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Chapter 281 - Chapter 280: Deciding the Outcome

"Impossible… impossible?! The Red Dragon?! No, even the Red Dragon couldn't be this strong. What is this… whose power is this?!"

Catria's face was full of fear, all her earlier confidence gone. The power of the Infinite Dragon God Ophis within her body gave her no sense of security—only trembling and unease.

Why… why is this happening? Standing at the top of the world as the mightiest dragon… whose power is this? What kind of power could make her feel such fear?!

"Who are you?! Who are you really?! There's no way you're just some ordinary human!"

"Hm? Who am I? Just an ordinary soldier under Gremory's command," Yoru said with a faint smile, then swung the Frostmourne in his hand straight at Catria.

It was a completely ordinary slash without any technique—but under the crushing pressure of Yoru's terrifying power, Catria could barely even move her body.

She barely avoided a fatal blow, but Yoru's greatsword still slashed across her body. No blood spattered—the wound was instantly sealed by deathly ice the moment it appeared.

Frostmourne was indeed unwieldy, and in battles of equal rank it was usually hard to make effective use of—just like when Kokabiel had been his opponent, it was extremely difficult to land even a single blow.

But once it left a wound, the freezing power would invade the enemy's body like a deadly poison, consuming all their life until nothing remained.

After striking Catria, Yoru didn't even look at her again—because she no longer had the power to resist.

"Need a hand, Azazel?"

Looking up at the battle in the sky, Yoru could see Azazel wasn't gaining much of an advantage against Vali.

The Sacred Gear Divine Dividing's ability was simply too dangerous—just a light touch and the opponent's power would be halved, with the stolen power absorbed by the wielder.

If Vali touched Azazel even once, the fight would be over. The fact that Azazel had lasted this long meant he hadn't been touched even a single time.

"What—you already dealt with Catria?!"

Azazel was startled, and Vali was just as surprised.

While Catria's base power wasn't exceptional, with Ophis's strength she should have been able to handle someone like Kokabiel with ease. Yet she had been defeated so quickly?

Vali glanced down toward her. The once arrogant descendant of the old Maou now lay like a dead dog, icy air spilling from her body.

"Tch. Trash is still trash. I knew I shouldn't have counted on you."

Vali shook his head, sounding almost annoyed. He had no desire to continue the fight—after all, he was alone here, and in the conference room were two Maou and two Seraphim, plus Azazel, who was still holding his own, and the mysterious Yoru.

"I am not… I am not trash!"

With the last of her strength, Catria roared. One of her arms morphed into a tentacle that instantly wrapped around Yoru's left arm.

"Damned brat—come with me! Hahahaha!" she laughed manically as strange patterns spread across her body.

"Careful! That's a self-destruction spell!" Azazel shouted. On the other side, Vali seized the opening.

"It's never wise to lose focus in battle—especially when your opponent is me!"

By the time Azazel realized what had happened, Vali was already right in front of him.

Not good!

It was too late—Vali's hand pressed against Azazel's chest.

In an instant, Azazel's power was stolen, while Vali's own power surged to an overwhelming level.

"The match is decided."

With a calm voice, Vali thrust his hand forward, piercing Azazel's chest.

Already injured from an earlier sneak attack, Azazel spat blood and fell from the sky like a severed kite. Seeing this, Catria's eyes lit up.

"Vali! Help me! Kill this demon brat—if he's allowed to grow, he'll become an incredibly troublesome opponent!"

"I refuse," Vali replied coldly, without even thinking about it.

"What do you mean, Vali?! Are you betraying us? You bastard—are you trying to run?!"

"Losers have no right to order me around. I only joined you to fight strong opponents. Killing a promising upstart is a stupid waste—I'm not doing it."

"You think you can escape? The barrier's still up—you can't run!"

"You should worry about yourself."

As Vali spoke, a sharp blade flashed, cutting toward the tentacle binding Yoru.

"It's useless—this tentacle was made from my own life force. It can't be cut," Catria said with a fearless smile. But Yoru only shrugged, unconcerned.

Frostmourne struck the tentacle with a heavy clang, just as she said—it couldn't be cut.

But Catria had overlooked one fact: Frostmourne was never meant for cutting.

Her smug expression froze on her face as she realized her tentacle had been instantly encased in ice.

"H-How… how can it be frozen?! It's made from my life force!"

"'How can this be… impossible'—such words are the favorite refrain of the weak. How many times have you said that now, Catria?"

From above, Vali mocked her mercilessly, showing no concern for her life.

"Ahhh! Damn it! Damn it! You all have to die! Come die with me!"

The frozen tentacle shattered easily. Screaming madly, Catria charged at Yoru while activating her self-destruction.

With a dull thud, her body didn't explode—instead, it turned to dust and vanished. She had been obliterated by a devastating burst of light. Light was poison to devils, and in this world there were no exceptions—save for Yoru.

The one who struck the final blow was the heavily injured Azazel. Taking advantage of her brief moment of madness, he had killed her and stopped the self-destruction.

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