The elongated and thickened Ruyi Bangs attacked all at the same time! “—It’s still just half-baked.”
While saying so, His Eminence used Durandal to unleash a colossal holy wave which completely slashed every member of the clone army in half—. With just one attack! His Eminence immediately shortened the distance between him and Bikou so that he could throw a direct punch at Bikou’s face! Bikou was punched and blown away to a distant location! Bikou crashed into a car that was parked by the curb and slumped over onto the ground. “Kuh! …I-Is this a joke, just how strong is this old man…! ?”
Bikou spat another fresh mouthful of blood out of his mouth as he stood up. Vali began to move again. He didn’t seem to have been severely injured, and although his armour had taken damage, he could still fire off blasts of demonic energy from close range! His Eminence evaded all of the blasts with minimal movement. All of the shots that he evaded caused mass destruction to the buildings that were off in the distance behind him! Vali’s speed accelerated to the point that his figure vanished. He circled around His Eminence at nearly god-speed, but His Eminence didn’t seem intimidated by this at all, and he simply revealed a courageous smile. “I’ve got you.”
Vali tried to attack from behind — but His Eminence had already realised. Once again, all that was left in his original position was an afterimage, and on the contrary, His Eminence appeared right behind Vali! “Those who think that they can sneak up behind me are always prone to openings.”
—But, Vali immediately jumped away from that spot to evade the counterattack. “As expected of the Hakuryuukou. You reacted immediately. —But you’re still too naïve.”
His Eminence enveloped Durandal in a tremendous amount of aura! The sheer amount was enough to make one shiver in fear! His Eminence slashed Durandal down towards Vali who was a fair distance away! The vast holy aura caused the road, parked cars, buildings, and everything in that singular direction to be annihilated as the wave approached Vali at high speed! Vali was able to dodge the wave of aura, but It continued to fly far into the distance, and everything left in its wake was eliminated! It eventually reached the end of the field and crashed into the barrier, causing an enormous tremor to rock the entire field. His Eminence said
“My Durandal can cut a target that’s even several kilometres away.”
…In other words, to His Eminence, this entire field was within his range of attack. Gogmagog, which had reconstructed its body and had begun flying back towards this location was once again blown away to a distant location by the holy wave that His Eminence had unleashed! His Eminence immediately charged towards Vali and attacked him.Don! —A blunt noise echoed. His Eminence’s fist had smashed through Vali’s armour and landed a direct hit on Vali’s abdomen! “—!?! ?”
With an astonished expression, Vali immediately retreated backwards after taking that blow, but His Eminence quickly sent out another wave of holy aura in pursuit. Vali crossed his arms in front of his body as a defensive measure—. Accompanied by the sound of a massive explosion, Vali’s gauntlets — not only that, the armour covering his entire body was shattered by that single blow. His Eminence Strada said
“That silvery-white armour is of no consequence to me right now.”
“…So I might have to use that form that can defeat a god-class being huh. Seriously, are you really a human? I can’t blame Arthur for respecting you as much as he does. It’s no surprise that there are so many people who respect you.”
Vali voiced his words of praise for His Eminence. “Now, the supernatural races will have a video recording of this. In the past, the Devils who stood above high-class Devils and all of the abnormal existences would only have appeared in rumours or legends. It was the first time that they had been seen, and no one knew how to respond. But if a recording of a battle is left behind, regardless of whether they’re a Heavenly Dragon or something else, there will now be evidence. All that’s left is to feel that aura on an actual battlefield.”
…Am I also seeing an illusion? After all, regardless of which faction they’re compared to, the strength of Vali’s team is undoubtable, but even after having the leader Vali, Bikou, Fenrir and Gogmagog as opponents, not only was he uninjured, he had repelled every single one of them. His strength could no longer be described by mere words alone, he was an embodiment of power—. The limits of humanity — Vasco Strada. …Is it truly possible for a human to be this strong!? Just as a serious expression emerged in Vali’s eyes, someone stood in front of him. —It was Arthur. “Please leave this to me and Bikou. Vali, you take Fenrir and find someone else to be your opponent. Look, Rias Gremory and that Evil Dragon are waiting for you. —Collbrande and I have finally found an opponent with true skill that we could fight seriously against, so let me step into the limelight for a bit.”
Bikou also urged Vali to go by saying
“Hurry up and go.”
Vali accepted their gesture of goodwill and prepared to leave with Fenrir. I wanted to block the way, but Bikou stood in front of me. “Well, why don’t you spar with me for a bit, handsome-kun?”
“…Alright. I’ll guess I’ll enjoy this together with His Eminence.”
As Bikou and I confronted each other, Arthur slowly walked towards His Eminence, and in response, His Eminence also stepped forward. The two of them were almost face to face when they revealed their grins of delight. It almost looked like the scene of two lovers reuniting with each other after being separated for many years—. “It was quite a pity the other day.”
“Yes, indeed. But, here you are standing in front of me again.”
His Eminence gripped the hilt of Durandal tightly as the smile carved onto his face grew even deeper. “—Knowing that an existence like you exists, I don’t think I’ll be able to enjoy my final days if I don’t fight against you at my best as a fellow swordsman. —Please be sure to make this a special memory for me before I depart for the afterlife.”
“By all means.”
Like this, the battle between me and Bikou, and the battle between His Eminence Strada and Arthur began—. Part 2
On the other hand, on the east side of the field, Himejima Akeno wore a shrine maiden’s outfit, and Lint Sellzen wore a battle suit for the Tournament as they faced off against the current Zhu Bajie, Sha Wujing and Le Fay Pendragon. The eastern side of the field was a spacious park. Near an artificial waterfall, Akeno confronted Zhu Bajie, while Lint confronted Sha Wujing head on. And at a point that was some distance away from them, Le Fay Pendragon had deployed a magic circle. Akeno understood that the opponent’s formation consisted of two vanguards and one rear support.