"Capture them if you can, but killing them is easier, so I will kill them."
The Ice Goddess didn't have any intention to help the former investigator.
"You aren't fun at all, but they are quite weak. I can capture them alive, even without your help. What do you say, Pavel?"
The Ice Goddess was well-known for how inflexible she was, so he didn't plan to try to change her opinion once she said no.
"I will only follow my master's orders. I won't collaborate in anything that doesn't follow them. I will battle with Shiba. You two deal with the others, so they don't interfere with us. I heard that those three are very good battling together, so better avoid it."
The other two didn't think that their opponents could be dangerous even when grouped, but Lesta was the one who informed Pavel about the details, and they didn't think that someone like Lesta would say something like that without reason.
However, they thought that those three battling together would be troublesome, not something that could decide the battle.
"You two cooperate in dealing with the other two. Leave Pavel to me. He seems decided to battle against me one versus one, so although interfering a bit is possible, I doubt that he doesn't have ways to force us battle separately. At least, this way, we won't be too far from each other."
Lina and Eini were surprised that Shiba refused to try to battle together, but they agreed for the reason that wasn't one of what Shiba told them.
Pavel was Lesta's disciple, and Shiba was Yale's disciple. Both of them were considered the commanders of the two sides of the war, so they believed that it was normal that their disciples wanted to face each other. Moreover, from what they had heard, it seemed that both masters had ordered them to face each other.
The next second, Shiba and Pavel had already clashed, and Pavel was sent flying backward.
"As I expected. Trying to rely on the Minor Dimensional Divinity is useless against you, but I wanted to try."
Lesta taught Pavel the Dimensional Divinity, but Pavel only managed to obtain the Minor Dimensional Divinity while Shiba had the Great Dimensional Divinity.
"This won't last more than a minute if you insist on competing with the Dimensional Divinity."
Shiba had also used only the Great Dimensional Divinity before.
The other four didn't understand why Pavel and Shiba started with such a pointless comparison of attacks. However, given that the Dimensional Divinity was quite strange, they could believe that although it wasn't the best thinking logically, they were itchy to compare the Dimensional Divinity with someone else, and obviously trying with their master was out of the question.
Of course, Shiba was just following Yale's orders, it wasn't because he wanted to test his strength.
"Leave those two fools aside. No more one versus one. I will kill both of you quickly."
The Ice Goddess just ignored Pavel and Shiba. She really didn't care about the result of that battle. Even if Pavel died, she wouldn't be blamed for it as long as she fulfilled her part.
"No. We need to capture them for doing experiments. I can deal with them, just leave everything to me."
He didn't want the help of the Ice Goddess if she didn't want to help, but he didn't want that she killed the experiment subjects.
"You are too slow. I don't want to waste time. I will kill them."
Ignoring the words of her companion, the Ice Goddess spoke and prepared to attack, but the former investigator stopped her.
"You aren't killing them. I want them alive. Don't interfere with my plans."
It wasn't just that they didn't have any teamwork. Lina and Eini were sure that their enemies were weaker together than being alone.
"I will just kill you with them if you insist on your stupid experiments."
The Ice Goddess wasn't joking. She never hesitated to kill a team member if she believed that it was bothersome.
"I can also use you on some experiments if you insist."
The Ice Goddess was overbearing, but the other didn't plan to just sit and obey her orders.
"I will kill my target and leave, do whatever you want with the other. I don't want to be bothered by the others if we quarrel here, but this is my only offer."
They had only one target each one, but since they thought that their opponents were weak, they were planning to battle them at the same time.
However, they knew that if they started to battle with each other at that moment, there was the chance that someone would sue the chance to attack them when they were weakened.
"Deal. I will take my target to experiment with her, and you can kill your target and leave, as you want."
He wanted as many experiment subjects as possible, but he decided to conform with just one than battling the Ice Goddess.
Seeing the scene, Lina and Eini didn't know what the rebels were thinking o put those two together in a team.
However, since it was something that worked at their favor, they didn't complain.
The two members of the rebels attacked them, trying to have two separate battles, although that was against what they have told after Pavel started his battle.
Seeing the attacks, Lina and Eini didn't try to separate to avoid them but grouped together and created the strongest barrier they could, which was enough to endure the attack.
They didn't plan to separate. They were far stronger together while their opponents were far weaker together, so they wouldn't agree to have two separate battles.
The other two continued attacking, but their coordination was so bad that it was just making the things easier for Lina and Eini. They were just memorizing the attack pattern of their opponents, but once they were confident enough, they would start attacking.
Meanwhile, Shiba and Pavel were exchanging hits continuously. Sometimes they were sent flying, but none of them were injured. Shiba had the advantage, but that advantage didn't seem enough to win the battle quickly.
Some planets of the area were destroyed when Pavel or Shiba hit them, but they quickly appeared again to continue battling.
Compared to them that seemed to be giving their everything on the battle, the other one seemed quite pathetic, with one pair being completely unable to collaborate to the point that they were handicapping themselves.
That was enough to let Lina and Eini make up for the difference in level. It didn't matter that their opponents were True Gods if they would battle like that.
A pair that couldn't speak two sentences without starting to quarrel and a pair of sisters that trained together for who knew how many years, the difference in the teamwork of both parties was obvious.
Lina and Eini had different personalities that might seem incompatible to battle together, but instead of clashing with each other like their opponents were doing, they complemented each other.
The Ice Goddess and the former investigator noticed that once their opponents started to attack, their advantage disappeared, and soon they were even at a disadvantage.
Only at that moment, they realized how strong their opponents became when battling together. They were giving thanks that Pavel was battling alone against Shiba because neither of them felt confident in collaborating successfully with Pavel while it seemed obvious that Shiba could collaborate perfectly with the other two.
Of course, although Lina and Eini got the advantage thank to the lack of teamwork of their opponents, that was far from enough to let them obtain the victory quickly, and Shiba's battle didn't look like it would end soon either.
It was several months after that battle started that Astel finally met his opponent. It was considered one of the strongest members of the rebels. The Lightning God, one of the original Gods. Even the Space God needed to treat him seriously, but he wasn't the type who wanted to act as the leader since he killed everyone he considered as his subordinates on the first calamity. Thus, as long as the Space God didn't try to abuse his power, he would obey and battle without complaining.
He had been quite an overbearing character back then and formed his own small group inside the group of original Gods, with him at the head. It wasn't a serious hierarchy, but after seeing how the mortals lived, he found it fun, but he only accepted people a bit weaker than him. He never had an interest in those that were too much weaker. He always told that whoever beat him would be the next group leader, and he wasn't joking, but no one had beat him until they died in the first calamity.
He felt that it was a good way to motivate each other to become stronger because original Gods didn't have so much passion for training as mortals with a limited lifespan, but it wasn't that useful for the original Gods since they couldn't quickly see progress like mortals who were so weak that some improvement was quick to notice.
Of course, it was that same training the reason he killed everyone without wanting to do it and ended up joining the rebels.
Since he killed his subordinates, he felt so frustrated that he ended up believing that it was all Kroh's fault.
"I am sorry, but I need you dead. I will send you with your subordinates."
Astel attacked immediately.