— — — — — —
As Ryo linked the phantom of Little Garden within his spirit rank, the towering palace atop the distant mountain underwent a silent transformation.
The pillar of light that shot into the sky shifted from white, to black, and then to a blinding pure white.
Ryo's brows lifted at the sight, surprise flashing across his face as he watched the pillar change.
In his vision, every strand of white light could split into fragments of concepts, like grains of sand in a desert or droplets in the sea. Tiny, countless pieces. Grain by grain, they formed deserts; drop by drop, oceans. Together, they built all the prosperity and complexity of existence.
"So that's it. You fused your power into the world itself, becoming one with it for a moment and slipping past the Center Core's detection."
In that instant, Ryo instinctively understood Algol's strategy.
And with it, he finally grasped the true gap between himself and those in the three-digit ranks.
The difference wasn't in raw power, nor combat strength, nor even the number of authorities they wielded.
"So instead of spelling it out, you showed me my weakness through your actions." Staring at the radiant white light, Ryo laughed softly. "For someone like you, Algol, that's surprisingly thoughtful."
Then he closed his eyes and fully connected himself to the Little Garden Center.
[Ding!]
[Observation of World No. 005 complete.]
[According to holder customization, designated as: High School DxD World]
Space and time twisted. When Ryo opened his eyes again, he found himself back in the vast hall, its walls lined with candle spirits burning of their own accord.
He adjusted his focus and looked toward the tightly shut bronze door nearby.
"Aman. How long was I gone?"
Eyes opened on the bronze door, and the door spirit created by Canaria, Aman, answered at once. "Twenty-one hours and seventeen minutes. Would you like it down to the second?"
"No need."
Ryo closed his eyes briefly, then asked, "Did anyone come by while I was gone?"
Aman replied immediately. "A certain rabbit lady who forbade Aman from informing you visited five times. Once every four hours on average. Estimated time until next visit: two hours and forty-two minutes."
"Kurousagi, huh…"
A warm smile spread across Ryo's face. "Coming every four hours and making sure you didn't tell me. That's exactly the sort of thing she'd do."
Aman teased, "Would you like me to provide footage of Miss Kurousagi pacing back and forth outside the door?"
"Sure. Turn it into a memory crystal. I'll keep it around so I can laugh at her with it later." The corners of Ryo's lips lifted, his mood visibly lighter. "And Aman, call Kurousagi over in twenty minutes. I've got a few things to take care of first."
"As you wish."
With that, Ryo shut his eyes once more and sent his consciousness into the Dimensional Forum, pulling up the rewards from his trip to the High School DxD world.
[World No. 005: High School DxD successfully observed!]
[According to the Forum Center's cooperative agreement, after deduction of basic operating costs, rewards have been divided at a 9:1 ratio.]
[Congratulations. Holder has obtained 250,000 points. Current balance: 370,000 points.]
[Congratulations. Holder's spirit rank has advanced once again. Current base spirit rank evaluated at: Four-Digit (Legendary).]
[The Dimensional Forum and Little Garden Center Core jointly congratulate you!]
[Additionally, congratulations on reaching the minimum spirit threshold required to fully assimilate a Limit Authority (Four-Digit Legendary). Once formally integrated, a corner of the Omnipotent Domain will inevitably open to you.]
"Legendary, huh…"
Ryo stared at one message, feeling oddly emotional.
At most, it had only been a year.
In that short span, he had climbed from a mere seven-digit to a four-digit legend. His combat strength was now widely recognized as exceptional even among the four-digits.
Only he knew how much blood and danger that climb had taken.
On the surface, it looked effortless. Like he'd stumbled his way here through games and chaos.
But beneath that image? He'd walked the tightrope over and over, danced along the warning lines of gods, risked his neck countless times.
That was the price of his power.
"But my spirit rank's finally reached the minimum requirement to assimilate a Limit Authority…"
Ryo's expression darkened as he looked at the final line.
Ordinary authorities didn't need "assimilation" or "digestion." That only applied to foreign authorities, powers obtained by accident or outside one's natural path.
Normally, gods developed their authorities by observing the world's laws, slowly gathering concepts within themselves, linking countless concepts together in intricate patterns until an authority was born.
Those powers were theirs from the moment they existed. No need to adapt or absorb.
Assimilation and digestion, on the other hand, were the two steps required to make an external authority your own.
Just as the words implied, assimilation meant adjusting your spirit rank to accommodate the foreign authority's traits.
Digestion meant breaking it down completely, reshaping it into something that fit you, turning it into one of the core support pillars of your spirit.
Once that process was complete, an external authority became no different from one you'd developed yourself. For the three-digit gods and buddhas, it was one of the most important ways to grow stronger.
After all, building a new authority from weak concepts was absurdly expensive, requiring immense effort, time, and resources. Compared to that, starting with an authority that already had some scale was basically a shortcut laid out in plain sight.
"And the risk of being influenced by the authority during assimilation is almost negligible."
Thinking of that, Ryo rubbed his ear.
Since taking in those authorities, he'd noticed strange impulses cropping up.
The urge to destroy things. To crush things flat. Or a bizarre affection for mechanical creations.
Thankfully, the effects were minor, nowhere near enough to shake the powerful cosmos of a Gold Saint. Overall, he was still in good shape.
But other gods? That was another story.
Plenty had suffered accidents during assimilation.
Like Zeus, for example.
There was that infamous rumor that while assimilating an authority of lust, he lost control, transformed into a cow, and got mounted by a bull for several days.
To this day, neither Ryo nor the countless gossip-loving onlookers in Little Garden were sure whether that story had been fabricated by Zeus himself to cover up the fact that he swung both ways.
Though according to insider rumors from a certain lady surnamed Athena, behavior like that wasn't exactly a one-time thing.
Which, naturally, meant smart people quietly buried the truth of Zeus's preferences in the tabloids.
"Zeus…"
Even now, just thinking of him left Ryo irritated.
The man had been driven back to upper layers, sure, but the grudge between them was firmly set.
And if there was ever a chance to make Zeus miserable, Ryo would gladly take it.
Still, there were more pressing matters right now.
"This time, when I returned to Little Garden, no two-digit existence probed me. That means there are only two possibilities."
"Either they've already locked onto me… Or they've locked onto Algol."
Ryo was leaning toward the latter.
More accurately, both he and Algol had practically arranged for them to notice the latter.
"This stunt in the DxD world made a huge splash. The question is whether the two-digits will suppress the news… and for how long."
"But no matter how much they try to cover it up, once Algol returns to Little Garden tomorrow, everything will be set in stone."
A three-digit, rule-breaking Star Spirit.
In Little Garden, that was basically equivalent to the birth of a new two-digit existence, and one with far fewer restrictions. There was no way news like that could be hidden.
Not unless several of the two-digits worked together.
At that thought, Ryo rubbed his temples, "Algol's situation can be delayed for at least one day. Before that… I need to get to Mars."
Forcing a three-digit rule-breaker into existence was the kind of thing that could land him on an operating table if people found out.
Switching identities back with Leticia and leaving his cosmos behind to help cement a solid alibi was the smartest move.
That way, even if a hostile two-digit figured out what he'd done and wanted to make trouble, with Algol and Shiroyasha backing him, Ryo could throw it right in their faces without taking a scratch.
Because starting now… he finally had people backing him up.
.
.
.