44: Chapter 44

She narrowed her eyes, her tone sharp. "Rias Gremory, listen well. Shirone is my sister; I cannot possibly hand her over to you."

After a pause, Kuroka's voice lowered, her expression dimming slightly. "Besides, her condition isn't very good right now."

Rias Gremory's heart tightened. "What's wrong with Shirone?"

Now was not the time to argue over ownership. Shirone's health was what mattered most.

Besides, for the past few days, she had felt that something was off with Shirone, as if she were desperately suppressing something...

Her face always carried an unnatural flush.

Luo Yu glanced toward the room, his perception spreading out instantly. The small, curled-up figure on the bed appeared clearly in his consciousness.

Even in her sleep, her brows were tightly furrowed, her breathing rapid and heavy, with a strange energy rampaging within her body. "It's the Senjutsu of a Nekomata... it's going berserk."

Among the Nekomata clan, the Nekomata are the strongest branch, naturally possessing a special talent for Senjutsu.

Such yokai are rare even in the Far East; Luo Yu had only seen two—Kuroka, and the one before him. "That's right, Shirone's Senjutsu has lost control." Kuroka nodded, her eyes full of worry. "She has always been afraid of this power and suppressed it tightly... she suppressed it too hard, and once it erupted, she couldn't control it."

"I tried using Senjutsu to help her channel it, but it was useless; instead, it made her even more chaotic."

Rias Gremory looked toward Luo Yu's room, her voice anxious. "Then what should we do?"

Kuroka didn't reply, simply turning her gaze toward Luo Yu.

Luo Yu understood her meaning immediately. "You want me to use the power of the Dragon race to help Shirone suppress the out-of-control Senjutsu."

Dragon species naturally have a suppression effect on yokai. No matter how strong the Senjutsu is, it has to bow to Dragon power. It truly has a natural advantage for smoothing out rampaging yokai power.

Kuroka nodded, licked her lips, and smiled seductively. "Finding Vali could also help stabilize Shirone's condition... but, so that she can give birth to strong little dragon cubs in the future, it's better if you do it yourself."

"After all, your Dragon lineage is much purer than that guy's."

Sona and the others heard this, but there was no surprise on their faces; clearly, they were long used to her speaking like this.

Shirone was curled up on the bed, her forehead covered in cold sweat, her body twitching from time to time.

Luo Yu stood by the bed, his gaze sweeping over the four women surrounding them.

Akeno Himejima, Kuroka, Rias Gremory, Sona—not a single one missing. "Don't be nervous, Ah Yu, we'll just watch from the side and won't disturb you while you help her regulate her Senjutsu."

Akeno Himejima propped up her chin with a smile, her tone of voice incredibly gentle.

But the coldness hidden in those eyes made no attempt to hide itself.

Luo Yu knew clearly in his heart—what 'watching', it was clearly to keep an eye on him.

He shook his head helplessly, truly unable to understand just how much of a beast he was in their eyes.

How old was this Shirone before him? The Shirone from three years ago was basically just a little thing that hadn't grown up yet.

He wasn't depraved enough to reach this level.

Luo Yu gently placed his hand on Shirone's forehead, the Dragon power within him slowly surging out, seeping into her body bit by bit.

The restless Senjutsu seemed to have met its nemesis, and was quickly smoothed out and made obedient.

Shirone's tightly furrowed brows gradually smoothed out, and the pain on her face disappeared along with it.

Just as Luo Yu was about to withdraw his hand, he suddenly felt something furry wrap around his arm.

Shirone's tail.

It had hooked onto his wrist at some point, the tip of the tail gently rubbing against his skin, as if expressing some happy emotion. "Meow, I told you, Shirone is definitely willing; wouldn't it be great to give birth to a strong Dragon-kin baby."

Kuroka was egging him on from the side again, looking like she wouldn't give up.

Luo Yu couldn't be bothered to pay attention to her, carefully unwrapped the tail, and turned to walk out. "Let her sleep quietly for a while."

Kuroka watched that tail retracting reluctantly, her face full of regret.

If she couldn't do it, there was still Shirone; she would succeed eventually.

As soon as Luo Yu left, Shirone's breathing completely steadied, and she fell into a deep sleep.

Not long after, a holy light suddenly shone in the room.

Michael's invitation had arrived.

In the villa's hall, Luo Yu looked at Dulio Gesualdo sitting opposite him, somewhat surprised. "The Khaos Brigade is looking for trouble with you all over the world; you're not hiding in Heaven, yet you dare to show yourself in the Human World?"

"Aren't you here?" Dulio Gesualdo picked up the dessert the maid had brought, eating it with relish. "If they dare to come, you can send them away."

He hadn't put the Khaos Brigade's pursuit in his heart at all.

Unless Ophis or Rizevim Livan Lucifer made a move personally. As for the rest of those small fry, wanting to keep Dulio Gesualdo behind was pure dreaming.

Besides, ever since Rizevim Livan Lucifer revealed his tracks last time, the Underworld has been searching the whole world for his whereabouts.

By comparison, Dulio Gesualdo actually felt the Human World was several times safer than Heaven.

...On the other side, Rias Gremory was fuming inside. Ever since she arrived in the Human World and met Luo Yu, her luck had never been good.

Kiba Yuuto was dead. She had to swallow this anger in frustration, unable to even say a harsh word.

Now, Shirone was also left in that villa of Sona's; looking at it, she was almost becoming Sona's servant.

Looking at Akeno Himejima beside her, Rias Gremory didn't need to think much—as long as Luo Yu beckoned, this woman would definitely throw her good friend behind her head at the first opportunity. Truly valuing men over friends.

She counted on her fingers; the remaining servants in her hand were only the newly recruited half-blood Reaper Bennia, and the shut-in Gasper.

Thinking that her biggest purpose for coming to the Human World for training was to gather servants and prepare for the Rating Game with Riser Phenex in three years. Only by winning that duel could she annul the engagement. But look at this. She had recruited one servant, but the number of people had decreased by three.

The more Rias Gremory thought about it, the angrier she got; her eyes looking at Luo Yu were full of resentment.

...Luo Yu had no idea what Rias Gremory was thinking. Even if he knew, he wouldn't care. The guest before him was much more interesting than that woman.

Heaven. Dulio Gesualdo lay lazily on the clouds, chewing on a spiritual herb he had plucked from somewhere. "I say, those guys from the Old Satan Faction won't be able to hop around for much longer."

He rolled over, looking at the unchanging golden glow above his head. Last time, the Underworld had already declared they would deal with them; should his group get involved and fish for some benefits?

Ever since he ambushed Hades, God of the Underworld with Luo Yu and the others, he had been trapped in Heaven running errands for the past few months. The scenery of Heaven was indeed beautiful, but he had been looking at this stuff since he was born. After looking at it for nearly twenty years, no matter how beautiful, he was sick of it. Especially since there was no change at all.

Forget it, talk about it when the time comes. Anyway, Master wouldn't necessarily let him leave. "You came to find me just to say this nonsense?" Luo Yu sat on a stone chair, looking at Dulio Gesualdo, who was still chattering away with his mouth full. This guy's biggest hobby was finding food all over the world. Keeping him cooped up in one place was truly a torture.

"I'm here to run an errand." Dulio Gesualdo swallowed the food in his mouth. "Master asked me to invite you to go to Heaven."

"Your master..." Luo Yu was stunned for a moment, his mind turning. "Michael?"

He didn't seem to have any friendship with that Archangel. If he had to say, it was only twice. One time was forcibly extracting the essence blood of the Holy Light Dragon. The other time was going to steal the Primal Dragon Soul of the Primal Darkness Dragon Apophis, which ended up attracting a siege by the three Seraphs.

"Don't worry, it's not to settle accounts with you." Dulio Gesualdo waved his hand. The four of them had been adventuring in the Three Realms for so many years; they could understand the little schemes in each other's hearts with just one look.

Luo Yu thought for a moment and nodded. If Michael really wanted to deal with him, he wouldn't use a stupid method like inviting him to Heaven. Once the matter was exposed, Heaven's reputation of thousands of years would be completely ruined. Who would dare to accept an invitation from Heaven in the future? They would all have to weigh whether it was a trap first.

To be honest, Luo Yu had always felt that Heaven was much more dangerous than the Underworld. Even if the Underworld mobilized its entire nest, they couldn't keep him. But Heaven was different. No one knew how many trump cards that God had left for Heaven when He was still around.

Dulio Gesualdo was one of the top spatial coordinate experts in Heaven; he raised his hand and tore open a passage directly to Heaven in Kuoh Town. Luo Yu followed him and stepped in, carefully feeling it—this passage was very stable, even stronger than the one he had snatched from the Fallen Angels before.

You have to know, this one of Dulio Gesualdo's was temporarily built, not a ready-made old route. Being able to build a passage of this quality in such a short time, this kid's understanding of spatial laws was definitely top-tier.

Not long after, the white light ahead became more and more blinding. When Luo Yu adapted to the light, the ridiculously magnificent scenery of Heaven had already appeared before his eyes. "The Eighth Layer?"

Luo Yu scanned the surroundings; he had never been here before. Compared to the Seventh Layer, the difference could be seen at a glance—the concentration of light elements was at least 10 to 20 percent higher. There were patrolling angels everywhere, among which five-winged angels accounted for a significant proportion, all of whom were Maou-Class combat power.

If you only look at the number of Maou-Class powerhouses, the Underworld and Grigori combined probably couldn't catch up to Heaven. Back then, the Main God perished together with the First Generation Four Great Demon Kings of the Underworld, taking away a large number of pure-blooded devils and the backbone of Grigori, but Heaven's foundation was basically not damaged much.

The most obvious point—all four Seraphs were fine, not a single one missing. Of course, after the Main God fell, Heaven could no longer naturally give birth to pure-blooded angels. The remedy they came up with was to rely on humans to create "Children of Light" like Dulio Gesualdo and "half-blood angels" to replenish fresh blood.

Compared to the devil reincarnation of the Underworld, this method's efficiency was not just a little bit worse. What was more troublesome was that the probability of these half-blood angels falling into Fallen Angels was quite high, and in the end, it actually benefited Grigori.

Dulio Gesualdo pointed forward, where the temple built of white stone stood quietly. "My master is inside, and that is also the central system that God left in this world."

Luo Yu took a few looks; the ones patrolling around the temple were all five-winged angels, each as strong as a Devil King. "Heaven System, huh? I thought it was hidden in the Ninth Layer, didn't expect it to be placed in the Eighth Layer."

"It was indeed in the Ninth Layer before. But after God fell, Master felt that God's resting place should not be disturbed, so he sealed the Ninth Layer and moved the system to this layer."

After Dulio Gesualdo finished explaining, he added another sentence. "Luo Yu, go in yourself. Without my master's nod, not even Lady Gabriel and the others can break in casually."

Luo Yu responded and walked toward the temple.