"Oh no!"
When they saw the Nioh statue behind Miyamoto Musashi unleash a staggering sword pressure and swing its blade—causing the entire space to suddenly plunge into absolute silence and darkness—everyone present, including Leon, felt that exact word flash through their hearts.
The moment that strike fell, the world seemed to suffer a misalignment, with one side sliding up and the other sliding down. A shattering sound, like a mournful cry, reached everyone's ears, causing their souls to tremble in terror.
"This woman is truly insane."
Even Leon, who had previously felt victory was within his grasp, couldn't help but curse out loud.
Miyamoto Musashi had performed this strike before, but at that time, she had deliberately held back. It couldn't be helped; if she didn't restrain herself, this strike, capable of subjugating time and space, would literally cut through the world and cause this localized space to completely shatter.
That was no small matter.
While space possessed a self-repairing quality, it required time.
Musashi's blade was essentially a strike that reduced everything to "Zero," a swing that turned "existence" into "nothingness" and "reality" into "void." It was the ultimate pinnacle of a swordsman's path.
Once unleashed with full power, even if space eventually repaired itself, it would be no simple affair. Had Musashi shown mercy, things might have been fine, but if she exerted her full strength, the space of this basement would certainly cease to exist.
At that point, Leon, Yukino Yukinoshita, and the others—even Musashi herself—would be exiled into the Dimensional Gap due to the collapse of space.
That place was the dimensional wall between different worlds, the boundary between realms such as the Human World and the Underworld, or the Human World and the Heavens. It was a realm of absolute void.
Existing there were only things exiled from the various worlds, things not permitted to exist within them, and fragments of shattered alien dimensions. Once exiled there, returning would be exceptionally difficult, even for a Demon King-class being.
There was currently only one existence capable of coming and going freely in such a place. Because that entity only traveled within that void and did not appear in the various worlds, it caused no actual harm. Consequently, the major factions turned a blind eye to it, neither placing it on blacklists nor including it in various rankings.
However, if that entity were to appear in this world, it would undoubtedly be the strongest existence, something even the Chief Gods and God-Kings of the various mythologies would fear and dread.
If they were exiled into a Dimensional Gap inhabited by such a thing, the situation would be disastrous. Regardless, Leon absolutely did not want that.
Unfortunately, Musashi had already lost herself in the heat of the moment.
To win, this female swordsman had truly abandoned all consideration for the consequences; to say she was unscrupulous would be an understatement.
"I knew I shouldn't have accepted this fight."
Leon sighed in his heart, though in reality, he didn't feel much regret. Ultimately, he had accepted the battle because he wanted to win against her once. Since that was the case, he had to take responsibility for the consequences.
There was only one thing Leon could do now.
And that was—to stop her.
"Boom!!!"
Just as everyone watched in horror as Musashi cut through the world and the basement space neared the point of collapse, a staggering pure white aura erupted from Leon's body.
That aura was massive and pure, as vast as nature and as boundless as the sky. When it appeared, the flow of the world shifted instantly.
As he unleashed this immense aura, Leon's body surged with terrifying magic power. The thousands of devil wings on his back began to divide and transform, changing from ten wings to twelve.
"Zenith Tempest" Balance Breaker!
At this moment, Leon's own foundation achieved a massive leap in rank. He transformed from the ten-winged state—referred to in the future as a Special-class Devil—into a twelve-winged being truly comparable to a Demon King!
Then, Leon spread his hands, and a giant bubble materialized out of thin air. With him as the center, it instantly enveloped the entire basement space.
"Get—back in there!"
Leon erupted with startling power and began to compress the space inside the bubble.
Suddenly, the massive bubble began to shrink, restricting the shattering space within and squeezing it inward, preventing it from affecting the outside world.
The scene looked as if the absolute, silent darkness that had been expanding was being forced back by the giant bubble. Not only was it unable to expand past the bubble's surface, but it grew smaller as the bubble contracted.
Naturally, the misaligned world was also completely severed from the outside by this bubble. The misalignment phenomenon was firmly shackled within the bubble, no longer able to ripple out into the external world.
Leon slowly brought his hands together, causing the bubble to shrink along with his movements, closing in toward Miyamoto Musashi's position at the center.
"What?"
Musashi was shocked. She wanted to make a move, but she was interrupted by what happened next.
"Rumble—"
Suddenly, wind began to howl inside the bubble, rain began to pour, and lightning began to crash.
Violent gales, surging flames, frenzied thunder, extreme frost, flying debris, and torrential floods—all sorts of natural phenomena appeared inside the bubble like divine punishment, instantly swallowing the cornered Musashi and shattering the Nioh statue behind her.
"!"
Musashi seemed to be shouting something, but no one could hear her. The various divine punishments completely submerged her, causing her figure to vanish amidst the endless natural disasters.
"Master Musashi!"
Asuna Yuuki, finally reacting, couldn't help but cry out in alarm.
"What is that?"
Ram and Rem, who had never seen Leon use his Balance Breaker before, stared blankly at the twelve-winged Leon and the bubble that was continuously generating divine punishments under his control.
"So... so powerful—"
"The misalignment of the world has been stopped!"
"Thank goodness—"
Ravel, Yukino Yukinoshita, Mahiru Shiina, and the others were both awestruck and relieved, feeling as though they had narrowly escaped death.
"He actually used that kind of bubble to separate space and the world itself? That's just—"
Utaha Kasumigaoka stared at Leon's execution with sparkling eyes, feeling a sense of sudden enlightenment.
As a master of barriers, Utaha's focus on Leon's Balance Breaker ability was different from the others. To her, Leon's ability shared a subtle commonality with her own Sacred Gear ability; both used a certain power to bind the opponent first and then strike within those confines. The essence was identical.
Her barriers and Leon's bubbles were the same in every aspect except for the form of expression and the level of power. Under these circumstances, anything Leon could achieve with his bubbles, she could achieve with her barriers. Therefore, Utaha was dazzled by Leon's execution, and countless insights instantly flooded her mind.
Leon was unaware of this and had no mind to pay attention. He focused entirely on shrinking the space inside the bubble and controlling the misalignment phenomenon to prevent it from spreading outward.
As for Musashi, who was also inside, Leon could no longer worry about her. She had caused this disaster, so she would have to bear it herself; she deserved it.
Fortunately, Musashi's strength was limited. Although her attainment in swordsmanship was terrifying, her power level had not reached the Demon King-class.
After activating his Balance Breaker, Leon's magic power had completely reached the Demon King level, and his rank was a genuine twelve-winged state. Combined with the power of the "Zenith Tempest" Balance Breaker, he successfully brought the situation under control by outputting magic power at any cost until the misalignment phenomenon subsided.
The darkness firmly bound inside the bubble slowly dissipated, and the world that had been split apart gradually returned to its original state, ensuring that the shattering of space no longer occurred.
Seeing this, Leon finally dispersed the divine punishments inside the bubble, letting the various natural disasters settle and cease their rampage.
When the bubble finally burst, a charred figure fell from the center and tumbled onto the ground.
"Master Musashi!"
Asuna Yuuki couldn't sit still any longer and hurried toward the charred figure, with Yukino and the others following closely behind.
"She's certainly got a stubborn life," Leon remarked as he descended from mid-air. Looking at the blackened Musashi, he let out a quiet sigh of relief even as he grumbled.
He had thought Musashi would be exiled to the Dimensional Gap alone, but surprisingly, she had endured. However, her condition was quite wretched; she had been severely battered by the various divine punishments and looked to have only half a breath left.
Asuna Yuuki and Mahiru Shiina immediately released their magic power, converting it into healing energy to treat Musashi's wounds.
"It's no use. Her injuries are too severe; this level of healing ability isn't enough," Ram said after taking a few looks. She was an expert in magic, and although she specialized in wind magic, her vision and knowledge were not limited to it. She could easily see that Asuna and Mahiru's healing abilities could not save Musashi.
Never mind healers like Asuna and Mahiru who had picked up the craft late; even a top-tier healer specializing in recovery arrays would likely find it difficult to pull the current Musashi out of danger. One could only say that surviving the continuous bombardment of divine punishments was already Musashi's limit.
"She's not going to die, is she?" Rem couldn't help but ask.
"You're joking, right?"
"She's a Demon King's servant!" Yukino Yukinoshita and Utaha Kasumigaoka looked at each other in bewilderment.
"Use this!" Ravel hurried to pull out a small vial from her person and handed it to Asuna in a panic.
"This is—" The girls were momentarily stunned.
"Phoenix Tears!" Mahiru Shiina immediately recognized the contents of the vial.
Indeed, it was the legendary Phoenix Tears, reputed to be able to heal any injury. Having experienced the incident with the Old Maou Faction's attack, Mahiru and the others had a very deep impression of this medicine.
"You actually had Phoenix Tears hidden on you?" Leon, who had been prepared to take Musashi back to the Underworld for help, looked at Ravel in surprise.
"This is my personal stash," Ravel said softly. "Because they are so difficult to make, I only carried one bottle with me."
Creating Phoenix Tears required not only a special ritual but also the tears of a legitimate bloodline successor of the Phoenix family dropped into a cup treated by the same ritual. The water mixed with the tears would then transform into Phoenix Tears, possessing the power to heal others.
When crying, the successor had to clear their mind and be free of emotion. Tears carrying emotion were merely the individual's personal tears shed for themselves, and such tears were ineffective. Thus, even pure-blooded devils of the Phoenix family found it difficult to produce many Phoenix Tears. Ravel rarely made them, and had it not been as a precaution for emergencies, she might not have made even one bottle to carry.
She hadn't expected it to be put to use here. It seemed she would have to find a way to produce more Phoenix Tears in the future, lest she find herself without any when needed. Ravel thought silently to herself.
"Master Musashi, hang in there."
After Asuna took the Phoenix Tears, she immediately pulled the stopper and dripped the tears onto Musashi's body. Instantly, the tears were like droplets falling into a lake, first creating a ripple where they landed, and then the ripple spread across Musashi's entire body. Musashi's charred skin began to peel off, and her injuries recovered at a rate visible to the naked eye.
"Ugh—"
After a long while, Musashi finally let out a pained groan and opened her eyes.
"Are you alright, Master Musashi?" Asuna hurriedly asked.
"—So, I didn't die?" Musashi stared blankly at the group surrounding her, murmuring the words after a long silence.
"What?" Leon looked at Musashi with a fake, thin smile. "Are you really that eager to die?"
"Of course not." Musashi seemed to remember the trouble she had caused. She pulled her neck in and gave a sheepish laugh. "Ah, it's truly great to have picked my life back up. So lucky!"
Hearing this, veins popped on the foreheads of everyone present.
"Lucky my foot!"
"Do you have any idea how close you came to killing us just now?"
"You can actually still laugh?"
"Do you really think being a Demon King's servant means you can just run wild?"
Everyone began to scold Musashi mercilessly, causing her to shrink into a ball. Leon shook his head with a chuckle and turned to leave the area, ignoring her.