"Recently, a lot of nations have noticed demon-related activities in their territories... Our empire alone has faced the threat of a lot of demons infiltrating it lately..."
"All this seems to be connected to a sole demon, that is the demon prince Alverto; he's pulling the strings behind the scenes, and he's been investigating nearly all nations in the dark..."
"I assume he was looking for something... But recently, the activities have suddenly stopped; they stopped around the same time when Fade and Kira went missing!"
"It's as if Alverto has found what he was looking for! And I suspect it's about time he starts showing his true colors to the world..."
Hearing Riko mention Fade and connect it to Alverto, a thought came to Rio's mind,
'Er... don't tell me that due to my continuous stealing activities, the heavenly luck has decided to separate Fade from the human empire and bring him to the demon camp, where he might get more chances instead...'
Although something like this is very unlikely to happen, there's always a possibility at the very least.
According to what Idri told Link that day, the 'Laws' of this world are getting corrupted, and the 'Law' of 'Luck' itself might be corrupted too, so it won't be surprising that Fade ends up getting corrupted and becomes a demon.
This way, he will directly switch camps and be more efficient at destroying humanity.
In the first place, the heavenly luck was already against the human race when it made a trash like Fade get it's blessing; it wouldn't be surprising if the heavily corrupted heavenly luck made Fade become a demon.
'Well, I will leave dealing with Fade to Link; the two blessed people can figure out everything between them on their own; I have nothing to do with it...'
'The person I need to deal with is Alverto...'
Dealing with Alverto will solve the problem with 'shadow' and the other party's
consciousness will finally be able to rest in peace.
And he will be able to avenge this body's parents and Zach too.
Although all these are just his selfish goals, Rio has always been a selfish person, so it doesn't matter to him much.
This is something he must do for his own sake, not for others.
Liam clenched his fist after hearing all this and spoke in a determined tone.
"If my father is indeed involved in all this... then I will take responsibility... I will kill him myself!"
Liam has never liked Neo from the start, and if Neo is indeed involved with demons, then he has already betrayed humanity anyway.
Either Ashtel will kill Neo on his own, or Liam will have to deal with him in the future some way or other.
"Well, I have already told you most of the things that I knew; I have more information, which I can't disclose to anyone as of yet..."
"If my investigation results turn out to be true... I will tell you guys more about it... Or perhaps the SS-rankers will figure out the rest on their own as they are not to be underestimated..."
Riko has been investigating for nearly a year; although she didn't get much key information, she at least has figured out a tip of the iceberg.
"I wasn't ready to face him a year ago, but now I surely am..."
Rio couldn't understand where this huge confidence was coming from, but Riko's eyes looked completely different than the last time.
The last time, she was helpless, her spirit was weak, her eyes were trembling, and she had no proper goals.
But now, her eyes are firm and burning with determination, her fighting spirit is condensed to the extreme, and she seems ready for a 'death match' with her enemy.
'She's really a weird kind of person... The more she hates someone, the stronger she gets, and the more twisted her mentality gets...'
'I suspect that she's burning her own lifespan to get stronger and stronger for the sake of revenge... She kind of seems similar to Lia from the original timeline...'
In the original timeline, Riko let go of her revenge and entered Fade's harem and became one of the many decoration-type heroines who's just there for the sake of it.
But now she's completely different.
Although she's sacrificing her own life for revenge, at least she has a meaning to her life.
'I don't know if my interference really changed her future for the better or not like the others,
but I guess she at least has some goals and ambitions in life at least...'
Rio was hoping that Zach and Riko would end up together and their future would be bright, but not everything goes according to your will after all.
He successfully changed the futures of a lot of people, but he can't do it for everyone; he's not
a 'Hero' or a 'Savior' after all; he's an 'Anomaly'.
For some people, an 'Anomaly' can be a good thing, but that's not the case for everyone.
Riko brought out her helmet and spoke in a calm voice,
"It's about time I leave now... I still need to do more investigations; maybe I will get my hands on more information recently..."
Just as Riko was about to leave, Rio asked in a calm voice,
"How about staying a few days? I am sure Lia and the others will be happy to see you... It's not always that we get to meet old comrades after all..."
Riko shook her head at those words,
"No, my fate is to pursue revenge my whole life; me staying near them will only bring them more harm than good... I would rather not taint them with my 'path' of revenge..."
"Let me be the only one to carry this burden alone..."
Zach's final words ring in her head all the time; in his final moments, he confessed his love for
her that she had always been unable to see before.
Now she has nothing but regret and hatred left in her mind.
"When will we get neet you aga
then?"
Liam was also a bit anxious that she would leave, but he dared not use force to stop her, as
that would be too rude.
Riko sighed at those words and replied in a calm voice before disappearing in the distance.
"When the wind leads me to your side, I shall come back again..."
"But I have a feeling we will be working together soon..."
She didn't give any set time or date; she just left after saying those few words.
...
Capital City Astra, Core Area.
A certain skyscraper, Rooftop.
"I see, so Riko was able to get all this information? She's quite a talented child..."
Hearing Ashtel's words, Raji nodded her head and sighed,
"Yeah... Alas, she refuses to return; I have even prepared the graduation degree for her despite her not completing the third-year missions... yet she has refused to take it..."
Jin also sighed heavily at those words,
"It was my mistake that day... I am the one who's responsible for this; if only I had arrived on
time... sigh..."
Ashtel shook his head at that moment,
"What happened in the past can't be changed; there's no point in thinking about it for too
long..."
"What was Ryul's reply to our request?"
At Ashtel's question, Raji nodded her head and replied in a solemn voice,
"He has alerted all the members of the alliance; the world tree has its roots all over the
planet, so it has noticed that a large number of demons have been teleported to the 'Maya
Continent' over the past month..."
Ashtel frowned at those words.
"Maya continent? What do they want to do in that barren land where no one lives anymore? Also, how come no one noticed when they teleported so many demons over to that
continent?"
Hearing those questions, Raji answered one by one,
"Even the world tree of the alliance has no idea what the demons are trying to do by going to the Maya continent, but the alliance has issued a level-3 alert for all of the members..."
"As for the teleportation... it's suspected they used some kind of ancient mechanism or some mysterious unknown artifact to hide the miasmic fluctuations created by the mass teleportation..."
"This matter is further confirmed by the fact that the world tree can't detect Alverto or Neo's
presence at all..."
"It's suspected they are using a similar method to the demon general Azazel to hide their
presence..."
"We will need to do a more thorough investigation of this matter if we want to find out more
about it..."
Ashtel suddenly smirked at those words and spoke in an amused tone.
"How about I just go there myself? I will smash that entire continent to bits along with them
altogether..."
"This may seem like a crisis, but it's actually an opportunity-an opportunity to kill a lot of demons all at once without having to worry about international laws and alliance rules..."
"They are likely trying to use those demons as cannon fodder for whatever they are
planning..."
Usually, high-ranking demons use lower-ranked demons as cannon fodder in wars or when they are about to conduct some kind of dark ritual.
They are likely going to sacrifice thousands of weak demons's souls and life spans and then
use them in some kind of forbidden magic to achieve their evil goals.
This is a common practice among the demon race; they do this all the time, and it's so common that during wars, this is the biggest headache for the opponent armies. Dealing with these forbidden rituals can help you win wars if you do it on time; otherwise, you will lose horribly if it's too late.