"I didn't expect someone to clear the trial faster than me."
At that moment, several more suns in the sky lit up, and an elegant female voice suddenly echoed through the air, drawing Riku's gaze.
Approaching was a stunningly beautiful woman with golden hair that glittered like sunlight, features so exquisite that even space itself seemed to pale in comparison, and an air of regal grace.
She was the embodiment of gold and boundaries, famed as one of the Little Garden's three great Problem Children alongside the Lord of the White Night, the strongest of the Star Spirits, and the Halloween Queen.
An exceptional three-digit powerhouse so strong that even a two-digit could not harm her. One of the strongest beings in the Little Garden.
"Halloween Queen…?" Riku narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked at her, sensing a strange contradiction she felt both very near and impossibly far away.
On her shoulder rested a small, dazzlingly colored treasure chest.
"Oh? So you know my name, human from beyond the Little Garden," the Halloween Queen said with a graceful smile, her tone natural and refined.
"Hmm?" Riku raised an eyebrow in mild surprise. But remembering the Queen's mastery over boundaries, he quickly understood.
It was possible that she had sensed his arrival the moment he set foot in the Little Garden.
"If even I didn't know who you were, wouldn't that make me seem terribly ignorant?" Riku replied coolly.
"Heh. Actually, I'm rather curious how you come to the Little Garden? You're neither a manifestation of myth nor someone summoned here." The Queen tilted her head slightly, eyes glinting with interest.
"That's a secret one I'm afraid I can't share," Riku said casually, showing no sign of being swayed by her identity or beauty.
"I see. A shame," the Queen said with a faint shake of her head.
"Heh, Riku, for you to have made the Lord of the White Night suffer not long after arriving here… I must say, I'm impressed." A teasing smile touched her lips.
"Hmm?" Riku arched a brow, his eyes narrowing slightly at her. "You really do have a nasty sense of humour… have you been watching me this whole time?"
"This isn't spying," the Queen replied lightly. "I merely noticed a peculiar human who arrived in the Little Garden by unusual means and decided to keep an eye on him. I certainly didn't expect to see something so amusing, the Lord of the White Night, taking a loss. You've got potential, boy." Her tone held a hint of schadenfreude.
In the Little Garden, the relationship between the Halloween Queen and the Lord of the White Night was notoriously hostile. When they met, nothing good ever came of it; it only took a spark for them to explode. Watching the other suffer was one of life's greatest pleasures for either of them.
"Idiot Queen, who are you saying took a loss?!"
Suddenly, more suns lit up in the sky. On the horizon, the emblem of the Sun That Never Sets appeared, and an indignant voice rang out. Moments later, the Lord of the White Night appeared before them, her presence brimming with force.
"Oh my, if it isn't the Lord of the White Night. I'm shocked you managed to clear the preliminaries. Your trial must have been quite simple if you barely scraped by," the Queen said, feigning surprise as she twisted the knife. "Honestly, when will you ever be as excellent as I am?"
"Heh, you're the one who barely passed. Such a waste of your boundary manipulation abilities," the Lord of the White Night retorted with a mocking smirk, folding her fan adorned with the Sun That Never Sets and the Twin Goddesses.
Their auras flared, and it seemed a fight was about to break out.
Watching them start bickering the instant they met, Riku couldn't help the twitch at the corner of his mouth. The original descriptions hadn't exaggerated; if anything, their relationship was even worse than he'd imagined.
"But… the Lord of the White Night's carrying a black treasure chest?" Riku's gaze flicked to the small black chest in her possession, his mind turning.
A black treasure chest's contents would change in quality depending on its wielder's strength. That gave him yet another reason to retrieve the [Heliocentric Theory] spirit level for her.
As for the Queen's rainbow chest, he had no plans for it yet. Such chests required specific conditions to open, and with her control over boundaries, if she didn't want anyone to touch her, not even a two-digit could get close.
It was frustrating; the rainbow chest was right in front of him, yet completely out of reach.
"By the way, Lord of the White Night, is this world your game stage?" Seeing the tension between them grow to the brink of a clash, Riku shook his head and shifted the topic.
If those two started fighting, he might get caught in the crossfire. With the finals yet to begin, he had no interest in such a meaningless battle.
"Hmph, this isn't her game stage," the Queen said with a pout. "If it were, she'd be far too extravagant."
"Even if it isn't my game stage, it's still deeply connected to me. Do you have anything to say to that?" the Lord of the White Night replied, snapping her fan open.
The Queen turned away in irritation, clearly unwilling to look at that smug face.
"This is the Horizon of the White Night, the ultimate field of my Paradox Game. It is the End of Time and the Abyss at the Edge of the Stars, a place unreachable by humankind," the Lord of the White Night explained proudly to Riku.
"In the Age of Dawn, I sealed away millions of gods here," she added with a complicated expression.
[The Paradox Game] The very phenomenon that could shake the balance of the entire Little Garden and even give rise to the Last Trial of Humanity.
It imposed restrictions across the Little Garden, limiting the full power of beings in the almighty domain.
Even the Last Trial of Humanity owed its ascension to the position of the strongest god-slayer to the Paradox Game. In short, it was the root cause of countless upheavals.
If a Paradox Game occurred, the upper echelons of the Little Garden would stop at nothing to destroy it and prevent another Last Trial from being born.
"Still clinging to the past, I see. I told you before the place you should be is at my side," Riku said, meeting the Lord of the White Night's gaze, his own eyes shining brightly.
"Oh? That sounds interesting," the Halloween Queen chimed in, her smile widening as she looked between them. "Care to share your little secret with me as well?"
"If you're interested, Queen, you're welcome to come to my side too," Riku said with a faint grin, extending the invitation directly.
"Hehe, how straightforward. You just invited that idiot Lord of the White Night, and now you're inviting me?" The Halloween Queen smiled sweetly. "I might agree… if you abandon your invitation to the White Night idiot and instead challenge me to a Gift Game. Win, and I'll join your community."
"Hmph. You really are the kind of person I dislike," the Lord of the White Night snorted.
"Sorry, but that's something I can't do." Riku shrugged at the Halloween Queen. She clearly had no real intention of joining him; she just wanted to use him to tease the Lord of the White Night.
Riku wasn't disappointed that he couldn't recruit her now. He had just arrived in the Little Garden and had no strong foundation yet. For both the Lord of the White Night and the Halloween Queen, he was nothing more than a strange and mysterious figure they couldn't trust.
"Is that so? What a pity," the Queen replied with a good-natured smile, clearly unfazed.
"Trying to use Riku to mess with me? You're ten million years too early for that, baka Queen." The Lord of the White Night shot Riku a slightly softer look, then returned to sniping at the Queen.
Within moments, the two were once again locked in a glaring contest, making Riku's lips twitch.
If he really did invite both of these Problem Children into his community someday, wouldn't they be fighting every single day?
"Quite lively here," a calm male voice remarked just then. Several more suns lit up in the sky, and a man clad in mythic armour approached. He walked to Riku's side, watching the two women quarrel.
The man's demeanour was warm, but deep in his eyes was a sharp, intelligent glint. He wasn't intentionally releasing his aura, yet Riku still felt an intense pressure from him.
"Lively? I'd say we should probably keep our distance," Riku said dryly.
"Hahaha, true enough. The Queen and the White Night's relationship is always like oil and water," the man chuckled.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Indra of the [Twelve Heavenly Generals]. Pleased to make your acquaintance, bearer of the Leo and Sagittarius Sun Authorities." The god-king smiled faintly and extended his hand.
Indra No. 1 of the [Twelve Heavenly Generals], master of the Little Garden, a peak three-digit powerhouse. Among the three-digits, barring the Halloween Queen's abnormal standing, he was the strongest. No wonder his presence felt so overwhelming.
Riku's eyes narrowed slightly. He extended his hand for a light shake and calmly gave his name.
"[Disboard] Riku Dola."
"An unfamiliar name," Indra mused, then his expression turned serious. "Riku, can you explain how you left the Little Garden while carrying the Sun Authorities?"
"Hmm? Indra, what's that supposed to mean?" Riku's gaze sharpened, his tone turning cold.
"My apologies. I only wish to understand the situation. The Sun Authorities are of great importance, vanishing without a trace is… unsettling." Indra gave a wry smile. "For the sake of the Little Garden and human history, if you could—"
"Spare me the moral high ground. What does the Little Garden's fate or humanity's have to do with me?" Riku cut him off, his voice flat. "It's the Sun War right now. If you think the Authorities aren't safe with me, then take them from me in the finals, not here with idle talk."
"You should understand that better than anyone, God-King." His eyes hardened, and despite his base strength being far below Indra's, his aura pressed down on him. "You might see it as trying to solve things peacefully. To me, it's nothing but an insult."
This even made the quarrelling Lord of the White Night and Halloween Queen glance over in surprise.
"My apologies, it was presumptuous of me," Indra said after a slight pause, regaining his composure and offering a sincere apology.
Though as the leader of the Twelve Heavenly Generals, he wasn't overly concerned with saving face, his direct apology was rare. Still, Riku merely gave a faint nod and fell silent.
The tension quieted. Even the Lord of the White Night and the Halloween Queen stopped their bickering as the four waited together.
Soon, the other finalists began arriving one by one.
Aside from Riku, the Halloween Queen, the Lord of the White Night, and Indra, the rest were all top-class figures from major communities:
Athena, one of the [Twelve Olympians], goddess of both war and wisdom, sharing divine lineage with Apollo.
The Dragon King of the Star Sea, founding leader of [Salamandra], and one of the Star Spirits.
Riku knew of the Star Sea Dragon King's reputation well. More importantly, the Dragon King possessed a Pseudo Star Map Creation.
This particular one, [Taizai: The Great Star Calamity], could seal the strongest races, excluding dragons, inside an imaginary world.
While it could only halve the spirit level of non-strongest species, its specialisation allowed it to achieve victory over those two excluded races under the right conditions.
In the past, it had even sealed [Absolute Evil] Azi Dahaka, the Last Trial of Humanity, who nearly destroyed the Little Garden. The sheer power of such a Pseudo Star Map Creation was obvious.
For Riku, though, it was actually one of the easier types to counter; its strength wasn't rooted in pure spirit level.
Next came Thor, god-king of the [Norse Pantheon], a towering figure radiating raw might without restraint. A three-digit almighty domain powerhouse, while his fame and power didn't surpass Indra's, he was still among the very top.
And the final participant to arrive… caused the air itself to grow strangely tense.