Chapter 167: Are You Going to Thank Me?

Time always slips away imperceptibly—and faster and faster at that.

Even Kaiser hadn't expected that his stay with the Gremory peerage would last an entire month.

During this month, he hadn't done anything else at all—only assisted the Gremory peerage members with their special training.

Gravisheath's ability had been active on this mountain for a full month, and the gravity continued to slowly intensify. Kuroka had also stayed by Koneko Toujou's side for the entire month, constantly teaching her Youjutsu and Senjutsu. Even Asia had eventually been called over by Kaiser to provide thoughtful healing whenever the Gremory peerage members were injured, ensuring they remained in peak condition every day.

Kaiser himself had even joined the training later on, most often acting as a sparring partner for the Gremory group.

After adapting to Gravisheath's gravity, the Gremory peerage no longer trained solely under the heavy pressure. They began incorporating actual combat drills.

Sometimes it was one-on-one sparring; other times, one group formed a team to fight another group. But most frequently, all the Gremory peerage members would attack Kaiser together—only to be thoroughly defeated by him.

Against the Gremory peerage, Kaiser didn't need to use the True Longinus, the Boosted Gear, or Divine Dividing. He didn't even use Gravisheath in combat—it was merely serving as a device to generate the gravity field. Yet at the beginning, the Gremory peerage had been unable to even touch him, getting completely wiped out with ease.

However, after half a month, Kaiser was finally forced to use the Ser-Veresta to maintain his undefeated record.

He had no choice—the Gremory peerage had been improving rapidly, far beyond what they used to be.

Akeno Himejima had become proficient in wielding Holy Lightning. The fusion and transition between lightning and light were incredibly smooth. Though not yet flawless, she was very close.

Koneko Toujou still hadn't made much progress in terms of Demonic Power, but her talents in Youjutsu and Senjutsu were beginning to bear fruit. While she couldn't unleash countless complex and unique spells like Kuroka, she could fight using Touki, and when paired with her continually honed martial arts, she displayed an unexpectedly strong threat level in close combat.

Yuuto Kiba had successfully mastered his Balance Breaker. Perhaps due to some emotional breakthrough during a period of mental turmoil, his gaze was no longer shrouded in gloom, and he seemed to have experienced a rebirth—his strength had soared.

Even Gasper, who had been forcibly thrown into this hellish training by Kaiser, had finally started to improve after much crying, yelling, and breaking down. He had learned to control his time-stopping Evil Eye more steadily, playing a crucial role in team battles.

Now, without a doubt, these four had gained the power to threaten High-Class Devils. Even if they went one-on-one against Diodora Astaroth—the one who had once been ruthlessly crushed and killed by Kaiser—they might not lose.

Diodora Astaroth, even if Kaiser had belittled him to nothing, was still a blood relative of a Maou, a noble from a pure-blood Devil family, and a successor of his clan. Though his abilities and potential were inferior to Rias's, he was by no means comparable to an ordinary Devil.

Being comparable to such a Devil proved that Akeno and the others had already attained the qualifications to become Kings themselves. Even if they left the Gremory peerage, they could still carve out a name for themselves in the Devil world.

And with Rias, whose strength had also greatly increased—now capable of casually destroying one or two small mountains—the overall strength of the Gremory peerage had undoubtedly undergone a complete transformation. They were no longer naive rookies.

Even without using any weapons, relying solely on Touki, Kaiser wouldn't fear any High-Class Devil. But he was being ganged up on—attacked by multiple High-Class Devils working together. These individuals had mastered Holy Lightning, Senjutsu, Sacred Gears that could stop time, and magic swords that had reached Balance Breaker, along with destructive Demonic Power. Even an Ultimate-Class Devil would likely be overwhelmed by such a combination.

Therefore, in the second half of the month, Kaiser had no choice but to use weapons. Still, he refrained from using Longinus, instead choosing to fight with the Ser-Veresta.

While the Ser-Veresta wasn't on the level of a Longinus, it was still a powerful weapon comparable to legendary Holy Swords and Demonic Swords. With it, Kaiser could even hold his own against Siegfried, the Church's top-ranked exorcist. Facing several High-Class Devils, even if he couldn't win easily, he wouldn't be defeated without a fight.

With the Ser-Veresta, Kaiser could cut through Holy Lightning, Demonic Power of Destruction, Koneko's Youjutsu attacks, and Gasper's shadows and bats in his vampire form. Even against Kiba's Balance Breaker-level Demonic Swords, Kaiser could gain the upper hand.

It was under these circumstances that Kaiser maintained his undefeated record. Still, the fact that the Gremory peerage could pose a threat to Kaiser even when he wielded the Ser-Veresta was already an impressive achievement.

Seeing the Gremory peerage like this, Kaiser couldn't help but feel satisfied.

With that, his purpose for coming here could be considered fulfilled.

......

Late at night, the villa halfway up the mountain was no longer brightly lit.

After a long day of grueling special training, the Gremory peerage members had all fallen into deep sleep, and the lights in their rooms had been turned off.

Kuroka and Asia had also gone to rest. Only Kaiser remained outside the villa, standing at the edge of the mountainside, gazing into the distance at the Underworld's scenery, seemingly enjoying the night breeze.

"So late at night, and you're not resting—what are you doing out here?"

A girl's voice came from behind him—unclear whether it was concern or sarcasm. But Kaiser didn't turn around.

"Aren't you also still awake?"

He responded without looking back.

The girl behind him walked up and stood beside him.

She stood facing the wind, her long red hair fluttering. Her semi-transparent nightgown swayed in the breeze, prompting her to reach out and press down her flowing hair and skirt.

"I just felt like I hadn't seen the night sky in a long time." Rias gazed upward and said, "These days, every night I'd either pass out or be too exhausted to do anything but collapse into bed. It's only today that I finally felt like I had a bit of energy left, enough to come out and enjoy the breeze."

"That means you've really gotten stronger," Kaiser smiled. "At the beginning, you all had to rest countless times just to get through a day in high-gravity conditions. Now, even after fighting me in even stronger gravity all day, you no longer collapse the moment night falls."

To be precise, Gasper—the delicate and fragile vampire—still got so tired at night that he could barely walk, often crying and begging to hide in his room and never come out again. But Rias, Akeno, Kiba, and Koneko had already fully adapted to this level of training and no longer ended each day completely exhausted.

Especially Kiba and Koneko—both close-combat experts with greater stamina than Rias and Akeno—they'd already been showing signs of spare energy two weeks ago.

The fact that Rias was only now showing signs of surplus energy actually made her one of the later ones among the Gremory peerage.

"You're only five people right now, but even against those veteran High-Class Devil teams, you probably wouldn't lose now, right?"

Kaiser felt reassured by that.

In both strength and team composition, the current Gremory peerage had reached the top tier of High-Class Devils. Even ordinary Ultimate-Class Devils couldn't match such a luxurious lineup.

Against the Phoenix family's third son's team, they could easily crush them.

Even the immortal Phoenix himself—judging by pure strength—probably wouldn't be a match for Rias, would he?

As Kaiser mused to himself, Rias fell silent.

She turned her head and looked at Kaiser, her eyes filled with complex emotions.

"What's wrong?" Kaiser noticed something and turned his gaze toward Rias, puzzled. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Rias didn't answer immediately. She continued staring at Kaiser with that complex expression, remaining silent for quite a while.

Finally, after a long pause, Rias spoke.

"Akeno already told me. You came to help us train because of my engagement with the Phoenix family, didn't you?"

Kaiser paused at her words, then nodded calmly.

"Yes, that's why I came," Kaiser said with a faint smile. "So, are you going to thank me?"

"Did you do it just to make me thank you?" Rias countered. "I didn't know my gratitude was that valuable."

"Well, it's more valuable than being yelled at," Kaiser replied nonchalantly. "I'd rather not get glared at and scolded like the last few times."

"You really are… something else…" Rias was momentarily at a loss for words.

At that moment, Kaiser took something out.

"Take this."

He handed the item to Rias.

"This is…?"

Rias reached out and took it, her expression puzzled.

Upon closer inspection, it was a short spear that bore some resemblance to the True Longinus.

It was only about as long as a forearm. But after examining it for a moment, Rias's expression suddenly changed.

Because she could sense a divine aura radiating from it.

It was unmistakably the aura of the True Longinus.

"Noticed it?" Kaiser said, observing her expression. "Since you've realized, then keep it safe."

"To craft this artificial Sacred Gear, I had to painfully chip off a fragment from the Holy Spear. It took quite a while before the spear was fully restored."

Yes.

This was an artificial Sacred Gear crafted from a fragment of the True Longinus.