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The capital of the Evie Empire—
Deep within a colossal metallic mountain that stretched ten thousand meters into the sky. At its core, Ryo sat in the center of three enormous steel thrones, a massive screen glowing before him.
Below him, three gigantic mechanical lifeforms, each over seven meters tall, knelt on the ground with their heads lowered.
Compared to them, both Ryo Yagami and Chimune Chipaoti standing beside him looked almost insignificant.
Yet despite the overwhelming difference in size, the three towering machines wore nothing but humble, submissive expressions.
"Thirteen million mechanical lifeforms, plus over a hundred million inferior-tier intelligent machines, and a huge number of slave troops. In terms of scale, that's a pretty suitable force."
Ryo looked at the population data on the screen and couldn't help feeling impressed.
Thirteen million mechanical lifeforms, each at least at the level of a high-class Devil, sounded small at first.
But that was the problem. They weren't organic lifeforms. They felt no fear of pain, no fear of injury, not even fear of death.
And a single mechanical lifeform could command tens of thousands of lower-tier intelligent machines.
The longer he stared at the data, the more hopeless the DxD world seemed.
If Ryo hadn't shown up, with a force like this, any one of the Three Evil Gods could have wiped out the entire DxD world on their own.
After all, each of them commanded at least two powerhouses ranked among the four-digit class. Some had even more, with a few approaching the elite tier. Add in the Three Evil Gods themselves, each already strong even among elites, and DxD never really stood a chance.
As Ryo thought this over, he continued reviewing the classified data the Three Evil Gods had submitted.
"So Regalzerva has the Limit-Authority of Machinery and War... doesn't feel like much."
"Seraselbes has Machinery and Magic Engineering... now that's an interesting combo."
"And Melvazoa... oh, boy. He handles Machinery, Creation, and Existence. Creation and Existence, huh? That's quite the haul."
The moment he saw the Authority data, Ryo's eyes lit up.
These records were the result of countless invasions, gathered by the Three Evil Gods from innumerable worlds and strange races with all kinds of unique powers.
Aside from their innate mechanical nature, every other ability had been painstakingly pieced together by collecting and integrating concepts. Or better call it Limit-Authorities.
And among them, what interested Ryo most was Melvazoa's Creation and Existence.
Especially Creation.
"But even at the minimum, it would still take a hundred years before it's ready..."
Ryo narrowed his eyes at the data, then looked at Melvazoa with a teasing smile. "Melva-chan, what if your boss said he wants to strip the Power of Creation from you? Would you agree?"
The same Melvazoa who had arrogantly declared he'd erase everyone close to Ryo now kept his head lowered and answered respectfully, "All things shall follow the Lord's will."
Ryo chuckled. "Oh? So now you obey everything I say? That doesn't really match all the threats you were making earlier."
Melvazoa lowered his head more, "At the time, this subordinate only feared the possibility of being controlled by you. But now, after witnessing the Lord's exalted glory…"
"Alright, alright, enough. I'm getting goosebumps."
Ryo rubbed his arm like he actually had them, then kept flipping through the empire's records.
Eventually, one report caught his eye.
"E2712. Conflict outside AXA World with a magitech civilization calling itself the Time-Space Administration Bureau…"
"Time-Space Administration Bureau?" He muttered the name to himself before looking down at Melvazoa. "Melva. How strong are they?"
"At present, unknown. According to the sudden encounter three hundred years ago, in E2712, the information we gathered suggests the Time-Space Administration Bureau is a cross-dimensional force centered around magitech, primarily composed of organic lifeforms, namely humans, and controls a large number of worlds."
"Their main combat units appear to be called mages, ranked from F to SSS."
"However, because our infiltrating battleship system was detected by their countermeasures, we failed to obtain their world coordinates. They escaped successfully."
Hearing the report, Ryo narrowed his eyes, intrigued. "Increase the search efforts. I'm curious whether this Time-Space Administration Bureau is the one I'm thinking of."
Time-Space Administration Bureau. Mage rankings from E to SSS.
It sounded suspiciously similar to the Bureau from the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha.
But he couldn't be certain yet, and the Evie Empire's records were limited.
Then again, that made sense. An empire with over ten four-digit-class beings capable of destroying planets was considered a major force even in the multiverse. There weren't many who could afford to provoke them.
If it really was the Time-Space Administration Bureau from Ryo's memory... aside from ancient relics capable of destroying worlds and triggering dimensional quakes, they shouldn't have many who could stand against the Three Evil Gods and their subordinates.
But if his memory of Nanoha was right... Didn't that world have a crossover with A Certain Magical Index?
And hadn't those Magic Gods casually shown up there?
Thinking of that, Ryo clicked his tongue. "Yeah, no way I'm messing with that."
"Messing with what?" Chimune tilted her head, confused.
"Nothing." Ryo brushed the topic aside, resting his chin in one hand as he looked at the Three Evil Gods below.
Then he turned to her, "You don't have any objections to me controlling them instead of killing them?"
"Why would I?" Chimune turned toward him and smiled. "Compared to letting them die and be done with it, forcing them to serve their enemy forever, fighting desperately under his command... isn't that a far crueler punishment?"
Ryo fell silent for a moment. "I heard you were supposed to be gentle."
She replied calmly, "No matter how gentle someone is, if their home is destroyed, their people are exterminated, and they're driven into exile, forced to endure humiliation for thousands of years... they change."
Ryo sighed. "You're stronger than I thought. More adaptable, too."
As he spoke, he stood up and patted her soft shoulder, grinning. "Then, future Empress of the Evie Etoulde Empire, before I head back, how about joining me on that demon lady's bed for a little revenge? Something therapeutic for both body and mind."
Chimune pressed her lips together, staring at him in silence, as if making a wordless protest.
"Alright then. Since you agree, I won't hold back."
Before she could object, Ryo swept her into his arms and turned toward the deeper chambers of the palace, striding away. He was about to uncover the secret behind why she was known as the God of Breasts.
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