Looking at the white-haired man standing casually in the distance with a lighthearted tone, Nai fell into a brief silence. She analyzed her chances of victory in a battle against this man.
She could clearly sense—the mana fluctuations radiating from Tsukasa were as bottomless as an abyss.
More importantly, her intuition, honed from long years of traveling the world, spoke to her.
If they started fighting now, the result would be without any suspense.
Only... death.
Not injury, not defeat, but complete and utter death.
"Well then..."
She raised her hand and waved toward Tsukasa and Ram. "See you next time?"
Immediately after, her entire body, along with her black dress, turned into countless tiny, flickering sparks of faint reddish-orange light, drifting away lightly. No mana residue or spatial fluctuations were left behind, as if she had never existed there.
On the scorched earth, only Tsukasa, Ram, and the distant Beatrice with a complex expression remained.
"No need to chase?"
Ram frowned, her eyes looking in the direction where Nai had disappeared, her fingers unconsciously pinching Tsukasa's firm arm as she asked in a low voice.
"Eh... no, because there are other things to do. If I chase now, I won't make it in time for Rem and Subaru's side."
Tsukasa withdrew his gaze, then turned his head to look at Ram's side profile, which was stained with dust and blood but still held a straight back. A trace of softness flashed deep in his eyes.
He reached out his hand again. This time, Ram did not dodge or resist.
A warm palm, with a bit of casualness yet seemingly gentler than before, landed on her pink hair and rubbed it lightly.
"I'll be right back."
Leaving this brief promise, Tsukasa's figure swayed slightly, and with a gust of wind, he disappeared from the spot.
—
After the battle with the two Sin Archbishops of Sloth and Pride, Tsukasa's sensory abilities, which had long since surpassed common sense, had already captured an anomaly—intense mana fluctuations coming from the direction of the streets on the outskirts of Roswaal's territory.
During the fierce battle, he was able to spare a bit of attention to the outside world. As time passed, the expected reinforcements from Crusch's camp had yet to arrive at that battle area. In his heart, a bad premonition quietly slipped by.
Samael and Petelgeuse posed no real threat to him, but he knew very well that the situation at the mansion was probably not optimistic.
Fortunately, at the last moment, he sensed a powerful mana fluctuation belonging to a "complete oni horn" erupting from Ram's side.
So now, it was time to deal with the next trouble.
He withdrew his thoughts and turned his gaze toward the direction where the strong mana fluctuations were coming from.
Buzz!
The ground beneath his feet caved in silently.
Swoosh!
A sharp sonic boom exploded on the empty street.
Tsukasa's figure had already disappeared from the spot.
No, he didn't use Blue. Rather, his movement speed was fast to an inconceivable degree.
Starting from his original standing point, a straight, milky-white conical air wave formed by the extreme compression and displacement of air, instantly pierced through the entire street.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the battlefield.
Everyone was still immersed in the shock of "Subaru" reversing the situation and kicking the Sin Archbishop of Gluttony, Lye, into a bloody meteor.
Just then—
Whoosh!
A violent hurricane swept across the entire battlefield. The wind was so strong that it instantly dispersed the thick dust, blowing everyone off balance and making them almost unable to stand.
Then, a shadow so massive it covered a large portion of the sky above loomed down without warning.
"That... that is..."
On the battlefield, except for "Subaru," whose eyes were still blood-red and expression indifferent, everyone—Rem and the Iron Fang mercenaries—subconsciously looked up at the sky.
Then, their pupils instantly shrank to pinpoints. The color drained from their faces, replaced by extreme terror and disbelief.
In the sky... was a dragon.
An ink-black dragon, its entire body covered in obsidian-like scales that shimmered with a cold metallic luster.
The dragon lowered its head, its red vertical pupils seemingly looking down with amusement at the tiny, ant-like people below.
A dragon... it's actually a dragon?!
Panic spread through the crowd like a plague.
The Iron Fang mercenaries' teeth chattered, and they couldn't even hold their weapons steadily.
However, something even more horrifying happened.
That ink-black dragon opened its giant mouth filled with fangs. Then, human speech, as clear as a young girl's and echoing in everyone's ears came out of its mouth.
"Those two are dead. Withdraw."
At this moment, a clear stagnation appeared on Rui's face. Her eyes quickly swept over the battlefield—the kicked-away Lye, the Iron Fang mercenaries who were prepared but couldn't hide their fear, Rem standing in front of "Subaru," and "Subaru" who made her instinctively feel danger.
Without any hesitation, her body sank slightly, her feet kicked against the ground, and she made several leaps before launching herself up and landing on the broad back of the ink-black dragon that had not yet flown away.
Almost at the same time she landed, Lye's body, with a collapsed chest and blood overflowing from the corners of his lips, unconscious, appeared out of thin air on the dragon's back like a magic trick.
No, not out of thin air.
A short figure, extremely similar in height and build to Lye and Rui, their face hidden in the shadow of a hood, was half-kneeling on the dragon's back, carefully carrying the unconscious Lye on their back.
"Really... not satisfying enough."
A voice similar to Lye's but smoother, filled with deep regret and greed, rang out.
Equally short, wearing similar worn clothing, but with a twisted expression mixed with giggles, completely different from Lye's ferocity and Rui's playfulness.