— — — — — —
"…"
"....."
After Ryo finished speaking, Algol didn't respond for a long while.
Just as he was starting to lose patience, she finally spoke in a strange tone.
"Sometimes I really wonder which one of us is actually the demon."
Algol had always considered herself plenty wicked.
She had gone to war with Buddhism, Greece, and the Cross. She had carved out demon realms in both the upper and lower layers of Little Garden and ruled over countless demons.
By her standards, that was already pushing it.
And yet now she was looking at Ryo, listening to the vicious little scheme he'd just laid out.
Corrupt the counterparts of Little Garden's gods in another world. Turn those alternate selves, those same-name incarnations, into demons.
That move was filthy.
As a well-known figure in the upper ranks of Little Garden, Algol only needed a moment to understand how it would work.
You operate in another world. Plant the Cleansing into the bodies of the gods' counterparts there. Then, at the precise moment when Little Garden links the gods to their alternate selves across worlds, you pull the trigger.
In that instant of connection, you drag them all down together.
The weaker counterparts in the other world would fall first, instantly becoming demons and creating a reality where the gods themselves had fallen.
But because of the link, the corruption would rebound. It would entangle the true gods in Little Garden. It would even ripple outward into the faiths spread across countless universes.
One move. Sweep the board clean.
And worst of all, it would be almost impossible to guard against.
Even Algol felt a chill imagining it.
It was ruthless. Ruthless enough to make even her uneasy.
"So? You're saying it won't work?"
Ryo genuinely believed the success rate would be high. Much higher than trying to dismantle a pantheon directly inside Little Garden.
Even a fallen pantheon usually retained at least two Three-Digit god-king level existences.
And a former mainstream pantheon like Mesopotamia, one that had once shaped entire eras, definitely had hidden contingencies.
In Ryo's eyes, targeting them head-on was risky.
Stirring up trouble in another world, on the other hand, was far easier.
Find a world like the one in Campione, where the strongest beings were only Five-Digit but gods still existed. It might cost some forum points, sure, but that was manageable.
And if it succeeded, Algol's Spirit Rank would skyrocket, rapidly approaching Two-Digit.
Low risk. Insane returns.
Of course, this only worked for someone like Algol.
Not everyone was a Star Spirit. Not everyone held the origin of demons. Not everyone simultaneously occupied Lilith's position in the Cross pantheon and possessed a massive base of faith to convert merit into Spirit Rank at terrifying speed.
If it were Ryo, even becoming a so-called Primogenitor of Demons would at best grant him an incomplete Spirit Rank. And he knew these incomplete Spirit Ranks were nothing but traps.
Only for three-digit god-kings, long stuck in stagnation, did they offer hope—a tangible path forward.
But for someone like Ryo, who already had a path to walk, they were just empty promises Little Garden used to keep people in line.
That was why Athena hadn't shown much excitement after obtaining the Trinity God Spirit Rank. Compared to something incomplete, someone like her would rather pursue the path of a Godslayer.
Through the identity of a Godslayer, seize the authorities of Little Garden's gods, refine them into true power, strengthen one's foundation, and inch closer to the truth beyond authority.
That was the upper layers' publicly acknowledged shortcut to Two-Digit right now.
It was also why the gods had been so restless lately.
And to Ryo, that restlessness was a golden opportunity.
While the gods fixated on Two-Digit chances and kept their eyes on Heretic Gods and Godslayers, the success rate of him and Algol causing chaos elsewhere would only increase.
There had never been a better time to make a move.
Frankly, even if Algol rejected the plan, Ryo was prepared to "convince" her the hard way.
"Won't work?" Algol muttered, then sighed. "No. It would work. Honestly, there's probably no safer method."
"Then what's the issue?" Ryo asked, his expression growing odd.
"The issue is the target."
She sounded reluctant.
Target?
Ryo blinked, then looked at her with a peculiar expression.
"You're not about to tell me you don't want to use your real name for this, are you?"
He stared at the Zanpakutō in disbelief.
Wasn't Algol supposed to fear nothing? Why was she the one hesitating now?
"Do you think I'm stupid? If I pull something like this, I won't just offend the gods. I'll offend those seventeen as well! I may be too beautiful, but I'm not brain-dead!"
In Little Garden, the seventeen confirmed or suspected Two-Digit beings were rarely counted among the "Gods." They had long surpassed the concept.
In a sense, each of them embodied a portion of the countless universes governed by Little Garden's Central System. Their status was comparable to the Central System itself, manifestations of cosmic truth.
You could even argue that the Central System was simply one especially powerful cosmic truth. Its uniqueness lay in the way its structure let it approximate the sum of all truths, all existences, all universes.
That was why there was no true One-Digit equal to the Central System.
And as the highest tier beneath it, Two-Digit beings were gods among gods. No one lumped them in with the general pantheons.
What Ryo was proposing had too wide an impact. If they truly observed a world where an entire host of gods had fallen into demonhood, the consequences might ripple up to those Two-Digit existences.
Even if Algol successfully raised her Spirit Rank and approached Two-Digit, what then?
How does one Two-Digit fight seventeen?
"I never said we had to hit all of them," Ryo replied dryly. "You can pick on Greece. Or the Cross."
"…."
Algol fell silent.
For a brief moment, she felt extremely stupid.
"If we're going to screw over the Cross, which world do you think is best?"
"Great minds think alike." Ryo's lips curled into a smile.
Targeting the Cross?
Now that was a conversation that could keep him wide awake.
They were the biggest target. Loaded with faith. Surrounded by enemies. Politically weak in the upper layers of Little Garden. And among them, only one stood at Two-Digit.
Wasn't that the perfect sheep to fleece?
Wealthy. Powerful, but not the strongest tier. Restricted by the Central System. In other words, not exactly favored by the cosmic order.
After all, the purest expression of monotheism, the ultimate One God concept, was the Central System itself.
If the Cross truly reigned supreme, what place would the Central System have? What about the other sixteen?
So in a sense, going after the Cross had become the norm in Little Garden.
If you didn't take a swing at them, could you even call yourself a powerhouse?
Ryo didn't actually want to make enemies of the Cross. But with their unclear ties to Ouroboros, he had no choice but to weaken them. In fact, his true aim was to undermine all the faith-based pantheons—but for now, the Cross was ironically both the biggest and easiest target.
"I already have a world in mind," Ryo said. "But I'll need to wrap up what I'm dealing with first before we start preparing."
"And it'll be perfect for you to lie low after becoming the Primogenitor of Demons. Better than having the gods hunt you down the moment you replace Cain."
In his mind, a particular world surfaced.
In a world where the supreme creator god was already dead, it seemed Ryo's next stop would be… High School DxD.
"I'll wait," Algol said.
Then she withdrew back into the Zanpakutō.
The moment she vanished, the room where time had been frozen shattered.
In the next breath, Ryo stepped back into the normal flow of time.
.
.
.