— — — — — —
Indra's first reaction was that the Loki in front of him had to be messing with him.
The Twelve Olympians were gone? Just like that?
This wasn't one or two gods. It was an entire pantheon. The disaster involved the Five Primordial Gods of the first generation and a whole host of second-generation Titans.
Sure, most of the Titans had long since been imprisoned in Tartarus, but that still left the Five Primordial Gods and the Twelve Chief Gods.
Working together, they might not be able to defeat the three factions at their peak, but against the factions that had already lost the Creator God, they should have stood a fighting chance.
At the very least, they shouldn't have lost this quickly.
"Did Creator make a move?"
That was Indra's first thought.
He had repeatedly confirmed that invincible God was dead. At least, the physical body was dead. But the will contained within the Holy Spear had always seemed suspicious to him.
Because of that, he'd long harbored the suspicion that the Creator God might rise from the grave one day.
He just had no proof.
"No."
Ryo answered simply. Meanwhile, he was already working on breaking apart the communication spell and tracing Indra's location.
"If it wasn't the Creator God, then who? Has Sirzechs been hiding that much strength?"
Indra frowned.
He could believe someone was concealing their true power. People of similar levels could usually sense when something was off.
But he was absolutely certain Sirzechs didn't possess the strength to wipe out the Twelve Chief Gods and the Primordial Gods in such a short time.
If that wasn't it, then he'd clearly missed an important variable.
"Was it that Yagami fellow? Or maybe Ophis?"
Indra continued guessing.
There weren't many unknown powerhouses around. Excluding outside influences, Ryo Yagami was an obvious suspect.
Though Ophis was an even bigger one.
"Partially."
Ryo smiled as if encouraging him to keep guessing.
A vein twitched on Indra's forehead.
He wanted to curse him out, but it was hard to criticize Loki for being exactly the sort of annoying schemer Loki had always been.
People who only told half the story and spent their lives weaving conspiracies were the worst.
...Wait.
I'm one of those people too.
Never mind.
Shaking his head, Indra gave him an odd look, "You weren't involved in this yourself, were you?"
He still couldn't believe it.
In fact, he'd already asked something similar. But he couldn't help asking again.
Are you an idiot? You actually helped the three factions attack Greece?
That was like a member of one tribe teaming up with an alliance to beat his own tribe for no benefit. Had Loki lost his mind?
Even the most chaos-loving villain wouldn't help create a one-sided stomp.
Wasn't it better to keep both sides evenly matched and slowly bleed them dry over centuries, just like the ongoing war between the three factions?
And this fool called himself an Evil God?
Indra, a supposedly righteous deity, was better at plotting than he was.
What a disgrace to villainy.
"Maybe."
Ryo once again gave a maddeningly ambiguous answer.
The vein on Indra's forehead bulged even harder.
If he could physically get his hands on Loki right now, he'd already be rolling up his sleeves.
This was infuriating. They were supposed to be partners, yet Loki refused to explain anything and kept turning every conversation into a guessing game.
Utterly insane.
"Loki, do you even know what you're doing?" Indra snapped. "At least let them fight for a while!"
His original plan had been perfect.
Greece and the three factions would go to war, creating a prolonged conflict. Both sides would spend the early stages probing each other, mobilizing troops, and escalating gradually.
Meanwhile, he'd stir up trouble, add fuel to the fire, and slowly spread the flames across the world.
But now?
He had only just finished invading Takamagahara and assassinating Susanoo.
Then, before he could even enjoy the results, Greece got wiped out.
On paper, the two events looked similar. In reality, they were completely different.
One was the assassination of a Chief God. The other was the extermination of an entire pantheon.
The first was a spark. The second was a tidal wave.
That tiny flame he'd worked so hard to ignite was about to be drowned outright.
"I think it saves a lot of time, don't you?"
Ryo was being entirely honest.
If you were going to attack someone's home base, Greece was the obvious first target.
Very fitting for a Saint Seiya.
After all, Saints were seasoned experts at civil wars.
Didn't believe him? Just ask the generations of Gemini Saints who had practically made internal conflict an art form. They'd definitely give Ryo a thumbs-up.
"You!"
Indra nearly blew a gasket.
This deadweight was actually proud of himself?
Sure, he'd saved time... Dammit, he'd saved Greece right out of existence.
The war had basically been canceled before it started.
Why stop at being the God of Deception and Evil?
He might as well become the God of Peace.
"I've had enough arguing with you."
Indra waved his hand.
Trying to discuss conspiracy and strategy with Loki was clearly a mistake.
He began chewing on his fingernail, visibly irritated.
"I need to figure out a way to drag Hinduism into this too. We can't just let things end here."
Ryo, who had nearly finished tracing him, suddenly paused.
Meanwhile, Indra continued muttering to himself, "No. With the situation like this, we can't let the three factions settle down either. We need to activate all our hidden assets in the Khaos Brigade. Otherwise they'll finish digesting the gains from Greece, and Hinduism will definitely retreat into its shell."
"And Norse Mythology, Persian, even the Irish. We can't let any of them stay quiet."
"Oh, right. Rizevim should've discovered Trihexa (666) by now. Can't let him keep that card in reserve forever..."
After finishing his train of thought, Indra turned back toward Loki.
Only to find him wearing a very strange expression.
"Loki, what's with that look?"
"Nothing." Ryo's smile became particularly meaningful.
Suddenly, he wasn't in such a hurry to capture Indra anymore.
What a wonderful person.
This guy was practically volunteering to gather every enemy Ryo wanted to deal with and deliver them right to his doorstep.
What kind of spirit was this?
The more Ryo thought about it, the more he felt a strange affinity with people named Indra.
Every single one of them seemed determined to bring him gifts.
They were truly, genuinely good people.
"..."
Indra frowned.
But he had no interest in continuing the conversation.
After a brief grumble, he said, "For the time being, you'd better stay out of sight. Helping the three factions take down twelve Chief Gods isn't exactly a small matter. Keep your head down for a while."
"Of course, if someone asks me to go after you, I'll still do it publicly. But behind the scenes, take care of yourself."
See? This was the advantage of having allies among the good guys.
Ryo had no doubt that Indra was capable of protecting "Loki."
Just like the Heavenly Army in Little Garden, Indra oversaw a major organization composed of righteous gods in this world. Namely, the military forces of Buddhism, one of the primary powers responsible for punishing evil and defending justice.
So if a world-threatening criminal ever appeared, Indra genuinely had the authority and ability to act as an insider.
"Then I'll look forward to your good news."
Ryo ended the call himself.
With Indra around, he had absolutely no concerns about future "harvests."
At this point, he could practically count himself among the three great masterminds of the High School DxD world.
As for who those three were?
Indra.
Rizevim Livan Lucifer.
And Loki.
Of course, aside from Indra, the other two were barely worth mentioning. Indra at least qualified as a major figure with influence on both sides of the law. The other two couldn't even dream of orchestrating world-spanning incidents on the same scale.
...
After the communication ended, Indra's eyes sharpened.
"Hearing all that, and Loki didn't immediately try to stir things up further. What's going on with him?"
He had sensed something unusual.
He just couldn't identify exactly what.
At most, he could suspect that the three factions had somehow done something to Loki.
The thought made alarm bells ring quietly in his mind.
Perhaps... Perhaps it was time to contact the people on the Evie Etoulde side (ExE).
For some reason, he had the growing feeling that something was seriously wrong.
.
.
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