Plan C
How on earth was I supposed to stop that?
A year ago, Leo had once soloed Raizaka during the Mock Siege Battle.
A desperate gambit to turn a cornered match completely on its head.
At level 9, wrapped in countless attack and defense buffs, she had fought tooth and nail for five grueling minutes before cutting Raizaka down and carrying her team to victory.
Everyone called Leo the very best, but she herself considered that fight the worst she'd ever endured.
A battle where I had to pour out absolutely everything I had.
Her whole body had been left in ruins.
She'd needed to burn through everything — beyond her spirits, past every last resource she could scrape together — just to manage a mutual kill.
The Raizaka of that time had truly been a god, a wall that seemed impossible to climb.
Some might say that was only natural.
But it couldn't be allowed to stand.
"Haaah..."
The Leo of right now refuses to accept that!
KeEEEEEEE—!
Wingless now, Raizaka howled in agony and rampaged wildly across the battlefield.
Recalling the blade of light dozens of times her own size, Leo sucked in a deep breath.
A Mythic-grade spirit bound by the Unique trait was, without question, extremely difficult to control.
No wonder she'd had it in her possession for six months and never once managed to wield it.
Which is exactly why it's worth mastering.
If not for Lily's teaching, borrowing that power would have been impossible.
KWAAAACK...!
Those small, adorable hands curled into fists.
An utterly monstrous strength that belonged nowhere near such a delicate frame.
"This is SO cool!"
"...!"
In a blink, Leo repositioned behind Raizaka and swung that tiny little fist.
To any ordinary person ignorant of her power, it would have looked like a light tap — barely a touch.
Honestly, it was so halfhearted it hardly qualified as an attack at all...
CRUNCH.
The result was anything but.
Scales shattered.
Murky blood sprayed as the light fused with Leo mercilessly ravaged the wingless colossus.
The dragon's body burst apart from the inside out, and its Dragon Heart — endlessly cycling through regeneration — failed to repel the invading light and simply broke down.
Raizaka shrieked and unleashed her titanic power.
WWUUUMMM...
A colossal eruption of violent power bearing the very name of Ruination.
That overwhelming violence bore down on everyone around it and—
"?!"
Leo was no longer there.
She hadn't teleported, nor blasted away at high speed.
Once Ruination began, escape was impossible in the first place, and movement skills at medium and long range were restricted as well.
Meaning: there was simply no evasive option to be had.
And yet Leo was, without a doubt, gone from that spot.
"Leo's secret technique."
The corner of Leo's adorable mouth curled into a sly grin as she reappeared.
The sword of light was back in her hand.
"Pop into the Spirit Realm — and pop back out!"
FWOOSH!
KA-BOOOM!
Chaos Incarnate, Supreme Dragon Raizaka, has been slain!
The Red Team's Core has been destroyed!
Slayer — Leo.
Destroyer — Lily Elbrit.
"...Huh?"
"What the hell was that?"
Chukachip scowled as she glared at her frozen spear.
It hadn't stopped by her own will.
Her team had been eliminated — and with it, she'd lost her influence over this arena.
Her body was already dissolving into blue motes of light.
Vlack, too, had checked the global announcement and dispelled Lunar Ward, the defensive skill he'd kept active throughout the entire fight.
"...Whoa! Thought I was dead for sure."
"See you next round. Then I'll actually kill you."
"Heh. Go get some rest."
"...If it weren't for that defense, this would've been over ages ago."
As Chukachip ground her teeth and muttered with half her body already gone, Vlack let out a dry chuckle.
"I'm the one defending, after all. Even on even footing, honestly, I can't say how it would've gone."
No matter how strong Choco was, she hadn't been this strong.
It was a strength on an entirely different dimension from anything he had anticipated or witnessed before.
If he hadn't committed himself purely to defense from the very start, it might genuinely have ended right then and there, just as Choco had said.
Maybe taking down Lily isn't just empty talk after all.
Vlack watched the spot where Chukachip had vanished and tended to his badly battered body.
Lily's victory was certainly good news — but there was bad news too.
No. "Bad news" didn't even begin to cover it.
Chaos Incarnate, Supreme Dragon Raizaka, has been slain!
Slayer — Leo.
How on earth was anyone supposed to stop that?
"A fierce struggle unfolding in Round 1 of the Mock Siege Battle! Only two teams remain standing!"
"The clash between Lily's team and Chukachip's team came earlier than anyone expected. If you look at this replay, Redberry, Lily, and Chukachip each charged straight into enemy formation the moment the match began — that was the opening flashpoint."
"That's right. Both sides clearly came in with a plan to finish their opponents early, but there's something wonderfully strange about the fact that each of them attacked the very team that was attacking them."
Rakl turned his gaze toward Leo's castle and continued.
"But perhaps as a consequence of that massive clash? Leo's team is already averaging above level 7, and Leo herself — the one who took down Raizaka — has hit level 9. On top of that, she's secured the Blessing of the Extreme Dragon."
"Wow... is this what they call profiting off the fisherman's catch? Through a completely unforeseen chain of events, Leo's team has become absurdly powerful. Who is supposed to stop them?!"
There was no denying it — Leo's team had grown far stronger than the surviving members of Lily's.
Compared to Lily's team and Chukachip's team, the gap in rank and raw skill was considerable — especially for Dino, whose power dropped sharply without Iron, Fracion, and Leo anchoring him.
But they had already more than closed that gap entirely.
With the Blessing of the Extreme Dragon stacked on top, every one of them might as well have been a Grand General in their own right.
The bigger problem was that Leo had now become the undisputed overlord of this Mock Siege.
Could anyone actually stop Leo, armored in all those buffs and blessings?
Lily's fallen team had revived.
Only now was a proper 4v4 assembled — but their position was still undeniably the worse one.
Luna shook her head.
"I actually think Lily's team still has a real shot. They took down Chukachip's team and picked up a decent amount of experience and buffs in the process, and above all — Lily's team has Vlack AND Lily. Two 'Grand General'-tier players."
"Ah! That's right! Vlack was slated to be their Grand General too, wasn't he?"
"He was. And what's more, Vlack — while still holding the rank of 'General' — successfully held off 'Grand General' Chukachip. That alone carries enormous weight."
They're going to win.
"I believe Lily's team has every chance of taking this."
After shattering the Red Team's Core, the first thing I did was regroup with my team.
Rather than waste time repairing his wrecked body, Devil chose to die and respawn quickly.
Redberry had fallen fighting Raguel and would be reviving shortly.
─ ...So I survived, and we're currently down two lives.
"So effectively zero level-ups, then."
─ That's right. Choco raised an absolute ruckus over there.
While I'd been fighting, a brutal battle had raged at our own castle as well.
Judging purely by results, nobody had been eliminated — but nobody had leveled up either.
Our average level sat at a generous 5.
And that was with the Core destruction reward factored in.
The one silver lining: our resource-gathering soldiers hadn't died, so our 'buffs' hadn't fallen behind. That was about it.
─ The enemy will be at least two or three levels above that. Leo will naturally be even higher than that."
"......"
─ Honestly, rather than attacking, I'd suggest we defend and—
"No. Dragging this out works against us."
Can't let them have any more time to grow.
That was probably what Leo's team was thinking about us — but the same held true for our side.
If both teams kept growing, the one who'd hit their cap first was, naturally, them.
And with the 'destructive' buff that was the Blessing of the Extreme Dragon in play, a defensive siege was a poor choice.
I'll say it again and again: no matter how strong I am, the Core is never strong.
"I'll go. Vlack, you come with me."
─ ...Pardon? Then who's holding the defense?"
Both Grand Generals leaving at once.
That would leave Redberry and Devil — one life each — hard-pressed to hold back the incoming tide.
And realistically speaking, the two of them weren't particularly strong to begin with.
I smiled faintly.
"It's fine. I've already got everything prepared."
It was time to bring out Plan C.