Chapter 234: Everyone Withdraws (Part 2)
Originally, their strength was quite similar. With one drop of Phoenix Tears, Yubelluna would have definitely secured victory. While this couldn't prove she was stronger than the Lightning Priestess, she could at least win this battle.
However, thanks to Haruto's efforts, Akeno's progress during this period had surpassed all her improvements over the past decade.
Now S+ ranked Akeno has just surpassed A+ ranked Yubelluna by a full major realm. Even with the use of one drop of Phoenix Tears, this gap only managed to deplete about one-third of Akeno's mana.
To use an analogy, it was like Yubelluna trading two lives for one-third of Akeno's mana bar.
Now she only had one life left, while Akeno still had two-thirds of her mana bar. The eventual winner was already clear.
"Ara ara~ Was I found out?~ That's right, I've already become a High-Class Devil~"
Facing Yubelluna's inquiry, Akeno let out a delighted laugh, her face flushed crimson.
The feeling of freely unleashing destructive attacks was simply wonderful, especially seeing her opponent wanting to resist but powerless to do so. It made her feel somewhat... moist.
She really wanted to finish this match quickly and share this joy with Haruto.
At this moment, the other women who had dealt with their respective opponents returned to the central courtyard. Seeing this, Akeno abandoned her thoughts of further toying with Yubelluna.
"Though it's a pity, we can only play until here this time."
Her red and white priestess robes fluttered without wind as she raised her slender arm and swung it down forcefully.
A golden lightning bolt carrying an aura of destruction shot down from the magic circle in the sky, aimed directly at Yubelluna who was raising her staff.
The semi-transparent magic barrier trembled continuously under the lightning assault but never shattered.
As the golden lightning gradually dissipated, Yubelluna's tense expression finally relaxed slightly.
She had consumed quite a bit of her recently recovered mana, but she had managed to block it.
Yubelluna hadn't given up. Although Akeno had reached S-rank, she was still a fragile mage.
Her bomb magic was powerful and difficult to defend against.
If she found the right opportunity, she might still turn the battle around.
But Akeno didn't give her the chance. The best defense was offense.
Mana flowed like water to her fingertips as dozens of different magic circles filled the sky, surrounding Yubelluna from all directions - above, below, left, right, front, and back.
Lightning, flames, wind blades, earth spears, water guns...
Various elemental magics bombarded Yubelluna as if mana was limitless, filling the battle space's sky with brilliant colors.
The people on the ground looked up, quietly admiring how spectacular mage battles were, especially with mages like Akeno who excelled at natural magic - their fights were like watching special effects at maximum intensity.
"Wow... it's like fireworks..."
Amid the continuous roaring sounds, someone sighed unknowingly, unexpectedly receiving unanimous agreement from everyone.
The spectators watching the broadcast were also startled by Akeno's full-powered outburst. Though they knew the Thunder Priestess was strong among the new generation, this was beyond expectations.
Even Grayfia, now known as the strongest Queen in the Underworld, was probably only at this level back in her day.
Actually, at Akeno's age, Grayfia's combat power was slightly higher, as their areas of expertise differed.
While the natural magic special effects were visually spectacular, the actual power could only be described as average.
If Akeno didn't utilize the fallen angel power inherited from her father to transform lightning into thunderlight, Yubelluna's bomb magic would surpass hers in pure offensive capability.
This was also why Yubelluna barely managed to block Akeno's attacks with her magic barrier.
However, this situation couldn't last long. Though the magic barrier was smaller, it couldn't withstand Akeno's relentless bombardment.
After the third wave of magical strikes, Yubelluna's magical power finally couldn't keep up with the barrier's consumption.
The magic barrier emitted a crisp cracking sound like shattering glass, exploding into transparent fragments.
Immediately after, the remaining clothing on Yubelluna's body turned to ashes under the magical assault, her freshly restored fair and delicate body now covered in wounds.
Despite being battered and bruised, it couldn't conceal her body's sensual beauty. Fortunately, being enveloped in magical light prevented this scene from being broadcast to everyone.
By the time the magical attacks ceased, Yubelluna had already turned into points of light and been teleported out.
Riser arrived just in time to witness this scene.
Though Akeno had little magical power left, Riser could tell from her aura and magical power that she was S-class.
Subconsciously scanning Yuuma and the others, he sensed uniformly High-Class Devil auras.
Being in the combat space, the women didn't deliberately suppress their auras, maintaining their devil or fallen angel forms.
Yuuto was actually an exception, but being in the crowd and already close to that level, Riser's misperception was understandable.
Moreover, unless one possessed perception talents similar to Haruto's, it's generally difficult to accurately judge someone's strength based solely on aura.
So astonished that Riser momentarily froze in place.
He was only S+ himself now, Ravel merely S-, while the strongest among his remaining Familiars, Xuelan and Yubelluna, were only A+.
Facing a team of all S-class members, even with numerical advantage, there was truly no chance of victory.
Why was this happening? Not long ago, they were only A-class, and those three fallen angels were merely B-class before reincarnation...
Riser couldn't figure it out, nor could the important figures watching the broadcast.
But soon, Riser had no time to ponder this question.
After dealing with Yubelluna, Akeno landed and immediately notified Rias upon spotting Riser.
[Riser-sama's Queen, eliminated]
Grayfia dutifully performed her referee duties, not revealing any surprise in her tone despite her inner astonishment.
"Haruto, it's time we end this farce."
Rias slowly stood up, a confident smile appearing on her charming face.
With Yubelluna eliminated, only Riser remained, while their side still had all members present.
Indeed, even without Haruto participating, they wouldn't lose at all.
Having been bored in the activity room for nearly an hour, Haruto also wanted to quickly conclude this match.
Just as he was about to head to the central courtyard to defeat Riser and end the match, Rias stopped him.
"Haruto, since victory is already assured, you don't need to intervene."
"President, if I don't intervene, can you break through the Phenex family's immortality?" Haruto asked in confusion.
When facing the Phenex family's immortality, he had already studied this ability in detail.
At the time, he couldn't help but feel envious, secretly determined to charm a pure-blooded Phenex family girl and obtain this bloodline talent ability.
The Phenex family's immortality was renowned for allowing complete revival even after being reduced to ashes.
Contrary to Haruto's assumption of a cooldown period, this ability had no CD except when the spirit or soul was destroyed.
Each resurrection restored full health and mana, only spiritual energy couldn't be recovered.
To completely kill a member of the Phenex family, one either had to use direct soul attacks or continuously exhaust them.
To completely drain a Phenex's spiritual energy would require at least four or five opponents of similar level to besiege.
Because if they couldn't win, they could always escape.
The Phenex family weren't fools.
It was just that during the Great Three Faction War, there was no alternative - fleeing would make them deserters. Plus, facing angels and fallen angels who both possessed powers that countered demons, every attack also carried spiritual damage, so the Phenex family suffered heavy losses too.
Rias gently stroked her red hair, "Riser is at most S+ level, we can just wear him down slowly."
As an SS+ herself, plus five S-level companions, they could definitely manage it.
Thinking this, Haruto no longer insisted on intervening. He also understood why Rias didn't want him to act.
The contract matter had been glossed over for now, but the day would come when the truth would be exposed.
When that happened, if someone dug up this incident, the Gremory family would somewhat lose face.
Haruto and Rias would likely become subjects of behind-the-back discussions, even slander and disparagement.
This issue wasn't particularly significant in the grand scheme, but since there was a way to avoid it now, it was better to do so.
Haruto hadn't intervened at all, so even if the contract matter came to light later, it wouldn't matter.
They could even report the truth to the upper echelons of the Underworld immediately after the match ended. After all, whether Haruto participated or not, the outcome would have been the same.
"Then can I at least go along to watch? It's too boring staying here."
Rias chuckled lightly, "Of course, no problem."