Azazel commanded everyone to protect the couple, as they were the key to this battle and moments later, they almost annihilated the army of Grim Reapers. With only a few of the army remaining, Siegfried, Pluto, and Georg couldn't help but make a hard face.
Aside from that, the small but powerful barrier that protected the last anchor and endured multiple blasts from Issei, was now on the verge of collapse. The battle is almost over, with Gremory Team winning.
However, a hole in the sky opened and a new intruder entered the fray. When they looked up, it was Shalba Beelzebub, who they thought was killed by Issei during his Juggernaut Drive. He had actually survived by sacrificing Ophis's snakes that were within him at that time.
But from the looks of it, even Siegfried and Georg didn't expect his arrival. Shalba then pulled out a boy from his robe and showed it to everyone. It was the current host of the Annihilation Maker whom they'd met at Kyoto.
Shalba then activated a weird magic on the boy, Leonardo, forcing him into his Balance Breaker, creating numerous gigantic monsters that were, according to the crazed Shalba, designed to annihilate the Devils of the Underworld.
After the monsters had manifested, Shalba tossed Leonardo away and cast teleportation magic, transferring them to different parts of the Underworld. Of course, Azazel and the rest couldn't let this happen and tried attacking the gigantic monsters, but they could only scratch their skin despite their all-out attacks.
While they were doing so, Seigfried and Georg retrieved the still screaming Leonardo and went to tell Pluto to escape with them. However, they finally noticed that Pluto, along with the remaining Grim Reapers, had already disappeared and figured out that Hades was the one helping Shalba from the shadows.
While the Gremory Team was busy trying to stop the monsters that would certainly cause massive amounts of casualties if transferred, Shalba used this chance to capture Ophis with magic rope. Due to being unstable, Ophis couldn't break the rope that was specially designed for her.
The monsters successfully were transferred and Ophis was captured. They totally lost this round. But with the space crumbling, they would be able to transfer out too and join the effort against the monsters.
But Issei decided to stay behind and retrieve Ophis. However, before anyone else could reject his decision, two hands landed on each of his shoulders, "Go back with the rest. We'll take care of it." Akeno and Irina proposed.
Issei wanted to argue with them that he was better for the job, but before he could speak out, he noticed the cold glimmer from their eyes, 'T-they're angry!?'
Swallowing a mouthful of saliva, Issei had no choice but to nod.
Rias and Azazel also noticed their weird behavior but it was obvious they wanted to take Ophis back, so after a bit of hesitation, the group transferred out, leaving Akeno and Irina to themselves.
While space was crumbling and slowly revealing the Dimensional Gap, Akeno turned to Irina with a smile, "What's this? And here I thought that you'd be going with them."
Irina, in response, snorted at her, "Don't look down on me! Seeing Ophis like that, of course I wouldn't be able to take it! Besides, if you went alone? How were you going to deal with that crazy bastard? You're tired and couldn't possibly defeat him!"
"Well, I'll ask you to hand 'that' over," Akeno answered.
Irina sighed, "Figures. But we're both in this together. I can't let you hog all the spotlight."
The two of them then flew towards the crazy Shalba, "Hmm? A disgusting hybrid and a hateful bird... Color me surprised. And here I thought it would be Vali, or at least the Sekiryuutei." His face then began to warp in rage, "But instead, you two lower beings came after me!? Don't look down on me!!!" Releasing his aura, Akeno and Irina were pushed back. Just with that, they figured that they wouldn't be able to fight him head-on.
But even then, Akeno and Irina were still calm, "I'm sorry to disappoint you, but you have to return us our precious friend over there." Akeno said while pointing at Ophis which made the latter wide eye.
Hearing this, Shalba covered his face, "Fu...Fufu...Fuhahahahahaha! You!? A friend of this dirty being!? That's the biggest joke I've ever heard!"
"Of course you wouldn't be able to understand that, you friendless old Devil! You're just a reject of society! Do you also chant 'Normies go explode' in your dark and dirty room?" replied Irina.
"You...!!!" Shalba was enraged. However, the two girls didn't let him make a move further and took out an orb each from their personal spaces. While Akeno took out a blue orb brimming with an enormous amount of Mana, Irina took out a green orb filled with natural Ki.
Seeing this, Shalba became cautious and asked, "...What is that?"
But the girls ignored him and faced Ophis instead, "Ophis-chan, you can endure this, right?"
As one of the people staying in Kisuke's shop and secret underground base, Ophis understood what they meant and said, "...Easy."
Then without a word, Akeno and Irina threw their orbs towards Shalba and flew back as fast as they could.
Due to suddenness and how mysterious the orbs were, Shalba failed to react immediately and the orbs collided in front of him, releasing the energy within them and creating a gigantic explosion, "!!!?"
The real identity of those orbs were Kisuke's batteries that he used to gather pure Mana and natural Ki. along with pure Soul Power. After his disappearance, the gathering device couldn't be maintained and it automatically stopped functioning so that there wouldn't be any accidents.
In Serafall's exploration of the hideout, she was able to discover this and gave the batteries containing Mana and Ki to both Akeno and Irina while taking care of the last orb which contained the Soul Power herself.
She also told them the incompatibilities of mixing Mana and Ki and told them how to use them as a massive bomb in case of an emergency. Akeno and Irina tried to use it earlier, but they recalled Serafall's warning that the amount of energy contained in these orbs was enormous, and using it as a bomb haphazardly may cause more destruction to their comrades, so they decided against it.
But now, the situation was different. The space wasn't cramped anymore, and they could run away from the resulting explosion. Aside from that, Ophis confirmed that she would be able to endure the damage.
While being engulfed by the explosion, Shalba cursed his fate, "W-Wha!!! You bitches!!!" Realizing that he won't be able to escape alive, he took out two needles covered in blood and injected all of his Demonic Power into them before throwing them towards the fleeing girls, "I'll take you down with me!!!"
Shalba was vaporized but the needles were able to travel and hit the girls in their backs. The next second, both of them started falling from the sky and while losing consciousness, they both felt the aura coming from their backs and muttered, "...S-Samael's curse?"
The crumbling space was engulfed by the explosion, leaving nothing behind.
.
.
.
Two days later, Ophis was smacking the red ground she was sitting on with her tiny hands when she felt a familiar aura emerging from the distance and looked towards it, "Hat?"
A few moments later, a critically injured white being landed beside her and greeted her with his creepy voice, "Yo~, Ophis-chan~. It's been a while~. Looks like a lot of things happened."
It was the return of the most lovable shopkeeper.
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Editors:
28th00: So, they took Issei's place, huh? Wonder if Gasper will 'awaken' to his powers if Issei is still alive? Thinking Akeno and Irina are dead could have similar effects… Phis-chama's ride has appeared, the 'red ground' is probably a bit annoyed at being constantly hit by a tiny, untable dragon loli too! Big enough batteries are just multi-purpose bombs! That's just common sense~!