svetikya Page 42
Page 42
She caught a whiff of something in the air that resembled the underworld, yet was distinct from it—familiar yet strange.
"Why don't we go take a look?"
With a hint of curiosity, Kuroyukihime looked into the depths of the jungle. She had never witnessed the battle of other beings with natural power exceeding 5.1. Meanwhile, Kaguya Shinomiya and the others clearly did not want to return so soon, as the lone demon had just given them a warm-up.
In the end, Rias nodded.
"Go over there and check. If you find anything wrong, crush this immediately."
Rias gave a crystal to Kaguya Shinomiya, inside which was a teleportation magic array buried by the Demon King Ajaka, which could immediately take them away in case of danger.
Then, Rias, fully alert, ventured deep into the jungle.
Kaguya Shinomiya and the others followed closely behind.
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Chapter 57: A Girl Who Is Both Strange and Familiar
A gloomy and desolate atmosphere, accompanied by a strong, nauseating stench of blood, permeated the surroundings.
Kaguya Shinomiya, Snow White, Asuna Yuuki... and even Rias, the pure-blooded demon, couldn't help but furrow their brows.
It wasn't just the unbearable stench of blood and gore; it was more the underworld-like aura that had become even stronger and purer, growing more intense as they drew closer.
An inexplicable sense of foreboding was constantly ringing alarm bells in their hearts.
Everyone must be careful.
Rias gave Kaguya Shinomiya and the others some unusually serious instructions.
She was now absolutely certain that the anomaly deep in the jungle was definitely not the work of those Onmyoji, exorcists, or other human beings.
"Rias, look!"
Asuna Yuuki paused, pointing ahead with a bewildered expression.
Following the direction pointed out by Asuna Yuuki, what came into the view of Kaguya Shinomiya and the others was a corpse, the corpse of a lone demon, a hideous creature with a human head and a snake's body, and four arms growing from its abdomen. Its upper and lower body seemed to have been cut in two from the abdomen by some extremely sharp scythe-like weapon.
"Judging from his appearance, he should have been dead not long ago."
Rias leaned over and looked at the corpse of the lone demon on the ground. Apart from the fatal wound in its abdomen, she found no other wounds on its body, not even any signs of fighting.
It was perfectly clear that this rogue demon, possessing the strength of a superior demon, had been instantly killed with a single blow. The enemy he faced had given him absolutely no chance to retaliate. He was killed with remarkable speed and efficiency.
What caught Rias's attention most was the familiar, underworld-like aura still clinging to the deadly wound of the lone demon—
"To be able to kill a rogue demon with the strength of a superior demon so easily, the opponent must be at least a superior demon."
At this moment, Rias hesitated about whether to continue. After all, she was fine on her own, but Kaguya Shinomiya and the others were with her. If she suddenly put them into an unknown and dangerous situation, it would be a dereliction of duty for her as a 'teacher'.
Seeing Rias's hesitation, Kaguya Shinomiya, who was good at reading people, immediately understood her worries and said directly, "Rias, now that we've come this far, we can't just give up halfway."
"We will inevitably step into that mysterious supernatural realm sooner or later, and we certainly cannot back down just because there is some danger."
Seeing Kaguya Shinomiya and the others' insistence, Rias didn't say anything more. After all, she still had a few trump cards up her sleeve that could help her escape.
"Then let's move on."
After a while——
As Rias led Kaguya Shinomiya, Asuna Yuuki, Snow White, and the rest of the group deeper into the jungle, the sights that came into their view became increasingly shocking and terrifying.
Corpse—
Rows upon rows of corpses of lone demons—
In just the distance of less than one or two hundred miles they had traveled, they had already seen no fewer than twenty corpses of rogue demons. What made Rias even more alarmed was that all twenty of these rogue demons were high-ranking demons in life, and there were even three of them that faintly retained the aura of the highest-ranking demons.
Moreover, the corpses of both high-ranking and supreme-ranking demons share a common feature: they were all killed with a single blow, split in two by a weapon similar to a scythe.
"Who on earth gathered so many rogue demons together? This is nothing short of a bloody massacre!"
Rias murmured in disbelief.
The individual ferocity and bloodlust of these rogue demons, coupled with their constant pursuit by the underworld, naturally prevent them from living in groups or cooperating. The fact that twenty rogue demons gathered together clearly indicates that someone had done it intentionally.
Just as Rias, Kaguya Shinomiya, and the others were shocked by what they saw—
"Bang bang bang—plop plop—"
The sounds of continuous fighting came from a place not far away, hidden by the jungle, followed by heart-wrenching pleas and screams.
"No, please let me go."
"...You're a devil, you're a devil..."
"Damn it, run!"
"This is a trap deliberately set by this monster..."
"..."
However, these screams and pleas only lasted for a few minutes before gradually subsiding. Rias and the others realized that it wasn't that the killers had shown mercy and spared the rogue demons, but rather that the rogue demons had been completely wiped out.
"Dang Dang Dang..."
A clear bell rang out from the depths of the jungle at 630, the sound like the last clear note from afar rippling through the murky world. As the bell grew closer, everyone, including Rias, tensed up, their vigilance reaching its peak.
"Swish..."
A beautiful girl in a kimono, wielding a Grim Reaper's scythe and surrounded by fluttering blue butterflies, appeared before Rias and the others.
Her expression was extremely cold, as if she had no emotions whatsoever. The black scythe in her hand was still dripping blood, telling everyone that the corpses of the lone demons here were all her handiwork. And hanging on the scythe was a purple bell that emitted light, from which the sound had just come.
"...[Hellish Shrine Maiden], Enma Ai!!!"
Rias opened her mouth, her gaze blank as she uttered the name of the newcomer. Clearly, she hadn't expected the culprit behind all of this to be none other than [Hell Girl] Enma Ai!
A girl who was both a stranger and a familiar figure to them—
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Chapter 58: The Devil's Temptation Bell
【Hellish Shrine Maiden】Enma Ai——
She ranks thirty-seventh on the "Fairy Beauty Ranking" and fourth on the "Transcendent Ranking".
The people on both lists are highly sought-after figures in everyone's eyes. Moreover, Enma Ai is ranked in the top five on the [Transcendent List], especially since she is the [Hell Priestess] of Kanzaki Teru, the 'playboy', which makes her even more eye-catching in some ways.
No one, including Rias, expected to encounter Enma Ai here.
Moreover, Rias understood where that aura, which was similar to but different from the underworld, came from.
hell--
The true lowest level of the underworld, even lower than the underworld where Hades, the god of the underworld, resides, is the true final destination for all souls in the world.
Aside from beings like Hell Girl, who are chosen by the will of Hell, only those who transcend can freely enter and exit Hell.
However, the Transcendent simply used his own immense power to forcefully open the gates of Hell, rather than with the approval of the Hell consciousness.
"Kaguya Shinomiya, Princess Shirayuki! Master's ex-girlfriend and fiancée!"
Ignoring everyone else, Enma Ai fixed her dark red eyes, filled with a deathly stillness, on Shinomiya Kaguya and Shirayuki-hime.
Do you recognize them? Are they similar? Are you familiar with them? Are you a stranger to them?
It had nothing to do with her—
However, these two girls have very close contact with their master, and anyone related to their master will be the object of their attention.
Meanwhile, Kaguya Shinomiya and Shirayuki Hime, who were being watched by Enma Ai, felt a chill that seemed to come from hell, and their hearts were filled with a sense of unwillingness to admit defeat, while they also stared directly at each other and scrutinized each other.
"She is Hui's priestess, the [Hell Priestess]!!!"
"Just how many things is that guy hiding?!"
The two women hadn't forgotten that, besides the "Hellish Shrine Maiden" Enma Ai, Kanzaki Teru also had another "Wise Shrine Maiden," Iwanaga Kotoko, who was also a dual-listed individual on both the "Beauty Ranking" and the "Transcendent Ranking," although she wasn't ranked as high as Enma Ai.
"Enma Ai, are you specifically hunting down rogue demons?!"
As Lucifer's sister and the successor head of the Gremory family, she had a responsibility to find out the truth about the 'Outcast Demon'.
It wasn't that she couldn't kill the rogue demons, but rather that she didn't know why Enma Ai was killing, or even massacring, such a large number of rogue demons. After all, the number was too astonishing and had to be taken seriously by her.
At this moment, Enma Ai also shifted her gaze away from Kaguya Shinomiya and Snow White.
"The commission, a commission from humans, has been completed by forty-two people who have untied the 'red rope' that was tainted by the curse of fate. The commission is to slay these rogue demons."
Enma Ai didn't hide anything and directly stated her purpose in killing the rogue demon.
"It seems that some drawbacks have emerged after the exposure of the [Dimensional Ranking]."
Rias immediately understood the general cause and effect of Enma Ai's killing of the rogue demon.
After humans learned about ghouls and rogue demons, they couldn't help but blame these strange deaths on the rogue demons or ghouls. In particular, the relatives of the deceased would harbor resentment. It was through this resentment that they communicated with Enma Ai, who was the "Hell Priestess" or "Hell Girl," and asked her to kill these rogue demons at their own expense.
This may not seem like a big deal now, but if we look at it from a long-term perspective, it is not a good thing for people to harbor resentment towards a certain group in the future.
"The request to slay the rogue demon has been closed. The responsibility of Hell Girl is to send souls in need of redemption to hell, not to become a tool for humans to vent their resentment."
Enma Ai said very frankly.
Clearly, after receiving these requests to slay the rogue demons, she also understood the drawbacks of it and how it completely contradicted the mission of "Hell Girl".
"However, there are still twelve stray demons remaining. Hell Girl has accepted the request and must complete it."
Having said that, before Rias, Asuna Yuuki, Shirayuki-hime, and the others could react, she suddenly brandished the Grim Reaper's Scythe in her hand, or more accurately, the Hell Scythe.
"Dang Dang Dang..."
Instantly, the bells, which were bound to the Hell Scythe and emitted a purple light, shone brightly, and a sound like sound waves rippled outwards in all directions.
"This is... the divine artifact, the [Demon's Temptation Bell], which has the effect of luring away from demons."
Rias, who had done considerable research on divine artifacts, immediately recognized the artifact on Enma Ai's Hell Scythe, after all, it was quite famous in the Underworld.
It is said that during the war between gods and demons, this artifact, the "Demon's Temptation Bell," was in the hands of the Church. The Church used this artifact to lure many ordinary demons and half-demons, causing them to fall directly into their pre-designed trap and resulting in huge losses for many demon legions. Fortunately, this artifact, the "Demon's Temptation Bell," had no effect on pure-blooded demons like Rias; otherwise, the losses in the war between gods and demons a thousand years ago would probably have been even greater.
Suddenly, Rias frowned; a question had occurred to her.
The [Devil's Temptation Bell] can lure all demons except pure-blooded demons, not just rogue demons!!