— — — — — —
"Your Majesty? Your Majesty?"
Ryo's unfocused gaze slowly snapped back into place. He turned his head and saw Sayaka right beside him, her face full of worry as she grabbed his shoulders and shook him hard.
"It's you, Sayaka," he said calmly.
"You spaced out just now," she said, finally letting out a breath of relief when she saw he seemed fine.
"I was thinking about something."
Ryo rubbed his temples. Compared to Indra, Algol's domain contained a bit more chaotic power. That instability had caused him to lose focus for three or four seconds.
That was what had scared Sayaka in the first place.
"Are you really okay?"
La Folia pressed herself against his back, her upper body leaning over his head, her expression tinged with concern.
Suddenly getting an unexpected "head cushion," Ryo raised an eyebrow. He forced himself to focus and looked forward at the pulped mess ahead. Even though it had been smashed apart, the meat was still faintly wriggling.
"Yukina," he said, "poke it with Snowdrift Wolf."
"Yes!"
Yukina glanced at him worriedly, but still stepped forward and stabbed the lump of flesh with her spear.
"GRAAAH!"
A shrill scream echoed out.
The writhing mass that was Zazalamagiu twitched once, let out a final shriek, and then stopped moving.
"Is it dead?" La Folia asked, puzzled.
But then she sensed something off. She turned her head and met Sayaka's glare, sharp enough to kill.
The silver-haired princess blinked innocently, glanced down at Ryo nestled in her arms, then openly flashed Sayaka a bright, smug smile.
'Bitch…'
Sayaka clenched her teeth.
At that moment, Ryo shook his head. "Not yet. Zazalamagiu is still connected to the Ley Line. It won't die that easily."
(The Ley Line is an energy that flows on the ground surface and its channels.)
Shk!
The sound of a blade stabbing into the ground rang out.
Then came another scream.
Ryo, La Folia, and Sayaka all turned to look, only to see Yukina pulling Snowdrift Wolf back out and stabbing the meat pile several more times.
The room went dead silent.
Realizing everyone was staring at her, Yukina quickly hid Snowdrift Wolf behind her back. She hooked a finger against her cheek, looking shy.
"I just wanted to see if stabbing it a few more times would actually kill it…"
Ryo's mouth twitched. He genuinely hadn't expected Yukina to be capable of such brutal experimentation.
Wasn't this basically corpse desecration?
"That's… certainly a creative idea," La Folia said, forcing a smile as her own lips twitched.
She had always thought Yukina looked easy to bully. She didn't think that anymore.
Girls who were this innocent-looking but acted faster than they thought were better admired from a safe distance.
"Yeah," Sayaka nodded repeatedly, her eyes filled with unease as she stared at Yukina's hands.
"Did I do something wrong?" Yukina asked timidly.
"Ahem."
Ryo cleared his throat. "No, you didn't do anything wrong."
It was just stabbing an enemy's corpse. And not just any enemy, but a dark god. What Yukina did wasn't really excessive.
Zazalamagiu was just especially unlucky.
Ryo gave the pile of flesh a pitying look and raised his hand.
The meat immediately floated into the air.
Yukina reflexively lifted Snowdrift Wolf, ready to stab again, but then realized Ryo was controlling it and hurriedly stopped herself.
Ryo's eyelid twitched at the sight, but he said nothing. He gestured, gathering the flesh in front of him, then froze it solid with fairy-blue ice.
By the end, the frozen mass looked oddly like a famous dish, lion's head meatballs, except wrapped in blocky layers of ice.
'Should I just hand it to you, or do you want me to process it first?'
Ryo's lips moved, but no sound came out.
He was speaking to Algol via telepathy.
'Just stab it with the thing I'm residing in,' Algol replied, sounding a little tired.
Creating a temporary domain that could stop time had taken quite a toll on her partial incarnation.
'Got it.'
Ryo summoned his Zanpakutō. Under the confused gazes of the three girls, he drew the blade and thrust it straight into the frozen lump that was Zazalamagiu.
"GAAAAAAAH!"
A scream far sharper than anything before rang out.
It was Zazalamagiu's final, desperate wail.
Compared to Snowdrift Wolf, which specialized in combating divine beings, the Zanpakutō, designed to destroy souls and inhabited by a fragment of Algol, was vastly more lethal.
In an instant, Zazalamagiu's soul was pushed to the brink of death, and in the next moment, it was swallowed and digested by Algol.
At the same time, the frozen mass turned gray, cracked apart, and collapsed into fine sand that scattered across the floor.
'Huh? This ugly thing still had followers?' Algol muttered in surprise. Then her tone turned strange. 'Not just followers. There's also a proxy vessel…'
Hearing that, Ryo immediately looked toward the unconscious girl lying inside the coffin: Celesta Ciate.
'You mean that girl?'
'…Yes. That makes things easy~' There was a playful edge to Algol's voice. 'I will modify her a bit. After that, keep her by your side. I'll use her as a descent vessel when I feel like it.'
'It's just a shame her looks are so average. Otherwise, she might've been able to handle one-billionth of my beauty.'
Hearing that regretful tone, Ryo glanced at Celesta and felt his stomach churn slightly.
To be honest, Celesta wasn't ugly at all. Her wheat-colored skin, golden curls, decent features, slender figure, and exotic charm were all very much to his taste. She was a rare beauty.
Sure, compared to Algol she fell short, but "one-billionth" was pushing it.
…Forget it. Arguing with this woman about beauty is a losing battle.
Sighing internally, Ryo turned to Yukina and gave an order.
"Yukina, work with Sayaka and take the girl from the coffin away. Let me know once she wakes up."
"Yes."
Yukina responded obediently.
Sayaka hesitated a bit, glancing at La Folia before nodding as well.
"Hehe~" La Folia raised her eyebrows smugly.
Ryo had sent Yukina and Sayaka to handle such a trivial task instead of her. Didn't that mean her relationship with him was closer than theirs?
It was a small thing, but doing it right in front of Sayaka felt great. La Folia rather enjoyed having the upper hand.
'Damn bitch… what are you so smug about…'
Sayaka cursed inwardly, irritation flickering across her face.
But in the next second, her expression brightened.
"La Folia, go call Natsuki for me. I need to discuss something important with her tonight."
The smile vanished from La Folia's face.
Meanwhile, Sayaka wore a mocking, satisfied grin.
Losing to Natsuki Minamiya wasn't embarrassing. But La Folia's earlier smugness? That was.
"Your Majestyyyy~" La Folia clung to Ryo with a pout.
"It's just calling someone," Ryo said, rolling his eyes. "Is that really worth sulking over?"
"Tch…"
La Folia clicked her tongue, clearly unhappy, but she still had no choice but to go fetch Natsuki.
'You've already had your fill and now you're treating me like this…'
She left the room filled with resentment.
Once Ryo was alone, he leaned back on the sofa and let out a helpless sigh.
"There aren't even that many of them yet… and they're already fighting like this…"
His thoughts drifted back to the gentle, lovely Moon Rabbit still in Little Garden.
At least that silly rabbit never fought for affection.
Shaking his head to clear the thoughts, Ryo leaned back and spoke aloud. "Algol, are you still there?"
"Spit it out. I've got ten minutes before I go do my beauty sleep."
"Do you know anything about Leviathan?" Ryo asked quickly.
"Hm? This world has a Leviathan too?" Algol immediately caught his intent.
She spread out her perception. Not long after, her voice lit up with excitement.
"There really is another version of me, a Lilith! Wow, and it's on this island! Interesting. I didn't even buff my luck today."
"Oh?" Ryo raised an eyebrow, then smiled. "Sounds like I know what we're doing next."
.
.
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