At this point, it was basically ironclad. This was not the sort of thing anyone could brush off as an isolated incident. The Peerage Members of the younger sisters of Lucifer and Leviathan from the Underworld had joined forces to attack the Church. Would anyone really believe that was just a personal action?
Judging from the way the Church warriors on the battlefield suddenly looked at them, they did not believe it. In fact, even the Devils themselves did not believe it.
"Boss, we've been exposed. What do we do now?"
"I don't know! And don't you dare just admit to this on my behalf!"
Feeling the stares from her own people behind her, Serafall's face turned green. Who could have imagined that the evidence meant to prove their innocence had now become conclusive proof that they really were the culprits?
She wanted to argue back but had no idea how. She wanted to fight, but worried both sides would turn on her at once. For the moment, Serafall could only stand frozen in place.
While Serafall was caught in her dilemma, the leader of the Church warriors, Dulio, also stood there without moving.
Given the choice, he would have preferred to join forces with the Devils against Vali first, then use this incident later as a bargaining chip.
After all, no matter how one looked at it, the Underworld and Heaven were still in a truce and were allies on the surface. Meanwhile, the Hero Faction was the enemy of the world. Since the residents of the three cities were already safe, why take things to such an extreme?
But that was only what he would have liked. Just because he thought that way did not mean everyone else would. They had come here precisely because they suspected the Devils were the culprits. Now that direct evidence had surfaced, the Church warriors holding back instead of attacking immediately was already a sign of respect for their leader.
Every Church warrior present was a hardliner. To them, there was no difference between Devils and the Hero Faction. Without evidence, and with the situation against them, they could force themselves to cooperate. But now that the matter was practically confirmed, not turning around and stabbing a Devil in the back already counted as restraint.
"I don't have time to waste on you. If the Church wants to get involved, then come on. I'll fight both sides at once."
After waiting several dozen seconds without getting a reply from Dulio, Vali lost patience. The dragon wings on his back spread open as he charged toward Serafall. His immense Magical Power formed into a heavy blow that slammed straight at her.
Caught off guard, Serafall could only create a massive block of ice in front of herself. But the blue gem on Vali's chest flashed several times, and the speed at which the ice formed slowed by several times. Before it could fully take shape, Vali's fist smashed through the giant block of ice that was still giving off wisps of cold air.
With the obstacle gone, Vali reached Serafall almost instantly. Just as she was about to be injured by the strike, Vali's body suddenly froze. He twisted around and raised both arms in front of himself, blocking another powerful light spear.
He was pushed back dozens of meters across the ground by the force of the light spear before it finally dispersed.
"Sorry, but I still don't really want to cooperate with you. If the Devils really are the culprits, then at the very least, we should be the ones to judge them."
"Which is why Kuroka was just wasting time. We should've knocked all of you down from the start."
How do you have the nerve to say that to me? If you hadn't acted, I'd already have finished turning them against each other!
Faced with Vali's sarcastic remark, Kuroka Toujou could only smile while silently grumbling about him in her heart.
In the sky, Vali's Magical Power surged out to repair the parts that Dulio's light spear had damaged moments earlier. Holy Power was poison to Devils, and he had no intention of getting taken down for such an absurd reason.
"Everyone, take down these uninvited guests first. We'll investigate the real culprit afterward."
After shouting down to the people below, Dulio flapped his wings and flew toward Vali.
Hearing Dulio's order, the Church warriors below had nothing to say. No matter how hostile they were toward Devils, they could not backstab their own leader at a time like this. They could only keep their distance from the Devils while dealing with their own enemies.
"Hey, Rias, did you know about what Kuroka Toujou said? Did you really betray us?"
"Sona, why don't you say that it was your soldier who took my Peerage Member, Yuuto Kiba, hostage?"
The Power of Destruction in Rias's hand mixed with the water magic from the other side and smashed toward the giant wolf in front of them. But the combined attack from Rias and Sona Sitri did not even damage Fenrir's fur. Fenrir broke straight through it, injuring several Devils along the way as it charged toward Rias and the others.
"Hey, you two, we're in the middle of a fight. Maybe stop arguing?"
At the critical moment, Tsubaki Shinra used her Sacred Gear to buy time, while Akeno Himejima flapped her wings and barely managed to carry Rias and the others out of danger.
In midair, Rias and Sona Sitri heard Akeno Himejima's warning and could only press their lips together.
They both knew that once Kuroka Toujou jumped out and hammered the blame onto them, they were stuck carrying this mess. Their argument just now was not entirely free of the desire to shift responsibility.
"I'll start. Kiba really has been acting a little strange lately. He left early several times. You saw the group notification last time too."
"Same here. Saji has been distracted these past few days and has barely come to the conference room."
"I was telling you to focus on the fight, not asking you to review the evidence."
After narrowly avoiding Le Fay's fireball from above, Akeno Himejima could not help calling them out when she saw how badly the two had misunderstood her.
"Right."
"Mm."
Their Devil Wings spread behind them, Rias and Sona Sitri pulled themselves together and looked around. Bikou and Kuroka were fighting the Devils and the security team that had appeared at some point. The Church warriors were battling a giant robot and Fenrir. Up in the sky, Le Fay controlled several Magic Circles to support the entire battlefield. Vali and Arthur were fighting Serafall and Dulio respectively. The situation could only be described as a complete stalemate.
"Let's deal with Kuroka first. That Senjutsu duo is too much trouble."
"Agreed. With healing and crowd control, we can't win unless we take them down first."
Sona Sitri nodded in agreement with Rias's assessment and was about to move in to support the others. But then she suddenly remembered something else and looked at Rias.
"What about Cid?"
"…"
After a moment of silence, Rias looked grimly toward the other side, where Cid and Delta were. In the middle of the battlefield, a vacuum had formed with Cid at its center. The three factions were locked in a chaotic melee, yet all three had somehow reached a perfect understanding and avoided getting Delta involved.
"If Koneko and Cid weren't lying to me, then that Therianthrope probably won't hurt Cid. So… let's go support the others first."
To be honest, the series of sudden developments had nearly burned out Rias's brain. She could only convince herself to help by believing what Koneko and Cid had told her before, that Cid and Delta were "friends."
Serafall and Dulio were both busy fighting and could not possibly come to rescue him. Even if the two of them went down to save Cid, they could not beat Delta. Since they could not win, it was better not to rush over and provoke Delta. If Delta accidentally killed Cid during the fight, that would be a disaster. In any case, judging from the current situation, Delta did not intend to hurt Cid.
With that thought in mind, Rias and Sona Sitri charged into the Senjutsu array Kuroka had set up.
On the other side, Cid got up from the ground, quietly pulled Delta into a corner, and watched the battle before him with a bloodthirsty smile. The heavens were truly on his side. With Vali providing support, he could definitely take advantage of the chaos and clear his name…
The only problem was that there was no way to explain away the fact that he knew Vali and Delta. Forget it. A bit player knowing terrorists was a little strange, but still understandable. After all, he was only a bit player.
"Cid, um… can Delta go hunting? Delta's subordinates… Eek, eek, eek!"
An unprecedentedly icy glare fell on Delta, instantly scaring the eagerness right off her face.
"Listen carefully, Delta. As your Boss, I order you to watch my face from now on… and act through telepathy. If you do well, I'll treat you to a big meaty bone. If you mess up, you'll be drinking vegetable juice for the next few months!"
"Yes, Bos…"
A hand pressed down on Delta's shoulder. The overwhelming pressure made Delta swallow the "Boss" that had already reached her lips, and every hair on her body stood on end.
"Remember, with me like this, you call me Cid, not Boss. You only call me Boss if someone mentions Shadow. Got it?"
Cid's voice was icy. He had not expected Delta to actually call him "Boss." Luckily, everyone was busy fighting and no one had noticed this side of the battlefield. Otherwise, the "stupid dog saves someone, sacrifices a teammate, earns trust, and deceives everyone" plan he had worked so hard to come up with would have been dead before it even began.
"But Boss, weren't you the one who said that as Boss, you were ordering Delta to… Eek, eek, eek!"
Cid grabbed Delta's tail with one hand, squeezing lightly while giving her a dark look.
"Who's the boss here, you or me? Remember, whatever the boss says is right. If there's a mistake, repeat that again. Got it?"
"Got it, got it…"
Completely frightened stiff, Delta could only nod. Seeing that, Cid did not care much. He was going to send her over to Gamma later anyway. Beta, or honestly anyone, could give Delta some psychological counseling.
Cid motioned for Delta to bring her head close to his mouth. As he whispered to her, he kept watching the battle in front of them, making sure no one noticed their secret plotting. Delta kept nodding, though whether she had actually understood was another matter.
"Did you get all that?"
"Mm-hmm, Delta got it…"
"That's strange. Cid, what's going on here? And who's the person beside you?"
Just as Cid was making one last confirmation with Delta, a sudden voice came from behind him, startling both Cid and Delta at the same time. When they turned around, they saw a gothic loli.
"Natsuki-sensei?"
"…"
"…"
Cid asked tentatively, but Natsuki Minamiya merely locked eyes with Delta, both of them falling silent for a moment.
Natsuki Minamiya blinked. Delta blinked back, looking blank.
"Hah…"
The next instant, Natsuki Minamiya sucked in a sharp breath, her pupils shrinking. Her childish arm, entirely fitting for her height, shot toward Cid, only for her entire body to vanish halfway through the motion.
The ferocious Delta appeared where Natsuki Minamiya had just been, her mouth still clenched shut from a bite. Then her head snapped toward Natsuki Minamiya, who had reappeared on the other side.
"Monster, what are you trying to do to my student?!"
Natsuki Minamiya shouted at Delta and mercilessly drove the newly repaired Laeding toward her. She had not expected to run into this monster the moment she escaped from the Senjutsu.
As an instructor and Attack Mage of the Itogami Island Security Force, she naturally had to guard the negotiations between Heaven and the Devils. But a few minutes ago, she had seen a four-legged animal moving so fast she could barely make out its shape, carrying a nun as it charged down the main road toward the negotiation venue.
Since it was a nun, and no sounds of fighting had immediately come from inside, she had stayed where she was, wondering whether she should go in and ask about it. Then, while she was still thinking, she was trapped by two Senjutsu techniques that fell from the sky and one spell.
By the time she used all her strength to break through the barrier, she found that the entire venue had already been covered in a Senjutsu barrier and magic nodes.
It was over. The barrier had even sealed off the space leading outside. There was no way to escape.
Just when she thought things could not get any worse, she scanned the area and saw Cid standing with another woman in an open space. She teleported over to ask what had happened, only to see the woman who had beaten her, the Church warriors, and the Devils half to death the day before yesterday standing beside her student…
"Monster, let go of Cid."
"Don't call Delta a monster! Delta has a name!"
Delta fired a magical cannon from her mouth and blew apart every chain rushing toward Cid in one blast. While loudly arguing back, she tried to attack Natsuki Minamiya, but because an endless stream of chains kept surging toward Cid, she could only stay in place, darting back and forth.
"It doesn't matter what a terrorist like you is called. Why are you dragging my student into this? What scheme are you and the Shadow behind you plotting?"
After using spatial movement to avoid one of Delta's long-range light cannons, Natsuki Minamiya looked at Delta, who was staying firmly beside Cid, and anxiously tightened her grip on the fan in her hand. In this situation, she did not even dare summon her Guardian.
"Delta doesn't understand what you're talking about. But Boss doesn't need any schemes to deal with you. Boss said weaklings like you only need one light slap from him to get smashed into pulp."
Cid silently watched Delta smash every chain Natsuki Minamiya sent toward him. Right now, he wanted nothing more than to go over and punch Delta again. In just two short sentences, Delta had exposed her name, her personality, her lack of brains, and a whole pile of information. If this went on, Cid did not even dare imagine what else Delta might reveal.
No, I have to end this fight as quickly as possible. Perfect. The aftereffects I left on him when I got carried away last time haven't fully healed yet because there wasn't enough time. I can rig this from behind the scenes.
Seizing an opportunity that would never come again, Cid's thoughts flowed, and a patch of pitch black appeared among Dulio's pure white wings in the sky.
At the same time that darkness appeared, Dulio's motion as he dodged Arthur's attack suddenly froze.
"Pfft!"
Wasn't this… already… healed?
The Holy King Sword pierced through his chest. A whole chain of debuffs stacked at once: special attack, critical hit, armor penetration, bleeding. Dulio instantly lost the ability to fight.
Watching Dulio, who had been blocking in front of her, get taken down in one strike and fall, Serafall froze. Vali's fist and Arthur's Caliburn were closing in on her from both sides at the same time, while both her hands were still gathering ice, leaving her wide open.
Are you fucking throwing this?
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