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Chapter 288 ~ Mordred vs Vali

“Mordred…?”

Azazel echoed the name, his mind racing through centuries of accumulated knowledge and memories. He had heard the name before—everyone had. The Knight of Rebellion. The traitor who defied King Arthur, the legendary monarch of Britain and wielder of the greatest Holy Sword Excalibur. But no amount of lore or myth aligned with the overwhelming power radiating from the figure before him.

This man… this being… was something else entirely.

“So you’re just here to pick a fight, huh…?” Vali muttered, eyes narrowing. “Then that’s just fine by me.”

Azazel glanced to the side—Vali was standing again, chest heaving, eyes alight with fire. Despite the earlier humiliation, his expression was filled not with fear, but with anticipation.

“You want a fight?” Vali growled, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. “Then let’s fight.”

In a blinding surge of energy, Vali’s aura erupted into the sky, shaking the very air around him. The mechanical voice of the White Dragon Albion echoed like thunder.

“BALANCE BREAKER!”

“Vali…!” Azazel called out instinctively.

In a flash of white and sky-blue, armor formed over Vali’s body—draconic, regal, and terrifying. Gleaming blue jewels adorned the chestplate and forearms. His silver wings burst open, spreading wide like a celestial weapon of war.

And then he invoked it.

“Half Dimension!!”

Vali wasted no time. He knew his opponent wasn’t someone to take lightly. The earlier defeat had taught him that much. He wouldn’t hold back—not this time. He unleashed his trump card immediately.

Half Dimension—a terrifying ability that halved the size, power, and very essence of everything in its radius, absorbing the stripped energy into Vali himself. It required no physical contact. It was silent, invisible, and absolute.

The effect was immediate.

Power flooded into him like a tidal wave through a shattered dam. His Sacred Gear’s radiant wings expelled the excess energy continuously in torrents of blue-white light, even as Half Dimension continued draining the very environment of its force. He was at his peak—and rising.

In a blur, the distance between him and Mordred vanished.

They clashed.

Fists collided with such force that shockwaves tore through the sky. To the untrained eye, they were nothing more than blurs of silver and shadow, ricocheting like comets amidst the clouds. Each strike rang with thunder, each impact etched shockwaves through the atmosphere.

“Tch! If punches don’t work—what about this!”

Magic surged between Vali’s hands as the gleaming white-blue wings of the White Dragon Emperor pulsed with power. The very air quivered from the intensity, the sky trembling as the condensed magic coalesced into a blinding orb of white-blue light. It grew brighter with every second, humming with energy capable of leveling cities.

Azazel watched closely, his sharp senses struggling to keep pace with the battle.

It’s getting harder to track their movements, he thought, beads of sweat forming. Their speed… their power… this is beyond what any ordinary being could even fathom.

Yet as he observed, unease prickled at the back of his mind. Something didn’t feel right.

Mordred was unaffected—but that was no surprise at this point.

What truly troubled Azazel was the absence of distortion. The telltale signs of Half Dimension—the warping of space, the compression of reality—were completely missing.

He scanned the sky again.

Where is it? The twisted space? The compressed environment?

And then it struck him.

Nothing’s changed.

Vali’s Balance Breaker was definitely active. The aura, the power—Azazel could feel it. Yet the space around them remained perfectly still. The clouds did not swirl. The air didn’t ripple. Reality remained untouched.

‘Impossible…’

He had seen Half Dimension before. It warped the world, folded space, broke the battlefield itself.

But now? Nothing. 

“Take this!!”

Vali’s voice snapped Azazel out of his spiraling thoughts.

With a roar, Vali unleashed the condensed orb of energy. It exploded into a massive beam of light and heat—an attack so dense with magic that it could have wiped out all of Kuoh in a single instant.

But Mordred… simply raised a hand.

The beam collided against an invisible wall—a curved ripple in space—and was refracted harmlessly into the sky.

Before Vali could even process what had happened, a blur appeared in front of him.

BOOM!!

A single kick smashed into his chest, sending him hurtling like a meteor toward the ground. The resulting impact left a gaping crater, dirt and dust erupting high into the air.

Azazel’s eyes widened.

At the bottom of the crater, Vali lay beaten. His once-pristine draconic armor was shattered—chunks of it barely clinging to his limbs. His chest plate had been completely obliterated.

“H-How…?”

Azazel turned toward Mordred, his voice caught between awe and disbelief.

Mordred tilted his head slightly, a hint of confusion on his masked face before realization seemed to dawn.

“Ah. You’re wondering why Half Dimension didn’t affect anything, aren’t you?”

Azazel didn’t answer—he couldn’t. But his silence was enough.

“Take a closer look at your surroundings,” Mordred said calmly. “You’ll realize… this isn’t the reality you know.”

“Eh? What… what do you mean?” Azazel asked, his voice uneasy.

“This is another realm. A separate dimension—one constructed by my wife.”

Those words sent a jolt through both Azazel and Vali, who had begun rising from the crater, battered and stunned.

“Wait… that first magical fluctuation…” Azazel muttered. “Was that when we were transported here?”

But that didn’t make sense.

If they had been hit by a spell, they would’ve noticed—felt it, resisted it. There had been no sensation, no resistance, no shift.

Mordred shook his head slowly.

“No. You are mistaken.”

With a wave of his hand, golden light enveloped Vali’s body. Before their eyes, his wounds mended, his broken bones aligned; not even a scratch remained.

“You were not transported,” Mordred explained, voice level. “The world around us has changed.”

Azazel’s eyes widened in horror.

“Then… that means…”

The power to rewrite reality. To reshape the very dimension they stood in… without anyone realizing it.

Such a thing was unthinkable.

But Mordred, ever calm, simply nodded.

“Well then. This has been quite enjoyable. Thank you for indulging me. It was also a pleasure to finally meet you both.”

He turned to Azazel first.

“Before I go, I do have a message. My friend and I will handle Kokabiel. There’s no need for your intervention. When we’re done, I’ll deliver him to you personally for judgment under your rules.”

Then he shifted his gaze to Vali.

“The Red Dragon Emperor is here too. I won’t stop you from seeking him out… but try not to cause too much trouble. That goes for you too, Albion.”

For a moment, there was silence.

Vali stood frozen, and even the proud soul of the White Dragon Emperor—Albion himself—remained speechless.

Then, without another word, a swirling portal of darkness appeared behind Mordred. As he stepped through, the world around them shimmered and began to dissolve.

The artificial reality faded away—melting back into the true world.

Only silence remained.

Azazel and Vali stared at the spot where Mordred had vanished.

The Governor-General’s mind raced, trying to parse the impossible—who was Mordred? What was he? Despite all his centuries of knowledge, all his research, Azazel couldn’t grasp the full picture.

He glanced sideways at Vali.

Shock and frustration still clung to the boy’s face. But something else burned behind his silver eyes—excitement.

That unrelenting desire to grow stronger.

To chase down something beyond comprehension.

Azazel let out a breath and rubbed the back of his neck, a weary smile on his lips.

“Hah… I’m getting too old for this…”

--------------------------------X--------------------------------

Yuuji reappeared in the courtyard of their abode.

A warm, refreshing breeze greeted him upon return, brushing against his skin like a gentle caress. The air carried the scent of freshly cut grass, blooming flowers, and ancient trees, accompanied by the tranquil sound of a bamboo water fountain trickling nearby.

But even the serenity of nature paled in comparison to the warm, loving welcome of his dear and devoted succubus.

“Welcome home, my love~”

Albedo threw herself into his arms, her raven wings fluttering with joy as she buried her face in the crook of his neck, inhaling his scent with a blissful sigh. Her soft, pillowy chest pressed firmly against his toned body, and her slender arms—deceptively delicate, yet strong—wrapped tightly around him.

“I’m home, Albedo.”

Yuuji returned her embrace just as lovingly, holding her close with infinite care and gentleness.

A soft mewl of delight escaped Albedo’s lips as she nuzzled deeper into his neck.

“Thank you for helping me, Albedo,” he murmured. “Because of you, we completed the mission without damaging anything or alerting anyone.”

Before heading to confront Vali and Azazel, Yuuji had met with Albedo to enlist her aid. He didn’t want the battle—especially if Vali were to enter his Balance Breaker state and unleash a colossal beam of magic, which happened—to destroy Kuoh Town.

Even if Yuuji could deflect it with ease, the sheer scale of such an attack would have shattered the illusion of normalcy, attracting the attention of every supernatural entity in the area—and even alerting unaware humans.

But more importantly, it would have risked tipping off Kokabiel and his allies—Valper, Freed, and their ilk. If Kokabiel realized Vali, Azazel, and Yuuji, a previously unknown power withe the strength to best the White Dragon Emperor easily, were all present, he might have either panicked and launched an early assault on Kuoh Academy—targeting the Gremory and Sitri heiresses—or vanished into hiding, making the mission infinitely more difficult.

That’s where Albedo came in.

With the new ability she acquired after receiving the Weaver of Dreams and Fate SSR, Albedo had awakened [Dream of Reality], a power that allowed her to project an independent dimension forged from her own inner landscape—a realm fully severed from the real world. Within it, she dictated the laws of physics, magic, terrain, and even causality.

What happened inside would remain hidden from the outside. And what occurred within would leave no trace in the real world.

Thanks to her, Yuuji was free to test Vali—push him into his Balance Breaker and gauge the true power of the legendary White Dragon Emperor—without consequence.

“Fufu~ It is my duty to serve and support my dear husband~ I’m always happy to be of help.”

Yuuji smiled gently, running his hand down her back, his fingers gliding through her long, lustrous raven hair as he planted soft kisses atop her head.

“My love,” Albedo whispered sweetly, “do you still have duties to attend to today?”

“No,” he replied. “There are still a few matters—Kiba, the two exorcists who just arrived, and the little crow we need to hunt—but not today.”

Albedo nodded, already aware of their plans to deal with the ‘filthy crow’—the insect who dared to infiltrate her beloved’s domain and seek to wrought chaos and war. But she also wanted to be certain her beloved wasn’t weighed down by tasks that even she, loyal and wise as she was, couldn’t assist with.

Her smile bloomed tenderly.

“Then… may I have the pleasure of bathing you, my love~?” she asked, voice velvety with adoration. “I’ve prepared the hotspring… and I’ve already spoken with the other girls. They’ve agreed to give me this time with you, since I was helpful today~”

Yuuji blinked in surprise, eyes widening slightly at the revelation. He hadn’t even noticed the subtle coordination that had gone on behind the scenes.

A helpless, affectionate smile tugged at his lips. He leaned down and kissed her forehead softly.

“I would love nothing more, Albedo.”

“Mmh~ Then let’s go right away~” she cooed. “I shall pamper you and wash away all your fatigue~”

Hooking her arms around his, Albedo pressed herself close, sandwiching his arm between the generous softness of her chest. Though they could teleport instantly, she walked with him instead—relishing every moment, every step beside him.

Because more than anything, Albedo wanted to savor her time with the man she loved more than anything in the world.