K then...

Chapter 72: The Storm's End IV

Sona watched with twitching eyes as a large swarm of winged Oni's and Youkai's emerged out of the White Castle, like angry bees out to deliver true justice to the annoying brats that dared to turn their peaceful beehive into a piñata.

"Is there an Oni factory under that castle!? It feels like these Oni's just keep coming out of that piece of history!" Sona said in annoyance as she formed another water dragon using the moisture in the air, she then commanded it to take out a group of winged Youkai's that was giving a pair of Pro Heroes some trouble.

"Thanks, Devil-san!" The older of the one of the two Pro Heroes gratefully said before turning around and clotheslining a rather large Oni with his stone-like arms.

Turning away from the pair, Sona commanded the water dragon to scoop up multiple Oni's on the ground, trapping them within the dragon's water body.

"Akeno!" Sona yelled as Akeno brought her hand up, summoning a medium-sized magic circle that brought down lightning on the water dragon, electrocuting the Oni's that were trapped on its body.

Satisfied with their collaborated attacks, both Sona and Akeno turned their attention towards their new target, the gigantic eight-headed dragon that appeared out of nowhere. But before they could head towards the dragon's direction, they were called by Serafall, "So-tan, Akeno-chan, Tsubaki-chan, a mysterious Gate appeared near Tori-chan's location. Go and assist her. Tohru-chan, Emi-sensei, Kanna-chan, and I got this area handled." She said as the temperature of the air around the former Maou suddenly plummeted to freezing levels.

Knowing that her older sister is about to finally join the battle, Sona turned around and flew towards Artoria's direction with Akeno and Tsubaki just behind her.

"Hm?" Akeno made a sound her position placed her in an angle where she could see under Sona's skirt.

Meow

"Oh my, what a cute underwear you're wearing, Sona~" Akeno's words instantly made Sona stop flying as the latter quickly scooped up her skirt and away from Akeno's teasing eyes.

"I- Ah- Wha-" Sona's entire face turned scarlet as she tried to form words with her mouth only to fail as the embarrassment was too much.

Tsubaki on the other hand just continued flying forward, mentally chanting to herself, 'Ignore it! Ignore it! Ignore it!'

After a short but dreadful flight, the trio arrived near Artoria, with the latter currently standing in front of a large stone structure.

"This one here looks like the same one that appeared in our original reality." Artoria said as the three girls walked up beside her.

"Do you think that Imperial forces from the other side would come out like the last time, Sensei?" Tsubaki asked as resummoned her naginata.

"At the moment, I'm not feeling any presence coming from this Gate." Artoria replied, "Currently, I'm debating if we should either destroy this Gate so that we won't have a repeat of Ginza, or we take on a 'wait and see' approach, in case harmless people walk out of that Gate." Artoria said.

"I'd take the second option as I would rather not accidentally kill non-combatants because I'm paranoid, Sensei. " Sona said.

"Same here." Tsubaki said with Akeno nodding beside her.

Turning back to the Gate, Artoria tensed when she felt a presence appear from within the Gate, followed by a few more, although weaker than the first one. Artoria was confused as the first presence seems familiar to her.

"Oh? Where are we?" A familiar feminine voice wondered as a person walked out of the Gate.

Artoria's eyes widened in recognition, which Sona, Akeno, and Tsubaki mirrored. "Rimuru-san's look alike!" Artoria exclaimed causing a tick mark to form on the unnamed visitor's head.