After leaving Kuroka in Rias's care, Zeroy departed the Underworld and returned to Kuoh Town. Through Azazel, she obtained Vali's location, and through Vali, she learned where the Hero Faction was.
The Hero Faction—a sub-group of the Khaos Brigade led by Cao Cao, similar to Vali's team. Most of its members, like Cao Cao, were descendants or inheritors of heroes' souls.
However, the Hero Faction's strength far exceeded that of Vali's current team. Its leader, Cao Cao, not only wielded the strongest Longinus, the [True Longinus], but his team also included two other Longinuses: [Dimension Lost] and [Annihilation Maker].
"This mist…"
When Zeroy and Patchouli found one of the Hero Faction's members, Zeroy immediately launched an attack. In the storyline, the Hero Faction wasn't entirely villainous. At least part of them had even fought alongside the main cast.
So when Zeroy located this target, she first used Hellfire and Evil Slayer to judge them. If they weren't unforgivable evil, then she would talk, then fight to fulfill the 'Challenge the Strong' mission.
She didn't need to seize the True Longinus; failing the mission wasn't a problem. Yet if the judgment marked them as evil—then she would act immediately, exterminating them as she would pests.
And this one failed the judgment. Nothing left to say. She attacked directly.
After having his abdomen slashed open, the target immediately activated his Longinus. Seeing the effect it produced, Zeroy recognized him. A Longinus that released mist, and a member of the Hero Faction. She couldn't recall the name, but there was only one match: the wielder of [Dimension Lost]. She remembered this one was the strategist type of the group.
[Dimension Lost] was typically used to create battlefields advantageous to the Hero Faction. Its effect was to release aura forming a domain that sealed space, forcibly shifting targets into another dimension. Its Balance Breaker, [Domain of the Mist], further enhanced the isolation of space. The host of [Dimension Lost] was also a magician, like Patchouli, versed in vast amounts of magic.
"Patchi, he probably has knowledge that will interest you. I'll stay out of this one."
"Alright."
Patchouli first used [Azure Box of Revolution] to create a matching subspace, countering the field of [Dimension Lost], and then used [Ultimate Karmic Wheel] to alter rules and erode it further. The two vanished, entering the subspace Patchouli had created.
Zeroy turned her gaze in another direction. The wielder of [Dimension Lost], upon being attacked, had clearly sent a call for help to his allies. Now, his reinforcements were arriving.
The first was a dark-skinned boy. He didn't seem like a great villain—yet he failed the judgment nonetheless. He bore the Longinus [Annihilation Maker], and several beasts appeared alongside him.
"Unfortunate. You came too early."
Zeroy casually cut down the beasts lunging at her, sighing in regret. The difference in power was too great. His own strength was only about equal to Rias's—roughly that of a high-class devil. It was only thanks to the Longinus that he could fight on par with Demon Lord level beings. Still, against Zeroy, the beasts he summoned were nothing but blood packs to restore her.
The remaining Hero Faction members weren't slow to arrive—barely a minute later, they reached the battlefield. Yet when Siegfried and Jeanne arrived, what they saw were fading beast corpses littering the ground, and Leonardo lying in a pool of blood, his body severed in two, lifeless. His Longinus [Annihilation Maker] was in the hand of the blond girl.
"You…!"
The sudden death of their comrade drove Jeanne into fury, while Siegfried sneered.
"Ah… you two also failed the judgment."
The blond girl's words made no sense to them. Jeanne and Siegfried, though not Longinus wielders, were far stronger than Leonardo. Especially Siegfried, who was a warrior cultivated by the Church from the genes of the hero Siegfried himself, once their top exorcist. He wielded the subspecies Longinus [Dragon Hand], the demonic sword Gram, and multiple legendary magic swords.
When Cao Cao arrived with Heracles, the two were only battered. Jeanne, weaker of the two, had even lost a hand, though at least neither had yet been reduced to "hero fragments" by Zeroy.
"Hm? You failed the judgment too?"
Zeroy's brows knit slightly as she looked at Cao Cao and his companion. Then understanding flashed in her eyes.
Cao Cao—his reasons for joining the Khaos Brigade, for forming the Hero Faction, all his actions boiled down to two goals. One: to explore the limits of humanity. Two: to prove to gods and heavens that humans were not weak. To that end, he constantly stirred up conflicts, challenging pantheons.
On the surface, nothing seemed wrong with that. He didn't target ordinary humans. In a sense, he even spoke on their behalf. Nevertheless, he clearly did not care about the weak innocents caught in the conflicts he started. For the sake of his ambition, how many innocents had been dragged into chaos? It was only natural he was judged as evil.
And the others, following him all the way, indulging his rampage—they too were evil. Even if they hadn't personally attacked innocents, being lookouts, guards, accomplices—they weren't blameless. Not enough to deserve death outright, albeit the accumulation of such guilt left nothing to be said.
"Who are you? Why are you attacking us?"
Cao Cao's face was grave. He had rushed as quickly as possible, yet already there were casualties. Georg with [Dimension Lost] was gone without a trace, his fate unknown.
"Pointless to say more. Today, you're all going out of print!"
Descendants and inheritors of heroes? If they weren't pests, Zeroy might have spared them interest, even curiosity. Since they were pests, however, she didn't care about heroes or not.
They had, in fact, disgraced the very name of heroes.
...
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