— — — — — —
Thud!
The slightly heavy black coffin was set down on the brown carpet, producing a dull impact.
"Thanks for the hard work."
Ryo, dressed comfortably in a robe, looked up and smiled at Sayaka.
Sayaka had been about to return the smile, but the moment she noticed the hickeys on his neck, the expression died before it even formed.
In the end, she only nodded silently, then shot a hostile glance at La Folia standing nearby.
La Folia, impeccably dressed, stood there with a pleasant smile. When she caught Sayaka's look, she responded with a polite smile tinged with the unmistakable air of a winner.
"Tch…" Sayaka clicked her tongue.
Meanwhile, completely oblivious to the tension between the two, Yukina studied the coffin with a guarded expression before turning to Ryo.
"Sir, are you planning to unseal it here?"
"Yes."
Ryo nodded slightly, then thought for a moment and added,
"In a bit, you can hold Snowdrift Wolf on standby. Just in case."
"Understood. Should we clear out any unrelated personnel?"
Yukina's response was immediate and efficient, enough to make La Folia widen her eyes in surprise.
What's going on? Did she eat gunpowder today?
Ryo raised an eyebrow, glanced at Yukina, then at La Folia, and finally at Sayaka, whose expression was clearly off. A faint sense of guilt crept in.
"It's fine. Just a small fry."
"Yes." Yukina replied, her tone carrying a hint of regret, and an almost imperceptible trace of jealousy.
Wow. Just wow.
The corner of Ryo's mouth twitched. Letting those two guard the door earlier had clearly been a mistake.
'Sigh. Still too inexperienced. If it were Natsuki or Aya, they'd probably just sneer and ask whether La Folia felt better, or whether they did.'
'…Wait, that sounds even more dangerous.'
His mouth twitched again, and his thoughts drifted to Kurousagi (Black Rabbit).
'Yeah, this bunny is nice. Pure. Innocent. Always looking on the bright side. Sometimes, when Leticia is cooking, I'll be right next door with her… no, no, what am I even thinking?'
Ryo shook his head lightly and pointed at the coffin on the floor.
"Break the seal."
He paused, then added, "Use Snowdrift Wolf. It's a sealing technique meant for a Dark God's embryo."
"A Dark God's embryo?!" ×3
All three girls instinctively took a step back, eyes locked onto the coffin.
Gods were rare, but when they did appear, they were top-tier magical disasters.
Any one of them was at least as dangerous as an existing Primogenitor.
After all, in human legends, Primogenitors themselves were fallen gods.
From that alone, it was obvious how terrifying Dark God was supposed to be.
'Did Ryo think himself stronger than a Dark God? Well… his stamina must be stronger, at least.'
La Folia couldn't help mentally snarking, even as her body unconsciously edged closer to Ryo.
With her spiritual medium body, she was at far greater risk around Dark God than normal people. She tended to see things she shouldn't, learn knowledge she wasn't meant to have, and spiral into madness as a result.
Put bluntly, it was like her brain getting flooded with too much information at once and short-circuiting.
Ryo glanced at her, then beckoned to Sayaka.
"Sayaka, you come over too. You don't have Snowdrift Wolf for protection, so there's some risk."
Hearing that, Sayaka quickly moved behind Ryo and shot La Folia a look, letting out a quiet "hmph."
At that moment, Yukina saw both of them take shelter behind Ryo. She pulled Snowdrift Wolf from the violin case on her back and, without hesitation, thrust it toward the black coffin.
Pop.
It sounded oddly like a cork being pulled from a wine bottle.
Snowdrift Wolf, whose power resembled that of an illusion-destroying ability, pierced through a thin membrane of air covering the coffin and struck the coffin itself.
Boom.
The coffin cracked inch by inch, then crumbled entirely into grains of brown sand.
Shhh—
The sand cascaded down under gravity, forming a thin layer inside where the coffin had been.
And within it appeared a sleeping girl.
She had brilliant golden hair, healthy wheat-colored skin, and wore a white dress resembling a wedding gown. Her eyes were closed, her expression peaceful.
"This is… the Dark God's embryo?" Yukina murmured in shock, then turned to Ryo. "There's something very strange about the power around her…"
"She has an abnormal aura," Sayaka said warily. Her spiritual sight was sharper than Yukina's.
But La Folia saw far more.
She could see a black egg buried deep within the blonde girl's spiritual body, pulsing like a heart and greedily drawing in the surrounding power.
"This kind of anomaly… she, no, it's already awakened!"
La Folia's expression changed.
A Dark God's embryo and an awakened Dark God were on completely different levels.
The former only had the potential to summon a Dark God into the world. The latter was already preparing to descend into reality.
"Your Majesty, this thing should be eliminated as soon as possible."
She turned to Ryo, her emotions slipping despite herself.
What she saw on his face, however, wasn't tension or caution.
It was surprise.
A very subtle, very particular kind of surprise.
The kind that seemed to say, 'That's it? A awakened Dark God is just this?'
La Folia stared at him. When she realized he had no intention of responding, she fell silent.
Because she knew perfectly well that the awakened Dark God saw Ryo's "provocation" far more clearly than she ever could.
ROAR!
A beastlike howl exploded in everyone's spiritual senses.
The Dark God parasitizing Celesta Ciate's soul erupted in fury.
More corrupt than demons, more filthy than any curse, its language screamed and roared a single concept, 'Death!'
A curse of death condensed into pitch-black mist and surged toward Ryo in an instant.
.
.
.