Karmatic
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A New Sun Chapter 106
🕑 Added 2025-08-02 03:12:32 +0000 UTCChapter 106
~ A New Sun ~
Generally speaking, when a clearly fairly pissed off god catches your hideout, what should be the usual reaction by all those on the premises?
Running away to pray and fight another day, perhaps?
Moving up whatever evil plans you have and executing them on the spot to try and salvage whatever you possibly can of the situation?
Or, and in my opinion, the most hilariously stupid one, thinking you can gang up and jump him.
Somehow.
I gave terrorists coming from the Hero Faction too much credit, because almost immediately after I landed, I went to make a dozen or so clones, figuring the first two options were the given.
I was mid-hand sign when I noticed something mind-boggling.
They were all heading toward me.
It was almost comical, feeling all their presences, their powers, feeling that still, as they can feel you…and then immediately turning and running straight toward it.
"You've gotta be kidding me here…" I gaped, just standing there, completely befuddled.
Well. If I wasn't sure they weren't Hero Faction, I certainly am sure now.
Which is weird, because I don't only feel humans milling about. I also feel devils.
Also, to note, not absolutely everyone is heading my way, just pretty much all the trash fodder.
There are three powers so far that I can feel staying out of it. They also just so happen to be the strongest I can sense lumbering around here.
Two are fighting each other, funnily enough. One of these feels like Lilebette, but..
My eyes narrow.
I sense dragon coming from her now.
It's mild right now, but it's growing, that dragonic aura; it feels colder and darker than normal.
Granted, my sample size isn't exactly large for what's considered normal, but the disparity is massive nonetheless.
Considering the last, and only, dragon I fought was in the midst of Juggernaut Drive, that should say something!
The power Lilebette is fighting isn't something I've felt before. It feels human at first, but the strength…I don't know, I can't describe it, because what I'm feeling doesn't make sense.
After all, how could someone feel infinite when they very clearly are limited and are progressively losing their fight against their opponent?
…Wait a damn minute.
Infinite.
Fucking Ophis and her snakes.
Putting that out of mind for right now, the last of the three is near the other two, almost like it's guarding the place of the other two's battle.
My head cranes in those three's direction, and I can see the actual old not so not-so-abandoned church building off in the distance, the overgrown forest around it failing to shroud it from me.
They would be there, figures.
I wonder if they fixed the door after the place got cleared out?
Well. I suppose there's only one way to find out, hmm?
First things first, though.
I didn't bring my sword to the club today; I haven't exactly needed to, so I didn't.
Now, sure, I could go back real quick and grab it.
But why go through such a small amount of time and effort in the first place when I have weapons right here?
I clench my fists and take a deep breath, feeling my power spark and crackle around my fists.
Taking out whoever the leader is would just cause all the trash to scatter. They could do so easily via teleporting away, or they could go through the town to do so.
I won't be giving them the chance.
My head moves to the side automatically, a demonic power ball brushing passed it almost casually after the motion.
It impacts the ground like the magical equivalent of a water balloon, exploding against the ground and forming a fist-sized indent.
Finally. They're here.
My full body turns around as I crane my head skyward.
There, their forms outlined in the sky by the still crumbling barrier around the grounds, is a group of devils, their wings and…tails, out behind them.
Wait, tails? Straight up pointed demon tails, a classic.
Well, that's new, I guess.
Doesn't change the fact that they're all fodder.
My eyes lock onto the one at the head of the group, the one whose hand was outstretched, the one who's currently being looked at by the others of his kind in that sort of manner that colleagues do when they know you just fucked up big time and are about to get fired.
Or worse.
Fire rippled out across my right fist as my power was imbued into it.
I don't step, so much as I kick off the ground, sending myself flying into the air like a cannonball, with the thunderous boom of one to boot.
There's no reason not to pass up an opportunity like this to try out a few new attacks or two I've been thinking up.
A heat haze ripples out from my knuckles on my approach, it's so intense that I'm not surprised they felt the attack before physically seeing it.
It didn't save them, however.
The lead man barely got the chance to widen his eyes before my fist connected with his torso, and that heat haze erupted into flames.
Dancing Flame Attack.
It's like the sword slash, but with my fist instead!
Except far more explosive.
As the guy promptly blows apart with the eruption of fire, the others around him are consumed in the dancing inferno nearly just as swiftly.
So quickly, none of them even get a chance to scream; they just fall, alight, and are charred into bits and parts.
I let out a disappointed huff as I begin falling back to the ground.
Expected, of course, but disappointing still.
And that was only the first group to arrive, too, the closest. There's still plenty more.
Hnn. Maybe I should have brought the girls, purely to deal with these guys. That'd have saved me some time.
Thankfully, by the time I land, I'm surrounded by a new group, but not of devils.
No, this time, they're all humans. All wearing familiar, and very stupid-looking, school uniforms, wielding a menagerie of weapons.
Hero Faction fodder, the same ilk that Cao Cao had with him.
Ridiculous.
My eyes shift form as my gaze sweeps across them, my senses find the strongest of this little attempted ambush group, some girl who looks like a background extra in any generic anime's shopping scene, and my evolved eyes lock with hers.
The poor girl couldn't even attempt to fight back, as my eyes spun up such a potent hypnosis to make the one I used against Freed all that time ago look like a simple parlor trick.
So potent it was that the girl almost immediately fell over as though she was drunk, her eyes glazed and foggy, a couple of her troop around her giving startled gasps, attempting to help her up, and ask her what was wrong, while still trying to keep their weapons pointed my way.
"Who's your leader?" I ask without further ado, "Tell me everything you know about them. Who they are, how strong they are, what kind of powers they have, everything."
The troop collectively bawked at my perceived insolence.
Yet they bawked even harder when someone answered.
"Our Great Emperor." The girl I captured in my sway answered without resistance, all emotion and tone dull and deadpan, "All I know of her is that she is our Great Emperor. That we follow her. Not Cao Cao, even before he died. Now only she is left. I have never met her. I know nothing of her true power or appearance."
So shocked they were, not a single person tried to stop her.
Thankfully for them, she didn't know much of anything beyond a name and gender.
I hummed as I digested that information.
So, looks like the Hero Faction had other parts to it all along, a group that, while part of it, never really followed Cao Cao.
It would be the height of hilarity if it turns out that the woman, whoever she is, was yoinking members right out from under Cao Cao's nose just like he was.
Karma do be a bitch like that. I would personally find whatever hell Cao Cao ended up in purely to tell him all about it and laugh in his face if I could.
Unfortunately, I couldn't get any more than that, it seems.
Ah, well, perhaps one of the stronger people over by the church building would be kind enough to share more?
That said, I doubt the rest of this group knows any more than her, so!
"Thank you kindly," I state, sincerely, before raising my fist to the sky.
Evening sunlight ripples across said fist like lightning as I breathe, and the ground ripples like ocean waves struck by a comet as I bring my fist down into it.
The people around me cry out in shock and fear as they're suddenly thrust dozens of feet into the air, the ground rupturing beneath them with a force beyond their understanding.
Every single one of them lands harshly, their cries replaced by groans and muttered whimpers, my gaze arcing around the cracked and tarnished field, finding every single person half buried and struck, trapped within pieces of uneven rock and earth.
All still alive, of course. The devils burn, and the Hero Faction members get captured, as per the last showdown.
Who knows, maybe the people whose job it is to process idiots like these can use them to find out more.
Though considering how that went last time with Cao Cao's group, they all likely know next to nothing.
Worth a shot on the off chance that just one learned something they weren't supposed to, regardless.
The next group to make it to me is another squadron of devils.
I don't get a good look at them, I simply turn in their direction and spit a fireball.
The explosion alongside their presences winking out of existence confirms their elimination, and I turn toward the next closest.
Thankfully, being the meat grinder doesn't take that long. While there is a considerable number of people around, it isn't an army, or anything close to it.
Though once their forces started dwindling a fair bit, a few of them finally got the bright idea to run with their tails between their legs.
In the devil's case, this was literally.
Unfortunately for them, holy spirit power tends not to play nice with demonic powers, and the devils were trapped.
Meanwhile, those of the Hero Faction who tried to escape were even more boned, since not one of their number was a magician, and so all of them had to run on foot.
To say none of them run that race would be an underestimate.
It felt longer than it lasted, but within minutes of my arrival, the church grounds were in absolute ruins.
All around me, people groaned and whimpered, with patches of flames swirling around charring demon parts.
The flames had begun to spread toward the actual church building by this point.
I gave a huff of disappointment.
I didn't expect a challenge, but these guys were probably even worse than fodder. Pure time wasters.
In the back of my mind, a part of me was thinking about how that's a good thing, that it'd give the girls time to show up.
But that's stupid as hell.
Sure, I know how stories like this go. In whatever canon was the basis for these events, the club likely would have stormed the place by itself. Zekka would probably deal with Lilebette or whoever the final boss is by herself, kind of like Issei did with Raynare, now that I'm thinking about it.
…Wait a me damn minute, have the events of Volume 1 been paralleled the entire time and I never saw it!?
I let out a groan of frustration and brushed right on past that train of thought.
Where was I? Right.
Sure. I could let the girls handle all this.
But that'd be irresponsible as hell of me. Honestly, as much as I hate reading about the mentor, or sensei, or whomever fixing everything, after all, it's more fun watching the main character go in and struggle for it themselves, growing themselves…
Despite that, I have no reason to sit back and let them handle this. Especially when I can't control the situation at hand, and don't even have an idea as to what changed.
Assuming this is even a canon spinoff or what, anyway. No idea who this Great Emperor girl is, no idea what Lilebette's deal is, nothing.
I'll take care of it. At least just this once.
It's been some minutes now, and I can't feel the girls anywhere near the church.
Oh well. I won't artificially draw this out any longer.
My halo of light appears at my back as I float into the sky, and with a flash, I barrel my way straight toward the church.
~ A New Sun ~
The church has, half collapsed by now, in the center of an open space surrounded by a steadily burning forest.
I'm not surprised the place looks somehow worse than I last saw it.
I'm also not at all surprised to find someone standing right outside, exactly as I had thought, guarding the entrance.
A lone devil, who also looks like a background extra, at least compared to most devils. Maybe a particularly fancy background extra if you don't have taste? He was wearing one of those old-style noble suits.
I land before the church, and thus before him. Strange, I'm kind of surprised he hasn't immediately attacked me? Right now, he's sort of giving me this sort of cold stare.
As my halo winks out behind me, the devil finally does something, giving me a huff, "How unfortunate." He begins, more annoyed than anything else, "The Arahitogami. You were supposed to be in Kyoto, but instead, you're here."
I raise an eyebrow at that, "No shit, Sherlock." I point behind me, up toward the sky, "Was the light not a big enough clue?"
The devil rolled his eyes, "Har har, Kami. I care little for your japes." He puts a hand on his chest, "I am of the Old Satan Faction, Moebius Fleurety. Begone from this place, at once."
Hmm, the name doesn't ring a single bell.
Though I now understand why he didn't attack immediately, he's an idiot. Dude's a part of the Old Satan Faction.
Well, that gives me pretty much everything I need to know about him.
"Man, you sure are forgiving." I continue, curious as to how far he'll keep this up, "Considering I slaughtered all the other devils here. I'm betting you're their big leader here, not a single ounce of compassion for their lost lives?"
Moebius, and man, isn't that a stupid name, turned his nose up at me, "Their lost lives are meaningless compared to what I'm here for. That power of the snake," the idiot droned on, "the Old Satan Faction requires it for our purposes. If we get that, even a hundred thousand more lost would be acceptable."
Ah, so the person in there I sensed earlier has and is using an Ophis snake that this guy wanted for the Old Satan Faction, pretty much.
Classic Old Satan devils.
"Ah, geez," I couldn't help but chuckle, "you Old Satan types, you really are stupid, aren't you?"
Moebius' eyebrow twitched, and without another word, he raised a hand, incredibly slowly.
I saw the attack coming a mile away before it even began.
The demonic power that roared from his fingertips, forming a simple yet incredibly large bullet that launched straight for me.
The power of this guy and the fodder are, admittedly, like night and day. I will give him that at least. The guy is stronger than your simple high-class devil, I'm betting on the reaches of ultimate.
Which explains the arrogance to a fault.
Yet-
"I mean, really?" I utter, as the attack raced toward me, "Has the arrogance of you lot become infectious that it spreads?"
The bullet reaches me.
My hand comes up, clad in my power.
I grab the bullet like one would catch a dodgeball.
In my hands, the demonic power frays apart as though it were mercury surrounded by boiling water.
The attack shatters in my hand, dissipating uselessly.
I can see the moment the gears in his small brain finally put two and two together, the exact moment he realizes how fucked he really is.
Demonic circles begin to appear all around, but their spinning and forming are suddenly halted.
"GUH!" He chokes, as my hand seizes his throat, dust bellowing behind me at the speed with which I moved to get here.
On instinct, he grabs at my arm, uselessly.
"Well then," I continue, smirking, "you know the only way to treat an infection, don't you?"
"Y-Yuu…" The devil tries to gurgle out something, but he is ignored as I answer for him.
"You burn it out."
On cue, I squeeze his neck, snapping it before his entire body promptly immolates.
I dropped the flaming corpse listlessly to the ground and watched as the magic circles he summoned promptly sputter and flicker out of existence.
For good measure, I set my hand on fire before shaking the flames off as well.
"Yeah, that's about what I expected." I grunt, looking down at the burning corpse.
Without further ado, I turn toward the entrance way, and oh, hey! They did replace the doors to the entrance at least!
You can tell because of how comically new they look compared to the door frame itself!
I snort in amusement at that before making my way inside.
By kicking the new, fresh doors off their hinges, of course.
"Alright! The fuck!" I shout, my voice echoing along with the sound of the church doors slamming into the benches inside.
At the very front of the church, Lilebette stood and nearly jumped at my entrance.
At her feet was a woman, wearing one of those old traditional Chinese dresses, the thing in tatters as she lay in the ground, unmoving.
"Hmm? Ah. Kusanagi-san." Lilebette uttered, sounding completely exhausted as she turned to me.
Much like the woman at her feet, Lilebette also wasn't looking too good. During her fight, she lost her ribbon, and now her hair is splayed out behind her, wild and unkempt. Her uniform is in similar tatters, her cape is just gone, her sword has a chip in it, and…
Her eyepatch is gone, revealing a single yellow eye that appears perfectly functional.
It's also, now that I'm this close, the source of where I'm feeling her dragon power coming from.
So, that eyepatch was a seal, huh? Not just part of some chuuni cosplay?
I walked in, raising an eyebrow, "Not sensei?" I ask.
She gives me a very tired, yet sad, smile, "Yes. I left Cult Sword, if you saw my letter properly."
Even as she spoke, the dragon power from her eye was still gushing forward, like she was actively preparing for or in the middle of a fight.
What is wrong with her?
I waved her off, "A letter isn't sufficient for that kind of thing. You wanna leave, you're going to have to tell everyone straight to their face, ya know."
She grimaced, "That won't be possible, Kusanagi-san. Especially now. I'm not…much longer for this world, after all."
"Lemme guess," I point at her, "it has something to do with the overflowing dragonic aura coming off you right now, doesn't it?"
"Unfortunately so," she nods grimly, "I had to use the evil dragon's power inside me to defeat the enemy leader." She points to the Chinese-dressed woman with her sword, "Soon, I will stop being myself."
Evil Dragon? Ah, that would explain why her aura feels so different compared to other dragons.
This isn't part of a sacred gear, right? Couldn't be like a Juggernaut Drive. The way she describes it sounds different, and it feels different compared to that time.
"I'm glad you came, Kusanagi-san." Lilebette continues, unaware of my inner thoughts, "I know you'll be able to stop me without hassle, once I finally- HNN!?"
I cut her off by grabbing her face, the majority of my hand resting right over her golden yellow eye.
"W-What are you doing!?" The girl cries out as I pin her against the wall.
At the same time, a bluish-black aura begins to bubble and burn from her body.
Oh yeah, that feels more like a curse, alright!
"Fixing whatever this is." I grumble out a verbal response before delivering my mystical response.
A pure white light shines from the hand I have latched onto her face.
"Y-You, can't, just, HNNGH!?" Lilebette lets out a low groan, mixed with a monstrous growl, as the aura around her grows denser, flares up stronger.
I frown, as I simply up the intensity of my purifying light.
Purification. I've done something like this with Kuroka, completely taking out the Devil with her. That required a whole process, was soul and body deep.
This?
My light smashed into the dark evil aura like a hurricane, immediately beating it back by sheer overwhelming power, will, and a dash of divinity.
I could feel it almost instantly. This curse of hers wasn't nearly as deep as devil reincarnation, but it was pretty deep. It was thick, too, like it had been there a long time.
Ah, well. It won't anymore.
Lilebette shook under my grasp, her body trying to escape my grasp, likely by the curses will. She heaved and groaned, but I refused to let out.
I pushed my power until the aura around her vanished. I pushed it inside of her - not like that! - and hunted down every speck of that nasty evil aura I could find. My light was almost drawn to it, seeking to weed out the filth even without my input.
I'm not sure how long it took, beyond the fact that when it was done, it was dark out.
When I was done, I let Lilebette go, but quickly had to catch her before she crumbled to the ground, limb.
I let out a small sigh before gently leading her to the ground, in a far more comfortable position compared to the Chinese-dressed girl Lilebette put down earlier.
Her breathing was haggard, but I sensed not a single dash of that curse on her. Excellent.
And as if on cue?
The sound of footsteps rushing against grass and then wood began to echo to the church.
Three girls appeared at the entrance way, their eyes wide, likely from seeing the devastation on the way here.
Once they saw Lilebette, though?
"Lile-chan!"
"L-Lilebette-san…!"
"Lunarie…?"
Well, they all had different exclamations, but they all still rushed to her side regardless.
I stretched and sat down alongside them.
When she wakes up, this girl has more than a few questions to answer.
My eyes momentarily dart to the Chinese-dressed girl.
She was the leader, huh? No way she's the Great Emperor that one Hero Faction girl she was talking about, right?
~ A New Sun ~
Chapter 106 End
And with that, the Junior Arc is technically done. We just got a little wrap-up next chapter to do, along with Rose, and we're off to the next!
By the by, as you may or may not have noticed, the links on the general master story index are gone. That is because the post got hit by Patreon for stupid reasons, and in the process of getting it fixed, all the damn links vanished. I'll have 'em all put back up by this weekend, don't worry.
Comments
ItsDragonking
Finnaly done well almost sigh
Enderattack
Lilebette is about to get integrated into the household, isn't she? Great chapter :)
