After falling for what felt like an eternity, the God of Fighting had perfectly stuck the landing when he reached the bottom of the world. The force of the impact raised the ground beneath him and Schnell, effectively saving them from the surrounding lava. Though it still surrounded them on all sides, and it filled beneath them, the God had at least managed to create a proper battle arena for their fight.

"Where is she." Auros asked-no, demanded to know.

"I had her cool off downstairs." Schnell pointed down in a relaxed fashion.

"Below? Holy crap..." Issei gulped, "So Aru's... gone?"

"Tch, that idiot actually got herself stuck in Hell..." Auros clicked his tongue before explaining, "No, she's not permanently stuck. She'll dig herself out eventually, but it'll take a while."

"How long do you reckon?" Aaron asked, "Is she gonna be here by the time this guy croaks?"

"All depends on how willing this asshat is to understand he can't win this." Auros glared at Schnell, "Douglas, do you have any idea what's going on here?"

"I know you're the reason behind it all, for one." He shot back, "She told me about it, don't worry—About how you were supposed to be in charge of taking care of the Book."

The Book was a foreign concept to the Generals and Issei. They had gotten the gist of how it worked and its relevance to the current situation from the Gods prior to this mission, but it's not like they've ever seen it in action. Either way, they couldn't really care less about who was really at fault. All they wanted was to get this battle over with, help Aru get out and go fight Olyahim. Extra context was unnecessary.

"Hup!" Jorgen was the first to leap off Auros' shoulder, his Eyes glowing a pungent Gray, "Alright, let's get this over with."

"What's that? You wanna go mano a ma-?" Schnell jeered, only to get sliced up in the very next second, "...no?"

"Hmph, as far as I'm concerned, you Gods disappoint me." Jorgen sheathed his sword back into its scabbard, "Going through all this trouble just to slay one man... Not only that, but you also failed at it! To think I was worried about him..."

Stunned, the other Generals couldn't utter a single word in reaction to this simple yet effective preemptive strike. Quite literally sparing no extra time for chit-chat, Jorgen had chosen to end the battle before anyone even expected it to start yet. Schnell merely fell to the ground, his wounds making him bleed out completely on the steaming hot cobblestone floor. The man was dead, surely.

"That's it?" Maxwell raised a confused Eyebrow.

"That's my brother!" Pierre praised him.

"Epic..." Issei's Eyes twinkled.

"Sigh, I don't know if I should be happy or sad, honestly..." Auros pinched the bridge between his Eyes.

"What? Angry that a human could do something you Gods could not?" Jorgen glanced back unamused.

"Nah, it's not 'cause of something stupid like that." Auros sighed before pointing to the fallen opponent, "It's cause ya' didn't kill him yet."

Immediately, Jorgen had turned around to stab the man on the ground through the skull to confirm the kill. He didn't even care to check if what the Fighting God was saying was true, he simply knew better than to question whether or not an opponent was really dead or not. Alas, even that wasn't enough, for by the time his sword swung, it had only hit the ground. Schnell had moved from his spot, and to make matters worse, his previously cut up body was now spotless.

"Geez, and Olya just gifted me these!" He commented on the cuts Jorgen made to the clothes, his Eyes glowing a strong vibrant Green, "Well, I guess your little toothpick isn't as good at cutting up skin after all, guy."

"What? Did Jorgen miss, after all?" Issei rubbed his Eyes.

"See what I mean by annoying?" Auros commented, "This is gonna make our mission a thousand times more difficult. He adapted again."

"To what?" Pierre asked.

"His Iro Ability."

After just witnessing Aru use her Iro Abilities once or twice, he had already gotten the gist of Heal. What a scary opponent, Issei and the Generals thought, but there was nothing that could be done about it now. Immediately, an idea popped into Issei's mind that just might help them defeat this newly powered up Schnell.

"It's just like a boss enemy that constantly spams healing potions!" He shouted eureka, "Guys, follow my lead!"

Without even explaining his plan to the others so as to keep it a secret from Schnell, he had placed all his faith into his allies and began running at top speed towards Schnell. The others looked at each other and shrugged before obliging. It was now a full on offense against this one man, however the opponent didn't seem too fazed.

"Gonna try and win in a battle of numbers, eh?" Schnell chuckled, "Geez, do any of you guys like playing fair?"

Issei was obviously the vanguard in the situation, and as such he was the first to reach him. He had already put on the Disconnect's Gauntlets, so there was no need to hold back this time. Without rest, he kept pushing Schnell back one punch and kick at a time. Guiding him in a specific path that naturally positioned him into Jorgen, he had finally shown off what he had in mind.

"Now, everyone!" Issei ordered, "The best way to beat a hydra is to cut off all its heads before it heals!"

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***

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"So that's the plan, huh?" Aaron laughed out loud as he trailed closely behind him, "Just keep killing him until he dies?"

"Never did I think I'd be facing an opponent with such a solution, but I guess it does make sense." Pierre aimed his gun from afar.

"Just once should be enough then, no?" Maxwell reasoned, "After all, we just need to make sure to double tap... Ahem, Jorgen."

"I hear your complaints, and I politely beseech you to stick 'em up your arse." Jorgen glared back, once again Going Solipsistic to catch Schnell off-guard.

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Now the thing with the Generals is, they all Wield the Gray Iro Ability. In essence, they can all Focus on the battle to subjectively slow down the pace for them, making it easier to say, line up shots or dodge and counterattack. Issei didn't have this power, but he did have his trusty backpack, which almost more than made up for it!

"Whoa! Missed me." Schnell mocked Pierre's aim, "And you, don't think that sucker punch is gonna work a second time!"

"Trust me, I make history repeat itself." Jorgen said as he zipped and zoomed to just in front of him, "Huh?!"

Punched in the face. Jorgen's special skill was easily deflected by the Grandmaster Adventurer, even though this would theoretically be impossible. In general, he shouldn't have even gotten hurt that much, since the punch that had sent him flying was, for him, in slow motion and thus carried very little force behind it. In one way or another, Schnell had punched so fast that it was actually at normal speed for the already sped up Generals.

"Whoa, getting a bit too lax there, Jorgen!" Aaron mocked him before turning to Schnell, "And you, nice one!"

"...Thanks?" He replied with a great deal of confusion, "What's your deal, guy? What's with the accent?"

"Don't like how I speak? God, in that case you're in for a surprise when you find out the reason behind it!" Aaron laughed, "Hey, Jorgen's kinda hotheaded, so can you try hitting me like that next? I wanna see something."

"Me, attack you?" Schnell took up the offer, "Phah! Alright, Slim Jim, if you insist, then who am I to say no to chippin' off one more enemy!?"

Running with fists ablaze, Schnell had fallen victim to Aaron's taunt focused fighting style. The first step, provocation, was now complete, so all that was left was to dodge until Aaron had figured out all Schnell had to offer. Duck, weave, dodge, that's all he focused on for the duration of this bout as his Gray Eyes glew brightly. In spite of having Gone Solipsistic the entire time, Aaron too was quite struggling to make it out unscathed. But that was alright, because after painstakingly and patiently waiting for a chance to strike, he had finally found it...!

"STOOOOOP!" Auros screamed, prompting Aaron to second guess himself and miss his chance.

"Tch, what was that for?" He shot back an angry glare after he took a step back.

Thus, time had resumed and he had realized the reason behind Auros interruption. As soon as time resumed normally, Schnell swung a large rock he chipped away previously from the walls and hid in his pocket. Had Aaron gone through with his "perfect attack", he would have been struck by it directly in the head. Auros had in fact saved his life just now.

"...Oh." Aaron looked a tad embarrassed after cussing his savior out, "Sorry, but I think I get it now. This asswipe's secret."

"Yeah, I saw it too." Maxwell shook his head.

"This can't be real." Pierre's hand shivered as his grip on the pointed gun tightened.

"Guys, I need an explanation here." Issei raised his hand, "What am I missing?"

"His Eyes." Jorgen pointed out, "The bastard copied our Iro Ability. He can now Go Solipsistic too."

The impossible, as well as the most unfavorable outcome had happened. Their opponent could now catch up to them in a battle of time slow and time stop. Issei was the only one in the group who was effectively made useless thanks to this discovery, since he alone could only stay in normal time. He was now a sitting duck, and if Schnell decided even once to make him a target, Issei would surely fall.

"Damn!" Issei suddenly saw the giant hunk appear before him, "Not like this-!"

"Ack!" Schnell, who was mere milliseconds away from landing a surefire hit, had lost Focus at the very last moment and allowed for Pierre to shoot him back, "Tch, lucky shot!"

"Don't worry, we'll do our best to protect you." Maxwell and the others huddled around Issei, "But by all means, do try to avoid just lazing around like some sort of deadweight."

"Deadweight..." Issei looked down in shame, "Sorry, but please fend him off until I find a way to help out!"

And so, the Generals defended each and every assassination attempt that came from the Grandmaster Adventurer. Every time Schnell got too close, either he'd get shot back by Pierre or sliced and kicked away by the others. While this was going on, Auros was steadily using his powers to close up all the lava around them. Though they didn't know this, the Generals and Issei weren't allowed to kill Schnell, for that would result in his win. Auros knew this, however, so he secretly made all the preparations to send him below deck, where he rightfully should be.

"Enough of that damned pew pew thing!" Schnell finally had enough of Pierre and took the gun away, only to smash it between his hands like it was made of mud, "Let's see you fight like a man!"

One second before disaster, as Pierre was about to get his neck broken by the brute, a saving grace came in the nick of time.

"Dropshot!" Issei shouted the name of the weapon as he fired the large bow off, "Get bent!"

The bow was strong enough to break through several layers of armor and defense, but that came at a cost of a strength requirement. Indeed, the sheer height of the bow surpassed Issei when he fully extended it, so even with the Disconnect's enhanced strength, he simply could not pull it back with his arms alone. Instead, he had to utilize his whole body to charge up the mighty bow. By doing a running jump into a dropkick, he could use his feet to extend the bow by the handle, and pull back the string with his hands. A dangerous weapon to use that, if missed, would leave him in way too impossible of a spot to recover from. This daredevil decision from Issei signified he had bet his everything on this one bow shot, and the result?

"...I'm gonna be honest, twerp." Schnell smiled as the giant arrow stood horridly lodged into his brain, "That was actually kinda sick, not gonna lie."

In the very next moment, Schnell Douglas dropped dead.