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The dimensional battlefield, an exact replica of the Kuoh Academy campus submerged in nighttime gloom, had become a true hell of explosions, screams, and crossfire magic.
But unlike the fire aristocrat's initial calculations, Rias Gremory's peerage was not dropping like flies. Ten days of surviving the psychological and physical terror of alien predators had forged the young devils into a lethal squad.
Issei Hyoudou, moving with an agility that surprised every spectator in the Underworld, took down Xuelan, Riser's martial arts expert, landing a point-blank Dragon Shot that left her out of combat. Kiba Yuuto crossed the school forest like a dark lightning bolt, disarming the twins Ile and Nel with astonishing ease, anticipating their linear movements as if he were dodging XLR8 in slow motion.
Even Koneko Toujou, the small Rook of Ruin, stood firm like a steel wall. When Mira and the other Pawns tried to flank her, Koneko crushed them with brutal precision, applying the exact amount of strength needed to crack magical defenses, a lesson learned from striking Diamondhead's indestructible armor over and over again.
Everything seemed to be tilting in Rias's favor.
But House Phenex had not earned its reputation solely because of its leader's arrogance.
From high in the night sky, mounted on her magic broom and wrapped in an aura of overwhelming destructive power, Yubelluna descended. Riser's Queen. The "Bomb Queen."
"Don't get cocky, low-class trash!" Yubelluna shouted, raising her staff.
A rain of magical orbs descended over the athletic field. Koneko, realizing that Issei was within the explosion radius and would not have time to activate the Boosted Gear to defend himself, launched herself toward her companion, placing her body in front of the concentrated blast.
KRA-BOOM!
The shockwave of purple fire swept across half the field. When the smoke cleared, Koneko was on the ground, covered in burns and unable to move, but she had saved the Pawn.
"Rias Gremory's Rook... Eliminated!" the metallic voice of the arbitration system rang out, as the white-haired loli's body faded into particles of light to be teleported to the medical infirmary.
"Koneko!" Issei shouted, clenching his fists.
From the rooftop of the main building, a figure cut through the night. Akeno Himejima descended while levitating, her violet eyes shining with pure sadistic fury. Seeing her small companion eliminated had shattered her usual mask of flirtation.
"Ara, ara... it seems Riser's cat likes playing with explosives," Akeno murmured, raising both hands. The sky darkened and thunder began to roar. "Let me teach you what happens when you face a storm you cannot dodge."
Akeno did not waste magic on flashy attacks. Trained not to exhaust her reserves against a monster that absorbed energy like Chromastone, the Priestess of Thunder condensed her power into hyper-concentrated electric whips.
She moved with lethal grace, dodging Yubelluna's bombs in the air. With a snap of her fingers, a massive bolt of lightning fell directly onto Riser's Queen, destroying her magical barriers in an instant and scorching her elegant dress.
Yubelluna let out a scream of agony, plummeting toward the rear forest of the school. She crashed into the ground, coughing blood, her skin smoking. Akeno landed in front of her, ready to deliver the finishing blow.
"This is for my little Rook," Akeno declared, raising a hand wrapped in lethal electricity.
But Yubelluna smiled through gritted teeth. From her ruined cleavage, she pulled out a small glass vial containing a shining golden liquid.
"Don't think you've beaten me, bitch of Ruin!" Yubelluna hissed, crushing the vial between her teeth and swallowing the liquid in one gulp.
A Phoenix Tear.
In less than a second, Yubelluna's horrible burns vanished. Her stamina and magical power were restored to one hundred percent. Akeno opened her eyes wide, stunned by the economic injustice of the move.
Taking advantage of the Priestess's second of confusion, Yubelluna gathered all her bomb magic at the tip of her staff and slammed it point-blank against the ground, right at Akeno's feet.
"DIE!"
KRA-BOOOOOOOOM!
The explosion was devastating. A ten-meter crater opened in the earth. Akeno was sent flying backward, slamming violently into the trunk of an old oak. The Gremory Queen coughed, feeling as if her ribs were on the verge of breaking. Her personal barrier had absorbed the critical damage, saving her from immediate elimination, but the impact had wreaked havoc on her clothes.
Her school blouse was destroyed. The upper buttons had flown off, and the fabric over the left side of her chest had torn completely, revealing much of her lace bra and exposing her skin to the cold air and sulfurous smoke of the battle.
Akeno gasped, placing one hand on the ground as she tried to stand.
Yubelluna advanced slowly while floating, her staff glowing for the final blow.
"The game is over, Himejima. Say goodbye."
But Yubelluna did not fire. In fact, she froze in place, blinking in confusion toward her opponent's ruined chest.
There, hooked onto the edge of the torn fabric and the black lace, was a tiny gray being with a bulbous head and large green eyes.
Grey Matter had just been violently expelled from his sanctuary of jasmine and warmth. The cold night air struck his amphibian skin. The scent of ozone was replaced by the disgusting stench of scorched earth.
The little alien opened his eyes fully. The initial confusion of being abruptly awakened lasted only a fraction of a second, instantly replaced by a primordial, dark, homicidal fury.
"My nap..." the Galvan thought, while a nervous tic trembled in his left eyelid. "My damn nap... MY ROOF!"
Akeno looked down at her own chest, and upon seeing the expression on the small gray being's face, she swallowed dryly. She completely forgot about Yubelluna.
"J-Jose... I'm so sorry, the explosion..." Akeno whispered, genuinely terrified.
Grey Matter did not say a single word. He did not make an intellectual speech or calculate probabilities. He brought his tiny left hand to the Omnitrix symbol on his chest.
FLASH!
Radioactive emerald light exploded from Akeno's chest with such force that it illuminated the entire forest, blinding Yubelluna and forcing the Gremory Queen to cover her face.
The ground rumbled. The ancient trees creaked and splintered under an impossible expansion of mass. The transformation shockwave extinguished the flames from Yubelluna's explosions as if they were simple birthday candles.
When the glow condensed, the shadow cast over Riser's Queen completely blocked the moonlight.
Akeno was sitting on the ground, unharmed, between the scaly legs of a colossus.
Yubelluna looked up, and her staff fell to the ground with a dull thud. Her breathing stopped. All the pride and arrogance of House Phenex evaporated instantly.
A five-meter-tall Vaxasaurian towered over her. The thick armor plates on his back and shoulders moved with the rhythm of a heavy, cavernous breath charged with palpable killing intent.
Humungousaur was not in a fighting stance. He was hunched over, his immense arms hanging down.
But what truly froze the blood of everyone watching the broadcast in the Underworld were his eyes.
The alien's usual green reptilian eyes were completely bloodshot. His pupils were sharp slits, and a puff of hot smoke escaped from his open jaws, showing rows of teeth designed to shatter bones.
The colossus raised his gigantic right hand, closed it into a fist the size of a compact car, and looked at the Bomb Queen with the hatred of a man whose best rest in his miserable life had just been ruined.
"You woke me up..." Humungousaur roared. His voice was so deep and monstrous that it made the air vibrate, shattering the windows of the school building in the distance. "AND YOU TORE MY ROOF."
Yubelluna did not have time to summon a shield, recite a spell, or beg for mercy. Absolute terror paralyzed her vocal cords.
Humungousaur did not prepare an energy attack. He did not use the close-combat tactics learned during his ten years of survival. He simply raised his colossal right fist, darkening the night even further, and with the casual irritation of someone dealing with an annoying insect during a Sunday nap, he crushed her.
BAM!
The impact against the earth did not sound like a magical explosion; it sounded like a meteorite colliding with the schoolyard. The crater Yubelluna had created with her bomb sank another two meters from the pure brute force of the impact. The wind caused by the blow knocked down the surrounding trees and forced Akeno to cover her face with her arms.
The Vaxasaurian titan slowly lifted his fist, shaking it off as if he had dust on it.
In the crater, no physical trace of the Bomb Queen remained. Only particles of magical light floated upward toward the dimensional sky.
"Riser Phenex's Queen... Eliminated!" announced the robotic voice of the Rating Game system, resonating throughout the battlefield and leaving the entire Underworld in sepulchral silence. An immortal Queen, healed with a Phoenix Tear, wiped off the map with a single physical swat.
Humungousaur let out a raspy growl. His bloodshot eyes scanned the academy horizon. In the distance, near the gymnasium and the old building, more explosions and the clash of swords could be heard. Kiba and Issei were still fighting against Riser's remaining Knights, Bishops, and Pawns.
The dinosaur's predatory instinct begged him to charge into the rest of the board and crush everything that moved. The fury of being awakened burned in his blood. He took a heavy step forward, making the ground tremble.
But then, his human brain intervened.
"I said I wouldn't lift a finger against the servants," Yugo remembered, closing his scaly eyes and exhaling a thick cloud of smoke from his nose, forcing his Jurassic instincts to retreat. "I promised they would clear the path and I would handle the roast chicken. I'm not going to break my own rule just because I woke up badly."
The colossus lowered his head and looked at Akeno. The Gremory Queen was still sitting on the ground, leaning against a tree, bruised by the explosion and with her school blouse in tatters. Despite the pain, she gave him a weak but undeniably flirtatious smile.
"Ara, ara... what an aggressive gentleman I have protecting me," Akeno whispered, trying uselessly to cover what remained of her ruined cleavage.
Humungousaur snorted, bringing his immense left hand toward the Omnitrix symbol embedded in his armored chest.
FLASH!
The emerald light shone, and the weight of tons of muscle and scales disappeared, replaced by the imposing figure of four arms and crimson skin.
Four Arms blinked, shaking off the residual dizziness from sleep and rage. The Tetramand looked at the Priestess of Thunder and shook his head.
"You're a mess, Himejima," the alien's cavernous voice buzzed. "Your participation in the vanguard ends here. I'll take you back to base before you catch a cold or Riser tries to finish you off."
Without waiting for permission or resistance, Four Arms leaned down. Using his two lower arms, he lifted Akeno with absurd ease, carrying her against his broad red chest bridal-style. With one of his free upper arms, he grabbed what remained of a fallen Phenex Pawn's jacket nearby and threw it over the girl's shoulders to cover her ruined clothes.
Akeno let out a slight gasp from the sudden movement, but immediately rested her cheek against the hard crimson muscle of Yugo's chest, closing her eyes with a smile of pure satisfaction.
"Mmm... you're very warm in this form, Jose. Can I sleep here again?"
"Don't push your luck. Your 'roof' has been closed due to structural damage," Four Arms growled, though he made sure not to squeeze the girl's injured ribs too tightly.
With a leap that defied gravity, the Tetramand rose above the school forest. In less than a minute traveling across the rooftops, he landed with a heavy crash in front of the door of the Occult Research Club building, which served as the Gremory team's base.
The doors burst open. Rias Gremory and Asia Argento ran out after hearing the impact.
"Hano-sensei! Akeno!" Rias exclaimed, her face paling at the state her Queen was in.
Asia did not waste a single second. Upon seeing Akeno's injuries and ruined clothes, the little nun ran toward the red giant, her emerald Twilight Healing rings already activated and shining intensely.
Four Arms walked into the base and carefully laid Akeno on one of the leather sofas.
"Yubelluna is out. I crushed her," Four Arms reported in his usual dry tone, crossing both pairs of arms while Asia immediately began healing Akeno. "Hyoudou and Kiba are cleaning up the remaining trash in the west field. They are fulfilling their part of the deal."
Rias let out such a deep sigh of relief that her knees almost gave way. Her Queen was safe, and Riser's most dangerous piece had just been removed from the equation. She looked up at the imposing four-eyed red colossus.
"Thank you, Yugo... truly," the Princess of Ruin murmured, her eyes shining with gratitude.
The Tetramand simply snorted, turning toward the door to look at the battlefield horizon.
"Don't thank me. That witch woke me up. Now heal the Priestess. Once Kiba and Issei finish with the pawns... the Phoenix is mine."