Ryuu Lion had taken Genichi's sneak attack and ate a full Demon King Valion.
Even for a Lv.4 adventurer, taking magic of that level head-on without preparation was never going to be painless.
Her insides had been shaken. The blood at the corner of her mouth was proof enough.
But that was all.
Genichi knew it clearly: thinking that single hit could kill Ryuu Lion was pure fantasy.
The gulf between Lv.4 and Lv.2 wasn't something a couple of ordinary skills could bridge.
Ryuu Lion had once been Astrea Familia's ace. She'd gone through proper adventurer training, countless Dungeon expeditions, and five years of revenge hunting that had refined her into a top-tier combat expert.
Her instincts, her judgment in motion, her resistance to magic and the ways she handled it, were far beyond what an average Lv.4 could offer.
And now, she was fully serious.
That look in her eyes was no longer the initial cold emptiness. In its place was intense focus and hard appraisal.
She no longer treated the boy in front of her as a simple abuser to erase. She redefined him as something else entirely.
Dangerous.
Not to be underestimated.
An enemy she had to face with everything.
Against Ryuu Lion in this state, Genichi winning was nearly impossible.
But he wasn't completely without a path.
His only, and greatest, trump card was wrapped around his left arm.
The Boosted Gear of the Red Dragon Emperor.
If, under this kind of pressure, he could force his way through that threshold and awaken Balance Breaker, then the tide might still be turned.
As for Juggernaut Drive…
The thought flickered across his mind and was snuffed out instantly, without hesitation.
He couldn't use it.
He didn't dare.
Forget that with his current physical durability, forcing Juggernaut Drive would be suicide. Even if he somehow pulled it off, the overwhelming backlash would drop him unconscious on the spot.
This was the fifteenth floor of the Dungeon, not a safe room in the Gremory territory.
If he blacked out here, the only ending waiting for him was being eaten down to the bone by monsters.
Unless it was true desperation, he would not take that step.
Clang!
Sword and wooden blade collided again, sparks briefly lighting Genichi's pale face.
This time he wasn't knocked flying, but the recoil finally tore his grip open completely. Blood ran down the hilt, dripping to the floor and pooling at his feet.
He staggered back, dragging in a breath that felt like swallowing fire. Every inhale carried a rusty sweetness.
His arms had gone numb to the verge of losing feeling entirely. He was holding the sword upright almost purely on muscle memory.
And the standard-issue longsword he'd taken from Demeter Familia's armory had become a saw.
The edge was chewed up with countless chips, the deepest bites cutting dangerously close to the spine of the blade.
With a weapon like this, forget blocking Ryuu Lion's sacred-wood sword. If he tried to cut down another hellhound, it would probably snap on the spot.
Worse still—
"Boost has reached the critical point…"
The green jewel on the Boosted Gear was visibly flickering now, pulsing on and off with an anxious hum.
The multiplications had stacked to the current limits of what his body could bear.
One more use, even one more "Boost," and his blood vessels and channels would rupture first.
Power was useless if you didn't live long enough to spend it.
Ryuu Lion had clearly noticed, too.
She advanced at a measured pace, not fast, not slow, with the suffocating pressure of a hunter tightening a net.
Her eyes were terrifyingly calm. No arrogance. No impatience.
Just silent, meticulous control, steadily shrinking the space Genichi had left to dodge.
She wasn't going to give him a route to escape.
And the truth was, Genichi did have a way out.
Among the many spells recorded in his Magic Grimoire, there was one: Apparition.
With that spell, he could leave the battlefield at any time.
Of course, the risk was equally brutal.
Using Apparition recklessly came with around a thirty percent chance of a "splitting" phenomenon.
But no matter how dangerous it was, it was still better than dying on the fifteenth floor.
And yet Genichi still didn't cast it.
He was gambling.
The pressure Ryuu Lion was giving him was the strongest real combat opponent he could "legally" run into in Orario.
Loki Familia was too strong. He didn't dare provoke them.
Demeter Familia was too weak. They couldn't push him.
Only now, only this revenge elf with murder in her heart, was the perfect whetstone for tempering himself and forcing a breakthrough.
He wanted to know if, on the cliff edge between life and death, he could reach out and seize the door called Balance Breaker.
Balance Breaker was the state where a Sacred Gear user elevated their Gear into resonance with their soul, awakening its true form and power.
In the DxD world, it was a realm most Sacred Gear holders could never touch, even if they spent their entire lives chasing it.
And how long had he even had the Boosted Gear?
But he didn't have a choice.
His breathing grew heavier. The edges of his vision started to darken.
Ryuu Lion's blade was less than three meters from his throat.
Genichi threw himself into a desperate sideways roll. The wooden blade skimmed past his left ribs with terrifying precision.
It hit.
A sickening crack echoed in the corridor.
Pain nearly tore a scream from his throat.
And even so—
The door to Balance Breaker stayed shut.
He felt no resonance. He couldn't catch even a hint of a trigger.
It was as if the door had never been meant to open for him at all.
Was it still too early…?
Genichi dropped to one knee, panting hard. Blood ran down from his ribs and gathered in a small pool on the stone.
He raised his head and looked at Ryuu Lion, now only a few steps away. In her eyes, killing intent had become almost tangible.
Time to retreat.
He didn't want to admit it, but he had to.
He couldn't win today.
Once he accepted that, his mind became calmer instead of messier.
His breathing steadied. His scattered focus snapped back into place.
Genichi drew in a slow breath, braced on his sword, and forced himself upright.
He stared at Ryuu Lion. Blood clung to his lips, yet he gave her a faint curve of a smile, almost self-mocking.
"Gale…"
He spoke. His voice was hoarse from blood loss, but the words were unusually clear.
"Do you know?"
Ryuu Lion's steps paused for a fraction.
"The real culprit behind Astrea Familia's destruction…"
He spoke each word deliberately.
"…is still alive."
Ryuu Lion's pupils contracted sharply.
The wooden blade that had already risen, about to fall, froze in midair.
"…What did you say?"
Her voice was no longer perfectly cool. A tiny tremor threaded through it.
In her eyes, the dead ice that had lasted five years finally cracked for the first time.
Her stunned pause lasted only one second.
But for Genichi, it was enough.
He activated Apparition without hesitation.
Target coordinates: Demeter Familia's headquarters, Goddess Demeter's private room.
Magic poured out like a broken dam.
Space twisted around him, folding and tearing with a teeth-grinding shriek.
Ryuu Lion snapped back to herself and slashed down, but her blade only shattered an afterimage left behind.
Pop!
The crisp sound of air bursting echoed down the empty corridor.
Genichi's figure vanished completely.
(End of Chapter)
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