The previous battle with the Crimson Oath Society had devastated the flesh-and-blood territories that the [Demon's Nest] had spread from its entrance. Only scattered remnants of corrupted tissue still clung to the Velkairos coastline.
Azrael stood on the shore, studying a faint dimensional rift near the [Demon's Nest]'s entrance, his expression grim.
"When was it discovered?"
"This morning. A citizen spotted it while jogging," replied the young association member beside him.
Azrael frowned slightly, turning to face him. "Isn't this entire area under lockdown? How could an ordinary person get through?"
He wasn't blaming the Lore Cardian before him, he simply worried this newly appeared secret realm might be artificial. Jin's stated goal had been to bring a secret realm to Velkairos, and the appearance of this rift right next to the [Demon's Nest] was deeply suspicious.
The young man clearly misunderstood his meaning, though. Wiping sweat from his forehead, he swallowed nervously. "An elderly man living nearby snuck in."
Azrael fell silent, feeling both helpless at his subordinates' nervousness and exasperated by the old man's actions. Thinking back to the square-dancing elderly and runaway senior groups from before his transmigration, people who wouldn't listen no matter what anyone said, he found himself oddly unsurprised.
He sighed and waved dismissively. "Where is he? Bring him to me."
"Yes, sir!"
As the young man hurried off, Azrael's attention returned to the still-forming secret realm entrance in the distance. He muttered under his breath, "I hope it's not one of the master demons under the Four Evil Gods."
Soon, the elderly man who'd first noticed something wrong was brought before him.
Azrael scanned him with his mental power, confirming he was indeed an ordinary person with no signs of Jin's contract binding. On second thought, if the old man had truly entered the secret realm on his own initiative, there would've been no need to notify the association. Azrael relaxed slightly. So it really was just coincidence?
Just then, the old man broke free from the association Lore Cardians' grip and began shouting something incomprehensible.
Despite the chaos around him, dozens of injured Lore Cardians receiving treatment, Azrael patiently asked in the local dialect, "Sir, could you please tell me what happened this morning?"
As expected, the old man paused after hearing Azrael's words, looking the young man up and down before mumbling about the morning's events in a way that only he could fully understand.
If the old man had been from Qilu, Azrael might have mentioned that his lack of cooperation would affect his children's future association exams. A simple tactic, but effective.
The old man quickly explained what had happened. He'd simply snuck in for a morning run and noticed something unusual. Remarkably, he'd been doing this for several days.
"Thank you for your cooperation," Azrael said, nodding before signaling his subordinates to escort the man away.
As the old man departed, Azrael whispered to nearby guild staff, "Have someone observe him discreetly for a while. Once you're certain there's nothing suspicious, remove the surveillance. Also, check the nearby security footage from the past few days."
"Understood."
After dealing with the witness, Azrael looked thoughtfully at the gradually forming secret realm entrance. "Speaking of which, Shiraori, could we try destroying it?"
He remembered President Godfrey's suggestion back in Donglai, that unformed secret realms could be destroyed through spatial manipulation. Shiraori happened to be an expert in such techniques.
However, because she'd been operating as part of the Crimson Oath Society before, Azrael hadn't had a chance to test this approach.
With that thought, he immediately summoned Shiraori. A gigantic half-human, half-spider figure instantly materialized beside him.
The surrounding guild Lore Cardians startled, immediately going on guard. They thought a demon had appeared and nearly summoned their own cards.
"Don't be nervous," Azrael reassured them, then allowed Shiraori to proceed.
However, the expected obstruction from the [Demon's Nest] never materialized. It remained completely silent, as if the spatial rift nearby didn't exist at all.
Scared by Lord Lioren? Azrael wondered. Or,
Before he could finish the thought, a familiar presence suddenly appeared beside him.
It was Dareth.
Azrael gathered his thoughts and greeted him casually. "Uncle Dareth."
Seeing the young man, Dareth looked surprised. "Azrael, aren't you supposed to be at your alma mater today? Finished already?"
Without all the tedious formalities, simply sharing experience with a few high school students didn't take much time. However, Dareth didn't intend to press the issue. He shook his head and asked about the situation.
Hearing the question, Azrael provided a brief explanation.
As he finished, Shiraori returned to his side using spatial magic.
"No good, Azrael. Little Spider tried her best, but couldn't break that spatial rift." A frustrated wail echoed in Azrael's mind, though Shiraori's expressionless face created a distinct sense of dissonance.
Noticing the strangeness in Azrael's expression, Dareth raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong?"
"Shiraori couldn't destroy the spatial rift," Azrael explained briefly.
Dareth's expression grew serious. "This secret realm must be quite high-level, then."
Seeing Azrael's confusion, he elaborated. "Generally, the higher a secret realm's level, the harder it becomes to destroy once the entrance forms."
Azrael stared, having never heard this before. "So, "
A sudden loud crack interrupted him.
He turned toward the distant spatial rift and saw that the once-faint crack had completely transformed into a swirling secret realm entrance.
Simultaneously, a terrifying aura tried forcing its way out from the newly emerged realm.
"Full lockdown!" Azrael quickly commanded the surrounding association Lore Cardians, then summoned his own cards.
Sensing this aura, he muttered, "Diamond-level?"
He breathed a sigh of relief. A Diamond-level creature wouldn't cause significant damage to Velkairos at this point. Even a weaker Diamond-level threat would be something Azrael could handle alone.
But he soon realized how wrong he was.
"Kyuuu!"
A piercing cry resounded through the sky, followed by terrifying demonic flames surging outward.
Azrael's expression darkened at the sight. Master-level.
A Master-level demon, and unlike any he'd encountered before. However, he soon recognized which demon had arrived.
The Nine-Tailed Fox that had destroyed a small country shortly after secret realms first appeared on Earth. It had laid waste to an entire nation upon manifestation, then retreated into the ruins, refusing contact with the outside world, whether human or demon.
"It was promoted to Master-level," Dareth said beside him, his face grave. "Because the fox demon basically withdrew into its own territory, we had no intelligence about its advancement."
The creature's appearance here was clearly hostile. It certainly hadn't come to the Empire of Aetherlight for a friendly dinner.
Such a massive disturbance wouldn't go unnoticed in Velkairos. Within moments of the fox demon's appearance, Master Lucian had already materialized beside Azrael.
Seeing his teacher, Azrael relaxed slightly. "Teacher."
Master Lucian nodded, then cast his gaze into the distance. "The Flesh King and the Nation-Destroying Fox Demon. How did they become connected?"
Azrael shared his teacher's confusion. As far as he remembered, these two factions had rarely crossed paths.
Just as Velkairos's Lore Cardians remained on high alert, a figure finally emerged from the newly revealed secret realm, a male, Diamond-level demon.
While this might have been terrifying under normal circumstances, with two Master-level demons present, the newcomer seemed almost inconsequential.
"Kyuuu!"
Another sharp whistle echoed as nine enormous tails reaching toward heaven appeared before Azrael's eyes. Then, a sea of fire powerful enough to engulf all of Velkairos descended from the sky.
This sight stunned everyone watching.
Master Lucian immediately summoned Dread King Yama to intercept. Pitch-black ink surged upward to meet the flames, creating a sizzling, scorching sound as they collided.
But this wasn't a sustainable solution. The demons at sea could attack Velkairos with impunity, while Azrael and his allies had no choice but to defend.
Azrael's face darkened as his cards instantly charged forward. This was no time to hide his strength.
The Shinigami cards, led by Ichigo Kurosaki, immediately unleashed their full power. Azrael also injected all the souls accumulated from Soul Return into Kurosaki.
BOOM!
Massive pitch-black spiritual pressure erupted. The orange-haired youth's aura now surpassed even his last clash with the Crimson Oath Society.
Watching from beside Azrael, Dareth felt a flicker of apprehension. Having been maintaining order within the city during the previous incident, he'd only witnessed Ichigo's final Mugetsu technique from a distance and wasn't fully aware of the exact process.
Now, seeing Kurosaki's expressionless face and overwhelming power, he finally understood that an ordinary Diamond-rank wouldn't last even a single exchange against him.
"Another Diamond-rank card?" The middle-aged man noticed a boy wearing a straw hat.
The Straw Hat boy's style was quite different from the yellow-haired boy and his companions. Dareth could tell at a glance they didn't belong to the same series, which meant the layered combination of special features that made Kurosaki so powerful likely wouldn't apply here.
With this realization, he sighed and immediately summoned his own cards.
Meanwhile, white mist gradually spread into Velkairos, and faint demon silhouettes began appearing on the sea.
The newly appeared Diamond-level demon's heart skipped a beat when he saw the cards Azrael and his team had summoned. Thank goodness the Flesh King contacted me in advance. Otherwise, this would've been disastrous.
This world... No wonder that person is so eager.
With this thought, he glanced at the massive fleet that had materialized behind him. I can't contact Vangeance and the others either. They must be dead.
As he considered promoting several subordinates to fill the vacancies, he suddenly caught sight of the young man in the straw hat.
Who's that?
Though it was their first meeting, the demon felt a familiar aura about the youth, and more importantly, an inexplicable resistance to engaging him.
Interesting.
Elsewhere, Shiraori had already identified the newly appeared Diamond-level demon's information, allowing Azrael to roughly guess his identity.
[Name: Douglas Bullet]
[Title: The Demon Heir]
[Level: Diamond]
[Drop Material: Tyrant of the Seas]
He muttered, "The Demon Heir from the Seven Seas Secret Realm?"
Azrael quickly made a decision, letting Luffy deal with Bullet. After all, they were professionally matched, saving him from having to interfere with Ichigo and the others.
Glancing at the Shinigami-type cards struggling to hold off the fox demon, Azrael couldn't help but frown. If only I had both Aizen and old man Yamamoto completed.
He didn't even dream of collecting three Diamond-level venue cards. With these two creature cards plus one venue card from either [Hueco Mundo] or [Seireitei] upgraded to Diamond-rank, he was confident he could stop a Master-level demon head-on.
Killing it would depend on compatibility, but if it was a Ghost-type Master-level demon, there was a good chance.
Just as Azrael lost himself in thought, Luffy and Bullet had already drawn close.
Bullet grinned, his white teeth gleaming in the sunlight. "Tell me your name, boy!"
"Luffy." The boy pulled his straw hat back. "Monkey D. Luffy."
After saying this, he took a deep breath and began beating his chest rhythmically.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
The dull heartbeat attracted everyone's attention.
"Shishishishi!"
The continuous laughter spilling from Luffy's mouth made Bullet frown. "Boy, what's so funny?"
Before he could finish speaking, his eyes suddenly widened.
BOOM, !
Several streaks of black-and-red lightning shot from Luffy's body, brushing past Bullet and sinking the giant ship behind him.
And this was just the beginning.
At that moment, the boy's entire body turned white, the color of the sun and freedom. He covered his eyes with his right hand and laughed wildly.
"Ahahahahahaha!"