Rias strained to keep the sphere of Power of Destruction intact. She aimed it at Delta, who was bound in midair by Natsuki Minamiya's Laeding, then thrust both hands forward with all her strength. The sphere of destruction, compressed from a massive amount of Power of Destruction, flew toward Delta with terrifying force.
"Gaaah..."
Sensing mortal danger, Delta began struggling wildly. The Magical Power released by her flailing limbs was so immense that it affected the ground even from hundreds of meters up. Cracks had already begun to spread across the golden chains under the impact of her Magical Power.
But before Delta could break free, the sphere of destruction Rias had fired was already right in front of her. The Power of Destruction was destructive by nature, and after being compressed, its force had risen even higher. Its crimson light shone across Delta's face.
"Boom!"
Vast Magical Power exploded in an instant, its tremendous force turning into a shockwave that spread outward in a flat plane. Even the aftershock of this strike, created from all of Rias's Power of Destruction, was enough to injure or even kill a High-Class Devil (A).
Fortunately, before the aftershock reached Rias and the others, Natsuki Minamiya had already brought Rias back to the ground.
"Thank goodness. We finally survived."
The moment she landed, Rias collapsed onto the ground, gasping for breath. This battle had put far too much pressure on her. If Delta had dodged that strike, then with almost everyone on their side already unable to fight back, they would have faced the frenzied revenge of a wounded beast.
She had never even considered the possibility that Delta might still be alive. After taking a magic sphere compressed from all of her Power of Destruction, unless someone's body could regenerate endlessly, even a Demon King would die for certain.
The best proof was that the Magical Power concentration in the air, which had risen because Delta had been recklessly wasting Magical Power, was now beginning to drop. From what they had observed of Delta's fighting style, if Delta were attacking, she would absolutely release a huge amount of Magical Power while moving.
Rias was not the only one reacting this way. Almost everyone on the field felt the same. To escape Delta's hunt, each of them had gone all out, placing all their hopes on that single coordinated attack.
Now that they had finally survived, their minds suddenly relaxed from that state of extreme tension. And since the Devils on the field had basically already been dealt with, their guard naturally loosened.
The reason Rias and the others remained conscious was that the Church warriors had only just cooperated with them in order to survive. Out of consideration for that brief alliance, they did not intend to use overly violent methods to take Rias away.
Yes. Cooperation was cooperation, and the attack was the attack. They kept those two things very clearly separate.
Just as Dulio had said, in order to find a solution to the Black Spot Curse, they would not stop capturing every Devil on the island.
And with the combat strength of the Church warriors present, even without Dulio as their top fighter, the Church warriors who could still fight were more than enough to sweep through every Devil on Itogami Island.
The only person on the field who did not feel relieved to have survived was Natsuki Minamiya. At that moment, she was clutching her chest and staring sadly at her Laeding.
In less than ten minutes, such a huge incident had broken out in her jurisdiction. She had only just teleported over and was immediately used as free labor to teleport people around, and now even her strongest weapon, Laeding, had been damaged. This time, she had truly lost big.
Hm? This Magical Power concentration is wrong!
Sensing something strange around her, Natsuki Minamiya snapped out of her grief and instinctively began sensing the density of Magical Power in the air.
Normal levels... No. That's not right!
The Magical Power concentration had only just risen because of that Therianthrope's wasteful way of using Magical Power. How could it possibly fall back to normal in only a few seconds?
No longer caring about the damage to Laeding, Natsuki Minamiya realized what was wrong and abruptly raised her head to look toward the sky.
The sky was still filled with large amounts of black smoke. The Magical Power released by Rias and Delta mingled within it, constantly stirring the smoke's flow.
Deep in the center of the smoke, under the light of the setting sun, Natsuki Minamiya could faintly make out the outline of a standing human figure.
"Danger! She's still alive!"
With a shout, Natsuki Minamiya instinctively grabbed Rias, who was still panting beside her, and activated spatial transfer, leaving the spot.
"Vmm..."
A vibration sounded. Almost the instant after Natsuki Minamiya transferred away, the area dozens of meters around where they had been standing collapsed in an instant.
Subtle Magical Power controlled the flow of the wind, stirring up a gale that blew away the smoke in the sky and revealed Delta within, completely unharmed.
"How... is that possible!"
Delta's appearance drew everyone's attention. They stared in shock at the cold, aloof figure standing in the sky, completely different from before and radiating a faint, cool glow.
The Magical Power Delta had previously squandered and scattered into the air gathered again, turning into countless threads that flowed back into her body.
She raised one hand and spread her palm. The black greatsword that had fallen to the ground during the explosion floated up and landed in it.
The slime liquid on the greatsword began to flow. What had been less a sword than a massive blunt object like a giant iron pillar transformed into a long, slender pitch-black blade.
"You did well to defeat my dog, but bullying an idiot feels a little unfair. Come on, let me see what you're really capable of."
The figure in the sky pointed the pitch-black sword at everyone on the ground and spoke. But the voice that came from her mouth was a deep, magnetic male voice.
Compared to the rampaging beast that had brought Rias and the others such an overwhelming sense of danger earlier, Delta, now bathed in the light of the setting sun, was like a cold goddess descended to earth. What she gave off was a cool, clear presence and an absolute sense of pressure.
"Of course, to keep things fair, I'll only use the Magical Power in Delta's body."
There was a teasing note in the voice. Delta, hovering in the sky, curled her lips slightly, shrugged, and traced several circles in the air with the tip of her sword. Blue-purple Magical Power flickered at the blade's point.
The last rays of sunset fell across Delta's face. With a faint smile, she looked down at everyone below, while Rias and the others wore the exact opposite expressions, their faces extremely grim.
A goddess standing high in the sky, surrounded by sunlight, and Rias and the others sprawled miserably on the ground with Devil wings growing from their backs. It looked almost like a painting of good triumphing over evil.
"D-Divine Possession!"
...
"Ah! Isn't Delta dead...?"
In a pitch-black world, Delta abruptly appeared in midair and fell heavily onto her rear.
Tilting her head, Delta said that while staying on all fours, warily looking around. Then she suddenly froze.
"Bo-Boss! Why are you here too?"
Cid expressionlessly caught Delta as she pounced at him. The corner of his mouth twitched, and he hammered his fist down onto Delta's head.
"Should I have stayed away and watched you get beaten to death?!"
"Ow, ow, ow!"
Delta cried out, clutching her head as she collapsed onto the ground and rolled around.
Ignoring Delta's screams, Cid snapped his fingers. The scenery around them changed, and like a live broadcast, the figures of Rias and the others appeared below them.
"Boss, where is this? Why does Delta's head hurt so much?"
After recovering a little, Delta clutched the lump on her head and spoke in a voice that sounded like she was about to cry.
"Your inner world. I ignored your body and punched you directly in the soul. Of course it hurts."
Cid explained while controlling Delta's body and drawing back the Magical Power Delta had scattered.
"Oh."
"You didn't understand that, did you?"
"Mm. Boss, you're so smart."
"You sound pretty proud of that."
So angry he nearly laughed, Cid turned to look at Delta, the corner of his eye twitching as he raised his fist again.
"Ow, ow, ow..."
Holding the two lumps on her head, Delta rolled back and forth on the ground.
Ignoring Delta, Cid controlled the black greatsword in his hand, reshaping it into something more in line with his own aesthetic. Delta had no aesthetic sense to speak of.
"Hey, Boss, how did we get here? Can Delta go back? Delta still has to hunt down all those prey."
Delta climbed onto Cid and pointed at the people on the screen before them, a bloodthirsty red gleam flashing in her eyes.
Cid did not answer directly. He merely pointed a finger behind them, and Delta's gaze followed where he was pointing.
"Boss, it's huge. This got so huge."
Delta jumped down from Cid and looked at the white crystal before her, which was now as massive as a mountain, happily bouncing around.
"Mm-hm."
Cid responded perfunctorily a couple of times, then took out [The Library] and injected Magical Power into it, making it emit white light. The giant white crystal behind him also shone with red light.
"So it's the same type of Stand as mine?"
Cid looked at it thoughtfully for a few moments and murmured, then sealed [The Library] away with a flip of his hand.
Just a moment ago, while he had been busy setting the stage for the [Son of God] to appear, his [The Library] had suddenly jumped out in front of him and begun glowing.
Since this was the first abnormal reaction [The Library] had shown since he obtained it, Cid had reached out to grab [The Library] and investigate. Then he had been transported into Delta's inner world.
After investigating and searching through Delta's inner world, he had identified the suspect before he took over Delta's account, the white crystal Delta had brought as an offering.
There had not been much to investigate, really. Delta's inner world was pitch black, with only one mountain-sized white crystal that clearly did not belong in an inner world no matter how he looked at it. Add in the fact that its material resembled [The Library], and once those two facts were placed together, there was only one truth.
With the final piece of the puzzle in place, he successfully guessed what had happened. When he had held the white crystal, the white crystal and [The Library] must have resonated. Then, behind the scenes, it used its higher rank to force his [The Library] into a master-servant contract. That was why, whenever one side encountered danger, the other side would receive a signal and come to the rescue.
As for why he was so sure his [The Library] was the servant...
Mainly because he felt [The Library] was weaker. When he took over Delta's body, the white crystal told him what abilities it had.
Its ability was to perfectly simulate and use the talents of humanoid lifeforms that fit the concept of "beast." It felt like [The Library] had been completely outclassed.
On one side was the white crystal, which was equivalent to a conceptual skill that could obtain max-level racial talent skills from all kinds of races at any time, as long as one's imagination was broad enough. On the other side was the "true library," which only contained records of various knowledge, could not update with the times, and still required him to learn things himself before using them.
Speaking of which, an enemy who could use all kinds of "beast" abilities... I feel like I've...
"Boss, Delta searched everywhere, but Delta can't find where the exit is."
Delta's appearance interrupted Cid's thoughts. He glanced at Delta and pointed toward an open space on the other side.
"Sit! Be quiet. You're not allowed to speak until I say so."
"Woof!"
After sitting down on instinct, Delta froze. She wanted to open her mouth and say something, but remembering Cid's order just now, she closed it again.
"Good. Now sit there and watch my performance, Delta. I have to show you what the proper way to fight is.
You've truly disappointed me. Do you think you have that much Magical Power? How could you waste it like that?"
Cid put on an angry face, and this time, he really was angry. The Magical Power Delta had wasted in just those few minutes was enough for him to kill three of the world's top fifteen powerhouses without taking a scratch. And yet Delta had still been counter-killed.
His Magical Power recovered quickly, but that was no excuse for Delta to waste it so badly and still get counter-killed.
Was she kidding? The enemies were all heavily injured, her stats were overwhelming, her mana bar was basically infinite, and she was practically one step away from turning on cheats, yet she still got counter-killed. He should never have tried to teach Delta swordsmanship in the first place. If word got out, his reputation would be ruined.
"Mmmph, mmmph..."
While Cid was lost in thought, Delta made strange noises with her mouth closed, raising both hands high as if she wanted to say something.
Seeing this, Cid waved for Delta to speak.
"Boss, Delta has lots and lots of Magical Power. Look at this."
Delta took a small blue-purple sphere of Magical Power out of her body and handed it to Cid like she was presenting a treasure.
"Gamma gave this to Delta. As long as Delta pokes it, lots and lots of Magical Power comes out. Delta hasn't lacked Magical Power at all this past year."
Delta spoke proudly and stretched out a finger to poke the small blue-purple sphere, completely failing to notice Cid's darkened expression.
She poked it several times, but no Magical Power came out. Delta began to panic.
"Boss, wait, I..."
Delta kept poking the little sphere, using more and more force, until in the end, her movements could practically be described as smashing it.
At the critical moment, Cid placed one hand on Delta's shoulder and stopped her.
"Delta, according to the theory of relativity, if you're getting Magical Power from this, then someone else must be losing Magical Power. Who do you think that person is?"
"...Delta doesn't know."
"It's me."
Cid smiled without smiling and placed both hands on Delta's head.
All the Magical Power Delta had used over the past year had been drained from him. No wonder she wasted it like that. Of course a brat selling off her grandfather's land would never feel the pain.
...
Hearing Sona Sitri say the words "Divine Possession" beside her, Rias's expression turned extremely ugly. The corner of her mouth twitched as she turned toward Sona Sitri and forced out a smile.
"Sona, you're joking, right?"
In response, Sona Sitri also forced out a smile. If possible, she would have very much liked for that to be a joke too.