The battle ended swiftly.
With Kaiser defeating Vali in the most overwhelming and powerful manner, shocking everyone present, the events that followed held no suspense.
The traitors of the Three Great Factions, led by the Old Satan Faction, had completely lost the will to fight. As they looked at Kaiser, who stood in the middle of the field without doing anything further yet not leaving either, they felt all their fighting spirit and killing intent vanish without a trace.
"Run!"
After someone shouted this, the traitors of the Three Great Factions turned and fled without hesitation, having no intention of continuing the fight.
Even the direct descendants of the Maou—Shalba, Katerea, and Creuserey—did the same.
"Don't let them escape!"
Azazel reacted quickly and shouted a stern warning.
"This is a perfect chance to wipe out the Old Satan Faction! We must not miss it!"
Only after Azazel's shout did the people from all sides come to their senses. Without delay, they began to pursue the fleeing enemies, beating down the dogs that had fallen into the water.
Michael and Gabriel reconstructed a barrier at the first opportunity, sealing off the entirety of Kuoh Academy. This not only isolated the school from the outside to prevent the battle's aftermath from spreading but also trapped the fleeing traitors, making escape impossible.
To prevent the enemy from using teleportation magic circles or gates, Michael and Gabriel also revised the structure of the barrier, switching to a different operational mode, rendering the teleportation circles and gates previously connected by Vali completely ineffective.
Immediately thereafter, the guards of the Three Great Factions, led by Rias and others, launched a violent assault, annihilating the traitors and capturing them all in one swoop.
Naturally, Sirzechs, Serafall, and Azazel joined the fray again, each intercepting Shalba, Katerea, and Creuserey, engaging them in a renewed fierce battle.
Shalba and the others wanted to retreat, but due to being specifically targeted, they couldn't withdraw smoothly. Unwilling to admit defeat, they fought back in a frenzy, as if determined to go down fighting.
Unfortunately for them, even without Kaiser's involvement, they had no chance of defeating Azazel and the others.
Among the three, the strongest was undoubtedly Shalba. His power had already been acknowledged by Azazel. With the boost from Ophis's "snake," his strength was fully comparable to the previous Beelzebub, placing him among the top even within the Maou-class.
If his opponent were an average Maou-level being, he would be unbeatable.
But his opponent was Sirzechs—and that changed everything.
As the strongest Maou, the current Lucifer, Sirzechs' power, as previously stated, far surpassed the Maou level.
Having inherited the power of destruction from his mother's lineage, he could compress that power into countless destructive magic bullets and control them freely. His strength and very existence had already surpassed the bounds of devils and Maou. He was recognized throughout the Underworld as one of the few true transcendents.
If he unleashed his true form and power, eliminating Shalba would be a trivial task.
As one of the leaders of the faction that overthrew the original Maou and supported the revolution, Sirzechs had killed the sons of both the original Beelzebub and Asmodeus. His magical power was said to be at least ten times that of the former Lucifer.
In other words, the ancestor Beelzebub, who once held real power in the Underworld, was slain by Sirzechs.
Facing such an opponent, Shalba had no chance. He was crushed by two of Sirzechs' destructive magic bullets in a quick and decisive victory.
After Shalba's defeat, Creusereyalso went down in record time.
Creuserey's power was only average Maou level. His opponent, Azazel, already possessed Maou-level combat power in his base state, not to mention he wielded the artificial Sacred Gear "Down Fall Dragon Spear," which sealed a Dragon King.
Though this Sacred Gear was still immature—sealing a Dragon King yet only being able to extract limited dragon power without any special abilities—it was still an enhancement. It made the already Maou-level Azazel even stronger.
Even Kaiser could only fight Azazel to a draw using the holy spear and reckless tactics (without invoking his balance breaker). A second-generation Maou like Creuserey, who relied either on Ophis's "snake" or his ancestor's blood, naturally stood no chance. Against a serious Azazel, he was taken down in a matter of moments.
As for Katerea, she held out the longest.
But not because her opponent was weak.
Serafall Leviathan—the only female among the current Four Great Maou and the diplomat—appeared full of youthful energy and innocence, like a harmless teenage girl.
However, this seemingly harmless girl was in fact the strongest female devil in the Underworld.
Her specialty was ice magic and ice-based demonic power. When serious, she could freeze an entire city or even destroy a small country with ease.
Although Katerea reached Maou level after receiving Ophis's "snake," the Underworld had many Maou-level beings. The top ranks in the Rating Game were all at that level, not to mention the ageless ancient monsters. For Serafall to stand out among such beings and become the strongest female devil spoke volumes about her power.
The reason she didn't quickly defeat Katerea was simple—she was holding back.
She had known Katerea for a long time, and when Katerea accused her of stealing the Maou seat, Serafall didn't even refute the claim. It was clear she had some guilt and wasn't enthusiastic about fighting her.
But once Sirzechs and Azazel defeated Shalba and Creuserey, Serafall stopped holding back. She unleashed a massive area-of-effect ice spell that turned Kuoh Academy into a frozen wasteland, freezing Katerea into an ice sculpture and rendering her unable to fight.
Thus, the three leaders of the Old Satan Faction were captured alive—proof that Sirzechs and the others far outclassed them.
"How could this..."
"No... I won't accept this..."
"How could the real ones lose to imposters...?"
Shalba, Creuserey, and Katerea cried out in unwillingness and resentment—utterly useless.
They were sealed by the leaders of the factions, their "snakes" purged by Sirzechs' destructive magic, their power greatly diminished, and rendered completely defenseless.
With the three top leaders defeated, the rest of the traitors lost all will to fight. Under the siege led by Rias and others, they were swiftly wiped out. Not a single one escaped.
This surprise attack by the Old Satan Faction not only failed to achieve its goal of killing the Three Great Factions' leaders, but instead resulted in their own complete downfall—a rather ironic outcome.
Ultimately, these Old Satan Faction members were far too arrogant. They overestimated their abilities, blindly trusted in their bloodline and Ophis's power, and were overly self-confident and prideful—leading to their end.
Perhaps the leaders of the Three Great Factions had anticipated this outcome?
After all, with the peace talks already nearly finalized, if they truly wanted to sign a treaty and begin full cooperation, there was no need to hold a high-profile summit meeting in a small human town.
The very reason for doing so might have been to lure the Old Satan Faction out and eliminate them once and for all.
After all, before the summit, Azazel had already told Kaiser that the Old Satan Faction would never sit idly by and allow the peace treaty to succeed.
Knowing they would attack, yet not preparing in advance—that wasn't Azazel's style.
Kaiser strongly suspected that Azazel, the cunning Governor of the Fallen Angels, had secretly orchestrated things to provoke the Old Satan Faction into going all in.
Though the details were unclear, in the original story, only one Maou bloodline member and Vali had shown up—the other two stayed behind and never acted.
But this time, all of them came. There had to be a reason.
That reason definitely wasn't Kaiser. From Shalba and the others' reactions, it was clear they hadn't accounted for him at all. They didn't treat him as a necessary target, and when Vali attacked him, they were clearly shocked and angry. It seemed his involvement wasn't part of their plan.
Therefore, Kaiser couldn't help but suspect that something deeper was at play.
But... who cares? It had nothing to do with him. He only came as a witness because he was paid. If Vali hadn't challenged him again, Kaiser would've been content to just sit back and watch.
He had already told Kuroka and Asia this—unless absolutely necessary, he had no intention of getting involved in this chaos. So both Kuroka and Asia simply observed from the sidelines and didn't join the fight.
Especially Kuroka—even when her dear little sister was charging into the enemy ranks, she just watched leisurely, like a stray cat that wandered onto a film set.
Of course, everything was now over, and there was no need to dwell on it.
In the end, all the traitors of the Three Great Factions led by the Old Satan Faction were either executed or captured alive and became prisoners.
Even Vali, in his heavily injured state, was captured and handed over to Azazel.
"...You brat, once we get back, I'm going to have a serious talk with you."
Azazel looked at the bloodied Vali, sighed after a long silence, and waved his hand for someone to take him away for treatment.
Interestingly enough, Hyoudou Issei went with him.
For some reason, he seemed really concerned about Vali. Even though they were rivals, he was the angriest when Vali betrayed them. Quite puzzling.
Azazel, on the other hand, quickly recovered and began pestering Kaiser again.
"How did you do it? How did you solve those problems? Tell me!"
The Fallen Angel Governor was unusually excited, bombarding Kaiser with questions like a man possessed, desperate to understand how he had successfully created a second set of Divine Dividing wings.
"I told you—it was all luck!"
Kaiser, annoyed by his persistence, still didn't reveal his Authority.
That was his greatest secret—no one had discovered it yet.
"Luck? Who do you think you're fooling?"
Azazel didn't believe him at all.
"Didn't you say I'm the incarnation of God? Then having a little luck and miracles is totally normal, right?" Kaiser brushed him off. "Maybe it's the will of the departed Lord protecting me, which is why I succeeded by sheer luck."
Whether Azazel bought it or not, Michael and Gabriel certainly did.
"I think Kaiser has a point. With the Lord's will protecting him, miracles are bound to happen."
Michael fully supported the idea.
"Exactly! After all, Mr. Kaiser is the embodiment of the Lord's will!"
Gabriel looked at Kaiser with shining eyes, practically ready to kneel and kiss his hand and feet.
The two Holy Sword users also nodded fervently in agreement.
Even Sirzechs and Serafall chuckled and commented—
"It really is a miracle—no denying that."
"As devils, talking about divine blessings is a bit odd... but hey, as long as the result is good!"
They both laughed.
"Divine miracles, huh..."
Azazel, once a devout follower of God, now looked thoroughly annoyed at the idea.
But since Kaiser wouldn't tell him anything, there was nothing he could do. He began pondering whether he could offer something in exchange to get some of Kaiser's unknown technology.
At the same time, Azazel also thought of something else.
"His version of Divine Dividing is undoubtedly stronger than the original. It should already qualify as an advanced Longinus."
He muttered to himself.
"So... did he really only make one Divine Dividing?"
Azazel hadn't forgotten that Kaiser had asked for information on the Boosted Gear's wielder—and had taken the jewel from the Red Dragon Emperor's gauntlet.
He knew exactly what that implied.
"Three top-tier Longinus..."
Looking at Kaiser, who was now being clung to by Gabriel with a disgruntled face, Azazel smiled and sighed.
"What a rule-breaking guy in every possible way…"