Can It Even be called War? IX

'In the end, the reason for this weakness to be so blatant and ignored . . . Is probably because this Sirzechs Lucifer has never crossed paths with an enemy that could exploit it. All of his foes were simply overwhelmed by the pure raw might and destructive potential of this special energy.'

'He is suffering because he lacks opponents powerful enough to challenge him in any way.' The King of Knights came to her conclusion.

WIth that in mind, Artoria's next step was to test out Sirzechs' limits. She was confident in her ability to defeat him but she was amongst the top 5 strongest in terms of combat prowess in the entirety of Jun's group.

Pushing the crimson haired Satan to the brink however, would allow her to evaluate his current prowess as well as theorize future areas of improvement. This in turn would allow the planners in the group to organize matchups in a much more efficient manner.

For example, Jack was a bad matchup with Falbium where she could at most run around in relative safety but had no real means to effectively counterattack in any way. Maybe From Hell combined with Natural Born Killers might be able to pose so threat but it probably would not be enough.

Sweeping aside extraneous thoughts, the King of Knights refocused, the only reason she could even have such thoughts was Sirzechs' confusion due to being so swiftly handled and her own fast thinking speed.

Speaking of the crimson haired Satan, he was indeed reeling with shock. As the strongest devil, never had he though one of Jun's group could so easily battle him in his true form.

Worse still, though he did not want to believe it, Sirzechs was almost sure Jun was indeed the strongest in his group and if so the devils were in a really bad position.

Furthermore, as a war veteran, he could tell his opponent was more interested in testing him than actually winning right away. Considering they were pretty much just stalling before he, Ajuka and Grayfia made their moves, it made perfect sense that they were not in a rush.

Sirzechs on the other hand, wanted to finish things quickly but, seeing that would not be happening regardless of his will, the crimson haired Satan turned his mind towards obtaining information about his opponents.

'With conflict having broken out, they should no longer be interested in counseling their strength as much and, considering my current opponent seems like the straightforward type, if she speaks out, it will likely be the truth.' Sirzechs thought to himself with impressive judgement.

If only he had said great judgement when he was deciding whether or not to mess with Jun . . .

"Are you one of Haikami Jun's top fighters?" He directly question.

Artoria raised an eyebrow.

"It's not like you would lose anything by saying it . . . Or would you?" Sirzechs questioned.

It was a loaded question of course, laced with a bit of provocation.

'If I don't answer, our fighting potential remains a mystery and he'll figure we have even more plans and nefarious plots going on. Giving an answer when an enemy questions you like this never feels very good but in this situation, considering there is no intention of making them an actual enemy to eliminate . . .'

"All out fights to decide rankings in our group are not common. But I would believe myself to be around top five, maybe four." Artoria honestly replied.

'In other words, there is at least one other individual that is at least on par with her, enough to make her position ambiguous in addition to three individuals who are clearly superior in combat strength . . . If I'm struggling with their top four . . . Things are not looking good.' Sirzechs thought to himself.

He wanted to try and probe further but the King of Knights was no longer interested. She gave him a freebie already, noe it was time for the stress testing to continue.

Artoria lower her posture with her holy sword to the side and pointed behind her, redying herself for a swift charge.

Sirzechs immediately saw talking was no longer and option and rose to the skies while intensifying the waves of the power of destruction emanating from him, laying waste to the land below.

'It barely costs any extra energy and it might slow her down or at least wear her out a bit.' Was the extent of his expectations.

Despite seeing this, Artoria charged anyway. Every member of Jun's group was provided with a means of flight for those that lacked it as it could constitute a weakness in a flyer filled DxD Verse and combining this with the propulsion from her Mana Burst, the King of Knights rocketed into the air like a silver blue missile, leaving a golden trail behind.

Sirzechs was ready this time though and unleashed a massive torrent of his power of destruction towards her.

Artoria's next move however, was beyond expectations.

The crimson haired Satan prepared for a dash away, an agile dodge that would allow his opponent to press the attack or a massive attack to cancel out his.

Instead, the King of Knights called upon Rhongomyniad's power without summoning its physical form, creating a spiralling golden cone of energy in front her, effortlessly piercing through the torrent of reddish black energy even as the golden light seemed to be rapidly eroded.

At the same time, she charged up her holy sword during the final approach and let loose with a much more powerful attack than ever before, drowning Sirzechs in what looked to be a sea of golden light.

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P.a.t.r.e.o.n is officially up!

The link is: https://www.p.a.t.r.e.o.n.com/lusoba without the extra dots of course.

You'll get to read up to FOUR week ahead, a full month, but I'll still post here.

There's also my other novel Archon of DanMachi, do check it out!

I would greatly appreciate any support since this is going to be my breadwinner.