Chapter 74: Decisive Sara
Sara’s POV
As soon as she heard Arthur; probably the strongest human alive say something like this, alarm bells went off in her head.
Pacing back and forth in the room, she thought, What to do... what to do...
Even Diana had to arrive at this exact moment. What stupid luck...
At least the academy kids were safe. Even the second class older students were in Dream City for a special week program.
As for the city’s overall safety, she had already handed control of the arrays over to Diana.
What she was truly worried about were the commoners’ kids. These children didn’t have anyone powerful to protect them; if this city faced a sudden catastrophe, they definitely wouldn’t survive.
Looking at the colorful sky outside the window, she made a decision that would probably anger Diana enough to hunt her down...
Immediately, she teleported to Night’s home. Upon arriving, she saw Lucy and Death looking depressed, with Blade sitting in a corner drawing circles on the floor with her tail.
Blade:
| 柱 | _ _ ) 🌀
All three of them looked like their souls had left their bodies.
( ＿ ＿ )
In the middle of the room, she could see Eve, Lilith, and Sage engaged in a bloody fight on the chessboard, each of them flawlessly controlling three pawns at once.
Looking at their terrifying gameplay, even Sara was overwhelmed.
No wonder the other three looked so defeated; they must have gone completely past the stage of rage-quitting to the stage of questioning the Creator for making such an unfair world.
Sara clapped her hands, making the three pro players stop their game and look at her questioningly.
"We all need to leave the city now," Sara announced.
Lucy was the first to recover. Looking at her, she asked, "Why? What happened?"
Sara frowned. "I think the city is going to face a disaster."
Blade suddenly sensed the tension in the air. She got up and looked at Sara weirdly.
Death asked, "Where are we going? I hope it’s the Dream City?"
Sara nodded. "Yes, we are going there. But before that, I have something important to do. When I am done with it, we will go together."
As she spoke, a tiny, transparent tentacle slowly rose from her hair, curiously observing the surroundings...
...
At the City Gates
While Arthur was communicating with [The Sleepless Sword], a human walked toward the city gate.
Jeffy, along with his summon, looked at the approaching figure.
Jeffy asked lazily, "Where are you from?"
Alze-beus’s incarnation, currently in the human form, replied, "I have come under the instructions of the City Ruler."
His summon looked at him suspiciously. He stood up as a hammer appeared in his hand. "I don’t think Sara is the type to interact with your lot.".
I had already understood its true nature and he informed Jeffy
Jeffy not showing any reaction outward, raised a hand. "Teffy, now hold on. Let’s just check with her first."
Teffy glared at him. "How many times have I told you my name is Tom, not Teffy..."
Jeffy smiled. "’Tom’ feels so distant. ’Teffy’ makes us sound like we are destined best friends!"
Teffy was about to argue when they both suddenly received a telepathic message -not from Sara, but from Diana, ’The Witch’, ordering them to let the Devil into the city.
Hearing that, they didn’t budge an inch.
Seeing them act like they hadn’t received any orders at all, Alze-beus spoke up. "Didn’t you receive a message just now? Now do you guys believe me? Can I go in?"
Jeffy crossed his arms. "We received a message, yes. But it was from Diana, not Sara."
Alze-beus asked curiously, "Isn’t Diana the true ruler of the city, and not Sara? I am sure if you ask Sara, she might agree to let us in as well."
Even the transparent tentacle hiding in his hair seemed to look at the guards in doubt.
Alze-beus stared at them. They were blatantly ignoring Diana, who was supposedly the ruler of this city.
What spooked him even more was that [Zethe-thoth] was also not blindly jumping at them like he expected it to.
Teffy no longer had the jovial, now had an annoyed look on his face. Both of them were now looking at Alze-beus with a piercing intensity that even scared the Grand Duke a little.
Jeffy broke the silence first. "We guard this city. And we don’t do it because of Sara or Diana."
Teffy continued seamlessly, "We cannot let you in just because you want to."
Their voices started to overlap in a strange, resonant way, as if they were no longer two separate people, but a single entity. "You can go back to where you came from. Devils are not allowed here."
As Alze-beus looked at them warily, he heard the almost inaudible, distorted voice of [Zethe-thoth]: "[rUN. tHis iS bAd foOd."]
Bad food? Wha...
Before he could even finish his thought, he saw a hammer swinging his way with the intention of bursting his head like a ripe watermelon.
Alze-beus quickly jumped back, but somehow, the hammer still managed to connect.
His head burst into a shower of blood and gore. He was sent flying backward like a meteorite, only smashing into the earth after he had flown for tens of kilometers.
Alze-beus staggered up. He was a Demigod Devil, after all; losing his head was the least of his concerns.
In mere moments, a new head rapidly replaced the previous one. Checking himself, he realized he could no longer sense [Zethe-thoth].
Whatever attack the guard had used had managed not just to burst his head, but also to completely destroy the transparent tentacle attached to him.
What a monster, he thought. Instead of being angry at the guard, he actually felt a massive surge of gratitude toward him. Did I finally manage to escape the clutches of that abomination?
[Zethe-thoth] asked: ["whO iS thIs abOmiNaTiOn yOu aRe oN aBout?"]
Alze-beus jumped back in fright. "I-I meant the guard!"
[Zethe-thoth] amused: ["reAllY?"]
Alze-beus quickly explained, "Yes! Who else acts like that? Just because I am a Devil doesn’t mean we have to fight. Has he never seen a peaceful Devil before?"
[Zethe-thoth] not falling for his act: ["iT seEMs yOu neEd soMe exTra diSCipline..."]
Alze-beus felt dread.
Just as he was about to plead for mercy, he heard a footstep. Looking up, he saw Jeffy standing right there but now he was the one carrying the hammer.
His aura had entirely shifted and felt identical to Teffy’s... as if they had merged into one being.
"How troublesome," Jeffy sighed lazily as he lifted his hammer.
[Zethe-thoth]: ["rUn!"]
Alze-beus thought indignantly, Why run? Isn’t he just a human who hasn’t even reached Demigod rank?
Only to find the hammer rapidly coming his way again. This time, it had drastically changed its size, becoming huge with the intention of crushing him flat in a single strike.
However, this time Alze-beus was prepared. A huge, grotesque mouth manifested behind him, growing larger than the incoming hammer and tried to swallow the weapon whole.
He heard [Zethe-thoth]’s voice again: ["foOl."]
Next, he saw something that made his blood freeze.
The hammer crushed the massive mouth as if it were made of wet paper, continuing its trajectory unhindered to smash directly into the paralyzed Alze-beus. He burst like a meat balloon, unable to put up any meaningful resistance.
Looking down at the splattered gore, Jeffy shook his head. "Just an incarnation."
He then disappeared, casually returning to the city gate to resume his guard duty as if nothing major had just happened.
Standing back at the gate, Teffy physically emerged from Jeffy’s body. The hammer disappeared from his hand as he spat, "Gross."
Jeffy chuckled. "It makes me feel like we are even closer than best friends!"
Teffy looked deeply offended. "I am straight. No thanks."
Jeffy blinked. "What? Where did that come from?!"
....
Miles away in the desert, the scattered gore twisted and slithered, trying to come together, but repeatedly fell apart when it tried to merge.
After struggling a couple of times, the flesh finally managed to clump into a grotesque ball.
The ball then rapidly morphed and grew to form a small boy.
Standing up, Alze-beus looked around and saw the destruction the ’guard’ had caused to the landscape. Nothing had remained intact where the hammer had struck...
He complained inwardly again, What a monster. Why is he so strong?
This time, he had learned his lesson. He expected [Zethe-thoth] to have survived the blast.
Sure enough, he heard the distorted voice in his mind.
[Zethe-thoth] disappointed: ["tsK. yOu aRe nOt fUn aNy mORe."]
Alze-beus asked grimly, "Why is he so strong, despite his low level?"
[Zethe-thoth] didn’t directly answer him, only stating mysteriously, ["hOw sHould i knOw? i doN’t eAt bAd foOd."]
....
Inside the City
Arthur appeared close to the inner city walls.
[The Sleepless Sword] spoke to him: ["Child, teleportation to the outside of the city is blocked by the city’s array. If a fight is forced, us that."]
Arthur nodded. As if on cue, Diana appeared gracefully a hundred meters away from him.
Looking at her, Arthur asked coldly, "Since when?"
Diana looked at him with a wide smile that looked quite scary. "Since when what?"
Arthur narrowed his eyes. "Since when did it get to you?"
Diana shook her head innocently. "I don’t understand what you are saying. I am simply checking on you, since you entered my city without informing me."
Arthur was not fooled; he drew his silver sword with determination.
Seeing this, Diana’s smile stretched even wider. She now looked like a loony. "I knew I couldn’t fool you now that [Zethe-thoth] is no longer influencing you."
Arthur gripped his hilt. "So you knew. You are its puppet, too."
Diana laughed. "Haha, it was so obvious! A righteous fellow like you would never have allowed the existence of the ’Organization’."
Arthur closed his eyes in pain when he heard her mention the Organization.
It had been built by him from scratch with the sole purpose of safeguarding the planet, unaware that it was being used by [Zethe-thoth] to control and experiment on humans.
Arthur opened his eyes, blazing with unwavering determination. "I will kill you, [Zethe-thoth], with my own two hands!"
Terrifying Sword Intent permeated the entire region as he forcefully recovered his full strength, utilizing the secret technique taught to him by his Patron God.