“I don’t know,” he said. “But I’ve felt lighter ever since that conversation with Albion earlier. Especially my mind! I was in a bright and cheerful mood. Then he went and made fun of us Heavenly Dragons, and I was overcome with anger. And when that happened, Albion’s consciousness spoke to my mind.
“‘You and I are the only Heavenly Dragons. Your pain is mine, and my pain is yours. We’re not one, but we’ll overcome these struggles together!’”
Apparently, that was what he said, Ddraig explained, overcome with emotion.
“We’re not one… I’m not afraid of breasts of backsides anymore.”
His voice, I couldn’t fail to notice, had regained its past dignity…
…W-was this because of their shared pain? Because of my becoming the Breast Dragon? Was that what triggered this weird development…?
I—I couldn’t say for sure, but that was a question for later.
Despite having been beaten back, Euclid let out a defiant laugh. His armor mended itself before my eyes with a bright red flash.
“Interesting. Yes, fascinating… I suppose that’s enough for a warm-up.”
His aura swelled even further, and it wasn’t just being amplified by his replica Sacred Gear. No, this was a raw, primal energy coming from his very essence…
Indeed. He claimed to be just as strong as Grayfia, so this was no doubt where the real show began…
Had he just been probing me to gauge my response? After all, mine was the original Boosted Gear. It wouldn’t be surprising if he wanted to see my moves and techniques firsthand to compare them against his own.
And he certainly was scrutinizing my responses…
Dammit. My energy was running low, and my armor was on the brink of deactivating.
“Show me more of the Red Dragon Emperor’s true strength,” he said before falling suddenly silent.
Why? Because something covered the town below in pitch-black. The castle, the streets, the buildings—everything was enveloped in shadow.
I had seen this before. Of course. We had witnessed the exact same thing below the castle just a short time ago.
“…Is that Gasper?!” I exclaimed, glancing around when the air beside me began to warp.
Slowly, more darkness emerged from the rift and took on a distinct form—Gasper, transformed into that shadowy beast.
“Issei! Let me help!” he said, positioning himself beside me.
“You woke up?”
“Yes. Asia told me what happened… This is no time to rest,” Gasper said in a low, angry voice, his eyes glowing an eerie red.
The entire castle town below was shrouded in darkest darkness.
…What kind of scale was this?! He could really dominate an entire town?! Just how powerful were his abilities?! It was no wonder he was considered Longinus-class!
The mass-produced evil dragons rampaging about were consumed by waves of darkness swelling up from the ground.
It was overwhelming. A flash of light shone from Gasper’s Evil Eyes, freezing the dragons in place. One by one, they were wiped from the face of the earth.
The townspeople, however, were unharmed. Gasper’s targets were just those evil dragons. He even extinguished the flames raging in the damaged buildings.
“I can’t stand to see Valerie’s stolen powers misused like this,” he said, fixing his gaze on Euclid.
“Absolutely!” I nodded in agreement, readying myself to keep fighting.
My stamina was waning, and it wouldn’t be long before my armor deactivated—but so long as I had Gasper by my side, our odds were unassailable.
All we had to do was take down this opponent and capture him. Then we could send him down to the underworld and clear any doubts about Grayfia’s loyalties!
But just before we could launch a fresh attack—
“Euclid!”
A silver-haired man—Rizevim Livan Lucifer—approached.
“Master Rizevim.”
Rizevim took his place beside Euclid and let out a boisterous laugh. “All right, time to withdraw. Ha-ha-ha, that darkness is straight-up wild. It’s even taking down our evil dragons. Where’s Crom Cruach?”
“I believe he’s left.”
“Hah? Talk about a free spirit. Ha-ha-ha!” he laughed, somehow managing to find humor in the situation.
Just then, Vali burst in on his shimmering wings.
“Rizevim! We’re not finished!”
But the older demon let out a hearty laugh. “Oh? You keep buzzing around, kid. It’s time for me to get out of here. We’ve wreaked enough havoc in this town, so let’s head back, Euclid. Use that forced teleportation spell.”
Euclid wasted no time deploying a teleportation square in midair.
As if we were just going to let them escape! The three of us—me, Vali, Gasper—closed in on them!
“Wait, Rizevim!”
“Hold it right there, Euclid!”
“Give back Valerie’s Holy Grail!”
But the waves of energy we released had no effect whatsoever on Rizevim, fizzling out the moment they hit him.
Was he negating our Sacred Gears again?!
“Tch, tch, tch.” Rizevim waved his finger from side to side. “Too bad, I’m afraid! Your abilities are tied to your Sacred Gears, so they won’t work on me! Catch you later! We’ll be seeing each other again real soon for more grand acts of terror, and I’ll bring the legendary evil dragon with me next time!”
Dammit! Was he saying our every move would be completely ineffective?!
The three of us all had Sacred Gears! I couldn’t believe we had been stymied so easily…!
As the light of their teleportation square started to fade, Rizevim came out with one last declaration. “Ah, right. Our group’s name—it’s Qlippoth. Pretty cool, huh? It’s the opposite of the Tree of Life, Sephirot. I picked it because we’re putting the Holy Grail to new uses, seeing as it bears the name of the Sephirot and all. It also sounds pretty evil, don’cha think? Ha!”
With that, Rizevim, Euclid, and Lilith disappeared into the light of their teleportation square…
I couldn’t fail to notice Lilith look my way one last time before vanishing…
“…My dream was to defeat the Great Red…,” Vali said, his body quivering with rage. “Dammit… You’re saying my goal was the same as his…?! No! I—I’m not like him…!”
I had never seen him so emotional before…
He must have truly despised his grandfather…
Heck, I hated him, too.
Rizevim Livan Lucifer—he was far too dangerous a foe.