228.
Summer vacation had arrived.
Even if a war breaks out, living beings must live for tomorrow, and high school students rest for their summer vacation.
Even though Ophis had taken such actions.
The principle is the same—over 99.9% of people wouldn't know what to do even if the world were ending tomorrow. Even if they knew, they couldn't stop it, they just do their best in their current situation.
"Ah, that?"
Ren shook his head at Ddraig's words.
"Not my intention. I probably influenced it in some way when reincarnating, but it wasn't deliberate. There was likely an influence from my traits and our parents." UXBSc1U1NHhkSXU5WE9mbklwYzBhcFdWK0dPVUVEMmgyeUVhT3A0SlFQb2xaK2kxMk1KWS8wa0pONTNRNS9hWg
Originally, Ren and his younger brother Issei were in a situation where it was difficult for even one of them to be born. Their mother had a constitution that made childbirth difficult, so originally giving birth to just one would have been fortunate. That probably mixed with Dream to change things so both could be born safely, and it seems Dream infused into Issei as a result.
"And don't call me Great Red. I'm Hyodo Ren now."
"More than that, I didn't expect the dragon who challenged me to end up like this."
"It feels微妙 for the party involved to say that."
"Ophis, huh."
Ren gave a bitter smile.
Ophis, who介入 the Great War and swept away devils, angels, fallen angels, and even the Two Heavenly Dragons.
It made him think anew how messed up everything was.
229.
The Occult Research Club members decided to return to the Underworld, the devils' homeland.
For now, Rias is a member of the prestigious 72 Devils, and she'll likely need to move busily due to the Chaos Brigade problem and such. It seems she has a lot to sort out.
"What do you think we should do from now on?"
Serzechs, Michael, Azazel.
Before returning, the three requested consultation with Ren. Essentially asking what on earth they should do if Ophis truly intends to transform the world.
They originally intended to go through the Three Faction Summit and establish a peace agreement, but such a massive scale problem occurred that renders that meaningless, so it can't be helped.
"I don't know the details either. Originally, my reincarnation was merely a matter of over ten years, and during that time I couldn't know what thoughts and feelings Ophis had to undertake such actions."
"...."
"But conversely, looking at her having moved for thousands of years after my death, it definitely wasn't a decision made lightly. And she has her own cause and purpose, in a way. Put differently, if that cause is satisfied, then there would be no problem."
And put another way, it means the current three factions don't satisfy that purpose.
At Ren's words, their faces stiffened.
"Are you saying we must be willing to die for the world?"
"Speaking extremely, it would come to that. But you know there's a problem before that, right?"
Sacrificing one race for the world. Logically it's not a wrong statement, but from the perspective of the race being sacrificed, it's like a bolt from the blue.
But Ren looked straight at the three of them.
"You, by merely staying still as you are now, are a minus for the world."
"That's..."
"Don't say you don't know. From what I've lightly heard, you're already messed up."
As leaders of their races, they have no reason to care about anything beyond their own races. That is correct and natural.
But from the position of the world, that can be said to be wrong.
"I'm not saying it's just you. Ophis said all races are wrong."
"An arrogant statement, but hearing that from one who saved the world leaves me speechless."
"You've accumulated too much karma. Even during my prime, the evil karma piled up by your races was scattered about. Frankly speaking, our cult was created from such types."
"Ugh..."
"I'm not telling you to discuss the world. But if you truly care for your races... You'll have to be willing to bear出血 and move decisively."
At those words, all three made complicated expressions.
230.
They ended up taking a train to the Underworld.
In the past, you could just go if you wanted to, but thinking it's a bit inconvenient and going this way feels novel. Ren absentmindedly checked the purple sky when he noticed someone sitting in front of him.
"Hey, can we talk?"
It was Azazel.
"What about?"
"It's because of what you said last time. You told us to be willing to bear出血 and move decisively."
"That's right."
"...Well, your words are a hundred times correct. After you left, we discussed among ourselves, and the conclusion that came out was that the devils must forcibly amputate their rotten parts, Heaven must reveal the absence of the God of the Bible, and my side must repay the karma accumulated until now."
Nearly half of the 72 Devil families are severed yet unaware of the current situation, Heaven is deceiving about the absence of the God of the Bible who's the core of their faith, and the fallen angels have accumulated massive karma over time.
Azazel smiled bitterly.
"Do you think it's possible?"
"That's not for me to decide."
"Then who decides?"
"You have to decide."
Ren stared straight at Azazel.
"I won't give lip service. Just as you've accumulated evil karma, humans and other races have also piled up countless blood debts. It would be unfair to only hold you accountable. But eventually, such因果 karma is bound to explode. In a sense... Ophis's actions are also such因果. To put it extremely..."
Ren looked at Azazel with no change in expression and spoke.
"If Issei hadn't been able to resurrect or even survive as a devil, I would have killed you no matter what, Azazel."
"...."
"And then what? What would happen to Grigori after losing you. Or perhaps they could somehow maintain form, but they would have walked the path of destruction due to this problem. But you have no right to say anything about that. Because it's your own fault."
From Grigori's position, that was natural action.
Preventing a powerful Sacred Gear user from going to another faction to reduce organizational risk is natural.
But that's Grigori's circumstances, and from the receiving end, it's nothing but nonsense.
"Painful words."
Azazel smiled bitterly.
"The world's cause beyond racial cause... How you handle that will change how Ophis treats you."