"Th-that idiot actually let Athena use her power!"
Inside the school building, looking down at the students who had almost all turned into stone statues, Miss Kaoru was dumbfounded, nearly furious to death.
That bastard Sora, how reckless can you be?!
"Haha… Kaoru, don't worry. Sora may be a bit wild, but he won't hurt anyone."
Yuri, the miko, tried to calm her down, though her tone betrayed some nervousness.
If it were the old Yuri, she would never have said such obviously biased words. The serious and earnest girl would have been very angry and gone to lecture Sora. But love had gradually this once upright and pure girl. Now, whenever she thought about anything, her subconscious sided with Sora.
Miss Kaoru clearly noticed this, turning around to stare at Yuri with a stunned and surprised expression…
…
"Hehehe… Takagi, oh Takagi, you really never learn, do you!"
Looking at Takagi, who had just gotten up but was still frozen with a face full of righteous indignation, Sora chuckled.
"Master, this kind of guy, shall I help you finish him off?"
A fierce look flashed in his eyes. Just thinking how this humble human had actually tried to attack his master filled Metis with murderous intent.
The corner of Sora's mouth twitched as he looked at his loli bear who wanted to kill everything. He felt utterly speechless.
"Ahem… Metis, maybe hold off for now. Without guy, our school life would lose a lot of fun," Sora said, coughing twice as he patted clasmate Takagi's shoulder.
But the next moment—
Crack, crack…
Sounds like glass shattering rang out. Sora's eye twitched wildly as cracks began spreading from Takagi's shoulder quickly covering his entire body, as if he could shatter at any moment!
"Takagi, could it be that you were knockoff-made by your parents or something?"
Seeing how fragile Takagi was, Sora suddenly had a strange thought.
Well, Sora didn't blame himself at all. He didn't consider how immense his power as a God Slayer was. If Takagi hadn't trained regularly built up his strong body—making his "stone" a bit harder than others—he probably would have shattered just now!
"Um, does anyone have glue?"
Turning his head mechanically, Sora asked Erica, Liliana, and Shizuka behind him.
The three girls were dumbfounded, shaking their heads blankly, still stunned…
"Takagi, oh Takagi, it's not that I don't want to save you, but your fate is like this. Rest well on your journey…"
Muttering silently in his heart, Sora showed a face that said, "Don't blame me for this."
"Athena, can you fix this guy?"
Enough joking around. Sora wasn't really going to let Takagi be so fragile. He lowered his head and asked Athena.
"Yes."
Athena, sparing no words, replied simply.
"Oh, good. Then fix him."
Sora nodded and breathed a small sigh of relief. If Takagi really died, he would feel quite bad.
With a calm expression, Athena turned her little head to the side, pretending to hear…
"One coin!"
Sora's mouth twitched as he looked at Athena, who was actually bargaining with him.
"Ten coins."
With an expression like she wasn't in a hurry and was raising the price on the spot, Athena replied calmly.
"Two coins!"
"Nine coins."
"Three coins!"
"Eight coins."
Finally, with Erica and the other girls behind them holding their foreheads in helpless disbelief, Sora and Athena reached agreement at the price of 6 pieces.
Raising a small hand, Athena infused some divine power into Takagi's body. The statue, which had been full of cracks and seemed ready to shatter at any moment, instantly restored to its original state.
Although it cost a little, Sora nodded in satisfaction.
How curious—if one day Takagi found out that his life was only worth 6 pieces of chocolate, would this guy still have the courage to keep living?
Hmm, I should find a time to tell him!
"Huh?"
With Takagi healed, Sora had no intention to linger. He had originally planned to take the girls home, but suddenly he spotted a familiar figure among the many statues.
"Asuka-nee-san!"
Following Sora's gaze, the other girls also noticed. Shizuka immediately exclaimed in surprise.
Asuka still wore the excited and agitated expression she had before being petrified, holding flag that read, "Defeat Sora! Return Athena! Return Metis!" Hidden in the crowd, no one had noticed her before!
Looking at Asuka, Sora suddenly a deep sense of betrayal, as if his heart had been pierced…
"Onii-chan, please hurry and turn Asuka-nee-san back!"
Seeing that Asuka had also turned into a statue, Shizuka couldn't help but worry and grabbed Sora's arm, pleading earnestly.
"Got it, got it. Athena, turn this stubborn girl back."
Sora couldn't refuse Shizuka's request, and besides, if he didn't turn Asuka back, he wouldn't be able to settle the score with her later! The others didn't bother; after all, Sora had no intention of letting Asuka off the hook!
"10 pieces."
With a slight curve at the corner of her mouth, Athena showed an expression of a fixed price.
"Deal!"
Watching his little goddess who was getting better and better at business and bargaining, Sora felt both annoyed and amused.
10 pieces it is. And in Sora's mind, Asuka's value was definitely a bit higher than Takagi's, sweat…
After agreeing the price, Athena didn't waste time and immediately used her power to lift the petrification from Asuka.
"Defeat Sora! Defeat Sora! Defeat…"
Since time and memory had stopped when she was petrified, as soon as Athena lifted the petrification, Asuka continued her previous action, shouting excitedly.
"Huh???"
Feeling that the surroundings suddenly seemed different, why was everyone else quiet and only she was shouting?
Finally coming to her senses, she looked around with a spinning head and was dumbfounded!
Shizuka's face was flushed as she looked at her, Erica and Liliana wore teasing expressions, and Sora, holding Athena and Metis, looked gloomy as water, with a cold and terrifying smile curling at the corner of his mouth…
That would be bad enough, but why had everyone else turned to stone too?!!!
Asuka felt like her little brain was completely confused. Was she dreaming? Was this really a dream?!
"Asuka, it seems like you really want to take me down, huh? Come on, come on, I'll give you a chance."
Looking at Asuka, who was still dazed and completely clueless about the situation, Sora sneered coldly.
"W-what… what did you do?!"
Asuka knew about Sora becoming that so-called Demon King. This strange scene—no need to say—it was definitely caused by him!
She didn't dare think about defeating Sora anymore. She kept retreating, her face showing a different kind of terror.
"What did I do? Isn't it obvious?"
With a slight curve at the corner of his mouth, Sora continued:
"It's one thing if others do it, but for you, my childhood friend, to do something like this, it really breaks my heart."
"Asuka, do you know what I want to do the most right now?"
With a hurt expression, Sora asked Asuka in return.
"Y-you… what do you want to do?"
Feeling uneasy, hugging her chest and stepping back continuously, Asuka cautiously asked.
Even though she was hiding among everyone, Sora still caught her. Asuka felt a bit embarrassed, but who told this bad guy to be so stingy and not let Athena-chan and Metis-chan give her some hugs and cuddles? She was determined to take him down!
A sinister and eerie smile appeared on Sora's lips, but he didn't answer. Instead, he grabbed Metis and faced Asuka—
"I'll kill you!"
With a fierce glare full of murderous intent, Metis spoke coldly and bloodthirstily.
Metis was not joking at all. That murderous look and cold aura made Asuka feel like she had fallen into an ice cave, almost suffocating.
"Ah!!!"
With a scream, Asuka turned around and tried to run away.
"Stop right there!"
Terrified and nervous, but hearing Sora's shout from behind, Asuka instinctively stopped.
"Hehehe… don't be afraid, don't be afraid. I was just scaring you earlier!"
"But, Asuka, if you run away, what about them? After all, you're comrades who started this revolution together!"
Walking up to Asuka, patting the girl's little head, Sora smiled brightly.
"I… I…"
Panicked, Asuka thought to herself, those guys have nothing to do with me! But in the end, she didn't say it out loud.
"What do you want me to do to let everyone go?"
Taking a deep breath, Asuka glared fiercely at Sora, but no longer dared to look at Metis, who had scared her so badly just now.
"Tsk tsk, don't worry, I won't make things hard for you. I heard your family recently got a new batch of flavored chocolates. One chocolate saves one person."
"How is it? Pretty cheap, right?"
With a mischievous smile on his face, in Sora's eyes, a life was worth only a piece of chocolate!
"Yeah, yeah, it's really chea—"
Instinctively, Asuka nodded in agreement, thinking that one piece of chocolate could save a person or something like that.
But then, Asuka suddenly noticed a problem: the number of people here—ten, a hundred… that seemed a bit too many?!
"Um, could it be a little less? You see, we're all pretty familiar with each other…"
Her face flushed red. Although she felt embarrassed to say it, Asuka still stammered, trying to bargain with Sora.
"No way! Asuka, you know I love to screw over people I'm familiar with the most. Don't try to bargain with me, or I'll double the price!"
With a big wave of his hand, Sora spoke in an unarguable tone, his face wearing a righteous expression while saying something utterly shameless.
Stunned, with a twitch at the corner of her mouth, Asuka suddenly felt the urge to pounce and bite this bastard to death…
"I'll pay!"
Gritting her teeth, Asuka finally gave in angrily.
Although she felt extremely unfair about Sora, this big villain who always targeted her, since it was a matter of life and death, Asuka had no choice but to endure it. But just thinking about not having snacks for a long time afterward made her heart ache as if it were bleeding.
Seeing Asuka's angry, heartbroken yet resigned expression, Sora's lips curled into a sly smile. The chocolates and such were all fed to his two teddy bears—those were what he truly wanted, or rather, what he wanted to see…