Kisuke had already gotten what he wanted to know and ignored Athena's incessant questions to instead face Vasco. Although it was revealed to the whole world that he could use a weapon that could only be activated by Divine Power, instead of making things clear, it only further fogged everyone's perception of his true abilities.
As the two of them took their stances, no further words were needed and both of them dashed at each other.
Vasco's greatsword looked like a one-handed sword due to his build and it wasn't the slightest inferior to the speed of Kisuke's katana. As they were about to hit each other's blade, Vasco anticipated the shock and braced himself accordingly. However, the moment they met, Vasco's Durandall II went through Kisuke's katana and slashed through him, "!?"
Vasco immediately figured out that it was an afterimage, but he had already took this into account so the palm of his free hand turned towards his back along with his head and a wave of pure Holy Power emerged from his hand before he could even see Kisuke from the corner of his eyes, attempting to slice his back.
The beam of light went through Kisuke's stomach and came out of his back. Vasco saw Kisuke's expression change and also felt the resistance so he was sure it wasn't an afterimage. However, something felt weird about the situation and he immediately turned his head back to the front, only to see Kisuke stepping on his sword with a grin on his face and his katana about to reach his neck.
Vasco hurriedly pulled all the Holy Power he could manage in that instant and invested everything on his neck, bolstering its defense to an unbelievable level. Kisuke's katana met Vasco's neck brimming with Holy Power and as if a metal-to-metal clash just happened, a loud clang was heard throughout the whole battlefield.
Even then, Vasco felt that something was still wrong as Kisuke's strike was weaker than he expected. Nonetheless, he can't forever be on the defensive, so he turned his sword upward and put his strength into the arm that was holding it. But before he could swipe it up to cut Kisuke, Vasco felt something pierce through the skin on his back and had no signs of stopping.
For the first time, Vasco felt the threat of death in this match and instantly jumped forward before the foreign object could pierce through his heart.
Ten meters or so away, Vasco stopped and turned around to see the 'Kisuke' he pierced through the stomach had the blade of a katana sticking out from its chest. Finally, the Gigai couldn't maintain its form and popped like a balloon, revealing the real Kisuke behind it thrusting his blade.
As for the Gigai that was stepping on Vasco's sword, it also popped when it received damage from Vasco passing through it.
Vasco breathed a sigh of relief. But when he saw Kisuke sheathing his katana in the scabbard that had appeared out of nowhere, he shuddered and thought, 'I have to dodge it!' Unfortunately for him, he was standing right where Kisuke had been standing earlier and a Magic Circle suddenly appeared beneath his feet before chains made out of Magic Power instantly wrapped around his legs.
The chains weren't strong enough to contain someone like Vasco and could only hold him for a second. However, that one second was enough for Vasco to forgo dodging and do his best to defend since it was already too late.
Vasco gritted his teeth and raised his Durandal II horizontally and transferred as much Holy Power in it as possible.
"Hitotsume: Nadegiri (The First: Killing Stroke)." Kisuke softly muttered as he pulled his blade out.
After that, there was only silence. Even the other three battles happening around the battlefield stopped to see what was going on.
While Kisuke was putting his blade back to its sheath, the overwhelming amount of Holy Power around Vasco also began retracting.
Kisuke turned to his side and Vasco started chuckling, "So all of that was to create an opportunity for that one single strike... Magnificent."
From his left shoulder until his right flank, a single cut emerged from Vasco's large body and a large amount of blood spurted out from it. However, the most surprising thing is that the Durandall II was cut cleanly in half along with his body, and when it's split half dropped to the ground, Vasco began turning into golden moats of light, signaling the retiring system taking over.
Vasco was eliminated.
As if on cue, Rias and Gasper were also already at the limit of their stamina and their transformation was undone. While they had some of the most destructive firepower, they also had the worst fuel consumption. With Vasco out of the scene and the rest of her teammates busy with their own battles, Rias already knew that this was it.
But until the end, throughout the whole match, nothing went according to her plan. Before she could declare her surrender, Kisuke beat her to it by raising his hand first and saying, "I surrender!"
"W-what!?"
Not just Rias, but everyone on the field almost couldn't believe what they'd just heard. On the outside, the audience that was still cheering for the amazing duel, was instantly silenced by his declaration. In spite of that, the retiring system didn't have a will of its own and after hearing the 'command' it ended the match and began ejecting everyone in the field.
"What's the meaning of this?" Crom calmly asked Athena.
Athena shook her head with a dry smile, "I don't know. None of us truly knows what he's thinking. But I can assure you that this isn't him mocking you or your teammates. Everything is probably for his own benefit."
Crom sighed but the rage he was bottling up started to evaporate, "I see. I hope we can face each other on the battlefield again. I also want a rematch with him. It's my loss this time."
"The next battlefield is probably nearer than you think but this time, we'll probably be on the same side."
"Are you talking about the Alliance of Hell?"
Athena shook her head but didn't elaborate her answer, 'It's just a guess at this point.'
While leaving Crom confused, both of them disappeared.
Yuuto and Genshirou are standing side by side while branding the scenery in their minds, "This... I assume it's for a good reason?" Yuuto muttered.
Genshirou deactivated his Balance Breaker and shrugged his shoulders, "Most probably, but I don't know him well enough to be sure. Aside from those who are close to him, he's a big enigma."
"I just hope this isn't one of his pranks. If it is, it's just so tasteless that it's not even infuriating, just disrespectful."
"If we're going to use my time with him as a metric, I don't think that's the case."
"If you say so, then I'll believe you."
Soon enough, the two of them also disappeared.
Rias was about to shout her grievances at him for stepping on her pride, but before she could say anything, Kisuke turned and waved at her, "I'll formally apologize later to you and everyone on your team. Either way, this match was our defeat, even if I didn't admit defeat."
Editors:
28th00: I wonder how badly he rigged those bets this time? Well, he was already planning on dropping out, since there wasn't really any more reason to continue, but man, everyone is gonna feel jilted!