82: Chapter 82

Rias Gremory never expected that Akeno's cousin, Himejima Suzaku—the current head of the Himejima Clan—would actually take the initiative to ask to become her servant.

Of course, the condition was that she had to help Himejima Suzaku rebuild the Himejima Clan.

For the Gremory Clan, rebuilding an Exorcist family in the human world was not a big deal at all.

But just as Akeno Himejima had said, Rias Gremory had always disliked using transactions to recruit servants.

However, the appearance of Himejima Suzaku was indeed the key bargaining chip for her to defeat Riser Phenex.

With three High-Class Devils, plus Koneko and Bennia, as long as they coordinated properly, even if Riser Phenex had gathered all his servants, they weren't without a chance of winning.

This thought struck Rias Gremory exactly where she was most vulnerable.

Compared to being forced to accept that arranged marriage which would trap her for a lifetime, that small bit of discomfort in her heart was nothing.

Himejima Suzaku didn't say much, just nodded.

The next second, the magic circle beneath Rias Gremory's feet began to activate.

Crimson light reflected off the walls, and the red glow could be vaguely seen from outside the old school building.

In the center of the Devil reincarnation ritual, the crest of the Gremory Clan became increasingly clear.

Himejima Suzaku gently closed her eyes.

At the very last moment, she glanced at herself in the mirror beside her.

That was her final appearance as a human.

From this moment on, she would become a Devil, hated and hunted by all Exorcist families—including the Himejima Clan.

She had no other choice.

To rebuild the Himejima Clan in this Far East, she had to take an unconventional path.

Even if it meant borrowing the power of Devils, she accepted it.

She absolutely could not let the Himejima Clan disappear completely in the long river of history.

At this time, Rias Gremory had already cast the Evil Pieces into the reincarnation ritual.

Just as Luo Yu had predicted—it was a Pawn piece.

One. Two. ... Five. ... Eight!

Rias Gremory threw all eight of her Pawn pieces in, a result that surprised even herself.

She had originally thought six would be enough.

She never expected that it would actually take eight.

At the same time, an uncontrollable surge of excitement welled up from the bottom of her heart.

Being able to reincarnate using eight Evil Pieces in itself demonstrated how astonishing Himejima Suzaku's potential was, not to mention that her own existing strength accounted for a large portion as well.

Wrapped in crimson light, Himejima Suzaku's aura was climbing steadily.

It surged directly to the peak of a High-Class Devil.

But the threshold of an Ultimate-Class Devil was like an impassable chasm.

Her aura fluctuated several times, but she failed to break through successfully.

Rias Gremory hoped from the bottom of her heart that Himejima Suzaku could charge directly to the Ultimate-Class.

In that case, her Rating Game with Riser Phenex would be secure.

A pair of pitch-black wings unfurled from Himejima Suzaku's back; the aura belonging to a human completely dissipated, replaced by a cold and deep energy. "So this is what it feels like to be a Devil..."

She opened her eyes and felt the power surging within her; it was more than twice as strong compared to her previous fragile human body.

She had originally been a Spirit Beast contractor and followed a martial arts path, so this improvement wasn't unexpected.

If it were a pure human martial arts master, the increase in physical strength after reincarnating into a Devil wouldn't have been this significant. "Suzaku, welcome to the Occult Research Club."

Rias Gremory wore a smile on her face. "I look forward to working with you, President."

Like Akeno Himejima, Himejima Suzaku addressed Rias Gremory as President.

Days passed, and the atmosphere between the Three Realms became increasingly tense.

There wasn't much trust between the major pantheons to begin with, and once Mount Sumeru was finished, this paper-thin trust was almost completely shattered.

Serafall had been extremely busy lately.

She was in charge of the Underworld's diplomatic affairs and had to maintain relations between the Underworld and other pantheons. Unfortunately, the Underworld was the prime suspect in this matter—two Maou-Class Super Devils certainly had the ability to take down Mount Sumeru.

Taking advantage of the fact that the contract backlash hadn't fully kicked in yet, she snuck back to the villa to catch her breath, not even having the energy to argue with Luo Yu.

Luo Yu, on the other hand, had completely ignored outside affairs during this period.

He had been locked in his room, studying the Eternal Paradise released by that God within the internal space of the Boosted Gear.

The more he studied it, the more he felt his understanding of this thing deepen by another layer.

Consequently, the divine art Eternal Paradise that he had mastered was also much more practical than the inherited knowledge Michael had given him initially.

If Luo Yu were to cast [Eternal Paradise] now, he still didn't have the ability to give birth to holy beings on the level of angels.

However, in terms of the materialization of [Eternal Paradise], he could at least turn more than five complete layers into a semi-illusory, semi-real state.

Like the fighting style used to crush the God of the Underworld, Hades, before, the power was more than doubled compared to back then.

Of course, this crude method was basically useless to him now.

Not all Super Devils were like Hades, bound to the Underworld and forced to take hits head-on.

For example, Shiva would just run if he couldn't win, unless Luo Yu smashed [Eternal Paradise] directly onto the Hindu Pantheon, forcing him to engage.

As for the target Luo Yu was truly eyeing, the Beast Emperor, there was some good news.

Yesterday—

Luo Yu successfully tore a finger-width opening in the seal and extracted a trace of the Beast Emperor's power from the seal of the Ninth Heaven.

After he carefully swallowed it into his body, ten Origin Gold Patterns in the dark space shattered all at once.

This result made Luo Yu gasp.

Ten broken Origin Gold Patterns were equivalent to the gains of absorbing one hundred energy crystals.

And this trace of power was not even a drop in the ocean for the Beast Emperor; it recovered to its original state in just a few breaths.

Luo Yu's eyes lit up.

At this rate, breaking through to become a Super Devil really had a chance.

Of course, the danger was also not small.

The seal had just opened a tiny bit, and the Beast Emperor almost rushed out.

If Luo Yu hadn't reacted quickly, stopped his actions, and reinforced the seal with another layer, the Beast Emperor would likely have broken free long ago.

If that had really happened, Luo Yu would have been shooting himself in the foot.

...

Today—

Luo Yu again carefully extracted a trace of power from the Beast Emperor, used it to break another ten Origin Gold Patterns, and then quickly resealed it.

The unwilling roar of the Beast Emperor could be vaguely heard in his ears.

A trace of baleful energy remained at the repaired breach of the seal, which Luo Yu cleaned up with a wave of his hand. "Whew—"

Luo Yu raised his hand and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

Every time he extracted power from the Beast Emperor, he had an illusion—that the guy looked like it was about to break the seal the next second.

Perhaps it wasn't an illusion.

He vaguely felt that with the seal being opened and closed like this, one day the Beast Emperor would really rush out.

However, he couldn't worry about that now; increasing his strength first was what mattered. "It's actually similar to practicing by extracting the residual power of gods from the Ancient Battlefield back then."

Luo Yu shook his head with a wry smile.

Luo Yu stopped his cultivation and pondered another matter in his heart.

Previously, he had been very careful, fearing that the Evil God's power was too fierce, so he could only grind it down and absorb it bit by bit with his Source Dragon Soul. But now he didn't dare to recklessly extract the Beast Emperor's power, and the reason was actually similar—he was afraid of letting it out.

He pondered in his heart.

If he could chew through more of that "Eternal Paradise" thrown out by the Evil God, he could tear the opening of the seal a bit wider and extract more of the Beast Emperor's power to use. Doing this might allow the Beast Emperor to break free of the seal early, but if he kept squeezing it out drop by drop like now, who knows how long he'd have to wait?

He couldn't wait that long.

He still had to rely on this bit of power to break through to the Super Devil level.

If it really came to it and he couldn't hold it anymore, he would let Ophis take action and throw the Beast Emperor directly into the Dimensional Gap, leaving it for the True Red Dragon God Emperor to handle.

With the True Red Dragon God Emperor's strength, dealing with a Beast Emperor that had been drained of most of its power would be much easier than dealing with that Evil God. "Sona and the others seem to be going to the Familiar Forest today to help Ruruko Nimura find a familiar."

Luo Yu suddenly remembered what Sona had said before leaving.

Momo Hanakai and the others had already signed familiars last year; among Sona's subordinates, only Ruruko Nimura didn't have one yet.

For a Devil, a familiar couldn't really help much in the early stages; at most, it just made life a bit more convenient. However, if raised well, later on, a familiar could become a significant combat force.

Luo Yu had thought about raising a familiar before.

Later, he thought about it and decided against it.

That thing grew too slowly; if he had the time to train a familiar, he might as well use it to improve his own strength.

As long as he was strong enough, the small assistance of a familiar wouldn't matter at all. "However, it's time to pay a visit to Tiamat; it's time to collect the first debt."

A drop of dragon blood appeared in Luo Yu's hand.

That was the blood of the Chaos Karma Dragon, Tiamat.

The only female member among the Five Great Dragon Kings.

Himejima Suzaku had just finished today's training session and returned to the Occult Research Club.

She glanced at Rias Gremory in surprise. "A familiar? You mean, I need to contract a familiar?"

Cousin Suzaku, you are the heir to the Himejima Clan; things like Devil familiars shouldn't be unfamiliar to you.

As Rias Gremory spoke, she raised her hand and summoned her familiar; a small bat fluttered its wings and flew out, landing and transforming into the appearance of a small maid, bowing slightly to the two of them.

The strength of that familiar didn't even count as a Low-Class Devil.

Himejima Suzaku frowned; a familiar of this level was completely useless to her.

Akeno walked over carrying two cups of freshly brewed black tea and placed them in front of Himejima Suzaku and Rias Gremory respectively. "Cousin Suzaku, we Devils have proper work to do, and familiars are indeed convenient to use."

Himejima Suzaku nodded slightly, not refusing.

She already had a Spirit Beast contract, could summon the Vermilion Bird Spirit Beast, and could call upon the Himejima Clan's guardian deity, the Fire God Kagutsuchi. These were what could be called truly powerful familiars that could directly increase her combat effectiveness.

But a Devil's familiar was different; it had to be nurtured slowly, bit by bit.

Unlike the Vermilion Bird Spirit Beast, which was passed down through the family for generations; as long as you gained its approval, you could immediately obtain powerful strength.

In the past few days, Himejima Suzaku had not only completely mastered Devil power but had also grasped most of the daily work of a Devil.

Distributing flyers, helping people who summoned Devils fulfill their wishes—she had an understanding of these tasks.

Only then did she realize that pure-blooded Devils like Rias Gremory were completely different from the Stray Devils that the Himejima Clan had expelled before.

These pure-blooded Devils were more rational and had more tact in doing things.

Especially the Devil flyers and performance reviews; it really shocked her worldview a bit.

After all, the Devils she had seen before were mostly bloody and cruel Stray types.

Pure-blooded Devils were rare to begin with, their strength was outrageously high, and the pure-blooded noble factions behind them were not something the Himejima Clan could afford to provoke.

Knock, knock, knock. A knock on the door sounded. "Come in."