The last Bishop was hiding.
I could feel her - a faint pulse of healing magic emanating from somewhere in the main building. She'd fled during our assault, abandoned her barriers and her partner, but she hadn't stopped working. Even now, golden threads of power stretched from her hiding place toward the clock tower.
Toward Riser.
"She's feeding him energy," I said. "Remote healing. If we don't cut her off, he'll be at full strength when we reach him."
"Then find her." Rias's voice carried steel. "End this."
I activated Stealth.
The world dimmed as I slipped between shadows, my presence fading to almost nothing. The ability wasn't true invisibility - anyone looking directly at me would see something wrong, a blur where a person should be. But the Bishop wasn't looking for threats. She was focused on her magic, on keeping her King alive, on the desperate hope that somehow this could still be salvaged.
She was wrong.
I found her in the third-floor infirmary.
Fitting, in a way. A healer hiding in a place of healing, surrounded by empty beds and medical supplies that existed only as shadows of the real world. She knelt in the center of the room, hands raised, golden light flowing from her palms toward an invisible target.
Her eyes were closed. Her concentration absolute. She didn't hear me approach.
Light Lance formed in my hand. Quick. Clean. Merciful, in its own way.
I threw.
The lance took her in the shoulder, spinning her around. Her eyes flew open - shock, then pain, then despair as she realized what had happened.
"No," she whispered. "Lord Riser - "
The retirement light claimed her before she could finish.
"One Bishop, Riser Phenex, retired."
Twelve down. Three to go.
The golden threads of healing magic dissolved. Somewhere in the clock tower, Riser Phenex felt the loss.
"Phoenix Analysis updating," the Fragment announced.
I paused, watching the data scroll across my awareness.
[PHOENIX ANALYSIS: UPDATE]
Remote healing link: SEVERED
Current regeneration capacity: 100%
Depletion potential: NOW POSSIBLE
Notes: Without Bishop support, Phoenix regeneration draws entirely from personal reserves. Sustained damage will reduce capacity over time.
```
This was it. The whole strategy - survive, deplete, assassinate - had been building to this moment. Without his Bishops feeding him power, Riser's regeneration wasn't infinite anymore.
It was just very, very high.
"Regeneration is depletable now," I reported. "Phoenix Analysis confirms. We can wear him down."
"Excellent." Rias's satisfaction carried through the link. "Converge on the clock tower. We end this."
I made it three steps before the ceiling exploded.
Yubelluna descended like an angel of wrath, her staff trailing fire and destruction. Debris rained down around me as she landed in the ruined infirmary, eyes blazing with fury.
"You." Her voice shook with rage. "You've killed my sisters. My family. Everything I care about."
I raised Light Lance, ready for combat.
"You've killed my sisters," she repeated, power building around her. "Now you die."
Lightning cracked.
Akeno appeared between us, shrine maiden's outfit torn but intact, her own power crackling around her like a storm given form.
"Ara ara." Her smile was sharp enough to cut. "I've been waiting for you, Bomb Queen."
Yubelluna's eyes widened. Then narrowed.
"The half-breed," she spat. "Fine. I'll destroy you first, then finish the rest."
"You're welcome to try."
The two Queens faced each other - lightning and explosions, holy power and demonic fire. The air between them burned with potential energy.
"Go," Akeno said without looking at me. "This one is mine."
I didn't argue. Just activated Combat Speed and ran, leaving the Queens to their battle.
Behind me, the world erupted.
The Queen battle painted the sky in violence.
Lightning and explosions clashed overhead as I rejoined the team. Akeno and Yubelluna circled each other like predators, each strike sending shockwaves through the Rating Game dimension.
"Status?" Rias demanded.
"Bishop eliminated. Yubelluna engaged Akeno. We have a clear path to Riser."
"Then we move."
We advanced on the clock tower - Rias, Kiba, Koneko, and me. Asia stayed back at the base, ready to heal any emergency teleportation. Above us, the Queens fought with everything they had.
The clock tower's entrance stood open. Inviting. A trap that didn't bother to hide itself.
"He's waiting," I said.
"I know." Rias's eyes blazed with Power of Destruction. "Let him wait a little longer."
We didn't enter. Instead, we stopped at the tower's base, watching the battle above.
Riser appeared at the observation deck's railing, Phoenix flames dancing around him like a living crown.
"Impressive," he called down. "You've eliminated most of my peerage. I didn't think you had it in you."
"Surrender," Rias said. "It's over."
His laughter echoed across the battlefield.
"Surrender? My dear bride, it's only beginning." He gestured at the sky, where Akeno and Yubelluna still fought. "Finish my Queen, and I'll face you myself. But until then - " Phoenix fire flared brighter. "I have no interest in fighting weaklings."
"You're outnumbered four to one."
"And yet you haven't attacked." His smile widened. "You know you can't win without your Queen. Without her power added to yours, you don't have the strength to deplete my regeneration. So we wait."
He was right. I hated it, but he was right.
Phoenix Analysis ran the numbers: Riser's regeneration at 100%. Our combined damage output: insufficient for rapid depletion. We'd wear him down eventually, but "eventually" could mean hours. Hours we didn't have.
Akeno was the key. Her lightning - especially her holy lightning - could damage Phoenix regeneration in ways our attacks couldn't. With her, we had a chance. Without her, we had attrition.
"Everything rides on Akeno," I said quietly.
"She'll win." Rias's voice held absolute certainty. "She has to."
Above, lightning and explosions danced.
Akeno versus Yubelluna. Queen against Queen. Shrine maiden against bomber.
They moved too fast to follow clearly - just flashes of power, impacts that shook the dimension, and the constant thunder-crack of colliding magic. Yubelluna had the advantage in raw destruction. Her explosions carpeted the sky, creating kill zones that Akeno had to navigate or die.
But Akeno had something Yubelluna didn't.
Lightning crackled. Then changed.
Golden light mixed with the purple - something holy, something that burned with power no devil should possess. Yubelluna's next explosion met that hybrid lightning and shattered.
"What - " Yubelluna's shock carried across the battlefield. "That's holy power! You're a devil!"
"I'm exactly what I need to be."
The battle shifted.
We watched from below, unable to help, unable to look away. The fate of everything - the Rating Game, Rias's freedom, the engagement - rested on the shoulders of a woman fighting with power that shouldn't exist.
"Come on, Akeno," Rias whispered. "Finish her."
Riser watched from his throne, flames dancing, smile fading.
For the first time, uncertainty flickered in his eyes.
Lightning and explosions lit up the sky.
Akeno and Yubelluna circled each other. Queen against Queen. Shrine maiden against bomber.
Below, Riser waited, Phoenix flames dancing around his hands.
"Come now," he said, smile restored but brittle. "Entertain me."
One battle had to end before another could begin.