There was nothing to be done. Rod was simply too fast.
Not to mention ordinary Maou-class fighters, even a Super Devil like Sirzechs could only barely catch a trace of Rod's movement.
If it were Michael or Azazel, they could not even see Rod's shadow. They could only rely on long-honed battle experience and instinct to judge where he was.
As for Creuserey,
Katerea had said they had been training in secret for hundreds of years, but after all that time he was still only an Ultimate-Class Devil, which was proof enough that his talent was kinda meh.
So even though Creuserey could sense the danger, his body still could not evade every attack.
Simply put, his body could not keep up with his awareness.
Combat instinct: An attack's coming, dodge!
Body: Huh? Dodge what?!
And so things ended up like this.
No, if this kept going, he might actually die here.
The moment the thought of death entered his mind, Creuserey's fighting spirit rapidly faded. And with his will to fight draining away, his reactions only became even duller.
Rod pressed the advantage. There was no suspense left in the battle at all. Creuserey, covered in wounds, was no match for him.
Several streaks of sword-light flashed past, and three of Creuserey's limbs were severed on the spot. He let out a scream and crashed to the ground like a meteor, blasting a crater into the training field and sending dust flying everywhere.
Blinding pain swept through his whole body. An ordinary person would have died from such grievous wounds long ago, but he was still clinging to life, and the magical power inside him had not diminished much.
That was only natural. After all, the power he now wielded had been given to him by Ophis. Until the time limit of the Snake was fully exhausted, Creuserey's strength would not decline much.
Even so, having lost all four limbs, he had lost all will to keep fighting.
"W-wait! Don't kill me! I surrender! I confess!"
Creuserey hurriedly begged for mercy.
After all, nowhere in his plans had he ever accounted for the possibility of his own defeat.
With the Infinite Dragon God's power in hand, both he and Katerea before him had believed themselves invincible, able to punch down Azazel, kick Sirzechs aside, and if God were still alive, even dare to take a swing at the God of the Bible.
But the battle just now had completely shattered that illusion. The arrogance had disappeared from his face, replaced by panic and misery.
"Sigh. Honestly, I didn't really want to make a move against you either."
Rod sighed, though he was smiling as he said it.
Inwardly, he muttered a single line.
If you want to blame someone, blame the system. It's the one ordering this. It has absolutely nothing to do with Rod.
A flash of sword-light swept past, and Creuserey's head flew up into the air. Blood burst from the wound and sprayed more than ten meters away.
At the moment he struck, Rod thought he heard Creuserey say "wait," but pretended not to hear it. The system reward was more important.
[Quest "Defeat Creuserey" completed. Calculating reward.]
[Calculation successful. Obtained skill , Fiery Eyes, Silver Eyes.]
[Skill: Fiery Eyes, Silver Eyes. Fiery Eyes and Golden Pupils SE Version. When activated, it can see through all falsehood.]
"Fiery Eyes and Golden Pupils? No, wait, Silver Eyes? What kind of nonsense is that?"
The moment Rod saw the skill name, he nearly broke.
The effect was great, sure, but could the system not have changed the name a little?
Unfortunately, the system gave no response. It only ever showed a sense of presence when handing out quests and rewards.
Thankfully, this skill was not like Super Acceleration, where the skill name announced itself out loud every time it was activated. If that name had to be shouted, Rod would probably have to change planets.
Seeing Creuserey killed, Katerea let out a breath and used a spear to prop herself up to her feet. After sparing a moment of silence for her dead companion, she turned to Sirzechs, the one who had cried out "wait."
"Sirzechs, you're too kind. You're not suited to be a Maou at all."
Rod had told her before that the premise for successfully founding her own nation was that Sirzechs had to be kind enough.
She had been uneasy about that before, but now it seemed things really were just as Rod had said.
"Perhaps. But I truly do hope we can coexist with you."
Sirzechs let out a heartfelt sigh.
As Maou, he knew better than anyone what the current state of the Underworld was.
Of the once-prosperous seventy-two pure-blood devil noble houses, fewer than half remained. As for the true bloodlines of the Four Great Maou, only the Old Maou faction was left.
If the Old Maou faction had not remained so unyielding after their defeat in the civil war, Sirzechs would never have wanted to exile them to a forgotten corner of the Underworld.
Creuserey had possessed the orthodox bloodline of Asmodeus. With his death, that bloodline was severed.
What hypocrisy...
Katerea could not help cursing inwardly. She had originally wanted to say it aloud, but for the sake of not disrupting the plan, she could only swallow the words.
At the same time, even though Creuserey had been defeated, the battle was not over.
The White Dragon Emperor Vali, maintaining his Balance Breaker and clad in pure white armor, slowly appeared before Rod.
His azure wings of light shone brilliantly against the night sky. Even though Rod could not see his eyes clearly, he could still feel the intense, nearly tangible hostility coming from him through the empty air.
Even knowing a battle was unavoidable, Rod still wanted to know why.
"You seem to hate me. Why? This should only be our second meeting."
"You don't need to know! Rod, fight me!"
The instant the words fell, fierce light burst from Vali's eyes, and his white figure vanished from the spot without warning.
Rod's battle instincts screamed at him that danger was incoming.
In the next instant, Vali closed in on him with his right fist clenched. His punch tore through the air with an explosive boom and smashed straight toward Rod's chest.
After entering Balance Breaker, the White Dragon Emperor Vali was clearly far stronger than Creuserey.
Whether in attack, speed, sensitivity in combat, or close-quarters fighting skill, he was in an entirely different league.
And after watching the previous battle, Vali also understood perfectly well just how absurdly destructive those strange light wheels Rod used were, which was why he chose close combat instead of firing magical blasts from range.
In the original story, Kokabiel had been utterly helpless in front of Vali after he activated Balance Breaker.
Faced with that naked hostility, Rod relied not only on his battle instincts, his eyes also clearly captured the White Dragon Emperor's attack trajectory. Reacting at once, he opened his left hand to meet Vali's fist and seized the armored gauntlet tightly in his grip.
Boom!
The collision between the two of them blasted out a white ring-shaped cloud, and the shockwave from the disturbed atmosphere rolled outward in all directions.
The impact of fist against palm made Rod frown slightly.
Vali's strength exceeded his expectations. It was already enough to rival his current self.
And for some reason, it felt as though Vali's hostility and resentment toward him had only grown deeper.
If looks could kill, Rod would already have been riddled with holes.
"Divide!"
At the exact instant the two clashed, the azure gem set into the White Dragon Emperor's armored gauntlet flashed with light, and a mechanical sound rang out.
Immediately afterward, Rod felt a portion of the power inside his body being siphoned away.
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