A howl of pure fury tore from Katerea's throat as she vanished in a blur of violet lightning, her speed nearly breaking the sound barrier as she shot toward Arishem.
"DIE, FALSE SERAPHIM!"
Her hands became claws of condensed demonic energy, and she raked them forward with enough force to rip through mountains.
But Arishem never moved.
Instead—a single pulse of silver light burst from him.
The moment her claws neared him—they shattered.
A choked gasp escaped Katerea's lips as she recoiled, staring in horror at her own hands—disintegrated up to the wrists. The divine energy had eaten through her like acid.
Arishem's silver eyes remained cold.
"Pathetic."
Before she could retreat, he moved.
With a flicker of motion, he appeared behind her.
Katerea barely had time to turn before—
CRACK.
His elbow crashed into her ribs, sending her hurtling through multiple buildings, each impact carving deep craters in the ground.
Blood pooled from her mouth as she struggled to rise. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't—
SHNK.
Before she could react, Arishem's hand grasped her throat, lifting her off the ground.
The world blurred. The sky, the battlefield, everything faded—except for his silver eyes.
Katerea thrashed, claws sparking with demonic energy, but Arishem's grip was unyielding.
"This is the power of the so-called Leviathan bloodline?"
His disappointment was palpable.
Her body screamed in agony. The gap in their power was too vast.
She needed more.
More power.
More strength.
And so—she swallowed her pride.
Her hand reached into her cloak and withdrew a black serpent with slit golden eyes, its scales shimmering with the mark of Ophis, the Dragon of Infinity.
Arishem's eyes narrowed as Katerea shoved the snake into her mouth and swallowed it whole.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then—the change began.
Her body convulsed violently, her veins turning black, pulsing with an ancient, abyssal power. Her aura spiked dramatically, the sheer force of it cracking the earth beneath her.
Her wounds vanished.
Her skin took on a deeper, almost aquatic sheen, her fingers elongating into razor-sharp claws.
And then—the sky split.
A colossal leviathan-shaped aura formed behind her, its mouth gaping wide, filled with abyssal blackness.
Katerea's eyes snapped open—pupils now slit like a serpent's.
The lost powers of the true Leviathan bloodline had awoken.
She let out a breath, and the air itself froze.
The ocean called to her.
A dark tide began to swirl around her feet, blackened water rising as if responding to her mere presence.
She turned her gaze back to Arishem, her lips curling into a cruel, shark-like grin.
"Let's try this again, shall we?"
—
Meanwhile, the battlefield erupted into chaos.
The other leaders clashed with the newly revealed Lost Pillar Heirs—devils who had been thought dead during the Civil War but had been secretly nurtured by the Old Satan Faction.
Sirzechs and Serafall were locked in battle with an heir of the Baal clan, whose mastery over his clan trait rivaled even their own.
Azazel fought a former Cadre-level Fallen Angel, a traitor who had sided with the Old Satan Faction.
Michael's legendary spear clashed against an ultimate-class warrior of the Belial line, their duel sending shockwaves across Kuoh.
Despite the intensity of battle, all eyes flickered toward Arishem.
Sirzechs muttered, "Interesting… so she found a way to awaken the forgotten abilities of the Leviathan bloodline."
Azazel grinned, wiping a bit of blood from his cheek. "Yeah, but she might regret showing him her trump card so soon."
Still clashing with his opponent, Michael glanced toward his brother.
Arishem had not moved.
Instead—he raised his left hand.
The Hand of Wrath.
A pulse of silver light crackled in his palm.
The battle paused for just a moment—as even the sky seemed to shudder in response.
A heavy silence fell across the battlefield.
The moment Arishem raised his Hand of Wrath, the very air seemed to tremble.
Katerea's newfound power howled around her like a storm of abyssal tides, the ocean itself bending to her will. Her serpentine eyes gleamed with malice, power surging through her veins like never before.
Yet—her instincts screamed in warning.
The sheer weight of Arishem's divine aura began to press upon reality, the sky warping around him as if rejecting his presence.
Katerea gritted her teeth, her body tensing as she prepared to attack.
"You rely on stolen power," Arishem's voice rang out—cold, absolute, carrying the weight of judgment itself. "But you have neither the will nor the right to wield it."
Katerea roared, the abyssal waters around her surging forward, forming towering waves infused with hellish power, twisting into serpentine shapes that lunged at Arishem to consume him whole.
The world darkened as her attack blotted out the sky.
And then—
He moved.
A single flick of his Hand of Wrath.
A pulse of silver radiance exploded outward.
The abyssal serpents of water were annihilated in an instant, their bodies vaporized as if they had never existed.
Katerea's eyes widened in shock—but before she could react, Arishem vanished.
And then—he was before her.
A flash of silver light—
BOOM!
His fist struck her gut, bypassing every barrier she tried to summon. The impact shattered her armor, cracked her ribs, and sent her hurtling like a meteor through the battlefield.
Katerea barely had time to gasp before—
CRACK.
Arishem appeared behind her mid-flight, grabbing her by the hair and slamming her into the earth with enough force to create a massive crater.
Dust and debris shot into the air as the ground quaked from the sheer force of the impact.
Katerea coughed blood, her newfound power struggling to repair the damage.
But Arishem wasn't done.
Hovering above her, his silver wings spread wide, he raised his Hand of Wrath once more.
The moment he did, the sky ripped apart.
A colossal silver magic circle formed in the heavens, inscribed with ancient angelic runes.
A light unlike any other gathered above him—
A sphere of pure divine judgment, radiating an intensity that sent ripples across existence itself.
Katerea froze.
She had wanted to face one of Heaven's strongest warriors.
But this?
This was not a battle. This was execution.
"Your time ends here." Arishem's voice echoed across the battlefield, final and unyielding.
The sphere of holy destruction began to descend.
Katerea screamed.
But before the attack could land—
The battlefield shifted as an immense tidal force surged forth.
Katerea Leviathan's body twisted, her form undergoing a grotesque, unstable transformation. The abyssal serpent within her blood howled as she forcefully called upon the Leviathan's lost power—a power that should have been beyond her reach.
Her body pulsed, flesh morphing as the waters around her began to resonate.
A massive whirlpool erupted at her feet, expanding at an alarming rate, turning the land into a raging ocean of destruction. The very essence of the Sea of the End, the Leviathan's Abyss, had begun to take form—although imperfect, unstable, and writhing with chaotic energy.
The sheer pressure of her presence sent ripples across the battlefield.
The Devils and Angels alike could feel it—this was a calamity-class phenomenon.
A tide of destruction.
"Behold!" Katerea's distorted voice rang out, layers upon layers of abyssal power distorting her words. Her form was no longer fully humanoid—her lower half had dissolved into a swirling mass of abyssal waters, shifting and coiling like a living ocean.
"THIS is the power of Leviathan! The power that should have been mine by birthright!" She howled in mad exultation.
The tides rose, towering waves surging to engulf the battlefield.
And at the same time—
A separate explosion of power erupted on the opposite side of the battlefield.
Vali Lucifer.
His body shone with an aura of transcendent blue, the Balance Breaker of Divine Dividing fully unleashed.
White dragon wings spread wide, glowing runes flowing along his silver armor. His power pulsed like the breath of a god, each beat of his wings causing shockwaves to ripple outward.
And before him—
Issei Hyoudou.
In his crimson Scale Mail, the Sekiryuutei stood firm, facing the traitorous White Dragon Emperor.
"You really went and betrayed us, huh?" Issei's voice was low, his fists clenching.
Vali merely smirked. "Betrayal? No. This is just me moving forward. You, on the other hand…" His wings flared, the distortion of space around him growing stronger. "You're still a weakling, Hyoudou."
Then—
They clashed.
A thunderous shockwave ripped through the battlefield as Sekiryuutei and Hakuryuukou collided, red and white streaking across the skies.
But Arishem had little time to concern himself with their fight.
The abyssal tide was upon them.
The waves crashed forward—
Only to be stopped.
A barrier of pure silver light erupted into existence, standing firm against the abyssal waters.
Arishem, hovering above the battlefield, his twelve silver wings outstretched, had raised his Hand of Mercy.
A divine pulse emanated outward, forming a massive protective dome, shielding both the Devils and the Angels from being engulfed by the unholy ocean.
The moment the tide met his divine light—it parted.
The water that had threatened to swallow the battlefield was now held back, writhing and twisting against the barrier like a caged beast.
Katerea's expression twisted in rage.
"You would DARE deny me!?" She screeched.
Arishem slowly lowered his Hand of Mercy. The glow around it faded—and in its place, the Hand of Wrath took shape.
A low hum filled the battlefield as his divine energy shifted.
Katerea snarled and lashed out, sending tentacles of abyssal water to impale him from all sides.
Arishem's silver eyes flashed.
The first ability of the Hand of Wrath activated.
With a mere thought, the waters halted.
Not just halted—erased.
Wherever the tendrils of abyssal water touched his aura, they ceased to exist, dissipating into empty nothingness.
Katerea froze.
"What…?"
Arishem descended, his gaze locked onto hers.
"Your power is a corruption," he said calmly. "You wield the lost inheritance of Leviathan like a child grasping at a weapon they do not understand."
He raised his hand once more—this time, his Eyes of Judgment ignited.
A pulse of ancient power surged outward.
Katerea staggered, a deep, bone-chilling fear sinking into her very soul.
She could feel it—something was looking through her.
No—into her.
The Eyes of Judgment were not merely for battle.
They were the eyes of a God's justice, peering into one's very essence—seeing their sins, their crimes, their very existence laid bare.
And what they saw—
Disgusted him.
"You are beyond redemption."
The moment those words were spoken—
Katerea screamed.
Her body convulsed, an unholy pressure crushing down upon her. The Leviathan's Abyss, the stolen power she had forcefully awakened, was now devouring her from within.
And yet—she refused to fall.
Abyssal waters coiled around her, reshaping, solidifying—her body warping even further as she tried to force her unstable transformation into something permanent.
The waves behind her began to rise again.
But Arishem had seen enough.
The Hand of Wrath lifted higher—
And then, with a single motion, he brought it down.
A silver crescent of destruction erupted from his palm, tearing through the battlefield with an unstoppable force.
The tidal waves that Katerea had summoned—
Were obliterated.
The battlefield was once more dry land.
The former Leviathan heir stared in disbelief.
"You… you erased the Sea of the End?"
She trembled—not from rage, but from a realization far more terrifying.
Arishem hadn't just negated her attack.
He had erased its existence entirely.
And now, as he loomed before her, the Hand of Wrath glowing, the Eyes of Judgment piercing into her soul, and the battlefield at his mercy—
Katerea Leviathan finally understood.
She had made a mistake.
A grave, irreversible mistake.
To be continued…