Reincarnated into a Multiverse, but High School DxD

After saying that, Lavinia seemed to remember something and quickly ran upstairs, returning with several outfits in her hands.

"I bought quite a lot of clothes yesterday. Ren, do you think this outfit suits me?"

Ren was naturally well versed in answering this kind of deadly question. "If you're dressing up for me to see, then anything you wear looks good."

Of course.

What he really wanted to say was that she looked best without any clothes.

But clearly, this was not the right time.

After hearing Ren's opinion, Lavinia immediately blushed and smiled.

Asia, who had been sitting on the sofa, suddenly found the TV uninteresting. Tears welled up in her eyes as she watched the two of them flirting.

She had been first...

After admiring Lavinia and Asia's outfits, Ren told Lavinia that he wanted to spar with her.

"Um... Ren wants to train with me? But I don't think I can beat you."

Lavinia tapped her lips with a finger.

She knew Ren was the mysterious man in glasses, and Suzaku Himejima had told her that a mysterious person had killed the Fallen Angel executive Satanael.

Then, he had intruded into her battle with Jaucusta and effortlessly taken down that old witch.

So, she felt that she was no match for Ren.

"It's fine. I'll only use my Longinus. I won't use any other abilities or weapons."

After all, this was training to use the Cross of the Purple Flame Sacrificial Lord. Since the system had not said it had to be used in battle against an enemy, ordinary training should be able to increase its progress as well.

"Huh? Then you might not be able to beat me, Ren. Are you sure you can do it if you only use your Longinus?"

"You won't know unless you try."

Ren's blood immediately rushed to his head when he heard that.

How could a man say he couldn't do it?

"Alright, then pick a place. But it'd be best to choose somewhere spacious, so I can set up a barrier."

"Huh? Mr. Ren and Sister Lavinia are going out? Can I... come too?"

Asia, who had been listening in the whole time, asked tentatively.

"You can, but little Asia can only watch from the side."

Lavinia said gently.

"But I'll set up a defensive barrier for you."

"Thank you very much!"

Fifteen minutes later.

Ren brought the two girls and one cat to the outskirts of Kuoh Town.

Although land was incredibly valuable in Japan, the forest surrounding Kuoh Town was surprisingly vast.

"This place should work."

Lavinia extended her slender hand, and a wand appeared in her grasp. She then began chanting an obscure spell.

A moment later, a barrier that concealed their presence, sound, and appearance covered an area with a radius of one kilometer.

"This range should be enough. And you two..."

Lavinia spoke to herself before chanting again.

"Let the radiance of protection descend."

It was a very simple spell. Two emerald lights then appeared around Asia and Kuroka.

"Mm, now all you need to do is stay at the edge. The aftermath of the battle won't affect you."

"Thank you, Sister Lavinia."

Asia smiled faintly, hugged the black cat Kuroka had transformed into, and walked beneath the shade of a tree.

"Meow!"

The black cat waved a paw at Lavinia.

"Go, mage, meow!"

Kuroka did not mention Ren at all. Clearly, she was still holding a grudge over what he had done to her butt earlier.

Lavinia and Ren stood ten meters apart.

"Do I really have to go all out? But I can't bring myself to hit Ren too hard."

After hearing Ren's suggestion, the girl looked troubled.

"It's fine. This may be training, but it would be meaningless if the intensity is too low. Besides, even though I won't use any other abilities in battle, I'll still dodge if I'm actually in danger."

"Alright, then."

Lavinia nodded.

Then, she raised her wand high. A surging wave of magic power instantly shook the atmosphere, and magic circles nearly five meters in radius appeared one after another in the sky.

In less than a second, more than a hundred ice spikes shot out of the magic circles at terrifying speed.

The ice spikes tore through the air, breaking the sound barrier in an instant and surpassing a thousand meters per second in the blink of an eye.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—!

The piercing sound of tearing air rang out. Ren's expression tightened, and he instinctively wanted to activate Super Acceleration, but he immediately caught himself and summoned the Cross of the Purple Flame Sacrificial Lord.

A small purple cross appeared instantly. Before the ice spikes could reach Ren, it formed a ring of purple flames around him.

The ice spikes melted from the heat before they could even touch the purple flames, but Lavinia had expected that. She knew that simple ice magic could not contend with purple flames.

She had already realized that during her battle with Jaucusta.

So she swiftly changed tactics. The color of her wand shifted, and lightning and fierce winds poured from the magic circles instead of ice spikes.

But that was not all.

Arrows of light, shells formed from condensed pure magic power—one of the magic circles even unleashed a flood that poured directly over Ren's location.

Ren stood within the circle of purple flames, watching Lavinia throw magic power around as though it were free. The corner of his mouth twitched slightly.

She had been incredibly conflicted over whether to go all out at first, yet she immediately used the techniques she had used against Jaucusta on him.

Ren even saw the faint upward curve of Lavinia's lips.

This woman... was she smiling?

Could it be that her personality was different from what Ren had guessed? She wasn't airheaded and slow; she was actually black-bellied?!

She was definitely getting revenge for me taking advantage of her this morning!

Under the bombardment of magic from multiple elements, the defensive ring of purple flames became increasingly unstable. Ren could also feel the energy in his body being rapidly consumed.

Knowing he could not drag this out any longer, Ren began to counterattack. The purple flames instantly expanded outward, burning away all incoming magical attacks.

The flood evaporated with ease, and vast amounts of steam filled the air, blocking both sides' vision.

But the steam was quickly dried away by the scorching purple flames. A pillar of fire in the shape of a cross effortlessly tore through the magic circles Lavinia had deployed.

Lavinia's expression grew serious. She did not underestimate him, but her eyes held approval.

Normally, it was impossible for someone who had just fused with a Longinus to wield much of its power.

However, before arriving in Kuoh Town, Ren had fused with the souls of Kyoto's three great yokai. This had allowed him to skip the stage where a first-time Sacred Gear user lacked power.

Though this placed tremendous demands on the user, Ren looked as though he was handling it with ease.

Lavinia's smile deepened, and she became serious as well.

To deal with a Longinus, one naturally needed to use a Longinus.

An endless chill spread through the area without warning. Large swathes of forest and ground froze rapidly, soft soil turning into solid permafrost. At the same time, a princess formed from pale blue ice appeared beside Lavinia.

It had six pale blue eyes, four arms, and stood a full three meters tall.

Facing the incoming purple flames, Lavinia exhaled cold white mist and said, "Now I'm going to get serious, Ren."

The next instant, pale blue energy flared around Lavinia's body.

The temperature in the air plummeted as though it had been launched on a rocket. Aside from the small area where Asia stood, every other part of the barrier was covered by a thick wall of ice.

Even Ren was frozen in that instant.

Of course, it was not Ren himself that had been frozen, but the surrounding space.

The flames released by the Cross of the Purple Flame Sacrificial Lord kept the cold at bay. The solid ice constantly melted, only to rapidly reform.

Ice and fire—two Longinus with completely opposing attributes. Which would gain the upper hand depended entirely on their mastery and understanding of their own Longinus.

Lavinia had awakened hers for nearly twenty years. Her understanding of a Longinus was absolutely beyond anything Ren could currently match.

But Ren did not expect that merely using a Longinus he had controlled for less than three days would allow him to defeat Lavinia in training.

His goal was to increase the Balance Breaker progress bar through actual combat.

Of course.

Although his control over his Longinus was far inferior to Lavinia's, absorbing the souls of the three great yokai a few days ago meant he was not incapable of fighting back.

The purple flames of the holy cross began to sway and flicker as though they possessed life.

The next moment, an enormous blaze surged into the sky. The flames rapidly condensed and took shape, eventually transforming into a grotesque humanoid monster.

Its face resembled that of a vicious demon, and it was unmistakably Shuten-doji's face.

Shuten-doji's soul had been bound to the cross, allowing the holy cross to use its power and recreate Shuten-doji's appearance from when he was alive—only magnified.

"Mm... This isn't a Balance Breaker. Did Ren create this with flames? It's much stronger than that old witch's."

Lavinia muttered to herself.

Jaucusta's way of using her Longinus had been to release flames and summon fire giants through a variant Balance Breaker.

Yet Ren could now summon monsters formed from bound souls. From that alone, it was clear that Ren's talent far surpassed Jaucusta's.

"But that alone won't be enough to defeat me."

Lavinia controlled the Ice Princess and released an even fiercer chill. Shuten-doji was endlessly battered by frost, and the flames around its body began to shrink. But then another grotesque humanoid monster, along with a nine-tailed fox burning with purple flames, emerged from the cross.

After leaving the cross, the two new behemoths suppressed the rampaging cold.

The temperature in the air began to rise, and the thick ice covering the ground rapidly melted.

The Ice Princess and the three monsters manifested by the holy cross entered a stalemate.

Ren glanced at the progress bar, which was increasing noticeably faster, and a faint smile appeared on his face.

At this rate, he would be able to use Balance Breaker in about a week.

Ren and Lavinia's combat training lasted around fifteen minutes.

Lavinia used one move after another, while Ren strengthened his control over his Longinus through actual combat.

Neither was injured, though both were somewhat exhausted.

But overall, Ren was in worse shape.

Although Lavinia had yet to use her Balance Breaker, the fact that a beginner could contend with her for this long showed the gap between them.