Becoming the Strongest Through (Draconic) Racism - Chapter 16 (Patreon)

Body. Mind. Soul.

What did it mean to have all three in alignment?

I held my new arm out—New body if I'm being honest, given I don't have any scars anymore—palm open, fingers spread out.

I could feel every single muscle in my arm, my nerves, my skin, how it's stretched over my form, yet how iron-like it felt, over my defined muscles.

I gained weight, funny enough, without any extra body fat. It's mostly from how dense my muscles and bones are now.

I turned my hand and slowly closed my fingers into a fist. There was a heat there. Not fire or magic. Just a subtle energy.

Well given my energy, Touki, Elan, is now also my Magical Energy, I guess in a way the simple heat of my hand was magic.

However, it was simply that my muscles coiling produced heat from how dense and tightly woven they were, ready to explode into action.

I could feel it at the back of my mind. Rather than needing mood, motivation, or setup; flow state, it was there. Ready for me to enter it with a thought.

There was a quiet certainty in my soul. As though no matter my path or goal from now on, I will never fall to despair. Not really. Not true despair. There was simply a knowing that I will always move forward, no matter the path.

And all three together... it felt as if I really can just will things to be. Not literally but, effort-wise I will always succeed. As for using pure will ala Haki? ...I think it's in my future. Not now, but eventually. Gut feeling, really.

Above all however, was the different quality to my Elan.

The density of my Elan was something I had to constantly increase and build up through out a fight for a big attack, or increase the potency of my normal attack. Now?

My Elan might as well have the density of osmium, yet moved through my spiritual veins like a superfluid. I'm pretty sure if I do my condensing trick, I might just reach neutron star density in my Aura Crystals.

But that wasn't all. My Dragon Slaying Aura by its nature had Holy properties. It is a Holy Aura, even if I didn't focus on training that aspect before, given my focus on slaying the dragons I faced.

However now? Just summoning my Elan without any trick was causing my surrounding within Ladon's barrier, to be lit up by a brilliant white light.

That's what God's Dying Wrath granted me, by sitting in my soul, fighting by my side. Not to mention everything else He already did.

"The purity and potency of your Holy Element wouldn't lose even to one of the Four Seraphs as it is now. In time, it should mimic My own in strength." Said the Dying Wrath from my soul. His voice wasn't as heavy and booming as when we talked face to face, but still held a regalness of divinity.

"Got it," I nodded, holding my hand out and with a flash Chaoskampf Ordained appeared in my grasp. The sword was drained of energy, my very soul and body reconstituted with all the Dragon Slaying Aura I'd stockpiled against Future Gasper. Yet, the rate in which I generated Dragon Slaying Aura had exploded exponentially. "Out of curiosity, I get how our current bodies were massively nerfed by the Deluge Barrier, and now we just have less than the barebone of just 'become stronger after exhausting yourself and then resting' but did the Deluge also cause us to have our Mind, Body and Soul to be misaligned? Like how Elan and Mana are different energies the body makes?"

"No." I heard him let out a disappointed sigh. "That is from the Shattering of the Babel Tower." He took a moment to answer, like a teacher pausing to let the student know its time to pay attention. "I told you before, you, my Children are brilliant. The problem is, if you stubbornly persist on the wrong path, such as, due to Pride or Sloth, then you will make monuments great and terrible, just to avoid responsibility."

"I feel like if you're lazy, you won't do extra work." I said, confused but intrigued.

"Not quite. Sloth, at its essence is the avoidance of a task that causes you emotional discomfort. In order to push that discomfort away as far as possible, you will do as much amount of work to complete that objective, even if it involved more effort, than if you had simply done that original task, and be done with it. Simple fact of the matter is, in this age, it is much easier to find means to do less work to avoid the confrontation to the task you were dreading, thus you equate Sloth to simply laying about, doing nothing."

I thought of that, and applied it to the people of the Tower.

"I... don't remember my Bible verse that well. What was it you told them, that they avoided to do by building the Tower instead?"

"[And you, be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it."]"

I blinked at the sudden heavy Presence of that, before focusing again.

"Ooo...kay," I shook that feeling of the Almighty and continued. "So rather than spread across the earth, they decided to stay in one place and build the Tower instead. I guess they were punished because they acted against your command in spite?"

"That, in truth is a small part of it." The Dying Wrath said, I found myself entranced with the lesson. I mean, getting the OG Big G telling me a mythological—Scratch that, history lesson, is pretty damn cool. "What do you know about ziggurats?"

"Uumm..." I blinked at the non-sequitur, although its likely very much isn't. "Pyramid-shaped buildings but with a flat top, or a step formation. In that, the base is pyramid-like, then topped by a smaller pyramid-like building, then another smaller pyramid-like building, until it is topped at the highest level with a temple."

"Correct description, however, what were they for?" He asked patiently and I could feel the smile on His image.

"Hmm, I remember in Fate Babylonia Anime, Gilgamesh lived in one, but I'm guessing, they weren't for kings to live in?" I asked.

"Some kings did as part of showing their authority, although that's tied to a ziggurat's purpose." The Dying Wrath explained, I could feel my anticipation building. "A ziggurat is a building meant to house a god." He said plainly. A part of me did suspect that was the answer but I felt it would be incomplete, thus waited for an explanation.

"I'm guessing it's not the same as a temple?"

"If you go to a temple, you're expected to be in the domain of a god, at their mercy, to plea and pray for what you want. If you go to a ziggurat, its because you're summoning a god to enter a Contract. A transaction."

I felt a odd pit in my stomach. Like the worry of listening to something, an idea, that my gut feeling was telling me was going to go horribly wrong.

"Ziggurats are used to control gods?" I said in disbelief.

"That's not the original intention, but that is how it ended up becoming. You built the building, you make the shrine, a literal bedroom for the god to live in, make the appropriate rituals and correct sacrifices, and the god descends and grants your wishes. Good crop, good weather, victory in war, and other such wishes and outcomes of the humans who erected that monument." The Dying Wrath explained.

"That sounds... wrong somehow. Like a computer program. Enter the correct values, get the outcome you want." I said.

"That was quite literally what it ended up being. They figured out the gods' wants, and what ritual and sacrifice would summon a specific god, what would have said gods use which power for the humans' wanted ends, and should the god not respond to the humans' wishes, they can be banished and another summoned in their place with different rituals and sacrifices."

"What the fuck? Is this Godly Marketplace, just pick and choose the god you want for what harvest, weather or whatever effect you want? Aren't gods suppose to be mercurial and shit? How were they not offended?"

"Because those were Contracts. Those gods entered those Contracts willingly, thus these Contracts held power over them, and should they break the terms, they could be sent away. Why do you think so many people held multiple gods?" There was some amusement in His tone at remembering those old times, while explaining this.

"Oh, 'we don't like you, go to a timeout, we'll take this one'. Is that what it was? Seriously?" Okay, I did not expect the ancient world to be this... I really hate saying the word because of how the internet abused it, but the whole thing was so capitalist.

"And it's not like those gods weren't offended by the treatment once they realized what it was." Then the Dying Wrath said in a lower voice. "Not that it didn't take them millennia to grasp that concept. The dullards." I held back a laugh. "Back to the topic at hand, the Tower of Babel."

"So the Tower was a ziggurat?" I asked, mostly sure of the answer.

"The largest ever attempted, or ever would be. The city to be made around it would be called Babilim, the Gate of the Gods." His tone was oddly both proud and disappointed. "The planned height was 5,433 cubits and 2 palms, or in other words; 8,150 ft or 2.48 kilometers." I tried to imagine how high that was. "It is more than a third of Mt. Everest."

"Oh! ...Damn." I said at the realization. "That should be," I thought for a moment. "Right as the oxygen starts getting thin, doesn't it?"

"Yes. 8,000 ft can be considered the last point of safely traversing a location for a normal human, but even then, there would be a chance of suffering the lack of proper air." Yeah, makes sense that you might get hypoxia at that height. "The location of the Tower, Shinar, was of plain flat lands that were of soft ground, between of two rivers. Now, with all that information, consider what all this tells you."

I thought for a moment and asked the first thing that came to mind.

"What were the building materials?"

"Fired bricks for the building and bitumen for mortar."

Something tickled at the back of my mind, like trying to draw out a memory. Not from this life, but my past one. I remember having a phase of looking up lore of Mesopotamian deities, that led to Canaanite deities, and that led to Bible lore videos.

On a video about the Tower, someone commented that the building materials were made to be resistant to flood water. That this was done by their ruler, Nimrod, as a way to further convince people of his want to build the tower for their sake, and protect him from God flooding the earth again.

Immediately upon having that thought, the Dying Wrath answered with His own Words.

"[I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”]"

Damn, that still feels heavy. Comforting and awing, but heavy.

"Nimrod was the great-grandson of Noah from what I remember, right?"

"Son of Cush, grandson of Ham, and great-grandson of Noah." The Dying Wrath confirmed.

"He should have grown up on tales about the Flood, about you, he was known as a great hunter, thus that lead to him being seen as a strong king. He had the lineage and very likely the charisma to have everyone go along with the Tower project..." I tried thinking on it a bit more, but the conclusion was obvious and sometimes you don't need to dig for something that isn't there, as there was nothing hidden. "He knew tales about the Flood, he saw how those who were old enough to live through it were likely affected or traumatized by it, but he also knew that you never lied or went back on your word.

"So, like a politician he played on people's fears. Presented a problem that would never become so, another Deluge. Yet, he and the people, at least subconsciously did believe that you wouldn't send another Flood, otherwise they'd have made the Tower on top of a mountain. Instead they made it in flat plains, where the ground was soft, so they'd have to fortify the base to an insane degree, or they must have dug to bedrock to even have a chance to start this project.

"And then there was the material, fired brick. Even if that material was used to keep up appearances about the Tower is to avoid another Flood, or to do it out of spite, or to say they don't believe your Promise, you can't make a building that's more than 8000 ft, and not have it collapse on itself from being crushed under its own weight. At least as far as I remember. Also wind and temperature, they'd have to be different across the height of the Tower just from how big it is, the Tower would end up constantly flexing from the temperature differences along it's length.

"There really should have been no way for the Tower to stay standing." I started. "Add in Nimrod's reputation as a great hunter... I think he wanted to hunt the Greatest Being of Creation, God." I said with the gravitas that statement demanded. "To try and summon and command God, and when that would inevitably fail, he'd try to invade Heaven and become god himself, and when that would fail, you would just not open the gates, then..." I concluded and tailed off, waiting for the Dying Wrath to fill the picture for me.

"The plains of Shinar are unique in that they are a convergence point between Heaven, Earth and the Underworld. It would have been possible for Nimrod to reach the Gates of Heaven with the Tower. This is all assuming I do nothing but repel him. And following that assumption, when humanity would inevitably find all their work had found no purchase, they would take action to make all their work worth the effort." That feeling of dread returned. "No god would have been enough to fulfill the objective of the Tower, to allow humanity total apotheosis, and none would want to, thus no god could enter a Contract for the Tower—the pagan deities would likely fight each other to ensure no one could fulfill the requirement, and to simply be first in line should humanity compromise on their desires—And that would leave mankind to do the next best thing out of bitterness."

I felt my throat dry a bit and wetted my mouth, before talking.

"...And that was?" I asked with trepidation.

"You have asked how could the Tower hold itself up given the physical materials and environmental conditions. The answer is simple, given how humanity constructed buildings and mechanisms to trade with the divine, it was much simpler to do the same with Spirits, great and small. The Tower was upheld by lost knowledge, both magical and mundane and lost spirit contracts."

"...No fucking way, they wouldn't have... they could have actually tried to make their own god, wouldn't they?" I asked in disbelief, yet I knew, if its in the name of spite, we can do some pretty fucked up shit.

"[And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.]" He spoke and confirmed my fears. "The Tower of Babel would have been turned into a System of Earth to mirror the System of Heaven. They would have taken a Spirit and remade it and elevated it, into a god of their own self-designed image and desire."

"Jesus fucking Christ." I looked down wide-eyed. "Okay, fucking up our languages and spiritual composition, and thus scattering us across the global like you originally wanted is way more merciful than they had any right to receive." I found myself saying.

"I couldn't allow the Tower to be complete, for everything that was mentioned, but also for what the process itself, of building the Tower, was turning humanity into." He began.

"The process?" I raised an eyebrow.

"600,422 workers over 43 years, with supplies taking a year to reach the top and human life treated as disposable compared with bricks. If a person were to fall off the Tower, it's barely noted, but if a brick were to fall the worker would cry. Not to mention all the logistics involved in the creation of the bricks, from getting wood for fire, to designing the bricks, to transportation. Nimrod had told mankind that he'd make them great and raise them to gods, and then stripped them of that very same humanity, turning them into cogs of his machine."

"Wow. Ancient Jeff Bozos and Ancient Amazon warehouses, and possible Ancient A.I. while we're at it. Who'd have fucking thought?" I tried to joke but the Dying Wrath was silent. "Gods were jealous, or terrified of us, weren't they?" I asked. "Because even when stripped of our OP bodies, we still have the mind and will to do insane shit."

"As I have said. My Children are brilliant, yet it is because of the brilliance of their Light, that the abyss of their Shadow is ever deeper. You can do great things if aimed toward the Good, but when aimed toward selfishness and Evil, it is equally as great a catastrophe." He said solemnly, yet the feeling of pride, disappointment and sadness returned.

We both said nothing. For a long while silence embraced us.

I kept thinking of everything I just learned, everything I learned over the past few days. This world is wild, but parts of it are beautiful when you think about it.

I think... after everything is said and done, I think I'd like to travel the world a bit. See that beauty for myself.

"Potential given form, huh." I remember Ophis mentioning. "The Zero that can turn into a One."

"..." The Dying Wrath didn't make a hum, like a normal person, but I felt their presence agree.

"You know, I kinda figured Ophis would have appeared by now to talk to you. Given that we're in stopped time, we have all the time in the world." I mentioned.

"We spoke. Briefly."

"Wait, you did? When?" I blinked in flabbergasted surprise.

"I told her to be proactive in getting you a Blessing when it's right in front of her and you're busy, as long as it doesn't impede on your development."

Huh. That explains why she'd actually act and get the last grail to reform the Longinus to it's complete form, so I'd get the Second Blessing. It did seem too independent of her to do, without someone nudging her to get off her ass, and actually do something.

No, that's too harsh, she did do the whole 'bragging' about me, well on her own, without incentives.

"Hmm," I hummed in acknowledgment, in lieu of nothing.

"Also I believe she might feel that communication beyond tasks to complete for her objective, might be too... strenuous given our history."

"Is... is she shy?" I asked in disbelief.

"She... has changed since we last spoke. She is Chaos. Chaos is change. I believe it's been a long time since she exercised that aspect of herself." He said, in an oddly kind way.

Huh. I never thought about it, but in canon, Ophis was really very stagnate and passive wasn't she? She's very reactive, and barely ever active of her own volition. I guess, this is like her getting her groove back?

"Alright!" I said, bouncing on my toes a bit, and rolling my shoulders. "Come on, time to do this!" I held up Chaoshampf Ordained, seeing my face in its shiny red reflection. "Any last minute advice?"

"I believe I must first correct a misconception you hold. You have not been moving at part of the speed of light, or the full measure of it during your battle with either Niðhöggr or Apophis." The Dying Wrath suddenly said.

"Say, what?!" My jaw dropped. But that was my coolest moment! I mentally whined.

"You have, in a very fortunate manner for you, been constantly impeded and obstructed from fully reaching the speeds of physical limits. You have only approached that realm, and set foot in it, but have not travelled as much as you have thought." The Dying Wrath clarified. "And you have seen how much damage it wrought upon you, only from that minimal exposure."

"So all the nerfing Ladon, Apophis and Future Gasper did, made me not reach lightspeed? I mean, I thought I compensated for that with Divine Step?" I openly whined.

"It had not compensated as much as you thought. Which worked well for your sake, for had you succeeded, your body would have evaporated before it could be healed."

"Oh... I thought I had reinforce it and pumped enough Healing Energy before hand to immediately handle the fallout." I said in a quieter voice, feeling a tad embarrassed.

Like when you do a cool skateboard move in front of your dad, who tells you all the ways you could have broken your neck.

"You had not." He said plainly, which made me want to crawl into a hole. "However, the experience was helpful for you, for Spirit World offered data that helped in making your new body slightly resistant to those relativistic speeds."

"Oh?! Cool! Guess I wasn't idiotically reckless for nothing." I shouted in excitement.

"You would still evaporate if you try to move in lightspeed."

"Awww."

"However, I can aid you once to manipulate your personal time, to ensure you're healed before evaporation, so your new body can experience that phenomena, and start gaining the ability to survive in it, and eventually immunity."

"YAAY!" I pumped my fists in the air, while holding the red greatsword. God is awesome! "But damn, I thought with how bullshit anime this world was, going at relativistic speeds wouldn't be that dangerous."

"The higher realms of magic are dangerous, and the extremes of physical phenomena are a realm of magic unto themselves."

"Oh! ...Okay. Acknowledged. Message received." I've been extremely lucky with all the bullshit I did, because thankfully my enemies were just as bullshit. I'll have to actually think and plan before doing some stupid shit like making a black hole for instance.

"There is another thing for you to pay attention to. The effects of your physical actions on the physical environment around you."

"..." I narrowed my eyes in deep thought. "Are you talking about sonic booms?"

"To start with." He replied. "You need to control the physics of your actions to cancel or contain fallout effects like that, so that running or flying through an area doesn't turn it into a burned hellscape." I blinked, eyes widening slightly as I paid attention. "I'm sure you've seen in your stories how characters can punch a mountain for example and disintegrate it, yet no nuclear explosion followed such an action. That is because they contain the physical effects to only the desired target, thus the effects of their actions on their opponents are heavier, and in a manner of speaking, hold a heavier weight to reality."

I held my chin as I thought about how to do that. Making all the calculations, mid-battle might be a pain, but it should actually be doable.

Given that my soul and body act as one now, it should be possible to use Spirit World to manage that concentrating effect. In fact, it would be way easier to do that with Spirit World, than using math magic to do it, due to how intuitive the Blessing of the Holy Chalice was.

"You do know that you can not use two Blessings to that truest effect till you awaken Balance Breaker." He said.

"Yeah? I'm guessing my method of limiting one to use the other at max power wasn't as good as I thought?"

"You should have been able to convert any magical effect that causes harm into Healing Energy, before it reaches your body by now." He said plainly. "And with Spirit World you should have begun to see bits of their future actions."

"Oh!" My eyes widened. "Damn." Okay, that was busted, and I was limiting Heroic Second Wind from reaching that? Shame on me. I pouted. And Spirit World can give me Sharingan effect?!

"The differences are subtle, but you should be able to notice them with your new body. However, just this once I will take the burden of activating two Blessing at once. In your future battles, until you awaken Balance Breaker, learn to switch quickly between them, or master learning their mechanics to use them yourself." He advised.

"Yes, Lord! Got it!" I gave a thumbs up.

"And finally," The Dying Wrath said, and I could feel some amusement mixed with excitement from it. As if it was passive this whole time, and now it's going to be active. "When I threw out Apophis from this barrier, I landed him behind Ladon."

"..." A slow devilish grin grew on my face. Well if God Himself is lining them up. "Then I just gotta knock 'em down!"

I grasped my Longinus with both hands. Chaoskampf Ordained hummed in my hands with a crimson glow. I turned in the direction of Ladon and did sense Apophis a bit behind him, frozen in a mid-thrown pose.

As I gathered energy for my attack, I recalled the Dying Wrath saying he'll allow me to use lightspeed for real the one time.

Okay, but even if it's a sure hit, I won't just swing without technique, there's something I've been meaning to try out, but honestly just forgot about in the middle of everything.

A technique based on Fate Excalibur.

Not the conceptual part of being powered by Humanity's Hopes and Glory, I have no idea how to directly work concepts yet. But the mechanics of what Excalibur does.

I think many people forget that, in essence what Excalibur does is convert magical energy of the sword's swing into kinetic energy and amplifying it (while having the Hope/Glory stuff added on). I don't think I can do the whole thing one-to-one. Not yet anyways.

But! My Dragon Smasher was basically an attack where I pump Dragon Slaying Aura into the sword, and swing the concentrated energy into a laser beam.

What if I gather that energy along the edge of the blade, focus on making those thin energy slashes, and throw them at the speed of light? The energy slashes have weight, with lightspeed they'll not only hit harder, but slice through anything they pass.

I began gathering energy—

And felt Chaoskampf Ordained explode, vibrating viciously in my hand, as it also took in the rage from the Wrath of God.

I grinned so hard my cheeks and teeth felt it.

The surroundings shook, even in stopped time, the Holy Attribute of my aura was pushing back the darkness to the point of breaking it. Frozen time was being undone, and yielding to normal time flow.

Now for the finishing Excala-touch.

In theory, in the most technical sense kinetic energy is kinda, sorta has the potential to be harmful. Using that as a substitute for negative energy, based on how my Sacred Gear does the conversion from negative energy to Dragon Slaying Aura, I made a spell.

A spell for conversion from kinetic energy to Dragon Slaying Aura. The conversion rate will probably be abysmal, with horribly wasted energy.

But it's a start.

I didn't have much time (heh), to get this right, so now or never.

I raised my red greatsword up above my head.

The last thing I did was to enchant my Dragon Slaying Aura. Just like how I managed to use my Longinus, to have my Dragon Smasher attack devour the negative material, that was Future Gasper's Darkness, to convert more Dragon Slaying Aura—This time, I will enchant my Dragon Slaying Aura with Reverse Magic to activate only when touching Dragon Aura.

The Dragon Slaying Aura was condensed to the edge of the sword, the blade shined and heated up from the sheer energy gathered in such a narrow place. Yet even heat and light was condensed further into the edge.

The barriers, all of them, time, darkness, Ladon's, were cracking from the sheer energy I was outputting.

This wasn't a beam attack, but an energy slash, so for a name? It should obviously be from the most dragon hating hero, right?

I swung the greatsword down.

"Dragon Slaying Flash!"

I died.

No ands, ifs or buts.

My body had turned to fucking plasma, and not in any way under my control.

Then I felt it as my personal time reversed to when I was still organic, then infused with an ungodly—Well, no. A godly amount of healing energy along with my personal time speed up, and constantly countering the damage and heat backlash from only swinging my arms at lightspeed, with even more healing energy.

Okay God, lesson learned.

Conversion ratio from kinetic energy to Dragon Slaying Aura was a few million to one anyway, the technique wasn't viable yet. I'll work on it.

The barriers didn't immediately break. Because they didn't catch up yet to what happened.

I barely caught what happened to Ladon and Apophis myself.

The Dragon Slaying Aura sliced through both Ladon and Apophis. I don't think they even felt it.

They felt the after effects though.

All that energy I threw into the attack, all that density, it touched the two Evil Dragon's energies, their soul, and inverted all of.

Their bodies exploded as their very Dragon Aura was turned into Dragon Slaying Aura.

And then the physical effects of being hit by something at the speed of light followed.

The pocket dimension shook, I felt the force ripple across the purple barrier isolating this space, actually being effected by something for the first time.

The magicians battling far away from us, had to stop fighting each other to put everything into defensive spells. With a thought, I will a Reflect and Reverse Magic barrier around every member of Hexennacht and those fighting with them, on their side, spies, converted enemies, etc. or surrendered to them. Any concussive force turned to potential energy, and any heat or light or magic reflected away from them.

I could feel Walburga's happy grin and her waving in my direction.

She does know if it wasn't for my senjutsu senses I wouldn't even notice her, right? Any normal person would think she's waving at empty air. No, wait. She's waving at the direction of the battlefield I'm in. Right. She's a quirky, maniac-pixie magical girl thing.

Ladon's barrier, the dark field and the frozen time barrier, all burst and cracked open like an egg, finally revealing the outside world to me, and me to my enemies.

Well, one really.

Only Aži Dahāka was left. He had his multiple barriers around his form, and a holographic screen in front of him, that he looked on with shock and... fear?

I only managed to catch that it had my name and the number '7', before he dispersed it, focusing solely on me.

With Spirit World extended to the whole of the pocket dimension, and seemed to even be looking at things in a deeper lens, I could feel how my body was interacting with the natural physical and magical forces of the world.

I walked toward Aži Dahāka while observing how those forces were acted on, so I could diminish damage to the surroundings like the Dying Wrath advised.

"And then, there was one!" I called out to him with a wide smile and a laugh.

"Hah, even if you beat me, you will never be able to defeat Crom Cruach." Aži Dahāka said back.

"What? You're gonna hide behind piss and tar hair's skirt?" I said back. "Come on, you shouldn't be so defeatist." I bared my teeth into a resemblance of a smile. "Bring on your cheats, your hax, your special abilities, Daka Waka." I moved, controlling the physical forces reaction to my superhuman movement, was like squeezing a water balloon while making sure it didn't leak or pop.

Diverting air with Wind Magic, lowering gravity a bit, canceling heat from friction, and converting it to more kinetic energy. Difficult, but possible. I was in front of the widening shocked eyes of the Three-Headed Evil Dragon, without a sound, and without him able to react.

"When did you—"

"Because you're gonna need all of it. Dragon Slaying Flash!" I swung my greatsword.

The energy slash wasn't lightspeed, but it still made the air and space scream as it travelled through them. I saw the flicker of a barrier at the last moment, and I felt the magic crystal sphere floating behind the Evil Dragon gain a small crack, before it mended itself. The magic crystal orb was floating behind Aži Dahāka with two ring around it, one of light and one of darkness, each ring spinning in opposite directions. It looked like a halo, or a Hindu God's aureola.

Ah. That must be the Cloch na Mallacht, the Cursed Stone that he put the amalgamation soul of Niðhöggr Muspell into. He's using it as a damage sink instead of himself, and linked to him to cast spells from the souls' technical infinite energy.

The dust from my attack dispersed and I saw the right head of Aži Dahāka, mangled but regenerating back, to a pissed off face, matching his others.

Alright, next time I'm make sure my slashes also cut him off from his magic stone, so he can't regenerate limbs.

"Oh, that one got through! Tsk, tsk, Azzi, you're getting sloppy." I smugly grinned at him.

"CHAOS STORM!" Aži Dahāka responded by throwing a literal storms of spells that cycled around us like a tornado. Very flashy and distracting.

I weaved and bobbed through the chaos of spells, like I was dancing in the rain, and avoiding the droplets.

Only for all spells to turn into spells that manipulated space. They turned into folded crescents of solid space, a dimensional knife.

And all those space spells now homed at me, rather than flying at random.

That had me focus a slight bit, but with Spirit World operating at max, I could just see where all the dimensional slashes were going, and just avoid them.

So Aži Dahāka began teleporting them at random.

My red greatsword sang through the air, as it intercepted and cut through the Three-Headed Evil Dragon's Space Magic crescents, as at the end of the day this was a shounen setting, and the one with the stronger aura won.

The sound of every dimensional slash breaking or deflected was like the concept of shattering crying into the world each time it happened.

Except teleportation was faster than all the speeds I've been operating at, and one dimensional knife was teleported into my body.

I barely moved it out and away from my spatial location, while deciphering Aži Dahāka's Security System Magic within the Space Magic spell so that I could only move the spell within my body.

I didn't have time to undo it, or break the whole cipher, thus the spell ended up materializing within my arm.

With a retching rupture my arm was torn from my body. Only for me to grab it, and use some spell based on Aži Dahāka's Forbidden Magic. I've watched enough to get an idea, and Heroic Second Wind would heal even the small bit of my soul that would be used as a price.

With Sacrificial Magic and Transfiguration, I turned my arm into a spear. A spear that was in itself a spell. Giving up an arm for an almighty attack.

"Smiting Deliverance." I said and activated the spell. It moved at the speed of lightning's return stroke. The real deal this time, without any nerfs.

Aži Dahāka's defensive formation spells only flickered on after the spear had stabbed through, and exploded the Evil Dragon's right head.

"AAAAAARGH! You, you'll pay! This is all worth... My head, I can't... regenerate it!" The Two-Headed Evil Dragon said with dread.

"Yeah, that's right. I also targeted your connection to your magic foci to disconnect it when the head was blown off. That part of your soul structure is gone. Can't get it back." Said back.

"Then what about you?! Why is your arm back? That spear creation spell should have followed the same principle!" He shouted.

"My healing comes from a Blessing. A literal fucking capital 'M' Miracle." I deadpanned.

"You..." Aži Dahāka gritted his teeth, but then I blinked in wariness as I felt a change in his soul and body. "You will regret that." His energy didn't increase in some kind of 'lose one head, become stronger deal', but rather...

My eyes widened as I felt the electricity of his brain just increase by a thousand times.

Aži Dahāka moved.

A spear of fire and light stabbed through my back, where Aži Dahāka had teleported behind me.

Only for the stabbed 'me' to disperse into light, as it was an afterimage.

I laughed as I appeared above Aži Dahāka's central head, having jumped there, flipped through the air, and threw a butterfly kicked down at the dragon.

Aži Dahāka's double layered shield of Reflect and Reversal now covered his body in a skin-like layer of magic armor, full time. So that's how he's using the Cloch na Mallacht for starter.

Yet even as an explosion of concussive force was reflected back on me, or turned into potential energy, Aži Dahāka found his whole body being moved and almost slammed into the ground, before he took control of his own momentum and gravity.

"What? What is this? How are you this strong? Strong enough to force momentum onto my being?" He cried out, frustrated at how illogical it all seemed.

"Figure it out. You're the smart one with three brains. Ooops, two now." I cheekily grinned.

Aži Dahāka roared and hundreds of magic circles appeared all around him. The spells used each could be considered a work of art by any normal magician. Spells of every type in every form.

And in return, I moved.

"Hahahahahaha!" My laughter echoed in the area we were in, as hundreds of afterimages of me, were around each with their own magic circle in front of them. Yeah, I achieved that amount of bullshit speed. I pulled a fucking Ichigo. "Try and hit the right one."

I'm not even getting my metaphors right, because honestly, I'm feeling high. On LIFE!

It was a cacophony of spells as we fired upon each other.

The sheer explosions that chaos of magic flying about may have looked like the most impressive fireworks display one could imagine.

A water spell absorbed a lightning spell to explode into steam.

A fire spell was blocked by an earth spell before the superheated boulder was thrown and blocked by a water spell.

A wind spell cut through fire, earth and water spells, separating them perfectly in two, that they froze of a moment, before physics reasserted itself.

At one point the Evil Dragon teleported a time bubble on me, to freeze me in time, and I cut it in half. Sheer incredulous look he gave me, was like I had insulted his bloodline or something.

A wave of darkness, like a propagating cloud in how it grew in size, was sent at me. So for an instant I dismissed my Longinus, grabbed the dark wave trying to cover and devour me, and ripped it apart with my bare hands, before summoning my red greatsword firing a Dragon Smasher at the momentarily stunned Aži Dahāka. He learned to quickly stopped being surprised after that.

Yet, through it all, none of the magic spells were our main attacks, but a setup for our next moves. Sadly Aži Dahāka was a magician for longer, thus acted first.

"Your attacks are useless! I have master Reverse Magic that your very power, the reason you're a threat to us Dragons, will do naught but empower me!" Aži Dahāka boasted as his Reversal Barrier took in my Dragon Smasher attack only to turn all the Dragon Slaying Aura to Dragon Aura and empower himself.

He opened his dual mouths and breathed in, all the spells that were fired and not detonated or still flying was pulled in, and devoured by him.

"What the fuck, he can do Fairy Tail, Dragon Slayer Magic?!" I muttered in disbelief.

"Twin Ether Cannon!" The two head fired beams of pure non-elemental magical energy, meant to simply break through their target, and deal pure damage through any defense.

For an instant, I wondered if I can reverse pure magical energy, and what it would turn into.

Then I discarded that thought and targeted the Dragon Aura powering that attack. At it's core, it was a Dragon Breath attack, and thus it is made up of Dragon Aura.

"Reversal!" I said, conjuring a barrier and tanking the twin non-elemental breaths, and turning the Dragon Aura powering them to Dragon Slaying Aura that my greatsword absorbed.

The attack petered out and died on it's own with nothing supporting it.

I could already envision that if we continue like this, we will futilely keep reversing and absorbing the opponent's aura. I needed a tie breaker before the stalemate even began.

"Ophis, I have a question!" I shouted.

"Yes, my Great Red Slayer." Ophis said from next to me.

I didn't jump or flinch as I had already begun to sense her presence even with her Nothing Domain obscuring her. Aži Dahāka looked worried, but it was overtaken by curiosity.

"It's a 'yes or no' question, but when God took the soul of the slain Red Dragon Emperor to make the Boosted Gear, did he use the body to make the common Twice Critical?" It's a popular fan theory, but I needed to be sure.

"Yes." Ophis said plainly.

I nodded at her that my question was answered, and she disappeared once more.

"Oh!" I had a devious grin. Aži Dahāka almost looked like he flinched "That's great, Chaoskampf Ordained was originally a Twice Critical. Guess that means it's possible to use Y Ddraig Goch's movesets."

"...No you can't." Aži Dahāka said unconvincingly.

"Time to learn Penetrate." I smirked focused and swung my sword.

A Dragon Smasher launched at Aži Dahāka ready to test his barriers once more.

Aži Dahāka dodged.

There is no reason for him to. There is no logical way for me to succeed at a technique that I've never seen before and only read about.

And yet, Aži Dahāka dodged all the same, simply on the off chance that I could break through his barriers.

"Shooting Style," I said with a grin, pulling my greatsword back. "Hundred Dragon Slaying Flashes." And swung forward.

"Duplication!" One Aži Dahāka becomes a hundred, all with their own magic armor barriers, all with their own magic, and all acting autonomously.

However, this was literally the worst move he could make.

All one hundred Aži Dahākas attacked me. They focused on using Space Magic, as they saw that injure me.

I focused on a random one.

""Hahaha, are you sure that's the right one?"" They all asked with a condescending laugh.

But for me, it didn't matter. Right one, false one, it was all the same.

The only problem was that I could see the sheer amount of literal thousand of dimensional knives, gravity cages and... are those fucking time bubbles?!

Since when can Aži Dahāka do that? Admittedly they feel weaker than Future Gasper but still.

I could see the trap Aži Dahāka was making for me. He made the field of dimensional knives the only 'safe' path to reach the copy I was targetting.

Best move, hmm... Yep it was to take a hit.

He'd never expect me to do something that stupid. Plus, I need to build resistance to dimensional attacks.

The only way to survive and succeed was a completely unexpected move.

With control of my body and inner biological systems, I gave myself internal bleeding.

No really, this isn't me being suicidal, I do have a plan.

I danced through the blades Space Magic slashes. I neared the Aži Dahāka I was aiming at, and grinned victoriously.

Then 'sadly' for me, a dimensional knife hidden in the shadow of other spells appeared in my path.

Dodge it and fall into the time bubble, or into the gravity cage. Avoid it or deflect it, and all the other dimensional slashes will hit me.

Oh~ No~~.

I take the dimensional slash to my torso.

My waist and legs are separated from my upper half, chest, arms and head.

However my upper half still had my sword gripped with both hands and pulled back for a swing. And that internal bleeding?

A rope of blood was connecting my spinal cords.

Through muted pain and gritted teeth, I swung at the astonished and bewildered Aži Dahāka.

"Reflected Moon Sundering!" I swing at his heads, while pulling my bottom half to reconnect it.

Aži Dahāka used Space-Time to accelerate himself and lengthen space to evade the attack.

I still got his left head.

All Aži Dahākas screamed and dispersed sans one. Not the one I was fighting, but he was also holding the bleeding stump of his other shoulder where his other, other head would have been. Now he only had one.

"Hey, look at the bright side, now you have a normal number of heads." I called out, as I held my hips, making sure my body fixed itself right. The spinal cord halves connected successfully. Thank fucking God. "Aaaargh, never doing that again." I said to myself.

Aži Dahāka screamed in pain for a long moment, before he grew quiet. He looked at me with hate and... resignation?

"You..." He said, yet even through the hate, there was measure of respect. "Are insane. Never in my life would I have imagined meeting someone so loathsome."

"Really? I'm a Dragon Slayer, I would have thought you'd know this animosity would be expected." I said back, since he sounded solemn all of a sudden.

"No," He shook his remaining head. "You would have been a good partner to discuss and discover the depth of magic with. Even I can acknowledge your talents, and invigorating approach to magic."

"I'm afraid we're at odds even in that. To me, magic is just a means to an end. Learning it is just so I can know how to defeat you." I replied while focusing on his energy. It was doing something weird.

His Dragon Aura was moving and coalescing in his head. Was he gonna pull a hydra?

"Heh, annoying to the end." Aži Dahāka grunted with a half-smile before holding himself up. "Yet, it was because of all your actions, that I manage to reach the chance for my own ascension. My apotheosis." As soon as he said that, the magic stone and halos behind him, glowed and spun faster, till the light ring thundered with electricity upon it, and the dark ring cracked with red chaotic energy. His body was darkening unusually too, scales turning black.

"Wait, all that is a Sacrifice Ritual, but why would your own heads matter to you enough to be considered a heavy cost?" I found myself asking.

"Because for so long that's all that I am. I used them as an excuse, even as I thought with them, became them as they were me. Becoming a Three-Headed Dragon was just a natural conclusion of being driven by having had those shoulder snakes, that became my dragon heads. But now..." Dark power glowed Aži Dahāka's eyes. "I fully accept all of this as my own actions. I shall become the Knowledge Devourer, the Thousand Heresies Dragon!"

Power and black aura enveloped Aži Dahāka's frame. Not in an explosion, but almost as a metamorphic cocoon.

When it gently broke and dispersed it left behind the Zoroastrianism Evil Dragon in his new form.

Pure solid magic seemed to be part of his new body. Thorns of magical corruption and distortion started sprout around him, seemingly without any spell being cast or any mana cost.

"Demesne." The Dying Wrath said from inside me.

I could sense the divinity in Aži Dahāka now. It didn't feel right. Like, he didn't truly gain it, but brute forced it.

There should be a heavy price, to have access to the Domain of Knowledge or Magic for a 'mortal' aping at Godhood. Yet Aži Dahāka was able to withstand that because he has Cloch na Mallacht, the amalgamation soul, carry the burden for him.

"So you became a God of Magic? No. Doesn't feel like a real one, there should be a cost." I said.

"There is. To peer into the infinite sea of knowledge, into the principals of life even without the Grail, my mind would overheat, the curses of the dead and eldritch knowledge, the stress on my body, all of that would accumulate and kill me. But with the Cloch na Mallacht, the stones that holds curses, any curses, along with the souls of all the turned Evil Dragons, along with Maris and Niðhöggr, who's immortality, regeneration and self-resurrection compliment each other? It was the perfect answer for me to let this ritual complete, and arise to my rightful ascension." He said with grandiosity.

"Evil Dragon, Evil God, you will die all the same." I said plainly, in a bit of a bored tone.

===x===

Aži Dahāka, The Thousand Heresies Dragon POV:

Yes. I know. Aži Dahāka had thought to himself.

"You are a broken record, you know that." He growled with some annoyance at how intellectually unstimulating Caleb Gunnar insisted on being.

With his new intellect Aži Dahāka could simulate hundreds of futures. The Evil Dragon could only see all the ways he could die at the hands of Gunnar, that even if he wins, it would just be a pyrrhic victory.

His brain was operating at a thousand times what it previously was with two heads. Meaning a million times his base form, what he had lived with for thousands of years, until a few minutes ago.

"It's called consistency." Caleb shook his head while meeting Aži Dahāka's last pair eyes. "I don't care about engaging with you in talk, in interests, in anything. You're a dragon, you will die by my hands. I have already decided, I just need to carry out my will."

"Heh." Aži Dahāka grinned. "In other words, predictable."

They both moved at once. Claw and sword met.

Aži Dahāka couldn't overcome Caleb's pure strength that he seemed to have gained, nor could Caleb overcome Aži Dahāka's barriers.

Dragon Aura and Dragon Slaying Aura clashed and conflicted. Both auras fell to Reverse Magic and used in opposite ways.

Aži Dahāka used Duplication once more, having a thousand copies, each using hundreds of spells.

Thousands of spells were shot at Caleb, before they gathered together into a tied uniform beam. Individual spells all working together under his perfect mana control.

Aži Dahāka expected Caleb to dodge it, as if seeing how the space around him will be turned into a trap soon, only for the Dragon Slayer to meet the collective beam of a thousand spells with the broad side of his greatsword.

Absurdly, all those spells were reflected away, far from their battle.

Only to end up hitting every single magician of Qlippoth and Nilrem that were still around.

Ridiculous. The Evil Dragon thought in annoyance. The boy is a preposterous existence. He cut grabbed pure darkness, he cut physical Time.

This time, Aži Dahāka fired hundreds of spells while accelerating their time to 1% of light speed.

They were all a distraction. The next time Caleb was trapped by Aži Dahāka's Space-Time Magic tricks the Dragon Slayer kept weakening and taking hits of the dimensional slashes, that by the time a clean attack hit him, he had broke it with his fist.

HIs arm was cut up, damaged, but still whole, and instantly healed.

Just like Aži Dahāka expected, Caleb's regeneration was turning to magical resistance.

But the trap was set, the copy he neared turned their mana on themselves and detonated into a black hole.

Caleb Gunnar slashed the black hole in half.

Aži Dahāka froze. Stupefied. Almost for a complete ten seconds.

Caleb had managed to somehow enchant his blade with the properties of a white hole, and cancelled out the black hole.

It was absurd, it shouldn't have worked. And yet it did.

Every clash from then on was of bait and switch. Traps of Aži Dahāka's copies trying to slay Caleb via black holes, pure magic force detonations, or turning everything into potential energy of such magnitude that physical matter would cease to exist.

Caleb had a counter for everything. Aži Dahāka was watching his knowledge, accumulated for thousands of years, magic he practiced and perfected in his sealed isolation, be taken apart and beaten within the span of moments between breaths.

It should have angered him enough to fall into Outrage Mode. Of course, he didn't allow himself to fall into such instincts and lose his dignity like that. His new form granted him the power of Outrage Mode without falling to his emotions.

Everything that I am, is breaking against the bulwark that is the Great Red's Dragon Slayer. Aži Dahāka thought. He felt bitter, he felt indignities by it all, and more... he hated how content a part of him felt.

As if everything he had accumulated was for this one moment, this battle. To finally test all his knowledge, to use everything against the one opponent he can't just have a readily made answer for.

It was frustrating. It was exhilarating.

He roared, he grinned.

He hated it, and he hated that he loved it.

As they clashed, or Aži Dahāka baited Caleb with a false copy he switched to (using only one and illusions to try and deceive the Dragon Slayer), the Evil Dragon had been working on a technique of his own.

A counter to Penetrate.

It might be absurd to expect Gunnar to recreate an ability he's only heard about, but given everything the Dragon Slayer had accomplished in such a miniscule amount of time, given that sheer raw talent and determination, Aži Dahāka decided to treat Caleb learning Penetrate as an absolute certainty.

As they separated from their latest clash, they came back again, and from a gut feeling, an instinct in their soul told them this would be the final one. The last clash to end it all.

Caleb's greatsword glowed with terrifying power, as though it held the rage of a god.

Aži Dahāka flew toward the Dragon Slayer, his maw open with the full concentration of a Dragon Breath that held the Concept of Distortion, a concept take from the principles of life, of a power beyond decay. Everything Caleb was, mangled up that he wouldn't be able to heal, counter or even die correctly.

All while the real trump card to allow Aži Dahāka victory would be hidden behind the flashy show.

The answer to Penetrate: Intangibility

A power taken from the soul of monks who meditated for lifetimes that they can become one with the world. It would be the same as viewing a mountain in the distance, swinging your sword, and not hitting it, because what you see isn't an solid picture you can affect, but a space that shows you the image of the world before you, and within that image is only your view of the mountain.

In simple terms, Aži Dahāka would be one with space, thus any hit would just travel through him harmlessly for he would become 'nothing', but simply the space the blade would pass through.

No matter the force, magic or damage, one can't damage space or dimensions so easily, and especially if one doesn't intent it.

The two near each other, Caleb dodged Aži Dahāka's breath, but that was fine, for he could summon Distortion upon his claws, to which the Dragon Slayer was in range.

Caleb swung his sword.

Aži Dahāka's claws, his victory was in range—

"World Slash."

His body was cut in half.

Aži Dahāka couldn't understand it at first. His plan was perfect, and yet...

His mind, still connected to the sea of knowledge allowed him to glimpse the answer in his final moments.

Caleb didn't just attack Aži Dahāka, but the totality of space and existence where the Evil Dragon occupied.

He didn't just recreate Penetrate, he improved upon it.

His Cursed Stone, the Soul Amalgamation sealed with in it, all was cut down with such a potent Dragon Slaying Aura that it washed away all resistance, regeneration and immortality. All the defensive and healings and back-up death defying plan, cut through and utterly destroyed.

The ease with which Caleb did this, showed he could have simply overpowered all of Niðhöggr Muspell's soul resurrective powers, or gained it and perfected it shortly before this moment.

Years of studying, accumulating knowledge; by reading scrolls or consuming cerebral matter, years of trainings, preparing, studying crafts, mastering craftmaking, finding, searching, uncovering hidden magical treasures, everything, everything... all undone by a Dragon Slayer awakened not even a week ago. No, it hasn't even been a week.

"Ab...surd... Impossible... How..." Aži Dahāka gritted his teeth in vexation for the last time. "Illogical."

===x===

"How... illogical." Those were Aži Dahāka's finally words as his two bodies fell and crashed to the ground.

Life completely left the Evil Dragon and his body and magic turned inert.

I took a breath and let it out.

Penetrate, surprisingly enough, seemed to fight me to get it right throughout the fight.

World Slash however, just seemed easier to click, as Spirit World made targeting everything much easier, and after some training swings in empty air, every time Aži Dahāka dodged, I finally got it right for that final show down.

I looked at my opened hand, then closed it with a satisfied smile, as I felt the fist I've made feel heavier.

"I've grown stronger." As if called by those words, I felt a distant powerful aura, announce itself. Not in an explosive way, just as a person that knocks on your door firmly, telling you they're there. In the distance, behind the plains left of my battles, a figure of yellow and black hair was closing in, seemingly walking leisurely towards me. "And just in time too." I said to myself.

I walked towards him, taking my time as well. Not seeming hurried, nor reluctant.

Soon Crom Cruach and I were facing each other once more.

"Caleb Gunnar," Crom Cruach said with a savage grin. He could barely contain himself. "You finally reached where I am. Entered the beginning of the stage of where I stand."

"Sorry for the delay, Cruach." I dismissed my Longinus and cracked my knuckles. "This time, my fists and my blade will reach you."

===x===

Ladon, Insomniac Dragon POV:

It was the final emergency. The last of the last of his last resorts.

Barrier Body Switch.

An ability he prepares before every battle, where when a killing blow hits him, and actually kills Ladon, he is switched with a prepared body of millions of mini-barriers of solid illusions, so real that they made it seem identical to his real body.

Even his death is sent to the Barrier Body, while his own would be made completely healthy.

It was the ultimate escape from death trump card, if Ladon would say so.

Yet it didn't seem to help him this time, except prolong his inevitable death.

Even now he could feel his own Dragon Aura being turned into Dragon Slaying Aura against his will. He couldn't fight against the Reverse Magic running through him, no matter what he tried.

The agony was making it even harder to think, to move his aura, to act. Although move his Dragon Aura just made the conversion happen even faster.

So now, he could only die slowly on a field, in an area away from battle. He watched as that Monster of a Dragon Slayer battled the Dragon who was the Greatest Magician Among Magicians. Yet inevitably, Caleb Gunnar won.

"Oh my, you really seem to be in a pickle Ladon-don." A cheerful voice spoke, as another person had found him.

"Is that you.... Wal-Walburga?" The crazy Witch of Purple Flames was someone Ladon usually thought was too difficult to hang around.

Right now he wasn't sure whether to be glad for her presence or not.

"Yeah~ Yeah~ the lovely Walburga is here~! You really look like you could use a hand, Ladon-don?" She said in a false cutesy manner.

"Yes... please help me." Ladon held no shame if it was a matter of survival. Thus he explained to Walburga what was wrong with him.

"Hmm, it seem like you need an expert in Reverse Magic and Dragon Slaying Aura. Well, there's only one person I know that fits the criteria." Walburga said tapping her chin. "If you serve Caleb with your skills and abilities, I think, if you're sincere, he'll save your life."

"Walburga...! What are you saying? ...Have you lost your mind...? Or have you turned against Rizevim?" Ladon hadn't known about the rebellion of Hexennacht as he was busy battling the Dragon Slayer, thus Walburga's betrayal came as a surprise.

"That's right~! Hexennacht is on Team Caleb right now! We're riding his wave all the way to the apocalypse. Hahahaha!" She laughed confidently, hands on her hips, throwing her head to the sky as she said that.

She's insane! Ladon thought. But if it will guarantee my survival then fine.

"V-Very well, I will... join your side. Serve Lord Caleb... Yay... Team Apocalypse." Ladon said reluctantly.

"I'm glad you agreed." Walburga wildly smiled. "I mean, it wouldn't have made a difference in the end, but a positive attitude is always a good thing to have."

"What?"

A giant cross made of purple flames manifested.

It speared Ladon with chains of purple fire, incinerating the body, and dragging the soul to be crucified to the burning Holy Cross.

Ladon was made to empower Walburga Crowley to aid Caleb Gunnar, just as she said he would.

"Oooh? Pretty sword! I wonder who dropped this?" Walburga picked up an Arondight that was once wielded by Gasper Vladi of a future timeline. "Maybe Caleb will like it."

She left to rejoin her group to watch the battle between her new idol and the Final Evil Dragon.

===

AN: No, Caleb didn't jump from Rank 10 to Rank 7 in one go. I didn't show it, since it didn't come up, but he rose up to Rank 9 during the Marius Rahab & the following Nidhoggr Muspell fight, and again to Rank 8 during the Apophis & Future Gasper fight.