"Cao Cao, are you sure you can pull this off? Your strategy is looking messy."
Even though Kuroka and Finn had been violently swallowed into Georg's spatial void, Vali Lucifer remained completely calm. He floated lazily in the air, his majestic twelve silver wings slowly beating, casting an oppressive, draconic shadow over the blood-soaked courtyard. As long as he kept Cao Cao firmly in his sights, Vali didn't care what Georg tried to do. The outcome of a duel between Georg and Kuroka was painfully obvious.
Georg was simply too pathetic of a combatant.
Vali wouldn't deny that Georg possessed an incredible talent for magic, nor would he deny the apocalyptic potential of Dimension Lost. In theory, Georg could swallow an entire country and drop it into the Marianas Trench, or hurl it into the freezing vacuum of space. Against hordes of weak, generic soldiers, Georg was a god.
But his opponent was Kuroka. She was an SS-Class rogue, arguably the greatest assassin, illusionist, and infiltrator in the entire supernatural world. Even without the Itthiratana actively suppressing her, Kuroka possessed an immense amount of fighting experience as she had been living in the underworld for so long. If Georg foolishly tried to drown her or crush her with a mountain inside his dimension, she would simply slit Georg's throat the moment he blinked.
Georg was a master of barriers, but his application of them was incredibly uncreative. In the Hero Faction, his role was ultimately just a glorified taxi driver and escape hatch.
"You don't understand," Cao Cao replied coldly, gripping the True Longinus tightly. His knuckles were white, his single visible eye glaring at the arrogant White Dragon Emperor.
"What's there to understand?" Vali scoffed, crossing his silver-armored arms. "Isn't your brilliant plan just to stall me until Georg violently pulls you into Dimension Lost so you can gang up on a sleeping Devil? What are you looking so surprised for? It's not a hard strategy to deduce. And frankly, do you honestly think you can escape me? The very microsecond you turn your back, I will snap your spine."
Vali narrowed his eyes, his demonic aura flaring to a blinding silver. He was absolutely ready to blitz Cao Cao the moment the hero attempted to teleport.
Dammit all...
Cao Cao let out a heavy, helpless sigh. He never expected Vali to read his tactical retreat so effortlessly. He had genuinely hoped Georg would finish Kuroka quickly and pull him into the safety of the dimension. Yet, far too much time had passed. Cao Cao realized with a sinking dread that he would have to handle this himself.
He was still trying to mentally communicate with Georg through their magical link, but the connection was dead silent. Worse, Vali wasn't an opponent Cao Cao could face while distracted.
And then there were Finn's women.
Why are those females so unbelievably strong? Cao Cao thought, a bitter taste of copper flooding his mouth. Or is their absolute obsession with that man just that terrifying?
Finn Balam.
No one in the history of the supernatural factions could have ever predicted that a lazy Devil—a descendant of the original Biblical false prophet, Balaam—would suddenly rewrite the laws of reality. According to human history and divine decree, the world was supposed to worship the heroic descendants or fear the Heavenly Dragons.
A Devil whose bloodline was famous for nothing but lies and deceit had no right to steal the absolute pinnacle of power. Yet, somehow, Finn had effortlessly gathered a peerage of terrifying anomalies, forged alliances with every major pantheon, and slaughtered ten thousand Khaos Brigade soldiers without even getting his hands dirty.
"Come on. Give me your absolute best," Vali taunted, snapping Cao Cao out of his bitter thoughts. "You used that ultimate move against him in Hong Kong, right? If Finn survived your strongest attack and came out stronger, then I am going to tank it and thoroughly crush it to pieces!"
"...You are far too arrogant, Devil," Cao Cao narrowed his eyes, deeply annoyed by Vali's blinding pride.
Did Vali honestly believe that the Divine Dividing and the Lucifer bloodline could easily deflect the Truth Idea? It was an absolute insult! The Truth Idea was the ultimate, suicidal miracle of the True Longinus. It harnessed the undiluted, absolute Will of the Biblical God to erase anything in its path, including the White Dragon Emperor!
While Cao Cao knew activating it would severely burn his life force and reduce his lifespan to mere embers, it was a completely fair price. The world could not continue to exist with an anomaly like Finn Balam incubating in the shadows. As the absolute spearhead of human heroes, Cao Cao had to slay the monster.
He completely ignored the battered, bleeding remnants of his own Hero Faction. He focused every single drop of his soul into the golden tip of the True Longinus!
"O Spear. The true Holy Spear which pierces through God."
"Suck the ambition of the King of Domination sleeping within me, and pierce through the gap of blessing and destruction."
"You. Announce the will, and turn into a glow."
Cao Cao didn't hesitate. He poured his absolute determination into the chant, completely ready to martyr himself in a blinding flash of holy light to bring salvation to humanity!
He thrust the spear forward, his voice roaring across the bleeding courtyard.
"Truth Idea!"
"...."
The courtyard fell dead silent.
There was no blinding flash of golden light. There was no apocalyptic surge of divine holy aura. The tip of the spear simply sparked once, like a wet firecracker, and then completely fizzled out into nothingness.
"What's wrong?" Vali asked, tilting his head in genuine confusion. His silver armor was glowing, entirely primed to absorb the blast. "Come on! Don't waste my time! Fire the damn spear!"
"WHAT'S HAPPENING?!"
Cao Cao stared at his hands in absolute, horrified disbelief. Why was the True Longinus rejecting him? He had offered his life force! He had shown his absolute determination to erase the evils of this world!
Yet, as Cao Cao desperately tried to force the holy energy to ignite, he felt the ancient Will of the Biblical God inside the spear violently pull his gaze away from Vali.
The spear forced Cao Cao to look across the courtyard, directly at a pathetic, trembling human boy sitting in the dirt.
"...It's you?" Cao Cao whispered, his single eye widening in sudden, horrifying realization.
"Eh?"
Issei Hyoudou blinked, completely confused and terrified. He was covered in sweat and grime, actively trying to hide behind a piece of rubble. "...Ddraig, why is that scary guy staring at me like that?"
Er... Ddraig, the Welsh Dragon residing in Issei's left arm, had no idea how to answer. Looking at the majestic Vali, the apocalyptic Akeno, and the absolute powerhouses dominating the battlefield, Ddraig could only let out a heavy, miserable sigh at how utterly pathetic his current host was.
But Cao Cao understood perfectly.
The Truth Idea wasn't just a spell; it was a divine miracle tied to the original flow of fate. According to the original destiny of the universe, Issei Hyoudou was the true, fated protagonist. The Will of the Biblical God absolutely refused to unleash a catastrophic, suicidal blast that would catch the 'fated hero' in the crossfire!
"YOU! IT'S YOUR FAULT!" Cao Cao roared, his face twisting into an expression of pure, unadulterated hatred. He raised the spear, fully intending to charge across the courtyard and brutally execute the pathetic Red Dragon Emperor for sabotaging his ultimate sacrifice.
But his heart suddenly stopped.
CRAAAACK.
The deafening sound of shattering glass echoed through the night. The empty space directly above the center of the courtyard violently ruptured, tearing open like a bleeding wound in reality.
The sharp, metallic smell of blood and ozone was instantly completely annihilated. A freezing, suffocating wave of pure, absolute abyss flooded the academy grounds. Every single person—Maou, Angel, Dragon, and Hero—froze in place, their souls violently trembling under the crushing weight of a presence that defied comprehension.
A figure stepped effortlessly out of the shattered spatial tear.
"Your time is up. And you are going to die, Cao Cao."
The voice was terrifyingly calm, devoid of all human emotion, yet it commanded absolute obedience.
No one could find their words. It wasn't just the physical changes that left them completely breathless. It was the sheer, suffocating gravity of the aura sweeping over the world. It was an absolute declaration, demanding that all living beings bow their heads, for a brand new, terrifying emperor had just been crowned to rule the universe.