Chapter 472: Senjutsu
The cat-eared loli remained unfazed, looking up at the black-haired, large-chested onee-san reclining on the branch, her pale legs exposed almost to the thighs.
"Sister, what are you here for?"
"Shirone, I've come to take you with me, meow."
Facing her younger sister, Kuroka's tone gradually returned to normal. "Last time, you struggled so hard that I couldn't take you away."
Meanwhile, the reception elsewhere was entering its main event.
Like Koneko, Akeno, who didn't want to use the power of her Fallen Angel bloodline, also had a troubled look in her eyes.
Watching the entrance of the current Fallen Angel Vice-Governor Baraqiel, also known as Barakiel, her biological father, Akeno fell into indescribable inner conflict.
Even though she and Koneko's strength was no less than Kuroka and Barakiel's, such psychological issues could only be overcome by themselves.
If they couldn't face their own existence and the bloodline power within them, even with Haruto's help, it would be nearly impossible for them to break through to god-class in this lifetime.
Precisely because of this, Haruto didn't show himself, allowing Koneko to face Kuroka on her own as much as possible.
Due to changes in the worldline, Akeno hadn't experienced the special training of battling her biological father, making this reunion after many years particularly complicated for her.
As the bearded, conservative Barakiel entered, today's key figures - the Northern Chief God Odin and his accompanying Valkyrie Rossweisse - also made their appearance.
At the center stage, leaders of various factions gathered together, exchanging pleasantries before the formal contract signing.
"Long time no see, you old country bumpkin from the North," Shemhazai, the Fallen Angel Governor, was the first to greet.
Odin, the one-eyed old man with a white beard almost reaching the ground, chuckled in response: "Hehe, long time no see, you little brat of a Fallen Angel."
Given Odin's age, everyone present could indeed be considered children.
"It's been too long, Lord Odin of the Northern lands."
"Sirzechs, I've come as promised."
Facing the host of the reception, Odin responded with equal formality.
Moreover, his attitude also served as recognition of Sirzechs' strength.
After Sirzechs finished his greetings, Serafall, as another Satan, naturally couldn't fall behind.
The black-haired twin-tailed girl wearing a conservative green blazer and skirt stepped forward, slightly bowed, and gently lifted both sides of her skirt with her hands, performing a perfect lady's curtsy.
"Welcome, Lord Odin."
"Hmm... This won't do, Serafall."
"Huh?"
Stroking his magnificent beard, Odin laughed at Serafall's confused expression: "It's such a rare banquet, yet young ladies are dressed so conservatively."
Confirmed - this was another strong character perfectly fitting the DxD worldview.
Besides Odin, the seemingly stern Barakiel was actually a heavy masochist. When Himejima Shuri was alive, the couple frequently engaged in S&M games.
The power of bloodline was indeed strong in certain aspects - Akeno's personality was somewhat inherited from her parents.
After a moment of surprise, Serafall revealed a smile.
"Well then... Mirurun Miru Miru Final~"
After chanting the cute spell, pale pink magical light flashed, and Serafall's plain shirt instantly transformed into a cute pink cropped short-sleeve.
Below the short-sleeve was an equally adorable miniskirt that not only revealed her slender waist and cute navel but, paired with striped thigh-high socks, perfectly accentuated her snow-white, delicate absolute territory.
After completing her transformation, she struck a cute and playful pose, complemented by the long, adorable magic wand in her hand - perfectly targeting the preferences of magical girl enthusiasts.
Odin watched with amazement, "Oh? This is..."
"Don't you know? This is a magical girl~" With her true nature unleashed, Serafall became much more lively, happily explaining.
Serafall wasn't particularly familiar with Odin, or perhaps out of courtesy, during several faction meetings, she had always worn that conservative green shirt set.
This current appearance, transformed into a magical girl playing youthful, was actually her everyday image.
"Hmm, not bad at all," Odin spoke up in praise.
At that moment, Rossweisse, with her silver-white long hair and two antenna-like stray strands, spoke: "Please maintain your dignity, Lord Odin. The gods of Valhalla would weep."
"Really now, you're too rigid."
Odin impatiently rubbed the top of his head and said irritably: "This is exactly why you can't manage to secure even one hero."
Rossweisse was a Valkyrie, and "securing heroes" essentially meant scouting potential partners to recruit into the Northern mythological system.
With just one sentence, Odin successfully broke Rossweisse's composure.
The Valkyrie, dressed in a light-colored pantsuit projecting the image of a metropolitan career woman, instantly transformed from stern-faced to tearful.
She tried to hold back, but couldn't manage it.
Rossweisse slowly sank into a squat, then settled into a seated position on the floor, breaking down in tears: "Why am I a Valkyrie whose time without a boyfriend equals her age, wuuu..."
The other guests at the banquet stared in astonishment, though Odin remained completely unfazed.
"My apologies, this is Rossweisse who accompanies me."
Seizing the opportunity, he proceeded to introduce Rossweisse properly.
"Her abilities are quite decent, but her thinking is somewhat inflexible, which prevents her from landing any prospects."
"Sorry to have kept you waiting."
The sudden appearance of Michael, the handsome golden-haired warm-hearted man, successfully diverted everyone's attention from the weeping Valkyrie seated on the floor.
"I'm glad to see you're still as vigorous as ever, Lord Odin."
Behind Michael stood Irina Shidou, who had been reborn as an angel.
After the Holy Sword incident, her faith nearly collapsed. It only stabilized after she practically offered herself to Haruto by helping the church complete tasks.
Cute, but without god-level strength—this mission was simply impossible for her to accomplish.
She still lives in the oceanfront mansion, regularly engaging in intimate relations with Haruto.
When she declined Rias's invitation to the banquet, it turned out she was serving as Michael's attendant.
While the banquet proceeded smoothly, Koneko and Kuroka's conversation continued.
Haruto's power far surpassed theirs—even with Kuroka's senjutsu-enhanced aura perception, she couldn't detect him.
Observing the sisters while monitoring the banquet hall's progress through his soul network, he noted:
Though Koneko had grown significantly stronger—now possessing Satan-Class power—Vali, after being provoked by Haruto, had returned and trained frantically, driving the others to improve as well.
Kuroka appeared lazy, but her pursuit of strength was no less intense than Koneko's.
Learning of Koneko's dramatic improvement under Haruto's guidance, Kuroka also threw herself into rigorous training.
Already close to Satan-Class, her recent efforts finally allowed her to break through.
Though their power levels were comparable, Koneko—held back by emotional baggage—refused to use her Nekomata abilities and remained less experienced in combat than Kuroka.
Thus, this unpleasant encounter ended much as Haruto remembered.
With no one coming to Koneko's aid, and Bikou—who accompanied Kuroka—also refraining from action.
When the fight concluded and Kuroka tried to take the cat-eared loli away, Haruto emerged from the shadows.
"Hey now, what you're doing is kidnapping, you know?"
"Ms. Sexy Catgirl, even if Koneko is your sister, shouldn't you ask how she feels before taking her away?"
Exhausted and immobilized but still conscious, Koneko promptly stated: "I am Rias Gremory's Familiar. I won't go with you, sister."
Ignoring Koneko, Kuroka warily watched Haruto. "Shirone is my sister. I won't hand her over to a High-Class Devil..."
Haruto paid no mind to Kuroka's sarcastic tone.
Clearly, due to past events, Kuroka held strong resentment toward devils. Her contract with Vali was purely transactional.
"Not quite. Rias has long been an Ultimate-Class Devil," Haruto interrupted. "If not for all Satan positions being filled, her strength should rival your current master Vali's."
"Speaking of which, how strong is Vali now? Has he properly mastered his Balance Breaker?"
Kuroka's eyes narrowed like a startled cat ready to strike, but facing Haruto—who had defeated Vali—she didn't dare act recklessly.
"Shirone, come with me. I think both Ophis and Vali would gladly accept you."
With her forced retrieval plan foiled, Kuroka switched to persuasion.
Having relied on each other since childhood, she believed Koneko would want to be together just as she did.
Kuroka wasn't wrong—Koneko did wish to be with her sister—but she underestimated the trauma caused by her past act of killing their master.
Without resolving this emotional knot, unless Koneko was brainwashed or imprisoned, she would still run back.
"Impossible. I am President Rias's Familiar," Koneko said coldly.
As for her relationship with Haruto, she didn't really want to talk about it.
In fact, as more and more girls gathered around Haruto, the young women gradually lost their competitive drive.
This wasn't hard to understand - it was like they had gotten used to it. Being in this environment every day made it impossible to maintain strong reactions about it.
It was somewhat like exceeding a threshold, after which they completely accepted the situation.
At first Haruto found it somewhat uncomfortable, but later he came to enjoy it.
After all, when night fell, he could still experience their passionate side. Having them be somewhat distant during the day, without any romantic conflicts, actually made things much easier for him.
The black-haired catgirl bit her lip without speaking, while Bikou, who had met Haruto once before, arrived opposite Haruto carrying his golden staff.
"Hey, Kuroka, I just used senjutsu and didn't detect anyone else..."
Like Kuroka, although he had defected from his own mythological system, as a descendant of Sun Wukong, Bikou could naturally use senjutsu.
When combined with senjutsu, both Kuroka's youjutsu and magic would become much more powerful and harder to defend against.
Most importantly, with senjutsu abilities, their perception of energy became extremely sharp.
But...
Kuroka's eyes narrowed slightly as she said seriously, "I didn't detect anything either, meow."
"Bikou, this man is..."
Kuroka had never met Haruto before, but her intuition made her maintain a cautious distance from him.
"He's the current Red Dragon Emperor."
"Huh? So he's that Red Dragon Emperor with the perverted dual cultivation ability? Then the scent on Koneko is indeed..."
Kuroka's gaze became even more unfriendly. As a virgin catgirl herself, she had naturally noticed the changes in Koneko.
Actually, it wasn't that Kuroka was particularly pure - she simply had high standards for choosing a partner.
It wasn't that she hadn't made requests to Vali, saying she wanted a dragon child, but Vali had refused.
Now it seemed Haruto was another option, but before that, she needed to see if this man had the capability to make both sisters serve him together.
Though she appeared somewhat promiscuous, once a relationship occurred, Kuroka would never change her heart, even if it was just a simple transaction.
Vali understood this aspect of Kuroka's personality and, worried about future complications, had decisively refused.
He didn't have Haruto's dual cultivation ability, and rather than wasting time on such matters, he preferred to spend more time training and fighting.
Bikou focused his gaze on Haruto, adopting a combat stance. "So it seems the problem isn't with me."
"Vali said you'd become strong, but I didn't believe him. Now I see he wasn't telling the truth - you're not just stronger, you're downright ridiculous."
To evade senjutsu-enhanced energy perception, one either needed to know senjutsu themselves or be significantly more powerful than the users.
Haruto did have senjutsu energy within him and could technically use senjutsu, but truthfully, he wasn't very skilled with it.
It was purely because his power far exceeded theirs that Bikou and Kuroka's senjutsu perception had failed.
Though it had only been a year since their last meeting, back then he had been confident he could suppress Haruto. Now, he couldn't even discern Haruto's true power level.
Just like when he forcibly took Vali away back then, Bikou's strength was among the top of the younger generation.
As a descendant of Sun Wukong, he hadn't disgraced his ancestor.
Unfortunately, this world's protagonist wasn't him. When the gears of fate began turning, the power growth of the Two Heavenly Dragons' hosts could only be described as cheating.
According to the original timeline, in just about one or two years, by the time they entered university, both Vali and Issei Hyoudou had become Transcendents.
In terms of strength, they were roughly equivalent to high-ranking gods.
Now, stimulated by Haruto, Vali had prematurely become a god-level powerhouse.
This alone had already surprised Bikou greatly, but now seeing Haruto, that feeling of facing a chief god and numerous ancient monsters left him utterly shocked.
Beyond shock, there was also thick unease.
If Haruto were to make a move, even if he teamed up with Kuroka, they probably wouldn't even be able to escape...
However, Haruto didn't choose to attack. While treating Koneko, he said: "The Khaos Brigade appearing here suggests this banquet won't be peaceful. Speaking of which, has Vali come?"
"I originally just wanted to pass the time, but it seems we're going to start things off here first."
Bikou didn't answer Haruto's question, merely maintaining a firm gaze as he prepared to respond to any sudden move from Haruto at any moment.
He didn't believe Haruto would let them go - they were enemies to begin with, and this time they had actively come to cause trouble.
Haruto paid no mind to Bikou's reaction. After treating the cat-eared loli, his attention was almost entirely focused on the black-haired, cat-eared, large-breasted beauty opposite him.
It had to be said, Kuroka's figure and appearance were truly top-tier. The cat ears combined with the two slender black cat tails extending from her tailbone made people want to pet her upon seeing her.
Unlike Koneko who suppressed her nekomata powers, Kuroka's nekomata characteristics were very prominent.
Besides the cat ears and tails, her eyes had now turned into yellow vertical pupils, giving off a dangerous yet seductive aura.
Feeling uncomfortable under Haruto's intense gaze, Kuroka couldn't help but initiate the attack first.
A peculiar purple eight-trigram shaped magic circle combining senjutsu and youjutsu appeared behind her, and eight clusters of eerie blue demonic flames shot fiercely toward Haruto.
Simultaneously, Bikou skillfully coordinated to launch his assault.
His staff swung at extreme speeds - tapping, poking, sweeping, chopping...
The staff created afterimages that, combined with the demonic flames' assault, completely surrounded Haruto.
"Hmm, not bad. You've reached Super Devil Class level."
Haruto casually commented. When Kuroka was fighting Koneko earlier, he had already basically gauged their strength.
Without even materializing the Red Dragon Emperor's Gauntlet, nor using any magic, he simply formed an energy barrier around himself that blocked all the attacks.
Kuroka's combination of senjutsu and youjutsu caught Haruto's interest. If not for not wanting his clothes damaged, he would have even wanted to directly experience its power with his body.
With his rapid power progression, Haruto's physical strength hadn't quite kept up, but the recovery abilities from his Phenex and True Ancestor Bloodlines somewhat compensated for this weakness.
And while it's said his physical strength hadn't kept up, that was only compared to those specializing in body cultivation.
In this world, everyone tended to have high attack but low defense - probably a characteristic of Japanese anime.
So comparatively speaking, Haruto's physical strength still belonged to the top tier.
The attack proved ineffective, failing to even make Haruto budge an inch. Kuroka and Bikou's hearts sank to the depths of despair.
Especially after realizing he might have grasped the potential of senjutsu, Haruto's keenly interested gaze amplified their pressure to the maximum.
It was only upon discovering that Bikou and Kuroka could use senjutsu that Haruto recalled some fragmented information.
The DxD universe was vast, and the anime he had watched only covered a small part of the early storyline.
Based on scattered content he had seen online, many figures from Eastern mythological factions appeared in the later stages.
Among them, there seemed to be a reincarnation or descendant of Cao Cao...
This individual also possessed one of the thirteen Sacred Gears.
Cao Cao's appearance wasn't surprising either, as the Three Kingdoms era was highly revered in Japan, with countless adaptations and reinterpretations emerging one after another.
His memories were too fragmented, and with the altered worldline, Haruto wasn't certain if things would unfold the same way. Still, it didn't stop him from seeking to acquire some senjutsu from Bikou and Kuroka first.
When Kuroka combined youjutsu with senjutsu, its power increased significantly. What if he were to use it?
Even if he couldn't achieve that, the unique effects of senjutsu alone were highly useful.
For instance, the so-called aura perception was practically a Sacred Gear for detecting enemies.
While Haruto was planning how to obtain senjutsu, a disturbance finally arose at the banquet.
After Michael made his appearance, the leaders of all factions were essentially assembled, and the formal alliance proceedings began.
"The three factions of Devils, God, and Fallen Angels, reflecting on the past, form an alliance to confront those who seek to reignite conflict..."
Sirzechs delivered his speech, grouping the angel faction—now without their God—and the Northern mythological forces together under the term "God."
"This time, all of you have gathered here..."