42 Chapter 40

Somewhere unknown in Europe.

"How cruel. I was training, sub-leader-kun," said a handsome young man with silver hair and red eyes. He wore a gakuren over a priest's coat. This is Sigfried from the Hero Faction.

"Hmph! I was kicking some weaklings' ass," snorted a giant at least 2 meters tall, well-built and shoulder-length gray hair. The giant is known as Heracles.

"Sigfried. Heracles," Georg said towards the two troubled members, before turning to the others and naming each other, "Jeanne. Connla. Marsilio. With the exception of our leader and the Pendragon siblings who are already arriving --- Zhuge and Momono cannot attend as they are on a mission."

"Not that I'm complaining like Sieg-kun," said a blonde girl with a ponytail in an energetic voice. "But what is the purpose of this meeting?"

Before he could respond, the double doors opened and three figures emerged.

It was two blond siblings following the figure of a handsome young man with short black hair and blue eyes. The young man featured wears a mix of Japanese school uniform and ancient Chinese attire.

The black-haired young man has an air of arrogance, not the kind that yells in your face to be better than everyone else and acts like someone who needs acceptance.

No.

Arrogance seemed to be second nature to him. It was very subtle in his features, the slight haughty smile, the confident gaze and his posture and gait that reminded him of an emperor.

As he sat down in the chair at the end of the table, the others understood that it was to repeat the action.

The only ones who did not sit down were the Pendragon siblings, Arthur and Le Fay, for behind them floated a man bound by a gray chain.

"I didn't know you siblings had that fetish," Marsilio commented smiling.

"Hmm?" Heracles paid close attention to the human in the chains before saying, "An ordinary human?"

Arthur maintains his noble air but sends a look of displeasure at Marsilio's joke.

Before Lefay could say anything, "Let me explain~" interrupted Georg.

Georg was the sub leader, wielder of the dimension lost sacred gear, and strategist of the heroic faction. He is also a descendant of the famous and late Grauzauberer founder, Johann Georg Faust.

"Something big is going on. You may have heard of a group -- Umm," Georg seems awkward to choose the right word. "Humans in costume showing magic and strength beyond an ordinary human.

"I didn't hear anything," Siegfried shook his head from side to side. "And I still don't understand what's so amazing about it to interrupt my training."

"They look like ordinary humans," Lefay paused briefly. "But they use magic."

"And they are much stronger and faster," added Arthur.

"There are all sorts of them. Ultramen in Hong Kong. Ninjas and Super Sentai in Japan. Cowboys, monks, strange wizards, comic book superheroes and many others," George says with a tight smile.

"Pft," Jeanne couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Not caring about the blonde who still laughs, Connla asks, "Are they connected? Are they an organization?"

"We don't know," Georg shakes his head, "All of Miss Pendragon's attempts to capture or converse with them have ended in failure. They have a very powerful method of teleportation and detection."

[Index] had 16 different detection spells that were active all the time around users. None of the players or outsiders know this. Because it didn't use mana, it was undetectable.

"Huh?" Siegfried has a raised eyebrow at this and watches the human floating away in confusion. "So who captured~"

Before Siegfried could finish the question.

Space seems disturbed and reality seems to fold like a cloth. A purple and black portal formed in the empty space beside the table and the figure of the cute young girl appeared.

"I got three more of them," said the little black-haired girl.

Everyone in the room was tense with the little girl who had just arrived, everyone but...

"Lady Ophis," said Cao Cao sitting still on the table.

"Mm," Ophis nodded before climbing up a small ladder, reaching a beanbag chair.

It was Ophis's chair and no one but her could sit in it.

Of course, nobody wanted it either, as it looked like a child's beanbag chair.

"Thank you for helping us, Lady Ophis," Lefay said in a short bow.

Cao Cao's lips droop slightly in displeasure. It was very subtle and just by paying attention to it you could realize.

She nods her head and holds out her hand. A portal parallel to the ground formed and from there fell a pile of humans, at least 20 of them.

Purple snakes trapped each of them, coiled around their bodies.

"I have more of them in storage," Ophis said with her blank gaze.

Sweat ran down Lefay's cheeks and she thanked her again.

*Cough*

Georg coughs into his hand to regain control of the conversation and says, "As I was going to say--- Lady Ophis is the only one who can catch and detect them. Which really freaks me out because..."

Georg was a genius at magic, as was Lefay. The two had knowledge of countless types of magic, Nordic, Egyptian, demonic, Angelic...

And none of them could explain what was happening.

There was something hiding the strength of these people and even though Georg was a genius, who could copy magic with just a glance...

"There's something hiding and teleporting them, but that's not magic or anything I know of," Georg said with a tight smile at the pile of humans.

How could he copy something that didn't even seem to exist? It just happened as if it were a natural event in the universe.

Just like the sun and stars shine. Just like gravity and the natural laws of the universe exist. [Index] and all magic that doesn't use mana seemed to be just some natural event.

"Oh?" This intrigued Siegfried, as the two know-it-alls, Georg and Lefay, looked as lost as everyone else.

"What else could give us an answer would be you, Lady Ophis. After all, you're the only one who seems to know how to tell them apart from ordinary people," Georg looks at the girl sitting on the beanbag chair.

"..." Ophis looks at him blankly.

"How can you identify them, Lady Ophis?" asked George.

"..." Ophis looks at the table and meditates.

After a silence of unknown time.

"I don't know?" Ophis tilted her head slightly to the right. And almost everyone had a fall. It was because of disappointment and long suspense on her part.

"You don't know?" Georg ask again with sweat pouring down his neck.

It was obvious there was no point in asking for her help, Ophis is an airhead about certain things.

"If only I could describe them," Ophis muses again before saying, "They seem to have something like my snakes inside them."

"Someone is empowering them," Lefay said, eyes wide.

Everyone in the room was deep in their own thoughts, cuz the implication of this.

*Crack*

One of the chains that bound the man Lefay had brought in creaked slightly.

"Tsk," The blonde girl bit her thumb tensely. "I've already changed the method of imprisoning them three times, otherwise they would just disappear in a teleportation. But it seems that what's inside them is evolving, learning the weaknesses of my spells and breaking free little by little."

"How many of them are there in the world, Lady Ophis?" Cao cao asked without breaking character and in a relaxed way, as if he didn't care about all this.

"Ummm," Ophis placed her finger on her chin and looked thoughtful. "Last I counted, there were just over 52,000 around the planet. But it's getting harder for me to detect them," she falls into an uncomfortable silence.

"Fifty-two thousand? Haha," Le fay chuckled madly and looked like she was about to pass out.

The way Ophis said it sounded like the numbers were going up.

"Now I need to be on the same continent to be within my detection effect radius," explained Ophis again. "The effective radius is decreasing over time."

Index was learning to create ways to hide from Ophis with the countless books, knowledge and most importantly...

Trial and error.

Upon being put on the challenge of hiding from the Dragon God of infinity...

The anti-detection spells were reaching another level of power every second.

"Let them go," Cao Cao ordered and turned to the pile of humans and said again, "All of them."

A misinterpretation formed in their minds.

A misunderstanding so to speak.

"Mm?" Ophis stares with her emotionless eyes at Cao Cao. "It took a lot of work to get them."

The objective of Khaos Brigade is really ambitious and there is no place for the weak and fearful.

They are there to take on the world if need be.

But provoking an enemy they are unaware of and with the ability to grant powers as easy as offering candy...

It would be asking to be called an idiot.

"You don't understand the implications of this, Lady Ophis," said Georg very carefully as that 'child' could erase him if he said something wrong.

"Someone is behind this and is empowering people. I don't know about its powers," Georg looks cautiously at Ophis before saying, "But I dare say he or she isn't too far from your powers or even on the same level."

Ophis has the closest expression to emotions they've ever seen on her. By her standards, at least.

Cao Cao didn't care about Ophis as she was easy to manipulate.

And Great Red was a recluse who didn't mind getting out of the dimensional gap.

But what if another figure as powerful as Great Red and Ophis appeared? And was he intellectually difficult to manipulate and interested in interfering with the supernatural world?

It would be the end for everyone.

A lost cause to fight against.

Cao Cao hoped to be wrong about that.

"I need to recruit it," Ophis said in a voice as close to emotion as she'd felt in millennia. "Would he/she accept a snake? Maybe two," she puts her finger on her chin as she meditates aloud.

"Umm," Arthur adjusts his glasses and says, "Forgive the boldness, Lady Ophis, but --- I don't think he/she would mind receiving power. If he/she has the same power as you --- The snakes wouldn't be as effective."

"So what do I do?" Said Ophis a little more defeated. "With that I could definitely kick out Baka-Red."

"We don't know, but we'll find the answers," For now they would act cautious.

The same instant they released the humans' bonds, they disappeared in the blink of an eye.

No mana fluctuation or magic circles.

Little did they know that their precautions were unnecessary.

Their misinterpretations of my powers and circumstances made them think I was dangerous.

In fact, I would be defeated by anyone there.

...

Wearing formal party clothes, a blonde adjusts my collar in a 'maternal' way.

"You should be careful going there," Angelie said worriedly. "You never know what kind of B*tch you might find there."

"I'm going to have dinner at Rias Gremory's place," I said with a stoic face.

"That's why I said you can find someone like that there," she said naturally.

"How cruel. They are your students too, you know?"

"Just remember this and we'll have no problem--- Hinata has good tits and is a princess, but," she looks me in the eyes in a frightening way and says, "Naruto will always love his sister first."

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said as I looked away.

A woman's instincts are frightening.

Seems like she had noticed that I was considering hooking up with Rias.

But if Angelie thought she was going to dictate my steps, she was dead wrong.

I would still make my sister recognize that I was in charge.

A shiver crept up my spine and I wondered why.

Little did I know that there was a Dragon God bent on looking for me.

Index, please save me.