Viltrumite, Is Your Mightiest Chat Group Fake?

"How is it? Pretty, isn't it?"

"Whoa—will Terra be like this too?"

Hard to say. Leon raised an eyebrow slightly.

His memory was hazy, but wasn't this Terra severely desertified?

And there was something outside the planet too.

"Maybe you can ask the Doctor? But anyway, since you're awake this time, I can take you flying again."

"Yay!"

Then, Leon's expression turned serious as he looked at Amiya.

"Chat time's over. Time for business. What do you think about this, little Amiya?"

"Doctor Kal'tsit and the others said—"

He cut off the girl's hesitation.

"Don't tell me what other people said. You're my group member, the client who commissioned this mission. You can do whatever you want.

"Tell me, Amiya. What do you think about this?"

Amiya looked down at her hands, then at the Doctor and the other two behind her, frozen in the middle of their discussion.

She slowly asked:

"Miss Theresa said that Sarkaz souls return to Many Souls. Then will the murderers who killed everyone in the convoy also return there?"

Clearly, that question was beyond Leon's knowledge. But when faced with the unknown, Viltrumites had their own little tricks.

"I don't know. But if they do, what's stopping us from going in and killing them again? I refuse to believe there's another layer underneath to hold their cowardly souls."

"What if there is?"

"Then we'll work a little harder and do it again."

"Hahaha... Brother Leon, that sounds kind of sad for them."

Amiya laughed through her tears and began describing everything she had learned during this time.

"The Doctor said this was an operation ordered by the Military Commission, though it wasn't specifically targeting us.

"And Miss Theresa told me many stories about the Sarkaz. But she said she couldn't figure out how much of it was undeserved disaster and how much was self-inflicted."

The girl shook her head, determination shining through her childish face.

"I don't understand things like millennia of hatred or xenophobic hostility.

"I just want to see for myself what kind of people gave those orders."

She met Leon's eyes.

"Brother Leon, can I ask you to take me there?"

"Of course."

Leon found it quite interesting. This Amiya was rather different from the one he had only known online before.

[Escort Mission—Group member Amiya wishes to travel to Kazdel and meet Theres is.]

[Mission Requirements: Amiya must survive and reach the target location.

Time Limit: 3 days. Available group member slots: 0/1]

Looking at the mission details before him, he tapped the participation button.

Kal'tsit's anxiety had worsened recently.

Not only because the Doctor and Felicia had begun showing some pathological symptoms while researching Originium.

But also because she could never forget that young man hovering in the air, holding up a car.

Back then, she had nearly bristled and bared her teeth.

She had walked this land for ten thousand years. Though she considered her abilities mediocre, no one on Terra could surpass her accumulated knowledge.

A unit with boundless strength, the ability to fly, and an extreme resemblance to people from the previous civilization.

How could she not consider all sorts of absurd answers—the technology-enhanced Abyssal Hunters, the demons shaped into people by cognition, the colossal beasts imitating people from the previous civilization...

Until she reached a conclusion she refused to believe.

This unknown profanity was a walking relic of the previous civilization, one that not even a single prophet had included in her database.

And she was especially sensitive to such things.

The sudden arrival of the Talos-II creature had become the fuse.

Then the exile who obtained "Continuation of Civilization" and unsealed Originium had directly set every story in motion.

The Sarkaz who found the PCS System mainframe and became a Sankta, even she herself, released by the Doctor...

Every appearance of a relic from the previous civilization shook the entire world.

How could she, who had always cautiously maintained Terra, not be worried?

She had to uncover this man's true nature...

Thus, after everyone discussed it, Amiya would "summon" Leon inside a large training ground.

The other group members had agreed to this as well.

Then, after Amiya in the center nodded, it was as though an invisible door existed beside her.

Leon stepped out without making a sound.

Then he saw Kal'tsit among the crowd, leaning slightly forward with her hair faintly bristling.

Well, much better than the Spinosaurus he had seen last time.

"So, are we leaving now?"

He had just reached out to casually pick up Amiya when a female voice stopped him.

"Please wait, Mr. Leon."

It was Theresa. The pink-haired Demon King said:

"It isn't that we don't trust you. It's simply that I know better than anyone how formidable the Military Commission is—"

Leon raised a hand, cutting off her explanation.

The moment he arrived, he had sensed an unusual number of combat personnel nearby.

And they had chosen a location where they could normally fight without restraint.

Besides, the instant he appeared, those people he remembered as elite operators...

Their slightly quickened breathing, contracted pupils, hands secretly gripping weapon hilts, and the reactions of some energy they had mobilized...

None of it could escape his keen senses.

As he had said before, skipping needless formalities and going straight to the point was wisdom.

Leon rose onto his toes and slowly floated upward.

"Got it. You want a fight, right?"

(The group members said stories perform better if they're published earlier, so in order to rush toward publication, I'll be adjusting the daily update count to three or four chapters. Wish me luck.)

You Know I've Always Respected Ganging Up on People

"No, we weren't—"

Kal'tsit instinctively tried to explain. Before they understood his background, she did not want Babel, already under tremendous pressure, to make another enemy of a powerful person.

But the moment she met Leon's eyes, she understood.

Yes. Whether it was concern for the girl's safety, their suspicions, or their fear of the Military Commission.

The result was the same. They wanted to know Leon's true strength.

Kal'tsit felt shame for the first time in a long while. She felt as though that calm gaze had seen straight through her.

Was this what one would expect from someone suspected to be an old hand from the previous civilization?

Not only powerful, but so wise as well...

Theresa took over from her.

The Demon King placed both hands before her abdomen and said frankly:

"You're right. Please forgive us for making you witness this. Before seeing it with our own eyes, we simply can't help doubting such things."

But inwardly, she was deeply confused.

Though it was extremely rude, she ultimately could not resist reaching out to Leon with the Demon King's Arts.

Yet the usual torrent of information seemed to be blocked by some kind of filter around him.

Only a tiny amount leaked through, less useful even than simply watching his expression.

And once he entered a combat-ready state, even that completely vanished.

The feelers she used to sense emotions were like touching an inorganic steel plate.

Then, amid the increasingly tense atmosphere, the steel plate spoke.

He heard the Cautus quietly apologizing, so he picked her up and seated her on his shoulder.

"There's one thing I need to emphasize. You hurt little Amiya's feelings."

He floated forward and, amid the crowd stepping back one after another, placed Amiya beside the Doctor.

"Of course I understand your concerns, but you should have explained your thoughts to her clearly,

"Instead of treating her like a foolish child holding a high-risk weapon.

"Otherwise, a bunch of adults make a decision in secret, then leave the child blaming herself for not asking clearly before calling me here. That's a little despicable."

He pointed at Amiya, whose eyes were slightly red.

"Perfect. You said you wanted to fight alongside everyone too, right? Then start learning from this moment on."

Then he lightly returned to the center of the training ground.

"Enough talk. Come on."

His contemptuous attitude ignited the participants' fighting spirit.

Scout, Ace, Pith, Mantra, Logos, and Ascalon, who had gathered her courage to challenge him again, stepped forward.

Roughly speaking, this lineup was already capable of assassinating the Royal Court, even Theres is.

Looking toward Leon, who stood with his hands behind his back, they attacked together in perfect coordination.

"Listen carefully, little Amiya. If you truly walk the path of battle someday, remember this: getting ganged up on is the most dangerous thing."

Leon opened the Chat Group's private voice channel.

"Countless arrogant powerhouses have died this way. They always think individual strength can overcome a numerical advantage.

"But in the end, two fists can't beat four hands, and they can't guard against everything."

Bang!

He raised a hand and caught Scout's bullet.

Then, with an inconceivable sideways movement, he dodged Ace's attack and Ascalon's strike from behind Ace's cover.

The Originium Arts woven and unleashed together by Pith and Logos were scattered with a single wave of his hand.

"See? Without a way to deal with it, you'll be forced onto the defensive and end up in quite a sorry state."

Sorry in what way?

Amiya and the nearby operators asked at the same time.

Still, they were no pushovers. Once they realized straightforward attacks would not work, they changed tactics.

They had already rehearsed countless times how to fight a high-level target, because their enemies included the Royal Court.