Masaru slammed down his fist while casting a spell "Earth Needle!"
Beneath the beast, a sharp needle made of earth pierce the stomach of the spider but before it could pierce further the spider hooked it's legs onto the needle as it gets lifted together with the needle, thus preventing the needle from piercing deeper into it.
'Why do you have more hands than me!?' Masaru complained about something completely unrelated in his heart as he genuinely felt it was unfair, these beasts are more of a cheat than he is right now.
He continued using magic circles on the landscape instead of in the air, transforming the ground into Lava but he had to dig trenches around it to prevent the lava from overflowing to the other side of the battlefield.
pzzzt!
With the field he created with magic finally set up to deal with the beast, he points his finger towards the earth needle "Explode!"
The earth needle shattered causing the spider and werewolf to dive into the lake of lava, there were no trees for them to pull themselves away but the spider started sending spider silks after Masaru
Masaru kept his focus on dodging the incoming spider webs coming after him, what he did not expect when the spider becomes desperate that the speed of its attack would increase by this much.
Yet before Masaru could react to the last spider silk that managed to latch onto his ankle, he was pulled down with force and sent crashing into the ground near the lava. The force of the attack caused the ground to explode creating a crater with Masaru in the centre of it, the spider screeched happily as she began to pull the silk to get itself out of the lava that was melting its body at a rapid rate.
Feeling the tugging of the spider web, Masaru slowly regained his consciousness and was alarmed at the Lava that was starting to flow into the hole made from the spider's attack. With a wave of his hand, he sends a wind blade to cut off the spider web before he leaps out of the hole just in time, missing the lava that would have burnt him into charcoal if he remained.
"Screech!!!"
The spider cried out in frustration that it was almost out of the lava, with a glare it began to resort to its last attack at Masaru's soul directly. The feeling of death gripped Masaru's heart enough to send a chill down his spine when his eyes met the spider, for the first time in a while he truly felt afraid.
His body's survival instincts began to increase his body specs in multiple places, even his adrenal gland began to madly produce adrenaline to heighten Masaru's sensitivity beyond his body limits, even the strength he could output increased as the body began to do everything it could to survive as this attack was too dangerous for it.
Unconsciously Masaru used traceless steps along with Wind magic to allow him to use the movement technique while in mid-air, however, this time the steps were different and more refined causing Masaru's existence to truly become obscure for the spider.
"Screech!?"
The spider looks left and right but could not see a trace of Masaru who appeared behind her, with his hand holding his sword firmly he slashed horizontal severing the head from the spider's body before he moved with earthen steps to get away from the lion that began to attack feverishly.
Just when Masaru was about to strike the final attack to kill the lion and finally ending the long drawn out battle, a large Boulder made out of ice crashed into the creature out of nowhere killing it instantly like swatting a fly.
Masaru who saw the size of the boulder felt his scalp went numb, he could instinctively sense that it was Serafall's magic signature within that boulder 'This size.... Is this the power of those who are referred to as Satans? How am I supposed to survive in this world if I am ever to face this kind of power...'
Masaru thought while thinking up a plan to train even harder for the sake of surviving in this unreasonable world.
But before he could do anything the young lady wearing her Magic Girl dress did a landing with a pose, "Justice has been served and Enemies had been defeated! By the magical girl Leviatan!"
What Masaru never realized was that they turned this event into a video recording scene to use this for her Magical Girl tv show, seeing Serafall in front of him he started to look at his surroundings he began to feel tired all of the sudden. His nerves began to relax and Masaru fell on the ground falling asleep.
This battle was not hard but the opponents were annoying, their natural magic resistance which weakens magic attacks, and their unreasonable defence was simply a pain to deal with.
"Thank you for saving Masaru, Serafall-sama" Akeno arrived next to Masaru, checking his condition before thanking Serafall. Akeno had tears in her eyes feeling relieved that Masaru was till fine, that scream of pain she heard was truly heartbreaking. She knew such experiences were necessary to become stronger, but she could not endure seeing him in pain.
"That's okay, since I recorded this battle for my tv show without asking him I will consider this a payment for my help with his mission," Serafall said with a cheerful smile as she could imagine how the viewer rates would skyrocket after such a good recording.
"When Masaru wakes up tell him that I intend to use the favour he owes me right now since I finally found what I want him to do for me" Akeno glanced at Serafall who had a childish excited facial expression with a confused look, Serafall did not pay attention to Akeno and continued.
"He must join my Magical Girl TV show and become our newest Villain!"
"I will relay the message to him since I am his secretary," Akeno said while covering her mouth giggling, she could imagine Masaru's face when he will hear about this but since he owed a favour he will naturally repay it. Even if he felt a bit humiliated by it.
The other reason Akeno did not reject this proposal is that the show could increase Masaru's Fame in the Underworld as well as increasing his reputation and influence.
'He will probably consider leaving the show once he achieved his goal and Serafall is satisfied' she thought
"Akeno-chan, please remember to tell Masaru that Zech-chan during the battle called me. He told me that this kind of phenomenon has happened in several other countries, especially in China it happened the most"
"Were they able to handle the situation?" Akeno asked,
Serafall nodded as she felt relieved, "They have resolved the matter but just like here where the corpses simply become ashes and then disappear altogether is happening there as well... It makes it hard to study these things"
Masaru shortly woke up and happened to hear what Serafall said, he chuckled with a sly smile "I have recorded the energy wave, I took some blood samples during combat as well as did a full scan with my magic, the results are messy since there is too much information on it that I can't make out I will be leaving it for Ajuka to handle"
Serafall's eyes lit up as she jumps "Yes! Then next time I can use my ultimate magical girl Levia-tan Super Bomb to eliminate them"
Masaru who heard this thought 'Then what was that ice boulder? a little bomb? Big sister we all know you're powerful, but even Magical girl herself would feel inferior to you'
"Well it doesn't matter, you can leave these work to us Adults since you battling here with your peerage was not actually supposed to happen due to politics between races. However, due to the situation, I and Yasaka allowed it since we knew how you were desperately hunting these creatures after all"
Masaru smiled appreciating Serafall's kindness, while thinking 'this girl may appear childish but, this kind of women is the scariest when angry'
Since the battle was over Masaru and the girls were sent back to the Hotel were Sona and her peerage welcomed them back, because everyone was feeling a bit tired about today's battle Sona did not stop them from going to their room.
However, one girl was looking at Masaru from the corner, she who knew Akeno and them left a while ago wanted to follow them but was stopped by the Student Council, Sakura. She became curious about the background of Masaru and the girls, this is naturally the effect Masaru wanted for his recruitment to succeed.
>\/<
"So you used the Kiss Prayer with Ichika?" Akeno asked curiously about yesterday's event.
Since it happened, there was no reason to hide it so Masaru nodded, "Yes, although it was a bit rushed at that moment it was needed. I love you girls and I will only use this Kissing prayer if your all okay with it, which was why I asked Ichika before I did... Could it be you want to as well?"
Akeno was a bit surprised Masaru realized her reason for questioning him, she looked down feeling a bit embarrassed but still nodded. Masaru want to kiss each of them but they have to make the choice themselves as well, he knew Akeno felt a bit threatened since Ichika was the first one.
"You do realize this is a far more serious vow compared others right? It means in this life, in the next and the following continuing forever we will always come together" Masaru looked into Akeno's eyes who was resolved at this, she did not want to lose to any of the other girls but more than that she felt she could not lose Masaru.
Noticing her determined gaze Masaru pulled her on top of his lap on the couch as if she was straddling him, gently he pulled her closer, their lips touch for a moment before the key turned and it began to open leading tongues to dance in a room fused together by two rooms.
A Transparent ribbon tie once again around another finger of Masaru's soul linking toward the finger of Akeno's soul since it was only a kiss to establish their vow Akeno did not experience the rush of energy within her body.
But the two of them did not stop, they continued to seek each other's warmth but nothing more. It was only after a while their lips separated leaving a trail of their mixed saliva hanging like a bridge before snapping.
"Thanks for the meal" Masaru spoke with a smile, Akeno did not move away but instead rest her head on his shoulder while he gently caresses her long black hair that was hanging loosely on her back. He really loved her hair, it made him relaxed whenever he caressed it.
"Although I don't like saying this but... You will have to end up kissing Shirone when we get back. And Everest is quite eager" Akeno spoke teasingly, she could feel Masaru flinch at the mention of Shirone.
Although he understood that he managed to quell Akeno's jealousy with this, however, in regards to Shirone he was now in deep, deep trouble. He might get arrested for being a lolicon! "The other girls will also feel the need to do something since they see this kiss as something important, more important than the Evil Pieces that links us with you. This feeling of my soul linked with you is by far more special than the link with the Evil pieces"
Masaru said nothing feeling warmth form her voice and advice, "I will take each of you on a date for that, otherwise just walking up and kissing will leave a bad after taste. I have to properly do it with Ichika as well"
Akeno giggled feeling quite happy at Masaru's change after this battle, she wanted to ask about why he suddenly screamed but decided to let Masaru decide when to speak of it "It appears our master has become serious"
Masaru smiled warmly while gently touching her cheek, his eyes did not waver when he said something from the bottom of his heart "I am only taking responsibility"
After having breakfast Masaru went out together with the girls since Rias, Sara and Barold were off together somewhere else while Sona was busy helping the teachers.
While teleporting around Kyoto from blind spots Masaru and the girls managed to visit several places including Kiyomizu-Dera Temple, Sanjūsangen-dō Temple and Katsura Imperial Villa before ending the school trip with several bags worth of souvenirs.
During the train trip, Masaru fell asleep next to Everest prompting the latter to move Masaru to rest peacefully on her lap, "That battle sure was difficult in a different sense" Everest shares her view of last night's battle
"We did quite well in that battle, Masaru told me that he had to get Ajuka to force Serafall and her peerage to keep mum about our abilities because according to Serfall our performance is similar to those of veterans. Our peerage team is probably one of the top in our current generation" Yui shared something that happened after the battle
"But then again our ability to fight a large group of enemies is our strong point, wonder if we can train some more in such large scale battles?" Ichika thought about this since she wanted to train her ability some more, she felt she could improve faster if she could freely use her power without care.
Akeno shook her head, "Where are you going to find another battlefield with a minimum of hundred thousand troops? I doubt even the three great factions can dish out such numbers easily anymore. So I can say our battle performance was exceptional, as for single battles we will have to figure that out in time"
"But to think the ball and puppet games Masaru made for us could be this helpful" Everest said with an excited smile since even she could feel more relaxed fighting in a large crowd while controlling her dragon aura efficiently without wasting it.
"Guess we all know what to do right?"
The girls nodded, even Masaru himself who was sleeping stopped to recklessly increase his strength and focused more on training his control. Since he already knew what is the point of having 100 points in strength but you can only control the output at 30 points, it simply wastes stamina and strength in his body which is why he decided to work on his control after this battle.
But then again his list of skills and abilities need to become a bit more versatile, especially against those things.
>\/<
"How did the discussion go?" Sirzech spoke with Serafall on a projection,
"The Yokai will be cooperative as a neutral faction for now, it won't become a full ally" Serafall explained it simply as she could not figure out what Yasaka's plans were.
Sirzech nodded, "This is perfect, now we just need to somehow get in contact with the other mythologies first before we can start with peace talks. However, there is another threat that has been hitting our businesses at forts. Those Mixed Race Army"
Serafall knew of this group, they were more just annoying them than striking hard like these creatures she recently faced. This made this group quite difficult to deal with since it appears they have bases all over the place, and they tend to switch their bases quite frequently too.
"Ma-kun has sent some samples of the creatures so Ajuka will be busy for some time" Serafall reported something Masaru had accomplished since they need to record it for when Masaru gets promoted again, she also added the details of the battle to which surprised Sirzech.
With a smirk, he nodded. "I will ask Ajuka to send some samples to our other researcher friend so he too can give us some input on this problem. But Serafall, are you certain you're fine with it?"
Serafall did not answer Sirzech's question immediately but nodded "Yes, if it's him I can entrust it to him"
Sirzech sighed although he felt relieved, he was a bit worried "Very well, I will arrange for it... In the future"
>\/<
"Hmm?" Dominic was reading a council letter which rarely ever came to the Belial Family, same as usual his voice resounded throughout the mansion
"SON! HONEY! FATHER!" For no reason he called everyone out causing the house that was silent to boom with activity, even the peerage members of Diehauser who had nothing to do for the day or had off days came to hear what this was all about.
Everyone knew whenever Dominic called out loud it got something to do about Masaru, everyone believed this child was their hope and lucky star so everyone had to know what is going on.
"What happened Father? (Dear?)(Son?)" Dominic looked at them and smiled proudly.
"MY grandson has accumulated enough achievements! Our house has been promoted to Archduke when he becomes Head of the family!"
"You mean MY grandson" Calfa did not back down to claim the closest spot to the grandchild when it came to Masaru.
Damian however simply laughed happily while heading towards the rooms where the elders are staying to share this good news along with bragging rights.
"There must be something more right?" Listening Diehauser's question Dominic nodded with a big smile he simply was too happy today.
"Yes, it appears that Everest and Yui accumulated enough achievements and were recommended for Mid Rank promotion. Everest's promotion is influenced because of her father while Yui is both her achievements with Ajuka and her relation to Bael Family. Well then again, We have to investigate whether those old devils are having idea's again..."
"Well let's hold back their promotion test till their vacation time, they can have the test for it then. It appears the battle in Kyoto was fiercer than we expected" Diehauser began to think about the report he gotten from Ichika who was in charge of communicating with Belial Family.
"It's a good thing we pushed them since their young age, I can only feel dread if something happened but we did not prepare for it" Dominic mentioned while Diehauser laughed feeling proud of his son's achievements that were becoming no less than his.
"I think it is mostly because my son keeps speaking of becoming strong to survive that he managed to push through..." Diehauser looked at the window, it has been a few years ever since he found his son and even to this day the surprises that came did not diminish nor did his pride for his son.