Rias Gremory watched the battlefield, a knot forming in her stomach.
She had expected to control the flow of the battle: her peerage had fought together long enough to overwhelm most opponents with teamwork alone.
Rafsan Barbatos stood alone.
It should have been enough.
It wasn’t.
A blast ripped across the arena.
Towers sheared apart, stone fragments rained, and the heat forced Rias to raise a destruction barrier.
The impact ran through her arms and shoulders.
No matter what they tried, Rafsan stayed one step ahead.
Kiba left an opening on his left.
Akeno was a fraction too late.
Koneko pressed too aggressively.
Issei’s impatience began pulling the formation apart.
Rafsan caught every mistake before Rias could react.
A column of lightning struck where Akeno had aimed, and a compressed blast detonated beside Asia the instant her healing spell formed.
Asia was thrown back, hands shaking as burning rubble skittered at her feet.
“Asia!” Rias barked.
“Stay behind Koneko and Kiba.
Don’t let him isolate you.” Her peerage moved without needing another command, covering each other without speaking.
For a brief moment, they fought as one.
Rafsan stepped through the smoke as if the blast had only warmed the air.
His coat was scorched, blood streaked one arm, but his expression barely changed.
Only his gaze sharpened as it swept across the formation.
He disappeared.
Issei rushed in.
A reinforced punch met him; trap sigils flared beneath his feet and turned the ground to fire.
Kiba came in from the side, sending a barrage of demonic swords through the ruins.
Several detonated against Rafsan’s barriers, but enough landed to cut his side and lodge one in his shoulder.
Rafsan winced.
A low laugh escaped him.
“Good,” he said.
“You’re finally trying.” Rias clicked her tongue.
Every attack only seemed to teach him more.
Koneko lunged next, senjutsu powering her through the smoke.
Rafsan didn’t meet her with brute force.
He drew her into a fake opening, slipped behind her center, then drove a kick into her ribs that sent her crashing through broken pillars.
A green glow flickered across the field.
Drain Touch.
Rias caught it one detail at a time: Koneko’s shoulder brushed against his hand, Kiba’s wrist grazed for an instant, injuries that should have lingered beginning to close as Rafsan drained her mana.
Asia staggered, her face going pale.
“He’s feeding off her,” Rias said.
Only then did Rias see what he was after.
Rafsan had ignored Issei and targeted their healer.
Issei roared and fired a Dragon Shot, forcing Rafsan to release Asia and kick her clear of the battlefield zone before turning to meet the attack.
Vector control twisted the blast aside, but the explosion still shoved him across the rubble.
The system announced Asia Argento’s elimination.
The Gremory peerage fell silent.
Kiba attacked from the right.
Koneko cut in from the left.
Issei pressed from the front.
Rafsan finally gave ground.
Kiba’s swordwork sharpened into precise, punishing strikes.
Koneko hunted for balance rather than brute force.
Issei stopped charging blindly and began using his boost as a timing tool.
Now he was on the defensive.
He absorbed damage he couldn’t avoid.
His coat tore further, blood darkened his sleeve, his breathing grew ragged.
Even so, when he raised his head, his gaze held the same sharp focus.
Akeno noticed.
“He’s changing spacing.” Rias answered, “Then we stop giving him the spacing he wants.” She shifted the team from pursuit to keeping him boxed in.
Kiba held range and kept him moving with sword projections.
Akeno grounded her lightning into controlled arcs.
Koneko stopped chasing and waited for openings.
Issei became the lure, forcing Rafsan to make a move without giving him clean contact.
This time, the formation didn’t break.
Rafsan’s next advance cost him: lightning scored his back, a sword bit his shoulder again, a destruction blast slowed him down.
He frowned—a flicker.
His eyes narrowed.
The grin faded.
Neither side moved.
Kiba wiped blood from his mouth.
Across from him, Rafsan settled back into his stance and rolled an injured shoulder.
Rafsan lifted a hand.
Dark circles rippled under his boots and illusions spread across the field.
One Rafsan became three, then six, then more.
Koneko struck and hit empty air.
Kiba’s blade cut smoke.
Issei blasted a clone only to trigger a trap circle beneath it.
“Ignore the copies.
Hold your positions.
Don’t chase him,” Rias ordered.
The peerage tightened their formation, and the clones stopped confusing them.
Rafsan changed tactics again.
He scrawled disruption runes across the ground.
Akeno’s lightning faltered.
Rias felt her own destruction flow snag for a fraction.
Gasper’s support weakened.
Instead of attacking directly, he targeted their coordination.
Rias didn’t hesitate.
She gave orders.
“Issei, keep him moving.
Kiba, stay between him and the healer line.
Koneko, wait for the real body.
Akeno, force him to choose.” They moved at once.
The strategy held.
Then Rafsan adapted.
Rafsan took another hit.
Then another.
Blood ran down his side.
His breathing deepened.
He finally looked like someone who could be hurt.
The quiet laugh sent a chill through Rias.
They collided again.
Rafsan moved through the smoke and rubble, brushed Kiba’s wrist to steal enough power to keep moving, and vanished before anyone could catch him.
He reappeared by Koneko, forced her to turn, and detonated a trap circle under her feet.
She escaped by instinct, but the delay slowed them down.
Rias made the call fast.
“No more isolated exchanges.
Split him from the team.
If he reaches, disengage.
If he clones, ignore all bodies and hit the real angle.
Don’t give him contact.” The adjustment eased the pressure.
Kiba attacked from a distance.
Akeno blocked his escape routes.
Koneko waited instead of forcing.
Issei baited, and Rafsan had to keep moving to avoid being surrounded.
Rias spotted an opening.
Rafsan stepped where she expected.
“Now.” Her destruction blast struck from the flank.
Issei smashed in from the front.
Koneko cut low to unbalance him.
Kiba struck high to lock his guard.
There was nowhere left for him to dodge.
The impact cracked the ruined ground beneath him.
For a breath, Rias thought they’d finally had him.
Rafsan met her eyes.
He held her gaze without blinking.
Only then did Rias understand he’d been waiting for an all-out attack like this.
Dark runes bloomed beneath the attackers.
“Move!” Rias shouted.
Too late.
The trap field detonated.
Kiba, Koneko, and Issei were thrown back in the smoke.
Rafsan stepped through the aftermath, blood running from his arms.
One eye had begun to close from damage, but he still stood upright and watched.
No one dared move.
She saw Kiba’s trembling sword arm, Koneko’s labored breathing, Issei’s clenched fists.
They were almost at their limit.
Rafsan still wore that small smile.
He’d been holding back.
Across the field, Rafsan spoke, quiet enough to almost be lost in the smoke.
“I’ve finished testing you.” Dust drifted between them.
Rias felt her stomach sink.
This fight hadn’t truly begun until now.
It really helps the story reach more readers.