Chapter 904: Ch 903: Who's the Savior?

Athena smiled when she saw that Ryo had caught her meaning.

In a way, Shiroyasha really did dote on Ryo. At the very least, whenever she thought he couldn't handle something, she'd step in to help.

Then again, part of this time was pride. Ouroboros's base was apparently right under her nose, and for a face-conscious woman like Shiroyasha, that was unforgivable. The terrorists' headquarters sitting next door to the head of public security? Not many people could swallow that.

So in a sense, this was Ouroboros's own fault. Who told them to be so cocky?

Of course, even with Shiroyasha standing in front, there were still things to watch out for. While Ryo was working out his next move, Athena gave him a friendly warning.

"The two-digits lurking in the shadows will probably have their eyes on you too. But with the one behind Ouroboros and the Queen mediating, the risk should be low."

'You could even say the Queen was absorbing nearly all of it,' Athena thought quietly. Did he think she couldn't see who was really standing behind Krishna's terms?

The Queen knows about the Another Cosmology in Ryo, and maybe even the conditions for unlocking it. That's why she's playing it this way, taking the long, winding road to send him a Sun Authority.

At that thought, Athena couldn't help glancing at Ryo. Shiroyasha, Queen Halloween, Algol... Honestly, he was awfully good at getting star spirits to like him.

"You think the risk is low too?" Ryo let out a breath. "Then I can relax."

Luckily, although this whole thing was meant to spit in Buddha's tea, Krishna was the mastermind, so Ryo himself wasn't drawing much hatred.

"Still, I should double-check things on Kalki's end." Ryo sighed and stood up.

Just as he did, Athena asked, "Did you go see Kurousagi?"

He froze, then murmured. "I left her a letter."

"Afraid she'll cry?" Athena teased.

"Since you already know, please stop asking. It's embarrassing."

Ryo rubbed the goosebumps on his arm. Honestly, he really was scared of Kurousagi crying, and she was famous for having a lot of tears. She'd agree to his plan in the end, of course, but he figured it was better to skip the part in between.

With that in mind, he looked at Athena. "And Algol...?"

"I'll let her know. Though she probably already does. She just hasn't shown up because she's busy teaching Leticia some things," Athena explained.

Ryo nodded in understanding. Because of the ambush on Anat, Algol suspected Krishna's side had learned of her involvement, so as a precaution she wanted to set up some life-saving tricks on Arcadia's key figures. That was the main reason Leticia had been recalled from the Mars battlefield.

Ryo knew this, which was why he'd asked Athena, to find out from her, the "maid," whether it was okay to bother Algol. Funny thing, though. Algol said Athena was her maid, and yet Athena's the one running things.

"I'll leave it to you, then."

...

..

Mars, hidden prison cell—

Kalki sat cross-legged on the floor, his powers sealed by the shackles, and asked, his expression a little awkward. "Mr. Mystery, are we really just going to sit here and wait?"

"Yes!"

Mr. Mystery—or Mithras—spoke in a firm voice.

He even took the trouble to explain. "For us right now, the best response is to do nothing at all. If you do nothing, you can't get anything wrong. It's like how you can't make ripples if you never throw a stone at the water."

"Against the schemes of two-digits, when you don't have equal power, the best thing is to do nothing and not even think about scheming against them. Otherwise, their near-prophetic intuition will teach you what it means for every single step to be a mistake."

Kalki couldn't help sounding surprised. "Have you gone up against those beings before?"

"We traded wins and losses, you could say." There was a hint of pride in the old voice.

"Is that how you ended up like this?" Kalki asked innocently.

Mithras suddenly had nothing to say.

Seeing him go quiet, Kalki realized he'd said something wrong and quickly apologized. "Sorry, I didn't mean to rub salt in the wound."

"It's fine." Mithras had a good temper and didn't hold the remark against him. He just sounded a little helpless. "I simply wasn't good enough. But it's not actually their fault that I ended up in this state."

"What?" Kalki blinked. "Not their fault? Then whose?"

At that, Mithras answered in a complicated tone. "In a way, I'm in this mess for the same reason you are. Because of the same person."

"Who?" Kalki was baffled, then stared in disbelief. "Ryo? Him? That's impossible!"

"Why impossible?" Mithras laughed. "Don't underestimate that kid. His backing is far deeper than yours. And unlike yours, the ones funding him aren't after his spirit rank. So in a way, he has it much easier than you do. On top of that, he grows at a freakish speed."

"Ha!" Mithras let out a self-deprecating laugh. "Just a few months ago, I was playing with him, wondering what I should do with him. Who would've thought he..." He sighed. "Forget it."

He sounded a little bitter. "Now our roles have been flipped."

It was partly because his divine body had been destroyed and his spirit rank was parasitizing Kalki.

It's only been two months... Only a Two-Digit could be this ridiculous, right? Or could there really be some hidden Two-Digit in Little Garden that I don't know about? No, that should be impossible... Then how the hell did he grow at a speed like that...?

"Well..." Kalki suddenly found himself at a loss for words.

Mithras' feelings were mixed, and so were Kalki's. Having read Ryo's intelligence file, Mithras knew that Ryo had arrived in Little Garden almost at the same time he himself was born.

Kalki had been born at Four-Digit, while Ryo had climbed all the way up from Seven-Digit. And even if he had leapt straight to Five-Digit with the Fire Divinity Shiroyasha had given him, it still shouldn't have been enough.

But now Ryo was a four-digit rule-breaker, even showing signs of stepping into three-digit strength, while Kalki could only stand obediently at the four-digit elite level.

"Who's really the savior here?" Kalki sighed, his voice full of mixed feelings.

Just then, there was a creak.

It was the sound of an iron door being pushed open.

.

.

.