At this time, Koneko-chan momentarily grew and sent a punch with the power of purification towards him, but the old warrior used the hilt of Durandal to block this attack, and then actually pushed it back! “Holy Lightning!”
Akeno-san summoned lightning, and shaped it into the form of a large dragon! They were Holy Lightning Dragons! And there were five of them! The number has increased compared to before, and the density of the holy lighting had also increased! The large dragons of holy lightning eagerly moved towards Strada! “—Descended from the angel known as the Lightning of God! It truly is beautiful!”
While Strada was praising Akeno-san’s attack, Durandal’s blade was still wrapped in a holy aura, and then it was swung down in an instant! The wave which was released was clearly more potent than that which was released by Xenovia. The enormous surging wave completely blew the Holy Lightning Dragons away! In addition, this wave showed no signs of weakening, and continued to fly towards us! “Shield!”
Rossweisse-san took a step forward, and conjured several layers of magic circles of strong defensive magic! Each layer of the strong magical barriers was progressively destroyed by the Durandal’s replica, and the approaching wave loomed ahead of us! —However, Rossweisse-san created layers of barriers once more, and then finally negated Strada’s attack! …However, in order to nullify this wave, a significant number of defensive magic circles had been deployed…at the least, Rossweisse-san used twenty layers. Even though she had the trait of the [Rook] to boost defensive power, she still needed so many…! Once again, I was in awe at this old warrior’s skill in using Durandal! “It’s not over yet!”
The last person to rush out was the current wielder of Durandal, Xenovia! She wielded Ex-Durandal, using it in a combined mode to slam it down at high speed and with the power of Destruction! The old warrior used his replica to block Xenovia’s attack, and it felt as though he was smiling in enjoyment. “Very good! That’s it! That’s just right! There’s no need for deliberation! Listen up, warrior Xenovia! Even if you assimilate Durandal and Excalibur, the essence of Durandal is — pure power! Which is why you were chosen by it! You should not deny it! Power should not be denied!”
While he was resisting Xenovia’s attack, Strada still repeatedly slashed his sword, as if illustrating how a sword should be used, conveying the core essence of a sword. In the midst of the clash between the genuine holy sword with the added power of Destruction and the replica, Strada looked straight at Xenovia and said to her
“—However, there’s more than one way to represent power. That sword’s form, is that really what you want it to appear as?”
“—Hmm! !”
Hearing that jisan’s question, Xenovia made an expression as if she had noticed something. Xenovia jumped back for the time being, and then — she meaningfully stared at Ex-Durandal. Strada began to smile as he saw this…was this something that only a wielder of Durandal would know about…? Then Rias straightened her body! Her entire body was enveloped in a destructive aura, and a huge sphere of magic had formed above her head! “—Well, how about this?”
—Extinguish Star! Rias’s ultimate attack! She concentrated her magic to produce it while I went ahead to fight! “This will result in death if you don’t avoid it!”
After Rias declared that, she released that massive attack! Although the sphere of destruction moved forward slowly, no one could possibly remain unharmed if they came into contact with it. This unparalleled attack was merciless, and even the body of an evil dragon could be destroyed. But Rias deliberately made such a declaration before releasing it. Which also meant — she was letting him escape. Being hit by that would result in inevitable annihilation. But even so, Rias decided to use this move precisely because she was in awe at the opponent. However, the old warrior seemed to have no intention of evading! He simply smiled, and faced Rias’s sphere of destruction directly! “Well well…this thing might be a bit difficult for my old bones — but.”
He raised Durandal’s replica and pointed it towards the sky — a vast amount of holy aura began to cover the blade. Facing one side as it slowly absorbed the objects around it, the sphere of destruction was approaching — then the replica of Durandal was swung down! The light released was blindingly bright, and we could only close our eyes in the face of such intense light…! When we opened our eyes, the first thing which we saw was — the scene of Rias’s Extinguish Star sliced apart! “—Ah.”
Rias was speechless at the sight of this. This was only to be expected. Even against an evil dragon, it was completely defenceless against this technique. Yet an old man, a human, was able to destroy it using the replica of a holy sword. We were also quite shocked by this. Strada’s shoulders were heaving as he breathed…after all, it was true that he cut the Extinguish Star. Rias could only smile mirthlessly. “…After this, I have no choice but to smile bitterly.”
As Strada adjusted his breathing, he said
“—Listen well. Durandal is able to cut [Everything]. Even if it’s the Bael’s power of Destruction, that is no exception.”
He said to us, as if giving Durandal an introduction. …So if Durandal is used properly, even that can be cut…! Well, when Xenovia is really able to master Durandal, there won’t be anything in this world that she won’t be able to cut…! Koneko-chan made a stiff smile. “…Really, is the Church able to rely solely on this ojisan? I think that…”
…Yes. Relying on this jisan alone, is the Church able to survive? After all, even the highest class of Devils have been defeated at the hands of Church warriors…if such a rare old man was born in this world, indeed even the highest class of Devils could be destroyed. “—Well, it should be my turn next right?”
After saying this, the person who took a step forward was — Arthur Pendragon who had been quietly watching from the side! He was wearing glasses, a suit, and smiling as usual. However, held in his hand was the legend of legends which was wrapped in a dense and thick aura — The Holy King Sword Collbrande. “Hoh…I wouldn’t have imagined that I’d be able to see that at my age…”
Strada looked at the holy sword in Arthur’s hand, and sighed in admiration. Arthur fearlessly replied in response with
“It is quite regrettable that the sword you hold is not genuine — I really wanted to use my body to withstand its power.”
Arthur quietly approached Strada, and in response, Strada also began to move forward. They did so until they were within reach of each other’s swords, and there was also no need to prepare a stance. Eventually, they reached the point where they were directly in front of each other, and they then stopped. They looked as though they were a jovial young gentleman and old warrior, but the intense pressure which they released from their bodies was unreal.