouth twisted in a wry, cynical smile.
"I've read too many stories where some absurdly strong guy keeps forcing himself to act 'normal,'" he muttered, shaking his head. "Go to school like nothing's wrong, hide everything, play the clown, pretend to be human even when he stopped being 'just human' a long time ago. Honestly? Sounds exhausting. Sounds like slavery."
He shrugged, his confidence radiating outward.
"With my power, with what I am now?" he said. "I'm not going to waste my time cosplaying 'ordinary.' I'm human because I was born one, not because I follow their morals. If I want to nap on a dragon's back or take a goddess on a date, I'll do it. If I want to teach a bunch of devils a cultivation method that breaks the Heavens, I'll do that too."
Rias' lips parted. She stared at him, mesmerized by the absolute freedom in his words. "Ren…"
He smiled at her, softer now.
"You guys?" he continued, looking at each of them in turn. "You've left the box. Your Souls have changed. Your bodies, too. You've seen gods tremble. You've stood at the edge of a tribulation that shook the World Tree. Your Dao Hearts are no longer compatible with 'just high school students who happen to be devils.'"
His gaze swept over them, heavy and grounding.
"Today," he commanded, "I want you to enjoy yourselves as you are now. As people who've tasted a bigger world. Not by pretending this never happened, but by letting it sink in and seeing what you actually want from life."
Akeno's eyes gleamed with understanding. "In other words," she said, "you're telling us to live honestly. To stop hiding from ourselves."
"Pretty much," Ren said. "If going to class makes you happy? Go. If you want to skip and sit on the school roof and just breathe in the mana? Do it. If you want to go home and hug your family, or challenge someone to a duel, or eat cake until you can't move—fine. Just don't do it because 'that's what a normal person should do.' Do it because you want to."
Asia swallowed, looking down at her hands. The rosary around her wrist glinted in the sun. "…Is that really okay?" she asked, her voice trembling. "To… choose like that? To be selfish?"
Ren's voice softened instantly. "Asia," he said. "You were thrown out by your church for healing a devil. You've spent your whole life apologizing just for existing. You've earned the right to choose what makes you happy. Selfishness is just another word for self-preservation."
Her eyes shimmered with unshed tears.
Issei shifted awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck. "…Sensei," he said. "If we start thinking like that… won't we get… you know. Arrogant? Like, 'we're above school, we're above humans'… that kind of thing?"
Ren tilted his head, considering the question.
"There's a difference between 'above' and 'bigger,'" he said finally. "You're not better than normal people just because your Soul Palace condensed. But your world got bigger. If you pretend it didn't, that's not humility. That's denial."
He jerked his chin at the campus behind them.
"This place is still part of your life," he said. "But it's not the whole thing anymore. Think of it like… one room in a house. You've just discovered the rest of the mansion exists. You can still hang out in this room. You just don't lock yourself in it and throw away the key."
Kiba let out a slow breath, something easing in the perpetual tension of his shoulders. "A house, hm…" he murmured. "In that case… perhaps I have been sitting in the hallway for too long."
Rias' lips curled into a small, determined smile. The shadow of Riser Phenex seemed even less daunting now. "So… you're telling us to think about our own paths," she said. "Not just 'beat Riser and survive,' but… beyond that."
"Bingo," Ren said, snapping his fingers. "Spend the day feeling that out. Calibrate your minds. Then we'll talk about strategy tonight."
Akeno folded her arms under her chest, her expression turning teasing. She took a step closer to him. "And what will you be doing, Ren-sama?" she asked, her voice purring. "Surely you won't just stand around and watch us from the shadows like a mysterious mentor?"
Ren grinned, utterly shameless. He didn't blush. He didn't stutter. He looked them dead in the eye with the confidence of an Emperor who owned the land he walked on.
"Me?" he said. "I'm going to spend time with my lovely girlfriends."
The effect was instantaneous.
Rias flushed scarlet, the color rising all the way to the tips of her ears. "Re-Ren!" she hissed, glancing around frantically to make sure no random student had heard the declaration.
Akeno's eyes sparkled with delight. "Ara, ara… saying it so openly," she chuckled. "How greedy."
Asia's hands flew to her cheeks. "L-Lovely… girlfriends…!" she squeaked, smoke practically rising from her head as her brain short-circuited.
Koneko's tail fluffed visibly under her skirt. She pulled her scarf up to hide her face. "…You say it too easily," she muttered, though the corners of her mouth twitched upward.
Issei clutched his chest like he'd been shot by a sniper. "S-Sensei… you say 'girlfriends' like it's nothing… four at once… The Harem King path is truly treacherous…"
Kiba smiled wryly, shaking his head. "It is… impressive," he said diplomatically. "Your Dao Heart is truly firm, Sensei."