Esper Harem in the Apocalypse

"What?!" Virgil exclaimed in shock and asked, "You knew you were the Lord?!"

"No, obviously not. I just had my suspicions, but this confirmed it," Rudy responded while making himself comfortable on the throne.

"Then why were you reluctant to come here?"

"Well, whether I am the Lord or not, it changes nothing. I am Rudy, the son of Rebecca. And a human. And besides, I trashed talked about the Lord so many times, it was embarrassing to think I was one of his incarnations."

"But… I don't understand…" Virgil muttered. "You are a human. How can a human be the Lord? And more importantly, you only have the Lord's powers, not his conscience.

The Lord's host shouldn't be aware that he is the incarnation, but you clearly are. Something went wrong with the Lord's incarnation."

"That's where you are wrong." Rudy clapped his hands for some reason and continued speaking, "The previous Lord's incarnations were always aware that they are the incarnation, but things changed.

The last incarnation was killed, as you already know. But what about the next incarnation?"

"That is… you… right?" Virgil responded while stuttering.

"No." Rudy shook his head and said, "Answer me one thing. How does this incarnation work, exactly?"

"Are they born as one or selected as one after being born?"

"Umm… I… am not sure, actually."

"And I may have been able to sit on the Lord's throne, but I don't possess the omnipotent powers as you mentioned. I haven't even discovered 1% of the power. There are many things to know, many things to learn, many mysteries to unravel, and too much trash to clean from all the worlds."

SIGH!

Rudy got up from the throne and walked down the stairs while staring at Virgil with a straight face.

"Being a Lord sure is an exhausting job, so let's keep it a secret, shall we?"

"You want me to keep something this big a secret?" Virgil asked with a baffled look on his face. "You have no idea how long people have been waiting for the Lord to—"

"As I said, I am not the Lord you mentioned. And I have no intention of babysitting all the races. I am busy cuddling with my girls, and I am going to be busy doing that for the rest of my life.

You can't force me to take responsibility for the entire universe and rule it out as I am the Lord's incarnation. It would take more than that to convince me."

Rudy said in an emotionless voice.

"However, you must—"

"Quiet." Rudy glared at Virgil from the corner of his eyes and said, "This is an order from me."

"..."

Virgil clenched his fists in frustration and muttered, "As you wish."

"And the throne feels so uncomfortable~" Rudy groaned. "How did the previous Lords sit on it? I sat there for like five minutes, and my butt was numb."

"There is something you should know," Virgil quipped.

"Hmm?"

"I mentioned on our way here that only those who are worthy and strong enough can enter this place. You just sat on the throne, so those who are strong and worthy enough, are now aware of your presence."

"What the…"

"They know that the Lord has returned."

"Oh, come on~!"

"However, they only know that much. They don't know who or what race is the current Lord. Nor do they know your location. So even if they are aware, your identity is anonymous," Virgil asserted in a calm voice.

"Hmm. Now that puts me in relief. As long as no one knows, I don't have to go the extra mile to keep it a secret," Rudy muttered under his breath.

"Can I ask why you want to keep it a secret? Naturally speaking, if anyone else was the Lord, they would be announcing it to everyone to assert their dominance over all the beings in existence."

"I already told you the reason."

"That's not the only reason, though," Virgil commented with a judging look on his face.

SIGH!

Rudy let out a weary sigh and shrugged his shoulders before saying, "First of all, I don't need a reason to assert my dominance. I dominate everything I step on.

And secondly, the previous Lord was murdered, and the next too."

He turned to Virgil and asked, "Do you really think they are actually waiting for the Lord? No. They fear the Lord. They may be strong. They may be the kings and rules of their worlds. But the Lord rules over them.

Do you think that they would want someone to rule over them? No. There is not one but many who want the Lord dead. And I may have an idea of who they are.

I am not worried about myself. They can't do shit to me. But if my identity as the Lord is known, they can go after my loved ones. And if that happens, I will destroy the universe without a second thought."

Virgil pondered for a few seconds before asking, "Do you think you have the power to know who killed the previous Lord?"

"Of course not. I am not all-knowing, or you may call it omniscient. Not currently. Give me some time to plan everything. The best way to catch the culprits would be for them to realize that the Lord has returned.

They already know of it, but they don't know my identity yet. Once I have secured all my loved ones, you may reveal my identity. And those who come after me will be the culprit."

Rudy shrugged his shoulders and added, "It's a simple trap."

"Let's do that once you are ready," Virgil nodded. "Now, shall we go? I don't want Rias to get mad at me again for keeping you away for long. Especially on your wedding night."

"Yeah, let's go. Wait, how do you know about that?" Rudy asked curiously

Virgil and Rudy walked to the door that was a few meters away from them.

Virgil passed through the door while saying, "I expected that would happen. Rias was acting hostile towards Jane whenever you were mentioned."

"Well, that might also be—"

"Might also be?"

Virgil turned around to look at Rudy as he suddenly stopped speaking, but he found himself alone there.

"...."

'This door takes them to the world they belong to.' Virgil then recalled his words.

"Shit…" Virgil face palmed himself at his stupidity.