Family heirloom, then turned into a demon girl

Chapter 210 Mission: 06-7 Joining forces
Nero stood in front of V.

After Nero and Shuten-douji stared at each other fearlessly for a few seconds, Shuten-douji spoke first: "Little girl, are you on his side?"

"That's it for now."

Nero didn't deny it, but simply bowed after answering. "Nice to meet you. I'm Nero Fortuna of Hamel. May I know your name?"

As he greeted her, Nero couldn't help but grumble. V had clearly been isolated from the world for too long, seemingly losing his way in dealing with people. How could he possibly convince someone who only talked about information and not interests?

In this game, everyone is a potential competitor. When forming an alliance, the key isn't the benefits, but rather the sincerity. No matter how many benefits you offer, they're worthless if one party is ever at risk of betrayal.

"[Jiutan Tongzi]. This name represents both myself and the banner behind me."

The conciliatory strategy began to take effect. Shuten-doji showed a communicative attitude towards Nero: "It seems that you and the guy behind you don't belong to the same community, so why did you choose to trust him?"

That's right, it's time to show your sincerity. I believe there is always a reason, and fortunately, that reason is in the hands of Nero and V.

"Izayoi Sakamaki." Nero's eyes flickered slightly, and he turned to draw the two people on the other side into the conversation. "Since you said you've solved the mystery, then I'm sure you've figured out not only the 'Statue of the First Beast', but also the 'Breath of the Second Beast', right?"

"Are we going to take a test?" Izayoi said with a sideways smile, "But I don't know if you're trying to trick me, but it's not hard to guess. It's obvious that the [Six Hundred and Sixty-Six Beast] is the second beast, and this tree needs to be watered with blood, so the answer is self-evident, isn't it?"

One of the victory conditions: erect a statue of the "First Beast" and find the breath of the "Second Beast".

The second victory condition: Offer the kingship of the beast to the real beast.

Condition two represents obtaining the fruit of the Demon World Tree and offering it to the "Beast of Truth," so condition one naturally represents allowing the Demon World Tree to mature and bear fruit. "Erecting the statue" represents the growth process of the Demon World Tree, and "finding the breath" is of course the method for causing the tree to bear fruit.

As Izayoi had said, the Devil's World Tree grew by absorbing blood. Therefore, the breath that caused it to bear fruit also referred to blood—a special kind of blood. The Book of Revelation records that the Second Beast breathed its breath into a statue, awakening it. This corresponds to the demon king, the "Six Hundred and Sixty-Six Beast," injecting blood into the Devil's World Tree, causing it to bear fruit.

"In other words, to crack the game, you must find an object that represents or contains the blood of the demon lord, the Beast of Six Hundred and Sixty-Six—"

"The reasoning process is completely correct, but the results are slightly biased."

Nero interrupted Izayoi's long speech with a smile, and revealed his sincerity in the face of his doubtful gaze with a bombshell: "Because you don't need to look for anything, this man happens to have the same blood as the demon king 'Beast of Six Hundred and Sixty-Six' flowing in his body."

That’s right, if you don’t tell the other party anything about your cards, how can you gain their trust?
V stretched out his hand, subconsciously intending to stop him, but was ultimately a step too slow. He watched helplessly as Nero played one of his most powerful cards.

However, Nero had made this move after careful consideration. V and Urizen were the same person. Since the Beast of Six Hundred and Sixty-Six already knew of Urizen's existence, they were certainly not unaware of V's identity. V's entry into the game meant they didn't think it would cause things to get out of hand, and his exposure wouldn't affect the Beast of Six Hundred and Sixty-Six's movements.

Only in this way could V prove worthy of their help, and prove that he was worthy of being escorted to the top of the Demon World Tree. "Oh? Are you saying this sickly person is a descendant of the Demon King?"

Shuten-doji looked at V with a bit more interest, and then he looked at Leticia, the vampire, as if seeking confirmation.

"I haven't tasted the Demon King's blood either." Leticia shook her head. "But it does have a special aura."

As she spoke, she looked at Nero with some confusion.

Nero was a little frightened by this glance, afraid that she would expose their connection on the spot - Nero was not ready to tell V about this. Fortunately, Leticia seemed to be only suspicious and not sure, and did not say anything more at the moment.

"Join forces..."

Shuten-doji finally considered this possibility seriously. After a moment's reflection, he asked, "Well, I don't value victory in this game, so a temporary alliance is fine. But what about the rest of you?"

"You don't value victory? Then why did you participate in this game?" Izayoi frowned and asked back.

"It's not just me, but also the [Oni-Hime] who just left," Shuten-doji replied nonchalantly. "Our position is closer to 'supervisors' than contestants. If I didn't suspect the [Six Hundred and Sixty-Six Beasts] of committing evil deeds in this game, I wouldn't even bother trying to crack it."

"That's different from me. I hate losing, so I'm going to win whenever I get the chance."

Izayoi responded to Nero's invitation: "So even if we have a common goal for now, I won't talk about joining forces - because we are still rivals."

Shuten-douji smiled and resumed his drinking. Now that both invited parties had responded, it was V and Nero's turn.

Nero turned back to look at V, only to see him sigh slightly and nod slowly: "Then... that's it. For me, being able to stop that guy is enough."

"So, this 'Descendant of the Demon King'," Izayoi continued, folding his arms. "Since we've already decided to act together, shouldn't we also clarify the other details?"

"you mean?"

"The storm."

Izayoi pointed at the [Wind of Decadence] that was still running through the field, and asked V sternly, "How can we stop that wind that represents the end?

"Right now, we're under the influence of two 'countdowns' simultaneously. One of them is until the tree bears fruit, and before that, the guardian within the tree must be defeated. So why does a second countdown exist outside of the tree?
"Could you please clear this up for me?"

(End of this chapter)