Koneko and Akeno join forces!

Akeno and Yubelluna stared each other down for several moments, before Akeno struck first, bringing lightning down at Yubelluna. Yubelluna flapped her Devil wings, gracefully evading the blast. "Too slow," she drawled, before sending a blast at Akeno with a twirl of her staff.

Akeno immediately moved to evade, while also rushing Yubelluna, doing a barrel roll to avoid a second blast, and launching another bolt at her fellow Queen. Yubelluna turned aside, before she began to fly away, Akeno in hot pursuit.

Gaining on her opponent, Akeno thought she had the upper hand, and sent more bolts at Yubelluna, who moved to the side with each one, Akeno closing in. "I have you now!" Akeno roared, gathering a larger bolt in her hand, and throwing it forward.

Yubelluna sneered. "Do you?" she asked, before suddenly going up, avoiding the bolt, then flipped, her momentum taking her right behind Akeno as she passed through where Yubelluna had just been, her staff extended right at the small of Akeno's back, a magic blast that Akeno had failed to notice her charging for extra oomph at the tip.

Akeno's eyes widened as she realized she wouldn't be able to dodge this one, and braced herself to tank it as best as she could. She was strong enough that this wouldn't defeat her in one hit, but she was expecting debilitating damage that would ensure her ability to fight Yubelluna would be drastically reduced.

WHAM! Akeno blinked as the blast flew right by her, rustling her hair as it flew by, before exploding harmlessly in the air a good distance from her. How had Yubelluna missed at basically point blank range? She turned her head in time to see the woman in question spinning ass over teakettle through the air down towards the ruins of the gym building Akeno had blasted mere minutes ago, before crashing into it with ground shaking ****, cratering the ground, and kicking up dust. And Koneko, fist still extended, hovering in the air where Yubelluna had been. It didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened.

"...I know, I know, you told me to stick with Issei and Raynare," Koneko told Akeno before she could say anything. "But I obviously made the right call coming back."

"...well, as long as you're here," Akeno nodded, deciding not to press the issue. Issei and Raynare could take care of themselves until they reached Kiba at least.

Akeno and Koneko watched the rubble start to shift, Akeno preparing more lightning as Grayfia's voice rang out, "Riser Peerage, 3 Pawns, retired."

"Good, we got a good percentage of his Peerage dealt with," Akeno grinned, before bringing down a moderate sized lightning bolt down on where the rubble was shifting, indicating where Yubelluna was. The voltage blasted away at the rubble, before dying off. When the smoke cleared, Yubelluna was standing there, steaming slightly, mildly burned, scraped, and a bruise forming on her cheek where Koneko had struck her as a thin line of blood ran down the side of her head.

She scowled up at them, unimpressed, before flying back up. "That... Was a cheap shot," she criticized.

Koneko, remembering her surprise attack from earlier that narrowly failed to take her out, raised an eyebrow. "Hi there Pot, remember me, it's Kettle! Nice to see you again!" she scoffed.

This only made Yubelluna deepen her scowl as she prepared another explosion in her free hand. "There is a difference," she began to lecture. "Between needing a cheap shot just to stand an illusion of a chance, and using one to expedite an inevitable victory."

"Don't count your chickens before they're hatched," Akeno lectured right back.