Suddenly, a scorching burst of golden fox fire erupted from the hallway behind Ren, blasting directly toward Kaguya.
"Get away from Ren-chan!" Kon shouted furiously, his tiny body radiating spiritual energy.
However, just like the butler's devastating martial arts strike, the magical flames completely failed to penetrate the shimmering blue barrier surrounding the Successor. The golden fire washed harmlessly over the magical shield, and this time, not even a single hairline crack formed on its surface.
"Tsk." Kaguya clicked her tongue in annoyance, her icy eyes narrowing at the little spirit fox and the reinforcement he brought. "More pests."
[BOOST!]
A deep, echoing mechanical voice suddenly roared through the corridor. Before Kaguya could even react, a massive crimson gauntlet abruptly filled her vision.
The wielder had brilliantly used Kon's blinding golden fox fire as a tactical smokescreen, masking her approach and allowing her to close the distance completely unnoticed.
Craaack! The deafening sound of shattering glass echoed down the hall as Kaguya's supposedly impenetrable barrier fractured.
"Gah!" Kaguya cried out in shock and pain.
The owner of the crimson gauntlet, Tsumugi, had smashed completely through the defensive magic, burying her armoured fist deep into the young girl's stomach. The tremendous physical force launched Kaguya backward like a ragdoll, sending her crashing violently against the corridor wall.
"Tsumugi-nee!" Ren shouted, his voice a messy mix of disbelief and overwhelming relief, finally freed from the spherical barrier Kaguya had formed around him.
"Are you alright, Ren?" Tsumugi asked. Her face was set in a cold, unforgiving glare, her eyes never once leaving her opponent.
"Yeah, but..." Ren looked over at Kaguya's slumped form, his expression deeply conflicted. Despite everything, his soft heart still hesitated. "Go easy on her, okay?"
"G-go easy...?" Kaguya wheezed weakly. Bracing herself against the wall, she spat a mouthful of blood onto the polished floorboards. Slowly, she tilted her head up, her icy eyes now burning with complete, unhinged fury. "Who do you think you are looking down on?!"
BOOM! Kaguya's violently coiled mana erupted outward like a tsunami. This time, there was absolutely no holding back.
"...Kill you... I WILL KILL YOU!" Kaguya shrieked, her crazed, bloodshot eyes locking entirely onto the stoic maid. Raising her hands, she pointed them directly at Tsumugi. "Hundred Seal!"
This was a terrifyingly amplified variant of the spell that had instantly crushed the butler. Thousands of dense magic circles materialized in the air, instantly surrounding the maid.
Yet Tsumugi remained entirely unfazed. She simply raised her bare left hand and clenched it into a tight fist. A dense, crimson aura began to violently simmer around her arm. The light flickered, turned illusory, and then rapidly solidified into a second, identical red gauntlet.
[BOOST!] The mechanical voice roared once again, stacking and doubling her physical power to terrifying new heights.
Clasping both of her heavily armoured hands together to form a massive hammer fist, Tsumugi smashed them mercilessly into the ground.
BOOM! The devastating physical impact generated a massive, rippling shockwave. This was a specialized mana-reinforcement technique Tsumugi had invented herself. By utilizing her Sacred Gear at maximum output to achieve a four-times power multiplier on her own mana reserves, she could violently force her energy outward as a destructive mana wave. The intense vibration of the wave instantly disrupted the ambient magic gathering around her, completely scattering and nullifying Kaguya's complex runic arrays.
The thousands of magic circles flickered and died, turning entirely inert.
"Two Twice Criticals?! Impossible!" Kaguya shouted in genuine shock. But even through her blinding rage, her genius mind worked at lightning speed. "No... it is a Sub-species Twice Critical!"
Her deduction was flawless. The Sacred Gear Tsumugi possessed was the Twice Critical, an artifact famous for simply doubling its user's power. However, Tsumugi was both talented and lucky enough to awaken a rare Sub-species variant, one that materialized two gauntlets instead of one.
Instead of a standard two-times boost, Tsumugi commanded a staggering four-times multiplier. This overwhelming physical amplification successfully elevated her peak Mid-class strength all the way into the High-class tier, finally allowing the stoic maid to directly contend with the genius mage of the clan!
"Stand down now, Successor."
This time, another cold voice interjected, halting the brewing clash between the two women. It was the Head Maid, Takayama Fumiko, who had been brought here as a reinforcement.
"Head Maid Fumiko," Kaguya muttered, her icy eyes narrowing with clear wariness.
Fumiko was a dangerous veteran. She had been the personal maid to the previous Ritsuzen Clan Head. Serving the former leader had allowed her to wield certain rare privileges. Just as the late butler had been permitted to learn object enchantment, Fumiko had been granted a magical discipline of her own, one that elevated her far above the rest of the estate's staff.
She had chosen healing magic.
However, she hadn't selected this discipline because she possessed a bleeding heart or harboured a noble desire to treat the injured. She had chosen it simply to outlast everyone else. By constantly regenerating her own wounds, Fumiko could wage war with absolute, terrifying recklessness. Combined with her decades of brutal combat experience, her raw power had reached the absolute peak of the High-class tier, standing mere inches away from the terrifying realm of the Ultimate-class.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
At that exact moment, the rhythmic sound of heavy footsteps echoed down the shattered corridor, piercing the suffocating tension. The unhurried, deliberate noise forced the combatants to momentarily break their standoff, their wary gazes shifting together toward the encroaching shadows.
"Ho?" a deep, gravelly voice rumbled from the darkness. "I was wondering why you were taking so long. It seems you have found yourself in quite the predicament."
Slowly stepping out of the gloom, an imposing, aged figure revealed himself. It was Elder Gensai.
Tucked firmly beneath his arm was a young girl with long blonde hair tipped in bright blue, her small body slouched and completely unconscious.
**********
A few minutes earlier, within the grand reception room of the estate.
"Welcome back, Lord Astaroth. I hope you are faring well," Kyora greeted politely, bowing his head in respect.
Unlike his previous visits, Azelior Astaroth had chosen to bypass the gates entirely, utilizing teleportation magic to arrive directly inside the Ritsuzen estate. Standing quietly beside the devil was a little girl, roughly nine years of age, possessing striking blonde hair tipped in bright blue.
It was Latia Astaroth.
"Haha. I am well indeed, Lord Ritsuzen," Azelior replied with a warm but measured laugh. "I have returned today to finalize our alliance."
"Mm. I presume this is the promising branch family member you mentioned during our last meeting?" Kyora nodded in acknowledgment, his sharp gaze shifting down to focus intently on the little girl.
"Nothing gets past you, Lord Ritsuzen," Azelior praised perfunctorily. Gesturing gracefully toward the girl, he introduced her. "This is Latia Astaroth. Though perhaps not as uniquely talented as my own son, she has shown a sharp inclination for numbers. Her latent demonic power is also quite formidable for her age."
"Yes, I can feel it from here. Truly, as expected of a noble, pure-blooded devil," Kyora replied smoothly, returning the diplomatic courtesy with his own practiced, perfunctory praise.
"Ha! Shall we get to the contract, then?" Azelior asked, smoothly shifting the conversation back to the matter at hand.
"Yes. We shall," Kyora agreed.
BANG!
Suddenly, the heavy double doors of the reception hall were violently thrown open, crashing loudly against the walls. A deep, gravelly voice immediately echoed through the sprawling room.
"A human traitor and filthy devils."
"Presumptuous! Who dares?!" Kyora snarled, whipping his head toward the entrance. As his gaze locked onto the imposing figure standing in the doorway, his eyes burned with sudden, volatile fury. "Gensai! It is you!"
Azelior also turned to look at the intruder, his demonic aura flaring with a hint of genuine anger. Feeling deeply humiliated by the blatant, unprovoked insult, he sneered. "One of yours, Clan Head Ritsuzen?"
This time, Azelior deliberately dropped the respectful 'Lord' in favour of Kyora's formal title, coldly mocking the man's sheer inability to control his own clan members.
Kyora deliberately ignored Azelior's jab, focusing his burning gaze entirely on the intruder. "Gensai, is this how you speak to your Clan Head and an honoured guest?" Kyora demanded, wielding his formal title in a bid to exert pressure.
"Hmph! Clan Head? Perhaps to the rest of the Ritsuzen!" Gensai snorted contemptuously, effectively declaring his secession from the clan right then and there.
"Are you declaring open rebellion, Gensai?!" Kyora shouted furiously.
"Hmph. Enough talk," Gensai stated coldly, refusing to dignify such an obvious question with a response.
He raised his left arm toward Azelior. Suddenly, the flesh of his perfectly normal hand cracked apart. Vile, dark slime began to drip from the fissures as his limb violently elongated, shifting and twisting into a grotesque, fleshy tentacle. Wet suckers lined the repulsive appendage, oozing a thick, foul mucus.
Without warning, it shot toward Azelior. The strike was so blindingly fast that even the battle-hardened Ultimate-class Devil struggled to track it. Relying on pure reflex, Azelior managed to violently throw himself sideways, narrowly avoiding the attack.
However, the tentacle didn't shift its trajectory to pursue him. Instead, it kept speeding forward, zeroing in perfectly on the little girl standing right behind where Azelior had just been.
"AH!" Latia screamed in pure horror and disgust at the sight of the approaching monstrosity.
With absolutely no time to evade, she was instantly snatched up by the slimy appendage. Offering no resistance against such overwhelming strength, she was violently yanked across the room to Gensai's side. A swift, brutal chop to the back of her neck rendered her instantly unconscious.
With a highly valuable hostage now firmly in his grasp, Gensai turned his chilling gaze back toward the furious Devil. "Devil, you wouldn't want your precious kin to perish... would you?" Gensai whispered threateningly.
Internally, Gensai hadn't actually believed the operation would go this smoothly. He had been fully prepared to battle two Ultimate-class powerhouses simultaneously. Who could have guessed that the mighty Astaroth leader would stupidly dodge out of the way, leaving his ward completely unprotected? It seemed that centuries of living in the lap of luxurious peace had severely dulled the Devil's combat instincts.
"You...!" Azelior glared at Gensai, his demonic aura flaring with absolute, murderous intent.
Yet he didn't dare launch an attack. With the population of pure-blooded Devils at an all-time low, Azelior simply could not afford to disregard Latia's life.
Forcing his bubbling rage down, Azelior visibly restrained himself. "State your conditions," he demanded, forcing himself to negotiate.
"Before we discuss conditions, you should ask Clan Head Ritsuzen to stand down first." With his insurance firmly in hand, Gensai shifted his mocking gaze toward Kyora.
Rendered utterly speechless by the sudden hostage situation, Azelior could only turn his head and look at Kyora with a desperate, pleading expression.
Seeing the mighty Astaroth leader reduced to this, Kyora felt completely helpless. He had no choice but to accommodate Azelior, as the Devil was a crucially important political ally for his future. Reluctantly, Kyora relaxed his rigid combat stance, lowering his guard to show the traitor he wouldn't launch an attack.
Smirking in dark amusement, Gensai looked at the two Ultimate-class leaders who had played so perfectly into the palm of his hand. "I will simply be borrowing this girl for a short while. There is something I need to retrieve from within the estate. Don't follow me."
With the unconscious Latia still tucked securely under his arm, he slowly began to walk backward toward the shattered double doors. "Do not worry, Devil. Not a single hair on your precious kin will be harmed."
Trapped by their own political and familial obligations, the two powerful Clan Heads could only watch helplessly as the monster slipped away into the shadows.
**********
Back in the present, the tense standoff in the shattered corridor was entirely derailed.
Seeing Gensai casually stroll onto the battlefield, Kaguya's icy eyes shrank into tiny pinpricks. Even with his monstrous strength, she hadn't expected him to bypass two Ultimate-class Clan Heads so easily.
'No...' she thought, her sharp gaze quickly dropping to the unconscious blonde girl tucked beneath the Elder's arm. 'A hostage.' The genius mage instantly assessed the grim reality of the situation.
"Well, no matter. The prizes are already in the bag," Gensai stated smoothly, completely ignoring the stunned reactions of the combatants in the hallway.
His terrifying gaze slowly shifted, bypassing Kaguya, Tsumugi, and Fumiko, to lock directly onto Ren.
"Hand over the boy."