Once again back here.
Naoki looked at the endless corpses around him, and Manaka sitting atop that mountain of corpses.
"What is it? Bringing me here?"
"What did you say your worth was, you damn vixen?"
With a cold face, Manaka stared at Naoki, her beautiful face as cold as ice, and her eyes radiating dissatisfaction.
"Even a Dead Apostle of that level you couldn't kill cleanly. Although his abilities were somewhat troublesome, you could say similar to mine, but you didn't kill him. What have you been doing all these years?"
Her tone was like a disappointed old mother scolding her incompetent son.
Glancing at her, Naoki unconsciously glared back: "So? If you're so great, why don't you try? Or besides using Magecraft and words to amplify the anger in my heart, can you only talk big here? A little girl who understands nothing."
"You—if it weren't for you sealing me here!"
"And, I know what you want to say."
Naoki touched the non-existent Mystic Eye Killer.
"All you're thinking about is making me release the Mystic Eye Killer so you have a chance to break free from the seal. Although he's an existence almost impossible to kill, Nero Chaos is still a living being, possessing a soul. As long as his soul is eroded to its limits, he will eventually perish on his own."
"And what you're aiming for is probably the moment I focus on eroding his soul; you'll use your countless Magecraft in your mind to break the seal, right?"
Manaka's soul was connected to the Root; in short, she possessed all the knowledge in the world. Although sealed by the Mystic Eyes, she could barely use Magecraft, but even so, if one day she truly managed to break free from the seal, Naoki wouldn't be surprised.
She had the potential to do so.
Therefore, Naoki didn't plan to give her even the slightest opening. If unnecessary, the Mystic Eye Killer would never be removed.
"..."
Seeing the deep fear in his eyes and face towards her, even though she knew the person in front of her was just a vixen, being treated like this by a face almost identical to her own prince...
"Tch... how annoying." Manaka turned her face away, "Don't show that face in front of me, and don't look at me with that face!"
"Weren't you the one who pulled me here?"
Why was this person accusing him first?
Naoki rolled his eyes, then sat cross-legged on the ground: "By the way, why did you speak up this time? Don't tell me you actually found a way to get out of here?"
"Guess?"
"Then there isn't one." Naoki sighed in relief, "If there was, you wouldn't bother talking nonsense with me here."
"Who knows~ if one day I really find it, what will you do?"
"If I can kill you, I will. If I can't kill you, I will seal you. If you escape, I will chase you to the ends of the earth. Even if you escape to a parallel world, escape to the past, escape to the future, I will without hesitation borrow the Jewel Sword from Old Man Jewel to find you."
Because the next task was to seal a Beast, it had to be completed and executed to the end no matter what.
A straight gaze without falsehood was reflected in Manaka's eyes. Since the two had known each other, Manaka had never seen any other emotion in his eyes—at least in front of her.
Different from Arthur, who was cleaning up and rectifying his past actions, Naoki actively accepted Arthur's task and carried it out as his natural mission.
'So, that's why you called the prince?'
Manaka narrowed her eyes slightly, then sighed: "Just annoying. That Dead Apostle named Nero Chaos is truly a pathetic imitation and theft of me. If only I wasn't sealed here, I would have killed him with my own hands."
"Influencing your mind, just wanting to make you quickly eliminate him from my perception. Unfortunately, you're too incompetent; you can't even handle someone of that level. Even in a state of great anger, you were so hesitant. If you hadn't held back, not many people in this world could match you."
"Maybe. But if that's the case, if Arthur sees it later, he might be very disappointed."
Naoki laughed.
"He gave me this life; I don't want to do anything that tramples on his kindness. If you received a gift from Arthur, even just a small bracelet, you would definitely cherish it as a treasure, wouldn't you? In this regard, our thoughts are the same."
"It's rare for us to agree."
As soon as she finished speaking, Manaka looked up: "It seems my little sister is calling you. This time, let it go. I hope next time you meet Nero Chaos, you can truly finish him off. Vixen."
"Of course."
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
When he opened his eyes again, Naoki saw Gray looking at him.
"Good morning, Brother. Did you sleep well?"
Gray asked with a smile.
Getting out of bed, Naoki smiled bitterly: "You could say it was a nightmare. What about you, Gray? After experiencing last night's events... were you able to sleep?"
Naoki wasn't sure if Gray had seen the horrific scene last night. If she had, for a small child, it was a very cruel nightmare.
Fortunately, Gray shook her head gently: "I slept well, nothing happened. Oh, Brother, here are your change of clothes. After you're dressed, let's have breakfast at the restaurant. I'll go there first to prepare something for you."
"Um, thank you."
Watching Gray run off, Naoki rubbed his face: "It's a good thing I have a younger sister like Gray; otherwise, my mood right now definitely wouldn't be this good."
The tragedy caused by Nero Chaos was now clearly etched in Naoki's mind; he probably wouldn't forget it for a long time to come. If it were just him alone, he might still be in a state of anger.
But he wasn't alone; he couldn't bring his anger to Gray, who was with him every day. In front of Gray, he had to be calm and return to normal.
An older brother shouldn't make his younger sister feel sad.
"You really have a good younger sister, Kouhai-kun."
Aoko's voice sounded.
Leaning against the doorframe while looking at Naoki, Aoko chuckled softly: "I was a little worried about your mental state at first, but it seems I worried too much."
"Miss Aoko... I apologize; I was a bit restless last night, causing you trouble."
"It's alright; if you hadn't sent him flying back then, I would have stepped forward to beat him up too." Aoko said with a smile, "Young people are indeed supposed to be more emotional. Alright, hurry up and get ready; after breakfast, there are some things I want to talk to you about."
"Regarding Nero Chaos and Arcueid."