Chapter 265 The Vanishing Kings

The sudden disappearance of both “Kings” during the match first spread through the shaken voice of the announcer before the spectators and viewers gradually realized that something unprecedented had happened.

Soon after, the broadcast was abruptly cut off, and emergency news bulletins began scrolling across the Underworld’s television networks.

Setting Riser aside for the moment, Diehauser Belial was one of the Underworld’s greatest powerhouses and also a superstar entertainer beloved by the masses.

To common citizens with little connection to the nobility, his popularity rivaled or perhaps even exceeded that of the Four Great Satan themselves.

So when someone that famous vanished, the information spread across the Underworld in an instant.

Everyone who had gone to Grigori, the organization watching over the children of Godreturned shortly afterward and reported that Valerie had finally awakened.

It should have been wonderful news for Gasper.

But everyone’s expressions remained stiff.

After all, hearing good news about Valerie and terrible news about Riser at the exact same time would shake anyone.

At the moment, everyone was gathered together reviewing footage clipped from the problematic scene while Azazel-sensei contacted the Devil Government for additional information.

That said, the footage only came from the camera near the cave entrance.

Once Riser entered, the interior could no longer be seen.

The only thing captured afterward was a faint blue light leaking from deep inside the cave several moments later.

In any case, all we could do now was wait anxiously for Azazel-sensei to finish his calls.

Still, the most restless person by far was Ravel.

At some point, she had unconsciously grabbed onto my sleeve with her left hand, while Koneko held her other hand.

Apparently, Ravel herself hadn’t even realized when she’d started clutching me.

So I gently loosened her grip on my sleeve and instead intertwined our fingers the same way Koneko had.

When someone was scared, the warmth of another person always helped calm them down more.

And just as Ravel finally seemed to settle slightly—

Azazel-sensei returned.

“Sensei! What about Riser and the Emperor!?”

“Right now, the only thing we know for certain is that the game’s emergency program activated shortly before the two disappeared. Emergency programs handle things like repairing unstable fields or preventing cheating during Rating Games. The exact functions vary, but based on the identification code from the activated program, some kind of irregularity occurred in that area.”

“That’s impossible! My brother would never cheat! He may be obsessed with Rating Games, but precisely because of that, he would never disgrace them with foul play!”

“Then… was it Lord Belial?”

“We’re considering the possibility that someone like Qlippoth interfered from the outside, but so far there’s no trace of external tampering. And besides, no emergency program was ever designed to teleport players to some unknown location and make them disappear.”

In short—

“It makes no damn sense.”

Azazel-sensei’s blunt summary cast a shadow over everyone’s faces.

Because realistically speaking, neither Riser nor the Emperor had any reason to cheat.

If Diehauser wanted to win, he could have simply fought normally and secured victory with overwhelming certainty.

Meanwhile, Riser wasn’t stupid enough to think one or two dirty tricks could overcome the absurd gap in ability between them.

And if cheating had been discovered, he would have been expelled from the Rating Games, dragging the entire Phenex family into disgrace.

More than that, as Ravel had said earlier, everyone unanimously believed that Riser would never stain a match he had genuinely looked forward to.

If only there had been even a single clue, we could have held onto hope for the Devil Government’s search teams.

But from the sound of things, they were reduced to conducting a blind search, the least efficient method possible.

“…Azazel-sensei, you already have some kind of idea, don’t you?”

Akeno-senpai asked quietly while eyeing Azazel, who stood there with his arms crossed and a troubled expression.

At her words, everyone’s attention focused on him.

Azazel-sensei collected information from countless sources and possessed an unusually flexible mind.

Everyone hoped he might have noticed some tiny thread the rest of us had missed.

“…Sorry, but I can’t say for certain yet. Still, if my guess is correct, then Riser Phoenix’s whereabouts may not be as bad as you think. If you trust me, then for now… just pray for his safety.”

Everyone looked like they wanted to press him further.

Even a guess would have been enough.

But no one did.

We all understood that forcing answers out of him at a time like this would only make things worse.

Though everyone wore bitter expressions, the group eventually dispersed for the night.

And when we finally returned home to sleep…

I naturally found myself holding Ravel tightly in my arms as we drifted off.

=========

Several days passed.

Everyone had gathered at the training grounds to continue training.

The news reports hadn’t changed at all, and honestly, with our positions, information reached us long before it ever appeared publicly anyway.

Even if everyone worried about Riser’s safety, we all understood without needing to say it aloud:

As fighters on the front lines, the best thing we could do was strengthen ourselves so we could respond quickly and decisively when something happened.

As for me—

I was currently undergoing the special training I’d been promised for quite some time now.

In other words—

A mock battle against the strongest Evil Dragon, Crom Cruach himself.

“Gahhh!!”

And as expected…

I was currently being kicked through the air.

I’d managed to cross my arms and focus my touki at the last second, but Crom Cruach’s attack had been too fast. My defensive aura hadn’t fully formed in time, leaving the struck area numb and crackling with pain.

Seriously.

This Evil Dragon was absolutely monstrous.

The last time we fought in Heaven, I used silent footwork that slipped past an opponent’s instincts by entering their unconscious blind spots.

But now, during our second match—

He had already adapted to it.

And just now, he’d blasted me away with a counterattack.

Though honestly, even if I asked how he figured it out, he’d probably just answer “instinct.”

The place I flew toward contained one of the field’s giant boulders.

Using my hand to push against the ground, I adjusted my posture midair and landed sideways along the rock’s surface.

At the same time, the instant my hand touched down, I activated Senjutsu and erected multiple layers of earth walls between me and Crom Cruach, who was already charging in pursuit.

“Too slow.”

Without losing even a fraction of his speed, Crom Cruach smashed straight through the walls.

I could tell from his presence alone that he was still closing in.

Still—

That much was expected.

Trying to stop that Evil Dragon with mere earth walls would be like trying to stop a tidal wave using cardboard.

You’d need to flip an entire tectonic plate upright before it would even feel remotely safe.

Using the brief moment of obstruction, I scattered clones created through the Fourth Secret Sword: Mirage.

At the exact moment the earth wall shattered—

I slipped away alongside the clones.

But Crom Cruach instantly identified the real me anyway.

Probably through instinct again, damn it.

“Tch! Fifth Secret Sword: Void Severance!”

While retreating backward, I filled the surrounding space with countless invisible slashes.

But once again, Crom Cruach ignored them completely and charged straight through.

The technique wasn’t designed for raw power, so even repeated hits only left shallow wounds, like cuts from a utility knife.

Crom Cruach’s fighting style was brutally simple:

Close the distance and punch.

Or fire a Dragon Breath attack.

The silent footwork technique only worked against enemies who couldn’t instinctively react to the impossible.

Against someone like this, who overwhelmed me with relentless pressure, it became almost unusable.

Fighting him was a nightmare.

“Do not think desperate sword swings are enough to defeat me.”

As Crom Cruach entered my range, I slashed with the twin greatswords in my hands—

Zarich and Tawrich.

But in an instant, he used the dragon wings sprouting from his back to deflect the flat sides of my blades aside, slipping directly into punching range.

And then—

His fist struck my forehead.

“GUBAAAAANNN!!”

The impact sounded nothing like flesh meeting bone.

Instead, it echoed like two steel battering rams colliding.

My upper body snapped backward violently and using that momentum, I unleashed an upward kick that smashed directly into Crom Cruach’s jaw.

“That was the Third Secret Sword: Perfect Circle.”

Finally,

I’d managed to land one clean hit.

Though honestly, it probably didn’t do much damage.

Still, blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.

Crom Cruach rolled his tongue around inside his mouth for a moment before casually spitting blood and one of his fangs onto the ground.

Well, dragons could probably regrow teeth instantly anyway.

…Probably.