Chapter 164: A Truly God-Tier Start

In Kaiser's eyes, Rias was actually incredibly lucky—so lucky that it could be called a god-tier opening.

Her first peerage member and most important Queen was the daughter of a Ten-Winged Fallen Angel executive. She inherited both the power of lightning and Light Power. As long as she could properly utilize the fusion of lightning and Light Power—Holy Lightning—she would undoubtedly possess the combat strength of a High-Class Devil. Compared to Rias, who wielded the Power of Destruction, she was in no way inferior.

Then, Rias consecutively recruited Koneko Toujou, Yuuto Kiba, and a vampire—each of whom was exceptional and full of potential.

Koneko Toujou was a Nekomata of the rarest and strongest variant—a Nekoshou. She was a High-Class youkai by birth and naturally capable of using Senjutsu and Youjutsu. Her potential was no less than Rias's.

Yuuto Kiba was the wielder of Sword Birth, capable of freely creating demonic swords of any attribute. Once he reached the Balance Breaker stage, he would, at the very least, become an Ultimate-Class Devil.

As for that vampire, there's no need to elaborate—he was so dangerous that even Rias didn't dare let him out, which clearly spoke to the extent of his abilities.

For a High-Class Devil to consecutively recruit so many individuals whose potential was equal to or even greater than her own as peerage members—this was something even Ultimate-Class Devils would envy. Even the Maou would be astonished and look at her with newfound respect.

Just consider the third son of the Phoenix family: though his peerage was full, most of his members were only Low-Class Devils. The only one at the level of a Mid-Class Devil was likely just his Queen. How could that compare to Rias?

As long as Akeno Himejima and Koneko Toujou were willing to let go of their inner reservations and accept their bloodlines to fully unleash their true power, then even if Yuuto Kiba hadn't reached the Balance Breaker stage, the Gremory peerage wouldn't lose easily.

But in the original story, Akeno Himejima refused from start to finish to use her Light Power or unleash Holy Lightning. Koneko Toujou relied solely on hand-to-hand combat. The two of them failed to defeat the rather underwhelming peerage of the Phoenix family. Some were even taken down by Low-Class Devil-level opponents. It was practically a "Rias cries" moment.

The sealed vampire couldn't take the field and essentially vanished. Yuuto Kiba was too distracted to be serious and only showcased his Sword Birth ability in the latter half, only to be taken out by a sneak attack. In the end, the MVP of the match ended up being Hyoudou Issei, who had only been a peerage member for a few months. Who could believe that?

What was Hyoudou Issei back then?

He wasn't a versatile Queen, nor a tanky Rook, not even a Knight—just a mere Pawn.

The most numerous and least valuable piece—a Pawn—ended up being the last man standing, the only one who successfully reached Rias's side. All the others were down.

Ironically, by that point, even the Phoenix side was down to only their King and Queen. The rest of their peerage had been eliminated.

Facing the Gremory peerage, who had clearly been holding back, the long-established Phoenix family still found themselves reduced to that state—just imagine how weak their peerage must have been.

But this was actually normal. A peerage led by a High-Class Devil couldn't be expected to have subordinates stronger than the King.

Not that it had never happened before—Kuroka's former master was weaker than her, and she ended up killing him...

A peerage with multiple members possessing High-Class Devil-level combat strength was more typical of an Ultimate-Class Devil's configuration.

Normally, the Devil who serves as King is the strongest in the team. The peerage members are usually weaker, and it's rare for them to surpass the King.

A newly minted High-Class Devil just starting out would typically have Low-Class Devils as peerage members, and even having a few Mid-Class Devils would already be considered excellent.

In that context, Rias—an underage, newly promoted Devil whose peerage wasn't even full—had members, each of whom possessed at least High-Class Devil potential. If that's not a god-tier opening, what is?

Even more so, if Akeno Himejima and Koneko Toujou were willing to unleash their true power, they would immediately demonstrate strength on par with High-Class Devils—not just potential. If Yuuto Kiba completed his Balance Breaker, he'd also have genuine High-Class Devil-level combat strength. As for that vampire, if he could control his powers, he might be even more terrifying than ordinary High-Class Devils.

If her peerage members could display strength equal to or even greater than hers, what reason would Rias have to lose?

Even without Hyoudou Issei, facing a newly debuted Phoenix peerage, Rias had no reason to lose. The only troublesome factor was the opponent's immortality.

That's why Kaiser decided to step in and help with the Gremory peerage's special training—to assist Rias in her goal of breaking off the engagement.

Now, there was no need to worry about Yuuto Kiba. He was more eager than anyone to grow stronger and would surely try to master his Balance Breaker using the wristband. Koneko Toujou was being guided by her sister. Kaiser believed Kuroka would find a way to help her overcome her past trauma. Even the issue of the vampire's instability had been resolved with Kaiser's help.

The only remaining concern was Akeno Himejima.

Thus, Kaiser decided to go all in.

"If you can't make the decision, then I'll make it for you," Kaiser said. "After all, I'm a member of a terrorist group. Killing a Fallen Angel is only natural. No one would think it's because of you that your father died."

"You get to justifiably eliminate the person you hate most, and I achieve my goal. It's a win-win."

"So? No reason to stop me, right?"

Kaiser's tone wasn't cold or vicious, yet Akeno Himejima felt a chill rise in her heart.

She wanted to believe he was joking, just teasing her—but looking into Kaiser's eyes, she had a strong feeling that he absolutely would follow through.

He really would go find her father.

He really was planning to kill him.

In the moment she became certain of this, Akeno didn't even realize that her heart had completely unraveled—panic overtook her.

Seeing this, Kaiser turned without a word, as if receiving silent permission, and began to walk away.

"Thunder Roar!"

Akeno Himejima didn't even know why she suddenly attacked.

All she knew was that by the time she came to her senses, a crimson magic circle had already expanded before her and launched into the air, rapidly growing larger.

"Boom!"

The next second, lightning exploded from the magic circle. Countless bolts of lightning converged at its center, forming a thick lightning pillar that crashed down toward Kaiser.

"Rumble!"

The massive lightning pillar struck a gravity barrier that had risen at some unknown point, blocked entirely by it.

Blinding flashes of Holy Lightning burst outward. The pillar, like a beam cannon, continuously struck the gravity barrier, clashing violently and causing lightning to scatter in all directions.

"Oh?"

Kaiser, wielding the purple-glowing Gravisheath, raised an eyebrow and finally smiled.

"Looks like the training paid off. Compared to last time, your lightning has at least doubled in power."

But upon hearing this, Akeno Himejima didn't feel the slightest bit happy.

"...Even without using that man's power, without using Light, I can still become strong—strong enough to help Rias defeat the Phoenix."

Lightning surged around Akeno's body as she shouted, eyes filled with anger.

"You're just an outsider—stop acting like you know everything!"

As she spoke, Akeno deployed several more magic circles, launching them in sequence so they surrounded Kaiser from all directions.

"Thunderstorm!"

Akeno poured a massive amount of demonic power into the magic circles, causing them to glow with Holy Lightning. They gathered electricity and then fired blinding beams of light from all directions toward Kaiser.

"Tenfold Collapse."

Kaiser swung Gravisheath, and multiple gravity spheres immediately formed around him, completely shielding his body.

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" …

The lightning raged like a real thunderstorm, violently colliding with the gravity spheres around Kaiser, producing deafening explosions that were hard to distinguish between thunder or detonation.

Each thick bolt of lightning was blocked by the gravity spheres encasing Kaiser, unable to touch him and only exploding nearby.

"Grave Array!"

Kaiser swung Gravisheath again, unleashing an aurora-like torrent of gravity that surged toward Akeno Himejima.

"Tch…!"

Akeno had no choice but to flap her wings and retreat at high speed, narrowly avoiding the overwhelming gravitational wave.

But before she could celebrate, Kaiser released another gravity sphere.

Unlike the ones protecting him, this new gravity sphere instantly displayed terrifying suction power, drawing in the surrounding air and lightning.

Akeno's movements also stalled—she could no longer retreat. She was being pulled in, her body dragged uncontrollably toward the sphere.

"What is that…?!"

Akeno struggled with all her might, but it was useless.

"That's a Supergravity Sphere—a new move I developed using Gravisheath's power."

Kaiser hovered in midair behind the Supergravity Sphere, his robes flapping wildly in the turbulent airflow.

"By concentrating gravity to its absolute limit at a single point, it triggers a collapse phenomenon, forming a gravitational black hole. That's the principle behind the Supergravity Sphere."

"The Supergravity Sphere devours all matter. No material or radiation can escape its gravity field—including light."

"I only recently came up with this move. You're lucky to be the first to experience it."

As Akeno resisted with all her strength, she, along with the intensifying airflow, was drawn right in front of Kaiser.

"Sleep here for now," Kaiser said, looking at her. "When you wake up, everything will be over."

Akeno Himejima's pupils dilated to the extreme.

"Ahhhhh…!"

Suddenly, she let out a scream.

From her body, a radiant light burst forth.