On the other side, seeing Tatsuma put away the information, Vali took a deep breath and his expression became serious.
"Tatsuma, I heard you were attacked by Rizevim a few days ago when I was searching the Death Metropolis. Is that true?"
Tatsuma nodded. "It's true."
Vali subconsciously clenched his fist. "What is Rizevim's current situation?"
"He has lost his original body and is currently focusing on reviving Evil Dragons."
Tatsuma concisely introduced the events and Rizevim's situation.
After listening, Vali's eyes widened suddenly and he let out a gasp. "You defeated Rizevim?!"
Tatsuma's expression did not change. "Yes, is there anything strange about that?"
Vali was still shocked. "Of course it's strange. He has a special ability to nullify Sacred Gears. How did you win?"
Tatsuma understood what he meant and summoned three Longinus. "I used the Balance Breaker of three Longinus and Juggernaut Drive simultaneously. The energy intensity exceeded the upper limit of his nullification."
Vali: "?"
"That ability has an upper limit?!"
Tatsuma shrugged, "Isn't that obvious? Rizevim is just a Transcendent. It would be strange if his ability didn't have an upper limit."
Vali: "..."
That seemed to make sense.
Vali felt a little helpless. He had intended to seek advice from Tatsuma to see if he could get a technique to defeat Rizevim. But now it seemed that Tatsuma's victory over Rizevim had no technique at all, it was all about stats. He couldn't learn this method at all.
Vali changed direction and asked, "Tatsuma, you're probably not going to let Rizevim go, right? I can help you search for his whereabouts."
Tatsuma shook his head. "Your mission is to search for the location of the Death Metropolises. You don't need to worry about Rizevim's matter."
Tatsuma added, "I know your background and the grudges between you and Rizevim. After the matter is over, I will give you Rizevim's soul."
"..."
Vali, who was about to say something else, suddenly fell silent.
His purpose in finding Rizevim was to take revenge on him. Although the process was not what he had imagined, if he could get Rizevim's soul and personally send him off, it would be acceptable.
"It seems you agree."
Noticing the change in Vali's expression, Tatsuma unilaterally ended the conversation and turned to leave.
After finding Sho and asking about the progress, he began to personally issue instructions and assign tasks.
Soon after, Grayfia, who had changed her clothes, also came to the underground plaza, her expression calm.
However, under Tatsuma's perception, he could still detect the hint of shyness in her eyes. It was clear that Grayfia had not forgotten the embarrassing incident that had happened during the massage just now.
With many people around, Tatsuma did not continue to tease Grayfia and assigned her to lead the second team.
Leaving Sho to continue organizing the personnel, he went out and wandered around the world, investigating the situation of the thirteen branches of the Hero Faction.
Two hours later, the Akatsuki members had assembled, and Tatsuma returned from his outing.
He activated Teleportation magic and teleported twelve teams to different Hero Faction branches.
As for himself, he took the last team to the deep mountains on the outskirts of Tokyo.
Looking at the base covered by a barrier in front of him, Tatsuma raised his hand and punched through it.
The next moment, a loud alarm sounded.
The Hero Faction members in the first branch immediately stopped what they were doing and came out of the base.
"You are... Red Dragon Emperor?!"
The leader of the first branch, Perseus, widened his eyes and showed a surprised expression.
"Why are you here?!"
"Of course I'm here to find you."
Tatsuma chuckled, his gaze sweeping over the crowd below.
237 Sacred Gear users, decent.
Considering that the Hero Faction had been training recently and had wasted a lot of Sacred Gear holders.
Having this many people in one base is already quite good from all perspectives.
"Now you have two choices."
"Surrender and let me beat you up."
"Resist to the end and let me beat you up."
"Isn't there absolutely no difference?" Perseus couldn't help but retort.
"No, there is still a difference."
Tatsuma shook his head slightly and explained patiently, "Surrender directly, and I will go a bit easy, while also giving you a chance to turn over a new leaf. But if you resist to the end..."
"Stop talking nonsense! Let's just fight!"
Just then, a young man who looked only in his teens stepped forward, flames surging in his hand.
"I will not betray Cao Cao-sama, you..."
Boom!
Before he could finish speaking, a bolt of lightning struck down from the sky without warning, severely injuring him.
"If you resist to the end, you'll be beaten half to death like him and then thrown into the Akatsuki dungeon."
After finishing the sentence that was just interrupted, Tatsuma looked at the rest of the Hero Faction members led by Perseus.
After their companion was struck down, the Hero Faction members one after another summoned their Sacred Gears, showing vigilant expressions. The cadres led by Perseus even directly entered Balance Breaker, fully armed.
"It seems you have made your decision."
Tatsuma snapped his fingers, and a vast Time energy instantly enveloped the Hero Faction members of the first branch.
Before the absolute gap in strength, the Hero Faction members were completely powerless to resist and entered a brief time-stop state.
At the same time, vast demonic power fluctuations rose. Hundreds of magic arrays appeared in the sky, raining down a large amount of lightning.
Boom! Boom! Boom...
Prompts sounded one after another, and the Hero Faction members of the first branch were completely annihilated.
Tatsuma stopped the magic, his gaze looking towards the Akatsuki members led by Sho behind him.
"I'll leave the cleanup work to you. Take them all back to the Akatsuki dungeon."
"Yes!"
Sho replied in affirmation and began directing the Akatsuki members to clean up the battlefield.
As for Tatsuma, he activated Teleportation Magic and arrived in front of the Hero Faction's ninth branch.
The Akatsuki team at the ninth branch was led by Kensei and Hachigen.
At this moment, they had just finished setting up a barrier, blocking the retreat path of the Hero Faction members.
Seeing Tatsuma, Kensei was a bit surprised. "Why are you here?"
Tatsuma replied, "I've already finished over there."
Kensei said, "I know that, but according to the order, shouldn't you be going to the second branch?"
"I was worried you might get thrashed, so I came over to take a look first."
Kensei: "???"
—
Kyoto, inside an old mansion.
"Cao Cao! Something bad has happened!"
"Our base has been attacked by the Red Dragon Emperor!"
Georg held the intelligence he had just received and quickly walked into the room to report.
"He finally came." Cao Cao narrowed his eyes, his expression becoming serious.
He was not surprised that the base was attacked by Tatsuma.
After investigation, he was very sure that Tatsuma was not someone who would sit and wait for death.
He had mobilized Sacred Gear users for large-scale training, Tatsuma would definitely take the initiative to attack.
Cao Cao asked, "Which base was attacked?"
Georg said, "All of them."
Cao Cao was stunned. "All of them?"
Georg nodded. "Yes, within just ten minutes, all thirteen bases were breached."
Georg's expression was very grim.
In the training plan, the Teleportation Magic on the Sacred Gear users was all inscribed by him. The bases being attacked meant that the Teleportation Magic he inscribed on the Sacred Gear users had been seen through.
Georg said, "Sorry, this was my mistake. If I had discovered it earlier, I should have been able to set up an ambush."
Cao Cao shook his head, his expression returning to calmness. "Don't worry about it."
As a teammate who had been together day and night, he was very clear about Georg's strength.
Not being discovered once or twice could be said to be a coincidence. But all thirteen bases were discovered by others without any detection at all.
That could only mean the gap in strength between the two sides was too large, completely not on the same level.
Cao Cao asked, "Were the elite squads discovered?"
Georg shook his head. "No, they were dispersed according to your requirements and are lurking all over the world, and haven't taken action recently."
"That's enough."
Cao Cao nodded slightly, expressing satisfaction.
The elite squads were the Sacred Gear users who could successfully use Balance Breaker during this training operation. In terms of strength, most of them hovered between High-Class Devil and Ultimate-Class Devil.
They weren't useful in high-level fights, but they could be used to harass enemies and divert enemy fire at critical moments.
"Get ready, it's time for us to act."
***
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