The moment she heard the words Holy Sword, Rias's expression immediately grew grave.
After receiving Ituso's command, Number Two dismissed his light sword. In the next second, a longsword radiating sacred aura appeared in his hand.
At the instant that blade manifested, every devil present felt a chill crawl up their spine—as if a natural predator had appeared before them.
Ryuya's gaze swept over the holy sword. Even though he didn't quite understand what kind of weapon it was, his instincts as a devil screamed danger.
"This is one of the six holy relics held by the Catholic Church… Why is it in your hands?"
Rias's eyes darkened as she stepped forward. "Ryuya, be careful. We'll deal with him together."
"Alright."
Ryuya nodded and agreed without the slightest hesitation.
From the look of it, Rias clearly understood just how destructive that holy sword was, and worried that Ryuya alone might not be able to handle it—hence her decision to fight together.
Ituso burst into laughter. "Everything I've experimented on has been for the sake of making humans compatible with holy swords! Look, look—this is the result of my research! Well? Well? Isn't it magnificent?!"
"I see. I've heard rumors about the Holy Sword Project before. That was your work too, wasn't it?" Rias said coldly.
"Hehe, I didn't expect you to know about that. That's right—this project was conceived by my teacher. And it was only after joining it that I was able to research the true essence of life and the soul!"
Ituso spread his arms wide, as if trying to embrace something invisible. His entire demeanor looked unhinged, bordering on madness.
Rias took a deep breath. She now understood the severity of the situation. A holy sword of immense power—one that should have been sealed away by the Catholic Church—had appeared here. Did that mean the Church itself was involved in this plan?
There were far too many unanswered questions. But for now, defeating this man was the top priority.
"Everyone, engage! Break him!"
Rias spread her fingers wide. To avoid unnecessary risk and injuries to her team, she chose the safest and most straightforward approach—overwhelming him together.
Number Two swung the holy sword. His already formidable divine power surged even more violently.
Ryuya took a direct slash with the Divine Shield. His arm went numb—and worse, he discovered that some of the demonic power he had poured into the shield had been annihilated. This meant that a battle of attrition would be extremely disadvantageous for him.
"Holy swords are kingly weapons passed down through long histories. Don't let yourselves be injured by it—otherwise, you'll be in for serious pain,"
Rias warned Ryuya as she launched her own magic attacks.
However, the terrifying lethality of the holy sword quickly revealed itself. With Number Two fighting in a suicidal, life-for-nothing style, not only were Rias and the others' attacks neutralized, but even Koneko no longer dared to confront him head-on.
Holy swords possessed innate traits that countered devils. Their killing power against devils was immense—so much so that even a mere graze would cause pain far beyond that of being pierced by a spear of light.
Koneko relied on her monstrous strength and defense to fight, but under the suppression of a holy sword, she was forced into a passive position.
Number Two attacked like a madman, and both Rias and Akeno grew fully serious.
At this point, Number Two had become a rabid beast—fighting without any regard for his own life. Combined with the power of the holy sword, even their group assault felt constrained and awkward.
"Number Two! Burn your soul power!" Ituso shouted hysterically. "I created you for this very moment! Kill them all!!"
He could already see that something was off—after Rias and the others joined the fight, Number Two hadn't actually gained much of an advantage at all.
If this continued, it wouldn't be long before Number Two's divine power was completely exhausted.
That wouldn't do—absolutely not!
Clearly, Ituso hadn't realized earlier that Rias and Akeno were actually the strongest among them.
Upon receiving the command, Number Two let out a savage roar. The sound was no longer human. At the same time, his skull began to glow, and one human phantom after another appeared above his head!
"Those are—souls stripped from the humans just now?!" Rias exclaimed in shock.
Ryuya narrowed his eyes as he watched those human souls twist and ignite, burning away. In the next instant, Number Two's aura surged explosively!
"We have to block it! The power from burning souls can only be unleashed once at most!"
Rias shouted sharply, immediately joining forces with Akeno to form more than twenty layers of demonic barriers at the front.
Boom!!
Number Two swung his sword—and an overwhelmingly massive tidal wave of divine power erupted forth!
The power formed by burning soul energy was simply too great. Coupled with the explosive might of the holy sword, the barriers Rias and the others had erected were shattered layer by layer in rapid succession as the wave swept through!
Ryuya and Koneko were forced to face that terrifying divine surge head-on.
Seeing the wave roar toward the nearest Koneko, at the critical moment, Ryuya flashed forward and appeared directly in front of her.
He pulled Koneko into his arms and raised the Divine Shield in front of them both.
With a low shout, the Divine Shield erupted with brilliant light—and at the same time, Ryuya's pupils flared with dazzling gold!
Vaguely, the miniature phantom of a colossal black city flashed within his eyes, and in that instant, the Divine Shield felt utterly indestructible.
—The Endless Twilight Citadel!
Holy light blazed forth. Under the heavy gazes of Rias and the others, the golden tidal wave crashed violently into the silver shield held by Ryuya.
Like ocean waves slamming against an immovable reef, the golden surge split apart to either side. Bracing against the assault, Ryuya stood firm, unmoving.
Although Ryuya could currently only draw upon a small portion of the Divine Shield's true power—and could only concentrate that power onto the shield's physical form—its ultimate technique finally revealed just how terrifying it truly was.
Within the range covered by the Endless Twilight Citadel, all of Ryuya's own states were frozen in eternal stasis.
As long as Ryuya did not cancel this ability, in that state, he could not be injured by any attack whatsoever!
Naturally, this effect also applied to the Divine Shield itself.
Unfortunately, with Ryuya's current demonic power, he could only maintain this move for five seconds.
A five-second true man—that was probably the perfect description of this situation…
Even so, five seconds were already more than enough to decide the outcome of a battle.
When the tidal wave finally dissipated, the sight that remained was shocking. Starting from where Ryuya stood, the ground on both sides had been completely annihilated, carved into ravines nearly five meters deep, with the residual might spreading outward in a fan shape for several hundred meters.
The area behind Ryuya, where Rias and the others stood, was completely unharmed. Ryuya had redirected almost all of the wave's destructive force to both sides—and he himself was perfectly safe.
After forcibly enduring such a horrifying blow head-on, the only price he paid was excessive demonic power consumption.
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