While Alex waited for a report from Chris about the demon situation, he decided to spend some time with his family. He understood perfectly — after the disappearance of the second Priest, events in this world would begin to accelerate. Even the recent appearance of Davoth right after Sukuna only confirmed his suspicions. By declaring war on Davoth in the guise of a hero, Alex had misled the Dark Lord, preventing him from realizing who he was truly dealing with.

Alex already knew — Davoth’s entire army would soon begin moving toward Raccoon City. That’s where it all started, and that’s where it had to end. He even started getting a headache just thinking about Davoth and the Minister of Monoliths joining forces for their grand goal. Two puppet masters — now performing on the same stage. Even if Alex wasn’t entirely sure how long their alliance would last, it didn’t matter anymore. All the actors were on stage.

Pushing aside heavy thoughts, he decided to entertain the girls by sharing the story of the Doom Slayer. Most of them didn’t know what this man had gone through to end up where he was now. When Alex started telling the tale, the girls immediately grabbed snacks and settled in, anticipating something epic — after all, this was about a warrior who had battled the armies of Hell for decades.

But for Alex, the Slayer’s story wasn’t a heroic legend. It was a tragedy. A tale of a man who had lost everything. And all he had left was a thirst for vengeance, burning rage, and a desire to erase every demonic creature from existence.

When Alex finished the story, silence fell over the room. Some of the girls sighed quietly, others shook their heads. But one thing was clear: the story had struck a chord.

Seeing the atmosphere had gotten too heavy, Alex decided to change the subject. He began telling them how the capture of the second Priest went. The room instantly came to life — everyone was curious. He started by mentioning that his old enemies had been resurrected as demonic puppets with no will of their own.

“Wait… Are you saying those idiots Wesker used to command came back to life?” Jill asked in surprise, having faced those people firsthand in the past. “And they’re just… puppets now?”

“Something like that,” Alex snorted. “But I wasn’t the one who fought them. GIR, MIMI, Stitch, and Wolf handled it just fine on their own. And me? What’s the point of wasting energy on hollow shells?”

“So you just stood on the sidelines smoking, like usual? Didn’t even lend a hand?” Rei asked sarcastically, kicking him under the table.

“Maybe I was smoking, but I wasn’t doing nothing. I had a rather interesting opponent — a four-armed mutt with some unusual abilities,” Alex said, pinching Rei’s leg — the same one she had kicked him with.

“Another idiot with a god complex?” Rika snorted. “Spouting dramatic nonsense again?”

“Bullseye, sweetheart,” Alex chuckled, giving her a thumbs-up. “But this time… he’s someone well-known.”

“Well-known?” Miu repeated, tapping her chin thoughtfully. “Wait… So he’s from our world? Then why didn’t Grandpa ever mention him?”

Juri, Cammy, Chun-Li, Shigure, and Renka all shook their heads in sync. None of them knew a four-armed fighter, especially one strong enough to catch Alex’s attention. Even Sherry, Jill, Recca, Valmet, Koko, Chiquita, and Ada looked confused. And they definitely knew every major player in this world.

Alex just sighed as he looked at the girls and pulled out his phone. A couple of swipes — and the screen showed a manga panel featuring Sukuna in his final form. He simply showed it to them.

“You’re telling us… you fought a manga character?” Nagahide asked in disbelief.

Alex nodded silently.

“Let me guess… he was another mutt serving that Dark Overlord, and you just wiped the floor with him?” Nobuna smirked.

“Close,” Alex said, grinning. “But it turned out to be a lot more interesting than that.”

“Then spill it. You win differently every time. What happened this time?” Revy jumped in, clearly intrigued.

“I… summoned a dragon from another world to use his power in the fight against Sukuna,” Alex said with a smile.

“Why do I already not like how that sounds?” Yuriko muttered, shooting him a suspicious side glance.

“You’re not the only one…” Alcina sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

Hearing Alcina’s and Yuriko’s comments, the girls suddenly realized they had overlooked one important detail — how Alex’s battles usually ended. Or more specifically, the fact that almost nothing was left of the place where the fight happened.

Zero Two, Becca, Rory, Juri, Koko, Revy, and Nobuna just shrugged. They didn’t care how much Alex destroyed in a fight — as long as it was spectacular. The rest of the girls, however, gave him reproachful looks. They weren’t thrilled that Alex was becoming more reckless, losing control in his pursuit of victory.

“Alright, enough guessing. How much did you destroy while fighting that four-armed guy?” Brunhilde asked dryly, casting a heavy, almost indifferent glance at Alex.

Alex cleared his throat awkwardly and activated a memory projection. The girls stared at the battle with curiosity, but soon started grumbling — watching the fight from “Alex’s perspective” wasn’t exactly convenient. Someone even joked that he should create a tiny fairy camera to follow him around and film everything from better angles. Alex silently nodded to himself — a good idea, worth adding to the to-do list.

As the battle replayed, the girls couldn’t help but notice Alex’s dramatic lines. Some rolled their eyes, others giggled when he threw out his “heroic” taunts. Revy, Koko, and Rika were laughing the loudest — they had long since gotten used to his way of speaking.

“You really need to hire a scriptwriter,” Koko snorted. “You sound like you’re stuck in a bad action movie.”

Alex just shook his head and kept explaining Sukuna’s abilities, trying to make them understand why the enemy had actually been dangerous. But Red and White — the android girls — stared at him with obvious disappointment. They were clearly upset he hadn’t brought back even a piece of Sukuna’s body for research. Alex pointedly ignored their looks, pretending not to notice.

When the projection reached the final moment — the punch that left behind nothing but a perfectly flat field — Brunhilde gave him that same blank, stern look. Alex sighed heavily and pretended to be busy showing the next phase — the encounter with Davoth and the following declaration of war.

When it was all over, the girls looked at him like he was an actor who had just finished playing the lead in an epic blockbuster. Laughter broke out — loud, genuine, nearly tearful. Some of them held their stomachs, others slapped their knees, and one girl even dropped her pillow from laughing so hard.

“And you seriously asked them to rate your ‘hero performance’ out of ten?” Rika barely managed to say through the laughter. “God, Alex, you’re hopeless!”

Alex just smiled in response, enjoying the collective laughter. And at that moment, his phone vibrated. He pulled it out, and the screen filled with notifications. They were files from Chris — photos taken by drones.

Wasting no time, Alex placed the phone on the table and activated a holographic projection. The images showed a massive number of demons moving in one direction. Toward Raccoon City.

Just as he suspected — the finale was near. Very near.

The girls studied the images with concern, while Alex closed his eyes and sank into thought. He ran through scenarios, analyzed the data. Everything pointed to one thing: this wasn’t a simple invasion. It was a mass concentration of biomass.

“Davoth and the Minister of Monoliths… they already know the humans will attack,” he muttered to himself.

He realized this wasn’t just war. It was a trap, carefully laid out. That moment of despair, when it feels like everything was in vain, breeds the strongest emotions — fear, pain, helplessness. And a soul filled with such emotions becomes incredibly nourishing to beings like Davoth and the Minister.

“Alex, what’s with your face?” Rory asked suddenly, settling herself in his lap. “You look like you want to punch someone.”

“I just came to a conclusion,” he replied with a faint smile. “The Dark Overlord and his mysterious Director really do have fascinating plans.”

“Then don’t keep it to yourself, spill it,” Claire demanded, pulling him closer by the hand.

“Those two already know the humans will attack. They’re setting the stage to gain as much as possible from it,” Alex raised a finger to emphasize his point.

“We already know they want more power. But how exactly are they going to get it? My brain’s already mush from all this scheming,” Saya sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

“At the moment of triumph… when you realize everything was for nothing… that’s when despair hits,” Alex said softly. “That feeling seeps into the soul, infects it with fear, pain. And that’s when a soul becomes most valuable. Their plan is to make millions feel that all at once. That’s why the battle for Raccoon City won’t be just a fight. It’ll be… a sacrifice.”

“I didn’t get all of that,” Juri admitted. “But in short, you’re saying this war was lost from the start… if not for you?”

Alex looked up at her and nodded silently.

As expected, Koko fully agreed that the enemy’s plan was nothing short of brilliant. Give people false hope of victory, then ruthlessly rip it away — the move of a true villain.

Alex might have agreed, but he knew better. Neither the Minister nor Davoth understood concepts like good or evil the way mortals did. The two of them moved only toward their goals, and everything else — was just dust in their path, to be swept away without a second thought.

Choosing not to linger on the grim topic, Alex joined the girls at the table — just to eat in peace. He assured them he would handle it. That this universe would survive. That humanity would win its long-awaited victory.

And while those words weren’t the first of their kind, the girls still felt a sense of relief. They tried not to think about the coming final war. Alex would carry the heaviest burden — the fight against Davoth and the Minister. The rest of the enemies would be handled by their allies.

But just as everyone sat down, Alice, Nobukatsu, and Anya burst into the house — laughing, out of breath, having just returned from playing outside with their friends, and now absolutely starving.

“Hands first. Then the table,” Namiyo said sternly, giving the trio a motherly look that brooked no argument.

The children exchanged glances… and immediately stood up in unison, then, with loud shouts, bolted toward the bathroom. Their enthusiasm confirmed one thing — they were truly starving. The girls burst out laughing, and Alex shook his head with a smile and finished his lunch before pouring himself a cup of coffee.

While the conversation at the table continued, Alex decided to ask Miu and Renka how things were going with their families and what they thought about relocating to another world. He already knew that both the Ryōzanpaku dojo and the Ma dojo had agreed to the move, but what he really wanted to know was: did they plan to teach again, or were they finally going to retire?

“Mom said she’s going to reopen the dojo,” Renka reported cheerfully. “She thinks we’ll still have to fight monsters in the new world. So martial arts will be useful. And, well… as she put it, it’s going to be ‘easy money.'”

“Grandpa and the others want to reopen the dojo too,” Miu added a bit shyly. “But I think it’s also because you promised to buy them land and pay for the construction…”

“Sounds like classic Ryōzanpaku,” Alex chuckled. “Even if a sack of money fell on their heads, they’d still complain there weren’t enough bills inside.”

“Mmm… Great-grandpa Hayato said food tastes better when it’s free,” Anya declared wisely, scooping another spoonful and nodding in sync with her ‘wisdom.’

Alex couldn’t hold back anymore — he laughed out loud. Miu blushed and hid her face while the rest of the girls laughed along with him. He already knew that, with the relocation, he’d be taking on a whole bunch of freeloaders. And he fully understood: once the Ryōzanpaku dojo opened in Orario, things would go back to the way they always were — poverty, bizarre training methods, and complete lack of organization. That’s just how the Ryōzanpaku masters operated.

He glanced at Miu, and their eyes met. They both sighed heavily — clearly thinking the same thing. Ryōzanpaku would remain Ryōzanpaku… even in another world.

“Alex, what about the others? Are you planning to invite them too?” Chun-Li asked, lightly brushing her foot along his thigh to catch his attention.

“If you mean your friends, then yeah — I’ve been thinking about it,” he said with a faint smirk. “Knowing them, if I so much as mention that in another world they can fight monsters in a dungeon and get paid for it… they’ll line up in no time.”

“You’re right,” Cammy grinned. “Even I want to check out that dungeon — curious to see what it looks like. And those idiots? Forget it. Going a day without fighting is torture for them.”

Alex nodded, agreeing with his own thoughts, but decided that bringing the others over should wait until the problems in this world were fully resolved. Still… the image of a bunch of battle junkies charging into the dungeon gave him a headache. He could already picture them arguing over who could take down a monster faster — with their bare hands.

Alex also realized that with the arrival of the Ryōzanpaku masters, he’d likely have to bring along their student — Kenichi. And that meant his family, too. And then there was the Sun-Woo clan, whom he also planned to invite to Orario.

The more he thought about it, the clearer it became: the number of immigrants could easily exceed a hundred. With a sigh, Alex decided to do what he always did — push those problems onto his future self and deal with them later.

After lunch, Alex headed to the workshop — he needed to prepare everything necessary for the next step of his plan. With a lazy expression on his face, he walked inside and made his way to the workbench. Shigure followed silently behind him, curious about what he was going to do.

Settling into his spot, Alex pulled Shigure onto his lap. She quietly made herself comfortable, keeping a focused gaze on him.

“What are you planning to make?” she asked, poking his cheek with her finger.

“I want to make a couple of gifts for Slayer. I think he’ll like them,” Alex replied, gently rubbing his cheek against the top of her head.

“Aren’t you afraid he’ll attack? You’re a demon. And he, well, doesn’t really like demons,” Shigure said calmly, staring into his eyes.

“To be honest… I’m not sure myself. There’s a chance he’ll shoot first and listen later. But maybe I can strike a deal with him…” Alex spoke hesitantly, as if he didn’t fully believe it himself.

Shigure nodded and settled more comfortably on his lap, continuing to watch his work. For a moment, Alex considered her words. The chance that Slayer would try to kill him on the spot was fifty-fifty. That meant he had to convince him before he pulled the trigger.

While Alex assembled the weapons that Slayer had used in the past, his thoughts kept drifting back to the upcoming meeting. He hoped Slayer would at least hear him out before opening fire.

But no less than Slayer himself, Alex was interested in Atlante — a huge battle mech piloted by a person. Ideas and plans were already forming in his mind about how to use such a titan in the coming war.

When the weapons were ready, Alex carefully packed them into cases specially marked with Slayer’s emblem — for authenticity. Shigure silently watched the process, especially how Alex combined technology with magic, creating hybrids of cold weapons and artifacts.

Without a word, she fixed him with an intense gaze. Alex felt Shigure’s eyes pressing into him and, tilting his head slightly, tried to figure out what she wanted.

Shigure silently pointed at the weapon cases, then at herself. Above Alex’s head, question marks appeared like in a comedic manga. But when she repeated the gesture a couple of times, he began to guess.

“You want me to teach you how to forge weapons using magic?” Alex asked.

“Yes. It’s very convenient. The weapons become sharper. Better. Stronger,” Shigure said in the same calm tone.

“Well, to start, I can give you my notes on the subject. So you get a general idea of how it all works,” Alex replied, pulling several thick notebooks and sketchpads with drawings and diagrams out of a drawer.

“That’ll do. But you still have to teach me,” Shigure added, grabbing Alex’s cheeks without blinking and drilling him with her gaze.

Alex exhaled and smiled slightly. You can’t get out of that kind of persistence.

He smiled and nodded, and immediately received a light kiss on the lips from Shigure. He returned the kiss warmly, then gently wrapped his arms around her waist and helped her off his lap. Picking up the weapon cases meant for Slayer, Alex left the workshop with Shigure.

Stepping outside, Alex glanced over the yard. As expected, the girls were just relaxing and spending time on small tasks—some lazily reading, some resting under the sun, others playing with Alisa and Anya. A normal, peaceful day… before the storm.

Alex started looking for GIR, MIMI, and Stitch—his trio of walking chaos. He was about to take them with him on another “adventure,” but one of the girls informed him that the trio had slipped away on their “own” business.

“What other business could they have besides causing trouble?..” Alex muttered, putting the weapon cases into his inventory.

Stepping beyond the house, he focused and immediately detected their aura—they were at the edge of a cliff, in a bay not far from the settlement. His suspicions only grew stronger. Alex headed that way, quickening his pace.

Getting closer, he slowed down and began sneaking, trying not to give away his presence. Watching from behind the bushes, he finally saw the trio and… a question mark flickered over his head.

GIR, MIMI, and Stitch were fully absorbed in some sort of makeshift assembly that definitely didn’t inspire trust. Especially considering it looked like a real homemade bomb.

“Not this again…” Alex breathed quietly, feeling doubts about the sanity of this trio creeping in.

He stepped closer to overhear their argument. Judging by the heated tone, the debate was intense—Stitch enthusiastically insisted the explosion had to be huge; otherwise, it was ineffective. GIR argued that what mattered was not the “boom” but the scale of destruction. MIMI, as usual, poured oil on the fire, clearly enjoying the scene.

The argument escalated into a scuffle—the robo-dog and the alien dog tried to stretch each other’s snouts, occasionally grabbing each other’s ears with their teeth. MIMI clapped her paws, cheerfully encouraging both.

Alex wearily rolled his eyes and stepped forward.

“You three! Don’t you have anything better to do?! Since when did you decide to build bombs?!” he exclaimed loudly, revealing himself.

GIR and Stitch immediately froze, stopping their fight. MIMI, as if on cue, put on an innocent expression. All three suddenly stood in front of the bomb, covering it with their bodies as if that would help.

“I can already see you built it. No need to hide like children,” Alex said dryly, rolling his eyes.

“No, you didn’t see anything,” Stitch replied innocently, subtly pushing the bomb closer to the cliff edge with his paw.

“Stitch, I’m looking right at you. And at the bomb you’re pushing,” Alex continued in the same tone.

“We don’t have any bomb, Dad. You’re just imagining things,” MIMI supported him and also nudged the bomb’s body with her paw.

“So, there’s no bomb, and you’re not about to drop it into the sea, right?” Alex asked with an empty but expressive look.

“Dad, you’re so smart! Of course, we’re not blowing anything up. Explosions are bad!” GIR agreed, raising a finger… and continued pushing the bomb with an innocent look.

Alex was already reaching for his face to grab his forehead, but it was too late.

The bomb, whistling as it rolled over the stones, fell off the cliff. A couple of seconds later, a deafening explosion rang out, and a column of seawater shot into the sky like a geyser bursting from the depths. A wave soaked all four from head to toe.

Standing silently with wet hair and clothes, Alex sighed deeply. He had almost managed to keep his composure… almost. Then he saw GIR, Stitch, and MIMI happily slapping each other’s paws, celebrating their “successful experiment.”

This is what they’re always up to… crazy demolition experts…

“Alright, we’ll talk about your love for explosives later,” Alex said wearily, “But for now — get ready. We’ve got business. We need to visit someone.”

“Someone to beat up? Or maybe steal something?” Stitch asked excitedly, grinning from ear to ear.

“How many times do I have to say it: we don’t steal, we borrow temporarily. And no, we’re not going to beat anyone up. Just talk and invite them to join our team,” Alex said, rolling his eyes.

“Eh… that’s not as fun,” Stitch muttered, kicking a rock with his paw.

Alex rubbed his forehead tiredly, hearing yet another comment from Stitch. He wasn’t going to discuss it further — it was enough that the trio he considered his helpers was always ready to cause a technological apocalypse. He didn’t even want to think about what would happen if these three ended up in the normal world and decided to “play.”

With a sigh of resignation, Alex snapped his fingers, drying not only himself but also GIR, MIMI, and Stitch. Showing up soaking wet is rude. Especially since the next stop was Doom Fortress, the citadel of Doom Slayer himself.

Meanwhile, in another universe — another Earth, which, like Alex’s home, had fallen under the onslaught of demons.

Orbiting the ruined planet drifted the flying castle Doom Fortress — a majestic and grim fortress, the sanctuary of the one whose name alone could send legions of hell into terror.

Gothic architecture: sharp spires, massive arches, towers, stone, metal, bronze, and gray-brown hues. Doom Fortress hung on the edge of a gigantic cliff, as if ripped from the depths of hell itself and placed above the abyss of space.

Inside the castle, in a huge hall with a stained-glass window overlooking the fire-engulfed Earth, stood a projection — a rotating hologram of the planet, marked with hundreds of red dots. They indicated clusters of demons ravaging the world.

On the steps at the base of the projection sat he — the Doom Slayer.

He silently sharpened the blade embedded in his armor using a whetstone. His movements were slow and precise, like the very fury hidden behind his helmet. His gaze was fixed on the dying planet that was once his home. The flame in his eyes had not died out since the demons took everything from him.

“Sir, spatial distortion detected in the adjacent hall. Presumed intrusion,” reported Vega, the fortress’s built-in AI controller.

The Slayer froze for a moment, set aside the whetstone, and without a word, took up his shotgun. He rose and headed toward the portal.

At that moment, Alex, along with GIR, MIMI, and Stitch, stepped out of the open portal right into the heart of Doom Fortress. The architecture, the energy, the very spirit of the place — everything made Alex feel a deep awe. His attention was especially drawn to the central core — the source from which the Sentinels’ energy powered the entire fortress.

“Interesting… this energy is special. Possibly even alive,” he muttered, studying the structure of the power node.

But his thoughts were interrupted by a familiar click — the shotgun’s bolt being racked. Alex and his trio immediately turned around. In the doorway, in the tense silence, stood the Doom Slayer. He silently stared at them through his helmet.

GIR, MIMI, and Stitch instantly drew their weapons and aimed, but Alex quickly stepped in front of them, spreading his arms.

“Wait, Slayer! We didn’t come to fight. We’re not thieves or enemies. I just want to talk. If you lower your weapon, I’ll explain why we’re here,” he said calmly.

The Doom Slayer was silent. Only a muffled “Hmm” came from him.

“I’ll take that as consent,” Alex said with a nervous smile.

“Hmm,” the Slayer repeated, nodding slightly but not lowering his weapon.

“Alright. Since you’re willing to talk, maybe we should move somewhere else? Where you’ll stop aiming at us, and my companions will lower their weapons too?” Alex suggested with a slight smirk.

Finally, the Slayer lowered his shotgun and, without a word, turned and walked away. Alex understood this was an invitation to follow him.

Casting a warning glance at the trio, he silently made it clear: don’t touch anything, don’t press anything, don’t break anything. He knew trusting them was like trusting Stitch to lull a baby to sleep with a chainsaw.

When Alex caught up with the Slayer, he couldn’t resist admiring the inner corridors of the fortress. Majestic. Grim. Beautiful. And if you refined it a bit, stealing it wouldn’t be a sin… — a thought flickered through his mind.

But what interested him far more was the figure walking ahead. From Slayer’s back emanated such power that Alex had no doubt: this was not just a man but a being who had crossed the boundary of mortality. His soul burned with rage and resolve, and his very essence was like a fusion of god and curse. The Slayer was not an ordinary warrior. He was… a punishing will.

“I wonder how he’ll take my proposal?” Alex thought, following behind him.

To be continued…

+3 Chapters on my Patreon: p*treon.com/GreedHunter

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep