Nanami scowled at Azrael, who remained completely unmoved by the swirling Buddha's light. "You're quite capable, benefactor."
It wasn't just Azrael who resisted the effect. Artoria and Ulquiorra were also unaffected by the nanomachine swarm disguised as divine radiance.
Artoria used her mana to continuously repel the nano-bugs around her, while Ulquiorra wielded his spiritual pressure as a barrier.
However, Nanami still possessed considerable strength. Both Artoria and Ulquiorra could sense their respective energies, magical power and spiritual pressure, being slowly devoured by the so-called Buddha's light.
These nano-bugs were clearly no simple technological creations.
While Nanami claimed to be a Buddhist monk, he was actually notorious within this secret realm. After all, his supposed "conversion" was actually a gruesome death devoid of any compassionate heart.
After a brief standoff, Artoria and Ulquiorra attacked in unison while Azrael remained positioned at the entrance, awaiting reinforcements.
According to the plan laid out in Ande City, the external Lore Cardians would only enter after Azrael and four other Emerald-level operatives had cleared the demons surrounding the secret realm's entrance.
Of course, if anything unexpected occurred, Azrael and his team would withdraw without hesitation.
For now, though, the situation remained under control.
As Azrael pondered his next move, Artoria and Ulquiorra closed the distance to Nanami. Facing two weapons simultaneously attacking him, the bald monk didn't dodge or evade. Instead, he withstood both attacks with his body alone.
Clang!
With a slash of the magnificent holy sword, Nanami's head tumbled to the ground.
Simultaneously, Ulquiorra's emerald spirit spear pierced a massive hole through the monk's chest.
Despite how easily they'd defeated their enemy, neither Artoria nor Ulquiorra lowered their guard. Instead, they immediately retracted their weapons and retreated to a safe distance.
The blonde girl's intuition screamed warnings at her.
At that moment, Nanami's severed head suddenly spoke. "Benefactors, please give up your futile struggle."
"The Buddha resides in my heart. I will not die."
As he spoke, the Buddha's light in the air suddenly burst into a dazzling golden glow.
In response, a spiritual spear pierced through the air.
Whoosh!
Unfortunately, before the spiritual spear could even strike Nanami's severed head, it gradually dissipated in the boundless Buddha's light.
Seeing this, Azrael instantly understood the situation.
Honestly, Nanami's strength had already exceeded his expectations. If this had been anyone else caught off guard, they would have surely suffered heavy losses.
So they intend to surround and eliminate me, Azrael thought silently, wondering why the giant robot swordsman he'd encountered before wasn't present this time.
Nanami had also noticed the disappearance of both Beru and Retsu Unohana. He sighed heavily. "I didn't expect the benefactor to have such a trick up his sleeve. It seems Splint has miscalculated this time."
As he spoke, a blurry figure suddenly materialized beside him.
The figure quickly solidified, transforming into Splint himself.
He spoke gravely. "Something's wrong. Where's Beru?"
Seeing his troubled expression, Nanami startled slightly and instinctively replied, "I don't know. He was taken somewhere by that female benefactor."
Upon hearing this, Splint's face darkened. "First, the, "
He was about to say something else when his voice began to stutter, as if experiencing severe signal interference. Then he disappeared entirely.
Nanami turned to look and saw a brown-haired girl standing beside Azrael, her hands casually tucked in her pockets.
It was Misaka.
She grimaced slightly. "It doesn't seem to be a simple electronic device, so I can only temporarily disrupt the signal transmission. I think it'll return to normal soon."
"By the way, I can't control that bald monk's nano-bugs either."
Then she shrugged. "But there's good news, I've tracked down his hiding place. It's just too far from here."
"Too far" meant the location was currently beyond Azrael's summoning range.
Hearing this, Azrael smiled faintly. "That's plenty of time."
"Let's finish this quickly before the reinforcements get impatient."
Azrael had specifically summoned Misaka because he'd already deduced that Splint was using some form of communication technology to project himself here.
It just so happened that the brown-haired girl, as a Level 5 Electromaster, possessed the perfect means to counter this.
[Master Hacker]: For Misaka, who directly manipulates electronics, there are no undecipherable programs and no unbreakable firewalls.
Although she was only Gold-level, and the enemy wasn't simply using conventional technology, she could still perform minor signal jamming. For Azrael, that was more than sufficient.
Noticing Splint's abnormal disappearance, Nanami frowned slightly.
Before he could even ask what had happened, Artoria and Ulquiorra attacked again.
Seeing this, the monk lowered his eyes with a pitying expression. "It's useless. Don't waste your energy."
However, Artoria and Ulquiorra remained expressionless, simply continuing their assault to drive him back.
Believing the two were merely trying to force him to retreat, Nanami said with resignation, "Since you two are so persistent, why not convert to Buddhism and become my guardian protectors? Wouldn't that be wonderful?"
Since they'd only been here a short time, it was clear the demons of this secret realm were unaware of the relationship between cards and Lore Cardians.
At that moment, Artoria suddenly retreated while Ulquiorra soared into the sky.
Nanami momentarily puzzled over what they were planning, but he didn't stand idle.
Whoosh!
The next moment, a terrifying sonic boom echoed from the clouds above. A pale green spirit spear suddenly descended from the sky directly toward Nanami's position.
"Did I not just say, " the bald monk began, but then he sensed a far more terrifying aura emanating from the spirit spear than before.
This was Ulquiorra and Artoria's coordinated tactic.
Since their opponent had demonstrated remarkable resilience, it was best to use a concentrated burst attack to obliterate both him and his so-called Buddha's light from this world entirely.
Remember, Ulquiorra hadn't unleashed his Lightning Lance during his previous encounter with Marve.
Therefore, Nanami was completely unprepared for this devastating attack.
Boom!
A sudden surge of spiritual energy instantly engulfed Nanami's location. The once-powerful Buddha's light was completely overwhelmed by the Lightning Lance's explosion.
Violent vibrations spread from the blast's epicenter to the surrounding areas.
In the darkness, Marve, who had previously clashed with Ulquiorra, frowned as he pondered how he might block such a terrifying attack.
"I didn't expect that outsider to have such a hidden weapon," he muttered.
Beside him, the young woman who had accompanied him before shook her head slightly. "Those three fools are probably finished."
"And..."
The young woman paused, her gaze fixed on the golden beam that shot skyward in the distance.
"Tsk, that kind of attack..."
Hearing this, Marve nodded, his face lit with interest. "But compared to all that, I'm still more curious about that woman."
He was referring to Retsu Unohana. As a fellow swordsman, he felt a surge of excitement at the prospect of facing her.
Unfortunately, she'd used her abilities to teleport Beru away, preventing him from witnessing the ensuing battle.
The young woman rolled her eyes. "Are you sure an ancient-school swordsman would have anything in common with someone like you?"
According to historical records, the initial appearance of martial arts equipment had caused tremendous upheaval in their world.
Ultimately, the reformists who embraced martial arts technology triumphed. Otherwise, they wouldn't be standing here today.
Hearing this, Marve shrugged it off with a chuckle. "Well, what matters is a shared love of the blade."
The young woman was speechless.
Back at the battlefield, the explosion caused by the Lightning Lance gradually dissipated.
A moment later, Nanami, his body now largely destroyed, looked grimly at Ulquiorra hovering in the sky.
Just as he was about to speak, a terrifying aura descended, as if plunging him into an icy abyss.
"Excalibur!"
Azrael had naturally prepared for the possibility of Nanami surviving.
Just as Ulquiorra unleashed his Lightning Lance, Artoria began charging her holy sword's attack.
However, facing such a formidable creature, the blonde girl didn't even need to release the holy sword's restraints.
At that moment, Splint, his face twisted in frustration, reappeared before Nanami.
Seeing the monk's utterly miserable condition, he froze in shock. "What? You, "
Before he could finish his words, he followed the bald man's gaze and looked behind him.
Then there was nothing.
A golden torrent engulfed everything.
Noticing that Nanami's presence had completely vanished, Azrael shook his head slightly. "Now we just have to wait for Sister Retsu to deal with that teleporting assassin."
In the underground facility, Splint stood before his array of monitors with a dazed expression, only recovering after a long moment.
Thinking of what had just transpired, his face twitched uncontrollably. "No wonder they couldn't find anything."
"I..."
The scholar's rage grew. He wanted to smash something, but seeing the precious servers surrounding him, he forcibly suppressed his anger.
He felt incredibly frustrated.
More importantly, "I'm the only one left," Splint muttered, his face darkening. "I'll just have to hide here indefinitely. Once this situation dies down, I'll try recruiting new helpers."
He'd already given up hope that Beru would survive. After all, even Nanami, their world's legendary endurance champion, had been killed.
He was upset because all the allies he'd worked so hard to recruit had been completely wiped out.
As a voyeur and information broker, there were plenty of people who wanted him dead.
Unfortunately for Splint, he didn't know that Misaka had already locked onto his location.
As soon as Azrael was free, he would personally visit this peeping Tom.
Back in Ande City, Pierre and the other two Lore Cardians stared anxiously at the entrance to the secret realm.
After entering the portal, the three had discovered that Azrael wasn't with them. At first, they'd thought it was merely a coincidence.
But as the demons around their entrance were cleared and they prepared to go support Azrael, a problem emerged.
No matter how many times they tried, they would only appear in their own secret realm. They couldn't enter the portal leading to Azrael's location.
Even a fool would realize something was wrong.
Brother, you must hold on, Pierre thought tearfully, preparing to try entering the crack in space once more.
At that moment, a figure gradually emerged from the spatial fissure.
After seeing who it was, Pierre and the others looked relieved.
"It's safe inside. Lord Azrael wants you to enter," Ulquiorra said.
However, after hearing his words, Pierre and the others stood frozen in confusion.
"Huh?"
Why did this seem... a little different from what they'd expected?