The moment Serafall melted the ice, Issei and the others immediately moved to subdue the frozen threat. It was strange, Issei mused. The ice did not melt into water that splashed around them. Instead, the ice melted into nothingness. But it was not important in the face of the eighth Blackened Servant.
Their mysterious attacker seemed to realize that it could move again because it let out a screech and then countless golden ripples appeared behind it.
"Scatter!" Issei shouted as many bladed weapons, from sabers, cutlasses, spears, katanas, and many more swarmed upon them. You name a weapon and it was there trying to kill him and the others.
Sona flew upwards and then prepared magic circles of her own to counterattack the Heroic Spirit. Her mouth moved as it chanted in light speed and from the magic circles came rain of pure magic beams. However, Sona noticed after the magic beam receded, the Heroic Spirit deflected her attack back towards the sky where it originated.
Then Sona heard Issei groaned on the ground. "Are you kidding me?! All these swords he spammed are actually real legit Noble Phantasms?! How the hell do we kill it?!"
…
""What?!"" came the expected reply of everyone except Serafall and Ajuka.
Noble Phantasm? Then her attack just now was deflected using some sort of Noble Phantasm?
"No time to explain, Sona-san, Miyu-san, I'm going to keep him occupied with Archer's power," Issei's eyes greedily took up every weapon that he saw and then he took a deep breath.
[Boost]
In an instant, all kinds of bladed weapons were levitating behind Issei in a similar manner as the swarm that attacked them before. Then he launched the swords towards the Heroic Spirit. Not wanting to lose to mere imitation, the Heroic Spirit also launched another volley of weapons towards Issei.
Sona caught Miyu's eyes and nodded. A plan forming inside their head.
Miyu skilfully dodged the weapon that came towards her using her agility. She approached the Heroic Spirit from behind and then she took off her blindfold. Since the Heroic Spirit was occupied by Issei, then it would not pay much attention to her. Miyu was about to throw her chain-dagger towards it, but somehow a golden ripple appeared above her and shot a sword below towards her.
Luckily, Sona shot the sword off-course using her blast, Miyu thanked her with a look before she threw the dagger.
As she expected, the dagger did not scratch it, but it managed to gain the Heroic Spirit's attention and it took a single look at her.
"Petrified. Ise! Sona-san!"
Issei turned all the projected swords towards the petrified Heroic Spirit. Sona summoned another batch of magic circles and rained the beam down once again.
There was a big explosion where the Heroic Spirit stood.
However.
"Too hard to kill! I can't believe it!"
The Heroic Spirit's petrified figure was still there.
"No, let's do it again!" Miyu declared.
But then the Heroic Spirit's petrification was undone, a sign of how its magical resistance was higher than others. Or maybe the attack undid the petrification, Miyu didn't know.
It screamed in anger.
"All we did was anger him," Sona whispered to herself.
Then it summoned something from the golden ripple. Issei took a single look at the drill-like sword and then he screamed.
"Ise-san?!"
"Ise?!"
That sword, Issei thought to himself despite the pain. "Th-That sword… Archer can't understand it!"
Sona and Miyu who heard Issei's exclamation did not understand Archer's power fully. After all, they never used Archer before. They did, however, understood one simple fact.
That sword was bad news.
Far away from the line of fire, Serafall and Ajuka observed the fight seriously.
"Hmm," Ajuka made a sound after seeing the combined attack of the three. "Their teamwork is actually better than some rookie reincarnated Devils. How long have they been doing this again?"
"Several weeks. Aren't they awesome, Ajuka-chan?!"
Ajuka nodded, "Although, I think the experiences and skills from the Class Card help immensely…"
"They did help, but even before knowing about Install, Ise-kun is actually quite creative at using the weapons he had in his arsenal," Serafall mused, remembering the time she stumbled into Lancer Class Card fight. How he commanded Miyu to be on par with Heroic Spirit Lancer, his subsequent near-death and almost-resurrection, and finally him and Miyu defeating Lancer. Everything was already there.
"Yes, Boosted Gear," Ajuka looked at Serafall in deadpan, to which she only chuckled.
"Boosted Gear is too strong. He still is not ready for the wider world. I want to let him get experience in this Class Card incident. Even then, I like him too much to release him to the sharks. Maybe once he joined So-tan's Peerage, I'll tell my parents about it."
"…Your parents didn't know he's the Red Dragon Emperor?" Ajuka looked at Serafall in horror.
"And he still manages to get their blessing, isn't he wonderful?" Serafall giggled.
Their conversation was broken when they heard a scream coming from the Heroic Spirit. Then they saw it using a sword which was not unlike a drill in appearance. They saw Issei fell to the ground in pain and the panicked look shared between the other two.
"Seems like their first obstacle is coming."
The sword on the Heroic Spirit's grip began rotating its drill-like pillar.
"Uh, Ajuka-chan. Am I the only one who feels that?" Serafall muttered as she could not avert her eyes from the sword on the Heroic Spirit's hand.
"It draws you in… this is not the caliber of the fight with you before, Serafall. It seems like it's bringing out the big guns," Ajuka replied, his eyes also could not move from the spectacle.
Then, the mirror world began to shake.
"Uh oh, earthquake!"
"Has this happened before? I don't think it's natural…" Ajuka voiced out his suspicion.
"Obviously not!"
Serafall and Ajuka decided to float to get away from the quaking world.
"The Mirror World!" Ajuka suddenly realized. "The Heroic Spirit is destroying the Mirror World. Probably using that sword too."
Serafall gasped in realization. "So-tan, everyone! This is bad, Ajuka-chan. If the fight leaks to the real world, who knows what supernatural beings will sniff the power and use it for their own gain?!"
Ajuka decided on a course of action instantly.
"Well, then this kind of world-shattering event warrants an intervention, doesn't it?"
The world began shaking as the unknown sword spun. Slowly, cracks appeared in the sky. Head still aching from trying to grasp the Heroic Spirit's sword, Issei realized what was happening. "Sona-san, Miyu! Destabilize!"
His head still hurt. If it didn't, he would also try to destabilize whatever caused the Mirror World to break.
Sona heard Issei's shout, as she was flying thus unaffected by the shaking of the Mirror World. Sona blasted the Heroic Spirit again, but this time the presence of the drill-like sword created some kind of tornado of black aura around the Heroic Spirit that nullifies her attack.
"It's useless… Nothing can stop it," Sona then gritted her teeth, angry at herself for thinking like that. She could not give up. There must be a way. Issei still had to catch himself, so it fell to her and Miyu to pick up the slack, especially since in the future, it would be her leading them to glory in Rating Games.
Then she saw white streak moving in high speed towards the still form of the Heroic Spirit. Miyu! She remembered their last fight with Berserker. It was Rider's attack!
The twister of miasma was gone, but the result of the attack did not amount much, Sona thought after seeing the aftermath.
The Heroic Spirit was still there while Miyu was laid on the ground, clutching her elbow and in her magical girl outfit.
It even forced Miyu to Uninstall Rider!
Could it truly not be stopped by any means?
If the Mirror World is destroyed, then they had to continue their fight in the real world. The last time they fought Berserker, the abandoned building was destroyed. She remembered local news talking about mysterious collapse but luckily for them the news did not blow up bigger, and the blame was placed upon the building being old and abandoned and thus had a high chance to collapse.
She did not dare to think about what would happen if this fight destroyed the cities.
Her eyes caught something on the ground.
"Miyu-san! You're in no condition to continue!" Sona flew towards Miyu who prepared herself to Install Saber.
"I have to try. Excalibur is very strong. Install."
Miyu, now clad in Saber's blue dress and silver armor, raised the sword into the air.
"Please get away, Sona-san. Also please tell your sister and her co-worker to be careful with the holy aura."
Sona nodded and flew away from the area of fire. She approached the floating Serafall and Ajuka. "Onee-sama, please be careful. Miyu-san is going to use Excalibur. The dispersed holy aura in the air can be dangerous."
"I want to watch! I want to watch it! The original Excalibur here is destroyed in the Great War."
Sona had to restrain herself from sighing.
"Just, please be careful," Sona turned towards Ajuka. "Beelzebub-sama. What about you? Beelzebub-sama?"
Sona questioned after her first attempt at greeting him did not get any reply.
"Oh, don't mind him, So-tan. Let's just watch the thing unfolds."
The cracks on the sky got bigger.
At the same time, Sona and Serafall saw golden lights of holy aura originated from a small dot on the ground shot towards the Heroic Spirit.
Sona had seen it more than once, but she still could not tear her eyes from the spectacle.
"It's beautiful…" Serafall muttered. "I can understand how Excalibur is the greatest holy sword if it's also like that in this world."
The golden light bathed the still figure of the Heroic Spirit and its drill-like sword.
The attack from Excalibur clearly staggered the Heroic Spirit, as it was forced down to a knee and used the sword on its hand as a crutch.
But it was too late.
The magnificent Excalibur was a fraction too late.
The drill-like sword completed its attack.
Cracking sound comes from everywhere as the Mirror World shattered, fully revealing their fights into the real world.
Sona closed her eyes as she braced herself.
However.
However.
However.
Sona opened her eyes, fully expecting to feel the normal atmosphere of the real world and its noise.
But none greeted her.
The different atmosphere was still present as was the eerie silence of the Mirror World.
Even the scenery was no different.
It was like the Mirror World did not collapse.
It was like the attack from the drill-like sword got reversed.
It was like how she entered the Mirror World minus the ices.
"Mirror World creation, complete."
The indifferent tone of Ajuka Beelzebub broke the silence.
Sona could not believe what she had just heard. Did she mishear what Ajuka had just said? Certainly, her mind was in disarray, it would not be weird if she did not hear Ajuka clearly.
"Beelzebub-sama…"
"I'm sorry I did not reply to you before, but I was doing everything I can to know about the Mirror World. A shame though, I did not properly see the other world's Excalibur."
Sona gaped as the leader of the Devils spoke to her.
He… He created a Mirror World out of nothing and under duress in a limited time?!
"Now you and your friends can continue your fight, am I right?"
"Y-Yes! Thank you for your help!"
Sona flew to join Miyu and Issei who looked around in confusion.
"Mufuuu, Ajuka-chan, don't tease Sona like that!" Serafall comically punched Ajuka on the back when Sona was away.
"She actually reminds me of you. Seeing her with that expression makes me wish I can startle you at least once."
"No can do, Ajuka-chan. This Magical Girl Miracle Levi-tan is not one that's easily startled."
The two adults continued to watch the fight below them.
"Ise-san! Miyu-san!"
Issei who uninstalled the Archer Class Card because it was the only way for the headache to go away, looked towards the approaching Sona with a small relief in his expression. It was clear to him that the Mirror World was about to be destroyed, and yet it did not.
Even the Heroic Spirit had a tinge of confusion between his burst of anger.
"Sona-san! Do you know what happened?"
Sona nodded. "Beelzebub-sama created another Mirror World after the previous one collapse."
"What the hell, isn't that very cool?!"
"I know," Sona said listlessly, still could not believe it herself. "Still, this means that we can still fight without worry."
Miyu nodded. "I'll blast it again with Excalibur."
She then fired another Excalibur towards the Heroic Spirit.
"What the hell, Miyu?! Sona-san is still here!"
Miyu gasped as she just realized what she had just done. "I'm sorry, Sona-san. I did not mean to…"
Sona who instantly flew away the second Miyu said she wanted to use Excalibur again, shouted with a small tone of resignation. "It's fine! More importantly, look!"
Having caught in a surprise Excalibur blast by Miyu, the golden light from Excalibur now bathed the entire Heroic Spirit's form once more.
Then.
The black miasma surrounding the Heroic Spirit disintegrated into nothing.
However, instead of leaving a single Class Card on the ground, as usual, this time there was no Class Card.
What they saw after the glow of Excalibur receded, was a single figure sitting on the ground.
"Am I seeing this right?" Issei said after he rubbed his eyes more than once in disbelief.
"Y-Yes, I do see it too," Sona answered a little startled by what happened.
"There's someone there after Excalibur."
Logically, the attack should have destroyed the Heroic Spirit and leaving the Class Card as the sole proof of their existence. But even something as strong as Excalibur still did not kill it? Moreover, who was that figure?
Sona's mind was the first to connect the dots. "Don't tell me–"
"Ah. Thanks for that," the figure that came out of the Heroic Spirit stood up from his position. The figure was a boy their age, nay, possibly even younger-looking from the height. He has golden (for it cannot be compared to a mere blond) hair and striking red eyes. And the most important of all…
He was naked.
"Good day to you."