Akira looked at the block of ice where Freya was stuck, and while clutching his fist, it slowly started shrinking. Little by little the massive block of ice became smaller. "Let's see what you do against this," he muttered, a smirk on his face.
Inside the block of ice, Freya looked around to see if there was anything she could do. Then, with a single slash of her sword, hundreds of fiery red runes appeared all around. And with another slash, they all exploded at the same time, completely melting the block of ice in seconds.
They floated in front of each other, glaring at one another, and without warning, Freya charged straight at Akira. "Is that all you got?" she said with a mocking look.
Instead of falling for her provocations, Akira stayed calm and took on a close combat stance, his eyes focused on Freya, who thrust straight at his heart trying to finish the fight in one fell swoop. Akira, on the other hand, dodged with minimal effort and countered with a punch of his own.
Coating his hand in hellfire, Freya quickly retracted her sword and flew away, dodging his punch. But Akira didn't miss this opportunity, creating a solid block of ice behind her and appearing in front of her the next second.
What followed was a barrage of fists coated in hellfire; with a grin on his face, he kept barraging the goddess. Freya, holding her sword, deflected one strike and barely dodged the next, and like this they kept exchanging blows.
But Freya was clearly losing footing with her back pressed against a solid block of ice and Akira constantly barraging her; she couldn't create any runes and had to rely on her sword and sword techniques, which were clearly inferior to Akira's. And then he saw an opening. After a feint toward her stomach, she fell for it, and Akira formed the hellfire on his right hand into a singular claw.
And cleanly pierced Freya's shoulder, shattering the ice block behind her and flinging her away. Freya formed hundreds of runes while flying through the water, each looking terrifying, and let them all loose on Akira or for healing.
Akira just smiled, and forming a fist with his hand, solidified the water in front of him as all the spells crashed into it. But the ice wall in front of him stood firm, barely having a single crack. "Is that all? Or is the hellfire taking its toll already?" Akira leisurely asked, looking at the goddess trying to heal her pierced shoulder.
"How dare you!" she shouted, and with that she resummoned all the resurrected valkyries as well as her chariot pulled by the two large cats.
Akira just rolled his eyes and summoned his own army once more. Even though he could have wiped them all out on his own, it was more beneficial to let his army become stronger. "Wipe them all out," he commanded all the demons, who in turn all madly started charging at the valkyries.
Then he turned toward where Freya was supposed to be to finish this battle once and for all, but she wasn't there anymore. "Huh?" he muttered as he turned around, looking everywhere, but she was nowhere to be found.
Then his eyes turned back to their deep blue, and he calmed himself with a snap of his fingers. All the water disappeared, and he landed on the ground, looking at all the valkyries being massacred. "Next time I won't let you slip away," he grumbled as he saw a rather terrifying demon approach him.
"Isn't that the crown I saw in the dream and just now?" Akira muttered to himself as he carefully inspected the demon from top to body. And indeed it was that crown. Raising an eyebrow, Akira patiently waited for the demon to see what it wanted.
Then words appeared in his mind suddenly: "Follow me."
He rolled his eyes. "Are you commanding me?" he asked the demon.
But instead of replying, the demon just kept walking toward the gate as if he hadn't heard Akira. Akira decided to just follow it; if it could influence his dreams, it must be rather powerful, and maybe it had answers about why its crown had appeared in the dream or what that dream was.
After Akira entered the demon portal, all the demons also quickly left the God's Dimension, having massacred the valkyries already. The other four highest-ranked demons entered after Akira, and then, based on rank, they slowly all went back to hell.
After every last demon had left, the god's dimension finally dispelled itself, and while it had blocked most damage, some was inevitable with the huge battle that had just taken place.
As houses started to collapse and streets cracked, Paolo and his men saw the damage, and he couldn't help but think of Akira, the young campione who was being pursued by Freya. Sighing, he looked at the notification on his phone, and then his mood turned even worse. "It seems he'll arrive here shortly. I need to get everything ready to welcome Sir Salvatore," he muttered to himself.
Leaving his office to prepare everything, he quickly sent a message to Valentina to contact Akira and tell him to come to a certain cafe.
Meanwhile, Akira was seated at a round table in a large castle surrounded by five demons. All of them were looking menacingly at him. The one whom he had followed stood by the window looking toward the outside.
Then all of them heard a voice echo through their heads. "We are the five highest-ranking demons of this plane, and you are our new leader after killing that goddess."
Akira looked at each demon, one by one, making sure to remember all of them. "I see, thanks for the explanation. I am Akira Takahashi. I would like it if you could introduce yourselves as well," he said.
The four demons seated at the table all looked at Reaper of Souls for his verdict.