Rimuru the sin of love

A warning wrapped in silk

Sariel's POV

The final chime faded into silence—then I moved.

There was no hesitation. My wings burst outward with a surge of holy light, the air rippling around me as I launched forward in a streak of silver and white.

I struck low first—testing—driving a sharp gust of pressure toward her legs. She didn't block. She stepped, twisting as if she were twirling into a dance, her hair and cloak catching the light as she drifted above the arena floor.

Elegant. Too elegant.

I adjusted in midair and closed the distance again, releasing a flurry of light-accelerated strikes in rapid succession—quick snaps of compressed energy shaped like blades, laced with divine force.

She didn't counter.

She flowed.

Every movement was fluid, her body slipping through each attack like she belonged to the wind itself. She wasn't moving with precision—she was moving with instinct, like a feather riding the current of a storm.

And she was watching me the entire time.

Analyzing.

Don't think you can just read me like a book.

I accelerated, breaking into my full-speed aerial assault. The sky around the arena shimmered as my body became a streak of light, my strikes now backed by piercing air pressure and divine weight. I curved upward, then came crashing down in a spiral arc—intending to shatter the ground beneath her if I couldn't land a clean hit.

She drifted back just out of reach, her feet not touching the floor even once. Her cloak fluttered like wings of its own.

She smiled. Calm. Calculated.

Then she spoke.

"Perfect Cube."

A pulse of magical energy spread out from her open hand, and in the blink of an eye, an unbreakable cube of light and compressed magic snapped into place around me.

The impact of my final strike bounced off the walls of the barrier with a hollow echo—harmless.

"What—?!" I twisted midair, wings flexing against the sudden confinement.

The cube wasn't divine. It wasn't a spell of our kind.

I recognized the formation instantly—Merlin's work.

"You're using her spell?" I growled, the walls of the cube shimmering with an infuriating stability.

Outside the cube, Rimuru hovered effortlessly, one leg extended behind her, arms relaxed at her side. She wasn't gloating. She wasn't mocking.

She was calm.

"I've always admired how adaptable she is," Rimuru said, her voice ringing like a clear bell. "And you..."

Her eyes shimmered. "You're quick. Too quick for direct spells. I needed time to observe you."

I clenched my fists. This wasn't an attack—it was a pause.

She'd used that whole opening just to learn my rhythm.

Then I heard it. Her voice, radiant and steady as sunlight breaking over a cliff.

"Love Buster."

A concentrated beam of light formed at her palm—no heat, no chaos. Just refined, focused power wrapped in radiance and subtle grace.

It shimmered not with divine rage, but with intention.

The cube dissolved just as the beam fired.

She timed it perfectly.