The Beauty Collector

At the Freedom Island in the morning, a group of fighter jets took off into the sky from the aircraft carrier that was staying outside of the island border with their escort vessels. They are once again starting their "military exercise," which of course gets ignored by the Liberty as usual, much to the other world leaders frustration at their lack of reaction.

The islanders noticed the fighter jets flying once again, only sparing them a couple of glances, some children waving at the fighter jets while some teenagers took photos, but most of the islanders just ignored it since it had become a part of their daily routine at this point. They were nervous at first, but after seeing that nothing actually happened for a month, they just lost interest; now they just shrug their shoulders and keep moving on with their lives. They even pity the taxpayers of the coalition fleet outside of the island border that their tax money is being spent uselessly to maintain their presence around the island.

"What the hell are we even doing here again?"

One of the fighter jets' pilots glances at Freedom Island with boredom while he mumbles to himself. They've been doing these "exercises" for weeks now, and it's all the same routine over and over. The UN, or to be precise, the countries behind them, had hoped to instill fear and perhaps pressure the island into complying with them, but the lack of response has made the whole operation feel like a joke.

Meanwhile, the rest of the crew is also equally bored, their minds wandering to the latest episode of their favorite shows or series that they just watched last night and to their family back home as they talk and joke around with each other through the radio.

The pilots' banter over the radio could be heard in the command bridge of the flagship as people on the bridge just sighed at their unprofessional behavior, especially the high-ranking personnel, who feel like they don't want to be here wasting time and tax money. They are even aware of a betting pool that is currently ongoing among the fleet as to when the Liberty will finally acknowledge their presence.

The whole operation had unofficially turned into a grand street performance for an uncaring audience. The citizens of their own countries also starting to protest more vocally about this whole thing since they are obviously wasting tax money. Soon they will have to abort the operation or risk their economy.

As the day dragged on, the pilots' conversations grew more ridiculous, with bets on who could draw the most intricate cloud shapes with their jet's contrails and who could perform the most impressive, yet pointless, aerial maneuver without triggering an actual response from the island's eight battleships that surround the island with their intimidating presences.

They were quite wary of the black battleships, as there's information about what one of them can do with their energy weapon that can pierce through a military vessel with ease.

Despite being the one who picked a fight with Freedom Island, they are very relieved that no confrontation happens as the Liberty is ignoring them without even showing any intention of interacting.

"What a bunch of jackasses..."

The command bridge officers rolled their eyes at the pilots' childish behavior and pretended not to hear or notice them, but the occasional chuckle slipped through their professional facade. They are getting increasingly tired of the whole charade themselves. The fleet's morale is quite low as the days go by, and even the most stoic among them can't help but feel a bit of camaraderie with the pilots' attempts to make the most out of a tedious situation.

÷×÷×÷

At the same time that the fighter jets were returning to their carriers, in the office of Zeno at the Liberty Palace, Zeno could be seen sitting on his chair with his daughter Ziah, who wore a cute white sundress, on his lap as she played with a cute killer whale plushie that her Papa gave her.

"Ahh~ Oooh~! Ah~!"

Zeno glanced down with a smile at his daughter on his lap, who was blabbing adorably as she talked with her new plushie. Zeno then looks up from his sparkling-eyed daughter to his desk as he sees a simple white ticket paper with a bold "Isekai Ticket: Highschool of the Dead" printed on it in a glass case with a smirk.

This ticket is what he got from this week's Gacha roll. It's a ticket that can send him to the Highschool of the Dead world, but this is a one-time-use item that can only send one individual to another world only.

But of course with Godblood, Zeno can modify the one-way ticket into a compass of sorts that will tell the coordinates of the Highschool of the Dead world for his dimension gate to connect his world to the Highschool of the Dead world so he can travel between the two worlds more easily and economically.

"But I still have to solve the problem with energy requirements first…"

Zeno muttered with a thoughtful expression on his face while he patted Ziah's fluffy blonde hair. Even if the cost of travel between worlds is now more eco-friendly with dimension gates, the energy requirement is still quite high. Zeno estimated that the energy required to open the gate and keep it open for just an hour is around ten super devils worth of energy.

There are a couple of methods he can use to solve it, but they all require him to make quite a high-profile move with his faction or unjustified action against others. He also doesn't prefer using his own or his allies energy since they will obviously become vulnerable and weaken his faction total strength.

"Hah~ what I'll do for the Waifus…"

Zeno sighed as he had to bring out the long-forgotten Joker Kokabiel persona once again to camouflage his action if he wanted to do some black ops.

"Well, I will think about it later; right now, let's go touch some sand with Papa, shall we?"

"Ahh~?"

Zeno speaks to his daughter as Ziah looks up at him with a curious expression. He will think about how to solve the energy issue later, as right now he has to bring his daughter out to play at Asia's request since that girl is currently undergoing a power-up to ultimate-class inside the time chamber under the watchful eyes of Ezrah, Zestia, and Yae.

( AN: Ezrah is the clone of Irina, Zestia is the clone of Xenovia, and Yae is the clone of Tsubasa. )

"Cute~"

He smiled at his daughter before kissing her head and then standing up from his seat with Ziah in his arms.

"Let's go~!"

"Ah~!"

The two of them then went outside as Zeno brought Ziah to the beach nearby the palace to play while some girls who saw them ended up tagging along as well.

They played together at the beach until evening, and the baby Ziah was very happy when she came home and saw Asia, who had become an ultimate-class being, waiting for them at the front door with a smile.

÷×÷×÷

The next day In the front of the apartment building somewhere in LA, Ruth, in her work uniform of a black suit jacket over a white blouse, black gloves, a black mini skirt, black stockings with a garter belt, and a pair of black high heels, is standing in front of the building with Zeno, who wears a navy blue coat over a grey tank top, a pair of jeans, and black boots.

The two of them finally got the free time to finally visit Ruth's friend, so Ruth immediately informed him, and here they are at the apartment of Ruth's mysterious friend.

"Let's wait for her inside, Zeno-san."

Ruth said as she entered the building with Zeno following behind her with his hands inside his coat's pockets.

"Is it alright for us to just go inside her home without permission?"

Zeno asked while they were walking with a curious expression.

"I'm sure she will understand."

Ruth replied with a little smirk on the corner of her lips. She wants to see what her friend's reaction will be seeing her waiting inside her apartment out of nowhere.

Zeno chuckles at Ruth's answer as he thinks that it might be an interesting sight when they meet.

÷×÷×÷

Meanwhile, at the same time on the street somewhere in LA, a beautiful woman with long red hair in a ponytail and purple eyes is walking on the sidewalk with a guitar case on her back. She wears a black leather jacket over a white t-shirt and black jeans with a black leather belt and black boots.

"Nhh~ nhh-nhh~ nhh~"

She hums a soft tune under her breath that has a lullaby-like melody that reminds her of the past she'd rather leave behind but can't forget easily.

This woman is a former devil servant of the Asmodeus House, known as Baeta, who is now an aspiring musician that is currently chasing her dream to become a star after she escaped from the underworld and the oppressive rule of the Asmodeus House.

Her passionate performances always leaving audiences both enchanted and amazed. It can be said that she is very talented in singing, and her passion in music was standing out from the rest. It's a matter of time until she makes it big.

But despite her newfound freedom and goal, she can never truly shake off the dark past that lingers in her heart fully, and her feelings can be felt in each note she strums on her guitar; it is a scream of rebellion, a declaration of her refusal to be bound by the shackles of her former life, even if it is persistently clinging to her like a shadow.

As she walks, the smell of car exhaust and fast food intermingles with the distant sound of car horns and chatter of some people on the street greet her on her way to her home as usual. Some guys even tried to talk to her, but she just ignored them completely with a smugness on her face that pissed people off.

Her boots tap in a steady rhythm on the sidewalk as she heads towards her apartment, where one of her pasts awaits patiently, without Baeta knowing that this is her last day of normal life in the human world.