The Strongest Eriri in History

As time passed, the final showdown between Serafall and Shiva finally began, giving everyone yet another spectacular fight to witness.

As a long-range magic user, Serafall's strategy mirrored Sirzechs' in keeping her distance from Shiva. However, Shiva wasn't purely a close-combat fighter with a powerful physique; while long-range magic wasn't his specialty, he could still hold his own well enough from afar.

Nevertheless, every long-range attack from Shiva was intercepted by Serafall's ice magic, though Shiva wasn't aiming to deal direct damage. His attacks served more to keep her at bay as he prepared to deliver a direct blow with his fists and unleash his powerful dance-based divine techniques.

While Serafall's mastery of ice magic was formidable, her spells still fell short in sheer destructive power when compared to Sirzechs' devastating energy. Slowly but surely, she began to show signs of struggle, and at this rate, she wouldn't last long against Shiva.

Shiva showed no sign of restraint, despite Serafall being a woman, and his fierce attacks left her body marked with numerous cuts and wounds. However, her clothing remained intact—anime and reality have their differences, after all.

In alternate universes, some writers had moments of sudden inspiration and portrayed worlds' pasts and futures in their stories. However, their subjective visions sometimes added extra details, causing discrepancies between memory projections and actual events. This was why Rias had immediately requested that Eriri remove the memories of her own story after watching it—there was simply too much fan service.

As the fight reached its climax, Serafall's defenses weakened further.

Watching this from her throne above, Eriri's brow furrowed slightly.

She would much rather see Serafall win than Shiva. Serafall, after all, was an adorable girl, while Shiva was… well, he was just Shiva. Without a moment's hesitation, Eriri's gaze settled on Serafall, subtly adding a slight enhancement.

At that very moment, Serafall began casting her ultimate spell against Shiva. A wild surge of icy energy swept across half of the arena, and the temperature plummeted as thick layers of frost covered the ground.

A second later, countless ice spikes shot up from the ground, densely packed to cover the arena, each one nearly as strong as a divine weapon.

Shiva, initially enduring Serafall's spell, was instantly impaled by several of these sharp icicles, his formidable physique offering no defense whatsoever.

Within seconds, Shiva lay defeated on the stage. His gaze, filled with disbelief, suggested he was baffled by how Serafall's magic had suddenly grown so strong.

Serafall herself was left in utter shock, glancing at her own hands and then at the gleaming ice spikes around her. She was certain her magic wasn't anywhere near that powerful. She had, in fact, fully prepared herself for defeat, but this unexpected turn left her in disbelief.

Unable to resist, she looked up at Eriri on the viewing platform above, her instincts telling her that this unusual phenomenon had everything to do with her.

On the balcony of Group One, Sirzechs and the others were equally stunned, though none of them could identify Eriri's interference. After all, the power had undeniably emanated from Serafall; her magic flow and the creation of the spell had all occurred within their perception, with no indication of external involvement.

Unable to reach any clear conclusions, they assumed Serafall had simply undergone a sudden power surge. The outcome put a smile on Sirzechs' face, as Serafall's rise to transcendent power was highly advantageous to the underworld. Including Rias, the underworld now had four transcendent beings, putting their high-level forces on par with other pantheons.

Meanwhile, the gods and demons on the Group Two balcony were far from concerned with any of this. Serafall's victory over Shiva meant that they themselves were now that much closer to death.

During this period, they had tried every method to escape, only to find the balcony they stood on was shielded by some unseen force. No attacks, nor any special methods, had the slightest effect.

Despair soon swept over Group Two's platform. Some had even attempted to eliminate other would-be opponents to give themselves an edge, but they discovered that all forms of combat on the balcony were prohibited.

"Good, that's more like it," Eriri nodded in satisfaction, wholly unconcerned with the fact that she had rigged the match. It wasn't as if any members of the chat group were participating here; she could run things however she liked.

Beside her, neither Scarlet nor Ophis reacted to this revelation. For them, the winner of the competition didn't matter in the least; they were far more interested in simply spending time with Eriri. As for Liliyana and Asia, standing on either side of the throne, they simply gave Eriri a dazed look, entirely oblivious to what was happening.

But even if they had understood, they wouldn't have minded—in their eyes, Eriri was always their top priority.

…

After Group One's matches concluded, Shiva, now revived, returned to the Group One balcony with a discontented expression. Serafall and the others, meanwhile, were transported back to the viewing platform above by Eriri.

Eriri didn't hesitate to grant Serafall's reward, infusing her with a surge of powerful energy.

Eriri focused solely on raising Serafall's magic level, opting not to enhance her body in any way. As a result, the effect, while substantial, paled in comparison to the transformations Eriri had bestowed upon her companions like Megumi.

Still, for Serafall, this reward was an extraordinary boon. In an instant, her power level broke through to Level 4, advancing steadily to its peak before gradually stabilizing.

A powerful aura radiated from Serafall, drawing attention from those on both platforms. Even Shiva, Indra, and other gods looked her way, their expressions slightly grim, as Serafall's aura now nearly matched theirs.

"Thank you, Lady Eriri, for your assistance," Serafall said excitedly to Eriri. It was unclear if her gratitude was for the power boost or for Eriri's covert help in her victory—likely a bit of both.

"No problem," Eriri smiled, winking at Serafall, causing her to blush slightly. This gesture also confirmed her earlier suspicions.

Serafall was not the type to stubbornly reject Eriri's help as "unfair." She was thrilled to receive a boost in strength, and as for how she achieved victory… well, the specifics didn't matter to her in the least.

"Serafall, congratulations." Sirzechs approached her with a broad smile, offering his heartfelt congratulations.

After all, from the intense aura she had just unleashed, Sirzechs could tell that Serafall's power was now equal to the full strength he could access in his true form.

With this new power, the Underworld could now fully dominate the Angels and Fallen Angels if it ever came to war.

However, Sirzechs had no intention of initiating a conflict. The Three Factions' forces had been too strained to sustain a large-scale war, and a peace treaty was clearly the only path forward.

At this moment, Sona also walked over to Serafall with a joyful smile. "Congratulations, Nee-sama!"

"Sona-chan!" Serafall beamed, pulling her sister into a tight embrace and rubbing her cheek affectionately against Sona's, her voice taking on a saccharine tone as she called her name.

As the ultimate "sister complex," Serafall adored her little sister to the point of indulgence. Every time she saw Sona, she couldn't help but initiate some affectionate sisterly contact. Although Sona found her sister's doting a bit overwhelming, she was also genuinely delighted; after all, she was quite the "sister complex" herself.

…

Since Group Two had more members than Group One, their elimination rounds took much longer. It was only after two to three hours of intense matches that Group Two's final victor was finally determined.

For Group Two's matches, the victor was decided only once one side was fully eliminated, meaning that only one could emerge alive at the end. This rule also meant that, aside from the final victor, no one in Group Two would survive.

Of course, there were a few pairs who managed to take each other down, but those instances were rare. So long as a victor had a breath left, they would be restored to peak condition for the next round.

And, in the end, the final victor was none other than Heavenly Emperor Indra, the ruler of the Thirty-Three Heavens of Mount Sumeru.

Indra stood alone on the battlefield, his wounds from the final round already fully healed. His gaze fixed intently on Eriri sitting on the throne above, seething with unconcealed hatred.

According to Eriri's rules, as long as he could survive even a single move from her, he could secure both his life and the rewards granted to Group One's champion.

But that was easier said than done. Even Hades, god of the Underworld, had perished with just one strike from Eriri; how much less of a chance did the others have?

Though Indra was confident that he was stronger than Hades, he had no certainty about withstanding even a single move from Eriri.

From the very beginning, he had known that nearly everyone in Group Two was doomed to die. But he couldn't bear the thought of dying so easily, not without at least trying to inflict some harm on his opponent.

"Come on, let's settle this." Indra shouted up at Eriri, his powerful intent to kill rising fiercely.

Eriri did not hold back Indra's power. A fierce aura surged from him, an aura comparable to Level 5 power, and a divine vajra appeared in his hand.

"I'll repeat myself: I'll only use one move, and the energy I'll use in it is nearly negligible for me. Whether you can endure it or not depends on your abilities." With a blank expression, Eriri raised a single finger.

Without another word, she exhaled softly toward the arena below.

In that instant, a violent gust of energy gathered at the tip of her finger and surged forward like a fierce storm toward the stage. As it advanced, the very air around it seemed to shatter, leaving a trail of fragmented space in its wake.

The fierce wind grew larger as it approached the arena, and by the time it reached the stage, it had spread to cover the entire area.

On the stage, Indra let out a roar, and the vajra in his hand began to glow with an intense golden light, unleashing a blinding storm of lightning.

But as the lightning flared, Indra's body began to disintegrate as if merging into the energy he had summoned.

The summoned lightning briefly reached Level 6 in intensity, but compared to the overwhelming storm that blanketed the battlefield, it was utterly insignificant.

In a split second, the lightning collided with Eriri's wind. Without even the slightest resistance, the lightning was absorbed completely.

Under everyone's watchful gaze, the windstorm finally made contact with the stage.

With a deafening roar, the entire stage—and Indra himself—disappeared in the raging storm.

The fierce wind continued downward, vanishing into the void below moments later, completely out of view.

While the stage was destroyed, the balcony where Group One stood remained untouched, leaving all the gods, angels, fallen angels, and humans gaping in shock at where the storm had disappeared.

Even Shiva's face was marked with undeniable terror; he sensed how utterly powerless he would have been against that blast.

After today, Shiva's ambition to challenge either Ophis or Great Red seemed utterly out of reach, as today's events had shattered his sense of invincibility.

He had always believed he was the strongest in the world and was confident in his ability to take on even the Infinite Dragon God, Ophis.

Now he realized just how foolish he had been.

…

"Well then, the tournament has officially ended! Everyone, it's time to go home."

With a snap of Eriri's fingers, the entire scene shifted. In an instant, everyone found themselves back in the real world as though the shift in scenery had happened without any physical movement on their part.

Once they realized they had returned to their respective realms, every single one of them scattered in all directions, not daring to linger for even a moment.

Today's events had left the world's top warriors reeling, with a substantial drop in overall power among the world's strongest by sixty to seventy percent.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

40 Advanced Chapters Available on Patreon: 

Patreon.com/DaoOfHeaven