"Benefactor, how about we each take a step back?" Shakyamuni said, rosary in hand.
"Heh. Do you think that's possible? You attacked our [Disboard] and expect to withdraw unscathed?" Riku ignored Shakyamuni and spoke coldly.
A sky-piercing aura roiled heaven and earth, bearing down on the gods!
"You should understand, benefactor. Continuing to fight benefits neither side. Perhaps you can annihilate the million-strong legion of gods, but correspondingly, your companions will suffer countless casualties," Shakyamuni said with a shake of his head.
"Hmph. And so what?" Riku said expressionlessly.
Shakyamuni's strength was not beneath that of the Twin Goddesses; moreover, the [Buddhist Order] excelled at sealing, especially seals against Demon Lords. Even if he could not defeat the Perpetual Motion Engine, he could stall it and remain unbeaten.
And if the Twin Goddesses merged again, they could likewise hold him back. It would revert once more to a stalemate.
As for the battlefield below, with Indra and the others fighting desperately, it was only a matter of time before they broke through God's angelic battle formation. Once the formation collapsed, God's side would absolutely be no match for the legion of gods led by Indra.
On the sides of the Queen of Halloween and the Lord of White Night, there was instead no need for concern.
"Even a million gods, so what? Buddha, Twin Goddesses, so what? To make our [Disboard] retreat is absolutely impossible! If you dare attack [Disboard], then be prepared to be slaughtered by us!" Riku looked down over heaven and earth, his voice ringing with iron. "O gods and buddhas, if you wish to make the Human Final Trial retreat, you cannot do it." The Perpetual Motion Engine's lips split in a grin; blood-red pupils brimmed with killing intent, and its swelling divinity shattered the firmament.
In an instant, the atmosphere once again turned grim and murderous.
[Disboard]'s momentum was further roused. By contrast, on the gods' side, all trembled before Riku and the Human Final Trial's kingly might, and fear spread.
"It seems the negotiations have failed," Shakyamuni sighed.
"On my end, Laplace failed as well," said the Twin Goddesses helplessly.
"In that case, we can only discard unnecessary face," Shakyamuni said solemnly.
"Mm." The Twin Goddesses also nodded in silence. "The million-strong legion cannot be abandoned."
"O gods and buddhas, let us continue the slaughter," came the Perpetual Motion Engine's ice-cold voice. Giving Shakyamuni and the Twin Goddesses no further chance, it charged savagely at the Twin Goddesses.
Rumble!
In an instant, Omega of Destruction once again separated from Alpha of Creation and moved to meet the Perpetual Motion Engine.
As for Alpha of Creation, she turned into a white gale and dove downward toward God's side.
"Hmph, so that's your aim?" Having long since seen through the Twin Goddesses' intent, Riku gave a cold snort and, at a speed surpassing starlight, moved to intercept Alpha of Creation.
"Benefactor, your opponent is me." But then Buddhist radiance descended upon the firmament; a golden Buddha-hand, sufficient to suppress heaven and earth, came down from on high, bearing full-authority pressure as it moved to pin Riku.
"To suppress me, you cannot!" At this, Riku halted; domineering energy coiled out, and he threw a punch, clashing head-on with the golden Buddha-hand. In an instant, the vault of heaven churned, and the two annihilating strikes blasted everything around them away.
But taking advantage of this opportunity, Alpha of Creation had already arrived above the angelic battle formation; the genesis gale reappeared and crashed down upon it with ferocity.
And Indra and the legion of gods likewise seized the chance to attack wildly from within.
In an instant, the angelic formation, already at its limit, was directly shattered its barrier was broken.
"Go!" Alpha of Creation shouted at Indra and the other gods.
"….!" At this, Indra, Brahma, and the other god-kings all showed unwilling yet apologetic looks as they led the legion of gods in a rapid withdrawal.
And Alpha of Creation once more rushed to the other battlefield, pinning down the Queen of Halloween, allowing [Thousand Eyes]' main forces as well as the legion of gods to break free.
Only, the already gravely wounded Omega of Destruction was standing alone against the Perpetual Motion Engine and had reached a critical life-and-death moment, liable to fall at any time.
This made Alpha of Creation's expression grow extremely grave; she wanted to go support Omega of Destruction.
"You blocked me only to leave?" the Queen of Halloween said coldly. Her domain constrained Alpha of Creation's movements.
"Queen, if you want to imprison me as you are now, you cannot," Alpha of Creation said, shaking her head.
Like the Twin Goddesses, the Queen of Halloween was also a main force in this war, restraining hundreds of thousands of gods and blocking most of the god-kings. The consumption of divinity was anything but small.
With that, Alpha of Creation wielded full authority; the cosmic truth of Genesis reappeared, and she broke through the Queen of Halloween's domain, racing to aid Omega of Destruction.
"Tch. Now that you've gone, the legion of gods is no match for me," the Queen of Halloween said, displeased.
In a flash, her domain reappeared, hindering the gods' retreat.
"O god, you truly cannot cross this banner," the Perpetual Motion Engine said cruelly, smashing Omega of Destruction away with a punch and spattering blood across the sky.
Just as the Perpetual Motion Engine was about to deliver the finishing blow to Omega of Destruction, Alpha of Creation finally arrived; becoming one once more, they withstood the Engine's killing strike.
However, whether Omega of Destruction or Alpha of Creation, both were seriously injured; even united, they could not block the Perpetual Motion Engine. For this, even the Twin Goddesses were now in agony not only physically, but in heart and in divinity.
Knowing they could not continue like this, the Twin Goddesses, heavy of heart, turned into starlight and vanished into the heavens.
"Hmph. Trying to flee, you feeble gods!" Seeing this, the Perpetual Motion Engine's blood-red pupils locked onto the Twin Goddesses, and it gave chase.
Rumble!
Elsewhere, Riku and Shakyamuni clashed once again, detonating heaven and earth—neither yielding to the other.
"Benefactor, you are indeed powerful; defeating you is truly difficult. This time, let us count it as our defeat," Shakyamuni said, shaking his head as he watched the Twin Goddesses depart.
As he spoke, golden light blazed all over Shakyamuni, forming intense Buddha-radiance that trapped Riku.
"Trying to run? I said I would not let you have your way." Riku disregarded Shakyamuni and raised his palm lightly.
Immediately, a violent wave of energy surged out, shattering the Buddha-light barrier.
But taking advantage of this moment, Shakyamuni had already vanished from where he stood, clearly having fled.
Riku did not pursue. Instead, he looked toward the fleeing legion of gods.
If Shakyamuni and the Twin Goddesses wished to flee, it would be hard for him to hunt them down.
But the legion of gods was different. If they dared to attack [Disboard], they would pay in blood and flesh!
"[Disboard], hear my order to hunt down the legion of gods!" Riku issued the command coolly.
In a flash, he took the lead, pursuing to slaughter the fleeing gods.
And the people of [Disboard], under the leaders' command, also chased down the panic-stricken, fleeing legion.
Divine blood splashed across heaven and earth; gods fell from the sky like rain. The scene was like a purgatory.
"It truly is a crushing defeat," Laplace murmured, looking at the tragic scene, her face ashen.
Riku led the people of [Disboard] in pursuing the legion of gods for tens of millions of li. After annihilating hundreds of thousands from the legion and collecting the spoils of war, they finally returned to Skyborne City and began clearing the surrounding battlefields.
If not for the final opportunity created by the Twin Goddesses and Shakyamuni, the million-strong legion of gods would have fared even worse.
Though [Disboard]'s losses were also great, they were still within acceptable bounds.
After this battle, the legions of gods across all of Little Garden would, without doubt, fear the name of [Disboard].
They had dispatched a million-strong legion; god-kings like Indra and Brahma were too numerous to count; they had even sent the [Thousand Eyes]' Two-Digit, full-authority domain level masters, the Twin Goddesses and Shakyamuni, lord of the [Buddhist Order], yet in the end, they still suffered a crushing defeat.
The impact was truly immense.
For a time to come, [Disboard] would become a nightmare in the hearts of all communities! No legion of gods would dare to rashly provoke [Disboard].
And the newly appeared Human Final Trial would trouble them even more.
In the past, Human Final Trials had always stood aloof. But this newly emerged, unbelievably powerful Human Final Trial followed the orders of [Disboard]'s leader, clearly a senior officer of [Disboard].
The Perpetual Motion Engine's special nature, combined with the power of [Disboard] under Riku's command, was simply too foul a cheat.
The legions of gods were struck dumb with fear!
Setting future matters aside, at this moment, Riku had returned once more to Skyborne City and, together with Athena and the other senior officers, was organising the battle results. The feat of driving back a million-strong legion was astounding, and so every member of [Disboard] wore faces of excitement and fervour.
"Laplace, what are your thoughts?" The Lord of White Night's lips quirked as he looked straight at the helpless Laplace the Archdemon and spoke slowly.
"Right now I'm thinking you'd already calculated my aim in advance and deliberately let yourself be drawn over, didn't you?" Laplace said with a bitter smile.
"Correct. Riku predicted that long ago, so we deliberately let you drag us into the game," the Lord of White Night said with a huff as he opened his folding fan. "Otherwise, do you think you could have lured us in so easily?"
"..." At those words, Laplace's pupils tightened; her heart could not calm. She had already confirmed her earlier suspicion: Riku, the master of [Disboard], that extremely mysterious existence,e quite possibly possessed abilities superior to her own.
"Enough, come with me to see the leader. From now on, you are members of [Disboard]," the Lord of White Night then said solemnly, folding his fan.
"I understand." Laplace and the two god-kings at her side both nodded helplessly.
They had been defeated in the Gift Game against the Lord of White Night and thus were directly enslaved by him. Their bodies and minds now belonged to [Disboard].
"Riku, here's a gift from me," the Lord of White Night said with a smile as he brought Laplace and the two god-kings of [Thousand Eyes] to Riku's side.
"The so-called all-knowing, all-powerful Laplace the Archdemon, hm? And two god-kings of [Thousand Eyes] welcome to [Disboard]," Riku said with a smile tugging at his lips as he looked over.
Clearly, Riku was in a good mood. Among the million-strong legion of gods, there were indeed a few god-kings who carried Diamond treasure chests.
Taking the opportunity, he had opened three Diamond treasure chests. Although, due to handling the aftermath, he had temporarily muted what they produced, that did not hinder his good mood.
Laplace, too, carried a Diamond treasure chest. In other words, from this campaign, he had gained four Diamond treasure chests.
Not to mention that by seizing Laplace and the other god-king of [Thousand Eyes], [Disboard]'s foundations had grown even deeper.
"In front of you, I wouldn't dare claim to be all-knowing and all-powerful, ch—chief," Laplace said helplessly. In the end, the title "chief" came out a bit awkwardly, but she still said it.
Her body and mind belonged to [Disboard] now; she could not defy Riku.
The other two god-kings also bowed in greeting. Such was the danger of Gift Games:
Once you engage in a game of forcible enslavement, you must be prepared for personal disaster. If you lose, you can only submit to the butcher's knife.
"In time, you'll find that this is precisely the place where you can truly spread your wings," Riku said with only a slight smile, not minding Laplace's subtext. He nodded to the three of them and patted Laplace on the shoulder.
In that instant, the Diamond treasure chest Laplace carried was opened by Riku. Because Riku lifted the system mute, the familiar system chime sounded once more.
[ Ding. Congratulations, Master. Upon opening a Diamond-grade treasure chest, you have obtained 1 Angel Vados Summon Card Shard from Dragon Ball Super! ]
"Vados shards, hm? Not bad at all." Riku nodded in satisfaction.
"Forgive me, my lord—I lost them." At that moment, a chill that made gods themselves tremble descended upon the land, tightening every heart present. Then the Human Final Trial, the Perpetual Motion Engine, appeared at Riku's side.
"It's fine. If Two-Digit deities wish to flee, losing them is perfectly normal," Riku said with a glance at the Perpetual Motion Engine, shaking his head without any intent to blame. Even with its divinity swollen, the Perpetual Motion Engine had struggled to pin down the Twin Goddesses; all the more so once, away from the legion of gods, its divinity ebbed.
"Hmph. Among the Two-Digits, those Twin Goddesses are bizarre existences," the Lord of White Night huffed.
"But what I'm most curious about is this: the eschatology you bear is the Perpetual Motion Engine, isn't it? What is your relationship with Riku?" The Lord of White Night fixed his gaze on the Perpetual Motion Engine and asked in a deep voice.
"…!" At that, Laplace, Athena, and the others all turned to look, not wanting to miss a single scrap of information.
"'Heliocentrism' Riku is my lord," the Perpetual Motion Engine said, the corner of its mouth quirking without the slightest hesitation.
At this, the Lord of White Night, the Queen of Halloween, and the others could not help but be shocked. A Human Final Trial, frankly, serving a human as its master, such a thing was truly unheard of.
"It's better if you don't ask about matters like that. All you need to know is that the Human Final Trial is one of our senior officers in [Disboard], that is enough," Riku said, shaking his head. "You all chat; I have something to attend to." With that, Riku let his gaze, with a hint of a smile, sweep over the Lord of White Night, Laplace, and the others and then he used spatial transfer to leave.
Seeing Riku vanish so abruptly, Laplace was taken aback.
Athena, Poseidon, and the Queen of Halloween, who had been paying attention to this side, all twitched at the corners of their eyes. They understood that Riku did not wish to explain too much, and most importantly, he was probably going to slack off again, playing the hands-off boss.
On this, they could only feel helpless. And with the Perpetual Motion Engine present, the atmosphere was somewhat delicate.
But the Perpetual Motion Engine only held respect for Riku and had no interest in lingering here; it vanished once more, leaving no trace.