When asked how much chance they had at defeating Xia, the following answers were given:

Elizabeth La Louve: “Nope. It is a bad matchup. My sister is too fast, and [Deific Wings]'s air-quakes could crumble the very structure of spells.”

Carolina: “If, and only if, I have at least twenty thousand zombies, then I will fight her, but no promises.”

Nuan Yulong: “I guess about fifty-fifty?”

Ming Yulong, the 3rd Prince: "I heard she was quite a magnificent warrior. I don’t know enough about her to answer that.” 

Shugguang Yulong (Ming’s little sister): “While it is impossible to defeat her in a straight-up fight, I believe time and preparation can deal with her.”

Brutus Santino: “She is mostly overrated.”

Marjorie Every: “I believe that will be fun sparring.”

Alas, it was the closest individual to Xia’s strength who gave the most insightful evaluation.

Dios Apolline Sfolgorante: “With or without EXOS, and what gear is she using?”

…

Battle strategy often changes depending on the resource at hand. This was especially true for the House of Lords, infamous for their cutting-edge Battle Suits. 

As usual, Xia came to the fight with the modular armor underneath her outerwear. However, unlike Ciel and Hikari, Xia’s equipment contained the ability White Majesty. Inspired by the previous magical engineering marvel that was the Helios Ring, Xia’s armor functioned as a miniaturized ritualistic platform for large-scale White Magic.

…

Modular Armor (White)

Rank: Unique

• Function

• Module Interphase

• Parameters Magnification

• Life Support

Awakening: White Majesty

…

Out of the two next-generation Battle Suits created from the remains of the equipment damaged during the Angel Fall, Xia’s EXOS: GOSPEL contained most of the power of the Gospel set and then some. These abilities included the suppression field for demons and undead of any kind. That alone would do wonders in the current situation, but Xia’s suit also possessed extra power.

…

EXOS — GOSPEL

Rank Unique

Function

• White Charge Fiber Frame

• Aura Conductor

• Flight

Awakening: Gospel Radiation

…

First, the suit possessed autonomous flight. This one ability saved her energy for maneuverability and diminished anything else staying on the ground. Like how Hikari’s aerial assault one-sidedly decimated Elric’s allies, the height Xia fought invalidated all ground assaults. While there were many things the cursed mutants could do, overcoming the flying warrior garbed in an aura that actively dismantled their existence was outside their purview.

Then there was the cream on top of her current get-up. Or one could call it two creams.

…

ASCALON MATRIX

Rank:Unique

Function

• CODE Attachment

• Aura Modulator

• Performance Enhancer

Awakening: Anti-Atrocity

…

Unlike other MATRIX that are normally attached to the EXOS’ body, the ASCALON MATRIX was designed to fit on the most dangerous thing in Xia’s repertoire—the [Deific Wing].

The attachment behaved like a pearly shell, cladding the golden blades. Originally, the [Deific Wing] transfigured Aura into seismic shockwaves that could penetrate and transfer into any material under heaven. What the ASCALON did was increase the already absurd efficiency and spec of the blade onto another plane of existence while condensing the Aura into an even thinner surface area and maintaining the exact vibrational frequency to carve anything in its path.

Combining the two gears together, and you had a flying, nigh-indestructible angel of death holding a sword that could cut anything with undebatable legitimacy. This warrior might was further compounded by Xia’s fable-grade White Magic and the broken [Auric Manifesto].

It should be clear that anyone confident in beating her with only moderate preparation was overestimating themselves. Those who were confident in winning against her either knew nothing or had the ego to pierce the ozone layer. Someone simply strong wasn’t built to last against a woman who laid to rest the Unity Lord’s paranoia about any worst-case scenario.

Xia’s existence allowed Ciel to rest in his alternate dimension without fearing the sky would collapse on the assault team. Until the exact second she was needed, the strongest in Unty’s camp was strictly asked to keep out of the fight as their greatest trump card.

Now, with Ciel certain that Decimo had no silver bullet tucked away in his hat, Xia was fully let out to savage the battlefield.

The moment the lady in white armor and shining fabric emerged to aid Nuan the cloud, Sanction followed. Endless suppressing light shone down from the cloud, pressing everything the light touched under the magical anvil.

Most enemies would have ended right then and there, but not Black Hand. Like how it nullified Nuan’s Aura Sphere, each of the sea urchin’s spikes swirled, with Mana picking apart the intricate spells cast from the sky. Having resisted the Sanction, Black Hand lunged at Xia. His spiked limbs raised his height to impale this new entry.

Xia, feeling something tugging at her feet, glanced down. The rotten wood snaking around her ankle was an amusing attempt to bind her foot. To that, Xia had one answer.

Cut everything up to and including the ship.

[Deific Wing], cladded with ASCALON, was swung. With the wave of her sword, Xia let loose a humongous compressed slash of Aura's enchanted golden [Auric Manifesto]. The mystical medium vibrated at high frequency and carved away at anything in front of it like a chainsaw. Be it the wooden boards doused in a wall of curses or the humanoid sea urchin, everything was carved in half against the grinding golden light.

To Black Hand’s credit, he did resist the blinding attack using his countless spines. Alas, against an attack so concentrated on a narrow edge, he failed miserably. The golden wave rushed forth, dividing him into two halves and ending the monster on the spot.

The golden Aura wave continued further, barely stopped by the wall of cursed Mana-forged jellyfish structures filled with a collection of brains.

Xia, not wasting time, flicked her finger to launch another attack.

White Magic Rank 5: Wrath of Sol

Nuan yelped and jumped off the attack epicenter.

Right on cue, the white comet fell from the heavens, bombarding everything into oblivion. The ship from hell was immediately crushed by twelve falling stars of light before it could self-repair. The jellyfish tower erected the cursed barrier, barely withstanding the blasting bombardment. The ocean churned in a copy of the roaring rush of sea foam.

Cornered, the tower of jelly and brains didn’t notice the rushing red energy that pierced it from the blind spot, demolishing part of it in a fountain of blood and translucent flesh. All the monster's eyes spun in the direction of that attack.

The night sky peeled away. Like a parting mist, the seemingly empty space vanished, revealing Betty handling a massive cannon. Transforming [Atlas Machina] into a massive cannon, Betty hid behind the Illusion spell and looked for the perfect timing to cut through the jellyfish with an amplified Destroy spell.

Of course, this wouldn’t be possible without Carolina's help to cloud her position with a certain zombie of hers.

Xia, not wasting any time, raised her hand. She gathered plenty of White Mana to wipe the jellyfish out in a single hit. Chrysler, successfully fighting through the Sanction and raining White Mana bombs, threw itself at Xia to interrupt the casting. The attempt was met with a punch clade in [Auric Manifesto].

The damage done was titanic in scale. The very air pulsated as the golden armor struck the boneless creature. Yes, Chrysler might be resistant to damage, but a punch cladded in such overwhelming amplification ability simply couldn’t be denied. In one punch clad in the gauntlet of [Auric Manifesto], Xia took away a chunk of Chrysler’s torso.

Not willing to lie low in defeat, Pangdu climbed from the water, fighting through the light of Sanction with sheer exhaustive use of Aura. The shell-encrusted monster bared his sword at Xia and lunged, and Xia greeted him with her own blade.

It was no contest. [Deific Wing] was the strongest sword in existence, further backed by the attachment of Battle Suit 2.0’s MATRIX. On top of the [Auric Manifesto] running along the blade, there was no way a common Aura-enhanced blade could endure the tip of the shining golden sword.

Pangdu’s sword split apart like melted butter. The point of Xia’s sword skewed his body and blew apart the right side of Pangdu. All the monsters succeeded in buying a split second of time for the jellyfish to live.

In such an upset, nobody realized that a split second was enough.

A cracking sound was heard, and the dome of darkness that took in both Decimo and the remote-control EXOS: DURANDAL shattered. 

In a scene that surprised every cognizant mind, what emerged beside the silvery armor wasn’t Decimo, but a ball of black flame.

At the same time, Ciel chimed in through the Residence of the Lord’s telepathic channel.

Ciel: We have a problem. Decimo sacrificed himself to awaken something from the ocean. Everyone, brace yourself!

Faster than anyone could stop it, the black ball of flames hit the water at a meteoric speed.

Xia, sensing the fade in the window of opportunity, unleashed her spell at full power

White Magic Rank 4: Smite

The blinding beam of white light blinded the sky and the horizon. Waves of unrelenting power plowed toward the jellyfish tower at godlike speed. In normal days, by the rulebook of reality, the jellyfish would vanish into charcoal.

It was unfortunate for the heroes that reality itself decided that it was time for phase two of this war.

Something massive rose from the water, getting between the jellyfish and Xia’s Smite. A haze of grudges and Mana accumulated on the creature in a haze of toxic red that clashed against the beam of scorching White Mana. Tidal waves of blood rose from the ocean in response to the creature's screeching roar.

Everyone recognized the creature as a dolphin, the size that would dwarf your average piers. The marine mammal somehow tanked Xia’s Smite head-on.

Before anyone could make head or tail of the situation, four different towers of water exploded simultaneously, revealing the similarly gigantic version of the mammal most falsely advertised genus glaring furiously at the puny human mounting assault on their territory.

No one could make a head or tail of the situation, nor did they know this humongous creature was simply a partition clone of the real monster being roused at the bottom of the sea.

Only Ciel knew what Decimo had done by sacrificing his life. The guess was logical from the very beginning. The orb to control the curse. The Pirate Lords. Even the initial attack on the Five Oceans. Everything pointed to the Blackwing trying to control and direct the curse while trying to weaken the Clam Palace in any way they could.

Maybe the Unity Lord’s involvement forced their hand. Maybe Decimo wasn’t supposed to sacrifice himself. Alas, those no longer mattered.

Amibus=Neptunus had been roused by the sacrifice. The terror of the sea could no longer be forced back to slumber.

Now, it was killed or be killed