"Honestly, I've had rotten luck." Heracles shook his head in frustration before turning his gaze successively toward Doma and Jack.
The demigod hadn't stayed angry at Brunhilde for long—his good nature prevented it, and besides, this wasn't the time.
He had to face two opponents his instincts deemed unusual.
With a final sigh, he resolved to go all out in this fight.
"Between a murderer and a man who's forsaken his humanity, my turn in the Ragnarök is… unsettling," the demigod muttered, unaware of Doma's multicolored eyes fixed on him.
"Haha, sorry for being such a letdown, Heracles-senpai. May I call you that?" Doma asked in a lighthearted tone.
Surprised by the demon's casual demeanor, the Greek hero nodded unconsciously.
Doma's eyes narrowed into crescent moons, exuding an almost childlike cheerfulness, while a mischievous smile spread across his face.
"See, I'd love to get your autograph before our fight," he said with perfect sincerity, pulling out one of his spare fans.
It already bore Zeus's signature, but there was enough space on the other side for another.
"Are you serious?" Heracles asked, baffled by the unexpected behavior of the creature before him.
He wasn't the only one, as a murmur rippled through the stands.
"Isn't he just another opponent on the gods' side? I mean, he literally has Zeus's autograph, and now he wants one from Heracles!" shouted a man in formal attire, unable to hide his confusion and displeasure.
"Indeed, I'm starting to question this individual's neutrality," his neighbor replied after a brief silence.
Such whispers spread throughout the amphitheater, but Doma couldn't care less.
He genuinely admired Heracles and simply wanted his autograph.
The ice demon had never been one for rules and intended to do as he pleased.
As for the opinions of others? He didn't care, because for Doma, both his kindness and his cruelty stemmed solely from his own will.
'As a certain immortal would say: rules are like morality, chains imposed on you by the world,' he thought, holding out the fan to Heracles.
Sensing no ill intent from the demon, the Greek hero decided to grant his request.
He calmly approached, took the fan, and inscribed his signature on the blank side.
Throughout it all, Jack merely observed the scene in silence.
However, in his mind, a thousand thoughts swirled. He tried to discern the hidden ploy behind this seemingly innocent act.
But, to his great dismay, Doma had no ulterior motive.
He genuinely wanted a signature.
"Let the battle of the fourth round of Ragnarök begin!!!" Heimdall bellowed, his voice thundering through the amphitheater as the audience held its breath.
"Sorry, gentlemen, but…" Jack murmured, drawing the attention of the two divinities. The middle-aged man slightly tipped his hat to obscure his face and continued.
"It's tea time."
The mortal's words caught everyone off guard—except Doma.
Before Heracles could even react, Jack darted into an adjacent alley.
"Not so fast!" Heracles tried to catch him, but to no avail.
Jack was swift, even by the standards of the current Doma. The demon could track his movements by slowing his perception, but pursuit on foot was impossible.
The human was too agile and knew the terrain perfectly.
Heracles quickly realized this when he lost Jack's trail and ran into two Miko in his path.
Unlike the Miko from ninety-eight years ago, these no longer resembled cute little versions of Doma.
Each stood about one meter eighty tall and wore the ceremonial attire of the leader of the Eternal Paradise Cult.
'I get it, he's boxed me in,' Heracles analyzed, scanning the city rooftops and alleys.
Heracles' path was soon blocked by more Miko, bringing their total to six.
"Sorry for exploiting your distraction, but we must delay your advance," one Miko said in a cold, emotionless voice.
Yet, the creature's movements betrayed a genuine sense of regret, the kind anyone might feel when performing an unpleasant task.
No, the ice creatures had no real consciousness at that moment.
Even though Doma had grown stronger, increasing the number of Miko and the complexity of the protocols they could execute, they hadn't gained sentience comparable to Naruto Uzumaki's clones.
So how could these ice creatures speak and hold a conversation?
The idea came from the manga Code Geass and the functioning of the AIs I used on Earth.
In Code Geass , the protagonist Lelouch vi Britannia managed to trap his brother using a pre-recorded video.
The fallen prince had sent this footage to his target in a way that made it seem like a live video call.
Thus, the new emperor had tricked his sole rival to the throne into conversing with a pre-recorded video.
Similarly, Doma's Miko used protocols stored in their database, drawing from the Vanity Paradise as a reference to respond to Heracles' words.
There was no real emotion or politeness behind their words—just logical responses to the information received from Heracles during the verbal exchange.
"A summon? No, more like an ice golem," Heracles muttered as a massive flurry of ice petals hurtled toward him.
"Blood Demon Art: Ice Lotus"
(Image)
"Blood Demon Art: Ice Pillar"
(Image)
"Blood Demon Art: Winter Priestess"
(Image)
"Blood Demon Art: Blizzard"
(Image)
After the lotus petal attack, the ice Miko took turns against Heracles.
The ice creatures rained down long-range attacks while avoiding direct confrontation with the demigod.
Doma had gained immense control over his powers after consuming Beelzebub's blood.
A logical outcome, since the supernatural abilities of Muzan's demons stemmed from flesh and blood.
Thus, the Miko had benefited from their creator's new nature: their physical strength and destructive power had become considerable.
But this hadn't made Doma any more arrogant.
The demigod facing the ice creatures had accomplished numerous feats through sheer physical strength alone.
Thus, the Miko adopted a "hit-and-run" protocol against the muscle-bound giant.
They played it cautious.
"Coward! Stop hiding behind your creatures and face me!" Heracles' adamantine mace transformed after he noticed the frostbite covering his body.
'The ice shards resembling petals aren't the real threat—it's the cold that's the problem,'he thought, observing the Winter Priestesses altering the climate of the artificial city.
His experience had already given him an idea of Doma's tactics, and he didn't hesitate to use drastic measures.
"Take this!! Seventh Labor: Cretan Bull!" Heracles roared as the divine mace crashed down on the two buildings the Miko were using to harass him.
(Image)
"Don't think I've forgotten about you!" Immediately after, he concluded his offensive by striking the ground.
If the first attack targeted the two Miko on the rooftop, the last destabilized the four others on the ground with a mini-earthquake.
Heracles didn't hesitate for a second and closed the distance to the two Miko in front of him, ignoring those behind.
"Use protocol beta 1#, or else…" The thought of losing two more Miko after Heracles' named attack alarmed the ice creature.
Fortunately, luck was on its side.
The Miko slightly behind on that side managed to follow its instructions quickly enough and activated protocol beta 1#.
It transformed into Kokushibo and parried Heracles' mace strike using data on the combat style of Upper Moon 1.
It countered brute force with technique.
"Moon Breathing Style: First Form—" Heracles was thrown off by the Miko's transformation but quickly regained his composure and clashed his mace against the ice blade.
The result?
The Miko crashed through several buildings after its katana shattered against the divine weapon.
Even though the Miko's weapons were crafted from Doma's flesh and blood, Heracles' weapon was no ordinary divine armament.
It had even destroyed the weapons Jack had transformed into divine armaments.
"Protocol beta 1# ineffective, switching to protocol Omega 2#," declared the surviving Miko after its counterpart's destruction.
Heracles didn't fully understand the ice golem's purpose, but he knew one thing:
'I need to destroy it quickly and find Jack and their creator,' the demigod thought before suddenly coughing.
"B-blood?"
The ice dust was starting to take effect.
…
Under the power of the Miko and Winter Priestesses, the artificial city endured a harsh winter.
The cold wind howled, and Heracles' roars, as he pursued the Miko, echoed from time to time.
However, there was one surprisingly calm place, far from the chaos.
"Could I have some tea?"
The Brit was calmly sipping his tea, watching the destruction and snow fall over London.
Unfortunately, his tranquility was abruptly interrupted by a familiar voice.
A silhouette blocked the sunlight as the ice demon stood before the Englishman's table.
"Hm… of course, it would be rude to refuse tea to a guest," Jack said, gesturing for Doma to take a seat.
"Would you like more sugar or some pastries?" the middle-aged man asked, elegantly offering accompaniments and sugar.
"Gladly." Doma accepted the sugar cubes in his cup and drank with a refined gesture, as he had learned from observing Kokushibo.
One of the few good things the ice demon had retained from his time with the Upper Moon.
After taking a sip, the demon flashed a grateful smile at the man across from him, paying no mind to the poison in his veins.
Jack's subtle attack was useless, but the human was unaware of this.
"Pardon my forward question, Sir Doma, but… if you're here, then?" Jack's eyes gestured toward the chaos in the distance.
"Oh! That? I'm also there," Doma replied casually, raising more questions than answers.
After this brief exchange, few words passed between the two men.
Only the sound of sipping tea filled the air.
Yet, Doma began to let out a genuine laugh at that moment, which genuinely surprised Jack.
The London killer couldn't know that Doma found it amusing to watch Heracles and the human slowly poison themselves with the winter.
Especially since Jack had tried to poison him as well.
'Didn't he lack emotions until now? Could he simply be hiding them… or worse, controlling them?' Jack wondered, analyzing the man beside him.
But he didn't dare delve deeper into what he knew about Doma because of his next move.
"Tell me, what do you think about working for me and abandoning humanity? Becoming a demon isn't so bad, you know~" Doma's sudden and unexpected proposal shocked Jack and the Valkyrie in his mind.
***
Author's Note: Yes, this chapter came out late because I wasn't satisfied with the end of the arc (sorry, I don't like overly simple happy endings).
So I rewrote everything from scratch (over 2,000 words thrown in the trash sigh), but this chapter has more than 1,700 words, and the second part will have at least 1,500 words sigh I'm killing myself here.