— — — — — —
Rias stiffly turned her head.
She immediately saw Ryo, dressed casually in a white shirt and black trousers.
He looked her up and down with a strange expression, then commented. "Judging purely by your figure, I'll accept the term 'blind date.'"
The moment he said that, Rias froze.
Judging by her figure? Was that the only thing worth evaluating?
At that moment, Ryo pulled a pocket watch from his coat, glanced at the number pointing to four, frowned slightly, then put it away.
"It's getting late. Let's go. Akeno, you too."
After a pause, he added, "Rias, today's schedule is tight. If you really want to do something like a blind date, tell me in advance. I can consider clearing a day for you."
Akeno bowed slightly, smiling as she glanced at the head-lowered Rias, then followed after Ryo.
Only after the two had walked some distance did Rias dare lift her head, sighing in embarrassment.
"This is mortifying…"
She muttered under her breath and hurried after them.
The entrance to Yasaka Shrine's main hall led to a long stone staircase. Huge red torii gates lined the steps, almost one every two steps, packed so densely they looked endless.
Locals called it the Thousand Torii.
Ryo led Rias and Akeno down the stairs.
They were descending, not climbing. They had come from the inner shrine, and leaving meant passing through this long corridor of torii gates.
Rias and Akeno quietly followed, occasionally glancing to either side at the stone fox statues placed along the stairs.
Each fox had a different posture and expression, as if paying homage to something. The two girls couldn't help repeatedly looking over.
"What's wrong?"
Ryo slowed his steps and asked.
Akeno frowned, carefully examining one of the fox statues.
"The spirits here feel… strange."
The stone foxes at Yasaka Shrine had worshippers. Through faith, some had become vessels for natural spirits.
What puzzled Akeno was that the spirits attached to the foxes seemed to have disappeared.
"This didn't happen yesterday, right?" Rias asked, rubbing her chin.
They had been staying at Yasaka Shrine for two days. When they passed here yesterday, the foxes still seemed to house natural spirits.
"Probably the barrier's been activated," Ryo casually explained as he stepped down another stair.
At the same time, his lowered fingers moved at a speed invisible to the naked eye, shattering the natural spirits on both sides of the path with his authority, leaving behind only pure spirituality.
Before long, a faint, unusual aura wrapped around the fox statues, gradually altering the atmosphere of Yasaka Shrine.
"A yokai barrier?"
Akeno looked surprised, then thoughtful.
"When I was little, my mother mentioned that the Nine-Tailed Fox clan is special. Their barrier techniques can often tap into Kyoto's leylines and draw on the immense spiritual power flowing through the city."
"So the change in aura is because of the leylines?"
Rias stepped forward and placed a hand on a fox statue, casting a simple detection spell. After a moment, she nodded. "No wonder the spirits have been acting strange. But why can I feel dragon power coming from it?"
"Yeah… that is strange."
The two continued discussing, then casually glanced forward and realized Ryo had already walked all the way to the bottom of the stairs alone, not caring whether they kept up.
"…Seriously?" Rias said with a strange expression. "He just left? Shouldn't he take the chance to explain the barrier and start a conversation?"
"Ara ara, looks like your charm doesn't work on Governor-san," Akeno teased.
Rias twitched and shot her a glare. "You're the same."
"But I'm not the one on the blind date," Akeno replied matter-of-factly, clasping her hands behind her back as she walked down.
"Akeno!" Rias called angrily, then followed with a gloomy expression.
...
Meanwhile, Ryo stood at the bottom of the stairs, touching the first stone fox at the roadside, eyes narrowed. A terrifying crushing force lingered at his fingertips.
The anomalies Rias and Akeno noticed were all caused by him.
It all stemmed from a single idea.
Crush all the spirits with authority, leaving only pure leyline power.
Sparse as it was, once combined with accumulated faith and spiritual power, Yasaka Shrine's attraction to dragonkind would increase dramatically. It was much like the Hero Faction's attack on Kyoto in the original storyline. They had tried to summon Great Red; Ryo, on the other hand, wanted to attract every dragon. By then, the shrine would shine like a beacon in the night sky to any of them.
The only question was whether this would attract a pure-blood dragon.
Pure-blood dragons. Creatures with no traceable origin, born from sudden gatherings of immense power. Each possessed overwhelming strength.
In Little Garden, a pure-blood dragon was born with four-digit-level power.
Dragons didn't collect concepts and authorities to expand their spirit rank, but to "grow."
Their growth resembled metamorphosis, like breaking a cocoon and becoming a butterfly.
Each growth stage drastically increased both size and power. If one kept surpassing the limits at every stage, the ultimate evolution could reach the full authority domain of the two-digit level without bottlenecks.
Only one dragon had achieved this: the World Dragon, Kurma.
Only that dragon broke past the limits at every growth, ultimately stepping into the two-digit realm without resistance, giving all pure-blood dragons a clear path.
This also inspired those who coveted dragon power, such as dragon tamers and dragon riders.
Anyone who borrowed dragon power wanted a pure-blood dragon. They wanted to share spirit rank with one. Thus, techniques designed to attract pure-blood dragons were born.
Ryo was using one of them.
Considering that both Ophis and Great Red were said to be pure-blood dragons, attracting them with this shrine barrier shouldn't be difficult.
And once Sirzechs coordinated with the Devil Council, the Khaos Brigade would inevitably move. If those minor players borrowed Ophis's power, it was very possible she'd be drawn here.
Of course, Ryo also had a faint, unrealistic thought.
This world already had two pure-blood true dragons.
What if… there was a third?
That would be an absurd profit.
He might as well modify Kyoto's entire barrier and see if he could fish one out.
"..."
After standing by the fox statue for several minutes, Rias and Akeno finally descended and reached the roadside. Noticing them, Ryo turned and asked. "Done looking? Then let's head to the next place."
"…." x2
The two girls were rendered speechless by his utterly unromantic remark, but still followed him.
---
Denmark. A palace beneath a forest.
A delicate-featured girl in a gothic dress sat quietly on a throne in the underground hall, her eyes unfocused.
"O Ouroboros, more eternal than time itself… grant us glory. Grant us the noble power of the snake."
Below the throne, mage after mage knelt, chanting prayers, begging the girl to bestow power.
Yet her vacant eyes never focused.
After a long moment, the girl's nose twitched slightly. Her gaze suddenly shifted east.
"The scent of a dragon… a powerful dragon… one like me… like Great Red…"
.
.
.