Before wasting any time, I teleported into the forest directly in front of the three girls.
The holy field had already begun to weigh on them, sapping their will, twisting fear into their eyes.
I didn't hesitate.
Shadow spikes erupted from the ground, piercing limbs with surgical precision.
All three shrieked, the sound swallowed by the oppressive aura of the holy field.
As they writhed, I broke their jaws one by one, forcing holy crosses into their mouths from my inventory.
Their screams were instantly muted, leaving only silent, desperate contortions of pain.
Seven down.
Eight more to go before I reach Riser.
In an instant, I appeared at the athletic track, where the remaining girls were moving forward.
So that was his plan, huh?
Make it look like he was setting up flankers, when in reality he'd sent his whole army in.
A clever feint—at least on paper.
Honestly, if it came down to strategy alone, Rias might have lost this one.
But plans crumble before absolute strength.
And their enemy, unfortunately for them, was me.
The holy field was already doing its work.
Their skin sizzled faintly, like flesh too close to a nuclear reactor core.
Breathing had become ragged, shallow, every gulp of air a struggle.
If this kept up for an hour, they'd be nothing but broken husks—organs failing one by one, agony stretching into eternity.
And when I impaled their limbs, the holy energy would seep directly into their bodies through the open wounds.
A shortcut to heaven.
Get it?
Devils, drowning in holy power… "going to heaven."
The opposite of hell for them.
…Not funny?
Tch. Tough crowd.
I lunged at the mage-looking girl.
Her staff snapped like brittle wood in my grip.
Before she could even gasp, my knee shot upward, smashing into her jaw with a sickening crack.
Her jaw twisted unnaturally, teeth scattering as blood spilled down her chin.
I shoved a holy cross from my inventory between her broken teeth, forcing it deep into her mouth as black spikes erupted from my shadow, piercing her limbs and nailing her to the ground.
The look of horror that rippled across the others' faces was almost refreshing.
Seven left.
I glanced at the mental countdown.
Seventy-one seconds left.
That was all the time I needed.
The sky above me rippled like liquid obsidian, twisting and warping until two colossal blue eyes opened, glowing with deranged insanity.
The heavens themselves cracked wide, the fractures curling upward into a grotesque, manic smile.
A crushing black pressure descended without warning.
The air screamed, space groaned, and every single one of Riser's servants buckled under the weight.
Bones snapped, bodies slammed into the dirt, pinned helplessly against the field by nothing more than sheer force.
And then came the spikes.
From every shadow, from every corner of the battlefield, jagged black spears erupted in a storm, piercing flesh and bone, nailing each of them into the ground.
Their shrieks tore through the night—until I silenced them.
One by one, I stalked forward, shattering jaws with brutal precision.
Blood poured, teeth scattered, and into every broken mouth I rammed a holy cross from my inventory, gagging their screams into muffled, pitiful sobs as they writhed beneath the holy corruption burning through their veins.
Among the writhing bodies, one stood out.
A blonde with twin-drill curls—the kind of girl who looked every inch the pampered princess.
Tears streamed down her face as holy corruption ate through her flesh, but unlike the others, her wounds kept sealing themselves with bursts of golden-red flame.
She was healing.
Her regeneration tried to knit bone and muscle together as quickly as the spikes shredded them apart, but the holy field was relentless.
The more she fought to recover, the more agony flooded her body.
If I remembered correctly, this was Riser's sister.
"...Figures."
For her, I made an exception.
I twisted the spikes inside her chest, snapping her ribs apart from within.
Shadow-bone grew in their place, locking her entire torso into a black, spiked cage.
She convulsed, eyes wide with unbearable pain.
Did I feel bad? Yes.
Would I stop? No.
I couldn't afford to.
Not with someone like her.
Her kind of resolve—the "rip-your-own-limbs-off-and-come-back-burning" protagonist moment—was the sort of cliché I had to kill before it started.
Still… there was something strange.
With Giratina's power coiled through me, my vision pierced deeper than flesh.
It was like having X-ray sight—only sharper, sharper than reality itself.
I saw her bones.
I saw her soul.
And buried inside her heart, I saw it—a chess piece.
A tiny obsidian bishop, fused into the flesh of her beating organ.
A faint tether stretched out from it, a thread of shadow winding all the way toward the new school building.
Riser's anchor.
The Evil Pieces.
They weren't just resurrection tools.
Not anymore.
The distortion revealed what they really did.
Subtle chains—gradual shifts in loyalty, affection, obedience.
The tiniest nudges, stacking over time until you weren't your own person anymore.
A slow, invisible corruption.
I exhaled, relief washing through me.
So it's true. The devils are evil.
Maybe Rias and Sona had no idea.
Maybe they were victims too.
But whoever forged these pieces knew exactly what they were doing.
I stepped toward the mage girl.
Her eyes widened as my hand phased into ghostly transparency.
With deliberate precision, I pressed it into her chest, slipping through skin and bone without leaving a mark.
Her scream tore the air—silent, broken—when my fingers closed around the piece lodged in her heart.
I ripped it free.
Her body convulsed violently, spasms wracking her frame as the pawn pulsed in my hand.
And then, with a final shudder, the distortion unraveled her devilhood.
The wings of magic burned away.
Her aura shattered.
She was human again.
I held the piece aloft, feeling its foul energy vibrate against my palm.
The power of distortion… it was far too overpowered.
And for once, I was glad.
Now that I had confirmed it—my distortion could strip the Evil Pieces out and turn devils back into humans—there was no more reason to waste time with pawns.
I clenched the writhing chess piece in my hand until it cracked, dissolving into black motes that the field devoured.
Eight… no, all of them were done.
Only one remained.
The real target.
Riser Phenex.
My lips curled into a grim smile as I straightened, Giratina's shadow towering over me like a god passing judgment.
I had no reason to chase scraps anymore.
The experiment was over.
The proof was clear.
Now it was time to crush the king.
With a single step, the holy-distorted field warped around me, space folding as if the world itself wanted me delivered to him.
"Riser…"
I muttered, my voice low, almost swallowed by the black winds.
"…let's see if your immortality still means anything against me."
Time Remaining Till The Fusion Gets Undone: 58 seconds
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