Katerea swallowed thickly as she met Ophis' gaze. This was unusual, rare, even. Ophis had personally summoned a meeting. From the moment the tiny, human-shaped dragon had called for a meeting, Katerea had a terrible, sinking feeling that something monumental had gone wrong, something that would severely affect their standing within the khaos brigade, she just hoped that the feeling was wrong.
Her voice trembled slightly as she began recounting what happened, striving to make her retreat sound strategic.
She explained how she'd gathered her forces, detailing the resources spent, coordinated with Creuserey, and prepared the meticulously planned assault on the Three Factions' peace summit. She described the yokai who had asked to accompany them, an unexpected but welcome sight of extra muscle they agreed to take along for kicks, believing strength in numbers would guarantee victory against the factions' leaders.
Then she spoke of him. The human. The absolute anomaly. She had to grit her teeth as she spoke to the human and had nearly drawn blood from how tightly her fists were clenched.
How he killed the yokai leader like mere insects, crushing them in an instant without them being able to even fight back. How he slaughtered the rest without effort, his movements too fast, his power greater than any human she had ever seen, obliterating their entire ranks with dark spheres that tore holes through everything they touched.
Katerea still couldn't believe a mere human possessed that kind of strength, it defied everything she had seen of the supernatural world. Humans shouldn't be this powerful. They were nothing more than toys for other races.
She recalled the maddening sight of her forces reduced to paste. Even when Creuserey had joined the fight, even using the mark of Ophis, it made no difference. The human simply dismissed him as an annoyance, not even bothering with him at all.
Finally, she told them she decided it was better to regroup and retreat, to preserve the core leadership and fight another time, and then she left. She emphasized repeatedly that she wasn't involved in anything after that point, carefully distancing herself from Creuserey's fate.
Shalba sneered, his face twisting with spite. "And what of Creuserey, you wretched coward?" he demanded, the words dripping with contempt. "You just ran with your tail between your legs and left him to die, prioritizing your own worthless hide over the mission?"
Katerea snapped back, her eyes flashing with defensive fury. "I told the fool to come back, but he was too foolheaded to listen! His ego demanded a challenge he couldn't win! Whatever happened to him isn't my business, it's a lesson in hubris. I did warn him after all." The two death-stared each other, their auras beginning to spark in the tense chamber.
The conflict was instantly paused when Vali spoke, his voice cutting through the rising tension like a diamond saw.
"He's dead," Vali said flatly, his own personal bitterness warring with the need to assert dominance. "The Crimson Satan killed him… swiftly at that. Creuserey's death was insignificant, a footnote compared to the human's display." He added a mocking smile at the end, clearly satisfied at reminding Shalba that his comrade died quickly and pathetically at the hands of their enemies.
Shalba growled, rising from his chair, his eyes fixed on Vali. The man looked like he was about to start an open war when Ophis spoke.
"Vali."
Ophis' voice cut through the room like a blade. All hostility evaporated instantly, replaced by cold dread.
Vali turned to her. Meeting her gaze always required effort. Behind those emotionless eyes was a void, an endless abyss he'd learned not to underestimate. He had to suppress a shiver at the utter emptiness of her stare.
He had long learned that though Ophis looked and acted like a child, she was not one. She was ancient, terrifyingly intelligent, and cunning beyond mortal or devil comprehension.
Azazel had told him about her long before he joined the Khaos Brigade, describing a being of cosmic horror. When he first saw her, he just couldn't reconcile that terror with the child-like form. But eventually, he learned to see past the facade. Most of the fools who sat here thought she was just a figurehead, a symbol of absolute power they controlled, and that they were the true leaders of the Khaos Brigade.
But the truth was, Ophis didn't care for much if it didn't serve her interest. She allowed them their games because their petty destruction was a useful distraction. The fact that she herself had called for this meeting was a warning bell to him, making him question exactly what she was after.
Vali continued the story where Katerea left off. He recounted everything that happened after she fled.
"I lost," Vali simply said, the admission tasting like ash on his tongue. That single word caused a massive ripple of murmuring shock among the other members of the Khaos Brigade, who knew Vali's power. "To the human," he admitted, making a face, the lot of them seemed even more shocked there.
He eyed Ophis from the side of his gaze. It was a slight twitch from her, but he was sure now. She was after the human. Kenji.
"Oh," Ophis said in her usual flat, emotionless tone, but one could see she was intensely interested by the way she leaned forward, her small hands resting gently on the obsidian table. Yet her lack of reaction was more terrifying than any outburst. "Tell me everything, Vali. Detail the specifics of your defeat," he bit back a retort here.
He started from the beginning of his own version, coming to the meeting, how Azazel had decided to change location because he was interested in the human and wanted to force him to come to the diplomatic table.
Jeanne frowned, her expression one of confusion. "I thought he was already involved with the three factions? Why would Azazel need to breach his territory if he was an ally?"
"No," Vali said, shaking his head. "In fact, he seems to want nothing to do with the three factions. He rejected their political nonsense. It's the reason Azazel had decided to breach his territory, to force the issue by creating a crisis on Kenji's doorstep and thus demanding his attention."
"Interesting…" Cao Cao said, rubbing his chin, with a calculating gleam in his eyes. Everyone there knew the hero faction leader would no doubt try to recruit Kenji to his faction, viewing him as the ultimate human asset, but Vali had a feeling the man wouldn't agree.
Vali continued, telling how Kenji came, incandescently angry at Azazel, the Fallen Governor's stubborn decision to stay, and the bizarre, hastily arranged deal the three leaders made with him to declare his town neutral ground. That's when the attack began. He described the sheer, casual brutality of Kenji's power, his own challenge, his defeat.
He didn't mention the whole scared gear cancellation thing, though. That was something he was going to keep to himself. He eyed Cao Cao's group and had to stop himself from laughing. He knew that Cao Cao would go after Kenji, and Kenji would decline. Oh, he wished he'd be there when Kenji did the whole no scared gear thing. For a whole team made up of them, that would be funny as hell to see their expressions.
When he finished, silence filled the room, thick with anticipation and unease.
Everyone waited for the Dragon God to speak.
Ophis was silent for a long time as she processed what she had heard.
What she heard wasn't new. She'd encountered countless powerful beings. Recruited many. Sent scouts to test others. This should have been like all the rest.
Find the interesting one. Study them. Recruit them.
But this time… This time was different.
The truth was that she had gotten curious about the attack and had decided to watch herself. By the time the human had been fighting Vali, she had focused her attention on him the moment she saw him. And what she saw was… Well, she didn't even know how to explain it.
She was Ophis, the Ouroboros, the being of infinite power, older than memory itself. Older than every entity in this room, older than the Devil Race, older than the Creator of the Devils, older even than Even his creator, who died.
She had simply appeared one day, born from the Great Void with no origin, only existence.
She could read the texture of reality. Souls to her were transparent, open books, revealing intent, history, limits, and ultimately, their endpoint.
Yet this human… his soul was wrong. It was not merely powerful or obscured, it was unreadable. It felt like staring at a new fundamental constant of the universe that she had never accounted for, a place of infinite depth but no contents. It reminded her of That Red Fool.
But he was human, how was that possible?
For the first time since she had appeared into creation, she could not read a being's soul. It had been the most shocking moment of her ancient life, and it intrigued her to a terrifying degree.
For eons, she lived alone in the endless dark, the perfect stillness of the Void. That was her home, her sanctuary, her silence, her everything. Until one day a ball of dirt had formed on the other side of the great void, and she wandered to that muddy speck to see what it was, stroll across its plain before returning home, and that's when she saw him, the intruder born from the void in her absence, Great Red.
She had wasted no time in trying to remove him. She fought him, and to her shock, she lost.
She fought again. Lost again. Fought again. Lost again, fought endlessly for ages, and always lost, just barely.
Their battles shook reality, the echoes of their blows eventually fracturing the fabric of existence. It was from their combined, chaotic powers mixed with the fragments of the great void that had torn apart that lesser beings were spontaneously born, gods they were called, who would later create pantheons and mortal life.
Those weaker beings created life on the ball of dirt she had discovered, and later called it Earth. They built civilizations, realms, and subjects.
Ophis didn't care until their meddling interfered with her battles. Their fighting apparently was causing problems to the ball of dirt they lived on, so they tried to interfere. They failed. Many died.
The survivors retreated, building protections and magical barriers against the sheer force of the two dragon gods.
After a while and losing constantly, she decided to go to the dirtball and roam around to take a break from the constant loss. At the same time, she thought of ways to get rid of the red fool.
Centuries passed. She roamed, taking different shapes and forms, eventually settling on the form of a little girl that she was using now. Still, she couldn't drive the intruder from her home. As much as she wanted to deny it, she desperately needed help. She was Ophis, the infinite, but that didn't seem to matter to Great Red.
While she had the authority of infinity, it didn't translate into absolute physical strength or speed. Great Red had authority over Dreams, and while she had infinite power, he always seemed to bend reality to make his dream of being stronger than her, if only by a margin, a reality, always ensuring she tasted defeat.
So she created the Khaos Brigade. A tool. A collection of strong, disposable pieces. An army to cause chaos and draw out Great Red's attention when she finally decided to fight him again. A means to kill Great Red and reclaim her Void, her beloved stillness. Endless silence.
But none of these beings truly mattered. Even Vali, one of her strongest members, was shown that, at the end, he only amounted to this much. Great Red could kill most of them with a simple sigh.
They were fodder. And she knew it.
Yet Kenji, His soul was unlike anything she had ever seen. Not like gods. Not like dragons. Not like devils. Not like humans.
Something else. Something deeper. Something limitless. Like her own power. A true, unknown variable.
Ophis wanted him.
She needed him. He was the key, she knew it.
She rose from her seat silently before vanishing completely.
She winked out of existence, gone without even a ripple, leaving no trace of her presence behind.
Leaving the entire Khaos Brigade frozen in place.
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