Alec Dragna was walking alone in the royal palace with a smile on his face.
“Well, you seem to be in a good mood.”
He turned around and saw Nova and Nero walking towards him.
“So how does it feel knowing that you don’t have to suffer in the Ruined World like the others?”
Nero asked with a teasing smile.
“Can you not make it sound like I did it on my own? Miko asked me to complete some favors for him.”
“Oh? Then he’s already moving towards locating Dragon Storm?”
Alec nodded to Nero’s question.
“If he really wanted to know he could’ve asked us for help. That kid can be so cold sometimes.”
Nova added.
“Out of pure curiosity, how would you locate them, Nova?”
“I would just go around searching for those who were a part of of the group, it could even be a new recruit. I would then start from the ground up torturing people until I got what I wanted.”
“Such a crude method.”
Nero looked at his son with disappointment.
“Alright, father. How would you go about it?”
“I would learn which group were affiliated with them, assassinate the core members and just watch them crumble. Dragon Storm will naturally come out of hiding since I was destroying their sources of income.”
“You still killed people.”
Nova argued.
“Yeah, but I would only commit necessary murders. You just wanted to slaughter people.”
“I’m just instilling fear in them, so by the time we face off the fear will cripple them from using their full strength.”
“Those are both pretty good plans.”
Alec said.
“I personally would do something else to locate them.”
“Did you tell Layla Song to use that method?”
“No, but I believe she’ll use that one as well. After all, she’s a pretty smart woman.”
“You acknowledge her abilities? That’s rare.”
Nova said.
“Well, she has some special properties.”
Alec showed a smile. Nero looked like he remembered something.
“When she was resurrected you examined her right? Did she obtain something special after coming back from the dead?”
“I’m not allowed to share a lady’s secret without her permission.”
“So she doesn’t know.”
Nova said with an understanding nod.
“Honestly, it’s hard to keep things from the two of you.”
“Of course, we’re as smart as we are beautiful.”
The two stood proud as if to show off their beauty.
“But if that’s true then this is becoming quite interesting. It’s like all the people around Miko are slowly evolving. I wonder if it’s some special skill of a Satan or something.”
Nero said.
“Ah, that’s remind me. What about Miko’s Apostles? Did they experience any changes from Miko’s Satan transformation?”
“I have their data on me, do you want to see?”
“You walk around with people biological data on you?”
Nova stared at Alec like he was a deviant.
“You walk around with pictures of your female family members. So what’s the problem?”
“You can’t compare that and this. I walk with those photos for religious purposes.”
Nova took out a picture of Sasha. He and Nero then bowed their heads and closed their eyes.
“Amen.”
“Amen.”
“….I think I’ll just show you the data.”
He handed Nero and Nova a copy of the trio’s data. The two scanned through them and nodded with serious expressions.
“I see….I don’t understand what you’re showing me here.”
“Same here.”
“Basically I’ve discovered a gene similar to what’s mutating Miko in the three of them. However, it’s quite minuscule.”
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“Then there’s no chance of them becoming Satan Kin?”
“I wouldn’t say that there’s no chance, but it’s quite small for Ace and Sora. As for Hina, considering the nature of her abilities there’s a chance the gene could attach itself to her DNA and then slowly mutate from there, but that too is highly unlikely.”
“Then I guess there’s nothing to worry about. Miko is already hard to handle, it would be a disaster if he can infect other people.”
Nero said. He and Nova handed back Alec the trio’s biological data.
“So, what else did Miko have you do for him? I doubt he would tell you to stay here just to give Layla Song orders.”
Alec showed a troubled smile.
“He did ask me to do something else but I’m having trouble figuring out why he would want me to do that.”
“Oh? What is it that he wants?”
Alec hesitated a bit before answering.
“He wants to get in touch with the Trumps.”
The smile immediately dropped from Nero’s face.
“What does Miko wants with a dangerous group like the Juggernauts?”
“I don’t know myself. He seems intent on handling Dragon Storm himself, so I doubt he wants to hire the Trumps to destroy them.”
Alec became silent for a bit.
“What should I do?”
“Contacting them isn’t a problem. It’s rather easy to do, especially for us.”
“Do you think he knows the origins of the Juggernaut?”
Nova asked.
“I doubt it. The Juggernauts may be a well known group, but their origins are a mysterious for the wide majority.”
Nero started thinking for a bit and then he suddenly froze.
“Could it be? No, but can he actually see that far ahead in the future? If he can then that’s frighteningly impressive.”
“Nero.”
Alec looked at him with a serious expression. He was one of the few that knew the gravity of the Dragna clan contacting the group called Juggernauts that was nicknamed the Trumps. It meant inviting back a catastrophic entity.
After thinking for a while Nero smiled.
“Tell him how to do it when he returns. What happens after that leave it to me.”
He showed a wide grin.
“I’ll handle it.”
********
Meanwhile in the Ruined World.
*Clang!*
Metallic sounds resounded in the area that was filled with gigantic molten monsters. The sounds came from a clash between blades. Two of these blades belonged to Ishma and Regis who were teaming up to clash against Kirika.
“Whew!”
Kirika whistled after avoiding Ishma’s blade that was aiming for her neck. She sheathed her sword, quickly drew it, and deflect Regis’s blade aiming at her stomach.
“This is great. I can feel my skills have greatly improved. If I can fight you two off with my body feeling this weak and heavy, then I can’t imagine how fast I am without the restrictions.”
Kirika laughed while moving to avoid Ishma and Regis combined attack.
“Dammit! She’s already gotten used to our attack patterns!”
Ishma cursed.
“Come on. We’re all on the same level in this world, so this is probably your only chance to beat me. Don’t give up already.”
Kirika teased Ishma.
“Why you!”
Ishma started attacking more aggressively. Kirika avoided her attacks with crafty steps and small movements. Seeing an opening, she once again sheathed her sword and quickly pulled her sword and slashed it forward.
*Clang!*
To her surprise, her attack failed to reach Ishma. It was instead stopped by Regis who came from her blind spot.
“If Ishma’s strength is her aggressiveness then mine is my calm head and observant eye.”
Kirika looked up and saw Ishma’s blade cutting down towards her. She watched until the blade was mere inches away from her head. She flipped the blade in her hand and thrust the handle upwards. The sword handle hit Ishma’s blade and forced it to halt. Kirika then moved back while flipping her blade back to the right side.
“The fuck?!”
Ishma cursed.
“How did you do that?!”
“I guess my survival instincts kicked in.”
Kirika laughed.
“Kirika really is something else.”
Momo was watching from the side. It was now nearly 4 months since they entered the Ruined World. When it reached the three month mark, Markus and Kimiko reunited everyone.
“Alright, since you’ve all endured literal hell and experienced tremendous growth both mentally and physically, I believe it’s time for all of you to focus on training without worrying about surviving.”
Kimiko said.
“As such, you guys will be divided into three groups.”
Markus added.
“Aeon will take on Ace, Sora, and Hina since he’s most familiar with them. Momo and Kirika will work with Miko, and finally the two of us will train Sasha, Leon, Tessa, and Kristen. Any objections?”
“I have a concern rather than a complaint.”
Aeon lifted his hand and said.
“Feel that my life will be at risk.”
He said while glancing at Hina. She hadn’t forgotten he had threatened to separate her from Miko and was still after his life. In fact, when he and Ace found her, the first thing she did was try to kill him. Since he was being restricted she really had a chance at killing him.
“I don’t care. For some reason, you was able to breeze through this hellish world and was barely at risk. So consider this is karma.”
Kimiko shut him down.
“Since there aren’t any objections, then let’s get started.”
That brings us to the present with Momo admiring Kirika’s sword skills.
“Kirika’s skills with the sword are only inferior to Rouge’s in the entire Dragna Empire. So that much is expected from her.”
Miko was laying on his stomach with Momo was sitting on top of him. She was applying medical aid to some wounds on his back.
“I can’t believe you guys actually tried to force you to learn to fight even when unconscious.”
Momo said.
“Yeah, it sound like a good idea at first. If I was successful I would be able to fight nonstop while in here.”
“But instead, all you got were stab wounds.”
Momo looked at Tia who was nearby watching Kirika take on Ishma and Regis.
“I can’t believe you allowed this.”
“Hey, it sounded like a good idea at the time.”
Tia shrugged.
“This is why I must always be your side. Otherwise, you guys will come up with some insane training plans.”
“Well, I do admit that none of us know the meaning of restraint.”
Miko said. He then became silent for a bit.
“What’s wrong?”
“I was just wondering how long are we going to be like this? I’m currently on the verge of losing my mind….No, I’m pretty sure that I’ve already lost it.”
“Why are you suddenly gloomy?”
Momo frowned.
“I’m not trying to be gloomy actually. I’m just literally curious about the future.”
He shook his head.
“I can already see my future.”
“Oh? What do you see?”
Tia asked.
“Me against the world.”
Miko smiled after answering.
“Then you see yourself as some kind of villain?”
Momo asked
“Not just any villain. I’m THE Villain.”
Since Momo had finished treating him Miko sat up with a smile.
“Humans, Demons, Gods, Beasts, Monsters. In the future they’ll all see me as an entity that must be destroyed, and I’ll see them as things made to be trampled. There’s no chance of reconciliation, it will either be me or the world; nothing else.”
He stood up and pointed at himself.
“You asked if I’m the villain? No darling, you’re looking at the last boss.
He grinned.
“I’m the one who will burn everything to the ground and leave only ashes in my wake.”
“And what makes you so sure?”
Tia asked with an amused expression.
“Because I’m a Satan, its in my nature. For example, when I turned into a Satan before, I was reset and my true self that hadn’t been influenced by the world had appeared. Well, thanks to that, I got to see into the distant past and got a glimpse at the beginning of everything.”
“And because of that you know you’re the last boss?”
Miko nodded.
“If you had seen what I have and know what I know, you would’ve believed so as well.”
“Then….”
Momo hesitated a bit before speaking.
“If you’re the last boss then who’s the protagonist?”
Miko showed a wide grin.
“Who knows? Besides, if you were to know now wouldn’t it be a spoiler?”
“Spoiler? Then you do know?”
Miko shrugged.
“All I know is that if they don’t show up soon….”
Miko’s grinned became terrifying, especially with his sharp fangs.
“Then there will be no saving this world.”