But those present were all Emerald-level beings, and Azrael's few words wouldn't sway their hearts.
He wasn't Naruto, and he didn't have the ability to verbally control Nagato.
Azrael hadn't intended to force the demons to surrender. He simply waved his hand. "Deal with them."
With his words, the battle, which had calmed down slightly due to Ulquiorra's appearance, instantly intensified.
While the previous attack had caused some damage to Kaela, it clearly couldn't take her life.
Fortunately, the Human Emperor, damaged by his energy weapon, had essentially vanished from sight.
He was now merely a slightly larger ant.
Just as he was about to slip away, a spiritual spear pierced his chest, pinning him to the ground.
"Until Lord Azrael gives the order, you can't go anywhere," Ulquiorra said calmly, his attack perfectly timed to control the opponent without killing him.
If it truly was impossible, Unohana could use her Kaidō to rescue him.
However, upon hearing his words, the Human Emperor simply glared at him resentfully, then drooped his head helplessly, breathless.
Seeing this, Azrael said to the five remaining demons in a strange tone, "Your companion is quite decisive."
Upon hearing this, Kaela, who was struggling to cope with Artoria, gave a hoarse laugh. "Let your Excellency know that we are not on the same side as him. He was just shamelessly following us earlier."
The woman didn't mention that the Human Emperor had been so eager to act because Azrael possessed so much damaging information against him; otherwise, they had indeed been prepared to honor the agreement they had made with Marve.
Although Ulquiorra's spiritual spear didn't kill her outright, it still caused considerable damage. She could only manipulate her muscles to temporarily seal the wound, but that wasn't a long-term solution.
At this point, there was only one option left.
"Marve, go!" the woman, no longer recognizable as a human, roared, instantly attempting to pull away from Artoria.
But it was too late.
Bang,
The sudden sound of shattering caught everyone's attention, and when they turned to look, they were met with a sight that made their pupils constrict.
Marve's Star Pivot Sword had shattered.
The massive sword, nearly covering the sky, exploded into a hail of fragments.
"My sword," Marve's almost vacant voice echoed clearly from the cabin.
"Come on, your sword keeps breaking, and you don't see how upset you are."
However, Kaela quickly exposed Marve's performance. After all, he had only just repaired his martial arts armor before this battle.
Then, with her right hand, the woman smacked Artoria's holy sword, which was already striking at her face, and at the cost of her left arm, using its immense power, tried to distance herself from the blonde.
She had no limbs to spare, and she had long been dissatisfied with her own left arm.
If she wanted, she could even learn from the legendary summoner Kazuki.
Artoria was naturally perceptive of her opponent's intentions. After all, if an opponent tried to move away, it was most likely an attempt to escape.
A smaller chance was that they were afraid of the next attack.
Her judgment was a combination of both.
"Be careful!" Artoria cried out, trying to warn her companions.
Just then, Marve, whose Star Pivot Sword had just been shattered by Unohana's brutal blows, voluntarily withdrew his giant robot to protect himself.
"Kaela, I don't owe you anything!"
"?"
The woman, now far from her previous position, looked at Marve with a bewildered expression, momentarily unsure whether he was joking or serious.
Before she could determine, she noticed Ulquiorra approaching at breakneck speed.
Azrael had no intention of letting the tiger return to the mountain. The best-case scenario at the moment was naturally to annihilate all the demons here.
Glancing at Marve's demeanor, he grew wary. Who knew what other cards he might have up his sleeve?
But the next moment, Marve turned and ran.
Seeing this, Azrael couldn't help but twitch his lips. He could only say that the other party's actions were very consistent with the style they had used during their first fight with Ulquiorra.
"Pierre, I'll go after them and meet up here afterward." With that, he took his cards and gave chase.
Elsewhere, just as Kaela was being pursued by Ulquiorra, she felt a gust of evil wind rush by.
Turning around, she was almost driven mad with rage. "Marve!"
"I..."
She hadn't finished her words when the swordsman stopped her with a look. "Trust me."
Kaela laughed in anger at the words. "Do you think you still have credibility with me?"
Faced with the woman's questioning, Marve remained silent.
Not far behind them, Azrael was following the two of them at a distance. He believed that Artoria's earlier intuition was correct; Marve definitely had some hidden weapon up his sleeve.
His current display was merely an attempt to lower their guard.
Seeing that Azrael and his cards hadn't come any closer, Marve's expression darkened. He whispered, "I'm sorry about that. But it and I are truly in love."
Kaela sneered.
Just as she was about to taunt him, she noticed he had stopped. But she wasn't in the mood to speculate on his plans, so she immediately sped up.
Azrael, seeing Marve pause, felt his inner alertness soar to the limit.
Seeing Azrael's serious expression, Marve sighed. "Ah! He's quite vigilant."
The sound of swords clashing suddenly rang out. Azrael had no time for nonsense, so Artoria and Unohana attacked immediately, while Ulquiorra continued to pursue Kaela.
"Hey, you're being rather unsportsmanlike! Can't you just listen to what I'm saying?" Marve swung his sword, relentlessly fending off attacks from all directions. "Tsk, forget it."
He abandoned the words he was about to say, his expression grim. Then, a golden sword light suddenly erupted from his body.
Having barely forced Unohana and the other two back, Marve no longer hesitated and simply twisted the hilt of his right sword.
The next moment, a sharp, almost piercing sword chime echoed, and the tattered right half of the swordsman's suit instantly crumbled to dust. A fine circuit pattern gradually spread from his right hand to his torso.
"They haven't seen this move before." Shaking his head with a look of regret, Marve fixed Azrael with a cold gaze.
As he spoke, invisible waves suddenly spread, and a heavy pressure instantly settled on Azrael's heart.
Ding,
A subtle metallic grinding sound suddenly echoed, followed by an overwhelming surge of silver-white sword energy.
"I transform the entire machine, including the Star Pivot Sword Skeleton, into sword energy, using my body as an amplifier. This is my final ability: the Star Sword Tomb."
"Alas, I can't protect my treasures."
Though the young man across from him interrupted, Marve couldn't help but explain.
Upon hearing this, a slightly quizzical expression crossed Azrael's face, shrouded by his holy blade armor. "Have you forgotten something?"
Unohana's indifferent voice echoed alongside him.
"Bankai: Minazuki."
Marve was stunned for a moment, then his expression changed drastically.
His ability was indeed powerful, but if it could only eliminate one opponent, it would be a loss, after all, activating it came at the cost of the entire machine.
And after the previous battle, he had long forgotten that the black-haired woman across from him could carry someone to who knows where.
Azrael breathed a sigh of relief as Unohana and Marve vanished from the spot where they had been.
In a matter of moments, the surrounding ground was ravaged, as if it had been roughly trampled four or five times by a burly man.
Azrael's holy blade armor was also covered with tiny white marks, and he feared that it would be seriously damaged soon.
"As expected, villains die from talking too much," he couldn't help but curl his lips. Even Zoro preferred to recite the move names before attacking, unlike Marve who forgot to explain his ability.
Azrael frowned slightly as his mental energy rapidly drained. He knew that Unohana was constantly using Kaidō to heal her injuries, and because of the Star Sword Tomb, she couldn't reach Marve.
"We can only wait for her ability to end, or for Retsu to collapse and dissipate."
At this point, he and Artoria could make some preparations, simply shifting their positions so that if Marve managed to break through Minazuki's blood dimension, they wouldn't be affected.
Passing Marve's position, Azrael moved forward several meters, thus avoiding him while allowing Ulquiorra to continue pursuing Kaela.
A moment later, Marve reappeared in the same spot, while Unohana vanished.
Azrael, feeling the cooling of his mind, remained calm.
By this point, the Star Sword Tomb was already at its weakest, undoubtedly far less powerful than when Marve had first unleashed it.
Seeing this, the swordsman gritted his teeth and forcibly stopped the Star Sword Tomb from unleashing further, taking a deep breath. "I never thought I'd make such a mistake."
"Really?"
He chuckled bitterly, spitting out large mouthfuls of blood.
Then, his expression darkened. "Die!"
With those words, a silver-white sword energy, far greater in magnitude than before, shot towards Azrael, instantly severing everything in its path.
At this moment, Artoria was unable to unleash her holy sword, and Ulquiorra was pursuing Kaela. Azrael seemed helpless against the unparalleled sword energy.
Of course, he could try to use his holy blade armor to withstand it. After all, it could have kept him alive amidst the spatial turbulence, and he should have a good chance of surviving Marve's self-destruction.
But Azrael wasn't prepared to gamble his life.
As soon as Marve launched his desperate attack, he had already taken out Artoria's Fantasy Driving Book.
[Knight King Fantasy Driving Book].