Ophis ate with quite a hearty appetite, though for a being who was fundamentally a dragon, that wasn't exactly an issue. Despite eating so much, her stomach showed no signs of bloating. Is the Infinite Dragon God infinite not just in power, but in stomach capacity too?
Rhode didn't dwell on it. Keeping Ophis on his lap, he began teaching her how to play video games. Considering she was a beginner, he picked some simple titles to play together. Once the game screen loaded, Ophis stared at it with intense focus. To her, electronic games were a completely unknown and wondrous frontier. Within moments, she was fully immersed.
Unfortunately, Ophis had zero gaming talent. Perhaps because of her lifestyle, she didn't react even when her character was being attacked. She just kept pressing the same few buttons in a fixed pattern. When the character was defeated, she would look up at Rhode. He would hit "continue," and she would go right back to her repetitive inputs.
Despite that, Rhode could tell she was having fun. She eventually stopped sitting upright and leaned back completely into his chest.
Time ticked by. Happy hours are always short. Seeing that it was getting late in Japan, Rhode prepared to head back, but Ophis grabbed his sleeve.
"Are you leaving?"
"Yeah. I'll come play with you again next time."
"Can you stay a little longer?"
Looking at Ophis's expressionless face, Rhode felt conflicted. He had calculated the time—Lavinia's "monthly visitor" should have left today, and he had been looking forward to that for a while. But now he was being held back by a dragon.
In the end, Rhode gritted his teeth and made the difficult decision to temporarily abandon his plans for "intimate contact" with Lavinia. He stayed to keep Ophis company. However, he couldn't stay forever; a Seraph from Heaven was coming to see him tomorrow morning. Whatever it was about, he had to be there.
The night hours passed a bit more slowly. Under Rhode's patient guidance, Ophis's gaming skills actually improved a bit—at least to the point where her character didn't just stand there and die.
By the time it was the middle of the night in Japan, Ophis yawned, dropped the controller, and fell asleep leaning against Rhode.
"You really don't hold back, do you?" Rhode looked down at the black-haired loli leaning against him and smiled. His plan to increase her favorability was going swimmingly.
On second thought, it made sense. Ophis might have lived for an eternity, but her mind was as simple as a child's. While she could act mature in certain aspects, in most situations, she was no different from a ten-year-old. It wasn't just about her mental age, but her social experience. In her relationships with others, she was always in a passive position.
In the past, after being driven out by Great Red, she had searched the world for allies to reclaim the Dimensional Gap. But every faction was terrified of her power. Some might have coveted it, but the moment they heard she wanted to take on Great Red, they instantly abandoned any thought of cooperation.
When people ranked the top ten strongest beings in the world, they often left Great Red out of the list by default—but even so, no one doubted that Great Red was the strongest. He was simply ignored because he never interfered in the affairs of the world.
Once the various mythological factions learned that Ophis had been exiled by Great Red, they all chose self-preservation. They didn't know the specifics of the feud, but they knew that helping her could potentially draw Great Red's attention. Though the gods and demons of the various pantheons didn't always agree on the "Top 10" rankings, they were well aware that Great Red was a force they couldn't hope to oppose. As long as he stayed in the Dimensional Gap, there was no reason to go looking for world-ending trouble.
This was why Ophis was constantly rejected. The Chaos Brigade, however, was a terrorist organization that didn't care about such things. They gave her lip service about helping her defeat Great Red, but in reality, other than borrowing her influence and power, no one actually intended to cross paths with the True Dragon.
Rhode wasn't sure if Ophis realized she was being tricked. Judging by the current situation, she probably didn't. Or rather, she had no choice but to trust the Chaos Brigade. After all these years, they were the only ones who had answered her call.
From Rhode's knowledge of the original story, the conflict between Great Red and Ophis was quite simple. Great Red's duty was to maintain the stability of the Dimensional Gap and defend against invasions from other worlds—specifically the EXE world. Rhode wasn't sure if Great Red knew about the specifics of the cybernetic invaders from that realm, but as the world's strongest, he likely sensed the threat.
Because of this, Great Red drove Ophis out to ensure the Dimensional Gap remained stable. If the "Transformers" of the EXE world discovered Earth during this period, the entire planet would become a battlefield within a month. At that point, Maou-class or Chief God-class beings—even Great Red himself—would be nothing more than "dogs by the roadside" to be cut down by the invaders.
Around 8:00 AM in Japan.
Rhode's figure appeared in the courtyard of his manor in Kuoh Town. He let out a long yawn and stretched. Because of Ophis, he hadn't slept all night.
When he walked into the living room, he happened to run into Xenovia and Irina, who were already dressed in their nun habits.
Xenovia noticed Rhode walking in from outside and asked curiously, "You're up early. I just went to your room to rai—I mean, to find you, but you weren't there. I didn't think you'd be out of bed already."
She knew Rhode was usually a slacker, especially in the mornings. On days he didn't feel like getting up, he'd stay in bed until noon. Both girls were incredibly envious of that, especially in winter when they had to rely on sheer willpower to get up while Rhode stayed under the warm covers browsing his phone.
"I was playing with a black-haired loli until now. I came back the moment she fell asleep. Didn't sleep a wink." Rhode glanced at their outfits. "Are you off to see your boss?"
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High School DxD : Reincarnated into the Multiverse, but it's High School DxD (256 Chapters – Ongoing)
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