— — — — — —
BOOOM!
A deafening explosion echoed through the training facility.
The reinforced concrete floor was obliterated by one of Rias's Power of Destruction blasts, leaving behind a crater dozens of meters wide and nearly three meters deep.
As chunks of concrete and twisted steel rained down, Rias wiped the sweat from her face and looked toward the spectator stands.
"As expected of Rias-san. To unleash that kind of destructive power in an instant..." Ravel exclaimed in admiration.
"It looks like she's inherited the Bael family's Power of Destruction quite well," Sona said, her voice carrying a hint of envy.
Unlike the Bael family's destructive power, the Sitri family's magic specialized more in support than offense. The kind of raw attack power Rias possessed was exactly what someone like Sona, who wasn't naturally combat-oriented, wished she had.
"Don't celebrate too early." Seekvaira Agares adjusted her glasses and spoke calmly. "His expression hasn't changed once."
After Ryo had expressed interest in seeing the abilities of the younger generation of devils, everyone had come to a facility controlled by the devil faction and taken turns demonstrating their powers in the training grounds.
Rias had gone first.
Breathing heavily from the sudden expenditure of magic, she couldn't help glancing toward Ryo, who sat quietly in a corner of the viewing area.
She had thought her performance was impressive enough to earn at least some praise. Instead, she found him staring at the crater with a distinctly unimpressed look.
Ryo examined the damage for a moment before turning back to her, "That's your strongest attack?"
Rias's heart skipped a beat but still answered, "In terms of what I can unleash instantly during combat, yes."
Naturally, that hadn't been her absolute maximum output. But in a real fight, where every second mattered, that attack represented the greatest destructive force she could produce in a short burst.
"That's it?" Ryo's expression became strange. "With that level of power, simply detonating the magic you gathered directly wouldn't produce a result much worse than this."
"No, there's still at least a twofold difference," Rias protested instinctively.
"A twofold difference is supposed to be impressive?"
Frowning, Ryo raised a hand.
A flick of his finger sent a thread of magic identical in quantity and quality to Rias's toward the target range.
In the next instant, entire sections of the training grounds began disappearing.
Not exploding. Not shattering.
Vanishing.
It was as though an invisible hand was calmly erasing reality itself.
Hundreds of square meters of the target range disappeared without a trace, exposing dark brown earth more than ten meters below.
A bubbling sound soon followed. Water began gushing upward.
The attack had damaged an underground aquifer.
"No way..." Rias stared at the scene in horror.
"I used the same amount of magic, the same quality, even the same level of authority," Ryo said with a sigh. "Yet the results are completely different. Can you tell me why?"
At this point, he had already stopped judging the younger generation's standards.
They weren't merely inexperienced. They were beginners who needed to start from the fundamentals.
Honestly, some of the children Kurousagi trained in Little Garden probably had better foundations than these so-called elites.
And if the devils were this bad, the angels and fallen angels probably weren't much better.
'Looks like I'll need to spend some time giving them a proper crash course...' While Ryo was thinking that, Rias remained silent.
One minute passed.
Then another.
Several minutes later, her face had turned bright red from frustration, yet she still couldn't produce an answer.
Seeing this, Ryo finally explained, "It's the authority of destruction. Or more precisely, the world's authority of destruction."
"I used the same magic to leverage that authority and integrated it into the attack. That's what created the difference in power."
He paused before adding, "Isn't that something you're born with?"
"This... is the Power of Destruction?" Rias looked at the erased section of the training ground in a daze. "Then why is there such a huge difference between mine and yours?"
The comparison was brutal.
Both were supposedly using the Power of Destruction.
Ryo's attack had erased an entire training field from existence. Hers had merely blasted a large hole.
For a moment, Rias seriously wondered if she possessed a counterfeit version while Ryo had the real thing.
"The difference isn't actually that large." Ryo rubbed his forehead. "I already told you. The magic and the authority involved were identical. The issue is how you used it..."
Halfway through the explanation, he suddenly slapped a hand against his face.
Then he pulled several crystal shards from his Gift Card and tossed them toward Serafall.
"Serafall."
"Yes?"
"Give these introductory materials to everyone." Ryo pointed at the group. "I don't care how they do it. By tomorrow morning, every single one of them will have memorized everything inside."
With that, he stood up and headed straight for the exit.
Akeno offered the others an apologetic smile before quickly following after him.
...
"Um... he seems pretty angry..."
After Ryo disappeared from sight, Ravel shrank back slightly and spoke timidly.
"I wouldn't call it anger." Seekvaira pushed up her glasses and looked toward the destroyed training grounds. "It feels more like a teacher realizing he's looking at a class full of failing students."
She paused, "Although the area he destroyed was only around ten times larger than Rias's attack, the degree of destruction isn't something a tenfold difference can explain. It's more like a hundred times."
"A hundred?"
Sona let out a bitter laugh, "If Governor Ryo's attacks are truly a hundred times stronger despite using the same amount of magic..."
She shook her head, "The gap between an Ultimate-Class Devil and His Majesty Sirzechs isn't even that absurd."
Rias stared silently at the crater before her.
With identical conditions... Ryo could probably defeat a hundred versions of her instantly. "S-So that's the point of this training program?"
Nobody had a response.
The room fell silent.
...
..
Inside the elevator.
"Have all the fallen angels and angels arrived yet?" Ryo asked casually.
Standing beside him, Akeno immediately reported, "A few of the designated fallen angel participants haven't arrived yet. As for the angel faction, several Holy Sword wielders are still on their way."
"Tell them... to hurry." Ryo paused midway through speaking.
His gaze briefly settled on Akeno's face. Then he added, "Include the yokai, the Five Great Exorcist Families, and the vampires as well. They're part of my forces too."
Akeno smiled warmly, "That's very considerate of you. If my cousin hears about it, she'll probably be delighted."
"Heh." Ryo chuckled. "She should just be grateful I made her clean up her family's mess."
The elevator doors opened.
Without another word, Ryo strode out and headed toward Yasaka Shrine.
...
..
Border Territory of the Underworld - Inside a castle controlled by the Old Satan Faction
Rizevim spread his arms wide and greeted his guest with a playful grin.
"Well, if it isn't the leader of the Utsusemi Agency. It seems you've finally decided to accept my proposal."
The gloomy man in sunglasses standing opposite him immediately stepped aside, avoiding the attempted embrace.
"Enough pointless chatter." His voice was cold. "Do you have it?"
"Have what?" Rizevim asked innocently.
"Drop the act." Hanezu Himejima's expression darkened. "Did you bring the cells of the Beast Emperor of Apocalypse or not?"
"Of course! Fresh samples of Trihexa 666 coming right up."
Rizevim clapped his hands.
A servant quickly stepped forward carrying a golden chest.
Hanezu approached and opened it. Inside lay a writhing mass of flesh.
For the first time, a smile appeared on his otherwise emotionless face.
He closed the lid, lifted the chest, and turned toward the exit.
"As agreed, I'll have the test subjects attack Kyoto. As for everything else, that's your problem."
"Naturally." Rizevim's grin widened. "So when does the attack begin?"
Hanezu adjusted his glasses, "...Now."
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