vncnus Page 156
Page 156
He withdrew his finger and calmly gave his final choice.
“Rias needs this credit, and I need a servant who can help me with chores. Your strength is decent, and you’re a bit smarter than the one on the ground.”
Lina looked at Fried, who was still twitching slightly at her feet and whose eyes were filled with pleading, and then at the unfathomable man in front of her.
So-called dignity and loyalty have turned to dust at this moment. Everything she pursued was a joke in the face of absolute power and deeper scheming.
She slowly bent her knees, which she was so proud of.
“I…am willing…to serve you, Master.”
Zhou Ye turned away, no longer looking at her.
"Come on, come home with me."
Chapter 122 The Judgment Meeting in a Shura Field
The door opened, and the light in the entryway cast the shadows of everyone on the gleaming floor.
As Zhou Ye stepped into the living room, he felt an invisible pressure. Rias and Sona sat side by side on the sofa in the center. Rias had her arms crossed, her long crimson hair gleaming dangerously under the light; Sona adjusted her glasses, her blue eyes behind the lenses scrutinizing him. Behind them, Himejima Akeno, Kasumigaoka Utaha, Busujima Saeko, Yotsuya Miko, and others stood in rows, forming a silent wall of judgment. The atmosphere was even more tense than in the abandoned church.
"Zhou Ye, you've gone too far! You brought four beautiful girls home with you on your trip."
Himejima Akeno spoke first, her face bearing her usual gentle smile, but the temperature in her tone had plummeted to freezing.
"Yes, yes!"
Nami chimed in, hands on her hips, looking accusatory. "Boss, aren't there enough people in the house already? There's too much food for too few people. If you bring more people back, we won't even have any soup left!"
Elsa, who was following behind Zhou Ye, shrank her neck in fright at the sight, while Kara and Lina lowered their heads and stiffened their bodies, not daring to meet those sharp gazes.
Zhou Ye glanced around, taking in everyone's expressions. He felt nothing; in fact, he found it somewhat amusing.
“Listen to my excuses, or rather, my explanations,” he said, closing the door behind him and walking straight to the empty seat on the sofa. He sat down without any ceremony. “Come inside and talk. This matter concerns every one of you.”
His calm and composed demeanor eased the previously tense atmosphere.
Rias raised her chin, gesturing to Akeno.
"Let's see what you have to say." Zhu Nai stepped forward, looking down at Zhou Ye.
“Alright, then let me finish.” Zhou Ye’s gaze swept over Liya and Sona. “First, let me introduce you.”
He pointed to the two women who exuded an ominous aura: "These two, Linali and Kara, are fallen angels."
Fallen angel!
This word instantly made Rias and Sona's expressions turn serious. This had gone beyond the realm of male-female relationships and escalated to the level of racial conflict.
Zhou Ye then pointed to the blonde nun who was practically burying herself in the ground:
"This is their original target, Miss Aisha Argento. They came here to seize the divine artifact on her body—the Smile of the Virgin Mary."
He paused for a moment, then dropped a real bombshell.
"But that's not all. Their superior, Kirkbor, one of the Fallen Angels' executives, has a real plan to kidnap you two, the next heads of prestigious demon families, in this town of Kuoh, and use that as a trigger to reignite a full-scale war between demons and fallen angels."
The living room was deathly silent.
The name Kokobol weighed heavily on everyone's hearts like a mountain. He wasn't some insignificant character like Linali; he was on par with demon kings and gods, a true force capable of shaking the world's balance. Instigating a three-way war? This conspiracy was too vast, too insane, to be easily believed.
Rias tensed up; she believed it almost immediately. Because she knew better than anyone that beneath the surface of peace, undercurrents surged, and there were always warmongers like Kirkbor who longed for the "glory" of the past.
"What you're saying... is it true?"
Cang Na pushed up her glasses. Her logic told her that this matter was of utmost importance, but there was only one source of information: the mysterious man in front of her and the two "prisoners" he had brought back.
Zhou Ye did not answer; he simply turned to the purple-haired fallen angel who had been kneeling on the ground since earlier.
He didn't even give any orders, just gave a blank stare.
Lina felt the invisible pressure, a will even more terrifying than when she had crippled Fried, enveloping her soul. She knew that there was only one outcome: resistance or silence.
Fear overwhelmed loyalty, and it also overwhelmed dignity.
"It's...it's true." Lina's voice was dry and trembling. She raised her face, which had lost all its arrogance, and looked at Rias and Sona.
"Lord Kokober is tired of the peace that has lasted too long... He wants... He wants to reignite the war."
She took a deep breath, as if trying to expel all her nightmares.
"Our mission... is indeed to strip Miss Aisha of her divine artifact. We will perform a ritual to extract her soul and the artifact together amidst extreme pain and despair... Lord Kokober said that the power of this artifact can serve as a reserve for war."
Every word Lina Li uttered sent chills down the spines of the women present... Especially Aisha, who turned pale and swayed as she heard the cruel ritual again, but fortunately, Yotsuya Miko next to her helped her up.
This testimony, delivered directly by the perpetrator, is far more impactful than any explanation from Zhou Ye.
The displeasure on Zhu Nai's face had vanished, replaced by solemnity and lingering fear. Nami also stopped shouting; she clearly realized that this was no longer a trivial matter of jealousy, but a matter that could result in death.
The atmosphere in the living room shifted from a trial to a somber one of facing a common threat.
However, just as everyone was stunned by this terrifying conspiracy, Sona spoke again. Her voice was frighteningly calm, like a scalpel, precisely cutting to the heart of the problem.
"I'll tentatively accept the veracity of this information." She looked at Zhou Ye, her eyes behind her glasses gleaming with rationality.
"But I have a question, Mr. Zhou."
"Linali and the fallen angel beside her, even if they are mere fodder, still..."
Sona's gaze slowly shifted from Lina, who was kneeling on the ground, to Zhou Ye's face.
"How did you manage to make them so completely obedient to you? Even to the point of betraying their superior, a fallen angel cadre. This level of control... cannot be explained simply by defeating them."
Her question caused the atmosphere, which had just eased, to tense up again.
Rias realized as well. Indeed, defeating and being in server 4.4 are two different things. To make a proud fallen angel kneel on the ground and call a human "master"—the implications of this were chilling.
What exactly did Zhou Ye do?
Was everything he did truly to help them uncover a conspiracy?
In an instant, everyone's attention was refocused on Zhou Ye. This time, it was no longer a questioning, but a scrutiny mixed with awe and inquiry.
Zhou Ye picked up the black tea that someone had brewed on the table and took a small sip.
"Control?" He put down his teacup, making a soft sound.
"You're overthinking it. It's just a multiple-choice question."
He turned to Lina.
"Is it right?"
Lina's body trembled violently. She buried her head even deeper and squeezed out two words with all her might.
"...Yes, Master."
Chapter 123 News of Kirkbor
Zhou Ye's answer was like a stone carelessly tossed into a deep pool; it didn't stir up any huge waves, but rather caused ripples to spread outwards, touching the hearts of everyone present.
multiple choice.
This word, spoken lightly, contains the most bloody logic. Rias saw it: Lina, kneeling on the ground, her fiery, sexy body trembling uncontrollably, not from the cold, but from a tremor deep within her soul. Kara pressed her head firmly against the cold floor, as if even a glance at Zhou Ye would shatter her soul. Beside her, the nun named Aisha, her emerald eyes reflecting the living room's crystal chandelier, were empty and devoid of any light.
They all witnessed the other option in that "multiple-choice question".
Forcibly subdued. The word simultaneously flashed through Rias and Sona's minds. In the mystical realm, this was not uncommon—crushing the opponent's will with absolute power, etching the mark of obedience. However, to use such methods on a fallen angel of Rena's caliber, and to cause her such utter collapse, the nature and intensity of the "power" Zhou Ye employed were beyond their comprehension.
But now, an even larger shadow looms over us.
Rias stopped dwelling on Zhou Ye's methods. The fates of two mere fallen angels were insignificant compared to the name Kokober.
Kokober.
A survivor from the ancient mythological era, a fallen angel cadre who is passionate about war.
Once he appears in Kuoh Town, her ridiculous engagement will likely be brought forward by her family immediately. She will be forcibly taken back to the underworld, locked in the Phoenix family's cage, and never be able to return to the earthly sky she so cherishes.
Rias tensed, her crimson hair falling to conceal the fleeting panic on her face. She turned to look at her only ally, the one she could consult with.
"Cangna, should we tell my brother about this?"
Her voice was low, carrying a hint of pleading she herself didn't realize. Asking her brother, the Demon King Lucifer, for help was the most efficient and safest option. But that also meant admitting her own inadequacy.
Sona's glasses reflected the light, obscuring the true emotions in her eyes. As the sister of the Demon Lord Leviathan, she understood the pressure and responsibility that came with that status far better than Rias. While enjoying the glory, she was also bound by invisible chains.
"Tell Lord Sir Zekes?"
Sona's voice was as steady as ever, but it carried a cold, rejecting tone.
"And then what? Have him send an army to drive away or eliminate Kokober, and then take you, his troublesome sister, back to the underworld to be kept under strict guard?"
Rias's lips moved, but she couldn't refute it.
"Rias, we can't hide under our brothers' and sisters' wings forever."
Sona adjusted his glasses, his blue eyes finally meeting Rias's gaze directly. "In the past, we would have had no choice but to request reinforcements from the Underworld. But now..."
Her gaze swept over the man leisurely sipping his tea, almost imperceptibly.
"But now, we have the 'House of Time and Spirit' provided by Zhou Jun."
A hint of decisiveness, characteristic of a strong person, was infused into Cang Na's voice.
"Rias, we may still have a fighting chance!"
The strength to fight a single battle.
Those four words struck Rias like a bolt of lightning. Yes, they were no longer the people they once were, relying solely on their family and social standing. They now had the potential to rapidly increase their strength.
A renewed flame of fighting spirit ignited in Rias's eyes. Rather than passively awaiting judgment, she would actively strive for a future.
The atmosphere in the living room subtly changed because of Sona's suggestion. Amidst the heavy sense of crisis, a spark of "hope" rose.
However, the flame was quickly extinguished by a bucket of cold water.
"Excuse my bluntness, President."
Kasumigaoka Utaha stepped out from behind Rias, arms crossed, her wine-red eyes calmly scrutinizing Sona.
"Your plan sounds more like a high-stakes gamble."
Cang Na's brows furrowed slightly.