"Let's see what Fair Judgement says."
The man smiled, pointing at Shoya with his palm.
The judgement scales and the woman appeared behind him. Ragnarok grinned.
[System overload.]
"What?!"
[Mana supplied has surpassed the vessel's limits. Singularity, Fair Judgement, cannot be utilised whilst borrowing mana.]
"Tch."
The fallen angel clicked his tongue.
"Who would've though—"
As Ragnarok talked to himself, he saw a shadow in the corner of his eye.
With a metal clang, Shoya's daggers clashed with Ragnarok's black wing.
(He got behind me without me noticing? In this form, my mana sense should be even sharper.)
He repelled the boy with his wing. Shoya created a shadow spear and launched it at Ragnarok, following up with another.
Ragnarok used his wings to block the spears.
"Hm?"
Shoya disappeared from his sight.
He turned, but he still could not see Shoya.
(Where did he go? I don't sense him. Did he somehow erase his presence?)
That was not it.
It was just that with Lilith's Sigil, Shoya was able to control his mana better. Much better that he could make it like he was never there.
"Don't even try it."
He said, catching Erebus, in katana form, with his palm.
(He's definitely here.)
Ragnarok thought, looking at Shoya, attempting to cut through.
(So, then, what is it? He has a presence now...)
"Focus on me."
The Emperor said, garbing his fist in mana. He struck Ragnarok with it, barely leaving a mark.
"You insolent—"
With a large crash, the wall of the room collapsed, revealing a large black demon. It looked to be in the shape of a dog. It looked bruised and battered with a hole through its stomach.
The strangest thing of all was its three heads. It roared savagely while running towards the two. It looked to be chasing something.
Shoya landed and peered over at the demon. So did Ragnarok.
"Holy shit! Shoya! Shoya! Help!"
The girl running hastily from the three-headed dog was Kuroha.
"Kuro?!"
Shoya was slightly shocked while Ragnarok seemed annoyed.
"You couldn't take a single girl out, Asmodeus, and now, you lost control?! I'll have to kill you since you'll just get in my way, Asmodeus. Perhaps, Cerberus fits you better now."
As Kuroha approached Shoya, she pulled him by his collar and continued running, however, the demon dog's focus had changed.
It was focused on the fallen angel.
It gaped its mouth, in an attempt to swallow Ragnarok, he flew out of its range.
Cerberus responded by firing green flames. Ragnarok dispersed them with slight difficulty. He clicked his tongue, annoyed.
"Why does it have to be now of all times that you decide to rampage? Killing you will waste mana but I have no choice."
He said, laying his hand out in front of him.
He raised it above his head.
"Die, you nuisance."
His voice slightly resonated as large quantities of blood converged and changed shape. It formed an incredibly large spear—it was around the size of the Wyvern and just as thick as the Wyvern's neck. The spearhead resembled two fangs.
The red tattoos on his body glowed and flowed.
Cerberus used all three heads to combine three green-flamed fireballs into a single one. It fired.
Ragnarok swung his arm.
"Oi, Kuro, what're you—"
"Take cover! Their spells are about to clash!"
Kuro warned. They both jumped into the opposite tunnel exit as Ragnarok yelled his spell name.
"Gáe Bulg!"
The spells clashed, creating a large flash before a red explosion. It rattled the entire cave.
The size of the explosion was the whole cave, causing smoke to plunge into the tunnels.
Kuro and Shoya coughed while trying to see who had won the exchange.
After a little while, the smoke began to clear up.
"What..."
"Unbelievable..."
Cerberus was merely a mound of black flesh in the middle of the room. Its three heads and backside had been completely punctured by the spear, Gáe Bulg. Soon, Ragnarok came into view too.
He had bruises and wounds all over his body, most of all, he was tired and had used half of his mana casting that spell.
He glared at the two within the tunnel.
"You two vermin are still running around, even after that?"
It seems like the aftermath of the two attacks colliding affected Ragnarok too.
"Who's he?"
"Not important."
Shoya replied, scowling at the fallen angel.
"We need to render him unable to fight."
"We have to take him down..."
Kuro thought it was okay to kill him but she closed her mouth when she saw Shoya's concentrated expression.
(Seeing his eyes glow like that is kind of scary...)
She thought, wincing.
"Let's go."
Shoya ran toward Ragnarok without warning.
The cat girl had not been expecting that.
"Wait, Shoya!"
She shouted.
He did not listen and so she followed him from behind.
(Why is he being so impulsive? He's never like this. Perhaps, that guy has something important to Shoya.)
"You still think you can—"
Suddenly, Ragnarok lost balance in the air, he slowly shook around before landing on the ground, unstable. His wings seemed fairly weak.
"Why are you not functioning?!"
Then, he noticed that the base of the wings had been burnt. Most likely from Cerberus' flame attack.
The man countered Shoya's silent surprise attack. He smacked his arm away and struck him in the face.
As Shoya lost balance, Kuroha pushed him up slightly and leapt over him, giving Ragnarok a guillotine kick.
"Gah!"
Ragnarok smoothly redirected the kick while using his Yuna to create blood blades on his forearm, piercing Kuroha's calf.
"You bitch!"
She shouted, grabbing his shoulder and using him as a stable hold to swing with her other leg.
"That won't—!"
As the fallen angel opened his mouth, his vision became a blur and he dropped to one knee.
"What..."
Kuroha managed to get away from him. However, she couldn't walk from her injury.
"Kuroha!"
Shoya shouted, worried.
"I'm fine."
She replied, completely juxtaposing the seriousness of her injury.
"You can fix it, right?"
Kuroha seemed to be talking to herself.
Ragnarok was grovelling and holding his head. After Kuroha's attack, he became shaken.
"Her attack... Was it her power? No, her alignment?"
He muttered.
[An alignment... I haven't heard that reference for a while.]
A resonating voice said.
A black halo formed above Kuroha's head. Her ears elongated and lines like whiskers appeared on her cheeks.
[An alignment of neutral is rare. Against someone of pure evil like yourself, it's incredibly useful.]
The girl said.
Ragnarok attacked the girl, full force, with a punch. Kuroha just managed to block it.
[It even works against Emperors and Mortal Sins. I'll destroy you!]
"Try it, girl!"