As expected of the "Arachnia."
Putting aside all moral issues, her raw strength is the real deal.
Although Byakurai is only the fourth-ranked Hadō, the piercing power of its highly condensed spiritual particles is not something to be judged by its low rank alone.
It was truly a first-class attack.
At Level 2, even scratching her is incredibly difficult.
Keep in mind that his magical stats have already reached the absolute limit for his level: S999!
Even so, the Byakurai he used only managed to graze her skin.
Attacks like that, even if fired a hundred times in a row, would not pose a substantial threat to her.
Seeing himself actively targeted, Rayleigh used Shunpo to move.
Valetta, seeing him deliberately stand high up, exposing his position as if to provoke her rather than hide, grinned.
She stomped the ground and leaped dozens of meters into the air.
"A mere insect daring to provoke a stronger being, how amusing!"
Valetta plummeted downward like a falling meteor.
Rayleigh raised his hand toward Valetta in the air, unleashing a triple Bakudō sequence.
"Bakudō One: Sai."
"Bakudō Nine: Hōrin."
"Bakudō Thirty: Shitotsu Sansen!"
Valetta, descending at high speed, suddenly froze mid-air.
Her expression turned to one of surprise.
"What is this?"
Valetta frowned, then strained with immense physical force, instantly breaking both Sai and Hōrin.
Then, facing the three flying golden triangles, she simply threw a brutal punch, violently shattering Shitotsu Sansen.
Golden fragments scattered in the wind. Valetta looked down again but surprisingly saw absolutely no one.
Standing quietly in a dark alley on the street, Rayleigh, who used Bakudō Twenty-Six: Kyokkō to conceal his physical presence, stared at Valetta above him.
He was only a Level 2.
Facing a Level 5 head-on was simply not worth the massive risk.
So this time, he was playing the rear guard.
First, he would draw the enemy's attention, then carefully hide and begin his incantation. Next, he would use a fully chanted Hadō to deal heavy damage to her.
Valetta, landing heavily on the rooftop, angrily searched for Rayleigh.
Just then, Kaguya emerged silently from her shadow.
Her twin blades unleashed a vicious X-shaped slash.
Valetta's pupils contracted.
Sensing the sharp killing intent from behind, she instantly turned and punched directly at the blades.
Kaguya was blasted forcefully out of the shadow!
"So it's you!"
Seeing Kaguya, Valetta immediately cheered, "Last time I didn't manage to kill you, and now you show up again. Don't think you'll be so lucky this time!"
"Burn, Engetsu!"
Alise arrived just in time.
Her burning blade slashed straight toward Valetta as a single, fiery strike descended.
Valetta swiftly sidestepped to avoid it, but the high temperature of the raging flames made her frown.
These intense flames could actually harm her.
'A Magic Sword?' A sudden thought occurred to Valetta.
Whether it was those two little girls from before or this wild red-haired girl, their weapons all had something incredibly special about them.
But this was vastly different from the Magic Swords she knew.
'A completely new type of special equipment in Orario? Interesting.'
Valetta threw a rapid series of punches at Alise.
Alise swung Engetsu, clashing heavily with her over a dozen times, her arms growing increasingly numb with each strike.
She had already activated her personal Skill. If not for that, she might have been defeated long ago. Facing an opponent two full levels stronger than her, even with her Skill and Engetsu's fiery aid, she was barely holding on.
"Growl, Haineko."
Ryuu also activated her Shikai.
She expertly manipulated thick dust to attack Valetta's eyes.
Even for a First-Class Adventurer, fragile parts like the eyes had similarly weak defense compared to the rest of the body.
Valetta, caught off guard, had her eyes temporarily blinded by the ash.
Alise seized the perfect opportunity.
"Great Flame Flower!"
Boom!
A massive fireball, several meters in diameter, directly collided with Valetta's front at close range, forcefully blasting her completely off the rooftop!
"Agaris Alvesynth! Explode!"
The detonation spell was cast.
The huge fireball pressing tightly against Valetta violently churned, then the very next moment expanded and exploded, engulfing Valetta in blazing flames as the terrifying explosive force significantly raising the surrounding temperature.
And Alise didn't stop there.
She raised Engetsu high and swung forcefully, sending a fan-shaped inferno resembling sharp sword energy flying directly toward the massive fireball in the air.
The flame-constructed slash hit the fireball, and instead of merging smoothly upon collision, they compressed as if two solid objects had collided.
"Engetsu! Explode!" Alise called her Zanpakuto's name.
The fireball and the flaming slash simultaneously erupted in a massive fiery explosion, doubling the sheer destructive power!
A charred, smoking figure fell heavily from the sky.
It was Valetta.
Her entire body was severely charred, smoking heavily and her clothes mostly burned away by the blast.
"DAMN YOUUUU!!!!!!!!" Valetta flew into a rage.
She let out a piercing scream, viciously clawing at her own arms like a wild beast!
She had severely underestimated Alise and she had deeply underestimated the true power of the Zanpakuto.
"I'll kill you all, every single one of you!" Valetta roared furiously at the sky.
"Lord of the Skies... Mask of flesh and blood. All things of the universe that flutter their wings, that bear the name of man! Truth and temperance, upon the wall of sinless dreams, only stand!"
Rayleigh, having fully completed the spoken incantation, did not stop.
He condensed dense spiritual energy to his fingertip and began swiftly writing the incantation text directly on the steel blade of his Zanpakuto.
Dual incantation.
To the Mages of Orario, this might be considered a divine Skill, but in reality, Rayleigh could only achieve it through the use of his Zanpakuto.
In the Soul Society, for those who cannot physically speak, who cannot utter the release command, who cannot call their Zanpakuto's true name out loud, how can they ever achieve Shikai?
The answer is to painstakingly write the release command directly on the Zanpakuto's blade.
Inspired heavily by this, Rayleigh wrote the Hadō incantation text firmly on the blade, with the Zanpakuto providing the necessary spiritual power.
Because his own spiritual power could not yet be split and stably output in two simultaneously.
The incantation text was finally completed.
Rayleigh used Shunpo to appear instantly before Valetta and he raised his open palm, aiming squarely at her face.
"Fall! Hadō Thirty-Three: Modified, False Sōkatsui!"
Twin blue firefalls bloomed beautifully at point-blank range.
The massive blue explosion directly engulfed Valetta and blew apart an entire nearby house on the spot.
The ground was also left scorched completely black.
Rayleigh lowered his arm, breathing slightly heavily from the exertion.
But before he could even fully catch his breath, a charred foot stepped out from the thick smoke and dust.
"YOUUUU BASTAAARRDDD!!!!!!" Valetta, covering her ruined face, walked out and viciously cursing Rayleigh.
"This monster," Rayleigh remarked with some genuine shock.
If it were a Level 4 Adventurer, this powerful attack might have completely vaporized them, leaving no corpse left behind.
But Valetta only had her outer skin burned off!
The enraged Valetta now had extensive severe burns, especially on her face.
Only the thin skin near her right eye remained, the rest was completely burned away, exposing the raw muscle fibers beneath.
It was a horrifying sight.
It looked like something straight out of a horror film.
Although such injuries looked incredibly gruesome, for a Level 5 First-Class Adventurer, they were neither fatal nor would they leave any permanent damage.
Rayleigh knew very well that with just one high-quality Elixir, Valetta could fully recover.
"Is she immortal..." Even Kaguya couldn't help but comment Valetta's unnatural toughness.
"Foolish girl, we're here to support you!"
Just as Rayleigh was feeling deeply troubled by the situation, a group of Adventurers arrived right in time.
Leading them was the famous dwarf of the Loki Familia!
The Level 5 Tanker of the Loki Familia, Gareth Landlock!
Valetta gritted her teeth so hard they felt like they might shatter.
'That damn dwarf again! Last time it was because of him too, damn it all.'
There are noticeable gaps even among Level 5s.
She might not be able to defeat Gareth in a fair fight, but she wouldn't normally back down either.
However, fighting the Loki Familia's experienced executive in this severely impaired state would be sheer stupidity.
Especially with so many angry Adventurers around.
"Valetta-sama, please retreat!"
Hearing her subordinate's pleading words, she instantly lost her temper.
She slapped the subordinate's head right off his shoulders, venting some of her anger and manage to calm down.
"Just you wait, Gareth. I'll tear your throat out sooner or later! And you brats! Especially the black-haired one! I'll definitely make you die in agony!"
Tossing the severed head she held aside, Valetta swiftly fled the chaotic scene.
Rayleigh finally breathed a long sigh of relief.
Facing the "Arachnia," they had done quite well.
With so many witnesses present, this impressive incident would likely spread throughout Orario very soon.