Can It Even be called War? VII

A silent faceoff had once again begun but other than the saint and the Fairy Queen, all of them looked considerably grimmer.

The Great King Faction had realized they were trapped by a barrier they could barely understand while their actions let the New Satan Faction understand that as well.

Adding that to the sudden disappearance of their most powerful combatant along with one of the enemies, the situation did not look good at all.

Still . . . Not all hope was lost if one looked at the situation carefully and that was why Grayfia and Ajuka were still relatively composed.

If Sirzechs had been the only one to disappear, then he would be just trapped for a period of time while all of their opponents were around and at full strength, a very bad turn of events for the Devils since it amounted to temporarily losing their strongest combatant for nothing.

However, as one of the enemies disappear as well, the logical conclusion would be a one on one duel forced by the other party.

Artoria who vanished was the only one to show her attacking prowess and it was quite terrifying so the devils were happy to believe they were much safer and more likely to survive now.

As for the duel, Grayfia and Ajuka trusted Sirzechs and his power the most. In an isolated battlefield, he would also be able to unleash his full power without fear of collateral damage which only made their view even more optimistic.

In other words, they believed that so long as they could hold out, one of their opponents would be defeated while their strongest combatant would return to support them, even if he would most likely not be at full strength.

On the other hand, Morgan and Jeanne were no worried in the slightest and seemed to be completely undisturbed. Morgan especially, knew just how obnoxiously hard to beat her sister was and had no doubt in her mind as to who would come out on top.

The sisters had merely seen an opportunity to test out the man who was said to be the strongest devil to have ever lived and one of the top ten most powerful beings in the DxD world and promptly decided to take it.

With all of this in mind, the stalemate continued as the devils wanted to wait for Sirzechs to return as Ajuka was locked into defense and Grayfia alone could not take on Jeanne who had already proved she could easily block anything the silver haired maid threw at her and Morgan who had yet to do anything other than stop them from leaving.

Said Morgan was in no hurry to restart combat either since the original goal was to just keep the devil leadership and three of their strongest combatants bogged down where they were.

In the duel field however, the action was threatening to start.

Sirzechs and Artoria appeared at a significant distance from each other and engaged in a staredown, both with serious expression on their faces.

"I assume the only way out of here is to beat you." Sirzechs commented.

"If your will is weak, you can also let yourself be beaten to leave. I won't kill you." Artoria responded. Uncharacteristically provoking her opponent.

Clearly, some bad habits of her regular sparring partners were rubbing off on her and as she wanted the crimson haired Satan to fight at full power, the King of Knights saw nothing wrong with a little provocation.

"I shall give you the opportunity to dispel this field before it is too late. I do not wish to tear all face down with Haikami Jun." Sirzechs gravely said.

"That is impossible. This field is almost inescapable but as a risk for using it, one's opponent must be rendered unfit for battle otherwise, not even the user can leave." Artoria responded.

And with that, the crimson haired Satan accepted that the only way forward, was to destroy his opponent as quickly as possible and return before the situation devolved even further outside.

Waves of reddish black power of destruction began emanating from his figure as Sirzechs himself turned into a humanion figure made entirely of that ruinous power that he had inherited from his mother's clan of Bael.

Artoria's expression tightened as she sensed that the man before her now posed an actual threat.

She swung Excalibur at him, unleashing her enhanced Mana Burst but now aimed directly at him as a massive band of golden light rushed towards the crimson haired Satan at blinding speed.

Shockingly however, it got weaker and weaker as it approached him, being utterly annihilated once it finally came into contact with the reddish black figure Sirzechs had transformed into.

Taking that slight opening, he unleashed a massive sphere of destruction with far greater power than Artoria's previous attack but considerably slower.

The King of Knights' goal however, was to test her opponent and as such, even though she could have very easily dodged the oncoming blow, she chose to face it head on.

With another swing of her holy sword, an even mightier band of golden light was unleashed.

It almost instantly clashed with Sirzechs' orb of destruction but rather than resulting into a massive clash of power that reverberated throughout the duel field, the golden light was silently vanquished while completely expending all the power the orb had.

After a brief lull due to the attacks cancelling each other out, Artoria summoned her full armor to protect her entire body, looking like a smaller version of her Lancer self and, cladding herself in mana completely to boost her physical abilities to a ridiculous degree, the King of Knights charged.

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P.a.t.r.e.o.n is officially up!

The link is: https://www.p.a.t.r.e.o.n.com/lusoba without the extra dots of course.

You'll get to read up to FOUR week ahead, a full month, but I'll still post here.

There's also my other novel Archon of DanMachi, do check it out!

I would greatly appreciate any support since this is going to be my breadwinner.