Before Haruto could even utter his name, the drone-like scout plane whirred loudly as it descended, touching down on the blood-splattered dirt. The hatch hissed open, and Daisy stepped out, her expression tight with annoyance.
She marched straight past the carnage, stopping right in front of the girl and throwing her hands up. "Was all this unnecessary bloodshed really required?!"
The black-haired girl didn't even flinch. She just stared blankly at Daisy, her voice completely flat. "Just tell me. Where is my target?"
Haruto blinked, completely thrown off. "Daisy? Wait, you know her?!"
Daisy turned back with a nonchalant shrug, rubbing the back of her neck. "Ah, yeah. I got tired of waiting in the air, so I came down."
But before Daisy could answer that girl, the door of the transport van slid open with a sharp click. One by one, the rest of the party stepped out into the clearing, surveying the grotesque aftermath with varying degrees of shock. Only Rutherford and Eterna remained safely inside the van.
As the newcomers gathered around, the black-haired girl swept her cold, piercing gaze across the group. She locked eyes with them, then looked back at Daisy, a subtle realization dawning on her face.
She tilted her head, narrowing her eyes at the group. "Oh... so this is them."
She stepped forward, her voice cutting through the heavy silence like a blade. "Which one of you is Haruto?"
As the rest of the group stepped forward to stand protectively around Haruto, before he could even open his mouth, Lilith smoothly glided to the front. She crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes at the newcomer. "What business do you even have with Haruto?"
The girl didn't blink. "Oh? I'll only discuss that with him directly."
Professor Elara stepped up beside Lilith, her eyes darting between the girl and Daisy as she squinted in analytical suspicion. "Wait a second... another reincarnation? And she was the one piloting that scout plane earlier. What about the other girl with the yellow hair? She's a reincarnation too, right?"
Elara crossed her arms, pointing a finger at the white-haired girl. "Judging by the way you're talking, you already know all about us, don't you?"
"The one with the yellow hair is Daisy," Toya clarified, adjusting his stance. " But we don't know about the black haired one."
Lilith let out an impatient sigh, tapping her foot against the blood-stained dirt. "Alright, enough beating around the bush. Tell us what you want with Haruto right now."
The pitch-black-haired girl completely ignored Lilith, treating her words as if they were mere background noise. Instead, her dark, unblinking eyes swept across the group until they landed squarely on the boys standing near the front.
She looked between Haruto and Toya, tilting her head slightly. "Which one of you is Haruto?"
Haruto raised a hand slowly, breaking the heavy tension. "That's me."
The girl's gaze snapped to him. She paused for a moment, her expression dropping into a flat, unimpressed stare. "Oh. You."
"Alright, that's it!" Lilith snapped, stepping right into her line of sight with a dangerous glare. "You've ignored me twice now. Start talking, or else. And Daisy—you care to explain why you dragged this psycho all the way out here?"
Daisy threw her hands up in defense, glaring back at Lilith. "Hey, don't look at me! We were minding our own business, training back in the Gampi City layers, when she suddenly showed up demanding to find a guy named Haruto. She claimed he's the reincarnation of the God of Nothingness!"
Daisy gestured wildly toward the black-haired girl. "Naturally, I thought she had to be talking about Haruto, so I followed her here to see what on earth was going on!"
The moment the words God of Nothingness left Daisy's mouth, Philo and Gellie went deathly quiet.
Haruto blinked, his eyebrows shooting up in utter bewilderment. "Wait... what now?"
Before anyone else could process it, the black-haired girl's eyes flashed with a dark, suffocating energy. She slowly reached down to the hilt of her blade, and right before their eyes, a dense, chaotic aura began to bleed out from Haruto's own shadow, rapidly surging upward.
The black-haired girl closed the distance in a single, silent step, walking straight up to Haruto.
Instinctively, Lilith surged forward, her hand flashing toward her weapon to intercept, but she suddenly froze. Narrowing her eyes, Lilith scanned the girl's mind and emotional state, searching for any hint of malice or danger. Finding absolutely zero hostile intent—only a strange, heavy weight of purpose—Lilith slowly lowered her hand, stepping back.
Beside her, Ivory's eyes glowed faintly as she simultaneously probed the girl's thoughts. After a brief moment, Ivory shook her head and signaled to the rest of the group, confirming there was no harmful intent behind the girl's actions. The tense atmosphere in the clearing eased just a fraction.
With the hostility cleared away, the black-haired girl stopped right in front of Haruto.
To the absolute shock of everyone watching, the fierce, bloodthirsty warrior who had just slaughtered an entire band of thugs effortlessly dropped her posture. She bowed her head respectfully, her dark eyes looking up at him with sudden, unexpected sincerity.
"Haruto," she said softly, her voice entirely devoid of its previous coldness. "Please forgive me... for introducing myself through such a bloody mess, and for speaking to you so rudely just now."
Haruto blinked, stepping back slightly as he crossed his arms. "Ah... right. Well, I appreciate the apology, but would you mind telling me your name? And more importantly, why were you tracking me down?"
The girl straightened up, offering a polite, composed nod. "It's a pleasure. I am Marena, the reincarnation of the Goddess of Death."
She paused for a moment, letting the heavy title sink in before continuing. "I was sent here under the direct orders of my home deity. They informed me that you are an unstoppable entity—you are the reincarnation of the two most powerful beings in this entire universe—and that by being by your side will be pretty helpful to me."
Marena stepped a fraction closer, her dark eyes locking intensely onto his. "By binding myself to you, I can leverage your immense growth to reach my own ultimate goal: returning back to Earth."
Haruto's eyebrows shot up. "Oh. Back to Earth, huh? That sounds simple enough but I don't know how..." He narrowed his eyes, a sudden realization hitting him. "Wait a second. When you say you want to bind yourself to me... what exactly do you mean by that?"
Without missing a beat, Marena smoothly stepped right into his personal space, grabbing his hand and intertwining her fingers with his. A mischievous, bold spark suddenly flashed deep within her dark eyes.
"Obviously? By marrying me."
The entire clearing plunged into a dead silence.
Jaws dropped across the board. Philo choked on her own spit, Professor Elara stared in blank disbelief, and Geeli looked like her brain had completely factory-reset same for the three goddesses and Toya.
Off to the side, Lilith crossed her arms, a slow, approving grin spreading across her face as she chuckled under her breath. Nice one.