"But in battle, you can never be careless."
Ayato offered guidance.
"For example, your enemy isn't that easy to deal with."
"Huh?"
Utaha was confused.
"After all, they are the House of Phoenix, known for their immortality."
Ayato shook his head. "Though their strength isn't much, they are indeed hard to kill."
Hearing this, Utaha instinctively turned to look.
The ground was a scorched black, with scattered flames slowly dying out.
Apart from Raiser, over a dozen people lay on the ground.
But their bodies radiated vigorous life force, and their wounds were healing at a visible rate, returning to normal.
Eventually, everyone stood up, shaking themselves off as if nothing had happened.
"Phoenix Tears."
Ayato explained. "It's their family's heirloom. It can instantly heal any injury of the user."
"There's such a thing?"
Utaha twitched her lips. After a moment of silence, she said, "Isn't that cheating?"
She felt instantly healing wounds was way too unfair.
"Kid, I admit your servants are far stronger than I expected."
Raiser's expression had calmed down as he spoke flatly. "But with the Phoenix Tears, you will still lose."
"Such blind confidence."
Ayato shook his head. "A bunch of small fries. So what if they heal?"
"Master is right."
Esdeath stepped out from behind Ayato on her long legs, her voice dripping with killing intent.
"Anyway, it just means killing them a few more times."
"Besides, no matter how good the heirloom, if you don't get a chance to use it, it's meaningless."
The moment her words fell, Esdeath slightly raised her hand.
Small-Scale - Ice Commander!
A terrifying cold wind swept through like a violent storm. Not only the surrounding streets, but the entire alternate dimension visibly transformed into a frozen, snowy wasteland.
Including Raiser, no one had time to react before they were frozen solid into ice statues, expressions of horror and disbelief frozen on their faces.
"Esdeath's freezing power has grown stronger."
Watching this, Ayato murmured to himself.
After becoming Devils, Esdeath and Akame, freed from the constraints of being human, had their strength advancing by leaps and bounds.
"That woman is terrifying."
Utaha swallowed, but then, thinking of something, a smile played on her lips.
'Hmph!'
'No matter how strong she was...'
'When it came to fighting alongside Master, she was just as weak.'
Regaining her confidence, Utaha puffed out her chest.
"..." Esdeath.
'This woman must be thinking something rude.'
But the next moment, she let out a soft exclamation of surprise.
Because in the field, Raiser's ice statue began to tremble slightly, visible flames flickering within.
Finally...
The ice statue melted into water droplets and vanished.
A somewhat disheveled Raiser reappeared.
"Oh, you have some skill."
Esdeath's eyes narrowed, the corner of her mouth curving into a dangerous smile. "This hunt might get interesting."
With that, an ice combat knife materialized in her hand.
"Just a Reincarnated Devil..."
Raiser's expression twisted with fury as flames around him formed a massive vortex, sweeping in all directions.
The next moment,
Both moved simultaneously.
Boom!
It was like the collision of ice and fire.
The entire battlefield became a world of ice and fire.
Ice and fire intertwined, roars and tremors merging into a continuous wave.
Esdeath swung her hand, unleashing countless ice spikes that tore through the flames as her ice knife slashed across Raiser's body.
Crunch! Crunch!
Gashes deep enough to reveal bone continuously appeared on Raiser's body.
In terms of raw power alone, he wasn't weaker than Esdeath.
But her combat experience and instincts far surpassed his.
"Ahh!"
With a howl, an arm flew high into the air.
Raiser shot backward like a cannonball, carving a deep trench in the ground.
"You..."
Raiser's face contorted in disbelief.
He had lost to a low-class Devil.
"Fine, fine. Let's see how many times you can lose to me."
Seeing the spotless Esdeath, Raiser's expression twisted with venom. "I am immortal, you know."
As his vicious words echoed, the flesh at Raiser's severed arm began to writhe.
Pop!
A completely new arm burst forth from the stump.
"Thinking you can't die, so you want to drag this out?"
Esdeath sneered. "And here I thought you were a High-Class Devil. Turns out you're just trash."
For a battle maniac like her, this style of fighting was contemptible.
What she craved was an evenly matched, bloody duel.
Not this… a weakling who couldn't be killed.
"He's always been trash."
Ayato stepped forward. "Let me handle it. It's hard for you to kill him."
"Fine."
Esdeath nodded and stepped back behind Ayato.
Looking at Raiser, Ayato smiled. "Even though you're trash, you've at least given my servants some combat experience. That's not bad."
Though smiling, Ayato's eyes grew colder.
He had squeezed what little value there was from this opponent.
It was time to end this farce.
"What did you say?"
Repeatedly insulted like this, Raiser snarled, "Such arrogance! You can't kill me, and I will take—"
He didn't finish his sentence.
Ayato raised his hand and simply waved it gently.
In an instant!
Golden lightning shattered the sky.
Origin Magic made its true debut in this world for the first time.
Crack!
Vast, majestic lightning pierced the world. The terrifying pressure made the entire alternate dimension tremble.
"What magic is this?"
Raiser's pupils constricted, a flicker of terror in his eyes.
His voice trembled uncontrollably.
Instinct told him this was magic capable of annihilating his very soul.
"Die!"
Almost instinctively, he channeled all his magic power. A vortex of flame surged like a raging tsunami, colliding with the lightning.
But!
The moment they touched...
The flame crumbled like sand, instantly defeated.
Raiser's body was completely consumed by the golden lightning, utterly erased.
As if wiped from existence.
'Raiser... was dead?'
Sona's eyes widened.
'Immortal body... Ha!'
Ayato lowered his hand, a cold smile on his face.
'In this world...'
'There was no true immortal body.'
'If you could annihilate their soul, anything could die.'
'And my Origin Magic, by its very nature, could return all worlds to nothingness.'