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Once Anos revealed his holy power, neither Rias nor Sona could seriously consider reincarnating him as a devil.
No—
Before that, there was an even bigger issue.
There was no guarantee the ritual would succeed at all.
"President… if you aren't affiliated with the Church, how do you possess holy power?"
Tsubaki adjusted her glasses, clearly puzzled.
In theory, true holy power belonged only to high-ranking angels or sacred artifacts. Ordinary exorcists merely wielded holy light.
"I'm not entirely sure myself," Anos replied casually. "It awakened naturally when I encountered a stray devil."
It was, of course, a fabrication.
He couldn't exactly say: "I inherited the God of the Bible's divinity. If you pray to me, I might even collect faith from you."
Technically, he could draw faith from devils as well.
Heaven's current system structure prevented that sort of crossover But by manipulating the Ark Sphere's mechanics, he could bypass those limitations and absorb faith energy from any source.
The reason Heaven didn't do such a thing was simple.
If exposed, it could collapse the entire established belief system.
Anos had no such concern.
After all—
He didn't have a faith system to protect.
"Is there another possibility?" Sona spoke thoughtfully after a moment.
"What if you're descended from a hero with sacred attributes? Perhaps the method of awakening was lost over generations… and it just happened to resurface in you."
It sounded surprisingly reasonable.
"That's certainly plausible," Rias agreed.
"But Anos, having holy power doesn't automatically make you our enemy."
Perhaps driven by competitive instinct, Rias looped her arm around his again as she spoke.
A woman had to use her advantages, after all.
"Well, regardless, thank you for thinking of me earlier," Anos said to Sona with a faint smile. "You were trying to send me away with that Stanford offer, weren't you?"
"…Yes."
Sona nodded lightly.
Rias blinked in surprise.
So that had been Sona's intention?
She had assumed Sona wanted to relocate Anos somewhere difficult for Rias to access, keeping him for herself while maintaining private contact.
As one of the very few male friends they shared, Rias had been irritated by what she believed was secret maneuvering especially after those absurd rumors escalated out of control.
Only now did she understand.
She lowered her gaze slightly.
"Fufufu…"
From the doorway, Akeno watched with amusement.
"Well," Tsubaki said coolly, pushing her glasses up, "this is ultimately the fault of someone who spread information that never should have circulated."
Her gaze slid meaningfully toward Akeno.
Rias' information network wasn't large.
If rumors spread, Akeno was the most likely source followed by Koneko or Kiba But it certainly hadn't come from the Student Council side.
"Oh my~ I merely stated observable facts," Akeno replied sweetly, smiling without guilt.
Tsubaki could do little more than lightly protest.
—
After Rias departed, Anos retrieved several maps from the Student Council archives.
World map.
Asia.
Japan.
Kuoh Town.
Layer upon layer.
"President? Why so many maps?" Sona asked, puzzled.
"Earlier, you sensed it too," Anos said lightly. "Something descended beyond Kuoh's borders. I'm curious why that specific location was chosen."
That was his public explanation.
"Perhaps it was random," Sona replied, flipping through some reports. "My sister hasn't uncovered anything meaningful either."
According to Serafall, whatever had appeared was beyond their level of influence. Knowing more wouldn't change anything.
And so far, the world hadn't visibly shifted.
Just subtle undercurrents stirring beneath the surface.
"Call it personal curiosity," Anos smiled.
The truth, of course, was very different.
He was calculating Ophis' location.
Using the present as a baseline, he divided the world map in half and applied binary judgment.
Was Ophis in this half?
Yes or no.
Then divide again.
And again.
A perfect implementation of a binary search.
Eventually, coordinates would emerge.
If he adjusted the baseline to a future time point, he could even predict when and where Ophis would appear.
It would consume significant usage time—
But it was worth it.
Because he needed her power.
To activate the Ark Sphere's dimensional traversal function, he would require energy at least on Ophis' level if not beyond.
The True Dragon God of the Infinite resided within the Dimensional Gap itself.
Anos currently lacked the ability to survive there.
Which left only one viable option.
Ophis, who walked the human world.
Divinity alone wasn't enough.
He needed something more.
Within a short time, he determined her present location.
"The eastern continent… makes sense. If Cao Cao is involved, he'd keep her somewhere familiar."
The Old Satan Faction still existed. Though weakened, they had been deterred by Cao Cao's True Longinus.
And so they tacitly accepted that Ophis remained with the Hero Faction.
"At my current strength, playing the gallant hero rescuing a princess would be… unwise."
Anos exhaled quietly.
"I'll need a different approach."
With that, he rolled up the maps and headed off to class.
The storm was only beginning.
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~Support with 300 PowerStones = 1 Bonus Chapter
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