Vali wasn't listening. Or rather, he hadn't listened to a single word from the start.
With only a fragment of his faceplate remaining, Vali wiped the blood from his mouth. "Albion... this man is worth showing the Juggernaut Drive to, isn't he?"
Albion was horrified. "He is strong, yes, but Vali, you aren't in a state to use the Juggernaut Drive! Forcing it now will cause irreversible damage to your body!"
"If you're warning me that much, it means it's possible."
Vali ignored the dragon's plea. Long ago, when he mastered the Balance Breaker, Albion told him of a power beyond it—the Juggernaut Drive (Haryuu). It was a manifestation of the White Dragon Emperor's peak power, the descent of the Principle of Supremacy.
"I, who am about to awaken, am the Heavenly Dragon who has taken the principles of supremacy from God..."
The aura radiating from Vali began to shift.
Inside, Albion was screaming: "Vali! That power isn't yours to control yet! Do you want to end up like the previous White Dragon Emperors—nothing more than puppets for my power?!"
Albion knew Vali's dreams and had seen his hard work. That was why he would be so disappointed if Vali repeated the mistakes of his predecessors. Vali could use the power, but it was like overloading a car; it might carry the weight, but the steering would be shot.
Vali, however, turned a deaf ear, his magical aura skyrocketing. Even the barrier around the school began to vibrate violently under the pressure.
Azazel, Michael, and the others looked toward the White Dragon Emperor in shock. They sensed an all-too-familiar aura.
It was the raw, unbridled power of Albion.
When the Three Factions had united to cull the Two Heavenly Dragons, Azazel and Michael had been on the front lines. It had taken the combined might of their strongest warriors just to barely suppress them. They had won, but they knew that without the seal of the God of the Bible, no one could control those two.
"Vali, you idiot," Azazel muttered, clenching his fists.
As Vali's foster father, he knew exactly what state the boy was in. Vali's current will and body couldn't sustain the Juggernaut Drive for long. If he pushed it, he'd suffer permanent mental damage and become a slave to the power.
However, in that moment, everyone seemed to forget that Rhode was still there.
"Heads up. I'm about to use my ultimate move, too."
Rhode lowered his stance, shifting his center of gravity back. His right foot dug into the ground, sending dirt flying.
When Azazel heard Rhode shout those words, his mind immediately flashed back to the time Rhode had tricked him.
That's not an ultimate move! That's a total bluff!
"Close your eyes! Whatever his ultimate move is, it's not what you think!"
Azazel only had time to shout a warning before spinning around and covering his eyes with both hands. Feeling that wasn't enough, he unfurled his six pairs of black wings to wrap himself into a tight, light-proof cocoon.Yet even so, a phantom pain throbbed in his eyes.
"?"
Sirzechs, Michael, and the others looked at each other, baffled by Azazel's sudden, dramatic reaction.
Meanwhile, Vali had reached the penultimate line of his chant.
"I, who shall walk the path of dominance of the White Dragon—"
"I invite you to join—"
But before he could finish the sentence, Rhode launched himself into the air.
Golden light swirled and condensed around his ankle. His body straightened into a lethal, streamlined blur in mid-air, trailing a sharp, whistling sound as he plummeted. His right leg was encased in photon energy compressed to its absolute limit, diving down like a falling star.
This entire sequence of movements was completed in less than a second.
"Rider Kick!"
A trail of light shaped like a crucifix flashed along the trajectory of his dive. Before Vali could utter the final word of his incantation, Rhode's foot slammed into his chest. Vali's vision instantly spun as he was sent flying like a cannonball, his momentum unchecked as he was smashed toward the barrier.
BOOM!
His body collided violently with the barrier. The ground beneath shattered instantly, and the barrier itself became covered in a dense web of cracks.
The massive impact made Vali feel as if his internal organs had all shifted out of place. His eyes rolled back into his head, and the only thing left in his ears was a deafening, high-pitched ringing.
Furthermore, a massive burst of energy exploded within his chest. Intense pain surged through his entire body. After coughing up a spray of blood, he fell completely unconscious.
His chest plate was now entirely pulverized, and his ribcage was visibly sunken.
Rhode looked at the near-death Vali and decided against the idea of kicking him while he was down. He grabbed Vali by the back of his collar, dragged him off the ground, and flew toward the meeting room in the New School Building.
Thud!
Rhode dropped Vali onto the floor. A distinct sound of bone snapping echoed through the room; it seemed the drop had broken a few more of Vali's ribs. Even in his coma, Vali's face contorted sharply from the spike of pain.
"I didn't do that on purpose," Rhode said, spreading his hands with an utterly innocent expression. He gestured to everyone that Vali had simply "slipped" out of his hand, and this definitely wasn't a case of settling a private grudge.
"Vali... how is he?" Lavinia asked, staring worriedly at the blood-covered figure.
"He's fine. He won't die."
A dragon's vitality was the highest among all races, and Vali was no exception—especially with his half-Devil bloodline. A slightly caved-in chest was a minor issue. Of course, if he took one more hit from the outside, the grass on Vali's grave would be three meters high by next year.
This was only because Rhode had intentionally held back the power of the Rider Kick. If his posture had been more "standard," if the contact time had been longer, or if he had poured his full strength into the strike, the White Dragon Emperor would have been deleted from existence right then and there.
Still, to be safe, Rhode added, "Actually, I should probably give him some quick first aid."
With that, Rhode pulled a bottle of "Bio-brand Hand Sanitizer" from his storage space. He unscrewed the cap and poured a bit of the liquid onto Vali's blood-stained palm.
At that moment, something miraculous happened.
Vali's twisted fingers, his sunken chest, and various other wounds across his body began to knit back together at a speed visible to the naked eye. Though he didn't wake up, his breathing stabilized.
Rhode then deactivated the Balance Breaker of his Longinus. The violet-gold armor receded like a tide, pulling back into the purple cross on his chest until the cross itself vanished as well.
What Rhode failed to notice, however, were the expressions of Sirzechs and Serafall. The envy and longing in their eyes were practically tangible.
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High School DxD : Reincarnated into the Multiverse, but it's High School DxD (320 Chapters – Ongoing)
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