Noticing the way Tohru was looking at him, Takumi felt pretty helpless.
He had already gone all out trying to seal away his Authority of Beauty.
But just like Freya, even if he sealed it, he himself had already been altered by that Authority.
His natural charm alone had already reached the level of a goddess of beauty.
Stack that on top of all his other traits, and his appeal was basically on the level of a succubus reincarnated.
Compared to him, even his family's dream demon, Maria, looked like roadside trash.
Pretending not to notice the change in Tohru's gaze, Takumi changed the subject.
"Don't be so fatalistic. I'm not some ordinary human. I'm a world-famous exorcist and a demon. Though personally, I still think of myself as human."
Faced with Takumi's self-introduction, Tohru sniffed at his scent.
"Sniff, sniff... you really don't smell like just a human. It's complicated... but it smells really good~"
"..."
Hearing Tohru gradually slipping into a damn, bro, you smell amazing kind of tone, Takumi silently steered the topic toward the sword.
"So your problem is the sword in your back, right? I can pull it out for you."
"Mm... huh? Pull it out? That's impossible. That's a divine sword."
Before Tohru could even finish, Takumi leapt onto her back.
Startled by his sudden move, Tohru hurriedly said, "Hey! Even if you're not just some ordinary human, that's still a divine sword. If you touch it carelessly, you'll be torn to pieces—"
She hadn't finished speaking before Takumi casually pinched the blade between two fingers and, with a light pull, drew the thick sword free.
Splurt!
The moment the blade came out, crimson dragon blood sprayed everywhere.
Takumi was drenched from head to toe in Tohru's blood.
Every inch of his skin immediately began devouring that dragon blood, then returned to normal in the blink of an eye.
His body and brain automatically began absorbing, converting, and editing it.
[Ding! Obtained Trait: Dragon King Bloodline (Gold), Self-Generating Magicules (Purple)]
[Dragon King Bloodline (Gold): Your bloodline originates from the king of dragons. You possess overwhelming magical potential and physical potential, an extremely long lifespan, and upon reaching adulthood alone, you are powerful enough to destroy the world.]
[Self-Generating Magicules (Purple): Your body can produce magicules (mana) on its own, regardless of outside conditions.]
In an instant, boundless life force surged out from inside him. Layer after layer of golden dragon scales briefly appeared over the surface of his skin before vanishing again.
Every one of his cells had become like a miniature fusion reactor, constantly generating magical power on its own.
Just from acquiring those two traits, his strength shot up like crazy.
He had only just broken into the Super Maou-class, and now he was already racing toward the Chief God-class.
And it wasn't just his mana that was rising. His physical strength was also exploding upward.
The raw force in his body, already enough to crush mountains, instantly multiplied more than tenfold.
"With my strength now, even among demons, I could definitely be called a Transcendent..."
Transcendent wasn't an exact power tier. It was more of an honorary title within a race, used for those who surpassed that race's strongest.
For demons, the strongest normally only reached Maou-class.
Anyone who broke past that limit could technically be called a Transcendent.
And usually, the ones worthy of that title were the Chief Gods and Maou Lords of their respective systems.
With his current power, Takumi could step into any pantheon and legitimately qualify as one of its Chief Gods.
"My normal state is still a bit short of true Chief God-class, but if I activate Balance Breaker, I should be solidly there. And if I use Juggernaut Drive on top of that, I'd already be approaching the level of the Dragon Gods."
Takumi clenched his fists, forcefully suppressing the power inside him, which was surging like a volcanic eruption.
Seeing Takumi suddenly freeze in place, Tohru's expression turned worried.
"Y-you're okay, right?!"
"Haha, of course I'm fine. Something like this can't hurt me."
Coming back to himself, Takumi looked down at the divine sword in his hand.
Before he could react, the sword collapsed into a cloud of light particles.
Those particles surged like a tide and poured into Takumi's body.
"Oh?"
Thinking for a moment that he was about to get possessed, Takumi raised a brow.
Just as he was about to beat the hell out of the sword, he realized it had automatically fused into the Red Dragon Emperor's Gauntlet.
Almost immediately, Takumi felt a new ability appear inside the gauntlet.
[Dragons' Bane] — a dragon-killing property that gave it special effectiveness against dragons, suppressing their power, regeneration, and more.
"So that's the power of the divine sword?"
His awareness turned inward, and inside the gauntlet he saw a tiny, adorable little girl sleeping quietly.
"...The sword spirit of the divine sword? And she's a little loli."
Takumi's killing intent instantly disappeared, replaced by contemplation.
Since his Red Dragon Emperor's Gauntlet had been transformed from a trait, it never had Ddraig's soul inside it to begin with.
This divine sword's spirit seemed to have taken that slot instead.
A gauntlet with an actual soul inside it might climb even higher in quality.
The only issue was that this sword spirit was damaged and still recovering.
"...Whatever. I have absolute control over the gauntlet anyway, so having an extra soul in there isn't a problem. And if she can manifest physically later... that actually sounds pretty nice."
A weapon that could talk, sleep, and play was obviously way more fun than an ordinary one.
With that thought, he withdrew his focus and looked at Tohru, then jumped lightly down from her back.
Now that the divine sword had been removed, the wound on Tohru's back began healing at astonishing speed.
Looking at Takumi, still perfectly fine and full of life, Tohru's face was full of disbelief.
"You're really okay... The divine sword really didn't hurt you. No matter what, thank you. I lost in battle against the gods and fled to this world. Maybe it's because you don't have any faith, but somehow you were able to pull out that sword. Either way, I'm truly grateful."
Tohru thanked him again and again.
She was genuinely grateful to the man who had saved her life.
On top of that, the man who had saved her also happened to be ridiculously handsome, which only made her want to get closer to him.
Takumi waved it off casually.
"It was nothing. I got something good out of it for free too."
"Hey~ Stop talking and come drink with me! You too, random dragon, and that handsome guy!"
Still carrying the wine bottle, Kobayashi laughed like an idiot and called out to the dragon and the man in front of her.
Seeing that, Takumi couldn't help but laugh helplessly.
"Fine, fine. But if we're drinking, we're not drinking trash like that. I've got the pure stuff."
As he spoke, Takumi took out a bottle of extremely high-purity divine wine.
He had brewed it himself, and even improved it a bit.
Because he had stripped out most of the divine power, even ordinary humans could drink it.
The tradeoff was that it didn't have quite as many benefits as the original divine wine.
Still, even a few sips would be enough to extend life and grant immortality to a normal person.
He had even mixed in phoenix tears. If the drinker got lucky, it could grant them a phoenix's undying body as well.
...
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