Caterea never imagined that Sai Akuto would suddenly hit her with a gravity array. Caught off guard, she almost blacked out on the spot.
Even so, in that near-fainting state, Caterea still wore an expression of intoxicated bliss and even reached toward Akuto of her own accord.
Fortunately, Akuto had only intended to tease her a little. He had never planned to keep her working under gravity restraint the entire time. Once he dispelled the gravity spell, Caterea's hand finally reached his face.
Gazing up at the supreme existence in her heart, at the strongest Leviathan in history, Caterea slowly offered up her lips in the posture of an absolute subordinate.
At that moment, the system's notification sounded in Akuto's mind.
[Ding!]
[Congratulations to the Host for completing the staged storyline quest: "The Old Maou Leviathan's Revenge (Phase One)".]
[Quest Rank: Gold.]
[Quest Description: As the Host continues to grow stronger, the Old Maou Leviathan has shifted her stance toward the Host: from "must kill or seal him" to "must seize him at all costs".
Ideally, she would bear a whole brood of children, at once inheriting the Host's mutated, ultra-pure bloodline and shaming Maou Lucifer.
Treating someone as nothing but a breeding stallion is, of course, still a vicious and vindictive form of revenge.]
[Quest "5·1·3" Requirement: Collect the Leviathan female who has appeared in the story (Caterea Leviathan).]
[Congratulations to the Host for obtaining the reward: Evolution Path — Chaos Leviathan (Gold).]
[Evolution Path — Chaos Leviathan (Gold): Adds a Chaos attribute and evolution route to the Host's Leviathan bloodline.]
[Note: The Leviathan bloodline originally has three evolution paths.
First: pure enhancement of water attribute and capacity, ultimately gaining dominion over all water.
Second: ancestral reversion, walking the path of converging myriad dao. By collecting the bloodlines of other pure-blood devils, the user can resonate with all dao in battle, drawing out each law to its fullest.
Third: chaos direction. It is similar to the ancestral path but diverges into another branch. Like the other evolution paths, it can absorb pure-blood devil bloodlines to raise the fusion rate of this route. In battle, it can draw in chaos and dimensional energy from higher dimensions, thereby achieving a form of "pseudo-infinite".]
"..."
Staring at this new evolution path, Akuto pondered for quite a while.
"The first evolution path is what all pure-blood Leviathans choose by default. Even if you don't specialize in it, as long as you keep raising your water attribute and capacity, you're effectively walking that path already."
"As for the second and third evolution paths…"
"The second evolution path maximizes the manifestation of every dao. It's the legacy left behind when the Mother of Devils, Lilith, intertwined herself with heaven and earth."
"The third evolution path fuses myriad dao into chaos. No doubt that direction is the closest fit to my current 'holy–demonic fusion' evolution. It's similar to the paths of the Chaos Body and the Infinite Dragon God Ophis."
"Wait… if 'fusing myriad dao' and 'interweaving light and darkness' is the Chaos Body's evolution path, then that second path, 'maximizing every dao,' is basically the evolution path of the Innate Holy Body Dao Embryo, isn't it?"
Having reached the conclusions "the Mother of Devils Lilith represents the Innate Holy Body Dao Embryo path" and "Infinite Dragon God Ophis represents the Chaos Body path," Akuto's expression turned a bit odd.
"All in all, if I can reach this so-called 'pseudo-infinite,' I should at least be able to push my strength to the sub–Dragon God tier. Maybe even true Dragon God isn't impossible."
"And if I want to reach 'pseudo-infinite' faster, then besides training under Multi-Heart Clairvoyance, collecting other devils' bloodlines is clearly another way to speed things up."
With that thought, Akuto felt that not killing off those Old Maou queen devils on the spot had been the best possible choice.
The pure-blood devils of the Underworld were both constrained and protected by its rules. Until he became the one who set those rules, if Akuto randomly slaughtered Underworld pure-blood devils, the other side would very reasonably demand an explanation.
But the Old Maou Faction was different. For them, Akuto was already the sky above their heads and held the highest authority.
Given that a thorough purge and screening were inevitable, there would naturally be many queen devils who, for the sake of survival and power, would choose to climb into his bed of their own accord.
Caterea, leader of the Leviathan faction, was the example and the standard bearer for all those other queen devils.
Right now, as she clung tightly to Akuto, Caterea felt a freedom and lightness she had never known before, along with a kind of happiness she had never tasted.
All her life, she had been both deeply inferior and fiercely proud.
But from now on, she no longer needed to bow her head before the Mother of Devils, Lilith.
Ordinarily, when a pure-blood Leviathan female gave birth, it would be tantamount to "polluting" her bloodline.
Akuto, however, was different.
As one of the rare male descendants in the Leviathan clan, and given that male Leviathans could not conceive offspring with rivers, lakes, or seas, the other pure-blood Leviathan females had a responsibility to help him leave behind descendants.
"Haaah…"
Soon, the dark-skinned onee-san called Caterea let out the most satisfied sigh of her life. Within her, the Leviathan bloodline surged like a flood, crashing again and again against the dam restraining it.
As time passed, the Leviathan blood within Caterea and Akuto intertwined, drawing in the unique traits of Caterea's bloodline.
Though it was only a faint trace, Akuto was very interested in this kind of "effortless cultivation" that let him grow stronger without any extra training.
He did not know how long it went on or how many times the bloodline infusion repeated itself, but at some point, that sealed "something" deep within Caterea was finally smashed open by Akuto's Leviathan blood.
"What is this…?"
Caterea's beautiful eyes widened slightly as her aura flared sharply.
Just now, she had successfully broken through to the Super Maou tier and awakened a power she had previously failed to manifest: the trait of the "Shedding-Tail Sea Serpent Dragon."
...
In truth, the reason the Old Maou Faction was so poorly regarded by the Underworld's pure-blood devils was precisely because they had never awakened a magical trait on the level of the First or Second Generation Maou. All they had inherited was raw demonic power.
After losing the Evolution Core and Ophis's Snake, Akuto had not given Caterea any Devil Pieces. As a result, her strength had quickly fallen back down to her original peak Maou tier.
Now, under the repeated infusion of Akuto's main-god-class bloodline, Caterea had finally shattered that final barrier.
Puzzled, she turned an uncertain gaze toward Akuto.
"Yes, it's because of me. And besides you, I'm planning to use this bloodline infusion method on the entire Leviathan clan as well. What do you think?"
As he spoke, Akuto slid an arm around Caterea's slender, curving waist.
Hearing his answer, Caterea froze for a few seconds, then revealed an expression so devout it nearly resembled religious faith.
"Yes, Akuto-sama. For the entire Leviathan clan, being chosen by you is the greatest of honors."
Her words made it clear she had already accepted the premise that the Leviathan clan would ultimately belong to Akuto.
Just as he had said, once the other Leviathans learned that sharing a true bond with Akuto would help them awaken their magic traits and grow stronger, they would definitely rush toward him in droves.
After that realization, Caterea hugged Akuto even more tightly, as if she never wanted to be separated from him again.
He did not know how much time passed. Caterea felt the awakening of her "Shedding-Tail Sea Serpent Dragon" trait and the wash of Akuto's evolutionary energy coursing through her. Her long, shapely legs tensed all at once, and her serpentine pupils flickered as if they might roll back.
Even so, Caterea refused to loosen her hold on Akuto, forcing herself to maintain that final posture.
Clearly, drawing close to him and being claimed by him had already been written into the deepest layers of her code.
Although Akuto very much wanted to move down the list and take care of the rest of the Leviathan clan as quickly as possible, seeing how utterly obsessed Caterea was, he simply shifted the two of them over to the Akame ga Kill world and fell asleep with her in his arms.
...…
The next day.
News of "The Three Factions' Talks Were Attacked, But The Conference Still Succeeded" spread throughout the Underworld.
At the Archduke's House.
Having just woken up, Seekvaira received a message from her mother and instantly lost her composure.
She had not been told every detail about the peace conference being held in Kuoh Town, but as the heir of the Archduke's House, she at least knew the basics.
"Come to think of it, it's already morning. The emergency reports from the Underworld's major media outlets should be out by now."
Seekvaira's mother was personally overseeing their House's newspaper, so while finalizing the front page, she had taken the opportunity to inform her daughter in advance.
Walking up to the door of her own office, Seekvaira reached out and took a few newspapers that had been automatically delivered into the mail slot.
As the future head of House Agares, she naturally read her family's paper, but she still kept the habit of reading the others every day as well.
On one hand, it helped broaden her perspective, letting her recognize the strengths and weaknesses of their own publication so she could push for reforms and improvements.
On the other hand, even the Archduke's paper was not all-seeing. Many news agencies had their own exclusive sources, and there was never any harm in reading more.
Carrying the stack of newspapers into her office, Seekvaira looked up and saw her mother already there.
The moment she noticed the newspaper in the Duchess Agares's hand, Seekvaira's body stiffened, and the smile on her face vanished.
"Seekvaira, care to tell me who the man in the photo on your desk is?"
Duchess Agares casually picked up the framed photo and smiled gently at her daughter.
The picture contained only two people: her daughter and a man clad in crimson armor.
(End of Chapter)
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