Being lifted by the chin and inspected like cargo would, to most people, be an absolute humiliation.
Yet, strangely enough, Caterea did not feel any shame at all. Instead, she felt an intense sense of security and comfort and, beyond that, even a faint trace of pleasure.
Clearly, after declaring her submission to Sai Akuto, Caterea had completely let go of her pride. Both in words and in her heart, she intended to submit.
No, it was not only her words and her heart.
Caterea realized that her body, too, seemed to be instinctively submitting to the boy before her.
From the moment she made physical contact with Akuto, her body had started acting strangely. Her temperature rose rapidly, and her whole being tensed in strange anticipation.
Under Akuto's surprised gaze, Caterea raised both hands to hold his, actively closing her fingers around his.
"Mmh?"
Akuto arched a brow. Of course he knew this was the effect of his Succubus Bloodline.
He had just not expected Caterea to express her desire so blatantly, without the slightest attempt to conceal it.
With Akuto's finger in her mouth, the depths of Caterea's pupils seemed to sprout two pink heart shapes. The way she looked at him grew softer and more molten, practically gooey with longing.
...
Perhaps that instinct of "demonic nature above all else" really was a shared trait of all the Old Devils.
Compared to the Reformist devils, the Old Devils and Old Maou were clearly more old-fashioned, more obedient to ancient rules, and more willing to submit wholeheartedly before devils whose bloodlines and power outstripped their own.
Just like that, with Caterea still clasping his fingers, Akuto finished purifying the Evolution Core inside her.
[Ding!]
[Congratulations to the Host for completing the storyline quest: World Core Shard Collection.]
[Collection Target: Caterea Leviathan (Gold).]
[Congratulations to the Host for obtaining one enhancement of corresponding rank.]
[Ding!]
[Sennin no Karada · Sage Body (Purple) has advanced to Sennin no Karada · Sage Body (Gold)!]
As the Evolution Core within her was purified, the main-god-class power Caterea had temporarily gained quickly drained away.
Alongside her disappointment, a deep sense of relief after surviving catastrophe flashed in her eyes. The way she looked at Akuto was now filled with submission and an intense yearning.
To be able to submit under Akuto's banner was her good fortune and also... her destiny.
The devils had always lived by the law of the jungle. The strongest Leviathan naturally had the right to command the others.
All this time, she had been trying to resist that fate.
Now... she finally stopped resisting and fully submitted under Akuto.
...…
After dealing with the three Old Maou leaders, Akuto swiftly moved on to the cleanup.
He and Maou Alice worked in perfect sync, quickly subduing the Old Maou devils who had lost their leaders.
"Akuto-kun, I'll leave these Old Maou devils to you."
"After this battle, the DxD Agency can be considered to have finally gotten its footing. I believe that, under your guidance, the Three Factions will surely move toward a brighter future."
The look Alice cast at Akuto was full of admiration and trust.
It could be said that everything Akuto possessed now was something she had acknowledged, and even personally pushed forward.
Whether it was the title of orthodox Leviathan, the position of head of the DxD Agency, or the decision to let Akuto handle the Old Maou prisoners, none of that could have happened without her approval.
In truth, she had long since seen Grayfia's pain, her inner conflict, even her numbness. That was why she had taken the initiative to cultivate Akuto, and had even personally "bumped" Grayfia toward Akuto's side.
"Mm, Lady Alice, I've already marked all the information of this world in full. Next, I'm going to completely destroy these seven split-off worldlines."
"Before that, I need to send you out first."
As he spoke, Akuto reached a hand toward Alice.
"..."
"...All right."
Hearing Akuto call out her true name, Maou Alice froze for a moment, then smiled in relief.
In the next second, the crimson motes of light dissipated, and Maou Alice revealed her true form before Akuto.
A few seconds later, what appeared before him was an adult version of Rias whose aura and power had both massively increased.
"Pa~"
Lightly, Alice placed her hand in Akuto's. In the next heartbeat, the two of them vanished from the segmented worldline.
...…
Half a minute later, Akuto returned to that cut-out worldline.
Golden Holy Spear in hand, he gently tapped it forward.
[Explosion — Create The World!（创世爆裂!）]
"Boom!!~"
Centered on Akuto, the entire parallel world was swallowed by the Create The World Explosion.
Under the effect of this world-creating blast, the rules of the world were rewritten and its possibilities were sealed away. The entire cluster of worlds turned into golden motes of light and slowly faded.
With the worldline where Akuto stood as the origin, the influence of Create The World Explosion spread madly outward, quickly engulfing the surrounding parallel worlds as well.
...…
Soon, under a chain reaction, all of the parallel worlds disappeared. Akuto and the other leaders who had rushed in from various factions to face the siege all returned to the real world.
Standing on the still-intact rooftop of Kuoh Academy, Akuto calmly looked down at everything below.
If there was any piece of news that pleased him today, it was what he had found in Shalba's memories: the ExE World had no plans to personally intervene in the short term.
Otherwise, if the ExE World had already sent subordinates into the DxD world, Akuto would never have used Create The World Explosion in front of them.
...…
Once they were back in the real world, Michael was still relatively composed. Azazel, however, stared at Akuto with the hungry gaze of a starving wolf, like a monk seeing scripture... or a lecher spotting a beauty.
There was no doubt that, after this incident, the authority of the DxD Agency and of Akuto himself had been fully established.
Next would come the propaganda blitz and the work of winning hearts and minds.
But that was none of Akuto's concern.
By now, he had already become a thoroughly busy man, with no time to worry about publicity. He trusted in the capabilities of Maou Alice and Grayfia and was sure they would handle everything well.
Right now, the most important matter for Akuto was... to enjoy the spoils of war he had just obtained.
This time, Akuto's spoils of war could be grouped into four main categories.
First, Caterea and the entire Leviathan clan she belonged to.
The Leviathan clan was famous for the sheer number of female members it had, similar yet different to the Gremory household.
The similarity lay in the fact that both devil clans were capable of asexual reproduction and could propagate themselves independently.
The difference was that all members of the Gremory household were female, whereas the Leviathan clan could still produce the occasional rare male.
Gremory devils had to wait until adulthood to choose self-fertilization. In contrast, Leviathan devils could choose to merge with mountains, rivers, lakes, or seas whose "frequency" resonated with their bloodline.
Gremory devils could only give birth to a single offspring, while Leviathan devils, so long as they could find water sources whose "frequency bands" matched their own, could keep producing offspring without ever having to worry about fertility.
Of course, in practice, Leviathan devils generally could not find many water sources matching their frequency. Most could only give birth to one or two children.
...…
Second, Witch's Night, led by Walburga, which had once gone on distant expeditions and still carried many wounds.
As the name implied, Witch's Night contained a large number of female stray magicians. In the original story, they had kidnapped Gasper and forcibly triggered his Balance Breaker.
...…
Third, Ice Princess Lavinia, who had been possessed by Augusta.
Though Augusta had been defeated and captured by Akuto, Lavinia, whose body she had taken over, had suffered enormous damage to her soul.
Akuto's idea was simple. Since her soul had been wounded, he would treat her the same way he had treated Saori and the others in the past. There was nothing for it but to "carefully" help Lavinia heal.
...…
Fourth, the female devils with Maou bloodlines from the other two Old Maou factions: the Beelzebub faction and the Asmodeus faction.
Without a doubt, even if the Old Maou members were all captured, neither Akuto nor the Reformist devils could simply execute them to the last. That would only trigger internal chaos in the Underworld.
Of course, harsh reorganization would still be necessary.
So Akuto planned to select the strongest female devils from those two clans at his side and, through them, completely wrap his hand around both the Old Beelzebub and Old Asmodeus families.
...…
With so many devils from the Old Maou Faction to help, Akuto was sure that the rate at which his "Ancestral Leviathan Bloodline" strengthened would increase significantly.
The Ancestral Leviathan Bloodline was one of the rewards he had obtained after completing a mission in the Akame ga Kill world. In addition to its own powerful Leviathan might, it also possessed the characteristic of absorbing other devil bloodlines to grow stronger.
[Ancestral Leviathan Bloodline (Gold): the product of further evolution and reversion of the Leviathan bloodline. Not only does its purity and power surpass that of the first Leviathan, it has also awakened along a reversion path.
By using the Ancestral Leviathan Bloodline, the Host can obtain the bloodline abilities of any female devil who pairs with him. The stronger their bloodline and power, and the higher the Host's collection value, the greater the gain.
Once collection reaches a certain threshold, the Ancestral Leviathan Bloodline can undergo another evolution, stepping toward the "Primordial Devil Bloodline" that once gathered the myriad dao of heaven and earth before splitting apart.]
[Note: among the 72 Pillar Devils, the Gremory household is the line that inherited the most traits from the Mother of Devils, Lilith, combining many pure-blood devil characteristics.
Collecting the bloodline of one Gremory member is equivalent to collecting those of several, even a dozen, other pure-blood devil families.]
Akuto estimated that, if he kept collecting, he would very likely recreate the miracle of Lilith, the Mother of Devils: merging with all paths and pushing each one to the extreme.
Thus, late at night, the Four Heavenly Kings were busy with their own affairs.
Dressed in her Maou regalia, Caterea stepped into Akuto's room.
Against the backdrop of the Maou uniform, her wheat-colored skin gleamed with a warm luster above the wine-red bodysuit, looking smooth enough to shine.
"I'm lazy, so... you know what to do."
Akuto rested his hands behind his head, indicating that Caterea should serve on her own and earn her "meal." Caterea was not someone he had actively pursued, nor did he share any deep emotional bond with her, so Akuto had no intention of being especially gentle.
Caterea, however, did not mind his indifference in the slightest. In fact, under the chill of Akuto's gaze, a faintly seductive expression rose in her eyes.
"Yes, Lord Akuto," Caterea answered respectfully, her eyes filled with infatuation.
"This woman... could she be a bit of an M?"
Watching Caterea kneel in a half-sitting, half-crouching pose before him, Akuto could not help thinking that.
"Lord Akuto, you are the strongest and greatest Leviathan. I believe that you, and you alone, have the right to be my partner."
The words Caterea spoke, the yearning and submission in her eyes, perfectly confirmed Akuto's judgement: before being conquered, she had been nothing but pride and arrogance.
But after being conquered, people who had once been so proud always carried a faint undertone of masochistic color.
"Is that so? Then I'll be looking forward to it."
With a thought, Akuto activated his gravity magic array. The weight bore down in an instant, and Caterea's body sank under the crushing pressure, her consciousness going hazy as she struggled to endure the overwhelming force.
The rest of that night's "reward" played out behind closed doors, with only the muffled sounds of gravity and breath marking the beginning of Caterea's new fate as Akuto's Leviathan.
(End of Chapter)
[Get +30 Extra Chapters On — P@tr3on "Zaelum"]
[Every 300 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter Drop]
[Thanks for Reading!]