I have to hit back with everything I’ve got! Leon thought.

His golden Aura merged with pure white holiness. As all four Stigmata flared brilliantly, Leon’s whole body glowed with constellations gathering around his blade.

The Stigma of the Guardian recognized the “enemy of the world” and poured in more power. The Stigma of the Purifier met the exogod and kindled a holy flame. The Stigma of the Prayer strengthened his resolve, and the Stigma of the Observer fixed its gaze on the enemy lingering beyond the darkness.

“Sun Sword, Crimson Lotus, First Form: Prominence.”

However, even drawing on every Stigma wasn’t enough. Prominence along the blade compressed until it was under two meters long, its density growing unbearably tight. Leon had never compressed power like this before. His body strength lagged far behind; muscle fibers and capillaries tore, and his joints creaked under the strain.

“Gah... AAAH!”

With a roar that sounded more like a death cry, Leon pulled at his already numb arm. The Fivefold Annihilation Blows was nearly on top of him. At this range, he could not use the Four Stars of Vast Heavens; his skill still lacked the speed to activate it. That left him only three strokes.

“Chained Secret Technique: Three Stars in Heaven’s Jar.”

As a brilliant plume of platinum starlight erupted, Leon wondered, Did... it work?

Barely holding himself upright, he blinked. The starlight fed by Prominence burned many times brighter than usual and was hard to control. In a delicate situation, it might have been a catastrophic mistake, but here it proved effective.

Light and darkness collided in a shattering roar. Platinum and pitch entwined and swallowed one another. Anyone watching might call it the clash of good and evil. Sound vanished, as the air itself had long since boiled away.

Anna and Dominic watched from behind Leon, and Karen from his shadow. Whoever won this exchange would tip the scales decisively in their favor.

Leon, however, was getting an ominous feeling about his own performance.

That wasn’t enough. I’ve gotta use one of the artifacts that Master Grania gave me to stop him, or else...

He took several deep breaths to clear his vision. The Asura arms amplified Nekator far beyond expectations. Leon had guessed five times the previous output, but the reality exceeded that, more like seven times. Even exhausted, the destructive force could not be fully offset.

Perhaps that was why, when the two techniques perfectly cancelled each other out, Leon was more stunned than Nekator.

A fight that should have been a guaranteed loss ended in a draw. Three Stars in Heaven’s Jar was not as destructive as Four Stars of Vast Heavens and shouldn't have matched the Fivefold Annihilation, yet somehow, they neutralized each other. The sudden void froze both warriors for a beat.

On the other hand, Anna, Dominic, and Karen saw their chance. They had been holding their breath for this opening. All three Aura Blades flared at once. Anna charged first, thrusting her staff. Space itself bent strangely from the tip.

“It’s been ages since I’ve seen you in action, Anna the Shepherd!” Nekator shouted with a grin on his face when he finally saw Anna and the warping space closing in on him like a giant hand.

Anna’s binding was the sort that even the Asura arms could not shred. The Cardinal, nicknamed “Shepherd,” specialized in spatial manipulation. She could reverse any phenomenon that had flow, so controlling space was natural for her.

Before Nekator could shrug off the restraint, Dominic’s Aura walls and Karen’s shadow chains enveloped him.

“That should hold for five minutes,” Dominic said. “The three of you should use that time to regroup.”

“Leon, are you alright? If you push yourself like before...” Karen rushed over to check him before Dominic finished speaking. Fortunately, no lasting wounds remained. The power he had burned to the bone was already recovering.

Then, Leon gasped. He had been wondering how the Three Stars in Heaven’s Jar, which was several steps below Nekator’s strike, had managed to cancel the Fivefold Annihilation Blows. Leon reached a simple conclusion, and El-Cid confirmed it.

—Grafting Asura arms ended up being a poison. In direct combat, the matchup didn’t matter much, but now that he’s fused with an exodimensional being, he’s extremely vulnerable to Holy Power and sacred spells.

So his output rose, but now he has a weakness.

—Every strength has a price. This power was not earned through proper means, so it must come with a cost.

Leon saw a way through. A bolt of realization shot through his mind.

Until now, they had been unable to overwhelm Nekator simply because he had no weaknesses. His Destruction Technique united offense and defense in one, his physical ability was monstrous, and even his martial arts—though heavily attack-oriented—had reached the realm of Naturality.

Even four against one, all they could manage was a war of attrition. But now, after accepting the exogod’s power and gaining Grandmaster-level destructive force, Nekator had lost the flawlessness of a true warrior.

That meant there was a chance of victory.

Leon’s Holy Sword could inflict mortal damage, and the two Cardinals—masters of sacred spells far stronger than any Aura Blade—were the perfect complement. They understood his explanation almost at once.

“Indeed, it makes sense,” Anna said.

“In that case, we should prepare several sacred spells suited for combat against people,” Dominic added.

“Then I’ll focus on supporting you, Leon. My attacks haven’t been doing much anyway,” Karen grumbled. “This is exactly why I hate exolaw users.”

Anna and Dominic began preparing their rites while Karen complained under her breath that she didn’t have the chance to shine in this battle.

The five-minute reprieve vanished quickly.

With a crackle and pop, the triple restraint—formed of Aura Blades and distorted space—twisted. Like a wolf raging inside a leather sack, the warped air bulged and then burst apart. Then, a pitch-black arm shot through. The Asura arm tore open the sealed space and dragged their master back into the world.

“Finished your little strategy meeting?” Nekator asked calmly as he stepped out, his crimson eyes gleaming as he looked from one opponent to the next.

That was the signal. The two Cardinals invoked their prepared sacred spells. Their red mozzettas flared as holy light burst forth.

“O eyes of the Goddess, who watches over sun and moon, over all that lives.”

“To turn away from sin is evil; to face it is virtue. Do not fear its ugliness, for even in the darkest shadow, the Goddess’s love reaches still.”

“Nowhere can sin be hidden, nowhere shall mercy remain. Only those who have walked the righteous path may stand unashamed before Her.”

“Deceive not yourself, nor others, nor the heavens. A lie to escape a moment will one day return as a blood-stained blade.”

Their voices, clear and resonant, wove together in solemn harmony. Realizing their intent too late, Nekator reached out, but Leon was already there.

With a clash, the Asura arms were knocked aside. The instant the black limb brushed against the Holy Sword, it faltered, wavering unsteadily. Nekator’s brows twitched in disbelief.

He hadn’t known. The body he had thought invincible now bore a fatal weakness.

“Tch. I knew this would annoy me.”

As he grumbled, the holy light of the completed rituals struck him. High-Tier Holy Laws—Sanctuary and Purity—came crashing down.

“Ghh... GRAAAH!”

All five arms burst into flame. The Holy Flame burned not flesh but sin itself, scorching the soul. Even the toughest bodies had no defense against the agony that came from within.

The darkness around the Asura arms thinned, their power leaking away. They weren’t quite destroyed, but they were noticeably weakened.

Now!

Leon’s eyes flashed as he hurled himself forward. Propelled by the Icarus Wing, his body blurred faster than sound, his sword cutting Nekator diagonally across the chest.

But even with that much effort, Nekator’s counterpunch threw him back. Even the searing pain in his soul couldn’t suppress the bishop’s instincts.

“GrahaaaAAAH!”

No—he was even more feral now. The pain devoured his sanity, leaving only primal violence. The monster raised all three pairs of arms.

He’s coming.

Sensing the oncoming destruction, Leon moved to meet it head-on.

“Destruction Technique, Third Form: Fivefold Annihilation Blows.”

“Grand Chariot, Chained Secret Technique: Three Stars in Heaven’s Jar.”

Light and darkness clashed once more, shaking heaven and earth until the clouds above were torn to shreds. The ground, carved by the shockwave, had become a vast crater. The six-armed evil and the hero with the Holy Sword charged each other at the center of the blast.

A single missed punch sounded like thunder splitting the sky. Even knowing that taking a single hit would mean instant death, Leon didn’t hesitate. Instead, he stepped in even closer, carving fresh wounds into Nekator’s body.

The parts not overtaken by the Asura arms still had the same absurd durability as before. Understanding this, Leon struck only at the joints linking the five added limbs to Nekator’s torso.

Feels like I’m dancing on a blade...

Blood and tears streaked from his eyes before he noticed. His focus was so absolute that the world lost its color. Through the gray haze, he dodged blows that could shatter fortresses—each punch shot out faster than sight, yet he slipped between them without being grazed.

—You’ve entered a state of selflessness? In this situation? Hah! You act all calm, but you’ve got guts the size of a mountain.

El-Cid’s amused voice faded into the background as Leon kept his eyes fixed on the enemy drawing closer. Nekator did the same. Bloodshot eyes locked on Leon, instinct recognizing him as the greatest threat. Even the pain burning through his soul couldn’t stop him; he was already adapting.

“Dammit, hah...! It’s way too hot!”

Regaining a sliver of clarity, Nekator’s attacks became more precise. That was how a real duel between masters went—each move deciding the next hundred.

“Destruction Technique, First Form: Heaven-Collapsing Five Blows.”

The Asura arms unfolded, unleashing five surges of darkness. Though weaker in concentration than the Third Form, no technique was better for sweeping away everything in range. To make things better for Nekator and worse for Leon, Leon had no option to dodge.

“Dirty bastard!” Leon gritted his teeth

Despite Nekator’s weekend state, the two Cardinals couldn’t block that attack. If they dodged, they’d step out of the sacred spells’ effective range, nullifying their power. It meant that Leon had to block it himself.

“Sun Sword, Crimson Lotus, Second Form: Flare.”

His second skill ignited before him. Sanctified by the Stigmata, the flames became holy fire, blazing so brightly that even the onrushing darkness of the Heaven-Collapsing Five Blows was halted.

However, Nekator had been watching closely. To a genius, repetition was revelation—every great move used became another weakness exposed. The instant Leon’s body paused from the effort, Nekator seized the opening.

“Destruction Technique, Fourth Form....”

The Asura arms disrupted one’s image of a normal human. Nekator had six arms in total, including the remaining right arm, the one that had never been severed. From it, a punch burst forth like a flash of black lightning.

“...Execution Blow.”

A condensed strike of pure ruin was aimed at Leon’s stomach—until the ground beneath him collapsed, throwing him off. The blast tore through the Flare and vanished into empty air, failing to reach Leon.

Nekator looked down to see his own feet swallowed by a pool of shadow like quicksand.

“Pathetic trick!”

With a snarl, the shadow shattered. Once Nekator cloaked himself in destructive energy, Karen could no longer interfere; he was her natural counter. That was why she never fought him head-on. She only waited for the moment he forgot her and struck from his blind spot again.

“I’m done playing with your tricks. I’ll end this in one blow.”

His presence swelled, the air warping around him. The force that had already been mountainous grew even heavier. The four of them exchanged grim looks.

All arms of the Asura flared with destructive energy. Leon was, once again, the first to sense it.

“He’s going for a finishing move! Get ready!” he shouted to the rest of his team.

It would be a single, absolute strike. The power gathering around Nekator dwarfed even the Heaven-Collapsing and Annihilation forms, making them seem like mere fireflies before the moon.

The group moved instantly, just as planned, as Nekator roared, “Die! Every last one of you!” 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

The second pillar of the Evil Order unleashed his ultimate technique.

“Destruction Technique, Sixth Form: Six Realms Annihilation.