"Since you've all given me such a spectacular gift, let me return the favor!"
Tenra's lips curled into a devilish grin. He unleashed the power of [Black Evil King]—and with a guttural roar, the warrior giant was suddenly engulfed in raging black flames.
Vritra's curse. Hellfire incarnate.
"My lovely ladies, if you can run, run now. Because—"
His voice was cold, echoing from the abyss.
"If you don't, you'll die."
Rias and her team froze, disbelief etched on every face. Then, without warning, the giant erupted—hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of pitch-black fireballs burst from its body, flooding the sky in every direction.
Ten? A hundred? A thousand? No one could count them. There was no end—just a relentless storm, swallowing every inch of space.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
But before they could celebrate, a shadow streaked forward. Two muffled impacts—Xenovia and Irina's eyes widened, then faded. Both collapsed, unconscious.
With a crash, the sundered giant toppled to the ground.
Xenovia and Irina stared, disbelief in their eyes. They'd actually succeeded.
"We… we did it…"
The crowd outside erupted. Cheers thundered through the arena, a wave of praise for the two valiant knights.
She struck—cold steel flashing. The giant split in two, cleaved from neck to waist.
"Take this, Tenra!"
Irina launched herself skyward, Excalibur blazing. Her sword grew to match Xenovia's—another hundred-meter blade of light.
"Got it!"
"Irina!"
The sky shook with the collision. The backlash sent Xenovia reeling—she spat blood, but gritted her teeth, refusing to fall.
BOOOOOOM!
She swung, the light blade crashing down on Susanoo. The giant drew its own purple sword, meeting the blow head-on.
"HAH!"
She poured every ounce of strength into the blade. The holy sword blazed, swelling into a hundred-meter pillar of light.
"Durandal!"
No words wasted. Xenovia leapt into the air, raising Durandal high.
Tenra watched them come, a hint of respect in his eyes. "Knowing you can't win, but charging anyway… Xenovia, Irina, your courage moves me."
Rias smiled through the pain. "It's my greatest honor…"
"Rias, you're lucky to have knights like them."
Their eyes met—a flash of steel. Xenovia and Irina shot forward like twin arrows, straight at Tenra.
"Right!"
"Irina, let's do this!"
She nodded. "Go."
Rias bit her lip. Watching her friends march off to "die" was agony. But this was their resolve. As king, she wouldn't insult them by holding them back.
She knew neither of them could defeat Tenra. This was a last stand.
"Rias, Irina and I will go all out—do as much damage as we can. After that, it's up to you."
She didn't charge immediately. Instead, she turned to Rias, battered and breathless.
Xenovia saw it. She nodded, solemn. "I'm with you."
Irina's pride flared—her cute face set in fierce determination.
"Xenovia, I'm going to cut down that villain Tenra. Help me!"
Unforgivable!
Irina knew he was telling the truth, but that only made her angrier. That hellish attack that nearly scared her to death… and he'd been holding back?
"I held back. You won't die."
Tenra grinned from the crystal chamber atop Susanoo's brow. "Idiot Irina, I plan to bully you for a lifetime. How could I kill you?"
She was shaking—she'd genuinely thought she was going to die. Her heart was still racing.
Irina, her face streaked with soot, glared at Tenra. "Hey! Are you trying to kill us?!"
But her eyes burned with fanatical light.
Xenovia staggered upright, leaning on her sword. Her voice was low, reverent. "So this is the Holy Lord's true strength… Magnificent. Terrifying."
Both girls were half-kneeling, panting, cloaked in a shimmering aura. If not for the power of Durandal and Excalibur, they'd have been finished like the others.
Rias and Sona surviving was no surprise. But Xenovia and Irina? Even Tenra had to give them credit.
Tenra surveyed the survivors. "Well, well… Xenovia, Irina. Didn't expect you two to last this long."
The host's voice trembled. Rossweisse, Tsubaki, Bennia—gone, wiped out in the inferno.
"Sona-sama's [Knight] has retired!"
"Sona-sama's [Queen] has retired!"
"R-Rossweisse, Rias-sama's [Rook], has retired!"
The battlefield was a nightmare—cursed flames drifting in the sky, the ground scorched and lifeless, patches of sand and stone melted into glassy sludge. The apocalypse had arrived.
Hell itself might be kinder than this.
He'd seen plenty of shocking things today. He'd thought nothing would surprise him anymore. He was wrong.
In the spectator stands outside, silence fell. You could hear a pin drop. Naud Gamigin, the host, gawked, eyes wide, mouth hanging open.
The flames surged again, a monstrous wave radiating outward from Susanoo, devouring everything in its path.
He laughed—a wild, manic sound.
"Let's turn up the heat!"
But Tenra wasn't finished.
Screams echoed through the alternate dimension. There was nowhere to hide. The cursed fireballs hammered the ground, the air, the sky—Rias and the girls could only throw up desperate magical shields, praying they'd hold.
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