Beelzebub had just finished dinner a short while ago; now he was in the room that Kei had prepared for him.
"Today a lot of things happened..." he murmured, holding his pendant with both hands.
Lying on his tatami, the weather was cold, but nothing a god couldn't endure. Looking at the wooden ceiling, Beelzebub's mind began reviewing everything he would do at dawn.
First, what kind of approach he would have with Mako, the head chef of the Nekoya restaurant. That would depend greatly on how far the timeline had advanced.
Should I reveal my true identity...? For many, that would be seen as a disadvantage. But, in Beelzebub's current situation, the benefits far outweighed the drawbacks of that approach.
Chef Mako was a fairly calm middle-aged man; he also accepted strange things with great natural ease. Maybe that was why those two worlds had fused...
Beelzebub thought, a smile forming on his lips. It was really funny how this world treated strange things as something normal.
The Other World, as the other side of the restaurant door at night was known, had many strong beings. So, if Beelzebub introduced himself with his true identity and made a deal with Chef Mako, he would have a safe base. And, at the same time, a way to contact powerful beings.
With a plan set for the next day, Beelzebub closed his eyes. But as a god used to staying awake for months, sleep did not come to him.
"Ugh..." With a sigh, he gave up trying to sleep. "Well... I guess this is a good time to activate the pantheon key." Since the crossing, Beelzebub had felt that the strange key was now stored inside his body.
Activating a bit of his energy, the crystal slowly floated, then left his chest. It stayed there, hovering a few centimeters above Beelzebub.
If I'm not mistaken, the method to activate it is with blood... Testing his thoughts, he brought his finger to his lips and, with a small bite on the tip, a drop of blood appeared.
Then his finger made contact with the crystal–
A light illuminated the whole room. Before he even realized it, Beelzebub was no longer in the room.
"This must be the pantheon's Akashic record area..." he murmured, analyzing the strange white room. There was no other furniture except a small pedestal where a mysterious book rested.
The cover seemed to be made of obsidian, but as he approached, he noticed it resembled more solid smoke. In the center, a strange eye drawn with star-like inks blinked constantly.
"Argh!" A slight stab of pain in his head hit Beelzebub after his line of sight met that of the book. But unlike the first time he had seen something similar, he was more resistant.
As he approached the pedestal, the book, on its own, began to open. There, a strange page that had previously been blank began to fill with words — some illegible, others understandable.
[Welcome to the Akashic record room. Analyzing contractor's blood... 1%... 10%... 50%... 100%... Access denied...]
"I wasn't expecting that..." Beelzebub stared at the strange book, but no other words appeared. "I must give more blood..."
Without a second thought, he made another small cut on his hand and let it drip onto the open pages of the book.
[Analyzing contractor's blood... 1%... 20%... 70%... 100%... Chaos blood fragment detected. Initiating contract!]
Chaos blood?
Before Beelzebub could even think, the book shut rapidly. The strange solid smoke of the cover began leaking outward, as if it were liquid nitrogen, forming a dense fog in the room.
Because of the fog, even with his divine eyes, Beelzebub couldn't see through the mist. But he didn't have to worry much: little by little, the fog began to dissipate.
"Are those... cards?" The sight before him was a vast infinite space; he could see stars in the distance, even some nebulae drifting by.
But what caught his attention the most was a strange pillar rising upward. At the top, a sphere resembling a black pearl pulsed like a heart.
Around it, a whirlwind of cards danced, circling in constant rotation.
Then, as if sensing his arrival –
All the cards froze, spinning only in their own epicenter. Even so, Beelzebub couldn't understand the words written on them or even comprehend the image on the card.
"Damn!" Feeling the headache again, he touched his temple. This time it was much stronger than when he'd looked at the book. But still far weaker than what he had felt during the crossing.
Suddenly, one card separated from the others, flying toward him. Seeing it up close now, it was many times larger than he was.
Trying to contemplate the card, his vision blurred each time, but even so, he couldn't look away.
I have to do this... for Lilith! The headache and spiritual fatigue grew stronger and stronger. Gradually, drops of blood dripped from his eyes and nose. But he did not retreat and dared to contemplate the forbidden.
Until the once incomprehensible image became increasingly clear.
"I did it." He smiled, sweat dripping from his face. Wiping the blood from his skin, he contemplated:
🜂 ⟟'Fhārr-Uul'Naaggh (Arcana 0: The Fool)
On the card, a faceless traveler wandered aimlessly through the stellar abyss. Behind him, invisible tentacles pushed him into the void, and countless eyes watched him intently.
Without warning, the card entered his forehead.
Beelzebub's eyes widened in surprise, but soon he returned to his usual indifference. All he felt was a light tingling between his eyebrows.
And, as before, the mysterious fog returned, taking him back to the white room of the Akashic records.
"Looks like I got something incredible..." he murmured, looking at a strange tattoo that had formed on his hand.
It glowed in shades of purple, red, and blue, pulsing constantly. "Hehe... now I have an RGB hand..." he joked.
Since arriving in this world, he had felt increasingly relaxed. Maybe it was the hope of reuniting with his beloved, or thanks to Caleb's memories.
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he approached the book again.
[Records complete! Congratulations, you have been officially accepted as the new God-King. Preparing to implant knowledge... 20%... 40%... 100%!]
The book again shut abruptly. The eye fixed its cold gaze on Beelzebub.
He no longer felt pain when looking into that gaze, but even so, it sent chills down his spine. "Heh... me, Beelzebub, scared of an eye..." he joked, trying to ease the tension.
After staring at him for a few moments, the eye fired a black beam with red sparks directly into Beelzebub's eye.
Like a flood, the information on how he could use the record room was implanted into his mind, body, and soul. Now he knew, with every fiber of his being, how to execute the commands and how to grow stronger.
Due to the rapid implant, the pain he felt was not too great. And in a few seconds, he opened his eyes, now burning with determination and a new sense of expectation.
"Hehe... so now I have a gacha... interesting!" he said, a wide smile forming on his lips. But he soon returned to his neutral, emotionless expression.