[Ding, congratulations to the host for opening the Rainbow Treasure Chest and obtaining the treasure, Omniscient and Omnipotent Star.]
Omniscient and Omnipotent Star: Transcending the concepts of time and space, seeing through all things, revealing the truth of all existence.
A system prompt suddenly sounded in Riku's mind, making his eyes flash with brilliance.
"Omniscient and Omnipotent Star, so it really dropped this. With this, I no longer have to worry about any lack of knowledge. And that's just one of its benefits." Riku nodded in satisfaction. "In the Little Garden, this ability is practically a bug-like existence."
"Looks like you don't plan to let me go." At this time, the blasted-away Indra reappeared not far from Riku in the form of heavenly thunder, speaking in a deep voice. His aura became even more overwhelming, giving Riku immense pressure.
As the War God, Indra was someone who had once resisted a double-digit Authority domain head-on, king among god-kings, absolutely not someone to be taken lightly. The reason Riku managed to outmanoeuvre him earlier was that Indra had been playing cautiously. Otherwise, it would have been extremely difficult to deal with Brahma right before his eyes.
"That's just inevitable. After all, if I wait until you're fully prepared to come and cause me trouble, it'll be much harder to win again." Riku shrugged casually.
"Heh, true enough. But if I want to leave, there aren't many in the Little Garden who can stop me!" Indra said coldly. The moment he finished speaking, he turned into golden lightning, vanishing from sight in an instant, moving faster than starlight toward Brahma's corpse.'
However, though Indra was fast, Riku had already anticipated this. He was a step ahead, appearing at his side first, throwing a punch. Violent energy surged forth, forming a golden-red Tiger roaring toward Indra.
Crack!
Indra's expression hardened as he gripped his Vajra in both hands and swung. Golden lightning surged forth, shattering Riku's attack instantly.
At the same time, Indra's aura surged once more, summoning multiple Vajras that shot toward Riku at terrifying speed, both in power and velocity exceeding before.
Yet, with just a slight movement, Riku dodged them all with ease. The golden lightning crackling in the air did nothing to him.
"—!" Forced to halt, Indra frowned, his gaze filled with doubt as he looked at Riku. He could feel that Riku was completely different from just moments ago.
Not only had he anticipated Indra's movement and intercepted him in advance, but now he was effortlessly dodging his close-range Vajra strikes, almost as if he could predict them.
Before, in their fight, whether in strength or speed, Riku had clearly been inferior. Many of Indra's attacks were hard for him to avoid, and he had only managed to fight evenly by relying on the Phoenix Flame's recovery.
Now, however, Riku avoided them with a calm ease, even slipping through gaps in the lightning as if seeing them ahead of time.
Just now… what happened?
As they clashed again in the sky, Indra's attacks kept missing. Even the smallest intervals in his lightning strikes were pierced by Riku's movements.
Watching the battle in the heavens, Juntan could only stare in shock, unable to speak.
But he knew this wasn't the time to stand idle. He quickly pulled back, focusing on recovering his injuries while also trying to assimilate the power of the Boosted Gear gauntlet, seeking to master his talent and break through to the triple-digit Authority realm so he could truly help his leader.
After taking a heavy punch from Riku and being forced back, Indra frowned and asked, "What happened to you just now?"
"Nothing much, just collecting a little interest from you. I think I mentioned it before," Riku replied calmly. The feeling of using the Omniscient and Omnipotent Star to see through Indra was quite nice; it gave him the sense that everything was in his grasp.
"Collecting interest from me…?" Indra muttered, even more confused.
"Indra, you can leave. I really can't stop you. But if you think you're taking Brahma with you, that's impossible," Riku said suddenly. "So you have two choices: leave alone, or kill me and Juntan first before you take Brahma."
"Heh, that's true." Indra's eyes flickered before he suddenly smiled, his aura surging to the sky. "Seems I've been too indecisive. In that case, I'll go all out and kill you both here."
When it's time to act, act. Indra knew dragging this out would only invite third or even fourth parties to intervene, which would be disastrous.
"That's more like it. Fighting you at your peak, that's the battle I'm after." Seeing Indra's fighting spirit fully ignited, Riku's lips curved upward, his green eyes shining brighter, an overwhelming battle intent erupting from his body.
Though usually calm, Riku was at heart a battle maniac. And with the blood of a Saiyan God, his thirst for battle was only stronger, an inherent flaw of the Saiyan race.
At that moment, neither moved, the space between them charged with tension as they stared at each other. Their auras twisted the very sky and earth.
One was wreathed in golden lightning, multiple Vajras floating above. The other was wrapped in golden ki flames, electric sparks flashing more frequently.
The atmosphere grew heavier and heavier, even making the distant Juntan, still attempting his breakthrough, click his tongue in awe.
Just as Riku and Indra were about to make their move again, space suddenly shifted.
The White Night's horizon was suddenly shrouded in a dazzling starry sky, an impossible sight in a land without sunset.
Then, above the heavens, an enormous star map appeared, covering the entire region.
"This is… a god group's ultimate technique, Pseudo Star Map Creation!?" Indra looked at the anomaly above, his expression changing, his mind sinking. "Dragged this out too long, so a third-party force really did intervene!? But whose Pseudo Star Map Creation…!?"
So far in the Sun War, the only known Pseudo Star Map Creation to appear was Riku's [Third Kind: Stellar Particle Form], one with a one-hit-kill cosmic worldview. This one clearly didn't match.
"Heh, really lively, huh? Everyone's come to join the fun." The Omniscient and Omnipotent Star shone as Riku looked at the infinite starry sky above, at the single blood-red star that lit up across it, and he gave a cold smile.
Too focused on Juntan and Sif's battle, and then on facing Indra and Brahma, Riku hadn't been checking the minimap for other contestants' movements.
He hadn't expected that, aside from the Halloween Queen and the Lord of White Night, the rest had all shown up. But that was fine, it saved him the trouble of hunting them down himself!
The moment Riku instantly saw through the truth of the Pseudo Star Map Creation before him and realised who the attacker was, Indra's pupils also contracted, his expression extremely grave.
That blood-red star was one of the ominous stars hidden within the [Taoist Pantheon]. One of the most powerful Star Spirits—the Tai Sui!
"So that means… this Pseudo Star Map Creation belongs to the Star Sea Dragon King, the False Star—Tai Sui!" Indra gripped his Vajra tightly, his face heavy.
The False Star—Tai Sui is a Pseudo-Star Map Creation capable of sealing even the Most Powerful Species, other than dragonkind, inside a fictitious world.
Although it can only halve the spiritual rank of those who are not among the Most Powerful Species, in exchange, it is specialised in one thing against either of those two races; it can overcome any difference in strength to secure victory.
And Indra, as a naturally born god, was without a doubt its natural enemy!
While Indra's thoughts raced, the star map above had already descended, leaving nowhere to flee.
"Hmph, this kind of thing is useless against me!" Riku snorted coldly, the Omniscient and Omnipotent Star instantly revealing the weak point of the star map.
Then, golden ki flames erupted from Riku's body, and his figure vanished from sight, brutally smashing through the weak point of the map.
Riku's power did not rely on spiritual rank, nor was he one of the Most Powerful Species, so this Pseudo Star Map Creation had almost no effect on him.
"An opening!" Indra narrowed his eyes, his whole body turning into golden lightning as he tried to use the gap Riku had made to escape.
Boom!
Unfortunately, even with Indra going all out, transforming into golden lightning, he was still too late. The star map instantly repaired the gap, sealing the area again, causing Indra to crash headlong into it.
"Looks like I'm trapped," Indra muttered helplessly as he stopped in midair, gazing at the illusory world with resignation.
Even as the king of the gods, against a direct counter like the Pseudo Star Map Creation False Star—Tai Sui, escaping was no easy task. Even if he went all out to smash this false world, it would take far more than a day or two.
By then, the match would likely be over.
The only silver lining was that while the False Star—Tai Sui could seal him, it could not put him in a [Dead] state. At least his remaining Sun Authorities were safe.
"Still… It's not impossible to get out." Indra sat down on the ground, muttering with a bitter look in his eyes.
If Riku managed to take care of the Star Sea Dragon King and the others outside, he could be freed. But Indra doubted Riku would be that generous.
Even if Riku did free him, what would await him would be nothing but mountains of blades and seas of fire.
Within the false world created by the Pseudo Star Map Creation was a sea of stars. Outside, however, the White Night's horizon remained unchanged, the horizontally moving sun still in place above.
In the air, a beautiful star map had condensed into a massive star, floating there. This was the False Star—Tai Sui. Within that star was the illusory world it had created, sealing Indra inside.
Beside the False Star—Tai Sui stood several figures, Riku either knew well or not at all.
The most eye-catching was the Star Sea Dragon King himself; though a Star Spirit, he bore two horns on his head, a trait of pure-blood dragonkind. At the moment, he was controlling the Pseudo Star Map Creation.
Next to the Star Sea Dragon King were two goddesses.
To the left stood a goddess with silver hair cascading down her back, a face of otherworldly beauty, blue eyes gleaming with wisdom, skin like flawless jade, and a proud, full chest. She wore pure white divine armour, her aura imposing and extraordinary.
She was none other than the goddess of wisdom and war, one of the [Twelve Olympian Gods]—Athena.
The other was a petite and captivating goddess with sky-blue, shoulder-length hair, eyes of the same hue that radiated liveliness, skin even fairer than milk, and dressed in blue divine robes. She gave the impression of flowing water.
Aside from these three, in the direction of Juntan, a white dragon was locked in fierce combat with Juntan, who had already transformed into his black dragon form.
At the moment, Juntan's aura and strength had surged more than tenfold; he had clearly reached the triple-digit omnipotent domain.
However, his opponent was clearly also a pure-blood dragonkind, most likely a companion of the Star Sea Dragon King and no weaker. The two were evenly matched.
When Riku broke through, all the gods present were startled. Juntan also noticed and let out a breath of relief, but that brief distraction earned him a heavy blow, blood spraying across the ground.
"Juntan, don't worry about me. Just focus on taking him down," Riku said casually, glancing in his direction. He was very satisfied that Juntan had reached triple digits.
"To be honest, Hero of Humanity, I never thought you'd reach this level," Athena said, her wise eyes fixed on Riku, her voice cold and sharp.
"But thanks to you, we've managed to seal Indra. Once we take care of you and your companion, we can focus entirely on dealing with him," Athena said confidently.
"Take care of me and Indra, huh? You're awfully confident." Riku's lips curled in a faint smile. "Just you? Athena, Poseidon, Star Sea Dragon King… you think teaming up means you've already won?"
With the Omniscient and Omnipotent Star, Riku instantly saw through the true identity of the petite blue-haired goddess.
As for why the Star Sea Dragon King and Athena had joined forces, Riku guessed it was Athena's idea.
Among the current contestants here, Athena and the Star Sea Dragon King's side was among the weakest, relatively speaking, at least when compared to himself, Indra, the Lord of White Night, and the Halloween Queen. In the Little Garden, they were still renowned powerhouses.
For Athena and the Star Sea Dragon King, cooperation was mutually beneficial, the best choice for both.
"Since we've acted, of course, we have the corresponding confidence," Athena replied calmly. "Indra is the strongest War God, the king of gods. In terms of power, no one here can match him. But sealed within the False Star—Tai Sui, his threat is greatly reduced. As long as we can free up our hands to strike his weaknesses, there's still hope of victory."
"As for you, Hero of Humanity, you may be extremely powerful, strong enough to fight Indra head-on, but your strength feels inflated to me. In the end, it has limits. And after fighting Indra, you've likely used up most of your trump cards. Against you, our chances of victory are quite high." Athena's calm gaze met Riku's.
In normal circumstances, Athena's words would have been completely correct.
But Riku only smiled because his situation could never be judged by common sense!