At the same time, several kilometers away from the cemetery where Raize was, inside a residential building.
A young man with a gentle appearance and amiable demeanor was sitting on a living room sofa, holding a chubby orange cat and gently stroking it. His half-lidded, indifferent eyes were fixed on the television to pass the time. The cat in his arms squinted comfortably and let out contented purring sounds.
Two other kittens lay sprawled across his thighs. He clearly liked small animals.
Although a gloomy aura of death radiated from his body, the cats showed no fear at all.
This was thanks to his powerful skill, Animal Affinity, which functioned as a kind of misdirection.
"Hm?"
Suddenly, the gentle-looking young man paused. His hand stroking the cat stopped, and a trace of black deathly energy flashed through his lifeless eyes as he turned his head to the side.
He was the King of the Night, a zombie who once belonged to a famous organization in the underworld, a member of the Seventh Abyss.
After being saved from a fatal injury by Eu, he became a zombie.
Afterward, he lost any real sense of being alive and grew tired of his half-dead existence. He believed that death was true peace, and that forcing himself to live was worse than dying cleanly.
But he couldn't kill himself. Eu's power prevented him from dying completely. As one of the strongest beings in this world, only someone on Eu's level could truly kill him.
Such as the Infinite Dragon God, the Great Red, and similar existences.
Of course, holy beings and angels were extremely effective against dark undead like him.
Unfortunately, he couldn't meet any of them, so he placed his hope of release on Eu instead.
His immortality had been granted by Eu, and taking it back should be easy.
He even wished to die by Eu's hand.
But Eu, as a necromancer closest to death itself, detested death and would never kill a former friend with her own hands.
The King of the Night understood her pain, but he had no alternative. The only one who could grant him release was Eu. Being ended by her was his sole desire. For that, he had stirred conflict among multiple factions, causing massive destruction in hopes of provoking her to kill him.
Yet even her rage and words of power only made him disappear temporarily.
"Did that Kyoko die? Did she offend something she shouldn't have while collecting sacrifices?"
After Kyoko's complete death, the King of the Night sensed through certain means that the one trying to help him achieve release had perished.
His relationship with Kyoko was more transactional than hierarchical.
Kyoko knew his past and wanted to help him achieve permanent death, while he provided her with power and Biological Orbs. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement.
Now that she was suddenly dead, the King of the Night felt that his plans would become a bit more troublesome.
Having long lost any attachment to life, he didn't care about Kyoko's death. The only thing that mattered to him was his own release, and for that he would stop at nothing.
He had already learned that Eu had come to the human world, so he followed her here.
Kyoko had merely been a pawn to help fulfill his wish. Her disappearance was nothing more than an inconvenience.
"Looks like I'll have to rearrange things…"
The King of the Night's furrowed brow gradually relaxed. Kyoko's death was just another minor obstacle among many he had faced over the years in pursuit of his tragic wish.
Everything was for the sake of finally finding peace.
"Eucliwood… I want you to grant me the 'peace' I crave. No matter how many times it takes, I will never give up…"
---
Back at the ruined cemetery, now restored to his original form, Raize also dismantled the barrier he had set up.
"So this is my first time swallowing a life…"
Raize looked around at the devastation, then glanced down and touched his stomach. Swallowing a beautiful serial killer for the first time didn't feel particularly uncomfortable.
Still, the emotions were complicated.
Although he gained many benefits from Kyoko, even without any form change, the magic she learned from Villiers alone was already a big gain.
"Today was really busy. Time to go home…"
Raize looked up at the bright full moon hanging in the sky. He had no intention of staying any longer in this eerie, ruined cemetery.
Just as he was about to activate acceleration mode and head home, Raize's calm gaze suddenly turned icy.
"Enjoy spying on others from the shadows so much? Then die in the darkness forever."
In an instant, he activated the Eightfold Thunder Annihilation. Crackling lightning condensed around his right hand as he blasted toward a certain corner from afar.
Damn it, tonight his luck was really awful. There were always some shady rats peeking at him from the shadows.
That made Raize furious.
Boom!!
A crackling lightning fist force roared out through the void, instantly blasting and vaporizing a large swath of tombstones and earth.
When the dust raised by the lightning strike slowly dispersed, Raize—his face cold and his heart on high alert—froze slightly. The arcs of electricity around his hand gradually calmed down.
Standing in the direction of his attack was a petite figure that looked somewhat familiar, as if he had just seen her not long ago. A layer of magical radiance surrounded her body.
That glow came from the conspicuous plate armor on the girl. Raize's attack had triggered the defensive protection of her armor.
Cold, snowlike moonlight poured down, illuminating the silver-haired girl whose presence was overwhelmingly strong. Her long, smooth silver hair reached her hips, seeming to emit a noble and icy brilliance, like a silver river pouring down from the heavens.
Her exquisite ice-blue eyes, gemlike in clarity, were as clear and blue as the ocean—not especially deep, but pure and flawless.
Eu stood quietly in the shallow crater created by Raize's attack, her beautiful eyes devoid of any emotion as she looked straight at him.
The silver-haired girl calmly took out a small notebook from behind her, lowered her head slightly, and raised her hand to write something on it.
Then she slowly turned the notebook around, presenting the written page to Raize, her delicate, pale face still calm as she looked at him.
Raize, whose expression was slightly gloomy, no longer felt any urge to attack. The other party was far stronger than him—on a completely different level.
(I have no ill intentions toward you. I just heard a very loud noise and came to take a look.)
"..." Eu wasn't lying. She really had come over because of the loud noise, and she truly had no malicious intent toward Raize.
Raize slowly retracted the condensed blue-white lightning arcs around his hand. After expressionlessly sizing her up from head to toe, he said nothing.
A powerhouse like Eucliwood wouldn't bother lying to him. If she truly had ill intentions, she could have killed Raize with just a word.
Silently looking at the girl opposite him—noble in temperament and exquisitely beautiful like a finely carved doll—Raize didn't want to get involved with her any further.
He knew she was a kind girl who generally wouldn't harm others, but his own situation didn't allow him to casually form connections with people.
Just as he was about to leave in silence, the quiet girl opposite him made a sound that left Raize speechless.
Gurururu...
A pitiful stomach growl, cute like a kitten's purr, came from the silver-haired girl. It seemed this necromancer girl was hungry.
After Raize cast her a strange, speechless look, the girl's delicate, pale face flushed slightly. A faint blush spread across her refined, rosy cheeks, making her look especially beautiful and moving under the moonlight.
The first time, Raize had ignored this girl's hunger. Seeing it happen again now made him fall silent. After all, the silver-haired girl exuded an aura that naturally inspired tenderness—just seeing her frown made people want to care for her.
After letting out a sigh, Raize took out a prepared bento box and a thick stack of yen from his inventory space, controlling them midair with his energy and quickly stuffing them into her arms.
Then, deliberately ignoring the surprised gaze of the silver-haired girl behind him, he turned around, entered acceleration mode, and vanished without a trace.
Eu blinked her beautiful blue eyes as she watched Raize disappear, then quietly lowered her head to look at the thick bento box in her arms. Disposable chopsticks had been thoughtfully placed on top, along with many bills of yen.
After a moment of silence, the girl put away the yen from the bento box, then sat down on a pile of broken stones. She placed the bento on her lap and gently opened the lid.
A dazzling yet non-blinding radiance burst forth from the bento box. A rich, intoxicating aroma spread out, making it impossible to resist. Eu's beautiful blue eyes widened slightly.
Subtle, brilliant light shimmered across the carefully arranged slices of meat—snake-frog meat slices, Kaila giant crocodile meatballs, Cinderella steak, puffer whale sashimi, and more. The meat dishes were extremely varied.
Eu opened the next layer of the bento, revealing all kinds of rice: golden rice, black corn rice balls, strawberry rice, and more.
There were also small cups of drinks, and the soup emitted a warm, fragrant aroma. This had originally been Raize's own lunch, usually prepared in advance and stored in his backpack space, to be enjoyed alone on the school rooftop.
Now, it had been given to this hungry silver-haired girl.
Eu's sapphire-blue eyes sparkled, her small throat bobbing as the rich, soul-soothing aromas poured uncontrollably into her delicate nose.
She picked up a small portion of strawberry rice with her chopsticks. The rice, composed of tiny strawberries, burst with a perfectly balanced sweet-and-sour flavor the moment it entered her mouth.
The supreme deliciousness made Eu's eating speed steadily increase. With each new dish, her movements became both more elegant and faster. She couldn't stop at all.
'Delicious.'
Eu rated the meal extremely highly in her heart. Since the day she was born, she had never eaten food this delicious.
"Mm…"
After finishing the soup and cola, Eu put away the bento box and contentedly patted her warm, round little belly. The energy contained in the fantasy ingredients was more than enough to fill her up, even leaving her a bit overstuffed.
If ordinary people ate unprocessed fantasy ingredients, even a small bite or a lick would make them feel overwhelmingly full, because the nutrients and energy contained within were simply too great.
Even the rainbow pudding Raize once used to reward employees had been carefully processed. If they had eaten unprocessed fantasy ingredients, it wouldn't just be a matter of feeling full.
The bento Raize gave to Eu was made from unprocessed ingredients. Given Eu's identity as someone from the underworld, as well as Raize's knowledge that she had a foodie trait in the original story, eating this meal wouldn't cause her any problems.
Elsewhere, because Raize returned late, another hungry Biblical loli God was somewhat dissatisfied. Knowing he was in the wrong, Raize directly took out a special food from his backpack space, stuffing it into the foodie's pouting mouth.
Having already eaten, and after encountering two troublesome characters that night, Raize prepared dinner for Sei and then returned to his room to clear Dream Westward Journey.
"Hopefully this time I can take another step forward in strength…"
Raize sat at his computer desk, staring intently at the screen. His arms turned into blurred afterimages as his fingers flew across the keyboard. Playing two characters at once was child's play for him.
The Wukong and Tang Sanzang characters he had trained were now high enough level, and through his efforts he had collected all the best equipment.
Now, the final boss stood before him—the Bull Demon King.
The Bull Demon King had three forms. The first was the beast form, which only charged left and right. As long as one dodged properly and counterattacked, it wasn't very difficult.
The second, humanoid form was only slightly stronger than the first. It could dash, summon evil spirits to attack, and occasionally switch back to beast form to charge. By seizing the right opportunities and wearing it down over time, victory was achievable.
The hardest was the Bull Demon King's third form—extremely difficult to fight, and known as the most time-consuming boss in the history of Dream Westward Journey.
It transformed into an enormous, immobile form. Only by attacking the heart that periodically appeared could effective damage be dealt.
Flame pillars would erupt from the ground from time to time, while a pair of massive demonic claws descended from the sky, sweeping back and forth in wide-area attacks.