According to the system, the "Avatar of God Vamana" possessed the ability to cross into other worldlines.
However, before reaching Color Rank, Sai Akuto could only traverse the worldlines of small worlds and of the current point in time. Only after reaching Color Rank would he be able to travel freely through the parallel worldlines of the great worlds.
In other words, crossing the worldlines of a temporarily segmented small world like the current one was still something Akuto could do.
...
While Akuto was carrying out his worldline crossing, the battles on both sides were unfolding at the same time.
In the real world, Rias followed Akuto's instructions and activated the Holy Spear at regular intervals, constantly clearing away the incoming Stray Magicians and devils.
Well, calling it "clearing away" was not entirely accurate.
To be precise, she used explosive magic to render them powerless, then bundled them up and sent them into Akuto's small world.
After taking control of Augusta, Akuto had her send out a distress call inside the Khaos Brigade, requesting that a large number of low-level personnel be dispatched as reinforcements. To put it bluntly, it was: "The enemy is huge! Hurry up and finish them off!"
As a result, before the Khaos Brigade realized what was happening, Akuto had already almost swept all the "stray magicians of Witch's Night" into his own small world.
At this stage, the only group Akuto could completely pack up and take away was probably Witch's Night, this non-stray magician organization.
After all, Augusta and Walburga were the leaders of Witch's Night. They could mobilize every member of Witch's Night, but they could not summon too many other factions to support them.
Once the other factions noticed that reinforcements sent here never came back, they began gradually reducing their support and eventually cut it off entirely.
In the end, aside from those few members who had not been at Khaos Brigade headquarters, the two witches of Witch's Night, together with a large horde of high-rank and low-rank magicians under them, were all packaged up and taken away by Akuto.
...…
On the other side, in the different worldlines that had been split off, the upper echelons of the great factions were struggling to resist.
Because this ritual was not executed by an Evil God-class existence, the worldline had only been temporarily split into seven parts, and had not reached the extreme theoretical scenario where everyone would have to face all enemies simultaneously.
Even so, the situation was still anything but optimistic.
The leaders of the Old Maou Faction had likewise used the "Evolution Core" and Ophis's "Snake," temporarily boosting their strength up to main-god level.
They still could not compare to true main gods, but these leaders of the Old Maou Faction were undoubtedly far stronger than Augusta and Walburga.
Because even before using those power-up tools, they had already been genuine peak Maou-class, with all six of their parameters extremely outstanding [utterly unlike Augusta, that sort of god with only firepower and energy rank standing out].
...…
At this moment, the leaders of the Three Great Factions were leading part of their guards in a desperate defense, and could be described as utterly bedraggled.
The Khaos Brigade leaders besieging them were mainly three:
Creuserey Asmodeus: head of the Old Maou Asmodeus faction. In the original storyline, after Sirzechs used the Power of Destruction to erase the "Snake" inside him, he was easily soloed.
Shalba Beelzebub: head of the Old Maou Beelzebub faction. In the original storyline, he once banished Asia Argento into a dimensional rift. Later, during the Ophis-related arc, Shalba, seeking to seize Ophis, was stopped by Hyoudou Issei's team; as he was slain by Issei, he released the poisoned arrow of "Samael the Fallen Dragon" [successfully killing the Dimensional Dragon].
Caterea Leviathan: head of the Old Maou Leviathan faction. In the original storyline, she fought with Fallen Angel Governor Azazel, was outmatched, and tried to drag Azazel into a self-destruction. Azazel blocked her self-destruction at the cost of losing an arm, then killed her.
Normally speaking, the direct descendant of the Old Maou Lucifer, "Rizevim Livan Lucifer," should also have joined the Old Maou Faction and become the leader of the Lucifer faction.
However, Rizevim had no interest in playing house with these idiots. From the very beginning he refused to join the Old Maou Faction and became a completely free force.
Compared to restoring the so-called glory of the Old Maou, Rizevim was much more interested in that great undertaking known as plunging the world into chaos.
...…
Judging from the record of the original storyline, Rizevim's feats were the most impressive, though it was a pity he had not joined the Khaos Brigade.
Aside from Rizevim, Shalba's record and abilities were the next best, and he caused quite a lot of trouble for the protagonist group.
The ones that left the deepest impact were Creuserey and Caterea: after getting their hands on the Snakes, one went to challenge the Fallen Angel Governor, and the other went to challenge Maou Lucifer. It was pure suicidal behavior.
This group of Old Maou really were a bunch of trash.
But under the ExE World's recycling, [they really were made into waste-turned-useful].
You could only say that stacking the "Evolution Core" on top of "Ophis's Snake" was just too much of a cheat. Even an Old Maou who had spent his whole life only managing to reach peak Maou-class could instantly be pulled up to the point of being able to trade blows with main-god-class beings.
Fortunately, the power boost from Ophis's Snake had its limits. Once someone's strength had been raised to main-god level, further advancement toward late-stage main-god was extremely difficult.
Otherwise, if three Old Maou with peak main-god-class strength really did emerge, never mind the Three Great Factions, even the currently strongest Hindu pantheon would have a major headache.
...…
Of course, although the leaders of the Three Great Factions were in such a miserable state, that did not mean none of them were able to mount an effective counterattack.
Among the leaders and high-ranking members of the Three Great Factions, there was one and only one who managed to fight back effectively, and that person was the red-haired Maou Alice.
All this time, Maou Alice's strength as she presented it to the outside world had been "god-class": surpassing peak Maou, but not yet at main-god level.
But now, the Old Maou suddenly realized that Maou Alice had been hiding her strength all along.
God-class? Maou Alice's strength was already about to surpass the main-god level.
"Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh~~"
Thousands of spheres of destruction shot out from behind Alice, directly shattering the keystone of the Old Maou's magic formation and hurtling toward their true bodies.
If she were not under siege by a crowd of high-class devils from the Old Maou Faction, then facing just the three Old Maou alone, Alice might very well have been able to defeat them single-handedly.
"Pu!~"
In the next instant, Maou Alice transformed into pure destructive power and exploded from where she stood.
"[Hokai Chi Shizuku · Destruction Blood Drop]!"
Once she burst apart, tens of thousands of droplets of destruction capable of easily piercing space-time splattered back and forth through the air.
With just this one move, Maou Alice wiped out nearly half of the Old Maou Faction's subordinates.
Fortunately, the world had now been split into seven parallel layers. As long as they were not exterminated in every single layer, their existence would still be maintained. Otherwise, from this one move alone, the Old Maou Faction would already be showing signs of total collapse.
...
Damn! Is that even a human?! No... that's a devil?!
After dodging Alice's Destruction Blood Drop, Caterea looked at Alice with eyes full of fear.
"Why! Why!? Why?!"
Why was it that she, a noble descendant of the Maou, even after using two different power-up items, even after joining forces with her companions in a siege, still could not bring down Maou Lucifer?
Was this generation's Maou Lucifer really that strong?!
Under normal circumstances, even if Caterea's mentality collapsed, [it would not have collapsed to this extent].
But now, after running into Sai Akuto and Maou Alice one after another, two opponents she could not contend with even when going all-out, Caterea's mentality really was on the verge of shattering.
Why!
Why was Sai Akuto, a non-direct Leviathan, so much stronger than she was?
Why was this Maou Lucifer, originally just an unknown upstart from the Gremory household, able to obtain power surpassing the first Lucifer?
They, the true descendants of the original Maou, [were they really inferior to these fakes?!]
...…
"Yo~ things seem pretty lively over here."
At this moment, a voice that Caterea was extremely familiar with suddenly rang out by her ear.
"That's... Sai Akuto's voice?!"
Caterea snapped her head toward the source of the sound and saw that unfamiliar young man.
Sai Akuto also looked at Caterea, a trace of pity in his eyes.
"Caterea, even after becoming someone else's dogs, you still want to take back the title of Maou?"
You could still comfort yourself for using "Ophis's Snake," since Ophis was that airheaded loli everyone trusted.
But using the "Evolution Core" truly meant becoming the ExE World's dogs.
It might not be obvious yet, but once the ExE World truly descended, all those who had used the Evolution Core would only be able to kneel at the feet of the Outer Gods, [becoming the very culprits behind that nightmare-ridden future world].
Outer Gods were not easy to deal with. The reason they gave out the Evolution Core was to corrode the DxD world, not to make these people stronger. Making them stronger was only so that the shards of the ExE World's World Core could use them as one of the external traits through which to erode the DxD world.
...…
"Don't look at me with those eyes!"
As if pierced by the pity in Akuto's gaze, Caterea's emotions exploded, and she launched an attack at him on the spot.
Facing Caterea's attack, Akuto did not put up any defense. He merely raised his left hand slightly.
The Red Dragon Emperor's gauntlet did not appear; instead, a green jewel emerged on the back of Akuto's hand.
Even so, unbelievable power erupted from all around him.
After initially fusing with the Red Dragon Emperor's gauntlet, Akuto could wield all of the Sacred Gear's powers even without actually summoning it.
[I——]
[Who awaken as the Heavenly Dragon that steals from the gods the principle of domination——]
[Scoffing at infinity, scorning dreams——]
[I, as the Tyrant Red Dragon——shall drag you down into the crimson purgatory!]
[Juggernaut Drive（Tyrant Dragon）!]
Pure green aura shot straight into the sky, and in an instant, all the high-class devils around him were swept clean away.
"This is—!"
This time, it was not only the Old Maou of the Khaos Brigade. Even Maou Alice cast a gaze of surprise toward Sai Akuto.
Judging from the aura around him, Akuto even faintly had the posture of pressing down on her.
...…
Alice's feeling was not wrong.
After initially fusing with the Red Dragon Emperor's gauntlet, Akuto's physical attributes and soul power had increased exponentially, leaping in one go over the thresholds of peak Maou-class and super-Maou-class, becoming what could be called a "baseline Gigant-class god."
Strictly speaking, the combat power Akuto could exert should have been the same as before, since the initial fusion of the Red Dragon Emperor's gauntlet only made the gauntlet's power his normal state.
But Akuto was a special case.
After his own physique improved, the channels in his body widened, and his physical attributes were greatly enhanced.
With that as the foundation, the fusion progress of the "three great bloodlines" within Akuto suddenly jumped up a notch.
That was why, although both of them were peak main-god-class experts, the aura Sai Akuto released was stronger than even Maou Alice's.
...…
Sensing the terrifying power on Akuto's body and the Leviathan aura that shared the same origin as her own, Caterea subconsciously felt a strong urge to submit.
Her bloodline and her rational mind were both telling her that, as a descendant of Leviathan, she ought to submit to Sai Akuto, this strongest pure-blood Leviathan.
After realizing that, Caterea's mentality collapsed even further.
(End of Chapter)
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