User blog comment:Crimson and Darkness/DxD Updates 2~/@comment-31137559-20170523074321

@C&D

Thanks for posting the link to the afterword. And also many thanks to zxzxzx. I know this isn't easy doing it himself.

One thing I'm very interested about is Issei's peerage(NOT his Azazel Cup team). Ishibumi has basically confirmed that Issei will be getting new servants for his peerage in this final arc. This tournament would be a good opportunity to scout out potential servants. Tiamat for Queen and Jeanne for Knight!

And about Malebranche. I really don't believe that they will be appearing. For the second, third, and fourth arc, the antagonists have appeared or been hinted at in the first volume in the arc or before that. Kokabiel wanting to reignite the war between the three factions showing that there are dangerous elements within each of the three factions which led to them forming an alliance which led most of those like Kokabiel who would oppose peace between the factions joining the Khaos Brigade.

And then after Shalba's defeat in Volume 6, Cao Cao made his first appearance at the end of the volume. And then the Gremory group fought members of the Hero Faction in Volume 7. And then they were introduced to the main members in Volume 9.

For the fourth arc, it was revealed that someone was gathering the remnants of the Old Satan Faction, the Hero Faction, and stray magicians to form a new Khaos Brigade. And Khaos Brigade was investigating the places where the Evil Dragons had lived. And there were changes happening in the vampire world coming from the Tepes side. And then the magicians attacked Issei at school and they fought a lot of magicians and Issei had to fight Grendel, an Evil Dragon who was believed to be dead and then Euclid revealed himself.

There has always been a hint towards the main antagonist(s) of the arc. And the fifth arc has been pointing more towards Indra and Shiva and has shown no signs of the Malebranche. And also foreshadowing ExE. People are going to say we need a villain. I guess one of the three strongest beings in the world wasn't good enough for them? Some say that someone needs to cause chaos between the factions? Khaos Brigade. And plus Cao Cao stirred up a bit of chaos by revealing the secret of Balance Breakers to reincarnated devils with Sacred Gears. And then the king piece was exposed and that caused its fair share of chaos. And plus it's not like the allied factions really like each other. It's more like they allied because of the threat of Rizevim, the Evil Dragons, and Trihexa which involved them. Because if it was something like the Underworld being attacked then the other factions wouldn't care as long as it didn't involve them. At this point, if a villain like the Malebranche was to appear, it would be a serious asspull on Ishibumi's part.

Ishibumi wants to give the readers AND Issei a break. After the very serious tone of the fourth arc, the fifth arc is our break. Issei has gotten promoted to a high-class devil, he gets to compete in a tournament with the strong people he has encountered throughout the series competing, he is confessing to all the girls, and he is learning what it is like to be a king. That is Issei's reward after all he's been through. And it's also our reward. This is how Ishibumi intends to put a wrap on things. Now we get to see Issei become a king of his peerage and harem king, we get to see awesome fights and Rating Game matches, and more ecchi moments. It would be out of place to just put something dark in there. From reading the tone and the mood of the volume so far, it's not going to be ominous or anything like that. Who needs a villain? Issei is about to fight against Typhon and there are more epic matches to come.