It had been 4 days since Hirono submitted his plan to his father and the Devil King's approval. Today, he had finally been called to Ginsei Academy's headmaster's room, along with Yuji, obviously.

"Sorry for the delay. Sensei was lazy the day you sent me your plan, and Yuuto invited me for an anime watch party the day after. We ended up watching 4 episodes each day, so I only just looked over your plan."

For a second, Hirono had to think if maybe Yuuto wasn't also spying on them for him to have had such perfect timing. But there was no way that was the case. It was just Yuuto's luck.

Hirono and Yuji sat down in front of Barbatos. The document Hirono had submitted was in front of him, but honestly it barely looked like it had its pages flipped.

That said, Barbatos did say he had looked over the plan. He probably at least skimmed over it. Or rather, that's probably all he did.

"Devil King, may I go ahead with my plan?"

"Geh, sensei hates these stiff things. sensei already told you you can speak freely. Anyway, I guess this is fine. Just don't make a mess here and try to not get unrelated people involved."

"Hm, I also think you made a good plan, considering the circumstances. Good job, Hirono."

Both Barbatos and Yuji gave Hirono their approval. However, Yuji did have an extra comment to make.

"Still, I'm surprised that you decided to use the King Killer."

The King Killer was the secret weapon of the Hiraizumi family, made by the first Devil King that came from that family.

As the name implies, it's not an ordinary weapon. It's only to be used when needed. And Hirono judged that it would be needed to kill Yuuto.

"Do you think I'm overestimating?"

"No, I think it's just right. You may use the weapon."

It seemed Yuji agreed with Hirono's plan. In that case, all that was left now was to act on it.

"Then, if you'll excuse me. I need to get working on this as soon as possible."

With that, Hirono left Barbatos and Yuji. He knew time was of the essence for his plan, and he didn't want to waste a second further.

After he left, the two men continued talking.

"See? I said this would be a good learning experience."

"Yup. Hirono will grow into an even more dependable family head thanks to this."

What Yuji was talking about was the plan Hirono had created, and how he had done it.

Until now, Hirono had always worked with good conditions, he always had enough time to investigate his target until he had all the information he wanted and he was never lacking in fighting power. That allowed him to create near-perfect attack plans.

But this time was different. He couldn't easily obtain all the information he wanted about Yuuto, but what he did get showed that Yuuto was quickly growing stronger. He could spend as long as he wanted in his investigation, but the conclusion he would arrive at would be that he couldn't win.

However, he obviously couldn't just jump in and see what happened. Hirono knew better than that. So he was forced to find a balance and come up with the best plan he could given his limited information.

Such situations were not uncommon in the Hiraizumis' jobs, and nothing was as good of a teacher as experience. Whether he realized it or not, this would make Hirono grow, regardless of the result.

"Hey, I'm thinking of making back the money I lost in the previous bet, so help me out here. Who do you think is gonna win?"

"Let's see… Yuuto seems to have been preparing on his end, but there's no way he foresaw Hirono's plan. On that point, Hirono has the advantage. As for the rest… it's not bad, from the perspective of someone who is still learning. I predict a draw."

"Huh, I'll remember that. It'll make me sound smart. But, even if the fight doesn't end today, it doesn't mean it was a draw. I'm asking who do you think will win between Hierophant and Lovers."

"That's… I don't know."

That wasn't an answer Barbatos expected. He was clearly interested, so Yuji decided to continue explaining.

"Let's establish each side's winning condition. For Hierophant, it's to kill Yuuto. However, he has likely copied the Shimokadzuma Bloodline Magic from Wheel of Fortune's Candidate, so he can't be easily killed without engaging him in a fight, i.e. draining his mana. For Lovers, it's to cancel the contract. The original didn't have a cancellation condition, but I made sure one was put in. However, they don't know the condition, and have no way to learn it unless someone tells them, but once they do, achieving it can be fairly simple, depending on how much they're willing to get their hands dirty."

"It sounds fairly straightforward. Unless someone from Hirono's team slips up, Yuuto's side can't win. It's not like they can just guess, so eventually Hirono would have to win."

"It would seem that way at first, but remember what I said before. This battle won't end today. That means that everyone on both sides will have time to get stronger and also to think about their next steps."

"... I see."

Barbatos understood what Yuji was suggesting, but, at the same time, he couldn't imagine it actually taking place in reality.

"Well, like I said, I don't know what will happen. If things go as I imagine, then Yuuto should come out on top, though not today. However, if it doesn't, things could end up in a deadlock, at which point a third party could be needed to put an end to things."

"Well then, I'm going to bet on Yuuto and hope that your prediction comes true. If it doesn't, I'll ask for reparations."

"I certainly hope it won't be needed."

With that, Barbatos and Yuji decided to watch over the battle. One hoping for Yuuto's victory more than the other, though for reasons that shall remain undisclosed.

After obtaining Barbatos and Yuji's approvals, Hirono waited until lunch break to discuss his plan with the rest of his team. They went back to classes as if it was just another day, they didn't want to give the slightest hint that something was off to Yuuto's team.

Well, all of them except Hirono. He went back to the Hiraizumi mansion to get the King Killer. Once he did, he returned to Ginsei Academy.

Once classes ended for the day, Hierophant's team left at the same time as Lovers'. However, because Yuuto and the girls went by car, Hirono and the others were able to arrive at their destination first thanks to Nana using Transite with everyone.

That destination was, obviously, Lovers Mansion. Hirono's plan involved cutting off Yuuto on his way, but it wasn't as simple as that. There were quite a few layers to his plan.

"Everyone understands their role?"

"""""Yes."""""

"Then, let's wait until their car is on sight. After that, we can begin."

Hierophant's Cards waited and prepared themselves. Although Yuuto was the only target that needed to be killed, their battles would directly impact how Hirono's fight with Yuuto went.

As for Hirono himself, he was looking off into the distance. His eyes were glowing. That's because he was currently making use of his Characteristic Magic. Even now, practically at the time of the attack, he was still trying to fill the holes in his knowledge.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much for him to find. And it wasn't long until his Cards saw that car that was bringing Yuuto home.

No words needed to be said, they all knew what they had to do. Ken, Sol and Nana immediately began to move. Their objective was to invade Lovers Mansion. The ones that stayed still in the middle of the road were Hirono, Hinata and Barbara.

The car arrived just in time to see the three leave. That too was part of Hirono's plan. Of course, Yuuto and the others quickly understood what was happening.

"So here they are. I was starting to think they'd given up."

"That would have been nice…"

Neith replied to Stella, who was looking dead ahead. She was looking at Barbara, who she knew was Hierophant's Ace.

As Lovers' Ace, Stella knew it was her job to take care of her.

"I was expecting a surprise attack."

"Maybe they have some plan desu."

"... I see. The other three went to the mansion. They want to divide us."

Yuuto's train of thought wasn't wrong. Part of the plan was to force Yuuto to make this choice. Either he leaves his mansion largely unguarded and breaks through with all his current strength, or he sends people ahead to make sure the ones on the mansion are fine, forcing him to face Hirono and the others with less fighting power.

That's why they were standing in the middle of the road and not hiding somewhere, and also why they waited until Yuuto would see where they were going.

But that was only the surface layer. There were other reasons why Hirono gave up on a surprise attack.

"I'll face them here. Neith, take everyone to the mansion. Everyone knows what to do if we can't win, right?"

"Yes desu."

"Yup."

"Yes…"

"Wait, I'll stay with you. Since their Ace is here, this is where I'll fight."

Yuuto nodded to Stella. He, Stella and Neith got out of the car.

As soon as he did, Hirono pulled out a gun and shot Yuuto. Almost entirely by reflex, Yuuto pulled out Tenka Fubu and cut down the bullet that came towards him.

The bullet was not made of actual matter, but rather pure mana. The gun was the current form of King Killer. That weapon has no fixed form, and it adapts itself to the person using it and their target.

Of course, there was no way Yuuto knew that.

"That was a bit uncalled for."

"I apologize. I was trying to see if we could end this quickly."

Hirono didn't seem at all disturbed at Yuuto defending himself. He had no reason to. So far, things were going according to his plan.

"If you want, we can let your car pass. I have no intention of fighting your full force regardless."

"Thanks for the offer, but it won't be needed. Neith."

"Yes. Good luck, Yuuto-kun, Stella…"

Neith summoned her Characteristic Magic, Top Runner. Ever since they started living in Lovers Mansion, Yuuto made sure to regularly do Healing Lovers with his Cards. Meaning, unlike how it was in the Labyrinth Battle Royale, Neith's chariot was in its evolved form.

The chariot that formed was big enough to take the car inside itself. The four sphinxes seemed like they were going to dash ahead, but they were gone before Hirono could properly think.

In its evolved form, Neith's Characteristic Magic can break through space itself. That's how she'll take everyone to Lovers Mansion. After all, they couldn't know if there were other traps set up along the way, so it was best to just cut through.

Well, what they actually achieved was putting a wrench in Hirono's plan. Even though it wouldn't take long for them to reach Lovers Mansion by car from this point, these few minutes would have probably been really precious.

"Well well, our investigation revealed that your Healing Lovers had the power to upgrade other Characteristic Magics, but I didn't expect this much."

"I'm pretty sure we never used it in public. Rather, I'm surprised you found out that much."

Yuuto and Hirono stared at each other. The fight was about to begin at any moment.

But…

"Hey, you, come with me. Aces need space to show their true power, wouldn't you agree?"

"Sounds like fun. I'm in."

Stella pointed at Barbara. The two Aces then started heading in a different direction.

Stella doesn't know much about Barbara's fighting style, other than she's a brute-strength type. Although she believes she can handle her fine, Stella wants to make sure she can use her trump cards without getting Yuuto involved, that's why she wanted space.

As for Barbara, her role in this was to ensure Hirono would face Yuuto and Yuuto alone to ensure King Killer would adapt to him. Meaning she was supposed to take away anyone who stayed. Luckily, Stella made her job much easier.

Hirono and Yuuto went back to staring at each other. Yuuto then looked at Hinata for a second. He had to wonder why she was there.

Was she really strong enough that she could help Hirono in this fight? Or is her presence here indicative of some kind of trap? Those kinds of thoughts were running through Yuuto's mind.

Inside Lovers Mansion's barrier.

Neith's Top Runner broke through space again and came out inside the barrier. She let the car down from her chariot and everyone came out.

"It looks… normal."

"Maybe we arrived first?"

Those were Rebecca and Maki's thoughts. But Neith knew better.

"No, this signal from the barrier means that there was an unauthorized entry… I'm going to take everyone to the safe area. Let's split up and look for the enemy…"

The barrier around Lovers Mansion did stop any attempts at spying on what happened inside, but it didn't block anything physically. What it did was send a mana signal to say that there was an unauthorized entry.

Neith summoned Top Runner again and took the driver and the homunculus Lysel to the safe area that had been prepared. After she left her, she would go looking for anyone else that needed to evacuate before looking for enemies.

"Reina's going to go get Swordia desu."

"Then I guess the three of us will look around."

Reina went off to where Swordia usually trained at this time. Meanwhile, Miyabi, Rebecca and Maki went into the mansion proper to look for anyone who had broken in.

And thus began the battle of Lovers vs Hierophant.