"Sa— show me what else you've got, then~"
Akuto flashed behind the evolved Supreme Teigu.
"Waaah—!"
Sensing his approach, the Supreme Teigu also turned into mist and vanished on the spot.
"Oh? It can become cloud-qi too?"
"Looks like, rather than the Teigu borrowing the East Sea Cloud Dragon's power, it's the Cloud Dragon that has possessed the Teigu."
"Unfortunately… if that's all, it's still not enough!"
[Leviathan Style — Sea of Dissolving]
Shwaa—
Blue-violet Leviathan water gushed forth. In an instant, thunderclouds blanketed the sky and the "new map" below darkened.
Bathed in the highly corrosive Leviathan water, the figure that had dispersed into fog re-emerged.
More than that— under the fierce corrosion, the dragon-scaled surface of the Supreme Teigu began to melt away.
"GRAAAAH—!!"
With a threatening roar, the dragon queen spread her jaws wide.
Spirit power and dragon qi gathered madly, condensing into raw annihilation.
Judging by the energy level: after fusing with the East Sea Cloud Dragon, the Supreme Teigu had reached Trans-Maō class!
"A beam clash? I never turn down a beam clash." Akuto smiled.
The Boosted Gear unfurled— twelve draconic wings radiating brutal menace.
Each wing was studded with multiple green jewels that began to hum with pressure—
"GRAAAAH!!"
As the dragon-roars rolled, dozens of green jewels on Akuto's draconic form blazed to life.
Green aura swelled at his chest, surging and surging—
[Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! …]
[Longinus — Smasher! (Shinmetsu Sui-geki-hō)]
BOOM!!!
A pillar of pure green aura lanced from his chest!
The red Destruction Beam met Akuto's Longinus Smasher in mid-air.
[Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!]
There was no suspense— the red beam was forced back.
Under the pounding of the Smasher, one arm and two draconic heads of the Supreme Teigu burst into vapor and scattered.
"Hyup!"
Bringing down a crushing axe-kick, Akuto dropped from the sky and stomped the East Sea Cloud Dragon into the ground.
He looked at the struggling Teigu pinned beneath his heel. "So, East Sea Cloud Dragon, was it?"
"I don't care what pact you made with the First Emperor. Here's your last chance—"
"Submit, or die."
Akuto couldn't remain in this world forever, and Esdeath couldn't stay for long either. Leaving a failsafe—the East Sea Cloud Dragon—behind in the Akame world would be ideal.
"GRRAAAAH!!"
A colossal dragon soul burst out of the Supreme Teigu. As it emerged, it condensed into a tangible form and coiled around Akuto's draconic arm!
Crk-crk-crk…
Bound by the Cloud Dragon's true body, Akuto's dragon arm grated under immense torque— the sound was not encouraging.
"So that's your choice?"
"Then I'll say this only once— you chose wrong."
[First Secret Sword — Netsu-geki] (Net-Strike)
The "First Secret Sword — Release Strike" focuses all of the user's force onto a single point—
among the Seven Secret Swords, it's the most powerful anti-object ultimate.
Bam!
Crack!
Bone-splintering echoed.
The Net-Strike detonated; while inflicting massive damage on the Cloud Dragon, it also broke Akuto out of the serpent bind!
Seizing the opening, a hundreds-meter golden holy sword bloomed again in Akuto's hand.
[Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! …]
As the strongest Super Danger Beast of the Akame world, the East Sea Cloud Dragon could wield spirit power, mana, dragon qi, and more; its physical parameters were likewise top-tier.
But that strength was also a weakness.
With both magical and physical defenses, it often neglected active guarding and focused purely on offense.
And that… was the flaw Akuto aimed for.
[Concept Imbuement — Anti-Magic]
[Seventh Secret Creation — Lightning Flash]
Riding the extreme speed of Lightning Flash, the Devil-Slaying Holy Sword—now bearing Anti-Magic—ripped through the Cloud Dragon's torso!
"GRAAAAH—!!"
Bisected, the East Sea Cloud Dragon screamed with pain it had never known.
"Oooooh!!"
Fortunately, as the world's strongest lifeform, its combat experience was rich— it instantly turned its body into cloud-qi to staunch the grievous wound.
Once vaporized, the gushing wound sealed at once— and the dragon vanished again.
"Hmph— trying to run?"
[Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! …]
[Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! …]
[Condense! Condense! Condense! Condense!]
While charging, Akuto compressed without restraint.
What was once an Explosive Sphere tens of kilometers wide was crushed down to one kilometer across!
[Explosion]
BOOM!!
Under the hyper-compressed sphere, the East Sea Cloud Dragon was forced out of cloud-form by the crushing mana density!
Shaken back into solid form, its draconic body was devoured by the raging sphere.
"Now!"
[Dragon-Eater!]
"GRRAAAAH—!!"
At the dragon's weakest moment, a crimson dragon soul shot from Akuto's palm—
the evolved Red Dragon Emperor's own soul.
The half-transparent dragon spirit gave a thunderous roar and pierced the Cloud Dragon's body!
[Soul-Taken — Dragon Soul Devoured, complete]
A heartbeat later, the East Sea Cloud Dragon went slack-souled, abandoning all resistance— and, together with the Supreme Teigu, was swallowed completely by the Explosive Sphere.
[Ding!]
Main Story Quest — Finale: The Minister's Counterattack (Gold) — Complete.
Reward Acquired: Second-Tier "Breaker" Pieces.
Second-Tier Breaker Pieces: evolved chess pieces surpassing the standard Breaker traits.
Trait 1 — Power Amplification:
Pieces now apply race-specific corrections and boosts. Each time you subdue or contract with a new race, a matching set of corrected pieces is added. Your current piece-set has been redistributed by race.
Trait 2 — Quantity Amplification:
Aside from special roles (Queen, Rook, Knight, Bishop), Pawn-class pieces auto-generate one Breaker piece per day. First-tier Breakers could field a powerful team; second-tier Breakers, given time, can field a powerful army.
Trait 3 — Stealth Amplification:
Evolved pieces gain invisibility and physique-alteration; even professional instruments can't detect anomalies.
Trait 4 — Resurrection Amplification:
Ordinary devil pieces can revive the recently dead.
Breaker pieces can pull back those long dead as long as the body is intact.
Second-tier Breakers can resurrect someone with only part of the body and part of the soul.
Note: You cannot revive any being whose power exceeds the host.
"Sigh—"
Channeling the power of God-Avatar Vāmana, Akuto passed through the crumbling Supreme Teigu and dragged out a bloated, blood-soaked lump.
"Y-you…"
The Minister tried to curse Akuto— but found he hadn't even the strength to write the word "kill," and could only glare murderously.
Meeting that glare, Akuto beamed.
"Minister Onesto, you've gorged on luxury for who knows how long— how could you be allowed to die so easily?"
"With a body that large, I'm sure you can endure 3,600 cuts of slow slicing. And as lamp oil for a sky-lantern, you'll burn for a very long time."
Facing Akuto's dazzling smile, the Minister's terror peaked; he could only tremble.
Meanwhile, the Revolutionary Army.
As Akuto settled the Minister, Najenda launched a full assault on the Revolutionaries' headquarters.
Endless troops and supplies poured south via teleportation arrays, while a steady stream of wounded were returned to Chang'an for treatment.
After the Minister's fall, Akuto didn't meddle overmuch with the remaining unification.
What comes too easily is never cherished.
He had already shaped the so-called Great Trend and did not micromanage.
For post-founding stability, Akuto allowed the Trend to do the work.
He wasn't a savior; he still had to temper and sort the realms.
He built Chang'an and pushed social development not only to swiftly "collect" the Akame world's heroines, but also because the system's main quest demanded it.
Everything requires a process.
If productivity sprints ahead while the people's mindset lags, disaster follows.
Akuto had already accelerated productivity greatly. Considering most of the Empire still lived in an agrarian mode, he had no intention of stuffing them into the industrial age overnight.
All of it— was for the prosperity of the newborn Empire.
Seven days later.
Najenda purged the southern remnants of the Revolutionaries.
The Imperial army that had marched on Chang'an, with its rear gone, surrendered.
In the ruined Capital, Akuto raised a hand to the sky.
Blue-violet mana surged, and he used a DxD-world Reconstruction Formula to rebuild the Capital itself.
After completing the "Main Story Finale," Akuto could finally use out-world formulas freely.
Bearing witness to a miracle only gods should weave, the land and people resonated— mountains, rivers, earth, and folk all answered.
Strange, luminous currents gathered toward Akuto.
He closed his eyes and felt.
"So this is dragon qi… and national fate? It really is a lot like faith power in the DxD world."
(End of Chapter)
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