The Demon That Came Knocking

Inside Koizumi Koichi's office.

Koizumi Koichi tightly clutched his head with both hands, his worldview seemingly shattered and rebuilt.

So this world actually had an Underworld, demons, and even gods.

Furthermore, the players' entire souls had actually entered the game, and even the souls of demons had been drawn in.

This was something that neither he nor Kayaba Akihiko could possibly achieve.

Even though his technical skills were far inferior to Kayaba Akihiko's, he knew all of Kayaba's technology like the back of his hand, and it was absolutely impossible for it to touch upon something as ethereal as the soul.

On top of that, the company's servers had long since stopped running, and there was no game data on them at all.

The game Sword Art Online seemed to have vanished from this world entirely, taking all of its data with it.

After a long while, Koizumi Koichi finally stopped his movements and looked up at Rias.

"Miss Demon, do you think there's a possibility that this game has actually long since slipped beyond Kayaba Akihiko's control?"

Rias: "???"

Seeing the last person she could think of to save Toujou Koneko acting like this, the hope in Rias's heart was completely dashed.

She took a deep breath and then silently contacted her brother, one of the Four Great Satan of the Underworld, the true ruler of the Underworld who inherited the name of Lucifer, Sirzechs Gremory.

"Rias, is there something you need me for?"

Upon seeing her brother, Rias quietly gave a brief account of the information she had gathered, then looked at him nervously.

"Brother, Koneko is my most important companion. I cannot lose her."

"Is that so? I understand. Wait for me to hand over my work, and I will come to you immediately."

Just ten minutes after cutting off the connection, a magic circle appeared once again in Koizumi Koichi's office.

However, compared to earlier when it was just Rias and her Queen, Himejima Akeno, this time three figures stepped out of the magic circle.

Rias immediately looked over and saw her brother, Sirzechs, leading the group.

"Brother."

Her face was filled with hope and reliance.

Beside her, Himejima Akeno respectfully bowed to Sirzechs and the other two.

"Lord Lucifer, Lord Leviathan, Lady Grayfia."

Rias was Sirzechs's biological sister, but she was merely Rias's peerage member. Seeing two of the Four Great Satan of the Underworld, as well as Lord Lucifer's Queen, the Satan-class demon Grayfia, she did not dare to show the slightest disrespect.

The three of them looked at Himejima Akeno and gave a slight nod in response, before turning their attention to Rias.

"Rias, can you explain the specific situation in detail?" Sirzechs asked softly, looking at his sister.

His doting love for his sister had made him rush over with his Queen immediately after hearing her request. It was just that while handing over his tasks, he ran into the Leviathan, Serafall, who loved to join in on the fun.

Hearing this, Rias detailed everything she knew all over again.

Sirzechs listened, then turned to look at Koizumi Koichi, who was standing to the side.

"Sir, did you say that the servers which originally hosted the game data no longer contain any game data, and that most of the servers have even stopped working?"

"Y-yes, my lord."

Koizumi Koichi looked at the easygoing man in front of him, but his heart was racing wildly.

He had just heard how Himejima Akeno addressed him.

This was the Lucifer from myths and legends!

Sirzechs pondered for a moment before continuing.

"Could I trouble you to get me a helmet to log into the game?"

"O-of course!"

Koizumi Koichi immediately walked toward the room in the company where the helmets were stored.

Seeing this, Rias and the other four demons silently followed him.

Soon, they arrived in front of a locked door. Koizumi Koichi took out his keys and opened the door with trembling hands, revealing an indoor space containing only dozens of cardboard boxes.

Then, Koizumi Koichi immediately noticed that inside the room, besides the boxes containing the gaming helmets, there was actually a highly conspicuous gold bar lying on the floor.

"Huh? Why is there a gold bar in the warehouse?"

As Koizumi Koichi spoke, he prepared to step forward and pick up the gold bar on the ground, but Sirzechs frowned and called out to stop him.

"Wait! There is something wrong with this gold bar!"

Saying this, Sirzechs stepped ahead of Koizumi Koichi and quickly picked up the gold bar.

On the gold bar, a faint sensation extremely similar to the divine power of the gods he had encountered before made his frown deepen.

"What is it?"

Although she was one of the Four Great Satan of the Underworld alongside Sirzechs, Serafall's strength was too far below his, so she did not notice anything amiss with the gold bar in front of them.

"A god," Sirzechs simply murmured the title.

Hearing this, Serafall grew even more curious.

The others, however, had a change in expression.

Even Koizumi Koichi knew what the word god represented.

At this moment, everyone had already connected the god Sirzechs mentioned with the anomaly that had occurred in the game.

But by then, Sirzechs had already picked up a gaming helmet and looked at Koizumi Koichi beside him.

"How do you use this thing?"

Although he often paid attention to the human world and had some understanding of technological development, even he was seeing virtual reality technology for the first time.

"My lord, the method of use is very simple. You just put it on your head, turn it on, and say Link Start to log into the game."

Sirzechs nodded silently and was about to put the helmet directly on his head.

"Wait! Sirzechs!"

Serafall grabbed Sirzechs's hand and spoke softly.

"The Underworld cannot afford to lose you right now. Let me do it."

She said this while flashing an incredibly cute smile.

"Besides, I've been really looking forward to this legendary virtual reality game too."

Hearing this, Sirzechs wanted to say something more, but he saw that Serafall had already put the powered-on helmet on her head and softly spoken the login phrase: "Link Start."

At the same time, Ai, who was constantly monitoring, immediately noticed an incredibly powerful spiritual body entering the mental world. She immediately notified Chen Changsheng.

"Master, a spiritual body at the peak of the Golden Core realm has entered the game. Should I intercept her?"

Chen Changsheng raised an eyebrow upon hearing this.

"Peak of the Golden Core realm?"

His interest was piqued. He directly took over Ai's authority and then saw Serafall, who had just entered the game's character creation interface and was warily observing her surroundings.

"A demon of this world?"

Serafall's true nature was instantly seen through by Chen Changsheng.

Furthermore, as his spiritual power covered her, the memories in Serafall's mind were fully laid bare before him.

Under normal circumstances, Chen Changsheng would not directly read others' memories, as he considered it impolite.

However, the sudden intruder, Serafall, was obviously an exception.

However, after viewing Serafall's memories, his expression became rather peculiar.

He recognized Serafall not because he had watched the anime in his previous life, but because he had learned about her from the memories of the previous transmigrator who possessed a system.

She was one of the Four Great Demon Kings of the Underworld, a formidable Demon King who had inherited the title of Leviathan.

In that transmigrator's plans, Serafall was actually one of his future targets.

...