Chapter 836: Ch 835: The Evil Dragons Begin to Stir

While Eunomia was busy sending her little reports, Ryo helped Artemis over to a flat boulder and sat her down.

Then he turned toward the west. "Looks like Leticia's battle isn't over yet."

Artemis immediately replied, "Lyra won't lose. She's carrying my Authority of War. Right now, she has roughly a third of my power."

Ryo looked back at her, amusement flickering across his face. "So you weren't fighting at full strength either?"

"Of course not." Artemis lifted her chin proudly. "If I hadn't separated my Authority to keep myself from advancing into the Three-Digit ranks, then even if you'd gone all out..."

She trailed off as she met Ryo's half-smiling gaze.

Her confidence visibly faltered.

After shrinking back a little, she muttered, "...Even if you had gone all out, I still could've escaped."

"Pfft... Ahem!"

Ryo almost laughed.

Barely keeping a straight face, he nodded repeatedly. "Right, right. Lady Artemis is incredibly powerful. So what if your arms got broken and your leg snapped? If you really wanted to, you could probably kill someone just by biting them."

His sarcasm dripped from every word.

Then he suddenly frowned, "Actually... come to think of it, you've never even seen me fight at full strength, have you?"

Artemis's face darkened. She didn't bother arguing.

Instead, she simply said, "No matter what your full strength looks like, that vampire can't win."

"And if she does?" Ryo asked casually.

Artemis smiled knowingly. "You think I'm stupid? Your next sentence was going to be asking me to make a bet, wasn't it?"

"Oh?" Ryo grinned. "You've thought this through."

The hand wrapped in bandages lightly bumped her cheek.

"But unfortunately... I don't have a gambling habit."

Artemis, however, wasn't listening anymore. She simply stared blankly ahead, one hand slowly touching the spot on her cheek.

Several seconds later, she suddenly exploded. "You actually kissed me?!"

"When did I...? Oh." Ryo blinked. "Ohhh. If that's how you want to interpret it, I won't stop you."

"Go die!"

...

Watching the two bicker, Eunomia became more and more convinced that something strange was going on.

'A simple touch counts as a kiss?'

'Could it be... The moment they made physical contact, Lady Artemis unconsciously remembered everything they've secretly been doing together?'

'Oh, no! They're already at that stage? Things have progressed unbelievably fast!'

Thinking this, Eunomia silently updated her report.

{Relationship status updated: The two appear to have progressed to the verge of "going all the way." Please take note.}

After sending the message, she looked at the pair again.

Somehow, she couldn't help imagining that the future Fourth Generation of the Greek Gods would probably include one of Artemis's children.

'I wonder what Father Zeus would think if he saw this... he.. he'd probably die of rage.'

_ _ _

Little Garden, Outer Gate 78502—

In a city suspended high above the clouds, two tall figures cloaked from head to toe walked through its modern streets.

One of them was Azi Dahaka, the Evil Dragon from the DxD world known as the Diabolism Thousand Dragon. He was currently carrying out a mission for the Trickster Forum.

Without slowing his pace, he called back impatiently, "Orochi, what's taking you so long? If we don't hurry, how are we supposed to seal off the Babylon faction's headquarters downtown? Walk faster."

The other figure was Yamata no Orochi, another Evil Dragon from the DxD world, known as the Venom Blood Dragon.

"Come on, Azi." Orochi lazily flicked out his forked tongue and licked his lips, his greedy gaze wandering over the crowds passing by. "Little Garden really is paradise. So many people with such incredible life force. They're far better than Kushinadahime ever was when I wanted to eat her. What a shame... The Boss only told us to attack gods."

Azi frowned. "Wouldn't gods taste better than these beastmen?"

"They probably would." Orochi shrugged. "But is eating a beastman anywhere near as risky as eating a god?"

His reasoning was so straightforward that Azi could only stare at him coldly. "If you delay the mission because you're busy eating people... I won't wait for the Boss to punish you. I'll tear you apart myself."

"Ara~ Ara~" Orochi's forked tongue flicked through the air as he grinned. "Then I'm looking forward to seeing how many of my heads a three-headed dragon can actually rip off."

The two monsters glared at each other in the middle of the street.

Finally, they both snorted and resumed walking toward the city center.

A short while later...

BOOM!

A tremendous explosion erupted from downtown.

Black sheets of parchment poured from the sky like rain.

A divine radiance shot upward.

Then came a desperate roar.

"Enemy attack!! It's—"

The voice was abruptly cut off.

The tremors only intensified.

Moments later, the floating city began tilting violently.

Fifteen minutes later, the entire sky city crashed into the wilderness west of Outer Gate 78502.

...

Another ten minutes passed.

Groups of military divines clad in the Heavenly Army's black uniforms rushed to the scene.

"Damn it!"

The commander looked over the city's ruins while directing rescue operations. "This makes three... Three floating cities controlled by the Babylon Pantheon attacked in a single day."

"Damn it all! Which Demon Lord is responsible? And how did this happen without the slightest warning?"

At that moment, one of the soldiers hurried over. "Captain! We've got something! Some civilians overheard a warning the guardian deity shouted before dying!"

The captain's eyes lit up. "What is it? Tell me!"

The soldier swallowed nervously. Cold sweat covered his forehead.

"I-I'm told... Just before the Babylon god was killed... he shouted... 'Azi Dahaka.'"

"Azi Dahaka..." the captain repeated, his face instantly turning deathly pale. "Impossible... He and his avatars should have all been sealed away by Arcadia. It can't be... Unless... there are still survivors roaming free?"

Whatever the answer was, he knew one thing for certain.

This was no longer something he was qualified to handle.

Only a Floor Master. Only the Heavenly Army Commander. Only they could deal with a threat like this.

_ _ _

Outer Gate 500, Heavenly Army Headquarters—

Indra frowned as he read the latest report. It had just arrived from the lower layers.

Beside it lay an emergency intelligence report forwarded by Thousand Eyes.

"What happened?" Across from him, Uesugi Kenshin, her hand resting on the hilt of her katana, noticed his expression.

Indra slowly exhaled. "Azi Dahaka's avatars appear to have become active in the lower layers again."

Kenshin's expression immediately turned grim. "Should I go down there?"

"No." Indra shook his head. "Sending only you wouldn't be enough. And I have a very bad feeling about this."

He opened Thousand Eyes' report. Attached was a photograph.

It showed Azi confronting Orochi in the middle of a city street.

The image had been recovered from the only surviving fragment of a destroyed roadside surveillance device.

"His face doesn't match..." Indra murmured as he stared at the photograph. "But based on the residual aura at the scene... Yamata no Orochi... He should've been killed long ago..."

Indra remained silent for a long moment.

Finally, he stood. "Pass the order. Convene an emergency Heavenly Army council at once!"

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