Another month passed.
With the enthronement rites completed, all eyes were on the new Emperor's ascension.
During this month, Akuto finished gathering the story characters he'd left incomplete.
Rakshasa Four: the masochistic miko Suzuka, and the silver-haired, dark-skinned beauty Matō.
After Akuto sealed them in ice, he released both a week later. Together with Esdeath, he gave Suzuka a very "thorough" re-education that left her fainting from the whirlwind of humiliation and excitement.
Matō, on the other hand, was proactive from the start. While Suzuka was being "tutored," Matō asked Akuto about his preferences and, when it was her turn, displayed the powerful physical control she'd forged training at Kōken Temple.
Wild Hunt: Dorothea.
She was likewise frozen and later released. After realizing Akuto was interested in her physique, she was sunning herself in Chang'an the very next day, one hand gently rubbing her now-round belly.
Oarburgh Assassination Clan: Gilberda, Cassandra, and other female assassins.
Gilberda and Cassandra both served as Merraid's maids. Gilberda possessed the brute strength to kill Danger Beasts bare-handed; in the original story, she fought to the death against the Imperial assassination unit and the Rakshasa Demons to cover Merraid's retreat. Cassandra manipulated flying blades with four arms and could butcher Danger Beasts into cuisine; she too fell holding off the enemy so Merraid could escape.
Over the two months of her relationship with Akuto, Merraid was completely won over; she found that, in the end, men satisfied her better. Seeing other people already forming small circles, Merraid leveraged her status as the clan head and sent her two maids—along with a whole group of Oarburgh women—to Akuto.
Bols' widow and daughter:
While presiding over memorial rites for those who had died founding the New Empire, Akuto noticed a familiar mother and daughter.
From the blonde young woman's story—similar to Madam Rosa's—Akuto announced on the spot that he would take them into his protection.
Later, he learned the mother was Orona and the blonde girl Sayaka.
After hearing from Madam Rosa about their "special" situation with Akuto, Orona offered thanks to Borus for his past kindness and chose to accept Akuto's shelter. When exhaustion finally took her and she fainted, Akuto caught her and laid her down to rest.
As for Sayaka, the small, trembling figure clung to Akuto with tears in her eyes—seeking comfort and safety.
Ding!
Congratulations, Host: Past-life Goal Achieved — Become "Sayaka's" father.
Reward: Talent — "Fatherly Love Like a Mountain," Advanced.
Talent — Fatherly Love Like a Mountain (Blue): When facing childlike characters, your presence more easily earns their attention and trust. Those with this talent are destined to be beloved as protectors.
Looking at the further-upgraded "Fatherly Love Like a Mountain," Akuto felt a pleasant ease ripple through his soul, then fell silent for a while. He remembered first obtaining this talent when he fought Hillarys in the Apocalypse world.
"Wait… does this talent level up every time I confront a childlike opponent?"
The thought made him drowsy and amused at once.
Maybe one day "Fatherly Love Like a Mountain" could reach gold—or even crimson?
As the Akame ga Kill world moved toward its finale, the DxD world continued as usual.
The most obvious change lay in Akuto's study and construction of arts/techniques.
After clearing the first side-world, the system unlocked a new function that let him begin with some initial abilities from birth in the Akame world.
Across the dozen-odd years before he regained his memories, he not only learned that world's technique-craft, but also absorbed vast cross-world knowledge from the Nameless Grimoire. His pace, while slower than memory-intact Akuto, still equaled nearly two years of his normal study speed.
In short: the Way of Techniques is too vast; without enough knowledge stockpiled, you simply can't support the learning.
Elsewhere:
Rias-san and Ravel-san, the two newly betrothed fiancées, were drifting from "affectionate sisterhood" toward a gentle battle for favor.
Outwardly, they kept the peace. With chief-wife status secured, Rias-san wasn't small-minded and could accept Ravel-san.
But after witnessing multiple occasions where Ravel-san brought her peerage along, even Rias-san began to waver. She trusted her own charm, yes—but she only had confidence she could outshine Ravel-san, not Ravel-san plus her entire peerage.
Come on—how is a single beautiful girl supposed to compete with sixteen girls of differing charms?
And among them were two sets of twins.
Shaken, Rias-san even toyed with the idea of inviting members of her own peerage to join.
That said, it was only a passing thought. Akuto had merely sounded out Akeno-san and Koneko-chan once or twice; he had no intention of forcing anyone.
Beyond the two fiancées, Serafall-san and Amano Yuma-san, who often dated Akuto, were also subtly changing.
Yuma-san slipped into a mode that was both proactive and laissez-faire—let's call it "actively laid-back." On dates she was forward enough, but the closest she'd allow was kissing; anything further, she held back, poised on the brink of a final decision.
Serafall-san, on the other hand, grew even closer to Akuto. With him now a "married man," her previous reservations fell away and the two had more unrestrained fun together. Akuto often left her place with a lingering sweetness.
Still, something about Serafall-san nagged at him: she increasingly brought up Sona-san when they were together—something she'd never done during her cosplay sessions before. Eventually, Serafall-san even suggested letting Sona-san join a show she and Akuto were planning, as the second "blue magical girl."
Akuto agreed. He'd kept some distance from Sona-san lately on purpose—to sand down her pride so she could accept his open-harem reality. If she was willing to play a magical girl, that meant she'd taken her first step toward placing pride aside.
Next came the EELKEIN matter.
After Akuto displayed Maō-class strength, the Old Maō Faction seemed to lose interest in striking at him…
Akuto understood: partly because he'd grown stronger, partly because he was the groomed-into side rather than marrying-into; it didn't shame the pure-blood Leviathan line.
Even so, Akuto believed the Old Maō Faction would make their move eventually. As his name rang ever louder in the Underworld, public perception would crown him the legitimate Leviathan, rendering the defected Old Maōs the real heretics.
After all… Akuto's Leviathan bloodline was the real deal.
After defeating the Supreme Teigu, another month passed in the DxD world.
Given that the Akame world runs at five times the speed of the DxD world, that meant nearly half a year had elapsed in the Apocalypse and Akame worlds.
In that half-year, Akuto refined his knowledge of techniques and martial ways while training both 仙力 (sen-power) and 魔力 (mana).
During this time, his base body advanced from mid-High-class devil to Maō-class.
Of course, to residents of the DxD world, only a little over two months had gone by.
From the moment he was discovered until now—barely over two months—Akuto had risen from an unknown Low-class devil to Maō-class!
Last time, when he defeated Leval-san, his base body was still only High-class peak.
By now, if Underworld devils learned Akuto possessed power to rival the Four Maō, they'd probably swarm to shove their daughters his way.
Unlike before—when they wanted marriage but insisted one child keep their surname—this time they'd likely skip even that. Compared to staking a claim on a single child, the priority would be building a deep relationship before Akuto rose any higher.
Beyond the power-up, Akuto also completed another main quest in the Apocalypse world.
Yes—aside from "slay the zombies," there was another main quest: build a refuge.
Back then, the reason Akuto cleared the zombie-slaying quest so fast was his absurd personal power. But unlike the immediately verified "zombie slaying," the "refuge building" quest was time-gated.
When his Guard Corps captured the last stronghold in that world, the system's chime rang in his head:
Ding!
Main Quest 1 Complete: Within six months, construct a shelter with the strongest protection you can (Blue).
Note: The more heroines sheltered (and the higher the total population), the greater the reward multiplier.
Quest Rank: Blue → Gold (not only did you shelter every heroine, you also took in numerous "enhanced-soul" counterparts of heroines from other worlds, and even integrated the entire world to become its king).
Reward: Concept Ability — "A Not-So-Distant Utopia" (Gold).
Concept Ability — A Not-So-Distant Utopia:
Grants people connected to you a conceptual defensive ability equal to your own defensive tier. Anywhere your power can project is considered within your protection.
"Hm?"
The instant he saw the reward, Akuto had a thought:
"This… might be able to link with the Supreme Teigu, right?"
(End of Chapter)
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