Two figures crashed heavily to the ground one after the other, sending dull thuds through the battlefield. The other two figures in the sky did not move in to finish them off. Instead, they turned and went to support the others.
"Guh…"
Serafall spat out a mouthful of blood, her face grim as she froze over the wound that had been punched through her body. Then she turned to look at Dulio beside her, her eyes making it seem as if she were staring at a traitor.
Dulio looked like he was about to go into shock. His face was bloodless, the aura inside his body was in chaos, and the pure white wings on his back hung limply, as though he was already on his last breath…
But looking at Dulio's miserable state, Serafall only wanted to curse. He had only been stabbed once by Caliburn. The blood from that wound was not even as much as what she had lost after getting blasted by a pincer attack from two people. His life force was still so vigorous it could not be any more vigorous. What the hell are you acting for?
She tried to prop herself up and keep fighting, but for some reason, Serafall felt the strength draining from her entire body. She could not stand at all. At the same time, a figure in a suit appeared in front of her.
"Don't bother. This is a new ability Vali developed. It should be the first time he's used it, so none of you have any way to deal with it."
Arthur's cold, emotionless voice rang out. Yet the Caliburn radiating Holy Light made Serafall feel a devouring killing intent. The blond boy, who looked so refined and elegant, was staring at Serafall with his entire body steeped in murderous intent.
"Now hand over Yuuto Kiba, Genshirou Saji, and the culprit behind this incident. Then return Excalibur Ruler to me. Otherwise…"
His voice stopped there, but the Holy King Sword in Arthur's hand was already resting beside Serafall's neck as she lay on the ground. The meaning was obvious.
"We really don't know anything about this, but once we find Yuuto Kiba and Genshirou Saji, we can hand them over to you and the Church. When the time comes, if Excalibur is in their…"
The Holy King Sword at Serafall's neck suddenly moved forward by several centimeters. The sharp blade instantly cut through her delicate skin, leaving a bloody line. But what truly made Serafall suffer was the Holy Power flowing into her body through the wound, working together with Vali's Divide seal and making her feel as if her body were about to burst apart.
"Don't give me that official nonsense. The one standing in front of you right now is a terrorist from the Hero Faction, not a royal heir who plays by your rules!"
With a roar full of rage, Arthur grabbed Serafall by the throat and lifted her up. His eyes were bloodshot. Right now, he really would kill.
"We can hand them over, but as for the mastermind behind this, we truly…"
Serafall pressed her lips together. Knowing she could not provoke Arthur any further, she could only accept the blame for now and buy time, while looking past Arthur toward Dulio to see if there was any opening.
Unfortunately, even though the wound where the Holy King Sword had pierced Dulio had already begun to heal, and even though he was conscious, the series of debuffs on him still left him lying powerlessly on the ground, waiting for his body to recover on its own.
"Then I'll kill you, Rias Gremory, and Sona Sitri together."
"Hey, are you serious? It's just one Excalibur. Do we really have that much of a grudge?"
Serafall looked at Arthur in shock. She genuinely could not understand what he was thinking. She could understand him wanting Yuuto Kiba and Genshirou Saji dead. For something this serious, they did deserve it. But she could not understand why he would rather kill the wrong people than let anyone go afterward.
"Yes. Until one side is dead."
Arthur coldly gave Serafall his answer. The Holy King Sword in his hand sensed its master's will and erupted with intense Holy Light.
A debuff had made him forget how to fight, thrown his logic into disorder, and caused him to become a burden to his own sister. In the end, his sister had been captured by Genshirou Saji while trying to save him. If Kuroka Toujou had not returned in time, he might not have gotten away with merely losing one Excalibur.
On the other battlefields, once Vali, a top-tier combatant, joined in, the fragile balance that had barely been holding together was instantly shattered. Numbers were always the simplest and clearest advantage.
Vali beat his wings and flashed through the people on the ground again and again. Wherever he passed, Devils or Church warriors almost always fell. When low-level fighters faced a high-level fighter, the moment they could not hold out, it turned into a massacre.
In just a few minutes, more than half of the Devils and Church warriors on the field had fallen. Just as Vali thought the battle would end like this and swung his fist at a blue-haired Church warrior with green highlights, a black figure appeared in front of him and blocked the blow for Xenovia.
"Awoo!!!"
"Boom!"
A deafening collision rang out together with a wolf-like howl, and surging Magical Power swept outward with the explosion.
There was still another powerful fighter!
The sudden shockwave drew everyone's attention. Bikou, Arthur, and Kuroka all stopped attacking the last remaining opponents and looked toward where the attack had come from.
As the dust cleared, it revealed Vali, frowning as he was forced back, and Delta, who held a massive black sword in her mouth. Behind Delta stood Xenovia.
It was her!
Because Vali had suddenly barged in earlier, Serafall and Dulio had only treated the black orb in front of them as the work of some expert on the other side. Now, they finally spotted Delta and recognized her true identity.
"Delta, why are you stopping me?"
Vali sounded genuinely confused. He could not figure out what Delta was doing. First, she had vanished for no reason, and no matter how they tried, they could not contact her. If Kuroka Toujou had not sworn that nothing would happen, they would already have been searching the streets for her.
After calling for ages without finding her, the rest of them had no choice but to launch the attack together. Then they discovered Delta was right here, mixed up with Cid of all people.
Fine. Vali knew Cid anyway, so letting him slip away was not a problem. They could ask Delta where she had run off to after they knocked everyone else down. But now, it seemed their own captain was trying to stop them.
"Umm… how did it go again? Right! Vali isn't allowed to hurt Cid's subordinates!"
Delta scratched her head in confusion at first, then seemed to suddenly remember and clapped her hands before shouting.
"Huh? Since when did I become Cid's subordinate?"
Xenovia, who had been knocked to the ground by the impact of the Magical Power and had only just climbed back up, instinctively spoke up when she heard that. She pointed at herself, her eyes full of confusion.
"No, that's not the point. Delta, are you really the Therianthrope from that night?"
"What night?"
Watching the farce in front of him, Vali glanced at Cid, who had been brought to safety by Natsuki Minamiya, then looked back at Delta and sighed.
"Fine, fine. For your sake and Cid's, Delta, I'll spare her."
With that, Vali rose into the air to go deal with the others. But the moment he turned around, he stopped, his eyes fixed on the fierce Delta blocking his path.
"Delta, I already spared her. If you want a fight, we can spar with you like usual after we get back. Could you move aside?"
"No! You're not allowed to keep fighting either."
Delta rejected Vali's offer, then turned toward Bikou and Kuroka, who had already knocked everyone else down, and started giving them orders.
"You want to protect them? Delta, this isn't like the usual times when we play along with your antics and laugh it off afterward."
Vali's voice gradually grew heavier. Bikou and Arthur also sensed something was wrong with the atmosphere and quickly dropped the enemies in their hands before hurrying over.
"No means no. If Cid doesn't want you to keep going, then you can't."
Her clear eyes and tone, like a child throwing a tantrum, instantly drew the gazes of everyone still conscious back to Cid.
This is related to you again?
Seeing what everyone's eyes were saying, especially Natsuki Minamiya's bewildered look beside him, Cid could only give an awkward smile. After silently deciding to make Delta drink vegetable juice for a week, he smiled and cheered Delta on.
"Delta, you might have been tricked by this person…"
"That's enough, Bikou."
Bikou tried to explain, but Vali cut him off directly, then looked straight at Delta. The air between them began to grow tense.
"I am curious how Cid managed to get involved with you, Delta, and how the two of you got this close in just a few days, but it doesn't matter. Let's settle this according to our team's rules. We fight. If I win, I'll be the captain from now on, and you, Delta, are not allowed to keep stopping us. If I lose, then we'll give up this attack, and you'll remain captain."
After saying the last sentence, Vali looked toward Arthur, whose expression had turned ugly because Vali had decided this on his own, and made a gesture.
"Trust me!"
"Vali, are you planning to gamble and use…"
"I'm not using it. Don't worry. Balance Breaker should be enough to win this time."
Vali interrupted Bikou again, who seemed to have understood something, then looked back at Delta. He bumped his fists together and waited for her reply.
"Uhh…"
After hesitating for a moment, Delta finally gave a firm nod and dropped to the ground like a beast.
"Whew. Albion, I'll ask one more time. Are you sure that thing is gone?"
Vali let out a breath as the armor on his body continuously covered and renewed itself, then asked the question.
"I am certain. Although the Magical Power in her body is still very high, it has already reached the acceptable range."
"Then let's do this. Time to take back what we lost before."
The corners of Vali's mouth curled upward. He flapped the dragon wings on his back and charged toward Delta at tremendous speed, producing sonic booms along the way.
"Awoo!"
Delta's eyes locked firmly onto Vali. She let out a howl, tossed the iron sword in her mouth into her hand, predicted Vali's movement path, and swung it down with all her might.
"Clang!"
"Divide!"
A sound like clashing metal rang out as Delta's sword collided with Vali's armor. A powerful shockwave burst from the point of impact, mixed with a mechanical voice.
In that contest of strength, Delta almost instantly sent Vali flying with overwhelming power. But Vali, despite being knocked back, was not angry. Instead, he burst out laughing.
"Hahaha! It really works!"
Dodging Delta's sword again, Vali flew high into the air. The light wings on his back spread open, and the blue gem on his chest gathered a bright glow.
"It's a little underhanded, but this is your own fault, isn't it, Delta?"
"Divide! Divide! Divide…"
In a single second, dozens of mechanical voices rang out. The light gathered in the blue gem on Vali's chest and shot toward Delta.
"???"
Arthur, Bikou, and the others watching from the side all showed frightened expressions at the sight of this move, as if they had just seen something unbelievable.
Delta looked up at the white light rushing toward her from the sky and tilted her head. She stood there blankly without dodging or blocking, simply watching the attack get closer and closer.
When the attack was only a few meters away from Delta, she opened her mouth. A blue-purple magic orb appeared inside, and then she bit it apart.
Magical Power so vast it seemed endless erupted in an instant. Blue-purple flames covered Delta's entire body at once, and the dense Magical Power was almost turning liquid as it dripped toward the ground.
"Mm!"
Watching his attack land on Delta, whose whole body was wrapped in those flames, and feeling the swelling sensation appear inside his own body, Vali opened his mouth in a daze.
"Albion, I [beep] [beep]…"
"Boom!"
A violent explosion and roar erupted in the sky where Vali was. Magical Power vented for several seconds, even turning into mist that spread across the entire sky, before a figure finally fell heavily from the fog.
"Mm!"
Cid turned his head toward the explosion in the sky and frowned. Suddenly, he felt something from inside his body, as if he had been bitten by a mosquito. And not from the outside, but from within.
"My, my. This is the third time now, isn't it? I thought I wouldn't get to see this scene again."
Kuroka Toujou smiled as she watched, sounding deeply moved.
"The third time?"
Koneko Toujou, pinned beneath her sister, instinctively repeated her words.
"That's right. The first time was when Vali went to invite Delta to join us, only for his Divide to backfire and take himself out in one shot. The second time was when we encountered the Infinite Dragon God. His head got hot, he rushed straight in, and then he took himself out again. Hahaha…"
Kuroka Toujou shared Vali's embarrassing history with her younger sister without the slightest concern, even laughing when she got to the good part.
"Vali, you're so dumb! Even Delta wouldn't fall for the same trap three times."
Looking down at Vali, whose armor had shattered all over and whose skin had burst open across large patches of his body, Delta complained.
"Pfft!"
Vali, whose body had been burst open by Magical Power but who was still conscious, spat out a mouthful of blood when he heard that. This kind of humiliation was worse than killing him.
"Hey, Vali, are you okay?"
"I'm fine. At least I can still stand."
He grabbed Bikou's hand and struggled to his feet, then looked at Delta with a somewhat helpless expression. Finally, Vali shouted as if he had no other choice.
"We're leaving, everyone. The operation is canceled."
"Hold on. I don't agree."
Arthur and his sister stepped forward. They had no choice but to do so. Vali agreeing on their behalf in front of everyone had already made Arthur feel that something was very wrong. If this continued, how were they supposed to get revenge?