'How to finish this in one go? Hmmm... But a fast defeat might just set him off more. In that case, he needs an undeniable defeat. Should I go for a flashy one?...' Those were the thoughts that went through Riveria's head and the first thing she came up with was summoning the Dragon King that was contracted with her.
But as soon as she found out that the dimensions are tightly closed and that even her improved Dragon Gate couldn't make a crack on it, she felt disappointed.
"Oi, Kisuke! You didn't teach her all the wrong things, did you!?" Yoruichi yelled as she elbowed Kisuke in the side.
"I didn't! She's quite free so she must have picked it up then! She even got addicted to TV dramas at some point!"
Riveria could hear their voices but ignored them and thought, 'Was finishing it in an instant not good?'
As she looked at Ottar again, she saw him frowning deeply with swords in front of him but it was also obvious to her the fear that he's emitting. Who wouldn't after hearing from bystanders that he could have been instantly killed from the failed spell just now?
'Since I can't finish it in an instant, it might destroy the house and the surrounding forest. Not to mention, attracting more trouble to this place. Hmmm... Let's go with that.'
Riveria then raised her right hand and a thick book adorned with gems appeared on top of it, "I should have started with this first."
The moment she said those words, a jade-colored mist bloomed from under her feet before it spread and covered everyone in the vicinity. Ottar thought that it was an attack and tired to clear the 'poisonous' mist by generating wind through his swords while holding his breath as his senses expanded in case of Riveria attacked directly.
However, no matter how much he swung his swords, the mist didn't move and he also finally remembered that his Goddess was also in the vicinity and thought that she was also in danger, "Freya-sama!!!" He shouted.
Nevertheless, his worries were useless as the mist soon cleared up and disappeared, revealing a monochromatic world of the previous colorful one, "!?... T-This is...?"
The Goddesses and Tsubaki also looked around, clueless as to what had happened to the world, though not for long as Serafall suddenly yelled, "...Dimension Lost!? Wait... Did it have the form of a book?"
Yoruichi, on the other hand, rubbed her chin, "Does that mean that Georg of the Hero Faction is already dead? Or did you steal it?"
Kisuke just smiled and gave them a nonanswer, "Just watch. There will be more surprises~."
Riveria continued to ignore their reaction and explained what happened to Ottar, "This is an artificial space that I created. It's essentially a copy of the place we were standing at before and transported everyone here. In here, you need not hold back and can destroy everything in sight and it won't affect the real world."
"...Is something like that possible?" It was Tsubaki's question while looking at the Goddesses beside her.
With serious expressions, Loki, Freya, and Hephaestus looked around before verifying her words with the latter even taking off her eye patch to see the world clearer, "...It's indeed as she said. What a ridiculous power that's only..." 'available to the Gods', is what she wanted to say but stopped herself.
They then looked back at Riveria, seeing her in a different light, most notably, Loki, 'Just what did they make her do on that side?' Her curiosity was burning so bright and hot that it was suffocating her very being.
"With that said, please don't think about holding back... or I might accidentally kill you."
Ottar shuddered and immediately released everything he had with a single shout, "HAAAH!!!"
Under the pressure of his Ki and Magic Power, the ground under him caved in as his aura solidified and took a form around him. Most notable were the tusks that formed on the corners of his mouth and the steam he released from his breath signifying a very high body temperature.
Riveria's eyes went through a strange transformation and she was immediately able to see through his aura, 'Boosted strength and defense.' The moment Ottar moved, Riveria immediately leaned to the side calmly as Ottar instantly reduced the distance between them and swung down his sword at her.
The sword hit the ground and it created a shockwave forward that traveled and destroyed everything in its path for a hundred meters.
While falling to the side, Riveria pointed her finger at him and shot a Magic Bullet at his head.
Ottar immediately responded by blocking it with his other sword and deflecting it away before raising his leg for a kick to her abdomen.
However, a barrier abruptly stopped his foot before it could even reach its desired target.
Riveria skidded away from the surprising force behind the casual kick, though she wasn't very surprised, "I see... This is a largely improved Beastification without losing any of your sense and reason. But those instant momentum changes... Gravity?... No... Weight control. It's well hidden behind that beastly aura of yours."
Ottar was about to continue attacking but stopped when he heard her speak. With twitching lips, he said, "I never thought you'd see through it with just a single clash... Just what are you?" It was his well-kept secret that even his rivals only had guesses about his 'lightness and heaviness' Martial Technique.
"Well, I've seen something similar."
Ottar gritted his teeth and raised both swords before bringing them down and released a cross-shaped orange wave toward Riveria.
Riveria, instead of dodging, waved her hand in front of her and a single black hole appeared on the path of the sword wave and swallowed it in its entirety without it doing anything.
"W-what?" Not just Ottar but also Yoruichi and Serafall were stunned at her display.
The black hole disappeared in front of Riveria and reappeared at Ottar's side before it spat out the same sword wave, "!?"
Ottar hurriedly dodge back but his thigh and stomach was caught in its sharpness. The wave continued to travel for more than a hundred meters before exploding and shaking the whole forest with its devastating power.
"Abaddon's Hole!? How!?" Serafall's shout was heard by everyone despite the destruction that was going on.
But Riveria's done yet as she pointed her finger at him and muttered, "Byakurai (Pale Lightning)." White lightning emerged from Riveria's finger tip and instantly engulfed Ottar in it.
"Kidou!?" It was Yoruichi's voice this time.
"AHHHH!!!" Ottar immediately pushed his defenses to the limits but his aura was stripped off forcibly by the force behind the strange lightning. When the lightning disappeared, everyone could see Ottar struggling to breathe and stand up with his whole body scorched and supported by his sword stabbed to the ground.
Ottar didn't want to give up and glared at Riveria while he repaired his body with his Spirit Magic.
But his motivation instantly dropped when he saw Riveria conjured a swirling ball of black and red energy that sounded all the alarms in his head, 'If I get hit by that, I'll die!'
"Do you want to continue?"
"Bael's Power of Destruction!?" It was the last thing Ottar heard before he forfeited.
Editors:
28th00: Riveria is the most feared thief in DxD~! She steals racial abilities, schools of magic, divine authorities and bloodline traits LIKE NO TOMORROW! Worst of all? She’s smart enough and strong enough to mix and match them too. She’s basically THE PEAK of the “Imagination” part of Devil Magic, to the point other devils think she’s bullshit. She totally is though.
Goyya: And that’s the main reason why even Kisuke considers her as OP.
As soon as Ottar took back his weapons, the threatening ball of destruction also disappeared from Riveria's hand, "Very well."
With a snap of her fingers, jade-colored mist reappeared to engulf everyone before returning the world to its previous colors and as she said, it's as if their duel didn't happen at all with the environment still in its pristine condition.
Tsubaki still couldn't wrap her head around what was happening and just decided to stay quiet and observe.
Freya approached Ottar while Loki and Hephaestus went to Kisuke's side, "That's way more than I expected.", commented Loki with a large grin on her face.
"And it's way more than I imagined.", added Hephaestus with her eyepatch still on her hand, "Those abilities... were closer to a God's authority rather than Magic."
Tsubaki did her best not to react but she couldn't help but flinch and sweat nervously while looking at Riveria.
"Gods aren't the only one who possess unique abilities that defies logic.", Serafall shortly answered before turning her attention back to Kisuke and the approaching Riveria, "I heard she's called the Copy Mage, but she could copy abilities that are unique to bloodlines too?"
Yoruichi also added, "It wasn't just bloodline abilities, even unique techniques that use Spiritual Power as fuel and Sacred Gear abilities. How are you doing that?"
Riveria arrived and pointed at her eyes that flashed a strange light, showing a very complex Magic Circle embedded deep within, "This is what I got after becoming his 'Queen'."
"Queen you say... That's an exciting term." Loki knew that 'Queen' was referring to something else and although she wanted to tease her about it, it was not really the time for it since she wanted an answer more.
"There's no easy way to explain it, but although he may not look like it, Ki-tan here is a bonafide high-ranking noble in our country and he serves as the 'King' for his subordinates.", Serafall explained, "Becoming a subordinate for the 'King' brings benefits and changes that varied depending on one's potential." She then looked to Riveria and asked, "With an ability like that, I assume that it's a Mutation Piece?"
Riveria shook her head, "I don't know. We weren't able to get it checked."
Serafall's eyes widened and turned her eyes to Kisuke, "You're not getting along with Ajuka-chan?"
Kisuke shrugged his shoulders and gave an answer, "I respect what he does, but how we do our own things is far too different for us to cooperate."
'They are too preoccupied with the information they received from the 'future' and made their appropriate distance. They're not even aware that Great Red isn't dead yet. And now that I've come in contact with one of their leaders and the fact that Etouldes could potentially become an enemy if they want something else from Earth, it gives me even fewer incentives to cooperate with them.'
Serafall felt a bit complicated and she could guess that it wasn't just Ajuka that he didn't want to cooperate with but the entirety of the Tri-Faction Alliance, 'He can't trust them? What changed?' At this point in time, she was still not aware of the information that the Alliance received from Gasper Vladi.
'...Oops... I forgot to mention that to her.' And Kisuke finally realized this after reading her expression.
Loki got a bit impatient and took back the reins of the conversation, "You can talk about that among yourselves later. I just want to know how and where Riveria managed to get those abilities."
But just as Kisuke was about to explain it a bit more, also for Yoruichi and Serafall's sake, the three of them stopped and hurriedly looked to the southern sky. A few seconds later, Riveria also did the same and made a serious expression.
"...Hey, what's going on?" asked Hephaestus but she didn't need to get an answer from them to know what was happening as a minute later, all of them heard a loud roar full of malice and intent for destruction. It was very familiar for the Gods and children alike. It was the same roar that terrorized Orario more than 20 years ago and the monster that the Zeus and Hera Familia failed to defeat, the Black Dragon.
"Looks like we don't really have the time to talk." Kisuke muttered before looking at Riveria, "I'll leave it to you. And before I forget," he took out a candy from his pocket, "Give this to Wallenstein-san if she starts acting up."
Although confused about what it is for, Riveria nodded at him and Magic Circles under each, and everyone's feet emerged except for Kisuke, Yoruichi, Serafall, Hestia, and Artemis. Before they could react, Riveria's Magic started levitating them towards the sky and it didn't take long before they disappeared on the horizon towards Melen.
A few minutes later, a 20-meter-long black Dragon with a single flaming red eye flew by and was heading in the same direction that Riveria had left in.
"Looks like all we need to do is wait. Make sure you're in top condition. We'll need every advantage we can get." Kisuke instructed while inviting the disgruntled Hestia and Artemis, "Is it going to be alright?", asked the former.
Kisuke nodded, "Riveria can deal with the corrupted Spirit and Black Dragon without any problem."
"But the problem is what's going to happen next, isn't it?" Artemis asked again, "Are we going to be alright?"
Kisuke stayed silent for a moment before giving an answer, "It won't go smoothly, and please prepare yourself for a lot of excitement."
Hestia gulped, "We'll get to see a lot of 'excitement'? I don't think I'll be able to enjoy that..."
Kisuke then turned to them and with a large grin, he refuted her words, "Nope~ Prepare to join the excitement~!"
Hestia and Artemis were stunned for a moment and weren't able to understand him. But after thinking about it for a short moment, their faces became warped in shock, "Join!?" Both of them simultaneously shouted.
Kisuke only chuckled and didn't elaborate it further and instead explained to Serafall and Yoruichi what had really been happening on the other side.
Editors:
28th00: Apocalypse now~? Fear the High Demonic Erofu~! She’s reached levels not even thought possible!