While the skirmish between Silence and Azazel's group was going on, the heroes watched from the sidelines. They did not take any action, preferring to remain ordinary spectators. When the fight ended on a tragic note for the demons, Georg moved the fallen and the others from his space on the leader's orders. Now only the three dragons, the heroes, and the kyuubi hostage remained in this created world.
— I'm surprised to see you here, — Cao Cao said to the uninvited guests. — To what do I owe the attention of Ophis herself and her friends? You usually never interfere in our affairs, Boss.
— We're here to take the fox.
— Have you really taken a liking to Yasaka after meeting her just once? — the teenager asked, frowning.
— You're wrong. We're here because of me, — Silence joined the conversation. — It so happened that I owed Azazel a favor, and he asked me to help him get it back, — he pointed at the nine—tailed kutsine standing in a daze. — Otherwise, you wouldn't have even met us.
— So, acting on the request of Governor Grigori, you still attacked a group of demons under his protection and killed one of them? — the young man asked in bewilderment, but received only a shrug in response. — It doesn't matter. In any case, I can't hand it over to you yet. We need it to fulfill the wish of our great leader.
— Pointless. In your current state, none of you will be able to harm him. The most you can do is pierce a few scales, — Ouroboros gave her verdict.
— I still insist on my own. Otherwise, everything we have already done will be a waste of time and effort.
— Hmm... — the dragon god thought. She had no desire to treat her loyal group of subordinates badly, but on the other hand, there was the good name of her beloved. — I'll give you a chance.
— A chance?
— Yes. — Ophis snapped her fingers and Yasaka appeared next to her, wrapped in a small snake. — She'll stay with me for now, and you'll fight Silence and Hitori. If you can defeat them, I'll help your plan, but you'll do it somewhere else, far from Japan. I don't want my home to be destroyed because of Red's irritation.
— Fight them? — He was skeptical. If there were no doubts about Sai's strength, he didn't expect much from a schoolgirl from yesterday. — Are you sure?
— Yes. You don't have to worry, I won't attack.
— Then... fine. We agree.
— Finally! Hitori, — the young man turned to the excited girl, but there was no fear in her eyes, only anticipation and expectation, — strike Rock in this hole!
— YES! — She had wanted to test her strength and training results for a long time. And now she had her first and most likely last chance to demonstrate her balance breaker. Soon Vritra will be released, and the artifact will disappear, becoming her power. — Balance Breaker: Prison Dragon Aria.
Initially, her balance breaker only added protection due to armor and created weapons, but after Goto's decision to become stronger, Ophis, together with Vritra, influenced the mechanism, bringing it to almost destruction. However, this allowed the dragon king to manifest other abilities, in addition to the "deprivation field".
Light leather armor appeared on the girl's body, and a metal helmet in the shape of a dragon adorned her head. Hitori drew inspiration from her friend's favorite game, with the only exception that her face was open. An impressive guitar appeared in the clawed gloves. The body, stylized as the face of a black dragon, which had sharp edges and two pointed horns. From the upper fangs of the mouth, thin blue energy lines-strings came out along the entire neck. If this had been before, then everything would have ended there, but now the changes affected the guitarist's surroundings. On the ground, small black lights lit up around the girl's perimeter. They were both on the ground and in the air, forming a kind of stage for their mistress. Two separate balls of flame lit up on the tips of the horned helmet, completing the spectacular picture.
— Welcome to my concert, heroes, — a vigorous rhythm rang out around the area as the girl began her solo performance. — Enjoy!
— Strange, — muttered the leader of the heroes, seeing the show unfolding before him. — She should only have a mechanism with one property of —limitation—, but now I see several more.
— I understand the black flame, — Georg answered him, — but what else?
— The guitar strings are the —thread of absorption—. Something similar was demonstrated by that demon Sitri.
— Damn, this is already dangerous! What should we do?
— You and Siegfried will attack the dragon, and Jeanne, Heracles and Leonardo will confront the girl. I will stay aside for now and watch.
— Okay.
— Have you talked enough? — Sai asked sarcastically, having previously watched the negotiations of the people. — Let's begin the fun!
— With pleasure.
Siegfried drew one of his swords, closing in on the dragon. Unlike last time, the youth did not block the attack with his hand, choosing to create a dagger.
— What the?!
— Why can't I summon my mechanism?!
Hearing the cries of surprise from his comrades, the swordsman tried to use his own double crit, but nothing happened, causing him to frown.
— Ha-ha! Do you really think Hitori plays the guitar out of boredom? — Seeing the confusion on their faces, Silence laughed. — As long as you are at her concert, you will not be able to escape the restrictions. She currently prohibits the use of Sacred Gears, although — his gaze fell on the created monsters that the white—haired boy had set on the guitarist — her strength is not enough against the Longinus.
— Hm! Do you think the lack of mechanisms will help her deal with the others? — the guy's other hand reached for his strongest sword. — My comrades are strong in their own right.
— You'll be surprised. Whoops! — Sai jumped back sharply, avoiding the vertical swing. — I won't fall for such a trick a second time.
— Excellent instincts, — Siegfried praised his opponent with a smile. — Gram is the strongest demonic sword with the aspect of a "dragon slayer".
— It's not about instincts — I just see, — the dragon pointed to his eyes, where a blue magic circle burned around his amber pupils, — that your blade has a similar aura to the sword that wounded me. If I hadn't already set my sights on Ascalon, I would have taken Gram for myself.
At that time, the first wave of monsters was completely burned in the black flames of Vritra. Hitori continued her game without missing a beat. The girl had been training under the supervision of dragons for a long time, so such trifles could not shake her concentration.
— I do not understand. Why did not you take Ascalon now, if you decided to get it?
— Ha-ha-ha! — the young man's lips stretched into a sly bloodthirsty smile. — After such a wonderful parting gift, this loser will definitely want revenge. I am sure that at our next meeting he will attack. And then I will take everything that is due to me.
Leonardo easily recreated the new monsters, but this time they had some immunity to fire, making their destruction longer. In addition, this time a couple of heroes were moving among them. Jeanne, having exposed the rapier from the scabbard on her belt, was going to stab the annoying musician, and Hercules planned to use his fists and enormous physical strength.
— What an unpleasant person.
— I am a dragon! Dragons are greedy, selfish and extremely vindictive. We shouldn't be nice to others, — Silence interrupted his impulse, because his friend had problems. He hadn't stopped watching Hitori for a second, and now she needed his help. — Let's end our game here.
Sai didn't dodge anymore. When the swordsman launched another attack, the dragon parried the regular sword with a dagger, closing in on the enemy. With his other hand, he grabbed the wrist where Siegfried held Gram. Unfortunately, this blade easily cut not only the dragon's flesh, but also its aura, from which the young man created his weapons and armor. This unexpected discovery almost cost him his hand, if the dragon hadn't managed to redirect the cut dagger towards the swordsman's hand in time. Without his anti—dragon sword, the teenager posed no threat to Silence.
— A-a-ah! — there was a cracking of bones and the sound of a blade falling to the ground.
— Bye-bye, — turning around in his place, the young man first knocked the hero down with his tail, and then, before he reached the ground, kicked him into the air. Glancing at the sword lying at his feet, he decided to take the toy as a trophy. — Aren't you tired of it?
The dragon addressed his question to the magician who had been attacking him all this time. Each time, he sent a new spell.
— You are a very talented person, since you managed to learn so much different magic at your age. However, having become a jack of all trades, you can learn a lot, but at an average level. You do not have an infinite supply of time. It would be better to focus on one direction, becoming an expert in it. Then you would have more opportunities in your arsenal.
The duo decided that they had won, since they managed to close the distance between them, but they rejoiced ahead of time — the girl could stand up for herself. Hitori had known from the start that she had a weak point — close combat — and naturally trained to correct this shortcoming. Having chosen the most dangerous of the approaching pair, the girl used another of Vritra's abilities, imprisoning Jeanne in the Prison of Fire Flames. On her "stage", such a trick could easily be demonstrated without preparation.
— Shut up! — the lack of results greatly upset the teenager. — What do you even know? I am a genius, a descendant of Georg Faust.
Ignoring the fate of his comrade, Heracles finally reached the pink-haired schoolgirl. With a victorious smile, he struck her with all his strength, but it was his self-confidence that played a cruel joke on the guy. Hitori's lips twisted into a grin, the same one she had seen many times on Sai's face when she deftly dodged. The next moment, the girl habitually grabbed the guitar neck with both hands and struck with a sharp edge, as if it were not a musical instrument, but a real axe. The defeated hero was also locked in the "prison", but in his place came new monsters, already completely immune to the flame of Vritra, thereby forcing Goto to use the guitar and the threads of absorption.
— Seriously? What a funny coincidence, — the dragon created its own magic circles, aiming at the owner of the "Creator of Destruction". The fog enveloped Leonardo, protecting. — Hm! So, first we need to find out which of us is better. The descendant of the legendary wizard, who received his magic from the equally legendary devil, or the personal student of this very demon.
— Mephistopheles teaches you magic?!
— And not only that, — the young man grinned at him. — Thanks to his help, we recently managed to achieve a new level of my eyes, — after Sai kept his eyelids closed for a few seconds, he demonstrated other eyes. This time, a magic circle appeared not only around the pupil, but also inside it. A blue star crossed the vertical pupil and runes on each edge of the figure. — Now I'm going to rename my eyes. The name Mephisto is too tasteless. I like "Alpha Stigma" better. Yes, this name sounds better.
— Enough with the nonsense! — the teenager could no longer tolerate the chatter of his arrogant opponent. Dozens of different magic appeared in the air around him, including the magic of other races. — Now you will feel the power of my magic!
— Ha! And you see the ability of Alpha Stigma to copy, — now his eyes could not only see the flows of energy and magic, but also allow him to instantly understand and apply it himself. As if in mockery, twice as many magic circles appeared around the dragon, half of which completely replicated the opponent's magic. The rest was Silence's attempt to improve the sorcery by adding or combining fragments from different schools of magic. — A truly unfair ability, isn't it? Ha-ha-ha!
The sky lit up with a kaleidoscope of various flashes from the collision of hundreds of elemental projectiles. However, some of the experimental projectiles that were still effective and did not disappear halfway flew straight at the source of Hitori's problems. The monsters could not withstand the sudden attack, and the survivors were finished off by the guitarist herself. The magical duel also reached a dead end, or rather, Georg was slowly being pushed back. The need to divide attention between protecting Leonardo and attacking the dragon negatively affected the speed of creating magic.
— Enough! You win, — Cao Cao stood in front of Leonardo, protecting him from the barrage of magic and the approaching Hitori. — We surrender.
—But Cao Cao!
— Shut up, Georg. Put aside your wounded pride and look at the battlefield — three of his comrades who specialized in close combat were incapacitated, himself and the youngest member were suppressed by Silence. — Further fighting will only add unnecessary injuries. It is better to stop here.
However, Cao Cao knew that everything would have changed with his participation. With Balance Breaker, he could seal the pink—haired girl's abilities, and the young dragon could be easily dealt with by teamwork. However, the young man did not know how Ophis would react to this. He was almost certain that the execution of that demoness was an evil act of revenge against the Sekiryutei for injuring her boyfriend. And the attack on the blue—haired girl in the beginning seemed like a performance or revenge.
— Have you decided to surrender? — Ouroboros clarified when no one else took any action. — Then we'll take the fox and leave. We still have some time to walk around the area.
— Yes, see you later, boss. — "Wait until we have the Dragon Eater in our hands. Then I'll prove the superiority of humans."
Having lost interest in the surrendered heroes, the group of dragons left this dimension. It was time to end this little adventure and return to rest. Deciding not to waste time, Sai teleported Yasaka to the fallen man's room, having first destroyed the control over the woman's mind so that Azazel would not have any complaints about the duty he had performed.