The main battlefield between Yasaka and Jormungandr was already nearing its conclusion.
Under Yasaka's relentless lightning bombardment, the so-called Dragon of the End had practically been roasted into an oversized charred eel.
Yet just as Yasaka prepared to personally finish Jormungandr off with her claws, the dark storm clouds overhead suddenly vanished.
At the same time, the surrounding space seemed to become completely sealed off.
As Kyoto's guardian deity, Yasaka immediately noticed something was wrong.
She could no longer feel Kyoto's power amplifying her strength.
Jormungandr, who had been bound and suppressed by Kidō restraints the entire time, instantly noticed the agonizing lightning strikes had disappeared, while the pressure restraining his body had weakened considerably.
His survival instincts immediately exploded into action.
As the strongest among the Five Dragon Kings, Jormungandr's actual power was not much weaker than Yasaka's to begin with.
The reason Yasaka had been able to utterly dominate him before was simply because of her unfamiliar and overwhelming techniques, combined with the territorial boost granted by Kyoto itself.
Of course, after being beaten down for so long, Jormungandr was already covered in injuries from head to tail.
Even though he had regained his freedom, he had no desire whatsoever to continue fighting Yasaka.
The woman was obviously terrifyingly dangerous, and in his current state, he wasn't even sure he could defeat her anymore without Kyoto empowering her.
After carefully weighing the situation, Jormungandr decided it would be smarter to return to the Norse realm and go back to sleep.
He had already done more than enough this time around.
Hell, he had nearly been turned into grilled dragon meat.
Even if Loki came looking for trouble afterward, the trickster god wouldn't have much room to complain.
The moment Jormungandr broke free from the Kidō restraints, the colossal serpent immediately spiraled upward into the sky.
However, just as he wondered why the Nine-Tailed Fox Yasaka wasn't making any move to stop him—
his massive head suddenly slammed into something invisible.
It felt as though he had crashed directly into a giant wall.
The enormous dragon immediately fell back down again.
"Nine-Tailed Fox Yasaka! What exactly are you trying to pull?!
I admit that my strength is currently inferior to yours, but that doesn't give you the right to humiliate me!"
Having finally recovered from the collision, Jormungandr glared furiously at Yasaka with eyes as large as buildings.
Clearly, he believed the disappearing lightning and weakening restraints were all part of Yasaka's deliberate scheme—
that she had intentionally let him escape just to mock him.
Yasaka's golden eyes narrowed slightly.
"I have no interest in such childish games.
I merely wished to finish you off quickly so I could assist my dear elder brother on the other battlefield.
But if even you were kept in the dark…
then it seems the ones who arrived are not your allies after all.
Or perhaps you and Loki were merely pawns in someone else's game from the very beginning."
As Yasaka's voice echoed through the air, Jormungandr was still only half-processing the situation.
Then, from the thick mist surrounding the battlefield, several figures slowly emerged.
Among them, a tall black-haired man casually applauded as he walked forward.
"As expected of Kyoto's supreme yokai commander.
Not only are you powerful enough to effortlessly suppress the Dragon of the End—
your instincts are equally impressive."
There were four newcomers in total.
Three men and one woman.
And the black-haired man applauding was clearly their leader.
As for Yasaka's earlier statement, he made no effort to deny it.
After all, Loki and Jormungandr truly had been nothing more than disposable pieces used to divert attention.
From the very beginning, their true target had always been Kyoto—
and Yasaka herself.
Their plan was to control Yasaka and trigger a magical rampage throughout Kyoto, using the resulting surge of power to lure out the legendary True Red Dragon Emperor hidden within the Dimensional Gap—
so they could absorb the power of the Great Red itself.
In fact, they had even worried that Yasaka's power alone might not be enough to attract the legendary dragon.
That was why Jormungandr had also become one of the "materials" for their plan.
"My name is Cao Cao.
These companions of mine are Siegfried, Jeanne, and Georg.
And as it happens… there is something we would like Commander Yasaka's assistance with."
Hearing those names, Yasaka paused briefly before quickly reacting.
"I see now.
So you are the so-called 'Hero Faction' of the Khaos Brigade.
But what makes you believe I would cooperate with scheming scum like you?"
Cao Cao.
Siegfried.
Jeanne.
These were all names belonging to legendary human heroes known across the world.
Combined with the information Vali had previously provided, Yasaka immediately realized the group before her belonged to the Khaos Brigade.
Hearing Yasaka directly expose their identities, Cao Cao looked slightly surprised.
But he quickly understood why she knew about the Hero Faction.
"So the traitor Vali has already made contact with you, hm?
In that case…
is the Infinite Dragon God Ophis currently with your side as well?"
Although Ophis was technically the leader of the Khaos Brigade, her position was largely symbolic.
Most of the time, she merely served as the source of the Brigade's "snake" power.
Ever since Vali secretly took Ophis away, the Khaos Brigade's entire operation had been severely disrupted.
That was precisely why Cao Cao and the others had turned their attention toward the True Red Dragon Emperor.
A being capable of standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the Dragon God—
perhaps even surpassing it.
If they lost one legendary dragon, capturing another to replace it as their power source would work just as well.
The Hero Faction's malicious intentions were obvious even to an idiot.
Naturally, Yasaka had no intention of revealing Ophis's whereabouts.
And once Cao Cao realized Yasaka wasn't going to reveal anything useful no matter what they said—
he immediately chose to attack.
Two against four.
Faced with a common enemy, Yasaka and Jormungandr temporarily joined forces.
At first, neither gigantic beast thought much of the four humans standing before them.
To creatures like them, humans were inherently weak beings.
And Cao Cao's group didn't appear overwhelmingly powerful in terms of magical energy either.
But the moment the battle truly began—
both Yasaka and Jormungandr realized just how foolish that assumption had been.
Cao Cao and the others weren't merely strong.
They were absurdly powerful.
As descendants—or vessels—of legendary heroes, every one of them possessed astonishing combat skill.
And all of them wielded Sacred Gears.
Extraordinary martial ability combined with weapons capable of harming beings like Yasaka and Jormungandr meant they posed a genuine threat.
More terrifying still—
the Sacred Gears they wielded were not ordinary ones.
Among all known Longinus-class Sacred Gears, only twelve existed in the world.
And this group alone possessed three of them.
The high-tier Longinus Absolute Demise sealed off the surrounding space, temporarily severing Yasaka's connection to Kyoto and stripping away her territorial enhancement.
Meanwhile, Cao Cao wielded another Longinus-class Sacred Gear—
the True Longinus: Spear of Twilight.
Without even activating its Balance Breaker, he relied solely on his overwhelming martial skill to push Yasaka into a desperate situation.
On the other side, Jeanne and Siegfried wielded the Sacred Gears Demonic Sword Creation and Holy Sword Creation, allowing them to freely generate countless demonic and holy blades at will.
Together, they steadily forced Jormungandr into a corner as well.