(TPD) Chapter 53: The Truth

Chapter 53: The Truth

Eurus blew an impressed whistle, looking at the sky, wearing a black aloha shirt with a white flower pattern. She pushed down the pair of shades she had picked up along the way, sipping on a martini with a small, bright orange umbrella attached to the glass. 

“So, that’s our target?” She looked to her side, observing Avalon, who seemed laser-focused on the floating structure they were both capable of perceiving. 

Similar to Eurus, he was also adorning an aloha get-up, with a red and white color scheme.

Up above was none other than Hexennacht’s base where Walburga and Katerea Leviathan were currently discussing the terms of the former’s recruitment under Ophis’ command.

“Yeah, that’s our target, alright.” Like miniature blips on his radar, he was able to pick up the position of Hexennacht’s throne room, Walburga’s subordinates, and the small group of muscle Katera had brought with her just in case. 

Not that it ended up being much help to the Leviathan descendant.

“Well? Are we just going to stand here, or are we going to go catch us an Old Devil?” Eurus wasn’t sure why Avalon was hesitating. Typically, he was the type to rush in without a second thought. 

But he seemed to be scanning for something else for some inexplicable reason.

“Avalon?” She continued upon his lack of response.

“I’m fine.” He snapped his fingers, willing a cloak of dark, spatial energy over himself and Eurus, briefly catching his Mutated Rook off guard. 

“Woah,” she observed the bizarre construct, narrowing his eyes. “When did you develop this spell?” 

She recognized the type of magic it was because she had seen Lars use his spatial manipulation, but she or any of Avalon’s subordinates had never witnessed him use it before. 

Which she had a pretty good feeling was because he didn’t have it before. After all, if Avalon had such a helpful ability on hand, why wait until now to finally show it? It didn’t seem logical.

It definitely has something to do with why he’s acting stranger than usual, Eurus concluded inwardly, narrowing her eyes at Avalon as if she were trying to burn a hole through his head and take a peek at what was going on inside.

“Ajuka helped me.” He replied plainly. 

Uh-huh. Eurus didn’t feel like buying his story, not that it mattered; she was his subordinate now.

“There’s a fairly high-level detection barrier set up around the place, these cloaks will allow us to infiltrate the place undetected.” 

A fluttering noise resounding from his back as his bat-like wings sprawled out, followed by Eurus, who did the same with her ten, crow-like wings as they took off into the air. 

“Are we just going to enter through the front door?” Eurus inquired. 

“I don’t see any reason not to.” Avalon shrugged, landing on the entrance pad of Hexennacht’s floating castle where a hoard of guards were stationed, both Stray Magicians and Devils alike. 

But none of them were capable of percieving Avalon and Eurus, with their cloaks on, they were invisible both to their vision and sixth sense. If they wanted to, they could pretty much stroll all the way to the throne room without encountering a single hicup. 

Yeah, this spell is way too strong for him to have thought of it on the go. Eurus’ suspicion continued to rise. 

Avalon’s demeanor made it pretty clear that he wasn’t going to give her a concrete answer, but that wasn’t enough to deter someone with her personality. 

To Eurus’ further confusion, he decided to walk up to one of the Stray Magicians and tap them on the shoulder. 

“What was—!” 

Whoosh! 

The Stray Magician’s body instantly erupted into a bright-blue fiery blaze. His body charred within a matter of seconds as his corpse quickly turned to ash, whisked away by the strong prevailing winds at their altitude.

“Attack—!” another tried to call out, but just by pointing his finger in their direction, he was able to make them meet the same fate as their comrade.

Whoosh!

Whoosh!

Whoosh!

One after the other, Eurus watched as the entrance guards were effortlessly incinerated by Tomoe’s fire that was being channeled through Avalon. Her King idly began to roll his shoulders and flex his fingers as he proceeded into the castle.

Eurus pressed her lips together. “Listen, I’m the last person to complain about murder. But was that necessary? This was supposed to be a stealth mission, wasn’t it?” 

“Stealth is subjective, Ophis isn’t going to appear. So it doesn’t matter how we proceed with this mission.” 

She smouldered. “And you know that how exactly?” 

“She doesn’t care about the Old Satan Faction or Walburga anymore. She won't move an inch even if we publicly announce that we’re attacking Hexennacht.” 

Hold on. Did he just say “she”? 

He continued to wave his hand as he walked forward, incinerating each and every Stray Magician and Devil that got within a five-meter radius.

“I’ll ask you again,” Eurus got closer, pressing her shoulder against his. “How exactly do you know that?” 

“Sigh, I guess it doesn’t matter if I tell you. It’s not going to change anything anyway.”

Avalon came to a halt, the simple motion of him turning his head towards Eurus startling her for some reason. A pressure she had never felt before crashed down on her, which was completely different from what she had felt when they fought at Valkorion.

He reached for his blindfold, utterly uninterested in the horde of Stray Magicians charging him. 

And once he pulled it down, Eurus was met with a sight that was entirely unprepared for. 

Embedded in his bright-violet pupils was a “∞” symbol. Its mere design instills a sense of unfathomable power, like a depthless ocean spanned for eternity. 

“She won’t appear, because she’s working with me now.” He stuffed his blindfold into his spatial pouch. “Thanks to her power, I no longer need this anymore.” 

For the first time, Avalon’s eyes had indeed been set free. The Calculation Assistance Device he was wearing no longer meant anything. The limits that had been imposed upon him had been rendered entirely null. 

Eurus was in a state of complete disbelief. 

Avalon, the person who preached the pursuit of righteousness and betterment of the Underworld day in and day out, is now working with the Infinity Dragon. 

Their direct enemy! And the most significant threat they’ve ever encountered at that!

“The Old Satan Devil that’s here also has a fragment of her power. Once I collect that, and the rest of the fragments. I’ll help Ophis with her goal, and then this will all end.” 

“Why are you telling me all this?” She couldn’t help but ask. 

For Avalon to collude with the Infinity Dragon of all people, she just couldn’t wrap her head around it. He was supposed to be her insufferably kind King, not a schemer. That role was reserved for his twin sister. 

“Because I felt like it, or maybe just because I wanted to get it off my chest. The ending has already been written anyway, all that’s left for me to do is see it through.” 

He picked up the pace, swatting the flies he encountered along the way with impeccable precision befitting a Devil who had been blessed with the gift of “control.” Forcing Eurus to also speed up if she didn’t want to get left in the dust.

Granted, it was quite difficult for the Fallen Angel to do so when her thoughts were in complete and utter disarray. 

She had just had a huge bomb dropped on her, and she had absolutely no idea what to do with the information. 

Avalon hadn’t expliclity stated whether she could divulge what he had told her or not, and from what she could interpet, he didn’t seem to care all that much. 

That spatial manipulation doesn’t belong to him. It belongs to Ophis! That’s why he’s able to use a whole new element out of nowhere!

The extent of Avalon’s certainty was almost creepy; she knew he had always been resolute in his plan to reshape the Underworld from the get-go. 

But this, this was different. This wasn’t something the Avalon she knew would do. It went against the obnoxious moral code he always stood by. 

“Since when?” 

“Pardon?” 

“Since when have you and Ophis been working together?” 

“Well, she reached out to me while I was at Olympus.” That checked out with Eurus since his behaviour had only changed once he had returned from the Greek Pantheon. “We sat down, we talked, and then we came to an agreement.” 

That’s definitely not the whole story. Did she brainwash you or something? If it’s the Infinity Dragon, it might be possible. No, she’s strong enough to have forced him into submission as well. 

There were so many possibilities running through Eurus’ brain, but none of them made the shock of what Avalon had just revealed to her any easier to handle.

“Why? Why did you agree?” She felt obligated to ask. 

“Because this is what’s best for not just the Underworld, but everyone.” He insisted with steadfast determination. “Peace. Conflict. Peace. Conflict. Peace. Conflict. That cycle has to end, and if giving Ophis what she wants is the path to that end. Then so be it.” 

“And what exactly does Ophis want?” That was a question she was truly afraid to ask, if this was something even the Infinity Dragon was struggling to obtain. It couldn’t spell anything good for the rest of the world.

“To go home. That’s all.” 

“Home?” 

“You needn’t worry about it, it won’t affect the rest of us. For now, just focus on dealing with Walburga. We can talk about this later.” 

Oh, we’re talking about this alright. 

Minutes later, they arrived at a large double-door, with Hexennacht’s throne room waiting for them on the other side. 

They were well aware of Avalon and Eurus’ intrusion. But that didn’t matter anymore; what mattered was whether they’d be able to survive it or not. 

Honestly, even though dealing with Walburga was part of the mission, Avalon couldn't care less about what happened to Incerinate Anthem’s host. All that he cared about was killing Katerea and taking Ophis’ fragment from her. 

Could Ophis just have taken her power back from all the people she had lent it to? Absolutely. 

According to her, he needed to practice using her power before absorbing the Malebranche and amassing enough of it to have the raw power necessary to sustain the Malebranche within him. Therefore, going around and collecting the fragments from each Old Satan Devil was basically his training. 

With his talent, Ophis expected him to be prepared by the time he collected them all.

“I wasn’t expecting more than one visitor today,” Walburga spoke with a deep sense of confidence, still slouching on her throne as she watched Eurus and Avalon enter. “I don’t hate surprises, though, so as a reward, I might allow your deaths to be less painless than usual.” 

Of course, since Avalon was pure-blooded Devil, and Eurus was half-devil. Walburga held complete confidence in Incerinate Anthem’s ability to demolish them. 

Katera, on the other hand, showed no such confidence. 

On the contrary, she looked horrified. Her gaze was utterly fixated on Avalon, or more specifically, on his eyes. 

“Impossible!” She yelled, warranting Walburga’s intrigue. 

“What’s the matter?” She asked her visitor. 

“He—” She hesitated, the energy radiating off Avalon being all too familiar. “How can he— This doesn’t make any sense!” 

“Oi,” Walburga raised her voice. “Either you hurry up and tell me why you’re acting like a frightened brat, or I’ll kill you as well.” 

“He’s with Ophis!” She roared, her brain unable to comprehend what was going on. 

The Old Satan Faction had kept tabs on all the necessary figures to keep track of amongst the three factions, the Blindfold Devil included, who had made a name for himself during the Supremacy War. 

“Ophis?” Walburga raised her brow. “Isn’t she supposed to be your boss? Doesn’t that make this guy your friend or something?” 

“I’m afraid it’s quite the opposite,” Avalon clarified, smiling a little. “She, alongside the rest of her faction, has been replaced by yours’ truly.” 

“Liar!” 

“What’s there to lie about?” He craned his head. “You can sense that I have her power as well. Unfortunately for you, you’ve lost your use.” 

He paced towards them, causing Walburga to sit upright as she prepared for the confrontation.

“Therefore, I’ve been sent to collect it back. Although I would appreciate it if you put up a good show of resistance. I’m still trying to get the hang of this whole infinity thing. Even with my eyes, it’s a little tricky to use efficiently.” 

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Big revelation time.