"What exactly are you people trying to do!?"
Haruna was nervous inside, but her small face put on a fierce glare as she stared at the uninvited guests who had come knocking at their door. None of these people in front of her were pushovers—most of them possessed Sacred Gears.
Especially that black-haired little girl dressed rather revealingly. The symbiote on her body was constantly feeding Haruna an unmistakable signal: unbeatable.
Right now, they could only remain within the defensive barrier surrounding the house. This barrier would take those people quite some time to break through by force—but if that Ophis were to make a move, it would only take an instant.
Raize's clone had already sent Haruna a signal: stall them—he was on his way.
Cao Cao, ever the sharp-minded schemer, naturally noticed something off about Haruna. He glanced at the house in front of him and spoke calmly:
"It seems the target isn't home. This defensive barrier is of a fairly high level, but if we want to break it without causing a disturbance, we'll have to ask Lady Ophis to act. First, capture these two girls as hostages."
Ophis's clear, indifferent gaze seemed to pierce straight through the barrier and into the house itself.
There was the aura of a necromancer… and also this holy aura. Why did it resemble the long-dead God of Bible?
Already somewhat interested, Ophis gently raised her hand.
Whoosh!
A pitch-black serpent instantly shot forward and struck the barrier. Opening its mouth, the black serpent devoured the barrier itself, consuming it completely in an instant.
Pop!
A soft energy sound rang out. Before the horrified eyes of Haruna and Asia, the barrier around Raize's home shattered like a bubble and vanished.
"All right, little ladies. We have no intention of hurting you. We merely want to secure a bit of initiative in the negotiations that will follow."
Cao Cao looked indifferently at the two girls before him—a Magical Girl and a Sacred Gear holder. Extraordinary, yes, but that was all.
Their target was Raize. With these two hostages in hand, things would become much easier later on.
As someone who aspired to be a hegemon, Cao Cao did not consider such methods despicable.
"Hm?"
However, the world was always full of variables.
Just as the others were about to step forward and seize Haruna and Asia, the scene before them caused everyone to freeze for a brief moment.
The image seemed to glitch.
Haruna and Asia, who had been preparing to resist separately, as well as the captured Toujou sisters—all of them vanished right before their eyes.
No warning. No abnormal fluctuation. They simply disappeared under the watchful gaze of the entire group.
Ophis noticed something unusual. She blinked her pure obsidian eyes and slowly turned to look behind her.
But just as Cao Cao—the leader—was about to react and raise his guard, an overwhelming pressure, as heavy as the firmament itself, slammed down upon the group.
Aside from Ophis, everyone staggered.
Those with weaker strength were smashed directly into the ground, pinned down as if by some invisible massive weight, sprawled helplessly across the earth.
The spatial aura that Georg had spread out and enveloped the area with Dimension Lost was suddenly stained with another's color. Before Georg's expression could darken further, the authority over the space was forcibly seized.
Everyone was dragged into a brand-new pocket space.
The sky was golden, while everything else was identical to reality.
Raize's house. The streets. Road signs. Everything was indistinguishable from the real world, as if reality itself had been copied wholesale and presented before them.
The sudden spatial transfer did not separate Cao Cao's group. As they remained on guard, a radiant, holy-gold spatial vortex manifested directly in front of Cao Cao.
"This really is quite the honor—so many distinguished guests showing up at my place. I've already had a few big shots visit recently."
The instant the voice rang out, everyone felt their hair stand on end and their pupils constrict violently.
All of them turned around at once—and what they saw sent their sense of urgency skyrocketing.
From the golden vortex stepped forth a man with a cold expression, his gaze locked firmly onto them.
Behind him followed several vague silhouettes.
For a few seconds, the air fell into absolute silence.
Other than the top-tier fighters in Cao Cao's group, merely meeting Raize's gaze felt like their souls were about to be crushed under its weight.
The pressure contained in that single look was extraordinary.
In front of him, ordinary beings were no different from microorganisms—infinitesimally small.
"You are Raize Yotsuki?"
Cao Cao gripped the True Longinus and took a stance, cold sweat rolling down his forehead as he stared at Raize.
Raize stood before them together with his fully armed ship girls, all of them wearing the same icy expressions.
In front of him and to both sides, Asia and Haruna looked at Raize in a daze—then lit up with joy, as if seeing their pillar of support.
The Toujou sisters had also been unbound and freed from their seals.
They had not sensed the approach at all. Nor had they seen any movement. Yet right under their noses, Raize had silently taken away the two girls—and the captives within their encirclement.
Such an invasion was invisible, unfathomable.
Their vigilance had to be raised to the absolute limit.
"What overwhelming power… this tyrannical pressure—and such a pure human aura. Have you surpassed the limits of existence?"
Cao Cao stared at Raize with burning eyes, his face filled with undisguised excitement.
Without question, the man before him was human. There was not the slightest impurity in his aura.
How had he reached such a level?
At that thought, Cao Cao looked at Raize with obsession and fervor, extending a heartfelt invitation:
"O hero of humanity, would you stand with us? Join us in exploring the limits of mankind. You could even be considered half a member of our faction already—what do you say?"
There was no deceit in Cao Cao's words. Like his ancestors, he cherished talent.
His ideal was to explore humanity's ultimate limits and prove to all factions that mankind was not weak.
However, Raize—who walked the path of domination—had no interest whatsoever in standing alongside them.
He ignored Cao Cao completely and shifted his gaze to Ophis instead.
Only she was worthy of his respect and seriousness.
"To think the Infinite Dragon God would personally come here."
A cold smile appeared on Raize's face. Sensing the hostility surging through Raize's mental link, the Iron Blood ship girls had already pointed their cannons on the group, black-red high-density spiritual energy igniting uniformly across their bodies.
Through the mental network, Raize ordered them to keep their distance from the black-haired girl and to beware of the main enemies' special abilities.
He had already shared the intelligence with them. The rest would depend on their own judgment.
Real combat was inevitable sooner or later. This unexpected incident would simply serve as an early trial.
Raize stared at the petite girl who appeared like a black hole within his vision. Among the entire group, only this existence was worth his attention.
Under his pressure, she showed no reaction at all—still unfathomable as ever. Just standing there without releasing any power, yet she caused Raize's battle lust to surge.
"I suddenly feel an urge to devour you. The moment I saw you, this impulse was born."
Ignoring Cao Cao and the others entirely, Raize's azure-blue eyes locked onto Ophis, dual-serpent staff sigils flashing within them.
A desire to consume her welled up from his very cells—they trembled in response.
Terrifying, violent dark-golden spiritual pressure began to overflow from Raize's body. The power of the Universe of Gold surged, and the soul mass he had accumulated roared within his aura.
"!!!"
Cao Cao and the others, having been utterly disregarded, felt anger rise—but it was instantly crushed by the sheer shock of Raize's spiritual pressure.
The gravity weighing upon their bodies and souls became unbearable. A heaven-like pressure descended from the void, forcing their souls to wail as they collapsed to the ground in disgrace.
Cao Cao, bracing himself with the True Longinus, along with a few others who could barely lift their heads, stared blankly at the man smiling at Ophis.
Within that pressure, he saw tens of thousands—no, hundreds of thousands—of skulls representing souls, their eyes blazing with frenzied battle intent.
No… that density and oppression went far beyond that. It had to be at least millions.
A tyrant who dominated souls like this—he was like a king of hell.
"Soldiers to soldiers, generals to generals. As for the others—please take your stage elsewhere."
Raize's tone became refined and elegant, his voice carrying a dignified resonance that brooked no refusal.
Golden light flashed in his eyes.
In an instant, the prepared ship girls and the stunned members of Cao Cao's group were all forcibly cleared from the field and transferred away.
In Cao Cao's vision, the golden hue was like a world-devouring abyss. Golden chaos swallowed them mercilessly.
When they were transferred again to a vast new world, the pressure eased somewhat with Raize's absence.
Cao Cao's group had been scattered across different locations. After a brief moment of disorientation, they regained consciousness.
What greeted them was a sky dyed entirely in holy gold.
And most striking of all—a colossal golden castle floating at the highest point before them.
They stood upon massive levitating stone platforms, momentarily dazed by the sight.
"Beautiful, isn't it?"
The white-haired exorcist Siegfried stiffened at the unfamiliar voice, instantly drawing the demonic emperor sword Gram.
Turning toward the voice, he saw several beautiful and elegant women.
A red-haired, cold and glamorous beauty in a naval uniform—Royal Navy ship girl Monarch.
A snow-white-haired, flawless, holy-looking woman with an emotionless yet polite smile, deep blue eyes filled with sharpness—Illustrious.
Two purple-haired girls radiating clear hostility—Javelin, holding a mechanical long spear, and Unicorn, cradling a living, doll-like companion in her arms, her pale lavender eyes shining with icy light.
"Please perish here."
Monarch issued the command coldly. The positron city-destroying cannons on both sides of her body instantly charged to maximum.
Fighter craft launched from the carrier decks of Illustrious and Unicorn, engines roaring with killing intent.
At that moment, Siegfried saw the sky drowned in laser fire like torrential rain. Energy bombardments capable of erasing cities and vaporizing tens of kilometers screamed toward him.
More importantly, he could not escape.
Javelin, having entered acceleration, sealed all possible evasion routes under the barrage, her spear striking viciously at every vital point.
---
Elsewhere in the Universe of Gold, the Hero Heracles—bearer of the Sacred Gear Variant Detonation—landed in another sector.
His opponents were all heavyweight existences.
Laffey shed all laziness. Bismarck equipped the living dragon armor crafted by Raize, the cannon within the dragon's maw charging a gravity wave like a black hole.
As for the blonde beauty Jeanne d'Arc—she faced Roon, whose chilling smile treated her like a stress-relief toy.
Prinz Eugen bit her finger with a sadistic grin, madness shining in her eyes as she spoke with delight:
"Hero Jeanne, inheritor of an ancestral name? Let's see if you're really a hero. Don't relax for even a second—or you'll die~"
Jeanne versus the crystallized embodiments of historical warships—Eugen found it fascinating.
Roon, however, only wanted to destroy the woman before her. Knowing her opponent's background, she still launched a brutal Shiki Ya Otome-style charge, flashing forward with ghostly steps to savor her first real external battle.
Georg, who wielded Dimension Lost, and Leonardo, the creator of magical beasts, were likewise separated. In this bizarre space, spatial interference was severely restricted—only those with foundations far surpassing Raize could hope to interfere.
As for Cao Cao, the leader of the Hero Faction—he received the warmest welcome of all.
Top-tier ship girls such as Belfast, Enterprise, and Friedrich charged toward him at once.
Cao Cao did not underestimate them just because they were beautiful girls. He immediately activated his Subspecies Balance Breaker—Polar Night Longinus Chakravartin.
A radiant holy wheel manifested behind him, with seven bowling-ball-sized orbs floating around.
Each orb possessed a different power:
Cakkaratana: Destroys weapons, prioritizing the strongest on the field; can also transform into a spear to pierce the opponent's abdomen.
Itthiratana: Completely seals female abilities for a period of time, starting from the strongest; unavoidable.
Assaratana: Freely swaps positions between enemies and himself.
Maniratana: Absorbs enemy attacks and redirects them.
Hatthiratana: Grants flight, also allowing others to fly.
Gahapatiratana: Creates multiple clones.
Parinayakaratana: Possesses immense destructive power.
Despite knowing all this, the ship girls were still wounded. Cao Cao's strength as the Hero Faction leader was unquestionable.
The Cakkaratana destroyed Enterprise's laser-firing weapon and even wounded her side.
Enterprise merely glanced at the injury without changing expression, abandoned her bow, and activated her space fighters at full output.
A ferocious, airtight barrage surged toward Cao Cao like a tidal wave.
Friedrich's dragon-shaped living rigging unleashed energy shells like tailed-beast bombs, each capable of vaporizing mountains.
Cao Cao immediately used the Itthiratana to seal her, relieving the pressure.