(Illustration: Walburga, leader of "Witches of the Night")
..
Almost at the same time, all three Chief God-class summoned beings launched their attacks on Akuto!
After using Ophis's snake, Yaukusta and Walburga erupted with even greater power!
However… even in the face of that, Akuto still did not move. Instead, he calmly assigned tasks to Rias and Grayfia off to the side.
"Boom!~"
"Boom!~"
"Ding~"
Two waves of flame and one wave of freezing power, three full Chief God-class attacks, all landed on Akuto at once!
They clearly struck Akuto, yet did not inflict any damage at all. It was like water balloons dropped from high in the air onto some absolute rigid body: before they could even collide with Akuto head-on, they had already completely dispersed!
"Huh? How is that possible? This level of attack has long since surpassed a beginner Chief God!"
Yaukusta's eyes flew wide open. She had considered that Akuto might use some defensive technique to block the attacks, but she had never imagined that his automatic defense alone would render her offensive power completely meaningless!
…
Yaukusta's feeling was not wrong. From beginning to end, Akuto had only been using the "Supreme Barrier" that came with his Supreme Teigu to block Yaukusta's attacks. He had never truly used any other means.
In fact, Yaukusta's attacks had already reached the normal upper limit of what the Supreme Barrier could withstand. But now that it had been modified, Akuto's Supreme Teigu could increase its defensive level in real time according to the strength of the incoming attack.
With the added blessing of faith, the defensive power of the Supreme Teigu was still in the process of continuously rising. On top of that, it also possessed the ability to absorb dragon aura and national fortune to temporarily boost its defenses. As long as the enemy's strength did not surpass Chief God-class, there was simply no breaking through the Supreme Teigu's protection!
So Akuto really was strolling about as if in a garden while assigning tasks to Grayfia and the others.
"Rias, I'm leaving this with you. This thing will unleash explosion magic any time, anywhere, according to your will. Its effect is the same as before: it can instantly disable any enemies below Chief God-class within its range."
Akuto handed the reshaped "Holy Spear that Penetrates the World" to Rias. After all, the original form of the Holy Spear was a bit too eye-catching.
"While I'm away, use this to deal with the enemies, Rias."
"At the moment, Khaos Brigade is still continuously teleporting reinforcements over here. With this by your side, I'll be more at ease."
Of course, besides having Rias protect herself and clear out small fry, Akuto also wanted her to "bag up the entire Witches of the Night organization" for him.
…
"Grayfia, Serafall, Gabriel, I'll leave protecting Rias and her peerage to you."
"Strictly speaking, the item I gave Rias should already be enough to handle all the lesser enemies. But I'm worried they might specifically target Rias."
"So I'm entrusting the protection of Rias and her peerage to you three."
With that, Akuto spread his inner world over everyone and moved them all to the old school building together.
"Understood, Akuto-sama. I guarantee we will complete your request." Grayfia replied reflexively at first.
Then, as if noticing something amiss, she suddenly snapped her head toward Rias's peerage.
Just as Akuto had said, Rias's peerage had not been transported away.
But… why? On what basis?
Why had even Maou Alice and the others been transported away, yet Rias's peerage could still remain here?
[Don't tell me!… Rias's entire peerage has already…]
A terrifying thought flashed through Grayfia's mind.
In the next second, Grayfia looked over at Rias's peerage.
As expected, they were all looking at Akuto with gazes full of absolute trust.
[Akuto, just how far are you planning to go?]
The moment Grayfia imagined that Rias's entire peerage might already have been pocketed by Akuto, she could not help gulping several times in a row.
Could it be that, besides laying hands on herself, Akuto was planning to lay hands on Alice too?
In truth, Grayfia was misunderstanding Akuto here. Akeno, Koneko, and Gasper had not been pocketed yet. Up to now, the only ones Akuto had truly taken in were Yuuma and her Holy Sword-wielding partner.
The reason they believed in Akuto so firmly was because they had all trained under him and glimpsed part of his true self.
"Mm! Leave it to me, Akuto-chan!"
Serafall gave a big thumbs-up.
She had also considered this possibility, but she did not mind it too much. Unlike Grayfia, Serafall had never cared whether Akuto himself was "too promiscuous" or not. Right now, what she cared about was how her Akuto would feel if he were rejected.
"Alright, I'll leave it to you."
With those words, Akuto took a single step forward and vanished from where he stood.
…
"Hm? What is that Akuto trying to do? Don't tell me he plans to charge into one of the separated world lines by himself? How foolishly suicidal…"
Yaukusta noticed the way Akuto was seemingly giving final instructions and was just about to launch an attack.
However, in the very next instant, Akuto disappeared from her line of sight!
[Danger! Extreme danger!]
On instinct, Yaukusta covered her entire body in ice for defense.
Her instincts were absolutely correct.
After Akuto took that one step, he appeared in front of her in the next heartbeat!
"Bang!~"
With a sudden kick, Akuto's foot smashed into the ice layer covering Yaukusta's body!
It was clearly the most basic Divine Realm kick technique, yet Akuto brought out the effect of a "Secret Sword Technique" with it!
[True Secret Sword Technique: Mothblade of Poison!]
With that single kick, Akuto not only shattered the ice that had been guarding Yaukusta's body, he also transmitted the impact straight through the ice and into her body!
"Crack crack crack~~~ boom!~"
The three layers of ice barrier that had been hastily constructed shattered instantly. Combined with the special internal shock from the Secret Sword Technique, Yaukusta went flying backward, spitting blood!
Akuto looked at the heavily injured Yaukusta and shook his head calmly.
In the end, Sacred Gear wielders were still too limited.
Tools like the "Boosted Gear" and the "White Dragon Emperor's Light Wings," which strengthened the user's body itself, were one thing. But the majority of Sacred Gears only increased the user's raw output while doing nothing to improve their physical body in a comprehensive way.
If the opponents were not that strong, it was still possible to rely on pure violent output to suppress them.
But if they ran into an all-rounder like Akuto, who had both offense and defense, the Sacred Gear wielder's frail body would become a fatal weakness.
Putting it nicely, they were mighty Sacred Gear wielders who had reached Chief God-class. Putting it bluntly, they were just Maou-class users playing with Chief God-class fireworks.
"H-how… how is this possible…"
Yaukusta had never imagined she would be so powerless in front of Akuto.
With her body heavily injured and unable to move, all she could do was drive her disciple Walburga to try and stop Akuto.
"Go! Eight-Headed Serpent!"
At Walburga's command, the manifested Purple Flame Eight-Headed Serpent lunged furiously at Akuto!
"Too green."
"Your use of power, and of Sacred Gears, is way too green."
Facing the incoming Eight-Headed Serpent, a golden Holy Sword appeared in Akuto's hand.
"Est!"
[Rending Silver Hand!]
"Boom!"
A golden beam of light blasted out, and then Akuto turned that golden beam into a magic sword and brought it cleaving down!
[True Secret Sword Technique: Star Strike!]
"Shu!~"
As if there were no obstacles at all, the light-blade magic sword in Akuto's hand effortlessly tore through all three summoned beings: the Purple Flame Eight-Headed Serpent, the Purple Flame Giant, and the Ice Princess Phantom!
"How can this be?!"
With all three summoned beings destroyed at once, Yaukusta and Walburga both suffered severe backlash injuries and simultaneously spat out three mouthfuls of blood containing fragments of their organs!
[dragon-eater! (Dragon Eater)!]
"Roooaaaarrr!!!~"
The true Red Dragon Emperor dragon soul that Akuto had long prepared manifested in his hand and charged toward the Eight-Headed Serpent.
At the very instant the Red Dragon Emperor dragon soul pierced it, the half of the Eight-Headed Serpent's soul that had been bound to the Holy Cross disappeared as well!
[soul——taken (dragon soul devouring complete)!]
"The Eight-Headed Serpent is also one of the evil dragons I need to collect. However, what's bound to the Holy Cross is only half of the Eight-Headed Serpent's soul."
From Akuto's previous-life point of view, there was no way the Eight-Headed Serpent should be called a "dragon."
But the DXD world, and many other anime worlds, all treated dragons and snakes as one and the same.
Forget the Eight-Headed Serpent. Even Ophis, called the Infinite Dragon God, had a true form that was nothing more than a chaotic ouroboros serpent.
…
"No good, I have to call for reinforcements!"
Yaukusta tried to contact the other Khaos Brigade leaders.
Unfortunately, it was already too late.
She discovered that no matter how hard she tried, she could not successfully form a single spell array!
Taking one look at Yaukusta's futile efforts, Akuto grabbed Walburga by the neck like a chick with one hand, and with the other, reached for her head.
"Vmm~"
A flow of radiance passed through as Akuto took all of Walburga's memories, then tossed her into his private space.
At this point, Yaukusta was still attempting to activate communication spells.
Not just communication spells; she even tried healing spells and teleport spells.
But every single spell failed!
It was not only the DXD world's native arts. Even the foreign-style techniques she had learned from the EXE world had all failed!
Glancing at the panic-stricken Yaukusta, Akuto spoke slowly:
"This is my special anti-magic method. It's very handy when dealing with sorcerers whose strength is on the lower side."
"Forget DXD techniques. In front of me, you can't even use EXE-world spells."
Ever since Katreya had escaped last time, Akuto had been continuously researching the replicated spells. Now, he had finally found several ways to counter EXE-world techniques.
In essence, EXE-world teleportation techniques work by first escaping into a parallel world, then returning from that parallel world to a different point in the real world.
In other words, as long as you are within the Holy Spear's effective range, or have Akuto's energy inside your body, you cannot activate any kind of world line–shifting technique!
"Next up are the other worlds that were cut off."
After casually harvesting Yaukusta's memories and tossing her down next to Walburga, Akuto vanished from where he stood with a single instant movement.
(End of Chapter)
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