152.
What does that mean?
Flustered, I asked for more details about that story.
"There was the Great War, a conflict in the past between three factions: devils, angels, and fallen angels."
That's a story I know too.
Usually, when a war breaks out, it typically lasts a long time. Even during the time I knew, there were indirect power struggles and all sorts of things even when they weren't directly fighting, and I saw them fighting openly several times.
"But into that war of three factions, dragons called the Two Heavenly Dragons intruded. No, should I say their fight overlapped? The Welsh Dragon Ddraig and the Vanishing Dragon Albion, beings for whom only their own battle took priority, had their fight overlap with the war of the three factions. Normally, an individual's fight would be overshadowed by a war of races, but the Two Heavenly Dragons were special. After all, they were dragons known to have surpassed even gods and Satans."
Ddraig and Albion, huh.
Those are somewhat nostalgic names.
I recall the dragons who declared they would become as strong as me and Ophis, or even stronger.
"The war intensified. Devils, angels, fallen angels, and even the dragons called the Two Heavenly Dragons mixed together, creating chaos itself. In the midst of that escalating war... a calamity appeared."
"A calamity?"
"Ophis, the Ouroboros Dragon, one of the Two Great Dragon Gods. An infinite being said to have existed since before the world was created, the strongest dragon on Earth. She appeared."
Rias let out a sigh.
"The infinite Dragon God who suddenly appeared slaughtered everything in her path. Devils, angels, fallen angels, even the fellow dragons, the Two Heavenly Dragons—she erased everything. The long war of races ended vainly due to the power of a single individual. Because the damage caused by Ophis left the three factions with no strength left to continue the war. The devils lost their Satans, countless families were severed, and the fallen angels and angels also suffered significant losses. As for the Two Heavenly Dragons, their fallen souls became the medium for the God of the Bible to create the God-Destroying Tool."
"Is, is such a thing possible? No matter how amazing, with the power of a single individual..."
"That's probably what everyone thought. No matter how great a being, they must have thought it couldn't surpass the power of a group."
Rias said with a bitter, awkward smile.
"But this was the result. Those called the Two Great Dragon Gods are beings beyond our common sense. By human world standards, they're living natural disasters."
I fell silent at those words.
I couldn't believe Ophis committed such mass slaughter.
It's not that Ophis doesn't care about others—for better or worse, she simply has no interest in others and doesn't even think of doing something to them. Seeing her interact with me and form a cult, she isn't entirely without interest, but if it's not related to her, she literally ignores it.
And yet, that Ophis committed such mass slaughter?
It was a story I couldn't easily believe.
But aside from someone on Ophis's level, no one else could slaughter the three great factions.
"I got a bit carried away with the story."
The conversation ended simply, and Rias looked at me and asked.
"So, Ren-kun, would you consider becoming a member of my peerage?"
I thought for a moment at her words and shook my head.
I'm a bit worried because Issei became a devil, but I have no desire to become one myself. To begin with, just using my abilities well is enough to mimic being a devil.
As if she had no intention of pushing further, Rias lightly gave up.
153.
Issei started working part-time as a devil.
I don't know the details, but it seems he'll work hard.
....When a woman approaches, he flinches somewhat, so it seems the fallen angel incident left trauma. Time will solve that, I suppose.
154.
Today, for fun, I summoned Issei with a magic circle.
Issei was a bit startled that it was me who summoned him.
We played a simple game out of boredom, and he complained that this was an improper request, but since connections are everything, he accepted it.
But then he suddenly came to his senses and asked how I knew about this.
Uh, um, this is hard to explain?
I just said I had something like psychic powers and naturally learned about it while investigating. Issei seemed suspicious but decided to let it go for now.
Just let it go, you dumb brother.
If I bring up my past life, things will get very troublesome.
155.
Today I saw a strange sight.
A female devil and a human who gave off a sense of my power were talking. Then they both suddenly disappeared—it seems they teleported.
A human who gives off a sense of my power.
Ah, I see.
It seems the Apocalyptic Beast Cult is still carrying on its legacy. I thought it might have naturally disappeared after I was gone, but I feel deeply moved.
Should I have tried to talk to them?
But in my current power and form, even if I said I was Great Red, they obviously wouldn't believe me, so I think not saying anything was better.
156.
It seems Issei has formed a connection with a nun.
Because of that, Rias scolded Issei, saying the church is the exorcists' headquarters and to be careful. Thinking on a scale of thousands of years, Rias's words aren't particularly wrong, so I let it slide. Then I recalled an exorcist and a devil who committed forbidden love a few years ago.
I wonder if those two are doing well now?
Or I hope they found proper peace.
157.
I was also at the Occult Research Club after school when Rias mentioned they had information about a stray devil, Vizer, coming, but no matter how much they searched, he wasn't seen in Kuoh City. Well, finding one devil in this vast city is difficult, so I told them to take their time.
158.
Issei returned with a hole in his stomach, supported by the nun.
What the hell?
When I asked in a panic what happened, the nun healed Issei's wounds and explained in turn. The fallen angels tried something against the nun, and it seems Issei fought the fallen angel to protect his friend, the nun.
He had a hole in his stomach, but he says he landed a punch strong enough to send them flying into the sky.
Is that something a guy with a hole in his stomach should be saying?
Suddenly, when I checked if there was anything wrong with Issei's body, I noticed one thing.
"?"
Huh?
Issei has my power in him.
What is this?
Did I share it with him when he was born?
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