Becoming the Strongest Through (Draconic) Racism - Chapter 17 (Patreon)

Arjuna, the Great Hero POV:

Sometimes nothing happens for centuries. And sometimes everything seems to happen all at once. Arjuna thought as he, along with his compatriots, watched the Ouroboros' broadcast, from the artificial hidden realm of Qlippoth.

It was the biggest blow to the masquerade since... ever, as far as Arjuna could remember. It would obviously be corrected by the divines afterwards, yet the clean up will be hell of a pain.

His companions, his Pandava brothers, Yudhishthira, Nakula, Sahadeva and finally Bhima, were watching the spectacle like one of those devil's Rating Games. Yet this was far more entertaining than the one time they did watch one of those devil's aforementioned games.

Things were... tense around Mt. Meru. One wouldn't notice it at first glance, or even a deep one, except for the long time inhabitant of the Hindu myth's mountain.

Four days ago, Indra, Arjuna's father and the most powerful god of the Hindu Faction—save for Shiva, whom he had been preparing to battle for years—came to his faction, the Devan Gods and announced with his casual amusement that a Dragon Slayer had been born in their current era, and delivered a prophecy about the potential end of the world, while telling them to spread said prophecy to all supernatural factions.

A statement that have spread shock, disgust (as their faction knew what caused such a thing), and awed excitement. Yet for Indra the potential world changing news was delivered cadence of one who learned an interesting TV show was returning after a hiatus.

But then soon after, Indra said that he may have to confront Cao Cao and his group to see where their loyalties and place in the world lie.

Arjuna knew of his father's powerful future sight. It wasn't the be all end all of his father's abilities, nor did he rely on it to the absolute, but Indra still took note of the changing winds of fate and prepared for the sake of his ultimate goal.

To defeat the God of Destruction, Shiva.

Arjuna didn't know the full details of why his father suddenly was serious on facing Lord Shiva, rather than their casual confrontations of the past, but this time, his father meant to slay and usurp the God of Destruction. Arjuna has his own theories, but none he would talk out loud.

As for confronting the so called Hero Faction, Arjuna may have prepared to go with his father, along with some allies to that endeavor. Not because Indra would need the aid, far from it, rather because it would be beneath the King of the Gods.

It might be that Caleb Gunnar would have joined the Hero Faction by then, thus Arjuna and his allies would step in to discipline the Hero Faction, while Indra would teach the human not to be a prideful upstart.

Yet, this young man, Caleb, his willpower is a beautiful thing to behold. Arjuna couldn't help but think. For the true strength of a warrior did not ultimately rely on strength of arms, inherited powers or special armaments. Those all helped, but the true strength was in one's willpower.

Something Arjuna learned after a long life and many trials before and after his ascension to godhood.

As he listened to his brothers cheer at this Caleb Gunnar fighting Aži Dahāka, in a battle that reminded Arjuna of their Legendary War, Indra teleported onto Mt. Meru with his full Divine Aura unleashed.

That wasn't irritation. That wasn't the King of the Gods and Lord of Heaven expressing displeasure at something.

The Hindu God of War, Storms, and Rainfall was wrathful in a way Arjuna hadn't seen in a long time.

"Arjuna, gather all our forces. Prepare everyone to march out upon the pocket dimension of Qlippoth's home base. We'll need to break through Ophis' barrier and confront that damn Dragon Slayer within." Indra said with restrained fury.

Arjuna, along with his brothers, were thrown off by the King of the God's demeanor, but already moved to fulfill his wishes.

"Lord Indra, who do you specify by everyone? Should I recall our furthest allies?" Arjuna asked for clarification. He had meant the Four Heaven Kings of the Buddhist Mythology, but if Indra meant more, Arjuna didn't want to deliver less.

Indra slowly turned to his son, and like a slow building volcanic eruption spoke.

"A human, a Slayer, unaffiliated, untamed had returned to Primevality." For one more time Indra spoke with restraint, yet upon seeing the confused look at Arjuan's face (for he didn't have a reference for the terms used), Indra blew up. "Antediluvian! There's a pureblooded Antediluvian walking around in this day and age! GATHER! EVERYONE!"

Arjuna moved.

===x===

Crom Cruach and I stood facing each other. I could feel the vast depth of his power, how it moved through his body, completely under his utter control.

Pure power and control refined to the extreme. Unlike every other dragon I faced till now, Crom Cruach likely won't have a gimmick. Just pure destructive fighting ability.

And yet, it was within reach. That if I were to just extend my hand I could grasp it.

For a long while we just stared at one another. Sizing each other up.

Crom Cruach had a small pleased smile on his face, as he tilted his head. Like a reptile inspecting a prey.

"You became stronger." He said with satisfaction. "I can scarcely believe it's been less than two hours since we last fought."

I blinked at what he said.

"It's only been that long?" I said in astonishment. Mostly to myself, before focusing back on my enemy. "You starting to regret letting me fight all of them?" By 'them', obviously being all the other dragons.

"Hardly," he waved me off, laughing. "I'm glad all the others were there. They made a good gauntlet to power you up through." He grinned. "You feel more refined now, like a tempered blades. Your body finally matches your will." His eyes narrowed. "At least that's what my battles instincts are telling me. The rest? ...You feel more human somehow. I have no reference for it."

"I'm not gonna sit down and explain it to you." I scoffed.

"No need. I'll find out soon enough facing you." Crom Cuach laughed, before a more contemplative look came to his face. "You really have no doubt about your path, do you?"

"Hmm?" I raised an eyebrow at that. I fear he's about to do the villain thing, where they try to be philosophical before a fight. "Why would I doubt?"

I dismissed my Longinus, since it looks like the pre-battle would take a while.

But also because...I wanted to test myself against him. To see where I stood now to the Strongest Evil Dragon, equal to the two Heavenly Dragons, the ones who originally made the title.

"That's just it," the bastard multi-haired Evil Lizard smiled like we were old friends. "Every one of you heroic-types—villain-types as well. Those whose actions will affect the world, change the world, those who fight because they care. I see it in you, you're doing all this, preparing to fight the True Dragon because it's personal, because you think it's righteous and you care.

"Warriors like you? They always doubt. Always second guess in their quiet moments, in the depth of their hearts. It shows on them, for one as old as me, even with their masks, or determination covering them. There's always that annoying seed at the back of their minds. 'Is this right?', 'Will I win?', 'Am I strong enough?', 'Am I worthy?'. It mars their resolve, no matter how pure and solid it is." He smirked, showing teeth. "But I don't see that in you. You seem to already have all that fixed and figured out before this battle even began."

My mind went back to the conversation with the Dying Wrath of God in frozen time. I already settled all those mental questions.

"Yeah." I said plainly. "The path for me is clear. I just need to walk it."

"And once you've reach the end?" Crom Cruach asked with some curiosity, but I think he was mostly interested in my reaction to the question. "You know, I used to be a god?" He said, upon seeing no change in my expression.

"I thought people just worshipped you like one. You're saying you weren't always a dragon?" I raised an eyebrow.

"That's just it." He laughed, voice sounding to be in bitter nostalgia. "I was born a dragon. One of the countless many that lived in the region of the Celtic Mythology. Yet one day I happened to have helped this human that was attacked by bandits. He was just some farmer, and I killed his attackers and ate them for they were many, and he was one.

"Who was this human? Just some farmer. I cannot even remember his name anymore. As thanks for saving his life, he gave me all the food he had on hand. I didn't think much of it, accepted his thanks and gratitude and left. Then I felt this annoying persistence at the back of my mind for the next few days. Like someone trying to whisper at me, but from far away and somehow me hearing it. Annoyed the fuck outta me.

"Even with my long life till that point I had no idea what it was. Kept flying, playing hot & cold with the whisper till I found it. No need to guess it was the farmer. You wanna know what the pricking at the back of my mind was? Prayer.

"The farmer, as I learned, was completely broke. His tiny piece of land was not producing, and he gave me what was good of his last harvest, while living off the rest of it, for the past few days. I think he might have never heard of dragons. Only explanation for why he'd confuse me for a god and pray to me. He had even made an altar and put pieces of the harvest he was suppose to live off, everyday. Sharing in his food, even if I wasn't there. Food was left in the open, some animals would take it, or it would spoil. Honestly, whole thing was so baffling to me." Crom Cruach shook his head, with a nostalgic smile he tried to force into being annoyed.

"So you paid him back?" I asked. I didn't know why he was suddenly telling me his backstory, but I felt that empathy one gets in storytelling, that slight feel of dread, when you can tell things will go bad in a story, and can't help but feel sad beforehand.

"Of course." He scoffed. "To be indebted to an idiotic human, more or less starving himself for me? Pissed me right off. I went and got him ten whole stags. The guy is elated, butchers the deer... and goes right back to offering most of them to me. I wanted to smack him." Crom Cruach shook his head. "Had to force the idiot to take the deer to sell or eat so he can live. One thing lead to another, and I'm helping him on his farm, using my claws to make furrows. I get the stupid idea to put my Dragon Aura into the land. I'm strong, my energy gives me life, maybe it can give some life to his sorry excuse of a land."

"I have a feeling that's not suppose to work." I found myself commenting.

"I'm a Dragon. Fuck you, it works." Crom Cruach clicked his tongue, smiling before looking away, melancholy in his eyes.

"That's how it started? You became some kind of a Harvest God?" I asked.

"Fertility God." He said, and I had to hold back a snort. His eyes flickered toward me, so I don't think I succeeded. Probably read it in my energy. He stared off into the distance, recounting his tale. "Land, people. Took a human form so the humans would stop cowering upon meeting me. Fucking annoying. People would ask me to bless their lands, then themselves to have families. They were changing from my Dragon Aura, becoming stronger, hardier, but in turn I was being changed too. By their prayer, their faith.

"One day I noticed, I haven't changed out of my human form for so long, and tried to change back... I couldn't." My eyes blinked and focused firmly on the Evil Dragon. "Because I was no longer a Dragon. All their faith in me turned me into a god. Humans across the whole of the Celtic Mythos region that hadn't even met me, prayed to me. Freaked me the fuck out at first. It occurred to me over the years that, as a Dragon, I'm a being of Power given living form. Only natural that faith when interacting with that power would change it. First time I used Divine Aura to fend off some raiders, it looked like a beam of light. It was just a generic blast of Divine Aura, but it's color was white and it was noon. People attributed that to the Sun, so..."

"So you became a Fertility God and a Sun God out of coincidence and because it fit a theme?" I asked.

"It made sense to people back then." Crom Cruach shrugged. "You need sunlight to grow crops, and your health declines when you stay in the dark for too long." Then he grew quiet.

So long enough that I thought he forgot why he started telling me his whole story, before I remember a wiki fact about Crom Cruach. He used to be a subordinate to the Evil God Balor.

"Balor." I said, making the Evil Dragon get pushed out of his melancholy and focus on me. "That's when Balor happened, wasn't it?"

"....Yeah." He sighed and nodded. "A Sun God to counter a Sun God. I thought I was powerful from all that faith people had in me, but Balor's Evil Eye rid me of that notion. And my own mind." Crom Cruach chuckled. "I broke free during the battle between him and Lugh. My places, their altars and people suffered a lot for my weakness back then. I thought to fix it. Get back to fighting for real, regain my killer instincts from when I was a dragon. And you know what I learned on that journey?

"Well for starters, trying to be both God and Dragon is almost impossible. I kept fighting the Fomorians that followed Balor. It wasn't like I joined Lugh's side and fought with him. Rather we both just happened to be fighting in the same direction. So I regained my old instincts, my savagery, bit by bit that I made the choice to become a Dragon once more.

"After all, I knew what a Dragon was, it was my origin. So I just poured my being into that, into becoming, returning to a Being of Power manifest. A Sun and Life Dragon, although that's not remembered by history. And after many battles I've reached Balor's stronghold, and what did I find?"

"Lugh had already slain him?" I asked.

"Bingo." Crom Cruach snapped his fingers at me. "And then when I returned to my worshippers, I found out I was replaced. My place taken over my that giant Lightbulb of Heaven." He stated plainly.

My eyes narrowed in contemplation. He doesn't sound angry at the memory.

"You don't feel like you have a grudge against Heaven." I pointed out.

"Oh I did! At that time, I was very much enraged, and feeling betrayed and all that." He then smiled at the memory rather than scowl in bitterness. "I travelled the world then, still answering prayers but at my whims, rather than because someone gave me something. I trained my powers, growing stronger. For a while I clashed with the Tuatha Dé Danann. Got the idea to fight in human form more often since that's what Gods usually looked like, to try and combine my fighting styles and powers from when I was a God and now as a Dragon. Even if I had the same powers, as a Dragon they were different. Clashed with the two brats, Ddraig and Albion, a few times, along with other Dragons." His smile gained teeth, as his gaze was lost in nostalgia. "Yeah, those were fun times."

"Is there a point to this?" I said, finally losing my patience. "You're not the talkative type, so why tell me all of this? You're not even trying to make some pre-battle trap or strategy, so again, why?"

"Heh, good instincts, but that shit is for weak losers. I don't need it." Crom Cruach laughed. "The reason is, when I finally let go of the betrayal of my old worshippers, when I finally learned the nature of Power, of my power, I understood something critical." He paused and met my gaze, as I felt a weight to his next words. "People, in truth, aren't defined by strength or weaknesses, but rather by how they solve their trials of life." I don't know why, but I found myself firmly paying attention to his words. "If you solve your hunger, your barren lands, your oppression by begging for help from someone stronger, regardless of who that person is.

"Be it a warrior, be it a king, be it a God, then that becomes who you are. Someone who always goes to the highest bidder for your faith. You always go for whichever stronger higher power there is.

"If you are someone who solves the obstacles of their life with words and wit, then that's who you are. You will always try to outwit whomever you encounter, try to gain power and influence over them, that doesn't require physical force on your part." He paused for a moment, and I knew what his next example would be.

"And if you solve your problems with the sword, you become a killer and that's who you become?" I deadpanned.

"Exactly," he grinned. "The world echoes and reflects. You approach your trials of life to solve them by begging, you'll have more opportunities to beg. You approach them to talk, you'll have more opportunities to talk. You approach them to fight," Crom Cruach spread his arms, like he's welcoming a grand revelation in jubilation. "And fighting becomes your life. You'll be nothing with it."

"Really? You're gonna go 'we're not so different, you and I' because I've slain some Dragons?" I scoffed.

"Not now, no. But it is your Fate."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Really? What, you're a fortune teller and can see the strings of fate as well?"

"Yes." Crom Cruach, in a definitive tone, shocking me. "Not in any depth or ability to command, but enough to get a passing understanding of it. Fate is the inevitable destination to who you are."

"...And who you are is how you solve your problems?" I echoed back his words to him.

"Exactly." He repeated himself, in a more plain tone. "How you engage with the world, the trials you'll inevitably face determines who you are. When weak you want to talk, when strong you want you kill; that is who most people are. And the world reflects back who you have been, because it's also what you would want, given who you've been.

"And for those like us, who gained our strength through battle, who would we be... What would you be in peace with nothing to kill?" He said in a grand voice. "Even if you wish to no longer pick up the sword, killing the Great Red will be seen as a Divine Act for the modern age that would define it, and define you." He said before his voice unintentionally lowered. "Same as my own act of helping a simple farmer in the ancient times."

For a long while he said nothing, and... I think I got why he started yapping at me. It's odd but from a certain point of view, I think that's his attempt in trying to be kind to me. Shame I can't answer the same.

"You're saying I'll regret actually succeeding? That's why you told me your life story?" I said, trying not to scoff, and ended up settling on a frown.

"That," he nodded with a smile. "And because I have a feeling, this battle," he grinned, closing his eyes, turning his head up to enjoy the artificial sun of his dimension, while stretching his arms, before taking a more calm pose, that only seemed to be full of openings. "That I will finally be in a fight where the possibility of dying is real. So just in case, I want to have no regrets left behind. As for you, I'm serious about my words; What will you be once your destiny is fulfilled and the source of your hatred, your motivation is slain? The world won't leave you alone, for it will want to grant you battle, and if you deviate from the path your actions painted, your future will be uncertain and unkind. That's how suffering reaches you."

I took in his words. Thought about them... and laughed.

Crom Cruach blinked at me in confusion.

"Once the Apocalypse Dragon, once the Beast is slain and gone... I have absolutely no idea! No clue what lies in that future." I grinned and spread my arms wide, mirror his earlier action. "Isn't it grand?"

Crom Cruach lost his expression, looking at me with wide eyes, examining me all over again.

"You don't fear that uncertainty? What will you have then?"

"Don't know! Can't wait to discover it." I said with a laugh, before my tone grew serious even as I smiled. "I do know one thing for certain, to you, and to every creature that preys on humanity from there on out..." I changed my pitch to sound like that of a priest quoting the Holy Book to sound profound. "Against all the evil that Hell can conjure, all the wickedness this fallen world can produce, we will send unto them only you. Rip and tear until it is done."

Crom Cruach looked at me in slightly disturbed, confusion, eyes squinted like trying to recall something.

"...I don't think that's in the Bible."

My Light Elan Armor flashing around me was the only warning I gave him. I focused mostly on containment of environmental force damage reactions, while moving at lightspeed. Not full lightspeed. I had experienced the true thing, I had experience a third of it with lightning return stroke speed.

I set it to 10% and moved. Along with adding Divine Step.

With environmental reactions containment, all the usual damage from moving at superspeed was reduced to just the ground cracking where I once stood. There wasn't even a sonic boom, even as I moved at 10% Light Speed.

And all that energy was focused and delivered with my fist.

And yet even still, Crom Cruach's Dragon Aura exploded well and true. With nothing but pure aura reinforcement and battle instincts he reacted and met my punched just the same.

BOOM!

A crater several building blocks formed where we were, as our auras Dragon and Dragon Slaying clashed in pure force.

"HAHAHAHAA! You really are the best opponent I've come across." Crom Cruach grinned. "I am Crom Cruach, Dark Dragon of the Crescent Moon! Let's battle across till death welcomes one of us!"

I found myself grinned back. My blood was boiling and pumping in my ears.

I answer his battle introduction in kind. Respect as warrior to warrior.

"I am Caleb Gunnar, Dragon Slayer who will Vanquish the Red Apocalypse! And today you die by my hand!"

Our clashing forces threw us both back, before we got our balance and lunge at each other once more.

Our fist met over and over again, causing shockwaves, and shaking the very space where they met, alongside the world we're in.

Even if we weren't causing nuclear explosions with every clash from the sheer power we delivered in our limbs, I felt it in my bones with every fist of Crom Cruach I met.

"Hahahahah! So you've begun entering the realm of divine battle? Let me show you how its done as a welcome!" Crom Cruach took one of my kick with his guard, letting the force push him back, and then my instincts screamed.

I watched with Spirit World as all external forces he produced on the environment seem to disappear. As if every shockwave from how fast he moved and pushed against the air was taken, just to increase his speed.

He reached me and delivered an uppercut that I could see clearly, even with the insane godspeeds we were moving at. My guard was up, using Tenkai and Light Elan Armor ready to deflect his fist, or tank it if it somehow bypassed—

"GAAH!" I felt my breath leave my lungs.

Just as his fist neared, just as it touched my forearms, I felt most of the force of his punch, be tanked by my arm, except at the last moment, his arm pulled back, slipped past my guard in the smallest of openings to tap my stomach.

There shouldn't have been any force in that hit. I know it. I felt it.

Yet it was as if all of a sudden, all that kinetic energy, all that Dragon Aura, all those physical reactive forces were concentrated in his knuckles. Yet even then, it shouldn't have had enough force to hurt like this.

Another punch came, and I deflected it, blocking any strike no matter how weak it looked. Only for circular swing to block a haymaker from me, resulted in my arm being thrown back. As if that final push from his arm contained greater force than my punch.

I was wide open for a gut punch. I felt it rupture my insides, ribcage shattering along with cracks in my spine.

My mind was racing on my next move. To direct Heroic Second Wind's healing energy to the injured area. To analyze what he's doing with Spirit World. To start throwing my combat moves, such as Shoot Style and the rest to begin my counterattack.

All of my mental plans had to be rearranged.

Because my injures got healed. Not by my own healing energy, not by my Holy Cross Blessing.

My body, simply, plainly looked at the damage and erased it. Undone and fixed it on its own, as a basic human body would normally have the body close wounds from scratches.

It was as if my Antediluvian body had been asleep all this time, and my battle with Aži Dahāka was just a warm up.

And now it was awake for real.

In a battle at godspeeds, freeing my my mental processes for milliseconds, might as well be granted a whole extra round to act in a turn-based game.

I focused wholly on Spirit World and Chaoskampf Ordained, and left Heroic Second Wind to operate on its own.

My leg slammed into the ground as I regained my stance, and pivoted into a straight punch, as the beginning of a chain combo.

The first strike had all my force in a punch, that Crom Cruach fully guarded against, before moving to meet the rest of my attack, either by deflection, or meeting my fists with his own.

Through that, I noticed it, the force of my hits, it looked as if, the sheer force and intensity got turned down to the maximum at the moment of impact, while his parries, the force suddenly flipped to increase massively at the moment of connection with my flesh. It's like he took the strength of my strikes and turned the volume down, or took the relative weakness of his strikes, and turned the volume up.

Oh sonnuvabitch, this is Grendel's kinetic manipulation but actually done right! No, Grendel only did amplification. This is amplification, attenuation, and manipulation. And no, it's not just kinetic energy.

My strikes were filled and bursting with Elan at the moment of impact. Meaning my Dragon Slaying Aura. He can apply this effect to any type of energy. Is that his real ability?

Wasn't turning negative energy into pure Destructive Force his ability?

Maybe I got it wrong, and that's just pure technique from manipulating negative energy with his Dragon Aura. But this intensity manipulation ability definitely uses Dragon Aura.

Let's see its limits.

"Shoot Style," I said my grin matching Crom Cruach's own. Oh, this isn't gonna go like you think, fucker! "Plus Mumyou Sandanzuki, Bullet Train Spear!"

It was an exercise in precision. The embodiment of 'I fear the man who practiced one punch, ten thousand times'.

What I did was simple. I punched forward right into the center of Crom Cruach's chest. One hundred times, in the exact same way, in the exact same pose, in the exact same point.

And on top of that using Space Magic, I overlaid three copies of my punch in every single strike.

Crom Cruach's shocked face was a thing to behold. I could feel the exact moment each of my strikes suddenly fell down in power and intensity, yet the sheer volume of them, and dimensional fuckery of Fate Okita Souji's blew away the Evil Dragon's trick.

Add in environmental forces concentration to only my fist and Crom Cruach's body? I didn't perfectly convert the damage force to only hitting the Evil Dragon, resulting in a beam of Dragon Slaying Light to blast through his chest and visibly explode in the distance, at the pocket dimension's boundary edge.

"Gaaaah," Crom Cruach coughed a few times, as he took a few steps back. His chest had a circular hole, along with bits of his left side. His left arm was hanging by nothing but muscles. "That's... damn. A new trick?"

"Just a repurposed old one." I said back. "You kinda showed your hand with that energy intensity manipulation ability. You should have saved it for a killing strike."

"'Energy intensity manipulation'? Spot on, but name's a mouthful. I call it Phases." Crom Cruach said with a smirk. Then he held his hand out as they were flooded with negative energy, refined and purified to an extreme point that black flames gather on one hand.

The pure Destructive Force that was these black flames made Niðhöggr's oily black energy that was his miasma ability, seem like a pale imitation of negative energy.

WHAT THE FUCK!? My eyes widened as the negative energy bursting out of Crom Cruach's body flipped that it became positive energy so potent, that the devastating land around us was now a land priming with life.

A grassy field that stretched for miles, with some trees growing in the distance.

Above all the positive energy he held in his other hand was so pure it became golden flames, Creative Force.

His arms made a circular rotation, left hand covered in black flames fist upright, left arm across his chest, while his right arm held in front of his torso, right fist upside down covered in golden flames. Like a resemblance of the Yin-Yang symbol.

His wounds healed with powerful regeneration, and flesh actively being created as needed for his body.

"And this is Cycle." He stated with a satisfied wide grin. "These are my true powers. Know that in the last few centuries, few were those that forced me to use either, let alone both."

"...That's not Reverse Magic." I said in no small amount impressed annoyance.

Reverse Magic wasn't actually a perfect one-to-one conversion of energies. Aži Dahāka was just insanely skilled at using it to a level no average magic practitioner would be able to replicate.

This was better than Reversal. It was complete transformation that worked with the natural world, due to the use of Elan, rather than brute force using magic. Add in Phases and he could have more of the transformed energy created than used up, via amplification.

My mind raced as all the clues began to line up. The name of the ability, along with Crom Cruach's title I knew him by from my previous life.

Cycle & Phases.

Crescent Circle Dragon.

And what title he in introduced himself with.

Dark Dragon of the Crescent Moon.

Crom Cruach was a Celtic Dragon that became a Fertility and Sun God, that turned back into a Dragon but now, a Sun & Life Dragon.

Becoming an Evil Dragon would have inverted those attributes but given what domains he once had, he could still access those concepts in some manner.

What connects Fertility and Cycles? Through the land it's the cycle of seasons, and through people it's the cycle of birth, growth and death that leads to more births.

Same with the Sun, with the Earth cycling around it.

Phases also accounts for how seasons change yet return to the same season eventually, and how people grow old, yet leave behind legacies of blood, traditions and beliefs, that lead to more people carrying them.

Crom Cruach inverting his attributes into an Evil Dragon, didn't cut him off from his Divine Powers, just turned them into draconic ones, as Moon and Cycles allows him a backdoor into those powers.

Thus Cycle to change an energy he's in contact with, completely to its opposite, and Phases, to determine the wavelength of that energy. How close or far to New Moon or Full Moon.

Okay, that's bullshit in how it uniquely counters me—Actually no. That counters a lot of stuff. BUT... It should still be possible to overcome that with World Slash.

However, I wasn't gonna just throw everything behind one technique. Don't put all your eggs in a basket, as they say. World Slash is a trump card, so I'll treat it as such.

And assume he can counter it, so prepare a counter for that.

"No. No it is not." Crom Cruach answered, as my brain went through that train of thought in matter of instants. "Rather it's a culmination of all that I am. From Dragon to God back to Dragon." He took a fighting stance as the flames of black and gold engulfed him, in an ever spiraling aura. "So come, Dragon Slayer. These twin flames that I've made into my blades, show me how well they have been honed, and if this battle will finally satisfy my bloodlust, this fire for battle, or make me hunger for more!" Crom Cruach initiated the attack this time.

I parried the punch after his first lunge, then ducked under the spin kick, only to block an overhead kick. Rather than this action forcing Crom Cruach to fall into a pause in battle, I felt as the force diverted in direction and strength, so his leg slide away from my guard, and left him in a position to attack my unguarded open stomach—I could see through his aura as the image of a moon shifting to a New Moon, before it continued toward the direction of a Full Moon.

All energy was conserved with nothing lost, meaning he shifted that blocked overhead kick, to a straight lunging punch without losing any bit of speed even as he pivoted.

I moved with the momentum of the punch to take some distance, and bring my arm back down to counterattack.

Except now, Crom Cruach's movement was explosive, one action carrying to the next. Even as I answered back with Shoot Style punch and kicks, along with Multi-Dimensional Refraction type Space Magic, I could only stalemate the Evil Dragon in human form's endless assault.

Destructive Force flowed through Crom Cruach's body to the point of damaging himself, only for Creative Force to be used for repair, and reinforcement. Both opposing energies working in tandem. Energy, kinetic, Dragon Slaying Aura or otherwise, were transformed into Dragon Aura along with reducing the energy as it passed through his body, while redirecting it and amplifying it right back at me with his strikes.

I could manipulate kinetic energy just fine, but currently, not up to Crom Cruach's level. I could use Reversal on his Dragon Aura, but some bits were lost in the conversion, that added up as the battle went. Destructive Force however was a bad idea to use Reversal on or manipulate. That energy, he made completely his, reversing it, just gave him Creative Force to use, and trying to take control of it, like I could with mana control—I suppose its Elan control now—was like holding an active nuclear reactor in my hands. Well, worse, in my veins, as I tried to pass the energy through me to punch it back at him.

Fuck this. It's time to bring a sword to this fist fight.

As if responding to my intent, Heroic Second Wind exploded in a spherical detonation, devouring all negative energy, even shearing Destructive Force back into negative energy, and absorbing it and transforming it into healing energy in that same instance.

Chaoskampf Ordained materialized above us in the sky, while descending down like a meteoritic impact of Dragon Slaying Aura.

For the first time, Crom Cruach disengaged jumping back and avoiding the greatsword coming down on his head.

The Longinus came down causing a spherical explosion of Dragon Slaying Aura on impact that turned into a tornado of red energy. The tornado shrunk till it was visible on the blade.

I grabbed the hilt dispersing the energy, swinging the greatsword down to my side. I tried to hold back my reaction at what I felt. The greatsword was heavy. A familiar weight when I overcharged it with aura till the point of it holding a gravitational weight.

This time I bore the weight easily, only able to tell it was there. It seems, while I was focused on the battle the Dying Wrath was charging up the blade. My lips twitched as I pushed back a smirk.

Okay then.

"Let's trying this again." I took a stance, greatsword held back by one hand. "Time to extinguish thy flames."

Light Elan Armor and Divine Step.

Crom Cruach grunted as he caught the swing with his arms, his legs sinking into the cracking ground slightly. I could see how he used Creative Force to heal the damage, that just overcame his ability to control or redirect.

However the majority of the force Crom Cruach took, he turned to potential energy. I blinked in confusion, as I saw the Evil Dragon go from standing still, to launching himself sliding back away from me, without having pivoted or pushing himself to move.

Potential energy turned to kinetic energy with a vector, equals movement in any direction without a lever. Wow. Let's just make physics into a whore why don't we?

In response, I used Space Magic to just teleport and appear in front of a Crom Cruach shocked at how smooth my spatial transfer was.

The red greatsword came down again and again. Dimensionally split in three direction, or from one direction it was three blades as one spatially. And that wasn't counting the endless strikes by Shoot Style.

Crom Cruach was on the back foot. Oh it was definitely a stalemate with all his skill along with Cycle & Phases, but inch by inch I was pulling forward. My Longinus just adding that extra oomph that was messing up the equation, so for the Evil Dragon a tiny bit of energy wasn't cycled, a tiny bit of damage wasn't Phased, and all those tiny bits were adding up.

He was on the losing side, so he'll have to act, and I know it. I needed to wait for his counterattack, his trump card, to escape or try to break this chaotic deadlock in his favor.

The first clue that something was wrong was when Crom Cruach took a slash with his forearm. The blade had dug into the flesh till it stopped by the bone. The strike was one he had fully blocked before, and he wasn't that tired yet to lose control of his power and energy.

I looked to see Crom Cruach pull his other arm back with enough dense energy to be visible. The energy on his arm, made the form of his real draconic arm.

I pulled back my greatsword to block, only to find it stuck in his arm. He had made his flesh over-heal to trap my blade in place for a few seconds. Cute.

I dismissed my greatsword and summoned it back, just as Crom Cruach punched forward.

The explosive force, and worse how concentrated and mystically heavy it was, threw me back. The second I took to get my feet under me again, had the Evil Dragon jump, extend his draconic wings and float in the sky.

The adrenaline didn't make me notice, but Spirit World pointed it out. The sheer power of that last punch had shattered my arms and torso to dust. My body was covered in open wounds that came from the inside out. The fact that all that force was transferred perfectly into me and not on the surroundings was insane.

Cancelling, or just plainly controlling environmental reactive forces in battle is fucking bullshit. Seriously, this fighting is reminding me of DBZ battles where two fighters are just punching each other while seemingly teleporting out of sheer speed. Given the fact that after just the first arc, the Z Fighters all were planet busters, you can apply this current bullshit I'm in to that. If every punch was planet breaking, there would be no planet from any two Sayians or Z Fighter just fighting any bad guy. So the logical conclusion, all forces are transferred completely without dispersing into the environment. ...Or it could be anime logic and I'm overthinking it.

Still, I'm getting better at focusing the environmental reactive forces. Moving at a third of lightspeed without burning the atmosphere or myself, hitting with the force of a nuke without it leveling the area, all I'm starting to master. Honestly it feels like I'm figuring out interacting magically with the world at a faster pace.

Still.

I looked up and Crom Cruah was gathering his power, likely to make a Destructive Force beam.

He's relaxed now. Because he's in the air. Because there's a pause in the fight. I smirked.

I pulled my greatsword back with both arms, Chaoskampf Ordained held so much Dragon Slaying Aura that it generated from my anger and the Dying Will, along with the Dragon Slaying Aura I made that it glowed with power. The metal whining from the energy and heat contained within it, yet I knew the blade could easily hold all that power indefinitely and not break.

I looked up at Crom Cruach while trying to hold back my glee. This wasn't something I did before, it wasn't an ability I displayed before, but it was always possible.

You can cast magic from where you can perceive and control, where your mana can form a spell. I can perceive everything within the barrier of Spirit World.

Why wouldn't I be able to cast teleport on another person within my range?

I thought of using World Slash here and now, but held back. Not yet. Just in case.

But overcharge the next attack instead.

I held my greatsword back with both hands, the sword glowing, ringing and singing with power.

All that power I then pushed to a single point, the tip of the crimson sword, then I Excala-touched the blade. Kinetic energy to Dragon Slaying Aura conversion.

I cast the Space Magic. Crom Cruach only had time for his eyes to widen, a he noticed something wrong.

I swung. Shoot Style plus Mumyou Sandanzuki. Crom Cruach was in front of me, in the arc of the blade coming down.

"Dragon Slaying Flash Beam!"

The beam that followed was like if someone took a paint brush and drew a red cylinder over the world.

One third the speed of light. Better conversion one thousand to one. Will keep improving it.

The beam engulfed Crom Cruach fully. I felt it hit and peel away his being. Victory was at hand.

Which meant something must go wrong.

"Did you think I can't use Cycle to transform the Dragon Slaying Aura of your Sacred Gear?" Crom Cuach's voice telepathically rang out around me.

His Dragon Aura burst outward from within the crimson beam, even as it splashed against and around him, as his Dragon Aura fought against my attack, dying yet transforming bit by bit, then more and more of my Dragon Slaying Aura. Then his Dragon Aura grew exponentially after a certain point before gathering in one himself into a giant sphere of black flames.

Then the aura sphere flipped, transforming into golden radiance, as the golden flames covered Crom Cruach they solidified and grew denser and smaller across his form, till it took shape around him.

What emerged from the cocoon of gold flames set the hair at the back of my head up. This was it, Crom Cruach's trump card and he used me to bring it about faster.

He had used Creative Force to actively make armor that seemed to allow him to channel the Destructive Force defensively. In his hand was a tall spear with a gigantic spearhead that belonged to a zweihänder. The anime version, not real life.

I mistook the spearhead to be made of golden solid fire with some black outlines, only to realize it was made of reshaped dragon bone. So was the handle of the spear now that I focus on it.

Crom Cruach's expression changed as well. Before he had a cocky smirk, like he was having fun. Now he still smiled, but it held a more serious edge. That he was putting his full focus and effort into the fight. That he was pushed to the point where he no longer felt winning was a given, but something he had to fight for.

"You might be wondering what this is." He twirled his giant spear around. "A long time ago, I fought the Spirit Inheritor of Connla." Crom Cruach grinned thinking on that memory. "You know the biggest annoyance in some legends of those old heroes? Is that some of them die before their time, before their full potential can be reached. Connla is a example of that.

"But this Spirit Inheritor of his? This one? Hahahaha, oh man. He did it. He lived, he trained, he fully actualized his potential. He even found the lost Lúin Celtchair somehow and mastered it to the point that he didn't need to quench the spear, in either water or venomous blood, in order to sheath it from wanting battle. He completely mastered it." Crom Cruach laugh in joy, as though recalling a happy memory. "He almost killed me."

The sentence made me pause. As if its presence shocked the world itself into silence.

"...Damn." Because what else to say to that? Some guy that didn't have all the bullshit I had—which I acknowledge, the Longinus and the Blessings helped me speedrun and recklessly fight as much as I want. All that carried me hard to this point—managed to actually almost kill Crom Cruach.

Like, I'm sure the fiery spear must have been amazing, but just from fighting the Evil Dragon thus far, I knew it would have been enough. Past Connla Spirit Inheritor must have been a beast. Pretty badass.

"I know, right!" Crom Cruach laughed heartily. "The real Lúin Celtchair was lost after that battle, but I was so impressed by that kid, that I had to honor him. The flaming spear of his was so awesome to face, I had to recreate it." I feel Crom Cruach was using the archaic definition of 'awesome'. "So I did." He smirked. "Positive Energy pushed to the absolute turns into Creative Force, and it's named that not just because it can heal or create flesh. No, you can also create artifacts, fully formed." He paused as he considered his words. "Of course, you can't just create anything you imagine with no effort. Nothing is that convenient, unless you're a Creator God.

"It took me over near a century to recreate Lúin Celtchair as I remembered it. And then decades to master remaking it with Creative Force to be able to rebuild it from scratch within minutes, whenever I need." Crom Cruach said, as he looked at his spear, his ultimate weapon with pride.

Looking at the spear, I could feel it in my gut, and Spirit World confirmed it to me. Whatever the original Lúin Celtchair was, it was once a Divine Spear. I say 'once', because if the current form I'm seeing in Crom Cruach's hand was a true recreation of the spear the Past Connla Spirit Inheritor once wielded, then at some point it most definitely turned into a Demonic Spear, which is what it currently was.

I could even imagine it. From what I recall Lúin Celtchair doesn't have a origin of who made it. It was just found in a battlefield before being taken by Celtchar mac Uthechar. It's very easy to imagine a Celtic God once held the spear, but used it so much, reveling in war and death, making it drenched in blood to the point the spear could only be calmed by blood, thus turn into a Demonic Spear. In shame, the hypothetical Celtic God abandoned it in the middle of a battlefield so no one could attribute it to them.

"I see," I finally said. "At least now you can't complain about unfairness if you lose."

Crom Cruach guffawed, before taking a stance with his spear, holding it with both hand, and positioning himself for thrusts.

"Careful not to get nicked by this spear, for it carries a poison so potent it takes the form of fire. You have been warned." Crom Cruach grinned. "Now you can't complain if you lose."

I held my blade pointed back and down, ready to swing and counteract his assault however he delivers it.

Crom Cruach spun and then swung his giant spear downward, holding it from the shaft's tail end, like it was a sword.

The ground hardly shattered, what was shocking was the splash of fire sparks the size of handballs that flew about from the impact. They move faster than expected, and I could even feel the sheer heat form them from far away.

Dodging them was obvious and easy, only for Crom Cruach to swing his spear up releasing a lake's worth of the fire spark up in the air, then complete the swing arc, followed by continuing the trajectory down with a spin, into a swing of the spear up right at my face.

I released the strategy before the first clash of greatsword and giant spear.

He wanted to make a rain of fire-like poison and force us to fight under it.

Shoot Style and Tsubame Gaeshi were meant for battles like this. A battle of too many targets.

However Crom Cruach didn't seem to care about being hit by the poisonous sparks, and why would he? With Phases he was able to either decrease the poison's lethality to himself to nothing, or somehow use Phases on space so the fiery sparks never land on him.

Then it occurred to me that dodging the flame sparks is kinda pointless. Even if they hurt me, I'll just heal and adapt.

I have no idea why Crom Cruach looked so shocked, or disturbed at seeing me tank one of those poison flares to the face to get a hit into his side. Almost got his spine before he deflected with his lance, even if my sword bit a good chuck of his ribs.

Ah, right. He didn't see me survive the Primordial Waters. I mean yeah I'm not using Elan to shield myself from fiery sparks, and they sizzle my skin, or melted one eyelid. But that was just to gain adaption against them. Didn't even melt my eyeball, just felt spicy. Soon enough the poisonous sparks were only reddening my skin.

Seeing the strategy of making me flinch by fiery poisonous sparks, he flooded himself with Destructive Force. It swept through his armor and giant spear in an almost uniform manner, as Crom Cruach jumped back.

I raised an eyebrow at him gaining distance, since he never bothered doing that before—

It is something one can forget in the heat of the moment. A polearm is a long range weapon. A giant spear more so, and with more ability to inflict heavy damage.

So adding Dragon Aura abilities into the mix, along with a fighting style to utilize those abilities, and naturally the reach of the spear disregards distance.

I found myself having to dodge sideways, while deflecting or blocking thrusts that seem to burn space to instantly cross the distance, coming at me as numerous as raindrops, and as fast as lightning. Then Crom Cruach flew into the sky to make this blows literally rain on me.

Did he think I can't fly? Or that I can't teleport mid-battle right behind him?

Spirit World offer perfect coordinates, it would be as easy as breathing to just lunge forward and—

It was like recalling an out of body experience. I saw myself teleport behind Crom Cruach, reading my World Slash to send a definitive killing blow to the Evil Dragon, only for him to have sensed the spatial distortions before I appeared to send a thrust right into my heart, along with the spearhead exploding with Pure Destruction, taking out the top half of my body with it.

"The fuck," I muttered between dodging and parrying the giant spear thrusts of Destructive Force.

What the hell was that?! I thought for a moment before remembering the Dying Wrath's words.

"...with Spirit World you should have begun to see bits of their future actions."

Right. He did say that.

I can probably try to overwhelm Crom Cruach with sheer attacks, but the fucker is like some kind of twisted mirror of me in fighting. I need something decisive rather than draw this out.

And I will not go for the endurance win. That's annoying in how long it takes, cowardly, and won't work against the true enemy.

Also in that vision Crom Cruach moved way faster than normal, while I moved... slower...

SONNUVABITCH! He can use Phases on his opponents. Or rather, it's like making the Phases affect us both, so that as my speed wanes, his waxes! Same with strength, same with aura!

Okay, so that's his trump card, then I need to do something he doesn't expect. World Slash is that to take out everything.

Small problem. World Slash doesn't operate at a distance. I learned to use the technique because I trusted that the barrier of Spirit World includes everything within it.

Meaning if I slash something in the totality of what Spirit World defines, then it could slash space and existence.

And whadda ya know, it worked. However, I only did that because trying to pull out Penetrate from within Chaoskampf Ordained was like trying to take hardware, repurposed for something else, and then trying to pull data from its old software.

It's like trying to remember something from a past... life... Ah.

I had rejected my past as Caleb Gunnar before Awakening. For me, it's just data, but I don't find anything valuable in it. My Sacred Gear is me, they are synchronized to grow with the individual, in this case to grow with me, that my emotional breakthroughs, or breakdowns, makes the Sacred Gear respond to that.

So for me, who completely, unilaterally and thoroughly rejected the past, that I find no value in it and didn't want to associate with it in any ways, that I can't even feel hatred for my life before the island, then why wouldn't Chaoskampf Ordained do the same?

And since this is anime world, to attain Penetrate from within Chaoskampf Ordained, would be like saying there is something valuable about, and worth preserving of my Unawakened Self's life...

Yeah, I'm not having this psychological breakthrough mid-fight, or work on my feelings for this bullshit this way.

Okay, guess I'll just work out Penetrate from first principles.

World Slash I got the feel of it because there's something unique about interacting with Existence, that I know I can replicate it even without Spirit World.

However, while Penetrate is about going through all defenses, the important part for me is that it can pierce through distance.

Distance is the problem here.

...Actually I'm not even sure if Penetrate is meant to pierce through distance to skip it, but it always made sense to me that, that's how one should use a technique like Penetrate.

Should I just work on a technique that cuts distance? Mumyou Sandanzuki involves steps that skips space.

But no, I won't always have the option of maneuverability.

I need something to attack an enemy no matter where they are, then later on evolve my danger sense, so that just someone wishing harmful intent at me I could locate and slash at without even seeing them. Just following the will of ill intent to the source and cut.

But that's for the future. For now, to cut down killing intent I could see with my eyes.

Letting the slash skip space via Spirit World is easy, however that's just using Space Magic for coordinates. I won't always have the luxury to be able to have both myself and my opponent within the boundary of Spirit World.

Hmm, what to do? I can't just dodge and deflect forever. I don't want to turn this into an endurance match in any way. Not that I can't fight for days or the like, but I don't want to give my enemies the luxury, nor do I want to get complacent to depend on a luck value like that, nor do I have time.

I don't know how long the Fragments of God have to help me with how active they are, I can't take that kind of help for granted. So think, think—

Wait a fucking minute. Thinking!

I've analyzed what Aži Dahāka was doing in his brain, in his final form. I can just copy what his brain electrical signals were, and how fast they were moving.

Alright, Heroic Second Wind, make sure I don't give myself brain damage!

I felt the Dying Wrath of God giving me a... weird thumbs up. Like a parent saying 'you're about to do something stupid, but I'm going to let you since it's a good learning experience'.

Welp, here goes nothing.

Alright, so healing energy present, speed up the electrical current along their pathways—OH MY GOD THE PAIN!!

I ended up getting hit a few times by Crom Cruach's spear thrusts, even as my body automatically moved, meeting his weapon with my own more directly.

The MIGRAINE lessened bit by bit until I could think and see my accelerated thoughts beyond the pain.

And then I could envision them clearly. Predictions by Spirit World and predictions from my mental model of Crom Cruach, both collided and combined to one thought stream of pseudo-future sight. It wasn't perfect, my instincts made that perfectly clear, yet it was a simulation of the paths he would take at least via cause and effect. So things that defy fate, pure will, can easily trump this ability.

So what was the solution my pseudo-future sight gave me? Out-strike and overwhelm the opponent.

...I feel like everything I learn in battle constantly pushes the idea of 'Keep it simple, stupid'.

The universe might as well go: 'How many times must we teach you this lesson, old man?!'

Alright, alright okay. First things first, evasion. Water Elan Armor plus Space Magic. Observe and take in all the space where I and Crom Cruach occupy and all the space between us.

"Water Breathing: Eleventh Form," I took a breath, and pull it all back, the rage, the hatred. Chaoskampf Ordained stopped surging with its own Dragon Slaying Aura, only what I naturally made. Less is more. This is enough.

"What did you just..." Crom Cruach sensed my change in demeanor and blinked in confusion.

"Dead Calm."

All the available aura within the Longinus was already overwhelming. All that I still had available to use was monstrous in quantity.

The rain of spear thrusts kept coming, but now I could see every individual one and even where every one coming after for the next few seconds.

I met every strike with the exact amount of force it had, while using Reversal on every Dragon Aura that impacted against my blade to add to my reserves, without expelling my own, beyond what's needed. Crom Cruach lost any aura for him to transform with Cycle from my side.

And as I got used to the rhythm, I began to attack.

Multi-Dimensional Refraction Phenomenon. My greatsword glowed with energy and I slashed once.

Three energy slashes appeared around Crom Cruach. One from his left one from his right.

And one behind him. By the time he responded with a block and got over his shock, I had swung my sword ten times, causing thirty energy slashes to appear omni-directionally around him, boxing him in from all directions.

Then I just swung again, and again and again.

I was skipping distance with Space Magic, teleporting the energy slashes right to where Crom Cruach was, but that wasn't enough, and bit by bit Crom Cruach was turning things around by weakening then transforming the energy attacks to Dragon Aura that he empowers himself with. I need to speed up.

If I go by One is All, All is One, along with idea that time is an illusion, then from spacetime, space is also an illusion.

Ddraigh originally made Penetrate to counter his rival's Albion's Reflect.

Existence is a complete continuum, as such Penetrate bypasses distance and defenses, because for dragons, it could be viewed as a method of communication. The point is to send something to another person, bypassing all obstacles. Distance and defenses are obstacles.

And from the feel I recall from World Slash, I can tell I landed on the answer. Let's do this.

"Penetrate," I stopped all attack, throwing Crom Cruach off for less than an instant, where he was reorienting to attack me once more, smoothly turning from parrying, to thrusting his giant spear again. Yet an attack not coming in the same instance I stopped, was too much time for a battle like ours. "Plus World Slash."

Anger reignited as my Longinus roared once more, and the sword slash motion was made.

===x===

Crom Cruach POV:

He was elated. This battle truly was everything he ever wanted. However he realized a critical error that can lead to his death. Something that, surprisingly, he didn't think his opponent ever noticed.

Crom Cruach's physical stamina might be, well, draconic, for he could fight for days, but mental stamina was something he could succumb to its depletion.

Fool are plenty, even gods, who think the two were one. It is simply that their mental stamina hadn't been tested or truly drained in any real capacity.

The problem with fighting Caleb Gunnar, was that he never set a rhythm. There was no point in their battle where their fights reached a point of equilibrium, where both warriors were in a flow state, and should a stalemate be reached Caleb will immediately break it, forcing Crom Cruach to try and adapt, or overcome Caleb's new moves of rhythm.

They had well and truly entered into a Divine Combat.

A battle of such a power between opponents of their level, at its core is a battle of Influence.

Influence is what Gods call control over terrain in the world. Most think that means control over Domains, and that's mostly correct, but Crom Cruach had lived long enough, and battled enough gods to get to the essence of what that actually means.

Physical, Magical and Will.

Divine Combat of the Physical is pretty straight forward. It is attempting to gain control on the physical realm that your actions produce and your opponent's actions produce. To be able to move and act in extreme ways, like breaking the sound barrier, or move fast enough to catch fire from friction with air, or cause shockwaves from every impact of a punch or kick that could sunder a mountain, and then not let those physical effects happen.

To be able to control when and how those physical effects happen. For example if a God of Lightning and a God of the Sun were to fight, in order to ensure Influence is exerted on the opponent, each one must control how much of lightning or sunlight hit the opponent. Letting nature and physics just run their course, would allow the other god to cancel those effects or take control of them.

That's why, at times, some magicians lucky enough to watch a battle between divine level beings, would note that some attacks didn't make sense, in how lightning was slower than it should be, but held much more energy than the amount it should hold. (Even though their own spells aren't as powerful as they expect them to be from following physical laws.)

Then there was the Divine Combat of the Magical. It wasn't just higher magical energy, or ignited Life Force, but rather being able to control one's magical energy within the territory of combat with the opponent. To hold greater control over the magical energy of the terrain. For example two divine level beings fighting over the same domain, would have to fight over how much more of the element they're fighting with, they can control and empower. Or if gods of different domains are fighting, then how much can their ambient Divine Power can affect or control an area, weakening the other god's attempt to use their natural element in their presence or on the battlefield.

In simple terms, the Physical is about controlling the external physical effects of and on the environment, while the Magical is about controlling the internal energies of the system of cause and effects in the Divine Combat. For example, controlling lightning's effect on the surroundings, and controlling the nature and power within lightning in how it behaves.

The reason why magic spells are sometimes are stronger or weaker than their natural counterpart, like a spell that shakes a ground versus an earthquake, was because gods existed. That a divine being holds a domain, they affected it and all elements and symbology around and about that domain, even in the weakest sense possible.

Magic users were all engaged in Divine Combat, but they never even knew it. The first step to entering Divine Combat is to realize it even existed.

And finally, the Divine Combat of Will. That one, Crom Cruach hadn't yet fully cracked how it worked.

In theory, if it's about two gods of the same domain, then it's about one dominating the will of the other over the domain so completely, that the opponent god can't command that element in the winning god's presence anymore.

Yet, how does that factor in gods of different domains?

No. Crom Cruach thought for a long time, and the only conclusion he could come to is that somehow, it's about manifesting willpower as a physical force to control the fate of the battle's outcome. While Crom Cruach could feel the paths of fate the world moves through, he couldn't fully perceive them or Influence them in any way.

Battling Caleb made Crom Cruach realize the Dragon Slayer would be the worst opponent for a god. Divine Combat is about strategy and slow incremental gaining of victory over time. It's why battles between gods were told to take months or even years in many cases, in tales about two gods battling for one reason or anything. It was a tactical game like the chess the devils were obsessed over.

Caleb Gunnar did not fight strategically. Or rather he did, but his strategy boiled down to 'Hit them. Keep hitting them. Hit them some more. Hit them always, hit all the time. Never stop hitting them till there aren't even atoms left. Then hit them again for good measure.'

A strategy that plainly shouldn't work, because even if a divine level opponent had divine level stamina, they do not have the strength of will to fight at full power, always, all the time. Caleb fought at 100% and then never relented or slowed down. He conserved nothing.

Even if he had that Full Healing Miracle, it doesn't mean his willpower could be replenished.

Which meant it was all him. All of Caleb's relentless drive forward, without stopping, without taking a break, pouring every ounce of strength to fighting with everything he had all the time, that was all him. Not some magical ability, his Sacred Gear, or some quirk of uniqueness he was born with.

A divine opponent with endless stamina would have used it to their advantage, to tire out their opponent. The Dragon Slayer didn't even consider using that strategy against Crom Cruach, even with the Evil Dragon demonstrating his power to use Caleb's energy against the Dragon Slayer, or even to heal himself or replenish his own stamina and energy.

All Caleb was focused on the next attack, and the next afterwards, trying to make every blow be the one that would decisively end the battle, with an obsessive focus.

He had to admit it, even if only to himself in his heart of hearts, in a battle of Will, Crom Cruach would lose.

The Evil Dragon grinned in maddened joy.

And yet this is why he loved this fight more than any other before it.

He had expected Caleb to break their stalemate, counted on it even.

It threw him off, when Caleb used Ddraig's technique to cut through distance, just to deliver the same attack that slayed Aži Dahāka in one breath. The only way that slash could attack the whole of Aži Dahāka's Existence was by acknowledging the whole of his Existence. In a way, to acknowledging a concept allows one to act upon it, and to act upon a concept, one embodies it.

Cycle & Phases! Crom Cruach used his power at full force on one single objective. On something he hadn't fully succeeded at using his power on before.

Symbology.

Yes, he had reversed an attack's elemental nature before, when he fought some of the more opponent worthy gods. But to transform the whole meaning assigned to the nature of a god's attack, was not something that came easy to him. For lack of numbers on worthy opponents to try this on, for lack of any of them surviving to this point, and for lack of any them having an attack with a strong enough meaning upon it.

But if what he thought Caleb's attack meaning truly was, then either he will fail and die anyway, and what a glorious failure that would be.

Or, he would succeed and reach higher than ever before. Transforming an attack with the Meaning of Existence, and creating an attack that represented True Void, through nothing but his own efforts.

Thus Crom Cruach swung his giant spear to meet Caleb's greatsword.

"Overturning Shift!" Crom Cruach cried out, as he took in the whole of Caleb's attack. He felt his power cover all of Caleb's power, action, attack, meaning & self... It was too much. The Concept of Existence held too much within it. It was too vast, too wide, and held too much depth to be covered by his current power, against Caleb's own, that almost equaled his.

Crom Cruach knew now that for all his power and preparations, he... had failed—

A̶̷̸̧̖͂̽n̸̸̵̠͎̊͗d̵̸̶̲̳̂̍ ̷̸̶̠̓͆ͅẗ̷̷̸̲̮́͒h̶̵̵̡̘̉̒r̶̵̴̫̦̂̌ơ̸̷̷̭̝̆u̴̶̴̟̳͠͝g̶̵̵͚͙͒́h̵̶̷̢͙͛̿ ̴̶̵̡͍͆͆d̶̸̸̢̳̈́͋r̵̵̶̫͌͝ͅẻ̶̵̴̼̻̍a̴̶̴̬͉͗͆m̷̴̴̭̂̓͜ṡ̶̶̸̝̝̑,̶̶̷͓̥̃͘ ̷̶̵̩̖̀̅t̶̷̴̠̳̾̃h̶̷̵͓̩̊́e̷̸̵̙͉͂̓ ̸̸̵̻͔̎͝ŝ̸̸̷͓̦̓ț̵̴̴͙̾̅o̴̷̵̢̲̅̎r̸̴̴̼͖͆̎ẏ̶̷̸̢̢͐ ̷̶̷͎̯͌̆ć̸̷̸̱̤̉ḧ̵̶̵̩̎͜a̶̷̷̰͙̅͌n̸̷̶̻̖͒͘g̵̶̷̗͉̋͘e̷̵̶͉̒͛͜s̴̵̷̞̀̊͜.̵̵̸͕͎̃͝

The impossible happened.

As if by instinct of all the battles he had fought, as if by drowning in the flow of combat, Crom Cruach grasped the whole of Caleb's slash, its essence and structure and sent it through his draconic essence of the moon's Cycle & Phases.

The spearhead of his giant spear was no longer colored burning gold. Rather it was covered in an aura that colored it in a black so deep it could only be called unlight, contained in a white outline that seemed to cut the world around it, as though making a boundary to declare that the spearhead can no longer be considered part of reality.

The spearhead was emblazed in True Void.

Something is wrong. Was the distant thought at the back of Crom Cruach's head.

Did he imagine it, or were the winds of fate wrong somehow, not feeling as he remembered, or as they should be? He passively sensed them, but his focus was on the battle, and against the dangerous opponent he faced, Crom Cruach could only fully focus on defeating the Dragon Slayer in front of him, and worry about fanciful thoughts later.

Crom Cruach pulled his arm back, put all his Destructive Force and Creative Force in his arm, and launched the spear with enough power to shatter his own arm from the backlash.

"Ending Null!" He shouted.

A̶̷̸̧̖͂̽n̸̸̵̠͎̊͗d̵̸̶̲̳̂̍ ̷̸̶̠̓͆ͅẗ̷̷̸̲̮́͒h̶̵̵̡̘̉̒r̶̵̴̫̦̂̌ơ̸̷̷̭̝̆u̴̶̴̟̳͠͝g̶̵̵͚͙͒́h̵̶̷̢͙͛̿ ̴̶̵̡͍͆͆d̶̸̸̢̳̈́͋r̵̵̶̫͌͝ͅẻ̶̵̴̼̻̍a̴̶̴̬͉͗͆m̷̴̴̭̂̓͜ṡ̶̶̸̝̝̑,̶̶̷͓̥̃͘ ̷̶̵̩̖̀̅t̶̷̴̠̳̾̃h̶̷̵͓̩̊́e̷̸̵̙͉͂̓ ̸̸̵̻͔̎͝ŝ̸̸̷͓̦̓ț̵̴̴͙̾̅o̴̷̵̢̲̅̎r̸̴̴̼͖͆̎ẏ̶̷̸̢̢͐ ̷̶̷͎̯͌̆ć̸̷̸̱̤̉ḧ̵̶̵̩̎͜a̶̷̷̰͙̅͌n̸̷̶̻̖͒͘g̵̶̷̗͉̋͘e̷̵̶͉̒͛͜s̴̵̷̞̀̊͜.̵̵̸͕͎̃͝

[REJECTED]

W̶̷̶̶̴̥̓h̶̶̸̸̷̬͛a̸̵̴̷̵͌͜t̵̸̴̷̶̠̋ ̴̵̶̷̵̲͊t̵̷̷̸̷͉̓h̶̶̵̶̸̨̔e̵̴̷̸̵̡͂ ̵̵̵̵̷̹̈́f̵̴̵̵̴͈̃ȗ̵̸̸̶̷̮c̵̸̵̶̵̣͑k̷̶̷̷̵̲͝?̸̵̷̵̷̝͊!̸̷̶̴̸͙͗

And in the same instance Crom Cruach threw the spear, a despicable wretched being interfered.

"Sacred Gear Canceller!" From a portal made by the now defrosted Euclid, glaring at Caleb, stood a smug Rizevim, activating his ability upon the Dragon Slayer.

Crom Cruach's eyes widened as he realized his kill was robbed from him one moment too late. The spear left the last brush of his fingers. He couldn't stop his attack, that would end this glorious fight, now ruined by a tainted end.

"RIZEVIM!" Crom Cruach shouted in disgusted fury, vowing to kill the Son of The Devil for this insult on his pride.

===x===

A̶̷̸̧̖͂̽n̸̸̵̠͎̊͗d̵̸̶̲̳̂̍ ̷̸̶̠̓͆ͅẗ̷̷̸̲̮́͒h̶̵̵̡̘̉̒r̶̵̴̫̦̂̌ơ̸̷̷̭̝̆u̴̶̴̟̳͠͝g̶̵̵͚͙͒́h̵̶̷̢͙͛̿ ̴̶̵̡͍͆͆d̶̸̸̢̳̈́͋r̵̵̶̫͌͝ͅẻ̶̵̴̼̻̍a̴̶̴̬͉͗͆m̷̴̴̭̂̓͜ṡ̶̶̸̝̝̑,̶̶̷͓̥̃͘ ̷̶̵̩̖̀̅t̶̷̴̠̳̾̃h̶̷̵͓̩̊́e̷̸̵̙͉͂̓ ̸̸̵̻͔̎͝ŝ̸̸̷͓̦̓ț̵̴̴͙̾̅o̴̷̵̢̲̅̎r̸̴̴̼͖͆̎ẏ̶̷̸̢̢͐ ̷̶̷͎̯͌̆ć̸̷̸̱̤̉ḧ̵̶̵̩̎͜a̶̷̷̰͙̅͌n̸̷̶̻̖͒͘g̵̶̷̗͉̋͘e̷̵̶͉̒͛͜s̴̵̷̞̀̊͜.̵̵̸͕͎̃͝

[REJECTED]

W̶̷̶̶̴̥̓h̶̶̸̸̷̬͛a̸̵̴̷̵͌͜t̵̸̴̷̶̠̋ ̴̵̶̷̵̲͊t̵̷̷̸̷͉̓h̶̶̵̶̸̨̔e̵̴̷̸̵̡͂ ̵̵̵̵̷̹̈́f̵̴̵̵̴͈̃ȗ̵̸̸̶̷̮c̵̸̵̶̵̣͑k̷̶̷̷̵̲͝?̸̵̷̵̷̝͊!̸̷̶̴̸͙͗

I saw death coming towards me. Unblockable, unavoidable, inevitable.

No. Not a simple death. It was Complete Erasure.

I felt that sorry excuse worm of an Antichrist, take a cheap shot at me with a scry and die. Not that he can kill me. Maybe he thought his interference would give him bragging rights, since that's a 'devil-ish' thing to do? In the end, his presence didn't matter.

I could feel his Sacred Gear Canceller try to hit my Longinus and my two blessings, all at once.

And it should have succeeded. That's what my instincts said, only for me to feel the Dying Wrath of God step forward and firmly, as a bulwark, stop the effect at only my Sacred Gear.

I didn't wonder why. I could feel it from our connection, he wanted me to learn how to break that affect, beyond having academic knowledge and one time practice.

All of that was pushed to the side as I considered what to do about the Nothingness coming to end me.

My brain was running so fast, time almost seemed to stand still. Yet the giant spear seemed to defy logic and always seemed normal fast to my perspective. Is my observation changing how fast this fucking spear was, so I never have time to react as I wish?!

My first instinct was evasion. Using Space Magic, I increased the distance while trying to move. The Lúin Celtchair Replica seemed to cross distance while instantly being in front of me, both actions somehow being true at the same time.

Second was to tilt space, to move myself, yet my position didn't change, because the Lúin Celtchair Replica cut through all distortions before it even reached me.

I tried to compress space, like Apophis did with his darkness, yet the Lúin Celtchair Replica seemed to pass through it all without any resistance.

Instinctively I knew teleportation would just make the damn void spear appear in my gut instantaneously, as the thing is moving by relative perception of itself.

I defended with attacking, creating an Aura Crystal Greatsword, shining with the density and brightness of a neutron star. All my abilities, techniques, knowledge and refined mastery went into its making.

Imbued with all the properties of elemental Elan that I have tried and cultivated thus far, I swung the chimeric blade of elements and abilities, unleashing it all with a World Slash, hoping to divert the Lúin Celtchair Replica off course—

SNAP!

I only had a moment to observe the impossibility of my crimson crystal greatsword being snapped in half, now holding only the hilt of half a sword.

I tried dozens of immediate methods.

They didn't work either because the Void powered Lúin Celtchair Replica was bullshit enough to go through everything, or there wasn't enough time for me to do anything.

I immediately pivoted to what else I could do. Ask for help.

WHAT DO I DO?! I asked the Dying Wrath of God.

"Endure it." Came the immediate reply.

HOW?

"Endure it." He simply repeated.

For a moment my mind went blank. Was that it?

Was there a reason, a lesson I wasn't seeing? Would this destroy my body causing me to reform myself, or a death so absolute it registers in the world and now I need to learn to resurrect myself?

Up till now, anytime I 'die' I cheated by 'technically' not fully dying, so I always had a way back. If there was none would I be able to come back? Or would I pave a path back to Life?

What if I can't? What if this is the end for real?

No. Telling me to 'endure', means there is something to endure. You need to exist to endure.

Thus I will continue to exist, but then, will I be able to continue to fight? To live?

...This is all too sudden.

Just suddenly facing annihilation and told to do nothing but endure it.

Is there anything else I can do? I asked, almost quietly, pleadingly.

"Endure it." The Dying Wrath said back plainly, gently.

A surge of anger went up from me, almost making me want to shout at the Fragment of God for that vague answer, before I smothered it.

Calm down. I told myself. I don't know everything. If there's nothing else to do, then just accept this situation and follow the only advice from the one being who's there for you.

Okay. I said back.

I gathered all my energy, every ounce of it. To endure is to withstand, and I need to be a fortress to withstand this assault. At least I'll keep going, keep fighting for as long as I'm able.

With nothing else that I can do to avert this, I put all my Elan into my body, reinforcing it, making my aura as dense as possible, making Aura Crystals upon and within my body, and then fortifying them even further.

I didn't feel any rejection, or discouragement at my action from the Dying Wrath. Neither approval or disapproval. I kept going.

The Aura Crystal kept growing within me and out of me, to the point of covering me in a cocoon eventually, then I turned the properties of Dragon Slaying Aura Crystal into elemental Earth Energy for further strengthening.

The moment I did that, I felt both my instincts and the Dying Wrath telling me I made a mistake.

I didn't have any further time to contemplate, as the Lúin Celtchair Replica made contact.

At first the void spear actually slowed down for an instant, in that it was breaking through the aura crystal cocoon, meaning facing resistance. Then as if the void spear remembered it was annihilation to everything that exists, it went through it like it wasn't there, just deleting the aura crystals and struck my whole torso.

Pain came first, or was remembered first. I felt every level of intensity and none at all. Pain in both body and soul so visceral that my body couldn't move, I couldn't scream.

I felt the spear both strike me, and pass through me, and the version that passed through me pushed my phantom out of my body, giving me an out-of-body experience, where I was stabbed in both body and soul, but the soul and phantom void spear that looked like an outline of black and white, push me away. My own body was just an outline of black and white.

I was watching myself stabbed, while being stabbed and pushed away. The world grew dimmer. I wasn't losing consciousness, rather it was as if all light and colors were dragged away. Or I was getting dragged away from them till only darkness... till only nothingness remained.

Pain of the void spear being in spiritual body was the only real thing in this state. In this existence. I felt the void spearhead hummed as it wanted to continue to erase me but was stopped, due to something, or due to where we were.

I was in the Dimensional Gap...

No.

It was what the Dimensional Gap represented. Null. Void.

True Death beyond anything that one can be saved from. I wondered if this was what original hell was. 'Separation from God', right? This feels like I was separated from existence.

It hurt. That was the only truth I knew of being here.

I could feel my sense of self wilting away, as I was breaking piece by piece till I would cease to be.

...No.

I gritted teeth I didn't have. Growled a throat I didn't have. Clawed by will and spite and regret and longing to go forward, I pulled my Self together. To stay myself, to stay alive through the only thing I know. Fight.

I'm still here! I shouted with a voice that wasn't there.

'Endure' he said, so I will. I won't stop, I won't surrender to this all consuming annihilation Nothingness.

Endure. Endure. By fucking God I won't give up, not even in the face of Oblivion!

"[In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.]."

He Spoke.

And Nothingness shuddered.

Light echoed in my body, and echoed through where the spear touched. The spearhead cracked with Existence denying it the Void it brought.

"[He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.]."

The Void Spear that was Lúin Celtchair Replica shattered.

I felt His Light shine through me. There was a rumble. I felt my own Existence reinforced—No, asserted.

An exclamation of 'I AM HERE', born of my Will to Be, to Continue to Be. All sublimated and aided by the Dying Wrath of God. A firm support that says 'I shall shoulder you and be a shoulder to you'.

"Is the Demonic equal to the Holy?" He Spoke. "Opposites implies peership. Is the Holy a peer to the Demonic?"

I couldn't even be confused or stupefied in the state I was in.

The Dying Wrath Spoke and I instantly understood.

An angel and a devil of equal and exact measure, if they were to unleash a single attack of Holy Power and Demonic Power, who would win?

Obviously Holy Power. It's such an obvious thing, it didn't even need to be questioned.

Then in my case, what about Dragon Slaying Aura and Dragon Aura?

Continuously, I am an idiot. The void spear showed me. At the highest echelon of battle, belief, perception influences power. My Will wasn't solidified on the absoluteness of my being as the antithesis to Dragons.

Because I tried to logic it out, rather than simply believe. Have faith in a sense of my state of being as a Slayer.

Yet, I needed to experience all of this myself, to truly take in this wisdom.

And immediately the effect of that wisdom happened. The Abyss of Erasure I was in began to break.

Because the Lord, even if it's just a Fragment, Spoke his Voice into the Nothingness. And his Words made my Existence one that can't be denied by this Void.

My spiritual body rocketed forward. I was coming back up to my physical body, to the real world. Color, light and life were coming back.

My phantom slammed into my physical body and I was back, I was whole.

Mirroring what happened in the Abyss, the Lúin Celtchair Replica exploded, shattering so completely that nothing was left.

I was back. My senses back.

And I. Felt. Everything.

I realized several things at once.

A corona of red and golden sparks shined from all of me, before dissipating. I knew what that was. Pure Will, willpower in physical form. Something I can't grasp right now.

But something to reach towards in the future.

For now, sheer Elan was rolling off of me like the blazing heat of open flames.

My Elan was a Holy Dragon Slaying Aura, a fact that I keep misunderstanding and needing to learn it again and again it seems.

I shouldn't have made it change to Earth Energy after finishing the Aura Crystals, because it made my Existence affirmed in only one direction, rather than the whole, thus the void spear easily hitting me and sending me to the Abyss. Focusing on an element lowered the definition of my True Self, thus my Will to Be was lesser in the face of a conceptual attack.

My Elan was not meant to be Reversed or Transformed, and I needed to die and be brought back by the Dying Wrath to have that lesson hammered in.

I need to stop adding complexity to my fighting. Reduce everything to the basics, for they are all I need.

Lightspeed movement? Too much destruction and Physical Effects outside my control.

But power just beyond my limit would be completely in my control and how it can affect the World.

But all of these realizations passed in the back of my mind.

What I truly focused on was...

"Existence is loud." I said to myself and the stumped Crom Cruach, Rizevim and Euclid, as it seemed like I was hit by a killing blow, only to destroy the weapon, be revitalized and only show a scar on my chest for all that happened. It seemed time didn't move for them, during my death and return. I didn't care, for I experienced the world as Ophis does. I knew I won't have this Sight and Senses for long, but for the time I had it... "How beautiful."

Truly, the World, Existence held too much in it. Too much color, too much sound, too much wind and movement, touch and smell. It was all just so...

"Sublime."

"What?" Rizevim said, before shaking his head and shouting angrily. "NO! How are you alive? What did you do!?" He shouted from his portal, made by Euclid.

What a small, pitiful man.

And Euclid seemed mostly healed up, but suffering from frostbite.

"Existence is sublime." I answered back, before focusing on the shocked Crom Cruach who stood on the ground in front of me.

"Are you mocking me?" Rizevim spat out.

"What will you show me now?" Crom Cruach grinned, even though he had lost his trump card weapon.

Then again, so did I, temporarily.

No. I can reach out to Chaoskampf Ordained, break the demonic block denying miracles, and call it back.

But not just yet.

"Let's try this again." I said, welcoming the Elevated Slayer State I experienced before.

The Slayer Origin Threshold was crossed once more, as the Dying Wrath supplied the knowledge to me.

And my body exploded with Holy Power. Elan shining in Completeness.

I shouldn't have tried to focus on an aspect of my Ignited Life Force. I should have just let it be. It was now Dragon Slaying Aura and Holy Power as one and the same in truth, without me needing to force it or focus on it.

Rizevim cried out. Euclid was flash fried and boil, screaming in pain as he dismissed the portal.

My Elan disappeared from the outside world. It surged down my arms and legs with such volume that my limbs glowed in heat. Too much energy in one place, yet I willed it thus it was. The absolute limit of what my body can hold.

Heh. I really didn't need to try to push my adaption and growth through all or nothing strategies. Not anymore at least.

BOOM!

I moved, the ground exploding under me, and that was the only indication of energy leak from my control of the physical forces into World. Even with the crater made by my dash, that was but a wisp of the power that escaped my grasp.

In the same instant I lunged forward, Crom Cruach lost his arm, blocking my attack, and his remaining one suffered from broken bones. Same for his chest.

Crom Cruach tried to Phase my aura, lower it's strength, then Cycle it into addition Dragon Aura and heal himself by making more negative energy and turning it to positive energy.

Cycle & Phases were draconic abilities powered by Dragon Aura, why the hell should I allow them to work on me?

Honestly, this realization is so simple, I want to bash my head for not getting it sooner.

Crom Cruach's eyes widened and his powers found no purchase in me. Thus he had to expend his own energies to heal and defend himself, for I was not idle.

Another punch as he had to actively focus on matching my power to survive, by meeting my attack blow for blow.

We now battled, but the Evil Dragon was the one on the back foot, as hundreds of punches and kicks were exchanged, and he was the one coming off worse for wear each time.

All throughout that, my brain raced forward, Spirit World unveiled, my hyper intuition spoke and the World opened up.

I saw glimpses of them. Strings. Paths.

Causality and destiny intertwined as the World moves forward.

Fate. Or at least the possibility of it.

One more thing to add to the pile of the battlefield of war.

And utterly unimportant now as it turns out. For no Fate could be strung on me anymore. Or at least, not while God's Dying Wrath was on the job.

I wonder how many Fate related or adjacent gods realized that?

"None." Said the Dying Wrath, much to my very open amusement.

Crom Cruach punched forward, his arm engulfed in Destructive Force. The black flames vibrating with rage against the World, trying to bring it asunder. He overclocked the punch, uncaring of keeping his empowering and heal in equilibrium. Guess he can't afford to do that anymore.

My glowing emblazed arm move forward, one copy parrying, one blocking, one counterattacking, and one striking him in his open guard.

Crm Cruach coughed blood as he gained a new hole, eating up his torso and side.

What I did was punching with the Multi-Dimensional Refraction Phenomenon. Except not so inefficiently like before.

Because even with my Antediluvian state and aligned body, mind and soul, I was still using magic like magic. Or to clarify, like I was casting a magic spell.

That was the wrong mindset. Magic, or rather Elan, should be used like I had been using it all along, with my body, instinctively.

Meaning, magic should just be me acting on the world, exercising my will in the same manner of just moving my arms, or moving my legs for walking, or just breathing.

Crom Cruach took the force of my punch to follow the momentum and jump back, distancing himself from me.

"Hahahahha! You really never stop making this interesting, don't you?" Crom Cruach laughed having the time of his life.

I moved, I teleported above him, bringing down an axe kick.

"Not trying to be interesting. You're just really damn annoying with how many tricks up your sleeve that you have." I said, as Crom Cruach block and had to physically redirect my kick to the ground, only for me to spin and send a punch to his cheek.

He jumped away, only for me to land, pivot and dash at him without losing momentum, by erasing inertia. Space Magic, Wind Magic and others related to physics, executed without any need for thought, just will.

"It took me hundreds—thousands of years to gather these abilities, and the skills and wits to wield them. And you're reaching that level of strength in mere minutes." Crom Cruach grinned, like that was the most amazing thing he had ever witnessed.

"Well," I dash over to him, as we exchanged blows once more, Crom Cruach was making Destructive Force, turning a portion to Creative Force, trying to heal, reinforce and strengthen himself to survive. His remade arm and torso were raw and tender, given how much he focused on not even allowing our blow's shockwaves to reverberate through them. "I have a bigger fight to prepare for." I said.

"The Great Red." He said smirking, as he turned his abilities to weave and dodge as much as he can, yet realizing they were only partially effective. Cycle & Phases were now useless on me, but he could still use them on himself, to force space to rupture so as to dodge or dash back to gain distance. "It really might be possible for you."

"Yep. Too bad you won't live to see it." I said back.

"Hahahaha," Crom Cruach chuckled. "You do know..." He said slowly. "Prophecy and fates that are remembered are only those that came true. No one remembers the prophecies thwarted or the fates that never came true."

I was about to say that doesn't sound right, only for my eyes to widen at the Evil Dragon's next move.

Pure negative energy exploded from Crom Cruach's frame. Miasma of such magnitude it could be felt across the whole of this pocket dimension. Then it actually filled it.

Then came the Crescent Circle Dragon applied his power. The land of the pocket dimension didn't just gleam and grow with life, it kept growing and actualizing, as life does, blooming in summer. Pure positive energy shined visible within the living land.

Then the power of Cycle shined once more, as all that life died, turning from positive energy to negative energy. Then Crom Cruach took that negative energy, amplified it with his own, released it and turned it into positive energy again filling the dead pocket dimension with life once more.

I began to see season cycle rapidly one after in this pocket realm, as the amount of negative and positive energy Crom Cruach cycled through kept amplifying and growing exponentially from this repetition.

What surprised me was what I felt happening underneath, within his soul. Crom Cruach was burning up his Lifespan to achieve this.

The Dark Dragon of the Crescent Moon kept cycling the seasons around us, along with the release of negative and positive energy that he absorbed into himself. It covered his form till it almost seemed like he was wearing a secondary draconic form over his body, made of aura. Black flames covering his body with a draconic head, with golden flames running as veins through his frame. His hair even seemed to gather into looking like black horns on golden fire.

"This form was one I had only used once. When I broke my chains and turned upon Balor's army." He informed me before, what I felt would be our final clash.

"I'm honored." I said back. "Though surprised you still didn't take your true form as a dragon yet." He looked relatively the same size of as, but half a dozen or so heads taller.

"You are a human. This is how I want to fight you." He said, his grin mirrored on his energy flame dragon head. I guess this was his form of paying respect to his opponent.

"Also if you're in a big dragon form, you'd just be a bigger target." I quipped and Crom Cruach laughed back.

"Make your jokes for when you survive, to be able to go to your fight with the Dragon of Dragons." He smirked.

No words left, we dash at one another.

And the pocket dimension quaked.

Every punch, every block, every dash, all of it was space rupturing power, flowing through our clash and cracking the laws of physics and magic upholding this pocket world.

The problem no longer became if I could match Crom Cruach's speed or strength. With Divine Step, Shoot Style and Heroic Second Wind, I didn't need to worry or think about matching him, or worry about damage and regeneration. Any limit I break, any part of my body that shatters, is well within my ability to instantly heal in the very moment damage is taken, thus it would look like I took no damage at all.

The greater concern was that Crom Cruach no longer cared about the environmental damage. Meaning a lot of excess force was being let out into the world around us, uncaring about him controlling it to strategically win.

And I couldn't control or hold it all as well, because of the sheer vast amount. I had to control what I could to direct it to hurt him, and that was all the focus I could spare due to how rapid our fighting became.

It was like when I was fighting Grendel within Ladon's shield with him bouncing across the barrier's walls to build momentum and hit me. Except I was now a more active participant in that fight, and the 'barrier's walls' were the edges of this pocket dimension, against an opponent vastly superior to Grendel in kinetic energy manipulation.

Our blows caused violent hurricane winds across the pocket dimension, cracks the earth making fissures, and ruptured mountain ranges breaking them apart and bringing them down to ruins.

I could feel all devils and magicians—anyone left on Qlippoth or Nilrem's side—die by the droves just from proximity or from encountering our destruction. Die to the last. Only those from Hexennacht survived, and mostly from my barriers. I reforged those barriers to withstand my clashes with Crom Cruach. They fought for me so that's the least I could do back.

Anyone next to Ophis survived by virtue of her presence. Well mostly, she saw I made barrier to protect those on my side and she copied me. Walburga cooed about how much I cared for them to a tired but attentive Valerie. I think she's trying to indoctrinate her. I'm gonna have to stop that later.

This pocket dimension was starting to come apart from my battle with Crom Cruach, bit by bit, I needed to end this soon and leave it. Also, can't forget to kill Rizevim and his bitch demon butler. I'm not giving anyone the chance to be a reoccurring villain.

Crom Cruach clawed at me, only be be met by two hands, one blocking, one catching his wrist, while another three punch into his other attacking arm, side and uppercut face close to stop a point-blank dragon breath.

Multi-Dimensional Refraction Phenomenon meant, not only could I defend and attack at the same time, but I could also have every punch, in a very literal sense, equal to a hundred, and that's not counting that I already can, in an instant punch thousands of times.

Crom Cruach's new form seemed to have the power to take the damage done to him, and transform it into more Destructive Force to hit me with, or turn to Creative Force to heal. I swear to Dead God that I will revive, it's like all of Crom Cruach's tool kits were made to counter me, before we ever met.

In the long run I was winning but not fast enough. I don't want to give him the chance to survive this battle.

I felt it again then, the paths of fate, the causality for and of our actions going as we fought. It wasn't precise, it wasn't exact, but I could mostly see what he was going to do, and when and where to hit him for the most damage, that would actually debilitate him.

Another multi-dimensional ten times overlaid punch is launched at the Evil Dragon, only for Crom Cruach to do some bullshit of condensing the Destructive Force on his arm so much that it became dimensionally heavy. He swung his arm, and blocked all dimensionally stacked Mumyou Sandanzuki-style punches at once.

Okay, we're just doing anime bullshit now, because this shit shouldn't work! I held back a growl. At least he isn't able to do shit about the multi-directionally dimensional attacks.

Yet it seemed like my enemy was getting better as well, through sheer will. Good for him, but it's making killing him annoying.

I saw the paths of fate. Saw how we clashed, how much faster we both attacked and counterattacked each other.

I focused on minimizing everything, to deliver the exact force needed to hit him, to kill him, without wasting energy. To maximize the power delivered in my blows, transferring damage force completely without loss.

I watched the paths of fate, and rather than actively choosing, I followed my hyper instincts and rode the waves, so to speak.

Crom Cruach's next claws slash, I had already dodged by being in his guard punching with both fists into his stomach. His counter kick, I took and let the energies pass through me, that no damage remained on me.

He opened his mouth and fired a dragon breath laser of destruction, that I pierced through with a knife hand, and delivered the Dragon Smasher beam through my arm, that almost took Crom Cruach's head off, had he not cancelled his breath and dodged his head away at the last second.

Yet this wasn't now a beat down to victory.

"Yes! Yes! Show me more!" He shouted in ecstasy and pain.

Because Crom Cruach can also see glimpses of the paths of fate, and would block my attack sequences and combos with his own, causing both of us to accumulate damage over time, from not fully realized or completed blocks. Or deplete more of our energy to heal, and it became a race on who can stockpile healing energy faster than the other.

Yet throughout all of that, bit by bit victory was coming to my side. And with Chaoskampf Ordained shining in my soul, ready to be drawn again, all I needed was one chance to end this battle once and for all—

"Come on, enough with this piecemeal victory! You must have something truly grand to cross the line to victory. Show it to me! Bring more of your potential out!" Crom Cruach grinned in a more savage manner. It seemed like his final form brought out more of his vicious draconic side, rather than his usual in control self. "Or maybe, yes, I need to bring it out. So show me your wrath, Dragon Slayer!"

I saw it before it happened. The explosion that was a diversion. The beam of Destructive Force aimed to go through my eye at my brain. The block stopped by Crom Cruach destroying space & time to cross distance before I started to move my arms, before he shot his laser attack, and grabbed my arms crossing them.

Water and Wind Energy covered me to slip from his hold, along with bending space to move around him, and for him to not be able to grab me again. I flaring my aura to burn him from proximity to me, even if it won't do much, it will push him away so I could move.

I crossed the distance through Space via teleportation and Divine Step. I summoned my Longinus, blazing and ready and swung it at the laser attack—

A̶̷̸̧̖͂̽n̸̸̵̠͎̊͗d̵̸̶̲̳̂̍ ̷̸̶̠̓͆ͅẗ̷̷̸̲̮́͒h̶̵̵̡̘̉̒r̶̵̴̫̦̂̌ơ̸̷̷̭̝̆u̴̶̴̟̳͠͝g̶̵̵͚͙͒́h̵̶̷̢͙͛̿ ̴̶̵̡͍͆͆d̶̸̸̢̳̈́͋r̵̵̶̫͌͝ͅẻ̶̵̴̼̻̍a̴̶̴̬͉͗͆m̷̴̴̭̂̓͜ṡ̶̶̸̝̝̑,̶̶̷͓̥̃͘ ̷̶̵̩̖̀̅t̶̷̴̠̳̾̃h̶̷̵͓̩̊́e̷̸̵̙͉͂̓ ̸̸̵̻͔̎͝ŝ̸̸̷͓̦̓ț̵̴̴͙̾̅o̴̷̵̢̲̅̎r̸̴̴̼͖͆̎ẏ̶̷̸̢̢͐ ̷̶̷͎̯͌̆ć̸̷̸̱̤̉ḧ̵̶̵̩̎͜a̶̷̷̰͙̅͌n̸̷̶̻̖͒͘g̵̶̷̗͉̋͘e̷̵̶͉̒͛͜s̴̵̷̞̀̊͜.̵̵̸͕͎̃͝

Only for Crom Cruach to cross the distance as I did, by deleting space, clash with me, distract me, causing the laser beam to pass between us.

I desummoned and resummoned my Longinus further away from me into the path of the laser—

A̶̷̸̧̖͂̽n̸̸̵̠͎̊͗d̵̸̶̲̳̂̍ ̷̸̶̠̓͆ͅẗ̷̷̸̲̮́͒h̶̵̵̡̘̉̒r̶̵̴̫̦̂̌ơ̸̷̷̭̝̆u̴̶̴̟̳͠͝g̶̵̵͚͙͒́h̵̶̷̢͙͛̿ ̴̶̵̡͍͆͆d̶̸̸̢̳̈́͋r̵̵̶̫͌͝ͅẻ̶̵̴̼̻̍a̴̶̴̬͉͗͆m̷̴̴̭̂̓͜ṡ̶̶̸̝̝̑,̶̶̷͓̥̃͘ ̷̶̵̩̖̀̅t̶̷̴̠̳̾̃h̶̷̵͓̩̊́e̷̸̵̙͉͂̓ ̸̸̵̻͔̎͝ŝ̸̸̷͓̦̓ț̵̴̴͙̾̅o̴̷̵̢̲̅̎r̸̴̴̼͖͆̎ẏ̶̷̸̢̢͐ ̷̶̷͎̯͌̆ć̸̷̸̱̤̉ḧ̵̶̵̩̎͜a̶̷̷̰͙̅͌n̸̷̶̻̖͒͘g̵̶̷̗͉̋͘e̷̵̶͉̒͛͜s̴̵̷̞̀̊͜.̵̵̸͕͎̃͝

And a secondary laser in the shadow of the first struck my sword, making it go off course, and let the Destruction Laser pass unstopped.

No. I thought. Both at the situation and the outcome. No, this sequence of events is wrong. I felt it finally after all this time. The hands, nay, claws behind the strings. I see you, you red sonnuvabitch!

A̶̡͍̋̍n̷͔̅̆d̶̛͖͈̽ ̶̧̠̃w̶̫̩͌́ḩ̷̙̈̈́a̷̹̾͝ẗ̸̻ͅ ̶̺̿a̴̦̘̿r̵̤̀e̶͈̿ ̷̨͊y̶͙̝̒̓o̶̡͕̎u̶̝̭͆̐ ̶̯͔͗̈́g̶̺̭̔͘ờ̶̦n̷̗͉̈́n̷͇̅͝a̵͕̦͗ ̶͎̀d̸̜̉̾o̴̫̳̓ ̷̙̽̍â̶͓̲b̸̮̓o̴͕̞̎ǘ̵͓̋t̸̹̎ ̶̛͙i̵͋̿͜t̷͖̟̋̈́?̶̨̤̓

I could feel it, that smug assurance, behind reality, behind fate, behind song and meaning that gives shape to the world.

I could feel the bastard's Dreams behind patterns of causality, as he watches and edits without being felt like the World or Fate.

And there was nothing I could do about it as I was now.

He might be limited in what weight he could put on the scale, yet for this outcome, and who knows what other outcomes it was enough.

"OPHIS!" I shouted but it was too late.

The Destructive Force beam travels the distance faster than lightning, faster than I could move without risk of harming anyone I wanted to protect.

It pierced one of the barriers I had for the Hexennacht Magicians...

And struck through Walburga's heart.

"PROTECT THEM!" I told Ophis, as she took over making all the barriers.

The barrier Walburga was in was instantly filled with Healing Energy that I transferred to her location. Yet her injury persisted, because Crom Cruach's Destructive Force persisted in her chest.

Because the bastard focused on maintaining his energy there.

Right. I am an idiot. For one solid minute, I started thinking of him as some kind of Noble Demon. I forgot this was a fucking Evil Dragon.

I roared, swinging the glowing scarlet Chaoskampf Ordained, as distance ceased to be something I needed to cross. Everything was within my Spirit World, so I didn't need to think, I didn't need to actualize magic. I intended it, so I was there.

"HAHAHAHA! Yes, that's it! That's he ferocity that was missing." Crom Cruach laughed as he met my sword over and over again. Pure ecstatic joy oozing out of his being, even if he had to break and heal himself just to match and survive me.

===x===

Walburga Crowley POV:

Oh, I'm dying. She deliriously through the pain.

Big Brother Crom tried to kill her to anger Caleb, and Caleb did get mad.

That means he cares, right? Hehehe, see mom? I did manage to get someone I love to care about me. You were wrong. Hehehe.

It hurt.

But that was only because she was still alive. Because Caleb was filling their location with healing energy from his Blessing, aiming at her.

The two opposite energies clashed in her chest, one trying to keep her wound, another trying to save her, both ensuring she was alive but in pain. It would have been merciful to let her die.

"Walburga." Ophis spoke from next to her, holding a black snake made of blood and power. "Caleb wants you to live."

Walburga smiled, knowing how dangerous taking on that power would be, but wasn't in a state of mind to argue, or think about the cost, or possibility of what happened if she lost control of that power.

"Okay, Ophfy~!" Walburga said through bloodied smile.

"Hmm, I should add a Blessing to ensure you live and work better with dragon power. That way you can collect the dragons' powers when Caleb kills them." Ophis idly thought out loud.

===x===

Crom Cruach and I clashed across the pocket dimension. There was a ferocious recklessness to both our fighting. Taking hits that we didn't need to. Tanking attacks that we could easily dodge.

All for the chance to hit the other just one more time. I stopped bothering to control the physical effects of our clashes, beyond what I can direct to hurt, inflict more damage onto Crom Cruach, same as he was trying to do to me.

Chaoskampf Ordained at one point made a tear in space, showing the Dimensional Gap and the tear didn't heal.

When we clashed the pocket dimension felt it. I think I understand now why, when two gods attack each other for long enough, when they are wroth and uncaring about what happens, just that the other lost, the World paid the price. Everything became collateral damage.

A̶̷̸̧̖͂̽n̸̸̵̠͎̊͗d̵̸̶̲̳̂̍ ̷̸̶̠̓͆ͅẗ̷̷̸̲̮́͒h̶̵̵̡̘̉̒r̶̵̴̫̦̂̌ơ̸̷̷̭̝̆u̴̶̴̟̳͠͝g̶̵̵͚͙͒́h̵̶̷̢͙͛̿ ̴̶̵̡͍͆͆d̶̸̸̢̳̈́͋r̵̵̶̫͌͝ͅẻ̶̵̴̼̻̍a̴̶̴̬͉͗͆m̷̴̴̭̂̓͜ṡ̶̶̸̝̝̑,̶̶̷͓̥̃͘ ̷̶̵̩̖̀̅t̶̷̴̠̳̾̃h̶̷̵͓̩̊́e̷̸̵̙͉͂̓ ̸̸̵̻͔̎͝ŝ̸̸̷͓̦̓ț̵̴̴͙̾̅o̴̷̵̢̲̅̎r̸̴̴̼͖͆̎ẏ̶̷̸̢̢͐ ̷̶̷͎̯͌̆ć̸̷̸̱̤̉ḧ̵̶̵̩̎͜a̶̷̷̰͙̅͌n̸̷̶̻̖͒͘g̵̶̷̗͉̋͘e̷̵̶͉̒͛͜s̴̵̷̞̀̊͜.̵̵̸͕͎̃͝

A slash that should have cut Crom Cruach from shoulder to hip, somehow did nothing, beyond internal damage. As if his body only took on the damage from my aura and nothing else.

"Sacred Gear Canceller." Another portal scry and attack by Rizevim and his butler bitch. Chaoskampf Ordained disappeared from my hands, although I feel like the time I need to reconnect and summoning it back is getting shorter each time.

"Finally!" Crom Cruach said, joyous, as I witnessed the damage he took cycle into negative energy then healing. "To think that I finally unlock this power facing you. Turning Damage itself to Healing. Thank you, Caleb. This battle has been—"

"Okay yeah no. Fuck all this!" I growled and used Spirit World for targeting.

Crom Cruach coughed blood as he, Rizevim and Euclid all had Aura Crystal Swords manifest inside their bodies, stabbing them from inside out.

Then the swords glowed with raging power and explod—

A̶̷̸̧̖͂̽n̸̸̵̠͎̊͗d̵̸̶̲̳̂̍ ̷̸̶̠̓͆ͅẗ̷̷̸̲̮́͒h̶̵̵̡̘̉̒r̶̵̴̫̦̂̌ơ̸̷̷̭̝̆u̴̶̴̟̳͠͝g̶̵̵͚͙͒́h̵̶̷̢͙͛̿ ̴̶̵̡͍͆͆d̶̸̸̢̳̈́͋r̵̵̶̫͌͝ͅẻ̶̵̴̼̻̍a̴̶̴̬͉͗͆m̷̴̴̭̂̓͜ṡ̶̶̸̝̝̑,̶̶̷͓̥̃͘ ̷̶̵̩̖̀̅t̶̷̴̠̳̾̃h̶̷̵͓̩̊́e̷̸̵̙͉͂̓ ̸̸̵̻͔̎͝ŝ̸̸̷͓̦̓ț̵̴̴͙̾̅o̴̷̵̢̲̅̎r̸̴̴̼͖͆̎ẏ̶̷̸̢̢͐ ̷̶̷͎̯͌̆ć̸̷̸̱̤̉ḧ̵̶̵̩̎͜a̶̷̷̰͙̅͌n̸̷̶̻̖͒͘g̵̶̷̗͉̋͘e̷̵̶͉̒͛͜s̴̵̷̞̀̊͜.̵̵̸͕͎̃͝

Euclid died. Rizevim survived. I'll get Loser Lucifer later.

Crom Cruach was recovering and regenerating, crying out in pain. I dashed at him, with Divine Step, and me no longer caring about limit, pacing myself, or about the environment around me, I was moving a bit faster than lightning's return stroke.

I punched him, over and over again, to which he met my blows with his own, laughing in pure delight.

I managed to slam and corner him to the edge of the pocket dimension we were in, and just wail on him without pause or mercy.

He survived. The bastard kept surviving and fighting back, laughing as he was practically invulnerable and undying now.

I felt Spirit World resonate with me, with my want and desire. The Blessing of the Holy Chalice had studied Ladon's barriers, along with Apophis' and Aži Dahāka's enough to realize what I wanted.

It pulsed, resonated and with my accelerated mind and hyper intuition, I reached for my goal.

"Pilgrimage Purgatory of the Nine Days." I declared and made a barrier.

Unlike when Spirit World activated, the barrier for this—fuck it, I'll call it what it is—Domain Expansion was a physical thing, felt by both me and Crom Cruach when it burst out of me, and anchored itself on the world.

"What, this is..." Crom Cruach said in confusion as we were standing in a different world. A world under a stormy sky, on a familiar island. Familiar to me.

There was a separate island, far, far away one could only just tell it was there on the horizon, where everyone else I remotely gave a damn about was placed there.

The distance was symbolic yet enforced by the laws of this world. The island we were on was the true battleground, and the one Ophis, Walburga, and the rest (Not Rizevim) were on, was a place untouched by the fighting here.

Then I activated the effect of this Domain at maximum.

"Day 9."

===x===

Crom Cruach POV:

"Day 9." The moment Caleb uttered those words, Crom Cruach faltered, stumbling in place, as he felt hollowed out and depleted.

It reminded him of the best days of his life, where he was completely empty of energy after a beautiful life or death battle.

Except the fighting here wasn't over. Caleb also seemed to suffer the effect of this power. A mistake? Or he hasn't mastered this barrier's rules yet?

Before Crom Cruach could adjust or summon his Dragon Aura to keep pushing forward, he felt Caleb's Touki link to his own.

"Curse Magic," Crom Cruach was surprised. He was sure this was one of Aži Dahāka's magics that Caleb would revile. "Sympathetic Resonance: Aura Canceller!"

A shattering sound rang out.

Crom Cruach fell to the ground, coughing blood. He felt his life was in inescapable danger.

He couldn't summon his Dragon Aura. He couldn't summon any internal energy, it was all gone.

He tried to get up, only for a roaring Caleb to lunge at him, punching him in the face, causing shockwaves.

Crom Cruach had to quickly fight back, even as he realized what Caleb had done.

Sympathetic Magic, or a curse in this case. Caleb linked both their Touki, then deleted his own bringing it to zero, and sympathetic link reflected the same result at Crom Cruach, causing them to have nothing but their physical abilities to fall back on.

Crom Cruach fought back, relying on his years of martial arts, yet he never fought this depleted and utterly drained before. He was exhausted, hungry, thirsty, felt like he hadn't slept in forever. Every type of stamina, mental, physical, spiritual was drained to the limit, where the act of staying away was defiance.

A laugh escaped his throat. Crom Cruach even tried to return to his true Dragon Form, yet he didn't even have the energy for that. He was locked into his human form, and made helpless.

"How the hell did you even think of this?!" Yet Crom Cruach spoke with pure joyous excitement. The legendary battle he always wished for, was reaching an end he never expected.

Yet even without any energy or powers, they were still beings whose bodies were beyond mortal levels. Thus every punch was faster than sound, and caused shockwaves on impact. Every dash cracked the ground underneath them.

"SHUT UP!" Caleb punched forward forcing Crom Cruach to defend, bide his time to counterattack as opponent exhausted himself. "This isn't comradery, we're not bonding. You will die. Die, die, die, DIE!"

Caleb's punches began getting faster. Faster than a body depleted by all energy.

"Wait, that's—"

"NINE LIVES!" Caleb's left arm became a blur. "HUNDRED SMASHING HEADS!"

It was a physical technique! Was the last thought had, before he was blown off his feet.

His arms were ripped apart. His torso was filled with holes, and his face misshaped. It wasn't a hundred punches this time, merely nine.

Yet nine that felt far more colossal and heavy than his current body could endure.

Crom Cruach fell on his back with Caleb on top of him, squeezing his neck with both hands.

The Evil Dragon in human form struggled, yet had no hands of his own. He idly noted that one of Caleb's arms, the one he used that last fighting technique with, was broke at the elbow with the bone sticking out.

Caleb squeezed down with all his weight and might, as the Evil Dragon struggled to breathe, or push the human off him.

Crom Cruach saw his death coming, and yet, and yet... after all this time...

I thought it would be more satisfying. Why is everything ending on a bitter note?

A cruelty of fate and the universe, the last emotion in Crom Cruach's heart was dissatisfaction.

The end of the fight should have been better.

But it didn't. It was just one person killing another.

===x===

I felt the Evil Dragon's human form's neck snap under my hands.

I felt the last breath leave his body.

I felt life cease to beat within him.

Crom Cruach died an ignoble death.

My Domain was dismissed, along with Spirit World and the only focus was on Heroic Second Wind getting to work.

I was so tired. Pilgrimage Purgatory of the Nine Days was a shitty Domain, yet it made perfect sense to me.

It recreated my experience on the island, making others feel exactly what I felt, as I experienced it. Making others be put in my place, and feel the same way I felt, as I had felt it from my point of view and experience.

Well, those on the main island. Other islands could be made to remove people from my fights, that were caught up in it.

The level of intensity of this soul-reflected realm could be adjusted based on which of my nine days on that hell, I make the Domain recreate and enforce on the participants.

I could only win against Crom Cruach by just removing Dragon Aura, any powers he could use and any chance of him fighting back.

Maybe he had experience fighting while being on his last leg, but not to suddenly find himself there with no explanation.

"It's finally over." I said to myself, panting as I was slowly recovering my stamina, energy, just everything.

Reliving that was not something I'd want to experience again. Relying on that Domain will have to be exclusively for opponents that don't die.

"I should get back." I looked towards where Ophis, Walburga and the rest were, as my otherworldly sensing were returning as well.

Only to feel a piercing pain from my back through my side.

"Finally!" Rizevim said from behind me, as he was holding a spear made of demonic power. "You let your guard down~! Do you have any idea how much you cost—GAAH!"

I slammed my elbow into his face, breaking it and making it spray blood.

"Right." I said with an annoyed sigh, as I grabbed demonic energy spear and squeezed. It shattered. I know that's bad for stab wounds, but the bits of healing energy I regained was working on it.

"You asshole! You broke my nose! Dammit, stop taking my enjoyment of this. Every time. Every fucking time, you keep surviving. You keep ruining everything, all my plans, and now you can't even die without taking all the fun or tormenting someone on their last leg—"

I kicked Rizevim in the face cutting him off. I felt bone deep exhaustion. There was always one last thing to take care of. How annoying.

"I have some pest control to finish up." I groaned.

===

AN: Yeah, I completely fail to get out the fucking point of Divine Combat. At that point I was yapping and just wanted it done. Somewhere in the middle of talking, I ended up trying to give a logical reason for why anime lightning isn't as strong as real lightning.

Also this is what Crom Cruach's Dragon Form looks like, but I never got the chance to use it:

Anyways, three chapters left on this arc. Fuck me, but I'm never writing a dedicated fighting chapter this long for any other character again. Fights from now on will take simpler word counts as I focus on plot.