With Creuserey dead, Katerea's defection revealed, and the White Dragon Emperor neutralized, the terrorist attack came to a somewhat anticlimactic end.
The only ones left resisting were the witches led by Walburga.
Because Rhode had "volunteered" to handle it, the witches were quickly defeated. Walburga herself was beaten until she was forced onto her knees.
Inside the old school building, Walburga stared at Rhode, her delicate face filled with disbelief.
"I never imagined... you were actually working for the Three Factions."
"I see now. You were planning to infiltrate them and wait for the right moment, weren't you? You knew this attack would fail, which is why the Hero Faction didn't participate."
Walburga looked like she had just achieved enlightenment.
"Poor Creuserey, betrayed by his own kind. How amusing."
"And your Hero Faction must have made a deal with Katerea, right? To think you kept everyone in the dark... I should have seen it coming."
At this point, Walburga seemed to remember something else. "The power you used to defeat the White Dragon Emperor... that was my Master's Longinus, wasn't it?"
"So, the one who killed my Master that day was you! Impressive... you really fooled everyone. If it weren't for the aura of the Purple Flame Overlord's Crucifix, I wouldn't have recognized you at all."
Despite her words, the Rhode standing before her bore no resemblance to the mysterious "glasses guy" who had killed Augusta. But since there was only one Purple Flame Overlord's Crucifix in the world, Walburga concluded that Rhode had to be the culprit.
"As expected of the Hero Faction under Cao Cao's leadership. It seems his intellect really is on par with the legendary hero of the past."
Hearing this, Rhode's expression became difficult to maintain. If he didn't know exactly what kind of person the "Cao Cao" of this world was, he might have actually believed her.
Cao Cao spent his time gathering the descendants of heroes and powerful humans to form the Hero Faction, "PUA-ing" his team members into believing they were the only ones who could show the world the true splendor of humanity. Their goal was to "Make Humanity Great Again" by fighting against the supernatural powers that ruled the world.
In principle, the idea of humans standing up for themselves was noble. After all, the fate of humans in this world was like a leaf tossed about on a stormy sea. If it hadn't been for the legendary "Humanity Lover," the God of the Bible, humans would have been carved up and enslaved by the various mythologies long ago.
Even now, the "peace" on the surface was just a stabilization tactic. From culture and economy to politics and military, everything had long been replaced by agents of the various mythologies. Hero descendants born into this world naturally wanted to do something different.
But what did they actually do?
To put it bluntly, they brainwashed chuunibyou teenagers to run around the world causing destruction. They even made deals with gods like Hades, acting as their hitmen.
If Cao Cao hadn't made deals with gods, Rhode might have respected his ideology. But the moment he started shaking hands with Hades, he took hypocrisy to a new peak.
Of course, only Rhode knew all this. In Walburga's eyes, the Hero Faction had intervened in the Kyoto incident, danced between the Witches' Night, the Fallen Angels, the Five Great Clans, and the Utsusemi organization. They hadn't just eliminated Satanael; they had killed her master, wiped out Utsusemi, and crippled the Five Great Clans. Rumor had it they even made off with the treasures of the Okunoin—the heads of the Three Great Yokai and a mountain of gold.
And after all that, they managed a perfect getaway.
Now, they had joined the Khaos Brigade while simultaneously becoming honored guests of the Three Factions. Katerea's betrayal was almost certainly linked to the Hero Faction as well.
Thinking this way, Walburga felt that Cao Cao's depths were truly bottomless. He was playing with fire and making it look like child's play. And Rhode was equally terrifying; he had managed to perfectly synchronize with a masterless Longinus and awaken its Balance Breaker in record time.
Absolutely monstrous!
Thinking about how even a legitimate descendant of the Old Satans like the White Dragon Emperor had fallen to this man, Walburga felt a surge of genuine terror.
She immediately adopted a submissive stance, fearing that Rhode might kill her to silence her now that she had "uncovered" his secret identity!
Rhode had no idea Walburga was such a world-class overthinker, or that she was pinning all his solo actions on Cao Cao. But it saved him the trouble of coming up with an explanation.
Rhode asked in a deep voice, "Since you've guessed so much... what do you plan to do next?"
It's here! The ultimatum!
Walburga had expected this line. If she said a single wrong word, her head would be off her shoulders in the next second!
Rhode, of course, didn't know what she was thinking. If he did, he would have asked if she was a transplant from the DC Universe with all that "darkness."
Still, he couldn't just leave her alone. He needed a way to make sure she kept her mouth shut forever.
As Rhode fell into silent contemplation, Walburga grew even more frantic.
Brain! Think of something, fast! Wait! I've got it!
Suddenly, Walburga dropped to one knee. "Is it too late for me to apply to join the Hero Faction?"
"Huh?" Rhode was genuinely surprised.
Seeing his reaction, Walburga immediately pivoted. "Or rather, more accurately, not the Hero Faction, but to serve under you, Lord Rhode! Someone as exceptional as you surely isn't content to remain beneath Cao Cao forever, right? If you're willing, I will do everything in my power to assist you."
After speaking, she remained bowed, her heart pounding in her chest.
Rhode stared at her with the "Old Man on the Subway looking at his phone" face.
I'm not, and don't you dare spread rumors.
He had only joined the Hero Faction for the system rewards. Without a mission, he was too lazy to join any organization.
But Walburga's attitude was truly unexpected. "I thought you were more the Joker or Harley Quinn type."
Walburga had read DC comics, so she knew those characters' chaotic styles. In fact, a large part of her public persona—the flamboyant outfits and the constant smile—was inspired by them.
But in reality, she was a coward. She only fought when she had an absolute advantage. When her master, Augusta, died, Walburga had bolted immediately, only returning to "clean up" the battlefield once things had settled down.
Most people just didn't know that about her.
---Support me here: https://[email protected]/AuAuMon
High School DxD : Reincarnated into the Multiverse, but it's High School DxD (320 Chapters – Ongoing)
Join the journey and become part of the story!