From Leo capturing Su with the Jizō Blade to giving him the same treatment as Elysia, it seemed like many steps, but in reality, Leo completed the entire sequence in just one second.
After all, it wasn't Leo's first day knowing Su. He had experienced Su's methods and intellect firsthand when they were comrades.
This man was meticulous about details. So, facing Leo, an enemy who had suddenly stormed the Elysian Realm to corrupt it, how could Su, a non-combat-type MANTIS, possibly allow himself to come face-to-face with the Herrscher of Binding?
Combining this with Leo's understanding of Su's methods, Leo easily deduced Su's intentions after meeting him.
Use an energy clone to pretend to be the main body and probe Leo's thoughts. After confirming the information he wanted, the main body would then take action.
Although this method was simple, for someone unfamiliar with Su, it would be difficult to immediately guess what trick Su was using.
Unfortunately, the one who came this time just so happened to be an acquaintance of Su's.
Moreover, Leo's [The Wavering Scales] happened to have the ability to see through the essence of things.
And because of this, Su thought he was probing Leo...
While Leo was talking with Su, he had already secretly confirmed Su's location and had slowly and covertly funneled his power underground, bringing it near Su's position.
As for how Leo found Su's location, it wasn't difficult for Leo either.
After [The Wavering Scales] had awakened to this stage, Leo could already see that the Su before him was an energy clone using the Sphere of Libra's "See Through Essence" ability, and he could naturally also use the "Guide Others to the Righteous Path" judgment to determine 'where Su was'.
In the related games, the effects of the Libra Sphere only increased the pilot's evasion and accuracy attributes by a tiny bit; it really couldn't be considered a powerful ability.
But game stats are game stats, and actual lore is actual lore.
In actual combat, the Sphere of Libra already allowed Leo to make correct judgments in advance when facing experts, thereby greatly improving his evasion and accuracy.
If he didn't have the Field of Binding now, this ability would probably be much more useful in combat, instead of just being used as a radar like this.
"Su!!!"
Watching her comrade receive the same treatment as Elysia, Sakura, who had just been thinking of persuading her sister to let Elysia down, now placed her hand on the hilt of the tachi at her waist.
But just as she made the move, Rin grabbed her wrist. She turned to her sister, who was looking back at her, and gave a helpless expression.
"Sister, don't do anything foolish."
"Rin..."
Seeing the hint of pleading in her sister's eyes, Sakura felt that she already had the answer to a question she had wanted to ask.
Sakura had really wanted to ask her sister if she had "met a partner worth spending her life with."
Looking at the situation now, she figured she probably didn't need to ask.
She had only shown a momentary hint of hostility toward the enemy who attacked Su, and her sister's first thought was to 'stop' her.
"So... that's how it is."
Fifty thousand years is a long time, true.
Her sister finding someone worthy of entrusting her life to was, of course, a happy occasion for Sakura.
But the person her sister entrusted her life to was now planning to completely take over the Elysian Realm... that wasn't so good.
Even though she knew in her heart she should be happy her sister had found someone important, at this moment, Miss Sakura couldn't help but feel as if she'd been struck by loneliness.
After all, although Rin hadn't done much, Sakura could already feel a sense of "the husband sings, the wife follows" from her actions.
"Sister..."
Seeing the obvious dejection on her sister's face, Rin said to Sakura, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
"You're definitely overthinking this!"
"I really don't want you to fight Leo, but he and I don't have the kind of relationship you're imagining."
"The reason I'm stopping you from fighting him... is actually for your own good."
Forcibly pushing the tachi, which Sakura had already partially drawn, back into its scabbard, Rin said to her helplessly.
"Even if you attack now, you'll just end up hung on a cross by Leo."
"In the outside world, he has a track record of 'single-handedly defeating Kevin, who was wielding a Herrscher of Flame Core plus the Judgment of Shamash, in just a few minutes'."
"The him of today is only stronger than he was on the day he defeated Kevin."
"If you attack, he definitely won't care about my feelings. He'll absolutely hang you up too."
"But if you don't attack—Leo, I'm warning you, don't try anything funny!"
Seeing Leo turn his head towards her, Rin snapped fiercely, though she was bluffing.
"If you expect me to help you, you have to give me face today!"
"Huh? I haven't said or done anything."
Looking at Leo's innocent expression, and then at her two comrades hanging on crosses, Sakura couldn't help but feel that her brother-in-law... was perhaps a little... too shameless?
There are already two victims!
And he calls that 'not doing anything'?! (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻
Honestly, while Sakura was worried about her comrades who were already tied up (and those who would be tied up in the future), right now, she was even more worried about her sister.
Her brother-in-law was strong and manipulative, and her sister was already following his every lead...
Was Rin's future... destined to be bleak?
Rin really didn't know what to do with Sakura, who was clearly letting her imagination run wild.
She knew perfectly well that her and Leo's words sounded weak, but in Rin's eyes, it was all the truth.
An Avenger who despises the Honkai tells others he's preparing to capture a Herrscher. The probability of that being true is already very high.
And considering this Avenger really has solved many problems caused by Herrschers, the credibility of his words and actions naturally rises even further.
Rin was truly grateful now that when she and Leo first met, neither side had formed a mortal enmity.
Otherwise, given Leo's rapid growth in strength, if Rin had met him later, she probably would have suffered an even greater calamity and been treated by Leo with an even worse attitude.
But now, looking at the two crosses before her, Rin was suddenly reminded of an anime she had watched a long, long time ago.
The name of that anime seemed to be...
Calabash Brothers?
......
Meanwhile. Somewhere inside the Elysian Realm
Kalpas, who had been sprinting, heard Kevin's footsteps behind him suddenly stop. He turned his head to look back, extremely impatiently.
But when he saw the situation behind him, even the usually frenzied Kalpas didn't say anything more.
Kevin, behind Kalpas, had stopped and was staring grimly at the spot beside him.
The energy clone Su created wouldn't normally dissipate on its own in such a short time.
But just now, after Leo used the Authority of Binding to arrest the Elysian Realm Su's main body, Su's power was naturally suppressed by the Field of Binding.
It could even be said that if Leo hadn't been so polite to Elysia and Su, merely weakening their power, their current state would be even worse.
And the energy clone, being something Su needed power to control, naturally dissipated into energy before Kevin's eyes once Su's power temporarily vanished.
Su, ambushed by Leo, had no time to send a warning to his comrades. If he had the chance to speak, he would have absolutely told them—DON'T COME HERE TO DIE!!!!!
But unfortunately, not only did they not receive the message Su couldn't send, but the sight of Su's energy clone dissipating before their eyes thoroughly ignited their rage.
In the moments that followed, the four of them said nothing. They just maintained a similar speed and charged toward the incident's location.
And after sensing a terrifying pressure, Hua, as the most crucial member in this fight, unhesitatingly activated the full power of Fenghuang Down.
As crimson feathers danced in the air before Leo, Leo did indeed feel that this Hua's use of Fenghuang Down was slightly stronger than his half-crippled Master's had been.
But now...
Whatever. I'll just pretend to be hypnotized for now.
As a victim who had been hit by Fenghuang Down's hypnotism countless times, Leo was already quite experienced in faking it.
Relying on this experience, he successfully faked a posture and fooled everyone.
"Did... did it work?"
Although she was confident in the power of Fenghuang Down, Hua truly hadn't expected her attack to control this powerful enemy so easily.
"Good! Kalpas, Kosma—"
At that moment, Kevin, Kalpas, and Kosma, having prepared their attacks, charged at Leo with all they had.
But in that instant, Leo moved.
If Leo had only made a small movement, the three of them wouldn't have been too worried.
The young man before them was the Herrscher of Binding, after all. A powerhouse who naturally countered Honkai-powered warriors and Divine Keys, he absolutely couldn't be underestimated, even without his field active.
The fact that he could react actually made Kevin relax a little.
A strong enemy was troublesome, but a strong enemy reacting normally and unleashing his power was better than him being defeated so easily.
In the former case, their chances were just low. In the latter...
—An expert who easily defeated Elysia gets hypnotized by Hua's Fenghuang Down and then one-shotted by them?
The possibility was too low. If that really happened, Kevin would be the first to disbelieve it.
But Leo, who couldn't be bothered to pretend anymore, showed no panic in the face of the trio's assault. Instead, the corners of his mouth turned up slightly.
In his original plan, when the others attacked, he would inevitably be forced to fight them.
And among them was one person Leo absolutely did not want to harm.
Even though he knew perfectly well that the Hua in the Elysian Realm wasn't the Master he was intimate with in the real world, facing that face, he really didn't want to use his power to hurt her.
Now, because Hua was using Fenghuang Down and had to continuously expend energy to try and control Leo, she hadn't gotten close to him.
In that case...
—If I use this move, I won't have to worry about hurting her!
"Right on time. In that case..."
Facing the three surrounding him, Leo didn't take a defensive stance, nor did he release his Field of Binding, nor did he show any fierce expression of wanting to trade injuries.
Leo crossed his hands in front of his chest. Facing the three powerful enemies about to strike him, he used the move he had prepared long ago.
"Grand..."
"Cross!"
As he shouted the name of the move, a scarlet energy cross appeared behind Leo.
And as he unleashed this move, he was simultaneously struck by the attacks of Kevin, Kalpas, and Kosma.
But at that moment, the three ambushing Leo discovered...
—The feeling... was wrong.
Unlike the situation where their power was dissolved by the [Field of Binding], their strength right now was absolutely not weakened in the slightest.
But after they hit Leo, no wounds appeared on Leo's body from their attacks. This was also an indisputable fact.
However, as outstanding warriors, the three of them wouldn't get hung up on such relatively unimportant things at a critical moment.
The enemy had unleashed a move, their attacks had failed, and the energy intensity from the enemy was still rising wildly.
Anyone who wasn't an idiot would know after seeing this—it was a trap, and if they didn't run now, they'd lose their chance!!!!
But their actions had long been anticipated by Leo.
The reason Leo chose Grand Cross as his opening super move was, one, because it granted a brief moment of invincibility upon activation.
And two, because after being cast, Grand Cross had a powerful vacuum effect on the surroundings.
Relying on the brief invincibility to perfectly block the trio's attacks, he then used Grand Cross's vacuum property to suck the three, who originally had a chance to retreat, directly to his side.
Even Kevin, the strongest of the three, now discovered with sorrow...
—Things... were looking really bad.
..