"Hey, Delta. Come here."
"Woof!"
Inside Delta's inner world, Cid waved at Delta, who had gotten so bored that she had already started chasing her own tail.
"Boss, Boss, do you have orders? Who does Delta need to hunt this time?"
Cid held down Delta, whose mouth had spread into a grin, tiny fangs showing, and pointed at the screen where Rias and the others were all lying on the ground.
"I've already beaten everyone. I have something to do, so I'm leaving for a while. I'm giving your body back to you, Delta. Keep an eye on them for me."
"Understood, Boss. Delta strikes fast. I absolutely won't give them any chance to fight back."
Cid stopped walking away and turned to look at Delta, who had already bared her claws and fangs, glaring viciously at Rias and the others on the screen. After a moment of silence, he let out a deep sigh, grabbed Delta by the collar, and made her meet his eyes.
"I don't need you to do anything, Delta. You just need to stand there without moving, keep the same expression I have right now, and don't say a single word."
"B-but..."
Delta hesitated, her mouth opening and closing again and again. Cid knew what this was. Delta's Therianthrope hunting instincts were acting up. A top-tier hunter would never willingly give up a chance to kill in one strike.
"No buts. Be good and listen. Once this job is done, I'll treat you to a feast."
"A feast! Okay, okay! I want Boss to treat me to a big meaty bone."
Only after Delta nodded did Cid let her go and walk toward the white crystal mountain range inside Delta's inner world.
...
"Splash!"
Her right foot stepped back into a puddle, sending water splashing up. At the same time, she twisted her waist and shifted sideways, trying to avoid Rheingold's strike.
"Whoosh!"
Taking advantage of Rheingold's missed attack, Delta moved in close and grabbed Rheingold's arm. With a twist of her waist, she flung Rheingold away in one motion.
She rolled her neck with a series of cracking sounds and quietly watched as Rheingold steadied himself in midair after being thrown, then immediately charged at her again. Delta raised her arm and clenched her fist.
As if she intended to meet Rheingold's fist head-on in a fair exchange, purple Magical Power began flowing along Delta's arm. An indescribable pressure spread outward with Delta at its center.
White currents coiled around Rheingold as he moved at high speed, while dense black Magical Power poured endlessly from within his body.
One side waited. The other charged. For a brief moment, silence fell over the arena.
"Now!"
At that tense instant, Sona Sitri's voice rang out, breaking the silence.
"Splash... slap!"
The sound of splashing water came from the ground. Several tentacles made of water shot out of the puddle beneath Delta's feet, wrapping around her outstretched limbs almost instantly.
"Whoosh!"
At the same time as Sona Sitri's water tentacles appeared, an Extinguished Star shot from Rias's hand and flew straight toward Delta's back.
As if she had not noticed Sona Sitri and the others' little trick at all, Delta, still controlled by Cid, showed a startled expression and began struggling.
Unlike Cid, Natsuki Minamiya, who was controlling Rheingold from behind, froze at Rias and the others' sudden move. She blinked instinctively, then her expression changed drastically as she opened her mouth to say something.
But before she could speak, Rheingold and the Extinguished Star had already closed in on Delta from both sides. The distance between them was less than half a meter.
Faced with this pincer attack, the panic on Delta's face vanished, replaced by a faint, mysterious smile.
"Void..."
As the deliberately drawn-out word sounded, a wormhole vortex appeared behind Delta and swallowed the Extinguished Star in an instant. Immediately after, another wormhole opened in front of Delta, and the crimson Extinguished Star shot out from it, slamming into Rheingold while he was still in his diving posture.
"BOOM!"
Red light erupted from the point of impact. A powerful shockwave swept across the arena, drowning Rheingold's unwilling roar inside the explosion.
"Pfft... What are you... doing?"
With her Guardian destroyed, Natsuki Minamiya suffered the backlash from the contract and dropped to her knees, coughing blood. Her bewildered eyes turned toward Rias and the others.
If they had only dragged the fight out, then with the powerful Magical Power she had gained through her contract with the Devil, Rheingold's undying nature, and the Magical Power restriction Shadow had placed on himself, she could have won. So why had those two decided to create extra trouble?
Their tactic might have been enough to fool a mad dog. Why would they think their little move could fool Shadow?
The pilot inside the machine on the other side had been switched out!
Under Natsuki Minamiya's sharp glare, Rias and Sona Sitri could only smile awkwardly. Even they did not know how to explain it.
Were they supposed to say that they thought dragging things out was too risky, and after seeing Shadow fall into the trap Sona Sitri had prepared with all her strength, they felt there was an opening, so they had Rias use the Power of Destruction she had been saving since the start to fire an Extinguished Star and try to finish Delta quickly?
"Just like the way you defeated Delta. This is what wisdom looks like, Witch of the Void."
Cid tapped Delta's head with a finger. When he heard the hollow thud that came from it, he calmly withdrew his hand and lightly pushed off the ground, flying into the air.
"And this isn't their fault. Let me tell you something. From the beginning until now, I've only used one quarter of half of Delta's Magical Power."
He spoke up for Rias and the others. From Cid's perspective, the choice they made was the correct one. He had restrained all the Magical Power inside Delta's body, causing Natsuki Minamiya to mistakenly believe he did not have much Magical Power left.
In truth, if used properly, three-eighths of Delta's Magical Power would have been enough to deal with Natsuki Minamiya's Guardian.
Cid simply had his own aesthetics when it came to battle. Just as the living could not hold a funeral, ending things before knocking everyone down made the curtain call feel incomplete.
From beginning to end, Natsuki Minamiya and the others had only one way to win: use the rule he had set, that he would not defend with Magical Power, to inflict an injury on Delta serious enough that he would have no choice but to leave.
Unfortunately, the gap in both strength and information between the two sides was too great. Who could have expected him to still be hiding the "Void" ability? On top of that, Rias and the others had poor coordination with Natsuki Minamiya, and in the end, all their efforts fell short.
Looking down from on high at the living beings below, Delta flicked her hand and fired two magic bullets at Rias and Sona Sitri. The continuous fighting, combined with their desperate last gamble, had drained every bit of their strength. They did not even have the energy to dodge before the bullets struck their lower abdomens, forcing them to collapse to their knees.
"All right, the battle is over. Just like him, you ultimately failed to reach my realm."
Her eyes turned meaningfully in a certain direction. White Magical Power traced through the air, and the particles left behind along its path formed layers of Magical Power circles, ranging from large to small. In just a few seconds, they covered the entire battlefield.
"Delta's remaining Magical Power is just enough. Let me use this move to draw the final line under this battle..."
Giving up on his original plan to pour four-fifths of her Magical Power into the visual effects, Cid invested only two-thirds instead. One mysterious magical symbol after another appeared in the center of the formation, and white light flooded the whole of Itogami Island like pure light pollution.
"Transcendent Magic..."
The remaining third of her Magical Power became a towering white pillar that pierced heaven and earth. Even from several meters away, the fierce heat made Rias and the others, still kneeling on the ground, feel as though they were being scorched, the moisture in their bodies steadily evaporating.
"Skyfall!"
All sound vanished. The massive pillar of light expanded outward, like a disaster that would end the world. Everything in its path was swallowed whole. A sacred torrent of light surged toward everyone collapsed on the ground, and white radiance engulfed them all... or it should have.
"Durandal!"
At the final moment before the white light covered everyone, Xenovia suddenly dropped down from the sky, gripping a huge blue holy sword. A destructive aura surged from the blade as she tried to hold back the advancing torrent of light, but it was like a mantis trying to stop a chariot. She was swallowed by the torrent along with it.
When the torrent of light finally stopped and the battlefield hidden beneath the white radiance was revealed again, the entire ground had been burned by the searing heat until crystals had formed across it. Rias and the others lay sprawled on the ground. The only one still standing was Xenovia, clutching her greatsword, her whole body swaying unsteadily.
"Thud!"
Having only just recovered from a serious illness, Xenovia had faced such a fierce attack head-on. Even though Cid had correctly estimated her limits and lowered the output, she still lost all ability to fight and dropped to her knees with the others.
"Did we... survive?"
Sona Sitri struggled to prop herself up, her expression exhausted as she looked at the wounds still bleeding on her body and murmured to herself.
"It looks like we survived. Assuming he plans to stop here."
Rias answered Sona Sitri, her expression grim as she looked up at Delta, who was watching them coldly from the sky.
Delta said nothing. She only stared down at Rias and the others lying on the ground, as if considering what to do with them.
Rias and the others did not speak either. Right now, they were fish on the chopping block. There was truly no one left on their side who could fight her. Whether they lived or died depended entirely on Delta's decision.
Meeting Delta's icy gaze, Rias felt as if she had been targeted by a bloodthirsty beast. Even the blood flowing through her veins seemed to freeze.
Delta, who held the initiative, had no intention of speaking. Rias and the others, who held none at all, did not dare to speak. For a moment, the scene seemed to fall into a deadlock.
"Mm..."
Just as the atmosphere grew more and more oppressive, the clear, flawless sound of a piano filled the arena. Rias and the others instinctively felt confused and looked up toward the source of the sound.
At the top of the tallest building on the island, bright, pale moonlight fell over a grand piano. A beautiful youth with long platinum-blond hair sat before it with his eyes closed, his fair, slender fingers dancing across the keys as beautiful notes flowed from the speakers.
The two moons hanging high in the sky seemed to become the boy's backdrop in that moment. The cold moonlight turned into a musical staff, carrying the music outward and scattering it across the ground.
A warmth rose from deep inside them, healing the injuries of Rias and the others. But none of them had the leisure to be surprised. Everyone stared blankly at the youth atop the high-rise, as if within the music he played, there was only one person they needed to watch.
The music rose and fell. Layers of light, like waves upon the sea, floated around the youth, pulsing with the melody.
When the music reached its climax, it was as if even the moon had been drawn down. The pure white bands of light slowly gathered around the boy, dreamlike and unreal...
Before anyone could find an answer, the music ended. The bands of light surrounding the boy suddenly spread outward in every direction. Light shone over all things, and the second moon in the sky vanished.
As the final note faded, the boy stood and opened his eyes toward Rias and the others. He placed one hand against his chest and bowed. Particles of light wrapped around the boy and the piano like a vortex, and with a gust of wind, he turned into white mist and disappeared.
"What was that...?"
Rias murmured blankly as she watched the particles of light drift down onto her.
She was clearly a Devil who hated light, yet the wounds that vanished as those light particles merged into her left Rias and the others speechless for a moment. All they could do was climb up from the ground, unsure what to say.
"The black spots... they're gone..."
Watching the black spots fade away as the light particles sank in, like winter ice meeting the warm spring sun, Irina Shidou looked utterly disbelieving. Her mouth opened and closed as she repeated the words in shock.
"What beautiful moonlight..."
Hearing Irina Shidou's murmur, Dulio, who had just climbed to his feet, abruptly turned to check the situation, only to be startled by another calm voice.
In the sky, a figure in a black coat appeared beside Delta. Gazing at the high-rise where the performance had taken place, he held his hands before his chest and clapped softly, as if he were still lost in the moonlight from moments ago.
"Shadow!"
The moment she saw that figure, Sona Sitri, the only one present who had seen Shadow before, could not help calling out his identity.
Hearing Sona Sitri's voice, Shadow turned his half-masked face toward everyone and showed a gentle smile.
"What did you think?"
Anyone who dares say I played badly is dead!
Keeping that smile on his face, Cid very much wanted to know who would be tactless enough to try.
"Boss, why was that person holding a chunk of metal like Epsilon and making that awful noise Delta couldn't understand... Ow!"
Cid swept an unprecedentedly cold gaze toward Delta, and Delta was so frightened that the fur on her tail stood on end.
"Let's go, Delta."
After staring at the frozen Delta for a few seconds, Cid sighed helplessly over the dog's complete lack of artistic sense, then turned to leave.
"Wait, Shadow. Where exactly is the method you mentioned earlier for lifting the Black Spot Curse?"
Cid stopped and looked down at the Church warrior on the ground, who had forced himself to step forward despite his fear.
"It has already been found by the loser of that game..."
Cid paused, then smiled. He reached a hand toward the sky, making a gesture of invitation.
"Strictly speaking, according to the rules of the game, I should have stopped you. After all, you lost, didn't you?
But since your music was decent, let's call this game a draw, Roy, Child of God.
I look forward to our next game. Hahaha."
With that, Cid ignored the Church warriors on the ground, who had already begun imagining what sort of perilous game had taken place, and vanished from the spot together with Delta.