User blog comment:B214/Shin DxD 1 discussion/@comment-95.210.189.106-20180809123512/@comment-2607:FB90:920:3CFB:0:35:65CB:A801-20180812085943

Vali had the advantage? Are you sure? His speed which would've been his advantage was irrelevant because of Crom's battle intuition. His wyverns was constantly bashed away by Crom's punches and Vali was surpised at how Crom was able to charge through Half-Dimension. The only technique that did work was Satan Compression Divider and that was against just fire breath. It's true that he didn't use Lucifer Smasher but considering Crom was practically on his heels I doubt Vali would have had the charge time require to use it. All Vali could do was launch demonic blast at Crom. By the time their battle was over Vali was getting worn out and breathing heavily. All we can say is Vali was able to put up a good fight but if they kept going Vali would have lost.

Crom was holding back dramatically in Volume 16.