Line.4 The Revenge Match Begins!
The day of the match—.
Our [Sekiryuutei of Blazing Truth] team arrived at the Tournament venue which was located in the Fallen Angels’ Underworld territory, [Armaros Colosseum]. The round stadium was named after a certain Cadre — the Cadre of the Grigori who was a master of anti-magic. Enormous statues of Armaros stood on both sides of the main entrance, and it felt as though they could suddenly cry ‘Gahahahahaha! Gri — gori —’ at any moment.
We had already lined up inside the arena, and the game was about to begin. All members of the [Sekiryuutei of Blazing Truth] team and the [Sona Sitri] team had already assembled in the centre of the stadium ring. Both teams stood in a line facing each other, waiting for that moment to arrive—. The Fallen Angel responsible for the live broadcast shouted into their microphone,
<<Welcome, everyone! A battle of the [Azazel Cup] Tournament is about to begin today! Today’s matchup is a battle between the [Sekiryuutei of Blazing Truth] team which everyone has had their eyes on, and the [Sona Sitri] team which belongs to Maou Leviathan’s younger sister, and one of the [Rookies Four]! Now, it’s time for us to decide on the rules for this game!>>
A variety of rulesets were spun around on the gigantic stadium screen like a high-speed roulette wheel. Shortly afterward, the ruleset was determined. What appeared on the screen was — [One Day Long War]! In response, not only our team, but also the Sitri team frowned. It was my first time playing under these rules…but it was actually this one! The announcer bellowed,
<<The decided ruleset is [One Day Long War]! Unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable! This is big! As the name suggests, this game type is a drawn-out battle that takes an entire day!>>
Indeed, this ruleset was the exact opposite of the [Lightning Fast] ruleset that had been used in the previous match between Sairaorg-san and Cao Cao! It was long and drawn-out — the rules enforced a full-day time limit during which we would traverse a vast area and take down our opponents. Due to the size of the prepared field, the ability to search and locate an opponent became important, and it was a test of each player’s stamina and endurance. …However, in professional Rating Games, there were also rulesets which involved multi-day battles…so in a multitude of ways, Rating Games were all about stamina and patience.
<<Ahem — to all audience members and those watching from their televisions, due to the adoption of this rule, a long time is—.>>
While the announcer explained the rules to the audience, I locked eyes with Sona-senpai who stood before me. …Since we were both ranked as [King], Sona-senpai stood directly in front of me. Sona-senpai candidly said to me,
“A year ago, I never would have imagined that the Ise-kun whom Rias introduced me to would now be a [King], standing before me with his own team — congratulations on coming this far.”
—.
…Her generous welcome to me as a High-Class Devil made me feel so overjoyed that tears nearly overflowed from my eyes…but I held them in. Sona-senpai’s expression changed into one filled with competitive spirit as she declared to me,
“Since you’re standing here before me, I have to defeat you in order to achieve our goals.”
Her words were a calm and simple declaration of war. Facing her, I countered with
“—We’ll be the ones to win.”
I also turned to Saji, and we both stared deeply into each other’s eyes.
“Saji, let’s finish our fight from a year ago.”
“Yeah, that’s exactly what I want, Hyoudou.”
After confirming each other’s intent, and while both teams were high on morale, the announcer declared,
<<Very well, it’s time to teleport to the field! After teleportation, both teams will have access to the field’s terrain, so please use that map to become familiar with the topography. Now—.>>
Our bodies were enveloped in a shroud of light for the teleportation.
<<Begin the teleportation!>>
Amidst the gradually intensifying teleportation light, I looked over at Ravel. Ravel had a faint smile — because the chosen ruleset was something that she had ‘sought’. I recalled the battle plan that we had previously deliberated with Ravel. At the time, Ravel had presented the Sitri team’s battle record for us to view.
[This is the Sitri team’s battle record…have you all noticed anything?]
After reading through the record, Rossweisse-san immediately seemed to notice something, and she expressed her view.
[I see, so when pit against teams possessing high offensive firepower, their win rate is not as good.]
—.
I see, so they’re more likely to lose against teams with high offensive power.
Ravel said,
[Yes, that is a major weakness of the Sitri team. In fact, they do not perform well when faced with teams that possess high offensive power and a solid strategy. After all, the level of power that they’re capable of dealing with has limits.]
After listening to Ravel say that, Irina revealed an expression of surprise.
[Eh? So you’re saying that they’re unlikely to defeat a team like us that relies on power? I thought that their team specialised in counterattacks and various other techniques to deal with opponents that rely on power…isn’t that why Rias-san and the others struggled last time?]
Ravel shook her head in response to Irina’s line of thought.
[That game was only a challenging struggle because the destruction of the field would result in a point penalty. Naturally, our opponents will also prepare various tactics to subvert our power…but only up to a certain extent. On our side, we have the fierce offensive power of Ise-sama and Bina-sama. A direct assault would blow them away.]
Ravel exposed a fearless smile as she said,
[Naturally, I also have to think about how to deal with any rules which may limit damage to the field, but if there are no restrictions in that regard — I’ll plan for total destruction.]
At the time, she exuded a somewhat creepy aura. When we lost to Dulio’s team…no, when we lost to Rudiger Rosenkreutz-san — Ravel gained various things, and she also cast aside various things.
So, after being transported to the battlefield…and having studied and confirmed the field’s map — Ravel’s eyes became filled with resolute determination.
Opening
After being transported to their destination, Sona Sitri immediately verified the state of the field. The Sitri team appeared to be located at the peak of a towering cliff. In Rating Games, it was common for teams to be transported to such locations which provided a vantage point. Sona personally disliked starting battles in such positions. After all, the more prominent their position, the easier it was for them to become a target. However, Rating Games were a form of entertainment. It was the intent of the game operators to place players in a location that was clearly visible to audience members, making it an inevitable hurdle.
Sona had a cursory look at the field map which was displayed on a table. The field was a vast plateau. There were rivers and forests, while mountain ranges stood in the northeast and southwest. The field had been divided into numerous sections according to the grid of a chess board. And so, according to the chess grid, they were currently located in the position of E8. In contrast, it appeared as though Hyoudou Issei’s team had been transported to D1. It was a rather typical set-up for the starting locations. Many of the combat plans that they had prepared in advance could probably be applied directly.
According to the information that they had been provided with, it would take nearly an hour for them to fly from one end to the opposite end — it went to show just how vast the field was. In preparation for a drawn-out battle, Sona wanted to decide on a rest base, and also capture the recovery points that should’ve been prepared for the game as soon as possible. Since the opposing side had their own means of healing, it meant that they would almost certainly move to block off any means of recovery for them. In that case, they could lay traps there according to the combat plans that they had come up with—.
Just at that moment, Saji and the werewolf Loup Garou both seemed to notice something, and they directed their attention toward the south. Both of Saji’s eyes transformed into the red eyes of Vritra, informing Sona that the Dragon King had sensed something. Just as Sona and her comrades were still in doubt—.
“Hurry up and get out of here!”
“Those guys…! Are they insane!?”
Saji and Loup Garou shouted. The expressions of both Saji and Loup Garou turned pale. Realising the abnormality of the situation, Sona took the map from the table and quickly evacuated.
“Move faster!”
Encouraged by Saji’s urging, everyone escaped from that location with all their might, despite the doubts that they held. In an instant — something like a flash of light surged across from the southern end—. What appeared before Sona and the others was something with power and scale beyond all normal comprehension — a vicious torrent of black and red! It seemed that this overwhelming and anomalous destructive power had been aimed at their previous location, fired in a straight line all the way from south to north! After the release of that gargantuan cannon blast as a result of Dragon Deification — all that remained was a barren wasteland. The vast plateau had been flattened from south to north, the forests and rivers had been completely vaporised, and all that remained was a barren surface which had been exposed by a single blast.
…Hyoudou Issei’s team had once again demonstrated their ability to wreak destruction on the entire field, just like they did when they previously faced the [Lightning] team. The cannon blast that had been fired from the southern end reached the top of the northern end, obliterating everything that was once in the middle. Witnessing such a move, the [Queen] Shinra Tsubaki shuddered.
“I truly did not expect that their first move would be an unhesitant release of a Dragon Deity’s cannon blast…”
Sona also muttered,
“…I had expected that they would use this cannon blast at an early stage under certain rulesets…but this is still far too bold.”
In order to gain an immediate understanding of the damage caused, Sona ordered her [Bishop] Kusaka to activate the masks of her Artificial Sacred Gear. Kusaka scattered a vast number of masks from her location, and they began to examine the situation of the field. Shortly afterwards, she presented a bewildering truth.
“President. Hyoudou-kun’s cannon blast has destroyed the field…but it seems that the damage was not limited to just a straight line.”
Kusaka explained the situation that she had been able to observe from the sky using the laid-out map. She picked up a pen and began to draw lines—. The lines that she drew indicated that there had in fact been three cannon blasts from the south. Firstly, the linear area in columns D and E had almost been wiped clean by that bombardment. In addition, there were also traces of cannon blasts from the south to the northeast and northwest. In other words, their opponent had launched a bombardment from the south in three directions. Hyoudou Issei had most likely directed two of his four cannons in Dragon Deification form toward the north, while the other two were aimed at the northeast and northwest when he fired.
“So this means that there are three lines on the field?”
Looking at the map, Nimura Ruruko traced her eyes over the path of the bombardments.
“However, it’s truly astounding that they have the ability to reach one end of the field from the other with a cannon blast. It’s a harsh reminder that we’re dealing with a God-class opponent.”
Yura Tsubasa’s expression was dead serious. Indeed, a cannon blast like that was an extreme threat. They had also believed that it was the thing that they had to be the most wary about with their opponent. Therefore, they had made numerous guesses on the timing with which it would be used…. Since it had been fired off right at the beginning, they were not aware of how long it would take before energy could be replenished for a second blast…they did not have any information on the current state of Hyoudou Issei’s Dragon Deification. There had been no terrorist attacks recently, which meant that [DxD] was essentially inactive, and thus no information on his capabilities had been shared. During the previous matches, perhaps due to the compatibility of opponents he was matched with, he had rarely used Dragon Deification, so they had no point of reference, especially since it was the first time that they were playing such a long match. In any case, it was impossible for him to immediately fire another cannon blast like that at present. At the very least, they were certain that he had not reached such a level with Dragon Deification. Sona began to think about the reason why their opponents had made such a move at the beginning of the game—
—The trajectory of the first discharge should highlight the reason for their attack…
Sona looked at the map and focused on the lines which marked the cannon blast’s trajectory. After considering the part of the current map that had been obliterated into nothingness — Sona arrived at a shocking conclusion.
“……!”
…What a terrifying girl — Ravel Phoenix. Rias integrates overwhelming firepower into her own strategies in order to counter her opponent’s strategies. On the other hand, Ravel Phoenix uses overwhelming firepower to……!
After gaining a slight understanding of Ravel’s ideology, Sona murmured,
“It looks like Ravel-san never planned to fight tactically against us from the beginning.”
[—!]
Sona’s revelation shocked all members of her team. The team members had all believed that Ravel Phoenix and Sona were the same kind of Devils who would follow a combat plan to corner their opponents. Precisely because of that, they believed that Ravel was the core of their opponent’s team. Sona stared at the map as she said,
“She intends to completely block our plans with overwhelming firepower. In other words, she decided to create terrain that is favourable to their side.”
Their opponent’s cannon blast had generated several favourable conditions for them. Kusaka suddenly cried,
“President! A large swarm of bats are flying here from the south!”
—!
…Those should be Elmenhilde Karnstein’s bats. Those are — used to survey enemy positions…no, there has to be more to it than that!
Sona took a deep breath and tried to stay calm.
……Their first move was that powerful.
—Ravel Phoenix has not yet used Dragon Deification in an offensive capacity.
Sona was once again reminded of the decisive difference between Rias’ peerage and the Sekiryuutei’s peerage. If it was Rias, she would’ve saved a trump card like Dragon Deification for a critical moment in order to use it as a finishing move. Ravel was different. To her, a trump card was only one of many cards in her hand to be played. In order to take control of a situation, she would not hesitate to use a trump card even at the beginning.
…It seems like tricks and petty tactics won’t have much effect on Ravel Phoenix. Our opponents have not come here to ‘defeat’ us.
—They have come to ‘destroy’ us.
By following that premise, Sona began to think of a strategy to break through their immediate peril—.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login