Rias made a chilling expression as her body began to ooze with a deep red aura, and she said
“The reason…you won’t say it? I’ll ask one thing before I destroy all of you. —Are these the orders of Hades?”
Unexpectedly, the captain-level Grim Reaper answered with
<<We were told only to answer this question. —The answer is no. This is an order from the ultimate-class Grim Reaper Thanatos-sama. It is not an order from Hades-sama.>>
—What! All of us were both surprised and puzzled by his response. Wasn’t it Hades’ idea? “……? Thanatos? Not Hades…”
Rias also frowned and looked confused. …It could be a mere lie. But Ikuse-san had also told us of such a possibility. There could be more than one person issuing orders in the Netherworld—. In other words, if the situation was truly as he described, then the person targeting Koneko-chan wasn’t Hades, but instead the ultimate-class Grim Reaper called Thanatos? Bennia said
<< Thanatos-sama is also the strongest among all of the ultimate-class Grim Reapers. In any case, he is regarded as one of the oldest in the Netherworld.>>
Why would this powerful ultimate-class Grim Reaper act outside of the will of the Netherworld’s ruler Hades? We were full of doubts, but our opponents would not wait for us. <<All we need to capture is the cat! Go!>>
At the captain-level Grim Reaper’s command, the army of Grim Reapers swarmed in on us! “Damn it!”
I yelled out as I sent the Grim Reapers hurtling away! The scythes of the Grim Reapers could directly attack the souls of those who were struck! It was more terrifying than a normal physical attack! While we paid attention to this, we sent the Grim Reapers flying back one after the other. <<Kuh! Indeed, t-they’re strong!>>
The army of Grim Reapers began to hesitate as they witnessed our effortless strength which was more than enough to send them all tumbling back. The captain-level Grim Reaper roared
<<No! It’s the cat! Aim for the cat!>>
All of the Grim Reapers directed their eyes at Koneko-chan! That only made things easier for us! We surrounded Koneko-chan to protect her, and then launched our counterattack against the Grim Reapers—.Zashun!It was the sound of a swift and powerful slash which was accompanied by an enormous pillar of holy aura that rushed straight up towards the sky. Looking over — the captain-level Grim Reaper had been cut in half by a longsword that was enveloped in a holy aura. After the captain-level Grim Reaper was pitilessly eliminated, the person who appeared in front of us was — His Eminence Vasco Strada, wielding a longsword that emanated a holy aura! “Ho, this is…”
After seeing the scene before his eyes, he showed a fearless smile. He had eliminated a captain-level Grim Reaper with a single blow, and that demonstration of his strength left us speechless. Moreover, the sword in His Eminence Strada’s hand was a holy sword that bore a strong resemblance to Durandal. For today’s special training, the plan was for Crom Cruach and His Eminence Strada to arrive a bit later, but it seemed as though they were here now. —The next instant, the horde of Grim Reapers were blasted away by something with a single movement. It was Crom Cruach who had transformed his right arm into a gigantic dragon’s arm. His giant right arm had effortlessly pushed all of the Grim Reapers away. “…What’s this, are we practising how to defeat Grim Reapers today? Whatever, this isn’t too bad either.”
Aren’t you misunderstanding something!? After losing their leader, and coupled with the appearance of His Eminence Strada and Crom Cruach, the Grim Reapers’ formation was broken and they began to gradually retreat. <<Retreat!>>
After saying that, they quickly flew towards the empty hole! “Wait!”
“Hold it right there!”
Xenovia and Irina spread open their wings to pursue them, but Rias stopped them by saying
“You two, don’t follow them!”
After all of the Grim Reapers retreated, Rias sighed as she said
“…I’m already fully aware that Koneko is being targeted by the other side. This is important. And what comes next is to determine the reason — Bennia.”
Rias called Bennia’s name. “Can I use your channel to that side? I heard from Sona that you have a hidden line that can contact the Netherworld.”
After hearing that, Bennia nodded. <<I understand. Even I’m losing my patience here. Although it can’t be used too much, I will use it for an emergency like this.>>
Like this, we decided to use Bennia’s channel to directly contact the Netherworld. Lavinia tends to end almost all of her sentences in ‘nodesu’, which is probably just her style of speech. It makes her sound more natural and curious about everything as the ‘no desu’ puts a slight emphasis on the sentence’s meaning. Chuunibyou (lit. Middle School 2ndYear Syndrome) is hard to describe, though it would align with someone acting overly obnoxious and confident. Said person may also believe that they are more badass than they actually are and that they also have special powers. A type of Tsukumogami (possessed tool) found in Japanese folklore. Part 1
We returned home from the training space. After leaving the restorations, improvements and subsequent investigations to the Gremory House and the Underworld’s government, we returned to the Hyoudou residence. Because the surrounding area had been invaded, several powerful barriers had been erected around the Hyoudou residence, and we also borrowed some guards from the Three Factions as well. In order to prevent ordinary people from noticing, the Devils and Angels standing guard in the garden and at the front gate used techniques to conceal their presence from humans. In order to prevent my parents from being attacked again, they would be accompanied by invisible guards whenever they went out. This was our highest state of alert since the war against Qlippoth. In particular, the guards in our garden were the members of Roygun Belphegor-san’s peerage who had come here the other day to join our [Sekiryuutei of Blazing Truth] team. But, as Xenovia also said, it was impossible to cause any harm unless it was a worst-case situation in which our house was attacked by a god-class being of the strongest kind. As for the reason, it was because we still had Ophis and Lilith here. There shouldn’t be many gods capable of standing up to the Dragon God sisters. Although they were our last and strongest line of defence, it was still necessary to raise our vigilance given how many times we had been invaded so far. Damn it, where did the information on all of these barriers leak out from!? Under such circumstances, we gathered in the VIP room as we prepared to contact the Netherworld. It seems like we gather in the VIP room whenever something happens, though this was the original purpose of the room anyway. Bennia generated a communications-type magic circle on the desk, and once we finally made contact with the other side, we began to focus on them. A face from the other side appeared above the magic circle.