The pain of losing God, the seductive pull of Tenra's words, and the anger at the Church's endless lies—Xenovia, like Asia before her, had cast herself into the arms of the "evil god."
No—he was their true Lord now.
For a girl as single-minded as Xenovia, once she'd made her decision, regret was out of the question. From this day forward, her faith belonged to Tenra.
It took some getting used to, but with new faith filling the void, the emptiness and confusion faded away. Life had meaning again.
"Everyone, Xenovia's one of us now."
With Tenra's announcement, Xenovia officially joined the Kamiyo household.
She'd been standoffish toward the other girls before, but now, with old grudges set aside, they welcomed her warmly. Xenovia felt a mix of embarrassment and gratitude, her resolve growing firmer—she'd made the right choice.
"Tenra, you scoundrel. Even Xenovia's fallen for your tricks. Happy now?"
Irina sidled up next to Tenra, watching Xenovia get swept up in the girls' enthusiastic greetings.
"Oh, I'm very happy. Not just Xenovia—Irina too."
Tenra reached out and tapped Irina's cheek, that familiar, teasing smile on his lips.
"I—I haven't…"
Irina's cheeks flared pink as she tried to sound defiant.
Xenovia had only been swayed to faith, but Irina had already lost her body and soul to Tenra's schemes. All his fault!
"My Lord, I'd like to go back and formally leave the Church. Please grant me your permission."
After introducing herself to everyone, Xenovia approached Tenra, earnest and determined.
She and Irina were still official holy sword wielders; Xenovia wanted to settle things properly before devoting herself fully to her new Lord.
She didn't need to return to Church headquarters—any town with a church would do. She'd simply inform them that she and Irina were leaving. Whether they accepted it was their problem.
"Like Asia, just call me Tenra as a friend and companion. If you want to go, go with Irina. I'll be waiting for you both."
Tenra patted Xenovia's shoulder, grinning.
"Yes…"
Xenovia and Irina left for the Church, while Tenra and Rias's group slipped back into the rhythm of school life. The campus had only just recovered from disaster, the town nearly wiped out, but the students were unchanged—daydreaming, copying homework, worrying about their own little dramas.
Blissful ignorance, Tenra thought.
"Rias, what are you working on?"
In the Occult Research Club, Tenra watched Rias frown as she scribbled furiously.
"I'm writing up the club's activity report."
She massaged her forehead, exasperated.
"Activity report? Didn't we just hand one in to Sona?"
Every club had to submit a report to the student council. Even Tenra's kendo club wasn't exempt. It was the kind of thing you could dash off in ten minutes—he was sure he and Rias had already turned theirs in.
"Not for the human world—for the devil side."
"As a pure-blood devil, I should be attending one of the elite Underworld academies. I'm only here as a special exchange student. If I can't earn the credits I'd get at a devil school, the Underworld will force me to return."
Akeno, ever the perfect hostess, set down fresh tea and explained with a gentle smile.
Tenra nodded, understanding.
Pure-blood devils were rare and tightly regulated. Rias had it tough; mixed-bloods and reincarnated devils like Tenra and Akeno didn't have these headaches.
"First the engagement mess, then Kokabiel's incident—there's been no time for club activities lately."
"Ugh… Why do I have to write these awful reports?"
Clutching her hair, the Gremory princess looked for all the world like a kid sulking over homework. Her frustration was so endearing that Tenra and Akeno couldn't help but laugh.
"That's it. I need help!"
"Tenra, come with me after class—I want you to meet someone."
Rias's eyes flashed with sudden resolve.
After school, Tenra headed toward the kendo club with Kalamaina and Seris.
He'd promised Rias he'd go with her to meet someone, but there was still time, so he figured he'd coach the girls' swordsmanship first.
Except—
"Captain, please, just once! Just this once!"
"Captain, this is our lifelong wish—please say yes!"
Instead of practicing, the girls crowded around Tenra, pleading. He sighed, unable to bring himself to refuse.
"Just this once. Afterward, everyone gets back to training."
"Yeah!!!"
The girls erupted in cheers.
Shaking his head, Tenra activated his Sacred Gear. Crimson light flared, and the Red Dragon Emperor's scale mail enveloped him.
"Ahhh!"
The girls shrieked, eyes shining with excitement.
Ever since they'd seen this magnificent, heroic form, they'd been hopelessly obsessed. Every time Tenra visited the kendo club, they begged to see it again. He couldn't say no to his adorable club members—but just look, no touching!
It took ages for Tenra to escape. What was supposed to be a quick demonstration turned into a full-on fangirl frenzy. With his meeting with Rias approaching, he left Kalamaina and Seris in charge, slipping out amid the girls' disappointed groans.
"Wuwuwu… Partner, you betrayed me! You betrayed me!"
Inside his mind, Ddraig wailed.
No mistake—one of the legendary Heavenly Dragons was actually whining.
"Come on, Ddraig, it was just a bunch of girls touching your armor. Is it really that bad?"
Even Tenra was at a loss. Was Ddraig just overly sensitive?
It was only armor—what was the big deal?
"Is it that bad?"
"The armor is my body! Partner, how would you feel if a bunch of guys started pawing you all over?!"
Ddraig's voice thundered with indignation.
"If it were guys, I'd be disgusted, and I'd never let it happen. But you…"
Tenra stopped mid-sentence, a realization dawning. His eyes widened.
"Ddraig… don't tell me—you're female?"
He held his breath, waiting.
"Did I ever say I was male?!"
Ddraig roared.
Tenra was speechless.
The legendary Red Dragon Emperor, one of the Two Heavenly Dragons who'd terrified generations, was actually female.
No one had ever confirmed the Heavenly Dragons' genders, but this was a revelation.
"Ddraig, your nemesis Albion isn't also…"
Tenra's voice trembled.
"Albion's female too!"
Well. Tenra supposed he'd just uncovered one hell of a secret—
Both Heavenly Dragons are female!
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📚 BOOK COMPLETED ON PATREON!
📚This story has reached its conclusion on my Patreon!
🔥 Full story available now💎 Exclusive bonus content & early access to new books
👉 Join my Patreon community today![✨patreon.com/GoldenLong]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━