High School DxD: Return of the Crimson Dragon Emperor

Chapter 527: Chapter 517 Using Quantumization at such a risky timing

Using Quantumization at such a risky timing, followed immediately by a massive finisher like that... It took a heavy toll on my stamina, but the results spoke for themselves.

As the blinding light faded, vision returned to the battlefield. What met my eyes was a crater so massive you couldn’t even see its edges. It felt big enough to swallow multiple mountains whole. And right in the center of that vast depression stood Asem.

Drenched in his own blood.

”Fufu... Ahaha... To think I’d get taken down so cleanly... A single moment’s lapse turned out to be fatal... I knew it in theory, but to think it would go this far...”

His signature white hair was stained crimson, and his Demon Lord battle gear hung in tattered rags. That previous combo had clearly dealt him a near-fatal blow.

Flesh for bone—or something like that. ...Well, in reality, I had my bone chopped off too, but I managed to repair it, so I’ll call it a win.

Asem pushed himself up on trembling legs.

”...Impressive. It’s been a long time since anyone has inflicted a wound this deep on me.”

”Is that so... Let’s end this, Asem. I’m drained, but I’m far from out of the fight. I still have more than enough strength left to take down someone as battered as you are right now. But before that, answer me.”

If I didn’t take him down here, this fight would never end. He would just stand right back up. But there was something I had to do first.

”I asked you before we fought. I get that dangerous bastards from another world—different from both ours and Ast Ade—are going to invade. I get that we’re running out of time. But why? What is driving you to do all this?”

If this battle was just a dry run for the war to come, why did he need to take it this far? Why go out of his way to play the villain and stoke our hatred, when he was supposed to be the God of Ast Ade?

Hearing my question, Asem let out a faint laugh and opened his mouth.

”I believe I told you, Hero-kun. If you want that answer, you’ll have to ask with your fists.”

Saying that, Asem extended his left hand sideways—and summoned that black gauntlet into existence.

”This battle made it crystal clear. Your power has surpassed where I am right now. I don’t know how it felt from your side, but even without that Quantumization trick, you would have gradually pushed me back. That’s why—”

The moment he said that, a suffocating pressure burst forth from his frame!

What is this skin-crawling wave of power...?! This felt completely different from the Asem I had been fighting up until now. It felt as though the entity standing before me was an entirely different creature altogether...!

”You were curious, weren’t you? About why I hadn’t used this gauntlet yet. Everything up until now was just a warm-up. Though I suppose calling a full-power fight a ’warm-up’ sounds a bit absurd. I simply wanted to see how far you could push me in my current state. And in the end, you finally surpassed me. Fufu... It was worth making this, after all. Now that you’re at this level, I can show you my new self.”

For a moment, I couldn’t process what Asem was saying. No, I understood the words. I just couldn’t bring myself to believe them.

A warm-up...? All of that fight just now...? You’re lying... There’s no way—

”What are you doing, partner?! Stop him before he does whatever he’s planning!”

”!”

Ddraig’s sharp voice snapped me back to reality. I immediately dropped into a cannon posture. It didn’t need to be a finisher. Just enough power to interrupt him—!

However—

”—Dance, Despair Butterfly.”

The moment Asem whispered those words, an overwhelming torrent of power exploded outward from his body! Pitch-black energy spiraled into a towering tornado, stretching high into the stratosphere before expanding outward!

If I didn’t dig my feet deep into the ground, the sheer shockwave would have swallowed me whole...!

Looking up at the sky, dark clouds churned above the black tornado, raining down lightning strikes all across the wasteland. One of those bolts plunged straight toward me, forcing me to leap backward to dodge.

”You’ve gotta be kidding me...”

The impact of the lightning strike obliterated the ground where I had been standing a second ago. Just the residual side effects of releasing his power could do this much damage...?!

At the center of the unyielding black storm, a deep red light flared. Then, something burst out from within the eye of the storm. It was a pair of sinister butterfly wings—the same ones Asem had sprouted from his back earlier. But this time, the scale was beyond absurd. How many hundreds of meters wide were they? The sheer size and suffocating presence held me frozen in place.

Suddenly, the storm cut out. The raging vortex of power vanished in an instant, as if it had never existed at all. A heavy silence fell over the desert. And that sudden silence felt far more terrifying than the storm itself.

”Sorry to keep you waiting.”

Reacting to the voice coming from above, I looked up toward the sky.

He was clad in a full suit of pitch-black armor accented with subtle blue line work. Its design resembled the armor of the Welsh Dragon Emperor or the Vanishing Dragon. The once-sinister butterfly wings had transformed into a translucent, shimmering blue, giving off an almost eerie beauty. Yet, in stark contrast to that beauty, it radiated an indescribable wave of dread. As if all the calamities of the universe had been condensed into a single form—

Clad in that armor, Asem spoke.

”—’Calamity Regen Alter, The Despair Butterfly that Brings the End.’ It’s what you lot would call a Balance Breaker. Fufu... Can you understand it, I wonder? Can you even comprehend this level of power?”

Comprehend it...?

Yeah, I comprehend it all right...! And because I comprehend it, I fully understand the overwhelming gulf between us now...! His current power was so immensely massive it felt like an entire ocean was hovering directly over my head... It was too big! It was enough to make my sense of up and down spin out of control...!

Asem gathered aura into his palm, forming a new scythe. Instinctively, I dropped into a defensive stance, but...

Asem spoke in a quiet, even tone.

”Don’t look away. Even a blink will become an opening. Don’t relax your focus. A single second of hesitation will prove fatal.”

Asem gently spread his butterfly wings—

”You bastard...!”

”Panicking is out of the question. Which is why—”

The continuation of his sentence didn’t come from the sky in front of me. It came from directly behind my back.

”—I’ve already cut you.”

Fresh blood sprayed into the air.

[Afterword Mini-Story]

Issei: ”This guy... he’s gone beyond a sister complex... beyond the beyond...!”

Asem: ”...Kh! What incredible power! The sister complexes of the entire universe are resonating together...! Just what kind of ultimate sister maniac is he about to become?!”

Ddraig: ”...I’m not even gonna comment on this.”

Ignis: ”Oh my, giving up on the tsukkomi entirely?”

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