Chapter 376 339 – Setting Out for a New World

Having just finished a battle, everyone had now gathered at an izakaya to enjoy dinner together.

Slurp~~z

After tasting the ramen, Momo Chiyoda gave a slight nod and showed a satisfied expression.

Although she preferred udon, the ramen here was also very good.

It came with plenty of meat too, which she liked.

Sitting beside her, Hiratsuka-sensei said with considerable pride, "This is my favorite place. The food here is really good."

"Mm~ I like it."

Yuki Tsukumo, who was seated on Hiratsuka-sensei's other side, nodded in agreement.

Other than them, only Takumi, Irina, and Xenovia were present.

Rias, Sona, and their retainers had not come.

After all, the incident Kokabiel caused had affected all three groups: angels, demons, and fallen angels.

As participants in the incident, they needed to pass the information to the upper ranks of their families in the Underworld as quickly as possible.

That also saved Takumi some trouble. Sona would definitely pass the news on to Serafall.

The moment Serafall received it, she would understand and begin carrying out the plan the two of them had arranged beforehand.

The only thing Takumi needed to do now was wait.

He would wait until the day of the Hongmen Banquet, then personally hold down the home field.

Thinking of this, Takumi pulled his attention back and focused on the dejected Irina and Xenovia.

"You've already eaten two bowls and still haven't recovered?"

"It's just that your faith collapsed. You can always switch to another one."

"The faith on my side is rock-solid, and I even have special rewards for believers."

"Shizuka Cutie and Yuki can both testify to that."

Takumi offered his warm consolation, leaving everyone else with dark lines across their foreheads.

Trying to persuade believers to change faiths was bad enough, but he was even urging them to worship him. That was shameless!

What made Hiratsuka-sensei and the others even more speechless was that Irina and Xenovia were clearly hesitating for real.

They looked uncertainly at Takumi, unable to figure out whether he truly was the reincarnation of a god.

The extreme emotional ups and downs had already shattered their state of mind.

Even if there were only the faintest possibility, their hearts instinctively wanted to cling to it, despite knowing it might be false hope.

People always needed something to hope for. That was precisely why religion flourished.

Irina, whose faith was especially devout, genuinely needed to find a reason not to kill herself.

And Takumi, standing before her, had become the pillar supporting that hope."

After sorting through their thoughts, Irina spoke first.

"I want to think about it. I can't make a decision this quickly."

"I-I'm the same. I need some time to consider it."

Xenovia also spoke, looking at Takumi with complicated eyes.

After a brief silence, Irina quietly asked, "What are you planning to do with Excalibur, Takumi?"

She was referring to the Excalibur that Takumi had obtained from Valper.

Now that the three-in-one Excalibur had fallen into Takumi's hands, there was really no way for them to take it back.

"What kind of question is that? What do you mean, what am I planning to do with it? Do I look like that kind of person?"

Takumi smiled pleasantly, his tone extremely gentle.

Then he continued with a cheerful grin, "It's already in my hands. Do you seriously think I'm planning to give it back? Don't be ridiculous."

"…"

What a brutally realistic answer!

Everyone thought the same thing in perfect unison.

Irina and Xenovia no longer had the spirit to ask Takumi for it.

The gap in strength was already obvious. The only possible method would be to persuade him in bed and make him hand it over willingly.

But just imagining that possibility made Irina half die of embarrassment.

As for Xenovia, she was not thinking that far yet, but her faith was wavering inside her.

Compared to Irina's devotion, Xenovia's faith was much more fragile.

Xenovia understood very clearly how the Church would treat her once the news that she knew [God was gone] made its way back.

They would probably brand her a "heretic" at the first opportunity and cast her aside, just as they had done to Asia.

It could be said that both Irina and Xenovia were currently in a terrible position.

They had reached the point where even if they wanted to return, they no longer had the opportunity to do so.

For now, they could only take things one step at a time while silently considering what their future might hold.

Compared to the two girls' anxiety, Takumi's state of mind was extremely calm.

He had already fed the three-in-one Excalibur to the Boosted Gear.

After consecutively absorbing five Holy Swords, the gauntlet had also gained an extremely powerful anti-demon specialization.

Even without activating any abilities or traits, simply brushing the gauntlet against an ordinary demon would probably reduce them to ash on the spot.

"I'm only missing the final two Holy Swords before I can assemble the complete [Excalibur]."

"The Church only has [Excalibur Blessing] left, and it's not worth making a special trip over there."

"When the time comes, I'll talk to Michael and see whether I can get it directly from him."

"As for the final one, [Excalibur Ruler], it's in the hands of King Arthur's descendant."

Takumi silently calculated things in his heart and did not feel that collecting the Holy Swords would be difficult.

The commotion caused by Valper and Kokabiel had done nothing but fatten him up.

He could also use the incident to lure out Leohart from the war faction, killing two birds with one stone!

Aside from waiting, he also needed to raise his strength as much as possible.

"My current strength still doesn't feel safe enough. I should push myself a bit more and raise it completely."

Takumi let out a long breath inwardly, then stood and said goodbye to the others.

As he flew toward home, his expression was very relaxed.

Tohru and the others were probably still asleep. He had used his full strength on them, so they would not wake up that easily.

After all, Katerea, who had endured his full strength last time, had only barely begun to recover.

Even a faint breeze was enough to make her collapse and tremble on the ground for a long while.

Thinking of Katerea's current miserable state, the corners of Takumi's mouth rose slightly.

Now that he thought about it, he inexplicably wanted another taste of that dark-skinned beauty.

"Forget it. I'll wait until she's completely recovered."

"If she breaks again, waiting for her to recover would take far too long."

He did not have any particularly good way to heal a collapse of the mind.

After muttering to himself, Takumi looked at his status panel.

[World-Crossing Gate Progress: 12,056%]

"Twelve thousand. I'm getting closer to the goal of one hundred thousand."

As Takumi spoke, he arrived in the Space-Time Realm in an instant and used 100% World-Crossing Gate progress to open what should have been an entirely new space-time gate.

Before heading to the brand-new world, however, Takumi first gathered Freya, Kureha, Eve, and the others for a three-day-and-three-night fight.

After making each of them raise both hands in V-signs and taking several photographs of their smiling faces, Takumi distributed the Sacred Gears he had created among them.

...

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