Chapter 616 How Gods Choose Their Successors

Up in the VIP observation area, Ankh watched his good friend obtain one of the seven Divine Rings less than three minutes after entering the dungeon.

Then he silently turned toward Falutbeth.

Falutbeth immediately felt the pressure of that stare and hurried to defend herself.

"Getting a ring isn't the important part! Every Divine Ring contains negative illusions created by divine power. What happens after someone obtains one is the real test!"

Then Yuluye interrupted.

"Still…"

He pointed toward the images flowing through the stellar river beneath them.

"Ankhseram, your human companions seem unusually lucky."

"Most of them have already started regrouping."

Ankh looked down.

Sure enough, Jellal had reunited with Ultear.

Juvia had found Gajeel.

Even Sawyer had linked up with Macbeth and Meredy.

And judging by the direction Laxus was wandering through the maze, all his hopelessly confused detours were somehow bringing him closer to them too.

"How is that possible?!"

Falutbeth stared in disbelief.

"I randomized every starting point in the dungeon! I even isolated all communication between participants!"

Then she abruptly turned.

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously at Ankh.

Ankh scratched his head.

"They were entering a dangerous ruin."

"So before we went inside, I gave everyone a few small items that could locate their teammates."

"Nothing wrong with that, right?"

"I—you…"

Falutbeth had no response.

Anything created with divine power would naturally ignore the dungeon's ordinary signal interference.

"But if they all regroup, then they're just clearing the trial as a party!"

'That's not what I wanted to watch!'

Falutbeth lamented internally.

Then, without saying anything, she quietly accelerated the pace of the trial, determined to get things back under control before Ankh's outside interference ruined all her entertainment.

Yuluye, meanwhile, was watching one particular scene in the galaxy below.

After a moment of thought, he asked,

"That human woman…"

"Is she your partner now that you've become human?"

Ankh nodded.

Yuluye considered her for another moment.

"She would actually be compatible with my Virtue Divine Power."

"Huh?"

Ankh turned toward him with such obvious surprise that Yuluye became confused.

Was it really that difficult to believe his girlfriend possessed virtue?

"You don't need to look so shocked."

"She carries an extremely strong ideal within her."

"Her attachment to virtue and good conduct is almost excessive. She is even willing to restrain aspects of her own personality in order to live up to that ideal."

Yuluye smiled knowingly.

"Among everyone inside this dungeon, she is the person most compatible with that half of my authority."

"As for what inspired that determination…"

His silver-gray eyes shifted toward Ankh.

"I imagine you understand."

After spending so many years among humans, Yuluye had apparently also learned one of humanity's most fundamental instincts—

gossip.

Ankh fell silent.

He remembered something from years ago.

After he and Laxus returned from that Ten-Year Quest, Mirajane really had changed.

She had deliberately become gentler.

Softer.

More restrained.

"Basically, you're just trying to do me a favor."

Ankh glanced sideways at Yuluye.

Yuluye laughed, looking far more like a wandering martial hero than an ancient god.

"That's part of it."

"Falutbeth and I are both quite fond of humans now."

Divine light shimmered faintly within his silver-gray eyes as he watched the people struggling through the dungeon.

"As for fairness…"

"That's Reinelk's concern."

"I simply want to help you as much as I can while I'm still able to act within this region."

"The seven Divine Rings scattered throughout the dungeon contain portions of my Sin Divine Power."

"If one person gathers all seven, they can inherit that authority from me."

"And that human girl…"

He glanced toward Mirajane's image.

"I can grant her my Virtue Divine Power."

"As for the Divine Powers of Good and Evil…"

Yuluye subtly glanced toward Falutbeth.

Then lowered his voice.

"You'll have to ask her yourself."

"No need!"

Falutbeth's eyes suddenly lit up.

She pointed excitedly at one of the scenes below.

"I've found someone!"

...

The source of Falutbeth's sudden excitement was currently unfolding on the eleventh floor.

Juvia and Gajeel were both injured.

They knelt on one knee, watching the man across from them warily.

And the person responsible for those injuries was none other than the unfortunate young man whose Divine Ring had been stolen earlier—the same man who had been forced to continue descending after losing it.

At the moment, however, even his own aura had become unstable.

His face was flushed red with fury as he stared at the tall figure now standing protectively in front of Juvia and Gajeel.

Yes.

Once again—

Laxus.

And in his hand, casually tossed up and caught again—

was another Divine Ring.

Laxus stared strangely at the young man before him.

"You're actually still alive?"

The young man's expression twisted.

He looked furious enough to kill, yet a nervous, almost deranged grin spread across his face.

"Laxus of Fairy Tail…"

"I crawled back from the underworld just to take revenge on you."

Laxus narrowed his eyes.

"I can tell."

"You're not alive anymore."

His voice turned colder.

"Former strongest mage of Ishgar…"

"God Serena."

Once, during the battle against Tartaros, God Serena had been defeated and killed by Laxus.

Now the corners of his mouth split into a wild grin.

"That's right."

"I'm not human anymore."

He spread his arms.

"And it's all thanks to Duke-sama finding my corpse."

"He gave me the chance to stand before you again…"

His smile widened grotesquely.

"And cut off your head."

Laxus gave a quiet laugh.

He clearly wasn't taking the threat very seriously.

He pulled off the coat hanging over his shoulders and tossed it aside.

"Whatever."

"If you came back to life…"

"Then I'll just kill you again."

His voice hardened.

"This time, I'll make sure there isn't even a corpse left."

Golden lightning exploded around his body.

Electric light blazed from his eyes.

"And after trying to rob my companions…"

"I'll personally send you straight back to the underworld!"

The moment he mentioned that, veins bulged across God Serena's forehead.

Even as Laxus charged, he roared back furiously,

"DAMN YOU!"

"Your bastard companions tried to steal my ring! I fought them off, and now you attack me without even asking what happened?!"

BOOM—!

His rant ended abruptly.

The two had already collided at extreme speed.

Lightning and Dragon Slayer power tore through the corridor as Laxus's completely emotionless voice struck God Serena's nerves even harder than the attack itself.

"So?"

That was Laxus.

A complete hypocrite when his own people were involved.

The kind of parent who would hear, "Your kid started it," and answer, "Yeah, but he's still my kid."

God Serena nearly suffered a brain hemorrhage from pure rage.

Their battle immediately became even more vicious.

...

"Yes!"

Falutbeth clasped her hands together in absolute delight.

"This!"

"This is exactly what I wanted to see!"

Her eyes practically sparkled.

"That human is perfect!"

Ankh: "..."

Yuluye: "..."

Apparently, unlike Yuluye—who seriously intended to find separate inheritors embodying Sin and Virtue—Falutbeth had very different tastes when choosing someone for Good and Evil.

She didn't want someone overwhelmingly good.

Not a selfless hero who would help anyone without hesitation.

Nor did she want someone irredeemably evil who would sacrifice anything and anyone to achieve their goals.

What she wanted was someone whose position changed according to circumstance.

Someone capable of both righteousness and ruthlessness.

Someone who could stand on either side of the moral line—

while still maintaining one absolute boundary:

their companions and family.

By that standard, Laxus was apparently irresistible.

Admittedly…

Ankh felt that Falutbeth's criteria might produce fewer "perfect inheritors" and considerably more shameless hypocrites.

But—

she had chosen Laxus.

So never mind.

That worked perfectly.