When people talk about Excalibur’s scabbard, this is the scabbard of Excalibur that they refer to!”
Even Irina’s voice and entire body trembled as she said
“Ise-kun! This scabbard is an unbelievable item! It’s amazing! I never imagined that it would be found at a time like this…!”
“It’d be no exaggeration to say that this is the main component of Excalibur.”
“The legendary scabbard has been lost for a long time…but it’s actually been found now…!”
Shemhazai-san answered to Ravel’s words
“In order to recover the scabbard, we searched in many places, and we finally found out that the scabbard had been sealed away in an underground ruin where different religions once fought against each other. If we weren’t in our present era where the gods of each mythology have made peace with each other, then it wouldn’t have been possible for us to send investigation teams to that place.”
…It seemed like the process to retrieve the scabbard was rather complicated. If the various factions hadn’t achieved peace, this might never have seen the light of day again…. Through the culmination of many factors, it was a treasure that had finally been brought to us. Xenovia took a deep breath as she picked up the scabbard. “…With this scabbard, I’ll even be able to go up against god-class beings.”
Upon hearing Xenovia say this, Irina giggled. “This isn’t the kind of thing that a devout believer should be saying.”
Xenovia shrugged. “The gods that we’ll be fighting against and the god that we believe in are not the same.”
Her explanation was akin to saying that there existed another stomach just for desserts! W-Well, it’s fine I guess. Xenovia and Irina have always been like that. They’re strange in that way. It’s true that the gods participating in the Tournament are different from the god that they believe in, so I’ll let that slide. Because so many pieces of equipment had been prepared for us, I couldn’t help but ask
“Is it really okay for you to prepare all of these items for us? There are obviously still a lot of other teams participating in the Tournament.”
It was a bit late for us to say this after having come so far with a Longinus and legendary holy swords, but it felt a bit unfair to have all of these legendary items given to us. Shemhazai-san answered with a smile
“They all have their own organisations and mythologies to support them, and we’ve already achieved peace anyway. However, our side also has the [DxD] team for anti-terrorism measures, and we’ve already been focusing on strengthening our combat force since before the Tournament. These tools are for you to use, but they’re also part of the fighting force of the anti-terrorist team. As a result, it also has serves the purpose of preventing terrorism from occurring when the outside world sees it. Although some factions may have criticisms about this…there are gods everywhere who don’t wish for a large-scale war like the Evil Dragon War again.”
So it also has significance in that way huh…. Well, Cao Cao also receives protection from Śakra, while Dulio and the others have the backing of Heaven. If everyone thought too much about these things, then it would be difficult to actually participate. Ravel expressed her thanks to Shemhazai-san
“Governor Shemhazai, thank you very much for bringing us all of these items. We’ll make good use of them, regardless if it’s as [DxD], or for our team in the Tournament.”
[Thank you.] All of us expressed our gratitude to Shemhazai-san once again. Shemhazai-san answered us with
“You’re welcome.”
At that moment, someone knocked on the door. “Excuse me.”
The person who came in was — Kiba. He had a serious expression. When Kiba asked us
“Are you finished?”
I responded with
“Almost.”
Kiba then bluntly said
“Things aren’t going well. —One of the top candidates, the god-class Mahabali team is at a disadvantage.”
After listening to this news, we all looked at each other. The place that we arrived at via a transportation magic circle was [Azazel Stadium] in the Fallen Angels’ territory — the prince of the Asura gods, Mahabali-san’s team was currently competing. I had previously fought here against Barakiel-san. Everyone who lived at the Hyoudou residence had come here, and we walked towards the spectator area. We spotted Vali in the corridor of the entrance. Vali stood by the entrance, and he watched the aerial projection of the live broadcast that was in the centre of the stadium. We also looked over at it. The situation on the field was currently being displayed. The field appeared to be the site of a ruin…and in the centre of the destroyed remnants, the Prince of the Asuras, Mahabali-san was kneeling on the ground. His body was covered in wounds, and he was gasping for his breath. <<This is difficult to believe! As one of the candidates tipped to win, Mahabali-senshu is actually kneeling on the ground right now! The ones who have forced him into such a state — are the mysterious players who have suddenly joined an ordinary team!>>
The announcer also seemed to have become excited by the scene before his eyes as he said that. Mahabali-san was looking at — two people. One of them was a woman. To be more precise, she seemed to be a girl who was of similar age to us judging by her appearance. She had long jade-coloured hair, and she seemed to have a cheerful air about her. The other one was a man. He had copper-red hair that was swept all the way back. Not only did he have a tall stature, he also had a very strong physical build. There was no trace of emotion on his face, and he appeared rather cold. Based on his appearance, perhaps he was the same age as us, or maybe a bit older. Unlike the injured Mahabali-san, they were completely unharmed! Mahabali-san’s team had many Asura gods. Even among the god-class beings who were participating, they were considered to be a top-class line-up. As I looked at the venue’s scoreboard, I could see that all of the members of Mahabali-san’s team had retired! The copper-haired youth picked up the flag that was beside Mahabali-san. [Flag taken.] It was a capture-the-flag style of game. Before we came here, I had confirmed that the game type this time was called Scramble Flag. The instant that the copper-haired youth picked up the flag, an announcement of victory was broadcast. <<The winner — is the [Black Satan of Darkness Dragon King] team.>>
The victory of the mysterious girl and youth had been declared—. This was the first defeat that Mahabali-san had suffered in the Tournament to date. After seeing this unexpected result, and after the match concluded, we didn’t leave the venue. In order to understand the details of the situation, we walked towards the match official’s area. Rias said to me
“I didn’t plan on watching this game to begin with. I thought that it was certain to be Mahabali’s victory. After all, his opponent was a team that had been on a losing streak up until now.