Bab 21: Survival
{Quest Completed!}
{Congratulations! Reo has acquired <<Advanced Sixth Sense>>}
{Reo can sense approaching dangers seconds before they reach his proximity. Advanced Sixth Sense allows Reo to have a more detailed threat estimation and allows Reo to gauge at the success chances of magic combination and usage against certain opponents.}
I could not even focus on checking the reward. Despite the voice ringing in my head, I heard not a single thing as my body ached from the exertion of continuous magic, and my mind felt numb after witnessing the destruction caused by the Lightning Strike.
"A-Are you alright?" Issei approached me with worry, nervousness, and judgmental eyes.
And I couldn't help but ask, "Issei… I was still unable to fully stand straight and was bent over with my hands on my knees. "I killed them, didn't I?"
The boy was taken aback just as much as I was. It was his first time witnessing someone being killed in front of him, and that too in such an extremely grotesque manner.
The stench of melted flesh still loomed around us, burning my nostrils and making me constantly feel like throwing up.
"You did…" He mumbled, unable to say anything beyond that.
I could not bear to look at the direction of the corpses and had to turn around, trying my best not to show the complex emotions on my face.
"Are you alright?" I asked, and the boy remained silent for a while.
Understandable.
I had just killed two people in front of him.
"You should get out of here," I suggested.
"What about you?" he questioned back.
And this time, I had to take a deeper breath.
"I have to go and check on Rias and the others."
Was I being stupid?
Most certainly. But seeing the quest completion message meant that Raynare and Kalawarner had either been killed or taken away.
But that made me worry about everyone on Rias' side.
"Did they also…" He looked down, "kill Maya and Yuuma?"
He did not understand anything about the Fallens and Devils. He only saw the Fallens being killed.
"I don't know." I gave an honest answer. "But if I hadn't killed them, they would have killed us."
I said that not to assure him, but to calm my own heart.
I didn't mean to kill them. I underestimated my magic, and it…
"Were they bad people?" Issei asked, unsure of what else to ask.
"They killed dozens of innocents." I believe I was highly underestimating their kill count. However, I didn't know the actual numbers either.
He clenched his fists but was unable to say anything about the deaths.
"Leave," I said. "You are just a human, and things will only get messier from here."
He looked at me confused. "Then what are you, a devil?"
My reply to that question was an unsure smile. "I am not a devil, but I am also trying to figure out what I am."
He stood staring at me for a moment, confused and worried. But after a while, realizing that he wasn't going to get any answers, he decided to leave.
"Stay safe," he said, "and explain everything to me when… when everything is stable."
He kept looking at the dead Fallen, which I couldn't even bear to look at.
"Yeah," I said. "Stay safe."
He looked at the corpses and then at me for a moment before walking away. He started with slow steps and then increased his pace, running away from the place that I couldn't stay any longer in.
The disgusting smell was too much to bear, and while I knew it was extremely stupid, I slowly walked toward the direction of the park.
A sense of worry followed me with each step.
Are they safe?
It is just one man and they are four. They should be able to win, right?
But I knew that I was just trying to console myself. The threat of that man was greater than the entire crew of Rias combined.
The only hope I had was that he wouldn't harm them. He wanted to leave too before Rias stopped him.
He won't ki—
No.
I should not have such thoughts.
And with worry in my mind that my heart tried to console, I reached the park.
My hands were still shaky and my legs weak. But despite that, despite knowing how stupid it was to come back in such a weakened state—I still walked inside.
I moved slowly, looking around the place.
The place that was uprooted in moments.
Slides gone, swings burned, bars broken, and ground shattered.
My heart dropped as I saw the scene around me, and it only felt worse when I heard a voice.
"The only reason you are alive and with all your limbs is because Azazel does not want to complicate matters further."
It was the voice of Vali Lucifer.
"You could have avoided it all if you had let me take those two idiots without interfering." He sighed, a sort of white armor covering his body except his head.
He showed a mocking smile. "Next time, either get stronger or call your brother. You are incapable of facing the power of Albion."
I did not understand what was happening, but I saw Rias and the others on the ground—in pain and in a rough state.
But alive and with all their limbs.
"You…" Rias gritted her teeth, pain most likely overwhelming her senses.
However, the boy didn't bother with her.
Instead, he looked in my direction, noticing my presence.
"You are smart not to engage," he said. "Although I want a good fight, you seem roughed up."
Rias barely managed to turn her head towards me as the rest of her team lay unconscious.
"R-Reo?" She muttered, "Why a-are y-you—"
But that question was cut short as her body gave up and she lost consciousness, lying numb on the ground.
"Just…" I had to ask. "Who are you?"
The boy, the one who had wrecked the entire place and nearly killed Rias and her crew, smiled.
"My name is Vali Lucifer, the White Dragon Emperor," he said. "A devil with blood far too complicated to explain. But you will learn about me soon if you do not die and stay in the world of the supernaturals long enough."
"What do you mean?"
He shook his head. "Don't think too much. It's complicated and political. For now, you should help them. They are alive but have more than just a few broken bones."
I was furious looking at the state of everyone, but I could do nothing about it.
I wasn't stupid enough to fight him or even yell at him.
"Why didn't you kill them?" It was a risky question to ask, but I was curious.
"I was ordered to bring back Raynare and her little group. That's all I did, and their attempt to stop me led to their current state. But I never came here to kill anyone." He looked amused. "I still haven't found the other two, though."
This made me unconsciously jerk upright.
"You…" His eyes squinted. "You know where they are, don't you?"
My heart started to race at that question.
How do I answer him?
How do I explain that I had killed the two Fallens he had been looking for?
Or maybe…
"I see."
I didn't need to.
"Looking at your condition and how you reacted to the mention of them…" He chuckled. "Did they put up a good fight?"
What?
He wasn't angry that I killed them?
He clearly figured out that I had killed the two, but why wasn't he angry?
"They… did." I answered semi-truthfully. While they were weak and died from one of my attacks, my lack of experience made the fight drag on longer than it should have.
"At least they didn't embarrass Azazel," he sighed.
"You… don't care about their deaths?"
I had been making foolish decisions, and this question was one of them.
But he merely laughed at me. "I do not care about any of them, not even their leader, Raynare. Azazel wanted Raynare alive at all costs, but he said nothing about the others. Kalawarner got lucky that she stayed with Raynare; otherwise, I wouldn't have batted an eye if she had died."
That…
He was truly a monster.
Not just by strength, but by his views as well.
"Where are Raynare and Kalawarner?"
"I sent them away," he said. "They are alive. But they will surely regret coming here." A sadistic smile appeared on his face. "Azazel might seem lax, but he is scarier than anyone when it comes to political matters."
I wanted to ask who Azazel was.
Yet I decided to refrain from asking too many questions.
"Take care of them," he pointed at Rias. "They won't be lucky another time."
I didn't argue; instead, I nodded and agreed.
"We might meet again soon," he said. "Grow stronger by then. Because next time, we won't be talking."
I have to fight this monster in the future?
"Why not kill me now if you have to fight me in the future?"
Once again, he laughed at the question. "Politics. I hate it, but I have to adhere to the political pacts."
What pacts?
"And above all, it is no fun fighting a weak opponent," he said. "Grow strong and don't die until we meet again. And maybe next time, I'll figure out more about the boy who was with you. After all… he smelled eerily familiar."
Issei was just a human; then why was he interested in him?
A question that had confused me since I first saw him. But it was best not to ask.
"Stay alive."
He repeated as the space around him cracked, revealing a dark purple void beyond it.
And it was the first time I saw him in full armor—his face covered by a newly formed white helmet and wings fully spread. With that appearance, he walked into the purple void, instantly sealing the crack in space and vanishing into thin air.
There was only me and the unconscious few lying on the ground.
This…
"Do I have to take them to the club on my own?"
I dreaded the situation, but apparently, I didn't have to.
"You don't have to."
Because a new, somewhat familiar voice rang behind me.
"We will take care of it, Reo Takeda."
Turning around, I saw someone I didn't expect to see.
"And I hope you will be kind enough to stop by the student council after this."
Souna Shitori—the president of the student council.
{Alert! Supernatural Being Detected!}
{Name: Sona Sitri}
{Class: High Class Devil}
{Threat: Low-High Level}
{Type: Pure Blood Devil}
And her being a devil was the least surprising thing of the day.
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P.S. That's the new threat detection from the advanced Sixth Sense. As for how the threat actually works, Low-High is basically a High level threat but barely. They are difficult to win against but can be defeated if you play your cards right. And as you saw, Reo's magic is rather strong.
High-High is the limit, and even so Reo has to pray that the opponent makes a mistake otherwise he is cooked against a High-High level threat. Against that level, he cannot win with just his magic alone —he will require other factors too.
Additionally, anything above High-High is impossible for him to defeat.
But the threat level decreases as he gains new magic and grows stronger.
Like if he gets a few more types of advanced magic and is stronger physically and magically.
Sona's threat level will drop from Low-High to a Low-Mid or maybe even High-Low. However, the class remains the same, only the threat level changes.
Additionally, someone like Riser will have a High-High rating because his immortality is a passive ability and makes it very hard for people to defeat him. However, it isn't the case for Rias as her Power of Destruction is not a passive and she is not at a level that it can eat away any magic just yet.
I will add an aux chapter soon that will explain how threat level scales. Like what level you can expect Reo to be if you see someone with High-High or Low-Low threat level.]]
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone