Kaiser's explanation was clearly something Rias couldn't accept.
Her beloved servants had undergone such drastic changes overnight, as if they had all already overcome their past traumas. It left Rias feeling extremely conflicted, as though she had missed something incredibly important. An overwhelming sense of loss settled over her.
"I'm supposed to be their master... I'm supposed to be the one who helps them walk out of the shadows..."
Rias was radiating a depressive aura, giving off a vibe like she might go crouch in a corner hugging her knees at any moment.
"Well, as long as the result is good, isn't that fine?"
Kaiser's attention had instead been drawn to the cardboard box Rias was holding.
"By the way, what's this?"
Kaiser's expression turned a bit odd.
He couldn't help it—though it was faint, he seemed to sense an unusual aura coming from inside the box.
...Don't tell me there's a person inside?
As he was thinking that, Rias, looking thoroughly dejected, gave him a definite answer.
"This is the servant of mine who was sealed."
Saying that, Rias opened the box like she was unboxing a surprise.
What appeared inside wasn't an object, but a person curled up into a ball.
It was someone with blonde hair and red eyes, facial features as delicate as a doll, and wearing the Kuoh Academy girls' uniform.
"Eek—!"
As soon as the box was opened, this person let out a cry, as if they would turn to ash upon seeing sunlight.
"Don't open the box! I hate sunlight! I hate the outside world!"
The tearful vampire trembled as they clutched the sides of the box and quickly closed the lid again.
"...…"
Kaiser's mouth twitched as he silently stared at Rias.
"T-This child just has this kind of personality... a bit shy with strangers…"
Rias, forgetting her earlier gloom, now looked awkward and mumbled her explanation.
A bit shy with strangers?
Are you insulting the very concept of shyness?
Kaiser grumbled inwardly and said, "He's Gasper Vladi, isn't he?"
Gasper Vladi, a half-blood vampire, Rias's Bishop, and like Koneko Toujou, a first-year student at Kuoh Academy.
Kaiser remembered him well. He was practically brimming with quirks—not just a shut-in who liked cute things and hiding in cardboard boxes, but also extremely shy, unable to tolerate sunlight or face people, and had a penchant for cross-dressing.
Yes, that's right.
The blonde, red-eyed vampire with doll-like features, trembling inside the cardboard box while wearing a Kuoh Academy girls' uniform—was actually a boy…
"You even know Gasper's name?"
Rias looked at Kaiser more and more strangely.
It was one thing for him to know she had a sealed servant. Knowing about her beloved servants' painful pasts was another. But now he even seemed to know so much about Gasper?
Did he plant some kind of surveillance on her? Or was the Khaos Brigade's intel network really that terrifying?
Rias was filled with mixed emotions.
"This kid is way more famous than you think," Kaiser said with a chuckle, interpreting her expression easily. "After all, he's the wielder of the Evil Eye that can stop the world."
The Evil Eye that stops the world—that was Gasper Vladi's Sacred Gear.
While it wasn't a Longinus, in certain respects, it was even more unique and fearsome than one.
Because this Sacred Gear had the ability to freeze time for everything within the wielder's line of sight.
Freezing time—that was the most terrifying power of this Sacred Gear.
"That's why I said you got a god-tier starting lineup," Kaiser sighed at Rias. "The inheritor of Holy Lightning, the wielder of Sword Birth, a high-ranking youkai Nekomata, and now a Sacred Gear user who can freeze time—each one is a top-tier talent with endless potential."
And with Rias herself—who had inherited the Power of Destruction and possessed the same ability as the strongest Devil, Sirzechs Lucifer—the Gremory Peerage was essentially a dream team of prodigies. No wonder they would go on to shoulder the future of the entire Underworld and repeatedly clash with the Khaos Brigade as a frontline force.
"My adorable servants are all the very best, of course!"
Rias seemed to perk up again, standing tall with pride on her face.
However…
"With such outstanding servants, and you still don't know how to properly cultivate them... No wonder you can't even beat a turkey."
Kaiser's offhanded remark left Rias stunned.
"Turkey?"
She didn't register who Kaiser was referring to.
But Kaiser had already lost interest in her. Instead, he looked at the cardboard box with great interest.
"Gasper Vladi, come out."
Kaiser gave the box a little shake.
"Eek! No! So scary!"
Gasper's voice immediately came from the box, screaming and trembling.
"W-Who are you?! I don't know you! Stay away from me! D-Don't shake my box!"
Gasper seemed to be resisting with all his might, clinging tightly to the lid of the box like a vampire guarding his coffin. Kaiser could already imagine him crying inside.
"Come out already!" Kaiser continued shaking the box cheerfully. "You've got the guts to steal, so open the door! Hurry up, or I'll set you on fire!"
"No! Don't burn me with fire!" Gasper really started crying, tears welling up in his eyes. "I'll die! Even a vampire can die! And I didn't steal anything from you!"
"How didn't you?" Kaiser said as if it were obvious. "You're wearing the bracelet, aren't you? That's mine!"
Gasper let out a shocked yelp.
"Y-You're the one the President mentioned... that mentally unstable guy?!"
Kaiser instantly turned his gaze toward Rias with a blank expression.
Rias guiltily turned her head away.
"No! There's a pervert! He must want to harass me because I look cute! President, save me!"
Completely unaware of the awkward atmosphere outside, Gasper continued screaming from inside the box.
"Who wants to harass a cross-dressing pervert like you?!"
Kaiser said with a mix of irritation and amusement as he shook the box harder.
"I-I'm not a pervert! I just like cute clothes! What's wrong with that?!"
Gasper wailed in protest.
"Get out of there already!"
Kaiser had no interest in arguing with the cross-dressing boy's twisted logic. He gave the box a hard yank, finally pulling it out entirely and sending the boy hiding inside tumbling to the floor.
"Nooo—!"
Gasper screamed.
In that instant, the world changed.
"————"
It was as if the entire flow of the world had come to a halt, everything frozen in place.
The Holy Lightning shot from Akeno Himejima's hand stopped mid-air. Koneko Toujou's fist froze mid-swing, her expression locked in place. Kiba Yuuto, Rias, and even Kuroka were all frozen where they stood, completely motionless.
In that moment, all sound vanished from the world, and the heavens and earth fell into silence.
"Uuuh…"
Gasper sat on the floor crying, his tear-filled eyes glowing with an eerie brilliance—like the mythical Evil Eye.
"So this is the Evil Eye that stops the world, huh?"
Suddenly, a playful voice reached Gasper's ears.
"As expected of a Sacred Gear that, in some ways, is more terrifying than a Longinus. You actually stopped time."
The appearance of the mocking voice frightened Gasper greatly.
Only then did he realize—among everyone present, one person was still moving normally in this frozen world.
He had one hand holding the cardboard box, and the other gripping a spear that had appeared at some unknown point.
The spear was long and emitted a terrifying aura that made Gasper tremble.
"Y-You you you you you…!"
Gasper was so terrified he stared wide-eyed at Kaiser, pointing at him like he had seen a ghost.
"Why are you unaffected?!"
Faced with Gasper's unique form of questioning, Kaiser's response was completely matter-of-fact.
"The Evil Eye that stops the world is powerful, but ultimately, it's not a Longinus. It has plenty of weaknesses."
For example, it couldn't stop someone significantly stronger than the wielder, nor could it stop Sacred Gears or weapons of a higher tier.
Its time-freezing ability also had limits—within the wielder's line of sight, the closer the target, the longer it could be frozen; the farther away, the more spread out the effect, and the shorter the duration. It didn't work indefinitely.
Moreover, because it froze anything within the user's vision, as long as someone wasn't seen—whether by staying out of sight or by blinding the user—the Sacred Gear wouldn't activate.
With so many weaknesses, Kaiser, who was well aware of all this, naturally wouldn't be affected.
His power far surpassed Gasper's, and he possessed three Longinus of a higher tier than the Evil Eye—all of them high-level Longinus. With so many Longinus on him, if Gasper tried to freeze him, he'd probably drain himself dry and die on the spot.
The stronger the target, the greater the energy cost. That was another weakness of the Evil Eye.
"You've got my bracelet already, and yet you're still triggering your Sacred Gear involuntarily from emotional overload."
Kaiser reached out with the True Longinus, lightly tapping the stunned Gasper's face with the tip of the spear.
"Looks like you need some serious training."
"Now then, how should I deal with you?"
"Such a tough choice…"
Kaiser grinned happily, and Gasper's fear finally reached its peak.
With a roll of his eyes and a kick of his legs, he fainted.
Unfortunately for him, his nightmare was only just beginning...