Kuoh Town, Small Villa
Kaiser's group of three finally returned home after midnight.
By the time they arrived, Asia, who typically slept and woke early, was already feeling sleepy. Yet, she wore a constant smile on her face, clearly in a very good mood.
Michael had solemnly apologized to Asia regarding the matter of her expulsion and promised he would find his own way to compensate her, thus resolving one of Asia's lingering emotional burdens.
"This is all thanks to Kaiser-san. It must be the Lord's mercy that guided me here to meet Kaiser-san."
Asia continuously repeated such words on their way back, clearly demonstrating her immense gratitude toward Kaiser.
Kaiser himself didn't think much of it, but since the little nun kept insisting on this, he could only silently tell himself that it was fine as long as she was happy, and the rest was just trivial matters.
It wasn't only Asia; even Kuroka's expression had become noticeably lighter. It seemed that after talking with her younger sister, she had similarly resolved some of her inner conflicts.
Hence, once they returned to the villa, the little black cat prepared to head directly to sleep with a refreshed mood.
"Wait."
However, Kaiser didn't let Kuroka leave. After escorting Asia back to her room, he grabbed hold of her.
"Meow?" Kuroka jumped in surprise, then reacted with slight dissatisfaction, "What's the matter, nya? I'm really sleepy right now, nya."
After saying this, Kuroka seemed to recall something, her eyes suddenly brightening.
"Could it be you've finally come around? Are you finally willing to let me warm your bed?"
"If that's what you're suggesting, then I'm suddenly no longer sleepy, nya."
"Stop having dirty thoughts in your head all day long." Kaiser knocked lightly on Kuroka's forehead and said helplessly, "I have a task for you."
Kaiser handed Kuroka a small piece of paper engraved with a magic circle.
"This is a ritual; you should be able to set it up, right?"
Hearing this, Kuroka furrowed her brows.
"My specialties are Senjutsu and Youjutsu, you know? I'm not really that proficient in magic."
Although she said that, Kuroka still took the small piece of paper inscribed with the magic circle and examined it carefully.
After this glance, Kuroka immediately noticed something.
"This seems to be a ritual for extracting a Sacred Gear, isn't it?"
Kuroka looked at Kaiser in surprise.
"Didn't you just say you don't understand magic at all?" Kaiser retorted irritably.
"But I'm proficient in Demonic Power, nya," Kuroka replied naturally. "What you call magic or sorcery is essentially just another power system reconstructed through independent interpretations of Devils' Demonic Power, isn't it?"
Magic was a power system that utilized spells and formulas to control supernatural phenomena. Initially, it was created so that beings other than Devils could wield powers similar to Demonic Power. It was developed by legendary magicians and sorcerers through their research.
Nowadays, magic or sorcery had already diversified greatly, to the point where certain feats beyond even Devils' Demonic Power could be accomplished. Because of this, many curious individuals even considered these uniquely theorized and formulated spells to be attempts at recreating the miracles performed by God as closely as possible.
All phenomena in the world followed certain rules. Magic or sorcery involved monitoring, calculating, and guiding these rules to manifest supernatural phenomena.
In other mythological systems, magic or sorcery had also flourished into very prosperous power structures. Although their principles differed, they similarly utilized spell-based methods to trigger and control supernatural phenomena.
But here, magic or sorcery originally served as an imitation of Demonic Power, thus leading many Devils to look down on magic or sorcery, and even on magicians or sorcerers themselves.
Although Kuroka wasn't proficient in magic or sorcery, she possessed extraordinary talent in Demonic Power, coupled with her considerable achievements in Youjutsu and Senjutsu, making it not difficult for her to discern the details of a ritual.
It was precisely because of this that Kaiser entrusted her with setting up this ritual.
"I'll leave this to you for now. After you wake up, just find an empty room and set it up casually."
Kaiser's instruction piqued Kuroka's curiosity.
"You're setting up this ritual... whose Sacred Gear do you plan to take?"
Kuroka wasn't curious about how Kaiser had obtained this ritual.
Raynare knew this ritual. For Kaiser, obtaining it from her was a trivial matter.
What made Kuroka curious was exactly whose Sacred Gear Kaiser intended to seize by setting up this ritual.
It couldn't possibly be Asia's, right?
"What are you thinking?" Kaiser seemed to see through Kuroka's thoughts, rolling his eyes. "How could I ever take Asia's Sacred Gear?"
If he really wanted to seize Asia's Sacred Gear, there was no need for such trouble. He could directly reach out his hand when Asia manifested "Twilight Healing."
As long as he touched "Twilight Healing," with his own authority, Kaiser could instantly take control of this Sacred Gear.
For these types of "Equipment-Type" Sacred Gears possessing concrete forms, as long as they fit the concept of "weaponry," Kaiser could unconditionally take possession of them.
In a certain sense, Kaiser could be considered the natural enemy of anyone who relied on weapons, armor, or items in battle; he had simply never displayed this particular ability before.
And this time, the Sacred Gear that Kaiser intended to seize was actually a very ordinary one.
"The item I want to take is a Dragon Wing."
Kaiser's words startled Kuroka for a moment.
"A Dragon Wing?" Kuroka asked curiously, "Isn't that a very common Sacred Gear?"
Indeed, it was truly a very common Sacred Gear.
Much like Siegfried's Twice Critical, if one ignored the fact that it was a subspecies, this Sacred Gear was actually quite ordinary—not only were its abilities commonplace, but its rarity was also unremarkable.
Longinus-class Sacred Gears were unique existences, while artifacts like the Smile of the Holy Mother existed only in limited numbers. However, Twice Criticals were extremely common; even if there weren't hundreds, there were certainly dozens. In every aspect, they were ordinary.
Dragon Wings were similar—essentially identical to Twice Criticals.
However, whether Twice Critical or Dragon Wing, both possessed a certain unique characteristic.
"The Boosted Gear, one of the thirteen Longinus, similar to Divine Dividing, seals the soul of one of the Two Heavenly Dragons. After the Red Dragon Emperor, Ddraig, was sealed within it, it became one of the strongest dragon-type Sacred Gears ever created."
Kaiser stated this clearly.
"The Boosted Gear can double its wielder's power every ten seconds; it is the highest-ranked version of the Twice Critical."
A Twice Critical could only double the wielder's power once. Compared to Boosted Gear, the gap between them was as vast as heaven and earth—not to mention that the latter could even transfer the multiplied power to others.
Yet, the Twice Critical was ultimately a lower-ranked Sacred Gear of the Boosted Gear, sharing the same fundamental nature.
"The Dragon Wing is the same. It is actually the lower-ranked version of Divine Dividing, capable of reducing by half the power of whatever the wielder touches, but only once," Kaiser explained briefly to Kuroka.
"Right now, I need this Sacred Gear as a material. The ritual I am setting up is specifically prepared for this."
When he left Kuoh Academy, Kaiser had asked Azazel to help him investigate if there were any Sacred Gear users with bad character possessing Dragon Wing.
The Grigori's observers had always been monitoring Sacred Gear possessors throughout the world, making it the easiest way for Kaiser to find a suitable Sacred Gear wielder who met his conditions.
Then, Azazel took only ten seconds to obtain a list from the Grigori and handed it to Kaiser.
Kaiser planned to find the most despicable and morally corrupt individual from this list and have that person contribute his life to Kaiser's next plan.
"Material?" Kuroka suddenly realized something and said, "You're going to create an artificial Sacred Gear?"
Using a genuine Sacred Gear as a material for creating an artificial one?
What kind of convoluted approach was this?
"You don't understand."
Seeing Kuroka's peculiar expression, Kaiser immediately knew what she was thinking.
"I have an idea..."
As he spoke, Kaiser told Kuroka about his plan.
Only after hearing Kaiser's idea did Kuroka finally understand why he had gone through all this trouble.
"Will this really work?"
Kuroka felt stunned and skeptical about Kaiser's whimsical idea.
"How will we know if we don't try?" Kaiser pinched Kuroka's ear and said, "Anyway, just follow my instructions. I'll go catch the guy tomorrow morning."
After explaining everything, Kaiser returned to his room.
Kuroka could only rub her ear, sore from Kaiser's pinching, and grumbled to herself.
"Always pulling or pinching, does he really like my ears that much?"
Thinking about this, Kuroka's eyes rolled mischievously, and she secretly crept toward Kaiser's room door.
However, as she approached, a sacred wave immediately appeared, blocking her path.
"Guarding against me again? Let's see how long you can keep this up, nya."
She complained indignantly for a moment before reluctantly returning to her own room.
That night, peace finally descended.
......
The next day...
Asia rose early to perform mass, and Kuroka was still sleeping soundly when Kaiser woke up.
He tidied himself up briefly and left the villa, heading straight toward his target's location.
The opponent was not in Kuoh Town, but still within the country. Kaiser manipulated his gravity using Gravisheath, flying directly toward the destination, and successfully arrived before noon.
There was nothing much to say about capturing the target. At the time, he was mingling with a group from an underground organization, doing some unspeakable things. Kaiser went over without a word, knocked him unconscious, conveniently took care of that underground organization, and then carried this unlucky fellow all the way back to Kuoh Town, returning to the villa in the afternoon.
By this time, Kuroka had already finished setting up the ritual. The location was the storage room at the corner of the villa.
"I've sent Asia away, so don't worry about her finding out," Kuroka thoughtfully informed Kaiser, giving Kaiser the feeling that he was doing something shady.
"Let's begin then," Kaiser hesitated for exactly 0.01 seconds before decisively starting the ritual.