Tale of Discovery

Chapter 112: Rest ; Two Months

I open my eyes and observe the once-empty plains now filled with trees and hills.

The reason I am here is to check on Tiamat. Having not heard from her for too long, I began feeling a little worried about her.

I check the surroundings for her presence, but I'm unable to locate her.

As expected, there is something awry about this situation.

Floating into the sky, I check my surroundings before setting my sight on a mountain in the distance.

My biggest bet right now is that she's over there.

Landing on the ground, I shift my body to a comfortable position before dashing to the mountain.

Soon, I find myself at where I wanted to be, and as expected, Tiamat is here.

What's interesting is that she's in her draconic form and sleeping soundly.

I attempt to wake her up, but no matter what I do, she doesn't respond. AI, do you have any information regarding this?

{The familiar has entered a slumbering state.}

You mean, she's going to remain like this for a long time?

{Affirmative.}

How long?

{A little more than three days.}

{The familiar is constantly absorbing a low amount of energy.}

{Suggestion: Allow it to rest.}

Listening to its monotonous voice giving me advice, I begin considering the possible outcomes of letting Tiamat absorb my energy.

It could be anything, ranging from increased strength to an evolved form.

Well, I should leave this place then.

---3rd POV---

"Why?! Why did you betray us?!" screams a man with anguish all over his face.

In front of the man is a young golden-haired girl. Her face is expressionless and her body is motionless.

"You..." the man says, wide-eyed, before coughing blood out and continuing, "Met him?"

Getting no response, the man smirks a little while shaking his head and says,

"No wonder..."

The next moment, the man's eyes glow before he mutters to seemingly no one in particular,

"Everyone, Gula betrayed us. She made contact with Genesis."

As soon as he utters the last word, his head flies off from his body.

Looking at the body limply fall to the ground, Gula looks all around her with an expressionless look still on her face.

The few others who are left are all shivering in fear while staring at the bloody Gula.

Turning to face one of them, Gula all of a sudden disappears before reappearing in front of him.

Then, before the guy is able to react, Gula pierces his chest with her bare hands as golden veins appear over her right arm.

Soon, the guy begins to wail in agony and attempts to punch Gula, but before his arm reaches her, it abruptly detaches from his body as blood spurts out from where it used to be.

After a few seconds, Gula pulls her arm out of his chest and nonchalantly watches as his body fades into small particles.

Once the whole body has faded away, she proceeds to look at the others who are left with the same expressionless she's had the whole time.

---1st POV--- (A While Later)

Two months have passed since the downfall of Loki. During that period, Odin made contact with me and decided to establish an alliance with Heaven.

My plan seemed to have worked, as Odin didn't seem to harbor any ill-intentions when conversing with me.

That further supports the notion that all gods have an orb or similar object in them that they know very little about.

Anyway, the alliance was formed and formally announced to the public in the Underworld.

As for my identity, well, Odin believes that I am the biblical God, even though I already told him that I'm not.

Thus, I continued to spend my days in the Underworld with Rias and the rest, while occasionally heading back to my mansion by teleportation.

During this period, Akeno has gotten used to conversing with me on various matters.

Naturally, I haven't stopped training them, and most of the time we train, I train Akeno and Koneko myself.

Both of them are exhausted after fighting me for a while, but that doesn't go on for long as it has become a normal occurrence to transfer my energy over to them.

Sometimes, we just did it because I felt like it.

Of course, I pay attention to my abilities and powers.

"Codification," I intone.

----------------

Name: Haruka Kasuganou (Victor -)

True Name: ????

Title: -SEALED-

Age: 8,953 Years

Code: Exousia (2%) {Berserk | Mahesvara | Holy | ????}

Race: Human - 32>>30%

Energy Left: 100%

------

Str: 72>>80 (15) | Agi: 69>>74 (15) | Dex: 69>>71 (15)

Int: 71 (15) | Def: 65>>66 (15) | Vit: 64>>66 (15)

------

Essence :-

Mahesvara: Creation (4>>5%) | Destruction (2%) | Angelification (??)

----------------

My stats have generally increased. However, they're growing much slower compared to before.

The other notable change is my Creation percentage.

It surprised me a little when I found out about the change, as I was expecting it to take longer.

My humanity decreased, once again. The reason for that is still a mystery to me, as just when it seems like I've got it figured out, it randomly drops.

What I find unfortunate is that I was unable to raise the tier of my Holy Effects.

Not only that, but I have yet to make use of the Boosted Gear abilities. It's almost like they're in a sealed state, not letting me use them no matter what.

Leaving my powers and abilities aside, there have been no notable movements from the Khaos Brigade and the Phantoms from the other continents.

I don't believe that they're just lazing about, heck, I feel like something major will happen soon.

For that reason, I've had Yuno further fortify the mansion by Sigilla.

[[Victor, what are you going to participate in the tournament?]]

Tia's voice interrupts my thoughts.

"Of course, not," I reply.

"There are going to be young Devils fighting against each other. I couldn't care less about them.

"However, I will be present at the battle as a precaution for anything that may occur.

"For you see, I can't let my guard anytime soon."

[[Is it related to the matter of the golden-haired girl that you spoke of?]]

"She's one of the many reasons I can't do so."

The next moment, my vision blips as I find myself in my Code.

A distance away from me, Tia is sitting on a rock beside the only river in the whole place.

It's amazing how much has changed during the past two months, but it's not like that's a bad thing.

In fact, the place looks much more lively now compared to before.

I approach Tia and take a seat right beside her before reaching my arm out and pulling her into my embrace.

"Recently, you have been visiting this place a lot more often," Tia remarks while staring at the river.

Moving my head to kiss her cheek, I say while grinning,

"Why do you think?"

Tia looks my way and says with a deadpan expression,

"Beat me up and then take advantage of me as much as you want?"

Ugh.

"Come on, now. If you want to prevent it from happening, just get stronger," I say while still maintaining a smile.

"As if that would work when your opponent is nigh-invincible. I've seen you 'train' those Devils daily for quite some time now.

"Simply put, I can't imagine myself ever beating you."

Shrugging, I respond,

"Don't give up so soon. You're absorbing my energy, you know? It's only a matter of time before you become the strongest existence apart from Codes and Unknowns."

Hearing my words, Tia begins to deliberate on the matter before nodding her head and stating,

"I will beat you up one day."

Chuckling at the way she declared it, I reply,

"Try your best."

As Tia is my Familiar, I had decided to give her a brief explanation of what Codes and Unknowns are.

That seemed to have made her trust me a lot more, to the point that she wasn't that against me hugging and kissing her.

To be honest, I enjoy the time I spend here. It's... comforting.