Maybe it was because Ria had accepted the deal, but after seeing [Viole] withdraw more obediently than I had expected, I pulled my eyes away from the fading [Underworld Gate], leaving behind a faint sense of unease.
The word "gift" she had used kept bothering me, and I also needed to prepare a way to stop whatever her subordinates might try to pull on their own, so I would probably have to come back here later.
'Well, I was planning to keep an eye on Viole's side just like Jonne's anyway, so maybe this works out for the best...'
Thinking that with a bitter smile, I soon noticed Ria and Chronoa both looking at me. I pushed those thoughts aside for the moment and opened my mouth.
"...A lot of sudden things happened, but we've finished everything we came here to do... so let's head back."
The moment those words left me, I spread my demon wings.
But then—
—at that moment, Chronoa, now back from Hinata to her original personality, asked me a question.
"Adelio. What are you going to do... from here on out?"
**
There were many questions contained in those words.
The next journey linking [Sarion], [Eldorado], and [Ruberios].
The proposal from the [Thunder Emperor], who had staked the protection of the [Western Nations] on the outcome.
A way to deal with [Viole] and [Jonne].
And even Izawa Shizue, who would become one of the variables in [Regression].
Even just listing the things she knew I had to resolve, it already came to this much.
And beyond that, there were still mountains of things that had to be done.
The battles and wars that would come for me—for us—had not even begun yet.
"......"
Ria, too, seemed curious about what I would do next. Like Chronoa, she fixed me with a red gleam in her eyes, as if tracing through my thoughts.
"......Right. The most urgent thing right now is..."
Facing the gaze of the [Hero] who resembled me in many ways, and the gaze of the demon lover closest to me—
"...my own strength."
—I recalled that other "me" I had seen in hell.
The "me" sleeping within the unregistered skill [????], a skill even [Odin], now an [Ultimate Skill], had failed to identify.
Those beings, about whom I knew absolutely nothing except that they had made different choices from the current me, had evolved me into a [Deva Lord]. But I still could not wield all of that power.
Because I had gained a rank of existence that could not even be compared to when I evolved into a [Divine Demon].
If a human who had reached sainthood pushed themselves to the limit, they could become stronger even than a [True Dragon], a living natural disaster. In that sense, maybe this was only natural.
'—If I want to surpass the [Catastrophe] class, I need to become stronger.'
Now that I had saved Ria from hell, I had set three new goals for myself.
The first was to uncover the secret of the unregistered skill [????], one of the mysteries hidden within me.
The second was to reach the [Catastrophe] class, a level where I could stand on equal footing with pinnacle beings like Guy Crimson.
And the last was to prevent the tragedies I knew of as a reincarnator and reach the true ending in the fullest sense of the word.
Those were the three.
'......Of course, it won't be an easy road.'
I had to endure Guy Crimson's training,
control my own power,
replace the seats of the Demon Lords,
take Shizue as my disciple and save her,
win the position of protector of the West,
stop the intruders from outside,
form alliances with other forces,
and then—
until the day I welcomed that slime...
True to my identity as a demon, almost every one of those things would involve struggle, and I would use those three hundred years as my foundation.
I had to become more accustomed to battle and intrigue, and I had to conceal my own status.
Only then could the demon called "me" truly be completed—
—that was what I had to believe as I endured.
But—
'If I weren't a demon, I probably would have given up long ago.'
—that didn't mean I had any intention of giving up.
"Like you're both thinking right now... no, even more than that, there are a lot of things I need to prepare for. But you don't need to worry so much."
I lightly brushed the hilt of [Overlord Black Star] resting in its sheath, then kindled a tiny bit of magic over the back of my hand.
Fwoosh...
Ash-gray magic.
My symbol, and the symbol of [No Attribute].
Why I had no attribute at all... that was still an extremely important mystery.
After all, it was because of this that I had gained many things, including my ties to the [Primordial Demons].
And whenever I thought about the fact that I was [No Attribute], I always felt one particular intuition.
An intuition that if I kept following my goals, I would naturally come to understand it someday.
"During the three hundred years I still have left, I'll resolve... everything I can."
Three hundred years.
The time left to resolve my secrets and questions, the strength I needed to cultivate, and my relationships with others—
there was still more than enough time for all of it.
**
[......Re...port... The unregistered skill [????] has... confirmed... ■■......]
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