Despite the unexpected and magical events Rygar's children were experiencing in the Great Forest, he remained in a state of completeness and inspiration unlike anything he had ever felt before.
But he did not allow any of it to cloud his judgment. This was not the time to contemplate creation.
His situation was not ideal, but things rarely went as expected anyway.
His initial plan for this expedition had been to reach the final floor of the Dragon God's Hole silently, without alerting his enemies, complete Sköllvindr, and then use the power of both his sentient artifacts to overwhelm those who stood at the top of the world.
After all, even surpassing all his limits, using his talents to their fullest, training, innovating techniques, and creating increasingly absurd magic, Rygar knew that alone he would not be able to reach the greatest entities in this world in only a few decades.
It was not that he lacked confidence in eventually doing so.
His innovative and lethal magic, by itself, would already allow him to continue growing to an even higher level.
The problem was time.
Rygar was only almost thirty years old.
Someone like the Dragon God, on the other hand, had lived for thousands upon thousands of years, refining his arts, his experience, and his methods.
Rygar would have no problem continuing to train and waiting for however long was necessary.
But due to Orsted's Loop, the time he had to grow stronger was destined to be limited.
Eventually, all of reality would be rewritten if Orsted failed to eliminate Hitogami.
His magical artifacts were an answer to circumvent that problem.
Doomsday and Sköllvindr were as powerful as, or perhaps even more powerful than, the legendary Golden Armor created by Laplace.
And since they had been custom-made to suit Rygar's abilities, they were naturally items capable of turning the board upside down.
Of course, the core of that power was still Rygar himself.
Other people, even legendary warriors, would not only fail to draw out the full power of those artifacts, but could also be killed or swallowed by their uncontrolled power.
It was enough to see how Doomsday behaved, even while being wielded by Rygar.
Any warrior, even someone extremely strong or skilled, would be burned to ashes in seconds by the blue flames that constantly immolated it.
But even with so much power in his hands, plans never kept up with change.
The resurrection of Saint Milis.
The battle in the Ever-White Desert.
The pursuit he suffered inside and outside the Dragon God's Hole Labyrinth.
None of that had been part of Rygar's original plans.
All he could do now was adapt and resolve the complicated situation before him in the best way possible.
Fortunately...
The power he felt at that moment was limitless. It was as though he could do anything.
But Rygar did not allow himself to be carried away by that sensation. Instead, while fighting Laplace and Badigadi, he familiarized himself with his new power as best he could.
His mind was accelerated, with his Demon Eyes activated in shifts due to Badigadi's immunity.
He evaluated his mana consumption, Sköllvindr's growing power as it swallowed the flames, the unpredictable changes in his sentient sword, Laplace's movements, Badigadi's attacks, and the direction of Begaritt all at the same time.
Until he received a message from Aisha, and a smile appeared on his face. But even while thinking, his fight did not stop.
Badigadi and Laplace were not having an easy time.
The Fighting God Armor possessed extraordinary power and adaptability, but it had one enormous disadvantage: it gradually caused its user to lose himself, controlling his mind to make him fight endlessly against anyone who entered his path.
Because of that, Vita needed to take some care when entering the immortal demon's path.
Even so, it could be seen during the battle that the Technique God had already realized killing Rygar at that moment was impossible.
Perhaps it would have been possible if they had faced him together before he completed the Divine Armor.
But at that point, the more Rygar adapted, the more the fight ceased to be an ambush and became a battle for his enemies' survival.
Fortunately, Badigadi had unmatched resilience. As long as he was assisted so he did not have to face Rygar alone, he would not be defeated easily.
And Laplace, even while possessed by Vita, still represented the peak of draconic martial arts.
But even with that, the Beast God pushed them further and further into a corner. Vita, inside Laplace's body, soon reached a conclusion.
To win, they needed Saint Milis's help.
Fortunately, they were already very close. The intense battle had already crossed the ocean and reached the Begaritt Continent.
Large-scale magic left an obvious trail of destruction wherever it passed. From the coast to the continent's interior, there were dunes melted or turned to glass, cliffs split into pieces, smoking craters, and marks of purple flames cutting across the landscape.
And now they were very close to the Ever-White Desert.
There was only one problem.
How would Vita make the Saint cooperate with him and Badigadi, when both of them were demons? As he thought about that, the Technique God swung his spear.
His aura split in two the sea of flames descending from the sky upon him.
Laplace ascended amid the fire, opening a path with his silver spear. The flames split around his body, but the heat still passed through part of his Touki and burned the surface of his skin.
Then, in the next instant, he felt the chill of death at his back. Moving his wings like a missile, he abruptly changed direction.
A slash appeared in the space where he had been a moment before, a slash that divided space in a literal sense.
The distance between two points opened for an instant, as though the world itself had been torn apart.
Tch! Damn teleportation! Where is that muscle-brained idiot?
Vita could not stop himself from complaining in his thoughts as he dodged the Beast of the Apocalypse's follow-up killing blows.
"BWAHAHAHAHA! THIS IS, WITHOUT A DOUBT, THE MOST EXCITING FIGHT I HAVE EVER HAD!"
Once again attacking while regenerating, Badigadi charged like a bull.
The Golden Armor formed a blade in one of his hands, and the immortal demon executed a Secret Technique with all the brutality his body allowed.
Rygar met him head-on.
He swung his blue sword.
The desert trembled with the collision between the two of them.
The golden blade and Doomsday clashed in midair, spreading a shock wave that sank the ground beneath them. White sand rose in circles, nearby rocks were crushed, and the sky trembled with the sound of the impact.
Badigadi laughed even harder.
Rygar also laughed inwardly at the simplicity of that man. Even if he was partially controlled by the armor, Rygar knew that Badi was truly enjoying this fight.
No ulterior motives, no layers of deception. He was simply fighting and having fun.
Rygar, on the other hand, was thinking about a thousand things at once.
How to kill Milis.
How his family was doing.
How his subordinates were doing.
Where Orsted would appear.
What other plan Hitogami might still have.
It would be a lie to say he was not enjoying the fight. Of course he was.
As the Fighter God had mentioned, this might have been the most exciting fight of his entire life.
But Rygar had other priorities.
And even if Badigadi's intention was purely to fight, Rygar would not be lenient merely because of their old friendship.
While continuing to fight, he finally sensed his target in the distance. His disciple's plan was already in full motion.
Aisha had already spread several magic circles across the desert, preparing for his arrival before he had even arrived. Rygar admired her proficient use of the Clairvoyant Eye as he advanced once more.
His mana shaped itself according to his will, amplified to the extreme by the divine energy supplied by the False Divine Core.
A special magic he had developed by combining Gravity Magic, Space Magic, and a kind of understanding he had only reached more deeply during this fight.
"Spacetime Fold!"
Suddenly, the world around him turned gray, in shades of black and white. The color expanded outward from Rygar like a magnetic wave.
His mana was drained in a way he had never felt before.
The gray region spread through the air, covering hundreds of meters in an instant. Laplace and Badigadi felt the effect immediately.
To their shock, their movements became extraordinarily slow.
It was not like being restrained. It was more as though the very flow of time around them had become smaller than it should have been.
In return, however, Rygar also felt his own body grow slower within the range of the magic.
The magic did not exempt him from its effect, which was why he generally would not attempt to use it in an ordinary fight.
But in this situation, he had already expected that. The problem was the cost. His mana flowed like a waterfall being drained away.
Rygar was shocked.
He already knew that interfering with time would require a monumental amount of mana, but he had not imagined that even such a simple application would be this absurd.
Still, it would be enough.
Or at least, he hoped it would.
Then, finally, suddenly emerging from one of the teleportation circles stationed across the battlefield, Aisha appeared.
She was, as planned, only a few meters away from Vita.
The Technique God's gaze turned toward her, and he recognized her in an instant. The Divine Sorceress, whom he knew through Hitogami, possessed a method to exterminate him completely from this world.
Upon realizing his situation, Vita felt terror and tried his best to distance himself from the young warrior, but his body was slow, far too slow.
Aisha was already shaping her mana, far too quickly for him to react within the slowed time.
She smiled as she spoke the name of her final card.
"Axiom Frame."
At that moment, from Aisha, the familiar dome of Divine-level Magic expanded in an instant.
Covering both Aisha and Laplace.
Without delay, Rygar deactivated his own magic, and color returned to the world. The flow of time stabilized.
And he looked at Badigadi.
For one second, he hovered in the air, Doomsday in hand, his black helm turned toward the immortal demon.
"It really was a great fight, Badi."
Rygar was not trying to mock the Fighter God. He was simply stating a fact.
"You are going to die today, but if you ever revive, I hope we can have a fair fight."
Badigadi looked at the incomprehensible situation before him. Laplace had disappeared inside Aisha's dome, and Rygar stood alone before him.
The Golden Armor moved, and then Badigadi laughed even louder.
"BWAHAHAHAHAH! HUMANS GROW SO QUICKLY! THEN LET US GO, RYGAR!"
He charged without fear, just as he had from the beginning of the fight. The two collided in less than a second.
The battle transformed instantly due to their immense speed.
But this time, the difference became clear. Without Laplace there to assist him in a two-against-one, Badigadi was simply no match.
Rygar swung Doomsday.
A black slash tore away all three of Badigadi's right arms.
The Golden Armor tried to react immediately, forming new limbs and preparing punches with the remaining arms.
But Rygar vanished through teleportation, appearing behind the Fighter God in the very next instant.
Lightning exploded violently, and a large portion of Badigadi's body was torn to pieces. Golden metal, demonic flesh, and the armor's golden aura scattered through the air.
This time, there was no interference, no silver spear cutting across his path, and no Vita forcing an opening.
Badigadi was about to begin yet another tireless regeneration, but a powerful gravitational force descended upon him.
It was a weight Rygar had never achieved before, but with his focus completely on him, it was by no means impossible. Gravity subdued even the immortal demon's infinite strength.
Badigadi was crushed against the desert, sinking deep into the ground inside a crater.
The shattered Golden Armor shone intensely, trying to resist, trying to move, trying to raise the body so it could continue fighting.
But it could not.
Rygar observed the entire desert terrain for an instant. His senses spread across the battlefield, his golden eyes shining behind the black helm.
At the tip of Doomsday, a tiny sphere of purple flames began to form.
The sentient blade seemed to laugh in amusement.
"Fufufufu~"
Aisha still had Laplace trapped inside her spatial dome, but she was very far away.
Rygar was not worried about her.
The Technique God's most obvious and glaring weakness was his lack of magic. And Axiom Frame was a magic that could bring down even the greatest swordsman in the world.
Rygar looked at Badigadi one last time from behind his helm. There was still another enemy to defeat.
Then he spoke decisively:
"It's a shame, Badi. You made your choice."
The small sphere of flames slowly descended toward Badigadi.
He was still smiling fiercely, even crushed by extreme gravity and unable to make any sound.
The tiny sphere of purple fire was as hot as the sun.
As it descended, it gradually took on whitish tones.
Rygar flew slowly, watching the horizon.
Then he gave one last glance toward the distant dome where Aisha was.
And teleported.
When he did, his magic also came undone, momentarily freeing the Immortal Demon.
"BWAHAH—"
The Fighter God's laughter was cut short.
The small sphere of whitish-purple fire exploded like a supernova.
And a new sun was born once again upon solid ground.
----
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