’What did that woman do to me?’ Rias thought again, but he didn’t stop.

Thousands of clumped balls of Null Life Essence erupted into disruptive explosions on him, but he warped out of the way and chased after Baddan, who was bouncing all around the Egg at terrifying speeds. He caught up in a blink, sucked in a breath, and breathed dark fire from his lips that melted the Sky Watcher in an instant. That was also Kintar’s move.

When Baddan used Granted Restoration, Rias grabbed him by the furs on his head, but before he could do anything else, Yuyui came speeding from the distance and blasted him away with a kick.

She and Baddan immediately retreated afterwards, while Rias recovered and chased after them.

’Like I’d lose to mortals who can barely stay alive at this pace,’ he thought, and with a thought, the Egg was suddenly filled with, not air, but a substance a trillion times thicker than water.

...! 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Suddenly, the Unlimited Stars were stuck.

The unending slashes made meals out of them, and Rias added himself to the mix. Right when Grim and Baddan used Granted Restoration, he targeted the inanimate souls in their Granted Star Armament and compelled them to release all the Null Life Essence they used as fuel for the Starmations.

Just like that, two Unlimited Stars had lost their chance to regenerate. They were ripped to shreds in an instant.

Yuyui was even unluckier. When she revived with her Inhuman Eye, Rias flashed over to her and caught her by the neck. Yuyui’s spine shattered. Her body had a furious glow by now, like burning wood being stoked by the wind.

"In the end, that swordswoman and the Mage were the best you had to offer," he said to her as the slashes died down. He didn’t have infinite resources. "They spoke highly about themselves, about your Order, and their resolve to avenge someone I killed back then. I’ll tell you the same thing I told them: your ambitions die when you throw sentiment into the mix. You should have come at me bearing individual ideas rather than a collective one based on vengeance."

He squeezed Yuyui’s neck and plucked out her Inhuman Eye. Doing that wouldn’t erase the ability, he knew, not for a successor of the will of the Order of the Trodden Rose, but it was satisfying. Of course, there was a way to permanently kill someone who could revive from death over and over again.

"Nigerra spoke highly of you, you know?" Rias said. "It’s because of you that she sought me and Fulgardt, begging us to take her with us after we left Aigas. What exactly did you teach her? Subservience? Yet another crippling ideal to potential. Better it dies with you. With all you."

He lit her with Undeath essence. Her soul couldn’t escape the crisp, charring heat of Undeath energy targeting it from all sides. It was unlike Death’s impartial judgement. After she was dead, Rias would do the same with Baddan and Grim’s remains. Then he would dismantle what remained of the surprisingly resilient Stagnant Parameters erected around Pherdanta by the Stark Troops and burn her too.

As for Savast...

’Don’t stop!’ reminded the Unlimited Star to his dying peers.

All this wasn’t enough to kill them. It couldn’t have been worse than the Impossible Task. If the Unlimited Stars weren’t adaptable, then what was the point?

Yuyui’s mind suddenly felt free and boundless. She didn’t realize it then, but this was how Savast felt while in his gaseous form. Her neurons fired again and again and again. Just like that, she felt like she was back in the Timemould Mirror Box, fighting a hundred of herself all at once. When she evolved, so did they. They had been smarter, stronger, and more adaptable. Yet, she survived. They knew her every move, her every thought, but she survived and killed thousands of them!

So how could she fail to beat one Rias?

Almost simultaneously, the output from her Class – which was currently a mutation – rose even further.

’Grim...?’

Yuyui warped from Rias’ grip with her Eye of Moving. The raging Undeath energy on her dissipated, but she was still burning. She didn’t mind, though. She couldn’t even feel it. She was sprinting across the air once more, breaking her body.

Rias was unfazed. He snaked towards her, and reached for her when he caught up.

...But the brittle sensation of Yuyui’s skin that he thought he felt when he grabbed her neck, vanished in the next instant. She was gone. He sensed her behind him, but before he could turn...

BAM!

"ARRRGH!" Rias gritted his teeth, his eyes bulging as the agony pulsated through his body. What was it that hit him? Why did it feel like some fist-sized singularity had rammed into his back at a speed even he hadn’t touched upon yet?

When he finally turned, Rias found Yuyui, grinning at him with blood-soaked teeth, her right arm fragmenting to dust. She had punched him, but...

Furious, he reached for her again, but like last time, her existence grew thin when his hand closed around her neck.

BAM!

The same blow from before. This time, it didn’t strike his body...but his soul, blowing off a small chunk of it. Rias hissed from the excruciating pain, but he finally caught Yuyui; not with his hands, but with a slash that split her in two when she ’appeared’ behind him!

’Whatever trick you’re using, you’re still predictable!’

Rias snapped to his opponent, itching to finish her off.

...But he was met with a cruel surprise.

Instead of a charred body split in half, he found himself face to face with a fully healed Yuyui... decked in her Granted Star Armament, which had long been lost during her fight with the women earlier.

Rias was dumbfounded.

He couldn’t have known how absurdly Yuyui was employing the Eye of Moving and Inhumane eye right then, nor could he have reacted to how she had her hand pointed at his head, ready to fire...

"Ko Aggrante!"

The blast was outrageous, but it didn’t finish the job. Rias’ flesh was melted, the bones broken and charred, but he remained, flaring with intensity and shock.

...But his surprise had a long way to go before it was stifled.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Baddan was screaming at the top of his lungs some distance away on the sands. His flesh was almost done mending itself... with Null Life Essence. Two great disks were above his head, churning, but not in the way they had been churning before. This time, they didn’t summon any beasts.

Indeed, Baddan was feeling the same boundlessness to his mind that Yuyui had felt, and the same rise in output to his mutation (his Class). Was the latter Grim’s doing?

It could only be so.

Grim was also rising from the edge of extinction, but not as a man with white hair and red eyes. No.

Rias snapped in the Unlimited Star’s direction, scowling.

He felt the pressure of a king, writhing in the majesty of both death and time.