Wh-what do I do?
Ugh, the alternate space where Black was sealed has a different flow of time compared to the real world.
So there's a huge time lag before I can detect what's happening inside.
That's why I couldn't pick up any signs before Black broke free of the seal.
What do I do?
What do I do?
1. Adorable Shiriori suddenly gets a brilliant counterattack idea 2. Allies show up and save the day 3. There's nothing I can do. Reality is cruel.
Hmm.
Answer's three!
Nope, absolutely nothing I can do here.
Black is stronger than me.
And option two? I don't even have any allies!
Ha ha ha.
Alright, enough messing around. Time to think seriously about countermeasures.
Though honestly, what I need to do is pretty straightforward.
If it turns hostile, eliminate it.
If not, keep watching for now.
I'd prefer it didn't come to that, though.
Having escaped the seal, Black is heading toward the vampire girl and Oni-kun.
Hmm.
Planning to finish off Oni-kun?
At the very least, I don't want the vampire girl getting caught up in it.
I should stay ready to move at any moment.
Speaking of the vampire girl, she's getting carved up pretty badly by Oni-kun.
He activated
That golden combo of future sight and thought acceleration doesn't help much when the attacks come in at speeds you simply can't dodge.
She's holding on for now with those dragon scales' defense, but that won't last forever.
Oh — she got her head cut off.
Wait, no — she caught it midair and reattached it.
Seriously!? She can do that!?
What the heck, I wanna try that!
Ah, no. Better not. Looks painful.
Still, the fact that she's getting decapitated says it all — she's completely on the back foot.
I think this one's already decided.
Hm?
Vampire girl — is she about to do something?
She's not seriously thinking of using Jealousy, is she?
She totally is.
Even if she's going to get killed at this rate, using that is out of the question.
Punishment later.
Well, it won't come to that anyway.
Because Black has already arrived.
Black lands between the vampire girl and Oni-kun.
Oni-kun lunges at Black, but gets sent flying with a single kick.
What was the vampire girl thinking — she tries to hurl Crimson Sea at Black.
Hey, you idiot, stop!
Black's barrier wipes out Crimson Sea completely.
As if that kind of attack would work on Black.
H-Hey!
Vampire girl — you just used Jealousy, didn't you!?
You did, didn't you!? What are you thinking!?
Punishment is now absolutely confirmed.
Black grabs the vampire girl by the head.
I tense up, ready to rush in the moment something goes wrong.
But to my surprise, Black only takes away the vampire girl's consciousness — nothing more.
Then Black proceeds to beat Oni-kun to a pulp.
And I mean "beating" is the only way to describe it — a completely one-sided mauling.
The kind of beatdown you don't want a good kid to see.
His soul power must be running low, because even his regeneration can't keep up.
Oh — Wrath has worn off.
Ooh.
Right, right. Wrath draws on soul power to activate, so once the reserves dry up, it shuts off.
And once it shuts off, reason returns — at least, assuming it hasn't completely collapsed.
But that doesn't seem to be the case, actually.
Thinking about how he fought the vampire girl earlier, he seemed to retain his logical reasoning.
"Are you satisfied now?"
Black addresses my split clone.
Hm?
What's this about?
"You know full well. If I kill this oni, I'll end up making enemies of both you and D, won't I?"
Huh?
That's not really the case.
Besides, D is busy with work and can't come here anyway.
"Even so, this one is a victim. The anger I feel has no proper target. So this is just me taking it out on someone. Truly hopeless — nothing more than venting."
Hmm.
So Black has no intention of opposing me for now.
That's good news.
It seems Black has some grand misunderstanding going on, which works perfectly in my favor.
No need to go out of my way to correct it — let's just let the misunderstanding stand.
For now, I open a spatial rift and retrieve the unconscious vampire girl and Oni-kun.
Once Black confirms they've been taken, it teleports away.
Where to — the Demon King's place, probably?
I should go too.
It's about time I told the Demon King my ultimate goal and the means I plan to achieve it.
Black should know a portion of it as well.
Depending on its reaction to that information, Black's future course of action will change.
Either way, I can predict that Black will eventually stand before me.
All that said — Black is terrifyingly strong.
Against an opponent so far beneath it, I couldn't see the full scope of its power, but I caught a glimpse of what it's capable of.
And I can't ignore the fact that it shattered my seal far sooner than expected.
Looks like I need to revise my assessment of Black upward.
My chances if Black and I clashed right now — around twenty percent, maybe?
And even that's hard to say, since I still don't know Black's true strength.
I've estimated on the generous side, but there's a possibility it exceeds even that.
My current power ranks at the very bottom among lower-tier gods.
Meanwhile, based on the glimpse I just caught, Black's strength is probably upper reaches of a lower-tier god — one step away from mid-tier.
Under normal circumstances, no chance of winning.
Think of it as a Level 1,000 me challenging a Black who's just shy of Level 10,000 — that's the kind of gap we're talking about.
But I've been honing my strength specifically to deal with Black.
I can't compete in raw power, not even close, but my abilities are extremely specialized and sharp.
My only path to victory is exploiting that compatibility.
Same as always.
That's right — same as always. Fighting opponents who outclass me — I've been doing that since the day I was born into this world.
And every single time, I've won with my two crutch abilities — threads and poison.
This time will be no different.
That said, that's a problem for later.
I teleport to the Demon King's location.
There, the Demon King and Black are waiting.
Now then — how should I open this conversation?