A few more minutes passed, and just as Tatsuma was having fun farming traits, several figures emitting terrifying auras appeared in his line of sight.
At the same time, Yahweh's voice sounded in his ear.
[I'm here. Prepare to retreat.]
"It seems I can only stop here."
Tatsuma raised his palm, and bullets appeared in the air behind him, one by one.
A few seconds passed, and the number of bullets reached five digits, overwhelming the sky. Tatsuma didn't hesitate, controlling these bullets to smash towards... the Angels lying on the ground around him.
"Oh no!"
Michael's expression changed, and he immediately stopped his pursuit, intercepting these bullets.
Not only him, but Gabriel and the others who were chasing Yahweh also intercepted the bullets.
Explosions sounded one after another, and dense smoke enveloped the entire First Heaven. When everything returned to calm, Tatsuma and Yahweh had already disappeared.
"Damn it! They got away!"
Uriel, one of the Four Great Seraphs, had a gloomy expression, his eyes filled with intense anger.
"Huh? Is that... Dulio?"
Gabriel noticed her teammate not far away, and a look of surprise appeared on her face.
"He was actually defeated?!"
"Not only Dulio, but Diethelm and Metatron were also defeated."
Michael released his perception and scanned the surrounding situation, a hint of surprise and doubt flashing in his eyes.
In his perception, none of the Angels in the First Heaven had died, they were all severely injured and unconscious.
What was this situation?
...
Tatsuma's house, fourth basement level.
A magic circle quietly formed, and Tatsuma and Yahweh appeared out of thin air.
"Finally home!"
Yahweh pounced onto the bed, hugged a pillow, and happily rolled around a few times.
"Home is the best, no need to worry about being exposed. You can do whatever you want."
"As long as you don't use your light power and divine arts, you won't be exposed even outside." Tatsuma's voice sounded from the side.
He reached out, opened the refrigerator, and pulled out two bottles of soda, one for himself to drink, and the other... still for himself to drink.
Yahweh's hand stopped in mid-air. "Hey! It's fine that you're freeloading off my stuff, but at least give me a bottle."
Tatsuma tilted his head. "Isn't this distance just a matter of a thought for you?"
Yahweh jumped off the bed and walked over. "That's why I say you're still too young, this is how you get closer to life."
"I don't deny that."
Tatsuma agreed and opened the trait inventory.
Looking at the densely packed new traits in front of him, the corner of his lips curved slightly upward.
A great harvest!
Although the number of Angels in the First Heaven had significantly decreased after the Three Factions Meeting, and they had lost the means to increase their numbers, as Heaven's first line of defense, the number of Angels in the First Heaven was still very large.
In just under ten minutes, over ten thousand traits were acquired, most of which were green and blue, and there were also a few purple ones.
Tatsuma clicked one-click synthesis, and the inventory instantly gained 4563 new blue traits.
Including the red traits dropped by Diethelm and Metatron, and the gold trait dropped by Dulio, he obtained five Gold traits in one go this time.
After a brief thought, Tatsuma used these five Gold traits to unlock equip slots.
The gold trait from Dulio was not bad, but just like Vali's Fated enemy, they had some troublesome prerequisites.
Tatsuma was self-aware.
Although he occasionally did good deeds, most of the time he prioritized his own interests. Fighting for others was not in his nature.
Since he couldn't trigger the effect, leaving this gold trait in the inventory would just collect dust. It was better to use it as material to unlock equip slots.
Including the Origin Fruit obtained a few days ago, he currently had 4 rainbow traits, 18 gold traits, and over ten red traits.
The original 17 equip slots, which seemed like a lot, were already a bit insufficient for him.
[Consume one gold trait, equip slot +1]
[Consume one gold trait, equip slot +1]
[Consume one gold trait, equip slot +1]
[Consume one gold trait, equip slot +1]
[Consume one gold trait, equip slot +1]
A series of prompts sounded. Tatsuma invested all the gains from his trip to Heaven into equip slots.
With heavy investment, the equip slots increased from seventeen to twenty-two, allowing him to equip five more traits simultaneously.
The quality of the traits in Tatsuma's hands was very high. Each additional equip slot was a small improvement for him.
With five more traits that could be equipped simultaneously, his combat power saw a further increase.
Yahweh, who was drinking soda, tilted her head and cast a look, a hint of confusion on her face. "Did you get stronger again?"
Tatsuma replied seriously, "Yes, I had some insights while bullying noobs in Heaven just now and mastered a more efficient way to fish."
Yahweh didn't believe a single bit of that. Staring at Tatsuma thoughtfully for a moment, she seemed to understand something and said, "You don't have the ability to absorb the life essence of enemies to increase your strength, do you?"
Tatsuma shook his head. "No."
Yahweh waved her hand. "I was just using a metaphor, you understand the general idea is fine."
Tatsuma continued to shake his head. "That's also not the case."
"Really not?"
Yahweh was very skeptical about this.
Because Tatsuma's training efficiency was very high, she hadn't thought in this direction before. But now, recalling carefully, she found that Tatsuma's strength would increase after every battle.
Absorbing life essence or something could be ruled out. The enemies defeated or killed by Tatsuma didn't lose life energy.
Could it be absorbing emotions? Or a special energy like faith?
Yahweh touched her chin, her eyes fixed on Tatsuma with growing curiosity.
"Reveal a little bit, I promise not to tell a second person."
"I said no is no, don't ask too much."
Tatsuma moved his wrist. "My strength has increased by quite a bit recently. If you're really bored, come train with me."
Yahweh: "..."
"Cough! Speaking of which, when are we going to deal with Rizevim?"
Tatsuma thought for a moment and asked, "How far along is the resurrection progress of Apophis and Aži Dahāka?"
"Let me see."
Yahweh raised her hand to open the surveillance and summoned the projection into the air.
On the screen, Rizevim was using Ophis' Snake to continuously convert demonic power into life force and inject it into the Evil Dragon soul.
Receiving the vast life force, the aura of Apophis and Aži Dahāka soared. Even through the screen, a sense of pressure could be faintly felt.
Yahweh observed for a moment and concluded, "It will take about another week to complete the resurrection."
Tatsuma understood. "Then let's make our move in a week."
Withdrawing his gaze from the screen, Tatsuma walked towards the school.
The invigilator for the next subject was Natsuki. To be safe, it was better to take the exam in person.
Hours later.
First Heaven Emergency Center.
After timely rescue, Dulio slowly woke up from his sleep, a hint of confusion flashing in his eyes.
A few seconds later, he recalled what had happened before he fainted and sprang up from the bed with a start.
"You're awake."
Just then, a voice sounded from the side.
Dulio's body stiffened as he looked at the man beside him who had six pairs of golden wings and a halo above his head.
"Michael? Is the battle over?"
"Yes, it's over."
"Did you catch the enemy?"
"Sorry, they got away."
Michael shook his head slightly. "Including the Devil who defeated you, both intruders ran away."
Dulio clenched his fists. "Michael, you don't need to apologize. The person who should really apologize is me. If I had been more cautious, I wouldn't have let them get away."
"Regarding that, I have some questions."
Michael took out a portrait from his arms, pointed at the figure with a mask and silver hair on it, and asked, "Dulio, was he the one who defeated you?"
Dulio examined it carefully and nodded seriously. "Yes, it was him."
Michael continued to inquire, "According to the information from Diethelm and Metatron, this man's regeneration ability and physical strength are very great."
"However, if that's all, it shouldn't be enough to defeat you in such a short time. What exactly happened in those few minutes before we arrived?"
As the holder of Zenith Tempest, the second-strongest Longinus, Dulio was a genuine ace of Heaven, his strength not inferior to the Four Great Seraphs.
Normally, even if the enemy was a god-level powerhouse, he could hold them off for a while without falling behind.
Defeated in just a few minutes, Michael couldn't understand what had happened at all.
It was precisely because of this that he personally came to the hospital to wait for Dulio to wake up and confirm the situation as soon as possible.