So brazen?
Magnus, facing Roy's unyielding aura, felt a headache brewing.
He wasn't here to pick a fight.
Sure, Roy's actions bent some rules, but his battlefield control was flawless.
The isolation barrier ensured Roy's clash with Toichiro Suzuki didn't touch civilians.
A Demon Lord-level fight, and the only damage was a few wrecked buildings.
For the U.S. government, that was trivial.
Their mages and espers could restore it in an hour.
But…
Glancing at the unconscious Toichiro, Magnus spoke again. "Red Dragon Emperor, I don't want a fight. It benefits neither of us."
"Hand over Toichiro Suzuki, take your crew, and leave the city."
"As for your reckless actions, we'll take it up with your Demon Lords later."
"Toichiro Suzuki?"
Roy raised a brow, catching on. "So that's why you're here. You've got your eye on him."
"Makes sense. Claw digging roots in the U.S. is kinda surprising."
"Unless… your government's been cozying up with Claw behind the scenes?"
"That's not your business."
Magnus activated his Sacred Gear.
The downed mechanical giants split into parts, reassembling mid-air into countless firearms.
"I'll say it one last time: hand over Toichiro and leave with your team."
"Talk's cheap. Fight if you want."
Roy snorted, natural energy and mana surging.
In moments, hundreds of magic circles formed, unleashing a mana torrent.
"Damn lunatic!"
Magnus countered with his guns.
Mana bullets fired, clashing with the oncoming firestorm.
Explosions popped like firecrackers, shockwaves rippling.
But Magnus noticed some bullets passed through the flames, hitting nothing.
"Illusion?"
He froze, alarm bells blaring.
Without hesitation, he triggered his boots' thrusters, blurring away.
A barrage of booms erupted.
Reappearing a hundred meters away, Magnus looked back—his former spot was a sea of fire.
"Pity. I hoped that'd finish you."
Roy's voice came from nearby.
He strolled toward Magnus.
With each crisp step, white mist spread across the street.
"Damn, is your energy infinite?!"
Magnus inhaled, feeling Toichiro's frustration.
Fresh off a major battle, Roy acted unbothered.
Facing the mist, Magnus hesitated, then reactivated his Sacred Gear.
The sky's gun array dismantled, forming steel wings on his back.
Mana blasted from exhausts, propelling Magnus to blinding speed.
In a blink, he was a dot, gone from Roy's sight.
Ran away.
"Coward."
Roy smirked, dispelling the mist without pursuit.
Truth be told, he was curious about Magnus's Sacred Gear.
But Magnus was a U.S. government rep.
Since he backed off, Roy wasn't bullheaded enough to chase.
Not impossible, just not worth it.
Grabbing Toichiro, Roy found Shou and the others a few streets away.
"Leader, you're here!"
Shou rushed up.
Seeing his dad floating, his face showed mixed emotions.
"Don't worry, he's alive."
Roy flicked a finger, using mana to pass Toichiro to Shou. "His attitude adjustment's on you."
"If he doesn't cooperate, bring him to me. I'll knock sense into him."
"Uh, shouldn't need that."
No one's stubborn enough to want another beating, right?
Shou scratched his head, planning to counsel his dad later.
"How's progress? How many caught?"
Roy's voice cut in.
Shou straightened, reporting, "Using Shimazaki's Super Perception, we tracked Hatori Chikara, who fled HQ."
"With Serizawa, whom you beat, we've got all the Ultimate 5 and special squad."
"After me and Shimazaki talked, the branch leaders surrendered on the surface. Their subordinates are over there."
Shou pointed to hundreds of figures lined up on the street.
"Including the Ultimate 5 and special squad, we've got 412 people."
"We could chase stragglers if we expand the search. Should we?"
"No, this is enough for now."
Roy, with Shou, approached the Claw espers for a "friendly" (fist-heavy) "exchange" (kicks included).
Post-exchange, the Claw members swore to ditch the dark side and join Akatsuki to shine for Roy.
Pleased, Roy picked a few cooperative espers, boosting their strength via his attribute panel.
As expected, it sparked a stir.
But afterward, the espers' gazes on Roy burned with zeal.
Why join Claw?
Beyond living large, didn't they want power?
Roy could make them stronger—Toichiro could hit the trash bin.
No one mourned Toichiro's fall. Shimazaki piped up first. "Boss, what's Akatsuki's goal? World domination like Claw?"
"Nope. We hunt cursed spirits, evil spirits, and gather intel on groups like Claw to give me legit targets to beat down."
"Legit targets?"
"Yup. I'll outline specifics and pass them to Shou. Contribute enough, and I'll reward you with power-ups."
Roy pitched his in-progress contribution system, painting a big pie for the newbies.
He delegated management to Shou and Shimazaki, returning home to sort his haul.
Passing the kitchen, he saw Rias and Asia staring at his morning handiwork.
What's this about?
After a glance—seeing no reaction—he shrugged and went to his room.
Opening his entry vault, a slew of new entries appeared.
These dropped when he flexed on Claw to recruit them.
412 entries: 21 White, 376 Green, 14 Blue, 1 Purple.
Unlike the Seventh Branch, fewer Whites this time.
Maybe HQ's higher quality yielded mostly Greens.
Blues were scarcer.
But the special squad from earlier dropped all Blues, bringing his total to 29.
The lone Purple came from Hatori Chikara, an Ultimate 5 esper who manipulated electronics.
[Electronic Manipulation (Purple): Invade networks and remotely control enemy devices via esper power.]
Just Purple, but his only high-tier tech entry.
Anticipating future use, Roy stored it as a backup.
Besides Hatori, Serizawa Katsuya, the top Ultimate 5, dropped a Purple too.
[Telekinesis (Purple): Attack with telekinesis, versatile with deep mastery.]
Roy knew Telekinesis.
He got a Blue version from Teruki Hanazawa.
Among the 400+ new entries, many were White and Green Telekinesis.
It was his most common esper entry.
But…
"Useless."
After testing Telekinesis, Roy tossed it into materials.
He didn't lack offense.
Swordsmanship for melee, magic for range.
With mastered Senjutsu as support, his arsenal was stacked.
Developing Telekinesis was less efficient than honing swordsmanship.
"Time to upgrade another entry."
Sorting his haul, Roy saw his low-tier entries had hit a massive count.
Converted, they equaled 11 Purples.
"Let's upgrade Immortality."
Roy decided quickly.
For training, acceleration entries and [Auto-Cultivation 9.0] sufficed.
Instead of speeding up training, he'd boost combat.
Among his Purples, Immortality offered the biggest combat edge.
Immortality had two triggers:
1. Unbroken will and fighting spirit.
2. Enough energy to heal wounds.
The first was a given—Roy's battles and training forged iron resolve.
The second? With Energy Storage and Energy Reservoir Constitution, his once-weak energy reserves were now a strength.
Together, Immortality could rival Senjutsu as a trump card.
[Entry upgraded. Congratulations, you obtained Red-tier Immortality.]
[Immortality (Red): Consumes stamina or energy to rapidly heal wounds.]
Like Senjutsu, the description barely changed.
But testing it, Roy's recovery speed soared.
Wounds that took 1 second to heal now took 0.3 seconds.
Hidden perks emerged: higher life energy boosted [Auto-Cultivation 9.0]'s efficiency.
"Nice surprise."
Roy grinned.
The boost was small, but better than nothing.
Closing the vault, in high spirits, Roy left his room.
Passing the kitchen, he saw Rias still at the stove.
Unlike earlier, she wasn't zoned out—she was focused, using Destruction magic to envelop a pork slab.
Three minutes passed.
Under Roy's gaze, the magic faded, revealing neat pork strips on the cutting board.
Rias cheered. "Yes! I did it!"
"Amazing, Rias-nee!" Asia clapped wildly.
"Oh? Roy, you're back from training?"
Rias noticed him, waving him over. "Check my pork strips. Any issues?"
"That's not cutting."
Roy couldn't resist a jab, picking up a few strips with chopsticks. "Also, your Destruction magic wasn't precise. These aren't uniform."
"Huh? Really?"
Rias inspected, spotting differences. "Darn, thought I nailed it. Gotta try again."
"Instead of precision practice, maybe cook."
Roy pointed to the mountain of pork strips. "I passed the living room earlier—Koneko's starving and zoning out."
"What? It's that late?"
Rias checked her phone, seeing it was past 7 a.m.
"I'm off to school."
Having eaten, Roy waved, heading to the student council office.
Finding Sona working, he returned the barrier pillar.
"You borrowed it this morning. Done already?"
"Yup, just got back from the U.S."
"???"
What were you doing there at dawn?
Sensing a bad vibe from Roy's silent smile, Sona hesitated but switched topics.
"My bet with my fiancé's set for this weekend."
"Need me to back you up? If it goes south, I can flip their side."
"That'd cause a riot."
Sona rubbed her forehead, exasperated.
Somehow, she recalled her troublesome sister.
Serafall said something similar during yesterday's call.
"Don't worry, I won't lose."
"Thanks to your training, my chess skills are beyond normal."
"Confidence is good."
Roy nodded, then asked, "After breaking the engagement, any plans?"
"Like what?"
"Moving in with me, stuff like that."
"…"
"What's with the silence?"
"I… didn't process that."
Sona rubbed her temples, hesitating. "Is that a confession?"
"You can take it that way."
Roy nodded openly.
Testing showed [You Are All My Wings]'s affection judgment was brutal.
Sona passing it spoke volumes about her feelings.
As a man, Roy didn't want to dawdle.
If she hesitated to speak, he'd break the stalemate.
"Sona, after the engagement's off, move into Rias's place with us."
Roy repeated.
"…Sorry, I need time."
Sona's brain nearly fried, defaulting to evasion. "I'll answer after the engagement's done."
"Cool."
Roy didn't press, agreeing.
Bidding the crashed Sona farewell, he left the office.
A few steps out, a petite figure blocked him.
"Building a harem at school? Didn't peg you for that kind of guts."
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