True Magician

Chapter 145

Underworld.

After fixing up the terrain a bit, as well as putting a bounded field around it, I stood in front of Rias and her entourage as they prepared for battle. Merlin and Mo-chan positioned themselves a bit to the side along with Gabi so that the latter wouldn't accidentally get hurt. Now...

- "Before we begin, there's something I want to say," I began, drawing the demons' attention.

- "What is it?" Rias asked.

- "Of course, defeating me in a clean fight is out of the question. You're too weak to damage even the hairs on my head. Perhaps if you train for the next couple or three hundred thousand years, you might be able to do something, but..."

- "Get to the point!" Rias interrupted me with a twitching eye.

- "To win you'll need to hold out for... let's say... three minutes. For that, in addition to Merlin and Mo-chan, you'll get Archer as a trainer."

- "I'm not Mo-chan!" shouted Mo-chan.

- "Artoria will be sad," Merlin added sadly, considering that the Servants training the demons lived with them and not in the residence.

- "And if you win, sensei?" Issei asked.

- "Who cares! I won't kill you, right?" I smiled and waved my hand, causing the demonic annoyance of everyone, "So, let's go to..."

- "Let's go!" Rias interrupted me, and the next moment Kiba was beside me, already swinging his holy demonic sword.

My magic circle flashed, blocking the blow aimed at my head, but then Xenovia and Koneko appeared right behind me, also launching an attack. Two more circles appeared, or rather tried to, as Gasper stopped time for them with his gaze. And taking advantage of that, Rias, Akeno, and Issei in Balance Breaker used Spears of Destruction, Holy Lightning, and Dragon Shot, which were fueled by Asia's mana.

At the last moment, Kiba, Xenovia, Issei, and Koneko jumped back, moving out of the line of fire, and I grinned.

Not bad.

BOOM

An explosion sounded, and the resulting cloud of dust, power, and mana blocked my view. The bounded field placed moments before the hit protected me, and right now I could feel the demons taking up positions around me to continue the attack.

They weren't grouped together in a single pile, but spread out so they wouldn't become a convenient target. Rias took the farthest position with Gasper and Asia, Akeno in the sky, Issei in front of everyone, acting as a rearguard, and Xenovia, Kiba, and Koneko around me individually. The distance between them was great, but not enough to not have time to help each other if needed.

Well, they're really making progress. They only needed to hold out for three minutes, and the demons could very well have relied on defensive tactics to just stretch the time, but instead they decided to deny me the opportunity to attack by scrapping a seemingly foolproof plan.

I didn't hear any commands from Rias, which meant that they were working out tactics to deal with an opponent superior to them. So, she concluded that it would be foolish to sit this one out.

That's pretty good.

I snapped my fingers and a magic circle lit up beneath me, from which golden chains immediately burst out, dispelling the cloud and tearing towards each of Rias' entourage.

Kiba, Xenovia and Koneko, apparently from experience, decided to dodge rather than block, as did Akeno and Issei, and immediately continued their attack. Rias created more and more spears, which flew not directly at the chains, but went around them, stabbing into the links and forcing them to change their trajectory. Asia was constantly feeding Rias with mana, and Gasper was stopping the missed chains, making his King's job easier.