Before long, under the watchful eyes of the soldiers sent by the three factions, the car slowly drove into the parking lot of Kuoh Academy.
When they noticed who was getting out of the car, puzzled expressions appeared on quite a few of the soldiers' faces.
After all, the only people who were supposed to be attending this meeting were the leaders of the three major factions, so why had a human suddenly shown up as well?
Still, as guards, they did not ask any questions. Since the person had been personally received by Lucifer's younger sister, there was naturally some reason for it that they did not know.
"Good evening, Mr. Rod."
The car door opened, and Rias appeared before Rod with a smile on her face.
Her peerage members Akeno, Koneko, and Yuuto were all standing behind her in their Kuoh Academy uniforms, their expressions rather grave.
"They're all too nervous. After all, we'll have to speak during the meeting too."
"That's only natural."
Rod said.
In truth, this was pretty much the same as a teacher making a student go up on stage to give a speech while their parents and the school leadership were all sitting below.
Rias was slightly surprised that Rod had not used the chance to needle her with something like, "You're supposed to be nobility, yet your nerves are this bad? Go home and train some more."
In fact, she had already been prepared to be lectured.
Now that Rod was suddenly being so understanding, she actually felt a little unaccustomed to it.
"My brother, Lady Leviathan, and the important figures from Heaven and the fallen angels are all already waiting in the lounge."
At that, Rias glanced at her watch.
"There are still twenty minutes before the meeting begins. Let me take you to the other lounge first."
She had no particular thoughts about Lavinia being here. After all, that night, she had already seen the two of them arrive together.
Rias then led them to the lounge in the new school building.
"My apologies. This used to be an ordinary classroom, but after some remodeling, it's been turned into a temporary lounge."
Rias spoke with a trace of helplessness.
There had obviously been better choices for the meeting venue, yet for some reason it had to be held at the school she attended.
Over the past few days, she and Akeno had been busy moving things around and overseeing the Underworld construction crew as they hastily remodeled the classroom.
Under normal circumstances, the work should have been finished long ago.
But because the people being received this time were too special, Rias could only do her very best to make everything perfect.
After entering the empty lounge, Rias, Akeno, Koneko, and the others all subconsciously let out a sigh of relief.
Even though this was their familiar school, the multiple layers of barriers outside, the heavily guarded troops of the three major factions, and the fact that the leaders of all three factions had already arrived all made them feel as if they could barely breathe.
Part of it came from stage fright, and part of it came from worry over how tonight's conference would turn out.
After all, if the talks fell apart tonight, then the angel, fallen angel, and devil armies gathered outside might very well start fighting, and the whole thing could even escalate into a large-scale war.
Just the thought of it made everyone's hands and feet tremble nervously.
And just as the atmosphere inside the lounge had grown so tense and silent that a pin drop could have been heard,
"Watch closely. This woman is called Miku..."
A loud AI voice shattered the silence of the lounge, making everyone instinctively turn toward the source of the sound.
Noticing the others staring at him, Rod paused the video.
"Why are you all looking at me? Don't you have anything better to do?"
We're only looking because you're actually in the mood to scroll short videos in this kind of atmosphere.
Rias, Akeno, and the others were all utterly speechless, but before long, they found themselves envying Rod's state of mind.
Only the voice of the movie recap continued playing in the lounge.
Then, not long after, Rod turned his phone sideways.
"Triple Kill!"
Everyone: "..."
Rias and the others spent those difficult twenty minutes in an extremely complicated mood.
Even by the time they were walking toward the meeting room, their minds were still filled with those brainwashing "Kill" announcements.
...
Rias stopped in front of the meeting room doors and knocked.
"Excuse us."
Then she opened the door, and like an attendant, let Rod and Lavinia enter the room first.
"Oh, Mr. Rod has arrived."
Gabriel, whom he had met once before, looked at Rod and spoke with a gentle smile.
"I wouldn't dare. I'm just an ordinary human who happened to beat the Governor-General of the Fallen Angels the day before yesterday."
Rod cupped his hands and said with a light laugh.
Beside him, Lavinia copied the gesture with convincing seriousness.
But her gaze was quickly drawn to the silver-haired young man standing beside the dark-faced Azazel.
It was the White Dragon Emperor, Vali.
Although she missed him deeply, Lavinia knew what kind of occasion this was and planned to talk to him after the formal meeting had ended.
When the people present heard Rod say that, Sirzechs, Michael, and Gabriel all held back their laughter, while Serafall was the only one who completely failed to keep it in.
"So that's it! I was wondering why Azazel's eye was bruised earlier. So it was you who did it, Rod?"
"To think that even Azazel wasn't your match. I didn't expect you to be this strong."
"Nothing special. Azazel is the Governor-General, so it's only natural that there's a bit of a gap between us. It's not much, though. Just this tiny little bit."
Rod pinched his fingers together in a gesture that would probably get him blacklisted by every man in Korea.
"Oh, wow, then that's still amazing. To think you developed yourself to this level all on your own!"
A look of surprise appeared on Serafall's face.
This time, she was dressed in an exquisite and dignified robe rather than cosplaying as a magical girl.
And that was also the reason the leaders present had allowed Rod to attend the meeting at all, and even given him a seat.
Beating Kokabiel might qualify someone as a genius, but if even Azazel was not his match, then Rod's talent and potential could only be described as more than a hundred times greater than anyone else present.
Even if they could not recruit him, they absolutely had to stay on good terms with him.
Azazel, in truth, had the same thought.
Rod just refused to give him any respect at all.
Of course, what Rod said was also true, so Azazel had no way to argue back and could only sit there with a dark expression, silently stewing in his anger.
As for Vali, who stood beside Azazel, ever since Rod entered, he had been staring at him with open hostility.
Rod had no idea where he had offended him.
Was it because he had ignored Vali's words that day and killed Kokabiel anyway, or because he had punched Azazel and Vali held a grudge over it?
Still, the White Dragon Emperor did not seem like the sort to be that petty.
Of course, Rod did not really care.
He swept his gaze across the room and discovered that on the Underworld side, besides Sirzechs and Serafall, there was another figure he had not expected to see.
A woman with the same silver hair as Vali, though hers was shoulder-length and curled in waves. She wore the uniform of some Underworld official post, and her expression was sharp and dignified.
Her features were cold and keen, and her eyes were silver as well, as if steeped in frost. The upward sweep at the corners of her eyes added a distant sort of charm.
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