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The beam, powerful enough to obliterate stars, fell from the heavens and swallowed the entire area. Space seemed to crack, air currents were blown away—nothing could stop that light.
"RAHHHHHH—!"
At that moment, Bach let out a furious roar and spread his massive arms, charging straight into the beam.
His whole body turned red-black, glowing with a strange energy. This was his trump card.
With that power, Bach's strength nearly matched that of Conglong.
"Boom—!"
"Crack—!"
The beam slammed into him.
Everything around exploded from the impact—land shattered, valleys collapsed. Especially beneath Bach's feet, the ground caved in dramatically.
But even with all that power, it wasn't enough.
Riku's attack was powerful enough to seriously injure Conglong. So even with his own strength pushed to the limit, Bach couldn't block it.
His veins bulged, skin split open, and blood sprayed into the air—but he still couldn't stop it. His body was about to be crushed into the ground.
"My king! We'll help!"
At that moment, the remaining giants finally moved.
With a united roar, they raised their massive hands to support the falling beam. Even as their palms burned and blistered, they didn't take a single step back.
A hundred giants stood shoulder to shoulder, resisting Riku's ultimate attack with sheer will and strength—alongside Bach's desperate power—they actually held the beam back.
"Damn… these big guys really are something."Zhu Yue watched from afar, eyes wide with awe. This was the first time she'd ever seen one of Riku's attacks stopped—hell, even pushed back a little.
But… this was their limit.
Too bad, Riku's true limit was way beyond that.
Zhu Yue shook her head slightly.If you go up against Lord Riku, death is the only outcome.
"Here—take it back, human!"Bach roared again, as if forcing every last ounce of strength from his soul. With a mighty push, he actually started to send the red-blue beam back upward.
It was like he was going to deflect it.
"Impressive," Riku muttered, looking down at the scene."Even though not all of your kind are here, half the giants working together really is powerful."
"But…" He shook his head. "You're up against me."
"Gate Five—Limit Gate—OPEN!"
With a low growl, Riku unlocked the fifth gate.
A wild surge of blue-green energy wrapped around his entire body, merging with the red spiritual energy already there.
And because his power had now skyrocketed to insane levels, even his body couldn't fully handle it—cracks started forming across his skin, like his whole body was about to fall apart.
At that moment, Riku's hyper regeneration kicked in, rapidly repairing his body and keeping him in perfect shape.
"No way!!!!"Seeing this, all the Giants were completely stunned— even Bach lost his composure, and despair began creeping into his expression.
He got even stronger?!And not just a little stronger—this was a massive leap!
"Lord Riku's power has completely surpassed Lord Conglong," Zhu Yue said from the other side. She had expected this, but still couldn't hide her shock.
If Riku was only about even with Conglong before, now he had totally blown past him—he could crush Conglong without breaking a sweat.
"This power feels pretty damn good. Think of it as a gift for pushing past my limits—hope you enjoy it."Riku looked down at the Giants. A terrifying power burst out from him.
In an instant, a heavy pressure filled the air, and the blue-red energy pillar more than doubled in size.
"We lost... So this is the complete defeat of the Giants? What a joke."Bach's body was swallowed by the blue-red energy beam without resistance. In his final moment, he gave a bitter laugh.
Who would've thought that beings as mighty as them would be wiped out—exterminated—by humans they once considered nothing more than monkeys?
Even though the Giants weren't limited to just this one tribe, their tribe's destruction was a fact.
BOOM——!
A massive explosion erupted, tearing through space, shattering the ground, and shaking the very planet.
But right then, everything—energy, time, space—seemed to just stop.The world turned brilliantly colorful.Space cracks began rapidly healing, and thick magical energy flowed in to patch the damaged world.
Deep in this rainbow-colored world, something appeared before Riku—a glowing, multi-faceted dodecahedron in the shape of a five-pointed star.
That was the most important object in this world—the Star Grail.The gods had gone to war over it. That war—that's how the Divine War began!
Just as Riku was about to make a move, the Star Grail and the rainbow world vanished.Space returned to normal again.
The energy blast that could've destroyed the entire planet had been completely erased, only wiping out a chunk of the surrounding valley.
At the same time, scattered all around were the bodies of Giants—broken and lifeless.They should've been vaporized, but because the Star Grail had erased Riku's destructive energy, they remained intact.
"Heh... I figured it'd be like this. Still, seeing it with my own eyes is pretty wild."Riku stood there and chuckled quietly.
The Star Grail is the winner's prize.To make it appear, you need a level of energy strong enough to shatter the Spirit Corridor. But even then, it only appears for a brief moment.
On the surface, it looks like you need to kill all the gods. But the gods are born from concepts, endlessly created in the Spirit Corridor. That's a trap.
To truly become the victor, you have to break the Spirit Corridor to make the Star Grail appear. Only then do you even have a chance at winning.
In the original story, it took luring the War God into using a world-ending strike, the hidden trump cards of other races, and the Machine Race's energy redirection to finally break the Spirit Corridor.That forced the Star Grail to appear and erased the world-ending attack.Later, the Machine Race sacrificed most of their bodies to extract the War God's divine core and finally seize the Star Grail.
Sadly, right when they were about to succeed, it all fell apart.The just-materialized God of Games swooped in and stole the prize.Still, considering everything, that outcome wasn't the worst.
"This time... I'll be the one who wins. I'll defeat the War God and sit on the throne as the one true god." Riku murmured. "That day isn't far off."
Ding!"Detected 105 fallen Giant corpses. Eligible for recycling. Estimated value: 1,000,000 exchange points. Recycle now?"
Riku was stunned when the system prompt popped into his head, his eyes widening a little.
A million points?!
"....."