Chapter 4 - Kuoh Incident

He decided to name the white dimension "Arcadia" because it was meant to be a place where he could enjoy life to the fullest.

"Iselle."

[Yes, master!]

As Ryuuga called, a small girl appeared from thin air. She had long black hair tied in braided twintails with flower-like black ribbons, ruby-red eyes, and a pair of pink fairy wings on her back. She wore a sleeveless black dress paired with black gloves and stockings.

She was the AI that Ryuuga had created over the past month, incorporating all the requirements he had for her. Thanks to the advanced technology from the robotic planets he had visited in his past life, creating something like this was relatively easy for him. The month-long process wasn't due to difficulty but because he only worked six hours a day, dedicating two hours specifically to developing the AI before moving on to other inventions.

Iselle was inspired by a character from a Korean novel called "Pick Me Up! Infinite Gacha." Ryuuga found the novel and its manhwa adaptation, which was on par with "Solo Leveling." to be exceptional. They were, after all, produced by the same studio.

After creating Iselle, Ryuuga discovered something interesting. In Arcadia, he could grant permissions to entities within the dimension, allowing them to interact with and manipulate the environment.

Although Iselle didn't have a physical body, she had her own mind and decision-making abilities. Maybe that's why he could give her permissions to manage Arcadia.

Not to worry—she was programmed so that she couldn't betray him. If she ever had dangerous thoughts, such as betraying him, her data (memories) about those thoughts would be deleted automatically.

"Nothing. I just wanted to introduce you to the readers." Ryuuga answered with a slight smile.

[...] Iselle didn't understand what her master meant. Who were the readers?

'Today should be the day, right?' he thought. He didn't know the exact time and date when the incident would happen because it was never mentioned in the story.

But he could estimate the date from the people around him. The Shidou family was about to move from Japan to England, meaning they were preparing to leave the church in Kuoh Town.

Unlike in the original story, Cleria Belial hadn't fallen in love with Yaegaki Masaomi. He loved her, but she rejected him every time they met.

He would stalk her here and there, but because she was a devil, she could hide her presence so he wouldn't notice her whereabouts.

Maybe in the original story, she fell in love with him because of the plot. After meeting Ryuuga, the plot was somehow altered, removing her from the plot's trajectory.

Which devil in their right mind would fall in love with an exorcist?

But, this didn't mean she became an NPC. She was still needed in the plot because she was still investigating the King Piece.

The devils from the Great King Faction didn't want information about the King Piece to be leaked, and they saw that an exorcist had fallen in love with Cleria.

So, they decided to use the reason "Cleria is in a relationship with an exorcist" to remove her.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Cleria felt she had incredibly bad luck today. Not only had the stalker confessed to her again, but now she was surrounded by both devils and exorcists.

In the sky, there were exactly fifty devils from the Underworld, and they obviously didn't come with good intentions.

Besides that, dozens of exorcists were surrounding her and her stalker.

"Belial traitor who fell in love with an exorcist! Give up and come back with us to receive your punishment!" the leader of the devils shouted, glaring at Cleria.

He didn't know the full story and was only told to bring back Cleria Belial alive or kill her because she did a taboo thing like falling in love with an exorcist.

"What? When did I fall in love with this stalker?" Cleria frowned, pointing at Yaegaki Masaomi. Forget about falling in love. She had no interest in him whatsoever.

"Cleria..." Masaomi's heart ached at her expression and words. It seemed she really didn't feel anything for him. But he truly loved her, enough to die for her.

"Masaomi, you've been bewitched by the devil. Wake up!" The one who spoke was the leader of the exorcists, Irina's father, Shidou Touji. In his mind, there was no way for an exorcist to fall in love with a devil unless they had been bewitched.

"Touji-san... I'm not bewitched at all." Masaomi replied, shaking his head with a sad smile.

When he heard Masaomi's answer, Shidou Touji felt that this guy couldn't be saved with words. Masaomi's response was exactly what someone bewitched would say.

"It seems like both of you must be separated forcefully." Shidou Touji said with a frown, glancing at the leader of the devils. He gave the devil a slight nod.

The leader of the devils smirked and replied with a nod. Shidou Touji had already reached an agreement with Zekram Bael, the ancestor of the Bael Clan, to join forces in separating Cleria and Masaomi.

Of course, Zekram Bael agreed because he didn't want Cleria to return alive and reveal information about the King Piece.

Although Shidou Touji disliked working with devils, he had to do this to preserve the image of the church and exorcists.

"Attack! Bring the traitorous bitch to me!" the leader of the devils shouted, giving the order.

"Yes!" The devils behind him replied and charged at Cleria.

"In the name of God, bring back Masaomi to receive his punishment!" Shidou Touji commanded, and the exorcists behind him nodded with frowns.

"Cleria, please stand behind me." Masaomi said with a frown, positioning himself in front of Cleria as he saw the devils and exorcists charging at them. If it were any other female devil, they might have fallen in love with him. But Cleria felt nothing for him at all.

Only people who truly interested her could catch her attention.

"Cleria-sama, please run away and leave the enemies to us." Cleria's queen said. They were determined to protect their master to the end, knowing she hadn't done anything wrong.

"Strong words!" The leader of the devils smirked, creating a spear made of Devil Energy and hurling it at Cleria's queen.

"Watch out!" Cleria shouted, trying to warn her queen, but the attack was too fast. The spear pierced her queen's heart before he could react. He didn't even realize he was dead.

"Jason!" Cleria's peerage screamed in horror as they saw their vice-leader fall. Tears streamed down their faces, but they charged at the devils, determined to kill as many as they could.

"Run away, Cleria-sama!" her remaining peerage shouted. They knew they would die today, but they wanted their master to live on.

"You guys..." Cleria watched her peerage being slaughtered, tears streaming down her face.

"Run!" Masaomi screamed, snapping Cleria back to reality.

She couldn't let their sacrifice be in vain. Turning around, she flew away from the battlefield as fast as she could.

"Kekeke. You guys keep going, I'll handle her." the leader of the devils grinned, flying after Cleria.

He was the strongest among them, a Peak High-Class Devil.

"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..." Cleria muttered through her tears as she flew away. She felt all of this was her fault. She knew they were using a bogus excuse to kill her because of what she knew about the King Piece.

"Got you, bitch!" Suddenly, Cleria heard a familiar voice behind her. She glanced back to see the devil leader grinning wickedly. He struck her with Devil Energy, sending her crashing to the ground.

"Ahh!" Cleria screamed in pain, coughing up blood. The difference in their strength was clear. She didn't even get a chance to use her clan's power.

Though she was also a High-Class Devil, the devil leader was just one step away from becoming an Ultimate-Class Devil.

"Kekeke! It would be a waste to kill you before enjoying your body. Let me have a taste first!" The devil leader leered at her, walking towards her with a lecherous grin.

"You! Aren't you afraid of my cousin?" Cleria decided to use her trump card. Her cousin, Diehauser Belial, was the champion of the rating games. Power-wise, he could stand toe to toe with the Satans, except Sirzechs and Ajuka.

"Kekeke! Bitch, your death is because you are in a relationship with an exorcist. What can that bastard champion do?!"

"You..." Cleria was dumbfounded. She understood what he meant. If her death was framed as a consequence of a relationship with an exorcist, even Diehauser could do nothing to save her.

Despair washed over her. It seemed better to kill herself than to be defiled by the devil leader.

"Oh? You want to kill yourself?" The devil leader noticed Cleria gathering energy into her palm, preparing to end her life with a slap.

Of course, he wouldn't let her do this. Using his power, chains emerged from the ground, binding her hands and feet so she couldn't move.

"Kekeke! Bitch, even if you kill yourself, I'll still enjoy your corpse!" The devil leader grinned, revealing his degenerate nature.

"You bastard...!" Cleria hated the devil with all her being.

She activated her clan power, and the binding chains that held her to the ground shattered. The devil leader, however, didn't panic. Instead, he pulled out a rope seemingly from thin air.

"That's a pathetic attempt." the devil leader sneered, "Bind!" He shouted, and the rope shot towards Cleria, binding her up before she could react.

"What?!" Cleria was stunned. She didn't know what kind of rope this was or its properties, but she could feel her clan power, Worthless, being locked, preventing her from destroying the rope.

She struggled, trying to loosen the rope, but it was a magical treasure and couldn't be removed by mere struggling.

"Kekeke! That rope is a copy of Laeding, the first one used to bind Fenrir. Even though it failed, how could it not bind a weak devil like you?" The devil leader saw her despair and decided to mock her further by explaining her predicament.

The rope had been given to him by Zekram Bael, specifically to use on Cleria because of her Worthless power. Zekram had received it as a gift from the dwarves after helping them with a serious matter.

"Kuhh!" She glared at him and decided to use her final move. She would blow herself up!

But before she could act, she heard another familiar voice nearby.

"Oh? What's happening here?" The voice came from behind the devil leader.

"Who?!" The devil leader instantly became alert, turning around and preparing to fight the newcomer.

"A human kid?" The devil leader glanced back and saw a young boy standing behind him, smiling.

"Do you want him to die?" Ryuuga asked Cleria with a smile, completely ignoring the devil leader.

"No! Run away!" Cleria was devastated when she saw Ryuuga appear. His entrance was cool, but she knew the boy couldn't defeat the devil leader. A month ago, he killed a Low-Class Devil, which was impressive, but it was impossible for him to match a Peak High-Class Devil in just one month.

Ryuuga looked at Cleria, dumbfounded. Girl, you didn't go with the script! Did this lowly being just look down on him?! The Infinite God King Immortal Emperor?!

"Hey, ant. Get out of my sight." Ryuuga glanced at the devil leader with deadpan eyes, showing no interest in him.

Although, to them, he might seem like only a Middle-Class Devil, he was a genius cultivator. Leaping ranks in combat was easy for him.

The devil leader's eyes widened in disbelief before narrowing into a sneer.

"Kekeke! A mere child dares to talk down to me? This will be amusing." His lecherous grin returned as he turned fully towards Ryuuga, clearly underestimating the boy.