’Don’t lose sight of the priority!’ Rias told himself while staving off Sila’s unrelenting attacks.

Vali was a threat indeed, but he wouldn’t allow her to derail him. Despite all the obstacles in his path, the only real threat here was one woman. Rias snapped his head in her direction.

Pherdanta was still breathing, and that singular notion filled him with dread. Only she had the attack power to kill him in a single blow, and Rias was not lost on what she was doing. She might have looked beaten – half-dead – but she was only buying time. The fuel for her technique was not mana, but stamina. Once she regained even a tiny bit of it, she would be on the offensive again.

Rias clicked his tongue and barely escaped a right hook from Sila in the skies. ’Damn it all!’

The Egg of the Future Dawn was a secondary conduit Aimon had created. It drew upon the powers of those caged inside it, analysing and developing similar abilities that Rias could access. He had cut down Elita, Uyuniya, and Aurolio using a slash similar to Pherdanta’s default impossible slash, and healed his injuries with powers that resembled Kintar’s Magecraft.

With Vali constantly pulling on his ownership of Aimon, the Egg of the Future Dawn’s ability to maintain its powers was fluctuating, and Rias couldn’t simply attack and kill her while she was down.

He could, however, strangle her with his bare hands until the life fled from her flesh, and there was nothing the Stark Troops surrounding her defensively could do about that.

’I might not be able to muster any absurd power with the Egg, but...’ Rias thought, and with a strenuous, invisible effort, he made the Egg tilt on its side. The massive structure careened, and suddenly, airflow, gravity, and even light adjusted to match its axis. This threw off Sila’s flight and everyone else’s balance.

...But not Rias’. He was zooming towards Pherdanta before the full consequences settled in, and by the time the Egg fixed on the new axis, he was within a mere four meters from Pherdanta.

Rias, with mastery of Undeath on par with that of a Lich, was a monstrous opponent. The Stark Troops felt that lesson get reiterated with what followed. Their armour attacked them, the budding inanimate soul within compelled to rebel by the necromancer. Even Gerriey fell victim to this. Her chest plate stabbed into her heart, and she felt everything grow cold.

Rias threw her aside as he reached Pherdanta, who remained on her knees, head hung low.

’NO!’ Gerriey cried.

...But then a deafening bang sent her and everyone flying off in different directions, Rias farther than the rest.

His teeth were gritted, his eyes reflecting disbelief. ’Another insufferable wench!’

He’d ignored them – Yuyui and Grim. He didn’t think anyone else adorning that armour studded with stars was more difficult to deal with than Pherdanta and Kintar... but he was mistaken.

The one kick from Yuyui had Rias’ side pulsating, even though he hadn’t taken any real damage. The green-haired girl was standing firmly before Pherdanta, who’d also unfortunately been sent flying by the impact. She spared a concerned look at her.

"She’s fine," said Grim, who used Granted Warp to appear by her side with the other Stark Troops. "I’m sensitive to life energy now. Hers is throbbing stronger than ever. She hasn’t given up."

"I hoped so," Yuyui said with relief.

"Don’t underestimate the Commander." Grim glared at Rias. The necromancer had thinly veiled fury marking his face. He was glaring back. An instant later, however, he dashed backwards, narrowly avoiding Sila’s harsh descent. Another pain in the ass.

"That who I think it is?" said Grim, narrowing his eyes at Sila.

"Sila. It must be," said Yuyui, and her Nitros burned all around her. It seemed weaker than usual, but there was a bright reason for it. She pointed her hand forward; the Eye of Moving was blinking in the palm.

Gerriey and the Stark Troops who had been with Pherdanta and Kintar appeared in front of the two Unlimited Stars, their armour sets stripped from them. (They had layers of clothing underneath, of course.) Yuyui had discerned how the Granted Armament was being weaponized against them by Rias.

Grim instructed his Stark Troops to heal Gerriey and the others using Granted Restoration. Most of them (Gerriey and the others) had already exhausted their charges of Granted Restoration earlier in the battle against the Order of the Trodden Rose. Of course, this meant that Grim and Yuyui’s Troops depleted all of their charges just now as well.

"You should have healed the Commander!" Gerriey cried as soon as she could muster breath in her lungs. "Why would you waste it on me?"

Grim considered her, as did Yuyui. Sighing, he looked back at Pherdanta.

"A lot has happened since we parted ways, but I’m going to go ahead and assume that she’s not idling by. She’s waiting for something, right?"

Gerriey also turned to Pherdanta, grimacing. She couldn’t figure it out. The Unlimited Stars were much more hardened than the rest. She couldn’t see pity in Grim’s eyes for the Commander. Care, trust, and love – yes – but not pity. He wouldn’t spare her a single charge of Granted Restoration to at least heal her molten skin.

"There...there was a plan. Kintar had suggested it, and it seemed like it would work, but then..." Gerriey said, grinding her teeth, and stole a glance at Kintar’s distant corpse. "I’m still holding onto hope."

Quickly, she explained it all to them.

Grim and Yuyui looked at each other and then surveilled the sands for Uyuniya, Kintar, Elita, and Aurolio.

It was quite the plan, but...

"We’ll keep holding on then," Yuyui said and spared a glance at Pherdanta, whom the Stark Troops had propped up to her knees. She then watched as Sila managed to grab Rias by the neck and slam him into a sand dune hundreds of meters away.

An instant later, there was a furious roar, and Amras blasted out, forcing the dune to dissipate and sending Sila shooting backwards. Serenity’s Free Marauder was unharmed, however. He stopped his momentum in the air and glared at a wheezing Rias.

"That’s our cue," said Yuyui, and she began marching forward.

Grim nodded and turned to one of his most trusted Stark Troops. "Ruge. Pay attention to the Commander. Whatever she needs, do it, and alert us if there’s a need."

"You got it," said the Stark Troop.

Grim nodded and joined Yuyui towards Rias. While he began activating the powers afforded by his Class as carefully as possible, Yuyui didn’t hold back. She activated them all.

The Eye of Moving.

The Inhuman Eye.

The Eye of Dispersal.

The Eye of the Visitor.

...And a new one – the fifth one – she’d acquired while locked down within Suzamete’s domain.