Xenovia and Irina were mostly worried that things would go south. Even though their superiors had ordered them not to clash with other factions for the time being, one could never be too sure. The man before them was the Governor General of the Fallen Angels. A sudden visit and a demand for a duel surely meant he was up to no good.
If things went wrong, they were prepared to throw themselves into the fray and fight alongside Rhode. Even if the two of them couldn't even beat Kokabiel, they had no intention of abandoning a teammate.
"Rhode, the barriers are set," Lavinia called out.
Azazel turned his gaze toward her. "What an impressive barrier. Even among the High-Class Devils in the Underworld who specialize in magic circles, few could reach this level. Lavinia Reni... that's your name, right?"
"It is," Lavinia replied with a slight nod.
"I've heard of you from Vali. He said... er..." Azazel paused. Recalling the emotional things Vali had said that day, he still found it hard to keep a straight face.
How did that kid end up wanting a woman barely older than him to be his mother?
Originally, Azazel thought Vali was just jealous because he saw his "beloved" woman being taken away. Well... in a certain sense, Lavinia was indeed the woman Vali cherished most.
"Vali? What did Little Vali say?" Lavinia asked instinctively upon hearing her old friend's name.
"He said... well, never mind. You'll find out when you see him later." Azazel turned back to the task at hand. "Alright, kid. Are you ready to face me?"
Rhode nodded.
"The time limit is one minute. Whoever gets hit more loses. But to ensure no one says I'm bullying the youth, I'll give you a handicap: I'll use only one hand, I won't use ranged Light Spears, and you can use any weapon you like."
"Are we starting?"
"Yeah. Be—"
Before Azazel could finish the word "Begin," a cold, mechanical sound effect echoed from Rhode's side.
—Clock Up.
In the next instant, Rhode vanished from his sight. Even his presence became incredibly faint.
While activating the super-acceleration, Rhode had also triggered his Presence Concealment EX skill. While hiding one's presence right in front of someone might seem like "plugging one's ears while stealing a bell," using it in conjunction with super-acceleration to exit an opponent's field of vision created a devastatingly unpredictable effect.
Azazel's smile was still plastered on his face.
From Rhode's perspective, everything was slowed down countless times. Having fought two Fallen Angel leaders already, Rhode knew that even in a super-accelerated state, a sufficiently strong opponent could still react based on instinct and experience.
However, opponents like Satanael and Kokabiel could only react to the most fatal strikes. Over time, as minor wounds accumulated, their judgment regarding those lethal blows would falter.
But someone of Azazel's caliber had already developed passive skills akin to "Mind's Eye" or "Instinct." It was somewhat similar to Ultra Instinct from Dragon Ball Super—though Azazel's power was still worlds apart from that level. If he actually had the real thing, Rhode would have surrendered on the spot. That kind of "cheat" ability was simply unbeatable for a normal person.
Super-acceleration wasn't time-stop. Rhode was simply accelerating his own internal time, while everyone else's time flowed normally.
Thus, the moment Azazel saw Rhode vanish, he immediately went on high alert. He didn't panic, however. He simply raised his right hand and carefully sensed his surroundings.
Azazel had originally intended to use only his left hand, but the moment Rhode vanished, he realized something was wrong and switched to his dominant right hand. No one had specified which hand he had to use anyway.
Whir—!
The air around him tore apart with an abnormal gust as a faint, weak presence closed in instantly. Azazel suddenly snapped his right arm up in front of his face, dense Light Power condensing into the shape of a bracer.
Though it was only for a split second, Azazel noticed the weapon attacking him: a jet-black Demonic Sword.
A deafening boom erupted as the Demonic Sword collided with the Light bracer. Rhode wasn't holding back; Azazel was the Governor General, a Maou-class entity. He wouldn't die that easily.
Having blocked the strike, a smile tugged at Azazel's lips. But almost simultaneously, his body jerked to the side, his right hand hastily blocking his ribs.
Bam!
This time it wasn't the sword, but a sharp leg sweep. The sheer force of the impact actually shoved Azazel's body back several meters.
What kind of freakish strength is this? Is he even human? Azazel was stunned.
Humans were the physically weakest race. While Fallen Angels weren't necessarily the strongest, they were the pillars of the supernatural world. While Azazel's specialty wasn't raw physical brawn, he shouldn't be shaken by a commoner. Yet, Rhode—a human—had managed to knock him back in a physical exchange.
If he weren't certain Rhode was human, he'd suspect the guy was a Devil in human skin or some other member of the God-tribes.
At that moment, Rhode temporarily canceled his super-acceleration and reappeared a short distance from Azazel. He gently ran his hand over the smooth blade of the Demonic Sword and looked at the Governor General with a mockingly serious expression.
"Surrender, you innately wicked Governor General of the Fallen Angels."
"?" Azazel was dumbfounded. Why are we resort to personal attacks now?
Meanwhile, Xenovia and Irina, watching from the sidelines, began to cheer and clap. "Well said, Rhode!"
"Strike down the evil Fallen Angel who betrayed God!"
Azazel wanted to tell the spectators to stop messing with his head, but on second thought, those two Church Holy Sword users weren't technically wrong. Weren't Fallen Angels supposed to be evil?
"You little brat!"
Azazel knew he couldn't keep posing. If this continued, he was bound to take a few more hits within the minute. He immediately unfurled his six pairs of pitch-black wings. He instinctively started to condense a Light Spear, but then remembered the rules he'd set for himself. Since he couldn't throw his specialty, he condensed a Light Sword in his right hand instead and charged through the air toward Rhode.
The moment Azazel moved, Rhode's figure vanished again.
A flash of black light tore through the atmosphere once more as the sharp Demonic Sword swung viciously toward Azazel. Azazel's reactions were incredibly fast; he twisted his body mid-air and blocked the blade with his Light Sword.
"That sword... looks a bit familiar."
After several exchanges, Azazel felt as though he had seen the sword in Rhode's hand somewhere before. Then, it clicked.
It looked like the Demonic Sword, Aroundight: The Unfaded Light of the Lake, which used to be kept in Grigori. However, following Satanael's betrayal, the sword had gone missing. He had suspected Satanael stole it, but he never imagined it would turn up in Rhode's hands!
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High School DxD : Reincarnated into the Multiverse, but it's High School DxD (239 Chapters – Ongoing)
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