Half-kneeling in a small crater, Vali looked down at his mangled, smoking arms. The flesh had been eroded to the bone, burned by Raize's holy energy.
If not for the Divine Dividing halving the attack's power, both arms would have evaporated.
His demonic regeneration was completely suppressed. The opponent's holy power was far too effective against Vali's demonic bloodline.
"You don't only have this much strength, right? If you keep holding back, you'll die!"
A cold voice came from ahead. A far more massive presence than before erupted from Raize, spreading outward as dense cracks extended dozens of meters across the ground.
Vali looked up and saw Raize's calm expression. His hands were raised overhead, crossed into claw shapes, legs slightly apart. Just seeing Raize in this stance made every hair on Vali's body stand on end.
[Absolute Domain 30%—Kin 1211: Shiki Ya Otome!]
With savage killing intent glowing red in his eyes, Raize's gaze was icy to the extreme. His figure blurred like a ghost as overwhelming murderous intent surged straight toward Vali.
"Balance Breaker!!"
[Diving Dividing Scale Mail!!!]
With his instincts screaming, Vali stopped holding back and directly activated the Balance Breaker state of his sacred gear.
He had originally thought Raize was just a human whose sacred gear had awakened for a few months, merely relying on holy power to counter him. He believed that in a real fight, he might not lose.
Only after being fully encased in the dazzling, magnificent silver armor of Balance Breaker did Vali realize just how catastrophically wrong he was.
Raize, carrying immense killing intent, slammed directly into Vali's armored body. His claws, empowered by lightning and holy energy, transformed into dense afterimages, striking Vali again and again.
Knowing his opponent was wearing Balance Breaker armor, Raize infused his first strike with the Yamato's spatial cutting power, easily tearing through the armor's defenses. The subsequent claw strikes, accompanied by thunder and holy energy, shredded Vali's flesh with ease.
Large chunks of flesh and blood sprayed everywhere, splattering across Raize's cold face. When he delivered the final heavy blow, he seized Vali's chest with both hands, ten fingers sinking deeply into his flesh as golden lightning exploded violently.
"Divide — Divide — Divide — Divide — !!"
As Vali endured the assault, the Divine Dividing frantically reduced the power descending upon him, as well as Raize's stamina, since direct contact had been made.
A sense of weakness washed over Raize. However, under the influence of Shiki Ya Otome, his mind had become savage. Even as his power was being drained, Raize stubbornly forced a breakthrough against the reduction itself.
Absolute Domain 30%
Absolute Domain 40%
Absolute Domain 50%
It was as if he were locking horns with his opponent. If his power was reduced, then he would simply condense and break through even further.
At this moment, he was like someone who had unlocked genetic restraints, tearing away layers of limitation just to fight freely and vent everything.
Golden lightning exploded violently from Vali's chest, blasting him away. But it didn't end there. Raize immediately pursued and struck with [Method 127: Shiki Aoihana]
After tearing apart the armor with both claws, instead of flames, golden lightning condensed into a pillar of light that erupted upward, blasting Vali straight into the sky.
"Vali!"
Seeing Vali struck by such brutal consecutive attacks and finally blasted skyward, Bikou's expression turned anxious as he moved to intervene.
"Wait," Arthur said calmly, extending a hand to stop him. "That attack is brutal, but Vali in Balance Breaker won't go down that easily."
Indeed, Balance Breaker Vali wasn't so easy to kill. If he had taken Shiki Ya Otome without the halving effect, there wouldn't even be a whole corpse left.
"It hurts like hell! But it's exhilarating!! Raize, it wouldn't be polite not to return the favor!!"
Half of the silver helmet on Vali's face was shattered. Stimulated by the pain, his eyes were now filled with crazed battle lust. That was simply how battle maniacs thought.
Raize was a great opponent. Vali loved fighting powerful enemies.
Buzz!
Massive demonic power surged into the silver armor, rapidly repairing the damaged areas.
The Divine Dividing emitted a blinding glow, gathering the energy reduced from Raize into the blue gem embedded in the armor. The gem on Vali's chest shone with dazzling brilliance.
Boom!
A cannon-like blast erupted as a beam of light fired from Vali's chest, slamming into the ground in front of Raize. Though it didn't explode, the terrain was melted by the ultra-dense demonic power.
Raize moved with ghostlike steps. Behind him, a silver beam continued firing, tearing through earth and forest as it chased his afterimages.
"How much stamina do you have left to keep running!?"
Vali laughed wildly. Fully immersed in battle, he condensed demonic power in his palms as if it were free, then slammed it down at the ground.
Each silver light projectile carried missile-level destructive power, capable of mowing down countless high-ranking devils.
Magic power surpassing that of a Maou was squandered freely, all for the sake of enjoying the battle.
Countless silver lights bombarded the ground, setting the entire mountain forest ablaze and annihilating it. Although Raize's speed allowed him to dodge with ease, just as Vali said—
Divide — Divide — Divide — Divide — !!
That invisible halving force descended upon Raize simultaneously. No matter how fast he was, it locked onto him with pinpoint precision, draining his stamina and energy.
Vali had grown smarter and was now serious. The energy he absorbed was channeled through the blue gem on his armor like a cannon, turning power he couldn't reinforce himself with into ammunition.
If this continued, Raize would eventually run dry.
But—
"You think I didn't think of that!?"
A cold smile appeared on Raize's face. He wasn't stupid. He knew that once he made contact with Vali without finishing him in one blow, this counterattack would come.
He knew it, and still did it, all to force Vali into Balance Breaker.
Boom!
A strange, stagnating, eerie cerulean-blue flame condensed in his palm.
No—this wasn't purely cerulean-blue.
The core of the flame was mercury-silver, and at its center a magatama-shaped core rotated endlessly.
This was an unimaginably powerful super finisher.
[Mercury Force — Ura 108: Shiki Ya Sakazuki]
One of the techniques of the Yagami Ancient Martial Arts. In its original form, if Shiki Ya Sakazuki struck the enemy, their perception of time would be halted, their consciousness turned blank for a period, making them feel as though time itself had stopped.
Raize's Shiki Ya Sakazuki, even without directly hitting the target, would completely freeze time in the surrounding area.
Crack!
Circular fractures spread beneath his feet as Raize leapt skyward, charging straight toward Vali in the air.
Sensing Raize's approach and knowing how dangerous close combat was, Vali flapped his wings and vanished into an afterimage.
Missing his target, Raize twisted midair, locked onto Vali below, and hurled Shiki Ya Sakazuki downward—
Then immediately manifested Yamato.
Vali saw the magatama-shaped eerie fireball falling from the sky. Just as he was about to fire a blast of demonic power to disperse it, Albion's voice suddenly stopped him.
[Vali, don't block that strange flame head-on. Dodge it!!]
Hearing Albion's warning from within, Vali acted without hesitation. Demonic power surged, his light wings flaring behind him as he boosted away, narrowly escaping the straight-line bombardment range of the Shiki Ya Sakazuki.
But would Raize really let him dodge that easily!?
Clang—!
Raize wore a cold, triumphant smile. His figure flashed forward, appearing in front of the Shiki Ya Sakazuki he had just fired, and he slashed open a spatial gate with Yamato in his hand.
The next instant, Shiki Ya Sakazuki entered that spatial passage.
"Not good!!"
Seeing the move and sensing spatial fluctuations behind him, Vali instinctively twisted his body aside at high speed.
The Shiki Ya Sakazuki fireball shot out from the spatial gate, grazing past Vali's figure by a hair's breadth.
He dodged it… or so he thought!?
Vali had just let out a sigh of relief when, through the eye crystals of the White Dragon Emperor armor, he saw the sneer on Raize's face in the distance, and the now violently agitated magatama fireball in front of him. His eyes widened immediately!
With a thunderous boom, the flames burst apart. There was no massive explosion, yet everything around was turned into a gray-white ash.
Vali, Bikou, Kuroka, Arthur, and his sister Le Fay—all their expressions froze at the same time.
Time within the surrounding space had completely stopped.
Raize's entire body ignited with pink energy waves. Transforming into a Kirby-like form, he rushed before Vali, opened his huge mouth, and with a powerful inhale swallowed the Balance Breaker–clad Vali in his silver armor straight into his stomach.
With puffed cheeks, the pink-ball Raize began rapidly copying Vali's power.
[White Dragon Emperor Ability: Divide — copied!]
[White Dragon Emperor Ability: Absorb — copied!]
[White Dragon Emperor Half Dimension— copied!]
[White Dragon Emperor Ability: Reflect — copied!]
[White Dragon Emperor Ability: Reduce — copied!]
Aside from Vali's bloodline, which Raize deliberately chose not to copy, every skill, combat technique, and battle experience Vali possessed had been fully obtained.
Behind the Kirby-form Raize, a pair of White Dragon Emperor light wings suddenly manifested. His short arms and body were covered in Balance Breaker–level silver armor.
New Form — Divine Dividing Kirby!
"Ptoo!"
After entering this form, the pink-ball Raize spat Vali back out and immediately reverted to human form himself.
At the same time, the time-stop effect ended.
The spectators from Vali's team had just been looking up at the battle in the sky, when it was as if they had blacked out. In the blink of an eye, Raize and Vali suddenly appeared on the ground.
Vali's face beneath the White Dragon Emperor armor was full of confusion. What happened after the flame explosion? Why was he unharmed? Why were they suddenly here?
[It was time stop, Vali.]
Albion's voice dispelled his doubts. Vali himself hadn't realized what had happened, but the White Dragon Emperor within him was far more experienced.
He had recognized Raize's power.
"You…"
Vali looked at Raize, who was lowering his head and examining his own hands. If time had stopped, why hadn't he continued attacking? What exactly had he done during that frozen moment?
"Heh heh heh… haha, Vali, I really have to thank you!"
"What!?"
Vali hadn't figured out what Raize had done at all, so naturally he couldn't understand what that meant.
A satisfied, chilling smile spread across Raize's face. Under the shocked gazes of Vali and the distant spectators, an extremely familiar power fluctuation suddenly erupted from his back, and a pair of light wings identical to Vali's bloomed open.
Before Vali could react, Raize's wings flared brightly, and a sound Vali knew all too well rang out.
"Divide——!"
The halving power descended upon Vali, ruthlessly stripping away the energy he had taken from Raize, even reducing his own stamina and demonic power.
"Thanks for the power you gave me!"
Balance Breaker!
"[Diving Dividing Scale Mail]!!!"
Cool, silver armor formed over Raize's body, blue jewels embedded in the chest, gauntlets, and greaves. With the Balance Breaker armor equipped, Raize's power surged explosively.
His wings beat once, breaking the sound barrier as he turned into a silver flash and smashed Vali head-on.
Already shocked and drained by his own familiar power, Vali exposed an opening. Raize sent him flying like a meteor into the mountainside, where rock and earth exploded outward, burying Vali beneath the rubble.
Hovering in midair, Raize extended his palm toward Vali, his Divine Dividing glowing again.
"Divide—— Divide—— Divide—— Divide————!!"
Vast amounts of stamina and demonic power were ripped from Vali within the ruins, flooding into Raize's body. With endurance far surpassing Vali's, Raize absorbed it all without issue.
As if returning Vali's earlier "prince-style" bombardment in kind, Raize repaid him in the same way. The blue jewel on his chest flared brightly as he gathered the same magic attack Vali had used before in his hand.
Boom—boom—boom…
A rapid chain of explosions echoed. The stunned onlookers in the distance felt violent tremors under their feet and finally snapped back to reality.
Bikou stared at the unbelievable scene on the battlefield and exclaimed excitedly, "Why can that guy use Vali's power!? What's going on—what did he do!?"
The presence of two White Dragon Emperors on the battlefield left the spectators utterly shaken. It was as if their memories had skipped—after the fireball exploded, the battle had veered into an absurd one-sided domination by Raize.